Bread bowls

I love bread bowls but hate spending money on them.  I especially love them with soups!  The weather has been a little colder this week so what better time than now to try some!  I found this yummy recipe and gave it a whirl.

Ingredients

• 2 (.25 ounce) packages active dry yeast ( 4 1/2 tsp)
• 1 cup warm water (110 degrees to 115 degrees)
• 1 cup warm milk (110 to 115 degrees F)
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 6 cups bread flour
• Cornmeal

Directions

1. In a mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add the milk, shortening, sugar, eggs, salt and 2 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough. Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
2. Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface. Divide into eight pieces; shape each into a ball. Grease two baking sheets and sprinkle with cornmeal. Place four balls 3 in. apart on each prepared pan. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool.
3. For bread bowls, cut a thin slice off the top of bread. Hollow out bottom half, leaving a 1/4-in. shell (discard removed bread or save for another use). Fill with chili, chowder or stew.

You can make this with a bread machine too.  I just put everything in my bread machine because I didn't feel like kneading it.  Put liquids first, then dry and make a well in the flour for the yeast and set it on the dough cycle.  Before it got to the rise cycle I took it out and put it in a greased bowl.

Print Recipe

homemade sloppy joes

I didn't get a picture of this, but it was really good.  I also didn't really follow a recipe so here is kinda what I did, but you can change amounts and ingredients to your taste.  If you like it sweeter or more tomatoey, add more ketchup.  If you like it spicier, add more chili powder.


1 1/2 -2 lbs ground beef
1 green/red/yellow/orange pepper, chopped (whichever color or flavor you'd like)
1/2 onion, chopped
combine in separate bowl:
1/2 c. ketchup
1 c. bbq sauce (whichever flavor you'd like)
2 tablespoons vinegar
1-2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce, to taste
1 tsp. dry mustard
2 tsp. mustard (the stuff in the yellow bottle = )  )
1 teaspoon salt or to taste
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 tsp chili powder, or to taste

Brown the hamburger.  When it is almost done, add in the peppers and onions and cook till soft.  When hamburger is done, add in the sauce mix and heat through.  Serve on hamburger buns and enjoy!!  We had slices of cheddar cheese to ours too =)  This makes a lot so you will have plenty for leftovers.  It freezes great too.

Super Yummy Fantastic Crepes

I'm not sure that this food qualifies as a diet food, but I did make it a bit healthier =)  My favorite meal is breakfast, whether it's just cereal or stuffed french toast (especially from IHOP *drool*), I love it!  That's where my down fall is too, because most breakfast foods are not low calories, and no breakfast smoothies are not breakfast food!!!  I have been wanting to make crepes for awhile but was a bit hesitant because the last time I made them was in my high school cooking class and we used one of those fancy pans that are especially for crepes.  I made them this morning, and I loved them!  I think the kids did too but they didn't say anything and the next thing I knew, the plates were in the sink =)

(this was right after it was cooked)

Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vegetable oil
• 2 tsp vanilla

Directions

1. Whisk eggs, milk, flour, salt, vanilla and oil until smooth. Cover and refrigerate 1 hour.
2. Heat a skillet over medium-high heat and spray with cooking spray. Pour 1/4 cup of crepe batter into pan, tilting to completely coat the surface of the pan. Cook 2 to 5 minutes, turning once, until golden. Repeat with remaining batter.

For the filling I used 4 oz. Weight Watchers cream cheese, 1 tsp almond extract, and powder sugar to taste.  Then i spread a little homemade strawberry jam.  

(I was going to get a picture of them with all the stuff on them and rolled up looking pretty, but before I knew it, it was gone....not sure how that happened ;-)  )

Each crepe is about 80 calories, and then depending on what toppings you put on it adds more.  I think the way I did mine they were about 110 calories each.  That is just a guesstimate because I'm not sure the calories on the jam since it's homemade, but I only used 1-2 tsp each and for the cream cheese I only used about 1-2 tsp each.  Also, i don't know if the original recipe counted the calories from whole milk or not, but I used 2 % but you could use fat-free or 1% too.  This is such an easy recipe to change up too.  I you want to wrap scrambled eggs and bacon in it that would be fabulous!  Also, cream cheese and cinnamon would be good.  It all depends on what your tastes are.  Please leave me a comment of the types of fillings you use =)  And most importantly, enjoy!  I enjoyed 3 of them and would have had more but I had to leave some for the kids and husband =)

If you somehow have any leftover, these freeze great for a later meal or breakfast.

Homemade Ranch

If your favorite dip is ranch try this: Add 1 tbsp parsley, sprinkle of salt and pepper, 1/4 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp onion powder. 1 cup Mayo and 1 cup buttermilk. You'll make ranch dressing. Adjust the mayo or sub sour cream for ranch to get something more like a chip dip! Same great taste (if not better) and no funny chemicals!  You can use fat free mayo and 1% milk (just 2-3 tbsp vinegar to the milk make it it buttermilk), or use the fat free sour cream and that takes a lot of calories away and you can still enjoy chips and dip! Plus, I have a friend who used rice milk instead, and it was still pretty darn good.

