Chiles Rellenos Casserole

Is everyone ready for the Easter Bunny? I think we have finally finished buying everything for Addison for Easter. It seems like everytime we go to the store, we find something else for her. Must be rough to be such a spoiled 2 year old! We went to see Addison at the park for her school's Easter egg hunt. I think most of the kids had a great time. Addison didn't want to go in the grass because she didn't want to get her feet wet. Can't really say I blame her!

I'm so glad that I don't have to go to work tomorrow. I'm ready for my three day weekend! I think we might get a little bit of shopping done tomorrow morning, then come home and plant something. Apparently, in the South, you are supposed to plant flowers or your garden on Good Friday. Who am I to fight tradition. Just have to figure out what we will be planting.

Dinner tonight was from my Cooking Light cookbook. This was a really good casserole. I think it could use a little more veggies. Next time, I will only use one can of the green chiles, but other than that, it was really good. Here's the recipe:

CHILES RELLENOS CASSEROLE
adapted from Cooking Light
Servings: 8
Points+: 6

1 lb. extra lean ground turkey
1 c. chopped onion
1 3/4 t. ground cumin
1 1/2 t. dried oregano
1/2 t. garlic powder
1/4 t. salt
1/8 t. pepper
1 (16 oz) can FF refried beans
2 (4 oz) cans diced green chiles, drained
1 c. 2% colby cheese, shredded
1 c. frozen whole kernel corn, thawed and drained
1/3 c. flour
1/4 t. salt
1 1/3 c. FF milk
1/8 t. hot sauce (optional)
1 c. egg substitute

Cook turkey and onion in a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until browned, stirring to crumble. Combine chicken mixture, cumin, and next 5 ingredients in a bowl. Stir well, and set aside.

Arrange half of green chiles in an 9 x 13-inch baking dish. Spoon mounds of meat & bean mixture onto chiles, and spread gently, leaving a 1/4-inch border around edge of dish; top with corn. Arrange remaining chiles over corn; top with remaining cheese. Set aside.

Combine flour and salt in a bowl; gradually add milk and hot sauce, stirring with a wire whisk until blended. Stir in eggs and egg whites; pour over casserole. Bake at 350° for 1 hour and 5 minutes or until set; let stand 5 minutes.

EXERCISE
I'm still trying to figure out what my exercise will be tonight. I did get to walk to the park and back earlier today, but I didn't work hard enough to really earn any activity points. I'm torn between JM Yoga Meltdown and one of my circuit workouts. We'll have to wait and see.

So long for today...

Penne with Roasted Tomatoes, Garlic & White Beans

Whew! What a day! I had an all day meeting in Myrtle Beach today. I guess you don't realize how conditioned you are to doing your job until you change things up and do something else for a day. I traveled almost 2 hours up there, sat in meetings all day, then traveled 2 hours back. Boy am I tired!

Dinner tonight was a recipe that I've had for years now. I don't remember where I got it. It's very simple and very good. The most time consuming part is roasting the garlic and tomatoes. Roasted garlic is so aromatic and sweet. It definitely adds something special to this dinner. Here's the recipe:

PENNE W/ ROASTED TOMATOES, GARLIC & WHITE BEANS
Servings: 4
Points+: 7

3 large tomatoes, cut into wedges
4 cloves garlic, unpeeled
1/4 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1(15 ounce) can cannellini beans
1/2 pound penne pasta
1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, torn
2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan
1 T. olive oil

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

Slice each tomato into 8 wedges and discard the seeds. Put the tomato wedges and garlic into a 9 by 13-inch roasting pan. Spray with olive oil cooking spray and sprinkle with salt and a few turns of pepper. Roast in the oven, uncovered, for 40 minutes.

Drain the beans into a large colander in the sink. Cook the pasta according to the directions on the package. Drain the pasta into the colander containing the beans, so the hot pasta water will warm the beans. Return drained pasta and beans to the pasta pot.

When the tomatoes are done, pick out the garlic cloves, squeeze the garlic out of the skin into a small bowl and mash with a fork. Pour the roasted tomatoes into the pasta pot, add the garlic, 1 tablespoon of olive oil, the basil and additional salt and pepper, to taste. Toss to combine. Serve topped with the Parmesan.

EXERCISE:
I decided to go back to the very beginning tonight. Because as Frauline says, it's a very good place to start! Ha! I did JM 30 Day Shred - Level 1 tonight. The only difference is that I upped my weights. Instead of the 3 lb dumbells that I usually use, I tried it with 5 lbs tonight. My arms got tired on a couple of the exercises, but I worked through it and finished with the 5 lbs. Give me a few days and I'm hoping that I won't get so tired! I'm so glad my workout is over for the evening! Now I can prep dinner and head to bed.

So long for today...

Beef & Broccoli

Wow! There is a ton of sodium in teriyaki sauce. This dinner was very good, in spite of all the sodium. Next time, I will make this with homemade teriyaki sauce. And I will definitely be making this again. TC made more than one comment about how good this was. At one point, he even said that this tasted as good as what you would get in a restaurant. What a great compliment! Here's the recipe:

BEEF & BROCCOLI
Servings: 4
Points+: 6

1 lb. london broil, thinly sliced, against the grain
1 lb. broccoli florets, steamed
1 T. cornstarch
1 T. olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 t. ground ginger
1/4 t. salt
1/8 t. pepper
1/2 lb. baby portobello mushrooms, sliced
1/3 c. teriyaki sauce

In medium bowl, combine cornstarch, olive oil, garlic, ginger, salt and pepper. Stir to combine. Add beef and toss to coat. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes or over night.

Heat medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and cook until wilted, about 5 minutes. Remove mushrooms from skillet.

Increase heat to high. Add beef to skillet; stir-fry 2-3 minutes. Add broccoli, mushrooms and teriyaki sauce. heat through. Serve over bed of rice.

EXERCISE
Since, I didn't too too much exercise yesterday, I wanted to really get my heart rate up tonight, but without making muscles sore. I hate having to deal with lactic acid in my muscles on my weigh-in day. Since tomorrow is weigh-in, I needed to be careful tonight. So, I did JM Metabolism Boosting workout. This is always a good one to get my heart rate up!

I really hope this workout makes a difference. Last week, I was 1.2 lbs away from goal. I hope the sodium in the teriyaki sauce doesn't kill my weigh-in for tomorrow. Oh, that reminds me, I need to go drink another glass of water.

So long for today...

Strawberry Pretzel Salad

So, I didn't get to post yesterday. I had every intention of posting this last night. I even sat down in front of the computer to post it...but then I didn't. It was too late and I really needed to get to bed. So I might be doing two posts today. We'll see.

We went to a cookout at my in-laws house yesterday. My mother-in-law requested that I make this salad. It's always nice when I make something that people specifically ask for again. Makes me feel like I did a good job! It's good to know that I make things that people like and want to eat again! This salad is a very old family recipe. I grew up eating it. It's so good, too! I know that 7 pts+ might be a lot for something like this, but the pieces are pretty good size, and it is totally worth it! Here's the recipe:

STRAWBERRY PRETZEL SALAD
Servings: 12
Points+: 7

2 cups crushed pretzels
3/4 c. light butter, melted
3 T. Splenda

1 (8 oz.) package ff cream cheese, softened
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. Splenda
1 (8 oz.) container fat free frozen whipped topping, thawed

2 (3 oz.) packages sugar free strawberry flavored gelatin
2 cups boiling water
1 (16 oz.) pkg. fresh strawberries, crushed or 1(10 ounce) pkg. frozen strawberries, crushed

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Stir together crushed pretzels, melted butter and 3 tablespoons Splenda; mix well and press mixture into the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes, until set. Set aside to cool.