Mac and Cheese Muffins

 

(the picture is from allrecipes.com since I forgot to take one)

Ingredients

• 2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 1/2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
• 1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
• 3 tsp hot sauce (or more if you like it spicy)
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 cup seasoned dry bread crumbs
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray. In a small bowl, stir together the bread crumbs, olive oil and salt; set aside.
2. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add the macaroni and cook for about 8 minutes, it should still be a little bit firm. Remove from the heat, drain and return to the pan; stir in the butter and egg until pasta is evenly coated. Reserve 1/2 cup of sharp Cheddar cheese and stir the remaining Cheddar cheese, milk and mozzarella cheese into the pasta. Spoon into the prepared muffin tin. Sprinkle the reserved cheese and the bread crumb mixture over the tops.
3. Bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the topping is nicely browned. Allow the muffins to cool for a few minutes before removing from the pan. This will allow the cheese to set and they will hold their muffin shape.

These are super good!  I am always looking for things my kids like, and things I can make and freeze and this fits both criteria.  Once they have cooled, just pop them in a freezer long enough to keep their shape and then put them all in a freezer bag.  They reheat wonderfully!

I made this recipe for a for a BSI (Blogger secret Ingredient) contest hosted by Debbi Does Dinner and BSI. If you are looking for some good, low calorie, tasty, awesome recipes, check out Debbi's blog.  It is fabulous!!

Chewy Granola Bars

Ingredients

• 4 1/2 cups rolled oats
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup honey
• 1/2 cups miniature semisweet chocolate chips, nuts, fruits, or candy pieces (whatever you prefer)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Lightly grease one 9x13 inch pan.
2. In a large mixing bowl combine the oats, flour, baking soda, vanilla, butter or margarine, honey and brown sugar. Stir in the assorted chocolate chips, raisins, nuts etc.
3. Lightly press mixture into the prepared pan. Bake at 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) for 18 to 22 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool for 10 minutes then cut into bars. Let bars cool completely in pan before removing or serving.

So this recipe might not be the lowest in calories, but it's got to be better than all the preservatives you find in store granola bars.  Those things have a shelf life of almost forever it seems.  One way to cut down on the calories of this is to use less butter and sugar.  The original recipe called for 2/3 c. butter and 1/2 c honey and 1/3 c. brown sugar.  After reading some reviews of the recipe, a lot of people said it was too dry.  A lot of people added more honey and butter and i decided to try it.  My defense is, is that honey is better than regular sugar, I added less chocolate chips (the original said 2 cups!) and I used a light butter.  But I think next time I may try using applesauce instead of butter, that will cut the calories in almost half I think.  As I made it, it is 3-4 points per bar, depending on how big you cut them.  I cut it so I had 24, so they were 3 points each.  Another thing to change would be instead of chocolate ships in side, melt some and drizzle over the top.  These would also be superb without any chocolate, but I have a major addiction to chocolate.

Chicken sweet potato soup

If you are anything like me, you probably overindulged during the holidays and now your clothes are paying for it.  I need to find me some nice filling food that is healthy so that is my goal for the next little while. 

CHICKEN SWEET POTATO SOUP

Hands-on time: 20 minutes
Total preparation time: 40 minutes
Makes 9 cups

• 2-1/2 cups sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 1 cup chopped celery (2 ribs)
• 1 cup chopped onion (1 medium)
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup water
• 14 ounces canned chicken broth (i did 3 cubes of chicken bouillon with 14 oz. water)
• 1/2 teaspoon marjoram
• 1/2 teaspoon thyme
• 1/16 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or more to taste)
• 2 cups chopped cooked chicken or turkey (leftover or pre-cooked)
• 6 slices turkey bacon, cooked, crumbled (optional)
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 2 cups skim milk

Combine sweet potatoes, celery, onion, garlic, water and broth in a pot. Add marjoram, thyme and cayenne pepper and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to maintain a slow boil and cook about 15 minutes until sweet potatoes are fully cooked. Stir in chicken, bacon and peas. Combine cornstarch and milk in a small dish, then stir it slowly into the soup mixture. Cook until thick and bubbly, about 5 minutes.  

To add extra flavor to the chicken, cook the turkey bacon first and the cook the chicken in the same pan.  The bacon doesn't have grease but it adds a nice flavor.
The total points for this is around 35 points, and I think it makes at least 8 servings, probably more if you do smaller ones.  So that means it can be 4 points or less per serving.  This is chock full of veggies so it will fill you up.  And since veggies are low cal/no points, feel free too add more =)