In a large mixing bowl cream together cream cheese, sugar and remaining Splenda. Fold in whipped topping. Spread mixture onto cooled crust.

Dissolve gelatin in boiling water. Stir in strawberries and place in refrigerator to gel up a bit, about 20 - 30 minutes. When mixture has thickened a bit, pour over cream cheese layer and spread out. Refrigerate until set.

EXERCISE
Since I ran 6.2 miles on Saturday, I figured that I could take Sunday off from running. I would like to get another run in before this coming weekend, but since I had already run so much, I wanted to give my body a rest. But, as always, I did get some Yoga in Sunday night. It felt really good to stretch my muscles. Still trying to find another Yoga workout I like as much as Jillian's.

So long for today...

Bird's Egg Nests

Today was a big day for me. I finished my first 10k. I ran in the 2012 Cooper River Bridge Run today in Charleston, SC. It's a 6.2 mile race. I was a little nervous, because I had never run this far before. I had walked in the bridge run before with a couple of bursts of running, but I had never started it with the intention of running the whole thing. I am so excited to report that I ran the entire race and finished in 1 hour, 1 minute and 50 seconds. That comes out to be a 9:58 pace. My ultimate goal was to run the whole thing. My next goal was to run it in at least 1 hr 2 minutes. I wanted to have at least a 10 minute mile pace. Then my final goal was to finish in less than an hour. I achieved all by the last goal. I still have to give myself credit though. There were a ton of people that I had to weave through the whole time and the bridge does have a pretty steep incline. So maybe if I hadn't been up against those factors, I might have had a better time. But the fact remains that I not only finished the race, but I also ran the whole thing. And now, I am extremely tired, too!

I wanted to make something to share with you all. This is a recipe that I've seen a few times this week. It calls for chow mein noodles, but since I didn't have any of those, I used the Fiber One cereal instead. I only had about 3 cups of Fiber One, so I used Rice Krispies, too. These are so cute and are really good, too. Since they have the Fiber One in them, you don't have to feel too guilty eating them! Here's the recipe:

BIRD'S EGGS NESTS

4 c. Fiber One Cereal
1/4 c. butter
2 1/2 c. miniature marshmallows
36 - 48 miniature Robin Eggs

Melt butter over medium heat in large pan. Once butter is melted, add marshmallows and stir until marshmallows are melted. Turn off heat. Add cereal and stir until cereal is coated.

Distribute mixture evenly among 12 cup muffin tin, making indentation in middle. Once cool, place 3 - 4 Robin Eggs in middle of each nest.

EXERCISE
So in addition to the 6.2 mile run that I had today, I also got in some yoga. I wanted to stretch my muscles a little more before I went to bed so that they wouldn't get too stiff during the night. I don't know what kind of exercise I will do tomorrow. At this point, I'm just hoping to be able to get out of bed!

So long for today...

Lighter General Tso's Chicken

Quick post tonight since it is almost bedtime and I just finished my workout. I kept seeing this recipe popping up on blogs and Pinterest, so I decided to finally give it a try. I'm so glad I did because I loved it! This dish is absolutely delicious! There are a few steps involved, but the extra time is totally worth it. I'm telling you, try this recipe, you won't regret it! Here's the recipe:

LIGHTER GENERAL TSO'S CHICKEN
adapted from Tracey's Culinary Adventures
Servings: 4
Points+: 7

1/4 c. cornstarch, divided
1/2 c. cold water
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 t. ground ginger
3 T. packed light brown sugar
2 T. low-sodium soy sauce
1/2 t. red pepper flakes (optional)
3/4 lb snow peas, trimmed and halved crosswise
2 large egg whites
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. black pepper
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 t. canola oil oil

In a large bowl, whisk 1 tablespoon of the cornstarch and the cold water together until smooth. Add the garlic, ginger, brown sugar, soy sauce, and red pepper flakes, if using and whisk to combine. Stir in the peas and set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk the egg whites, remaining 3 tablespoons of cornstarch, salt, and pepper until well combined. Add the chicken pieces, and toss to coat.

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium to medium-high heat. Add 1 teaspoon of the oil, and once shimmering, add half of the chicken from the egg white mixture (be sure to shake the excess off). Cook the chicken until golden on all sides, about 6-8 minutes. Transfer to a plate and tent with foil. Add the remaining oil to the pan and repeat with the other half of the chicken.

Reduce the heat under the pan then add the snow pea mixture to the now empty skillet. Cover the pan and cook until the peas are tender and the sauce thickens, about 3-5 minutes. Add the chicken (and any juices on the plate) back to the skillet. Toss to coat with the sauce and, if necessary, finish cooking the chicken through. Serve the chicken on a bed of rice, if desired.

EXERCISE
I got my morning Zen trail walk in this morning. We had another beautiful day and I really enjoyed my walk. Tonight, I did the third workout on JM Kickbox Fastfix dvd. It was another one that was only 20 minutes long from warmup to cool down, so I did 5 minutes extra at the end to get some additional activity points.

Ok, sorry, I said it was going to be quick. I have a busy day tomorrow. It's going to be a fun one though. I get to fly in the helicopter tomorrow over our lake system. I absolutely love my job on days like this!

So long for today...

Lasagna Rollups

Today at work was one of those days that just couldn't end fast enough. It may have been that Addison told me this morning that she didn't want me to go to work. She broke my heart. I told her that I would much rather stay at home with her, but that I had to go to work to make some monies. She seemed to accept that and our days progressed.

I had my weigh-in this morning. I am down another 1.2 lbs from last week. I hope I can get the last 1.2 lbs off this week to reach my goal next week. I don't know after today though...I ate 12 of my weekly points today. I am a huge stress eater and today was an extremely stressful day, so I ate. I didn't do too bad considering, but it was still bad. I will try my best to stay busy for the next few days in order to make up for today and keep from getting bored and wanting to eat.

Dinner tonight was lasagna rollups. This is a recipe that I developed on my own. Next time I make them, I will lay them flat instead of on their sides like tonight's. They're cute this way, but they would be easier and saucier if they were flat. Oh well, you live and learn. Here's the recipe:

LASAGNA ROLLUPS
Servings: 4
Points+: 4

8 lasagna noodles
1/2 lb. extra lean ground beef
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1/2 medium green pepper, chopped
1 large clove garlic, minced
1/2 t. dried oregano
1/2 t. dried parsley
2 c. spaghetti sauce, divided
1 c. 1% cottage cheese
4 oz. part skim mozzarella cheese, shredded

While lasagna noodles cook, brown ground beef in non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add onion, green pepper, garlic, oregano and parsley and cook until vegetables are tender. Add 1 c. sauce and stir until combined with meat and vegetables. Once meat sauce is made and noodles are cooked, you can assemble the rollups. Spread 1/2 c. spaghetti sauce on bottom of 2 qt. baking dish.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lay noodles out on flat surface. Evenly distribute cottage cheese among noodles, leaving about 2 inches on one end without filling. Top cottage cheese with 1/2 of mozzarella cheese, evenly divided among noodles. Then top the mozzarella cheese with meat mixture. Starting with end with filling on it, roll up the noodle. Place rollup on it's side in the baking dish. Top with remaining spaghetti sauce and top that with remaining mozzarella cheese. Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes, covered. Take cover off and bake for additional 10 - 15 minutes.

EXERCISE
I did JM Extreme Shed and Shred tonight. My knee is bothering me again, so I don't want to push it too much before the race on Saturday. I didn't finish the whole workout though. She said it was 30 minutes, but it's definitely longer than that. Next time, I will do the entire workout, just not tonight.

I'm hoping to get a walk in tomorrow morning on the Zen trail for a little bit of fresh air and exercise in one. I'm not sure about my workouts for the rest of the week. I will have to look through them and figure that out.

So long for today...