Baked Herbed Red Potatoes

Super easy recipe!

Ingredients

4-5 red potatoes (or more depending on size)
1 tablespoon of butter
1 tablespoon italian seasoning
1 tablespoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/4 cup olive oil

* Place potatoes in enough cold water to cover them
* Boil potatoes until fork tender
* Transfer to square baking dish greased with olive oil
* Cut them in half and mash down on them a bit to break them up
* Brush with olive oil, and sprinkle with seasoning
* Bake for 25-35 minutes at 400 degrees
* Place butter on top and place under broiler for 5 minutes to crisp them up a bit

Serve with sour cream or alone.

Product Rave: Trader Joe's Lemon Pepper Parpardelle Pasta

I bought this because I've seen so many people raving about it on the boards that I frequent. It is really good. Its great for an easy dinner because the pasta is already flavored. It can be served either by itself or with something simple.

I choose portabello mushrooms.

I cooked the pasta. While I was cooking the pasta, I sauteed the mushrooms with a couple of teaspoons of lemon juice, some fresh cracked pepper, a little olive oil and thats it. I tossed it all together and had a pretty easy meal in about 10 minutes.

Chicken Enchiladas

I make chicken enchiladas all the time. My husband loves them. They are pretty easy to do.

I try to make them on sunday nights because my husband likes to take the leftovers with him to work. They are also really good for when you invite company over.

This is a good dish to make if you don't mind getting your hands dirty.

Ingredients
1 can of enchilada sauce
2 chicken breasts, cooked, shredded and in sauce
1 lb of monterey jack - shredded
8 flour tortillas
optional additions: sliced black olives, sour cream

1. Set up an enchilada making station - 1 bowl of enchilada sauce (big enough to completely cover the flour tortillas when dipped), shredded cheese, shredded chicken and a greased 9x13 baking pan
2. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees
3. Completely immerse the tortillas into the sauce and place them in the pan.
4. Fill the tortillas with shredded chicken and cheese, and roll them up
5. Line the rolled enchiladas in the pan until you can't fit anymore in.

6. Cover the enchiladas with the rest of the sauce
7. Dump the rest of the cheese on top
8. If you are using olives, sprinkle them on top
9. Place the pan in the preheated oven until the cheese is melted (about 20-25 minutes)

Crockpot Enchilada Chicken

Normally what I do when I cook enchilada is - put some chicken in a pot with some chicken broth and simmer until cooked. Then when its done, I just shred it with a fork, pour enchilada sauce over the top.

I thought I would try this to see if it was easier. It was a lot easier. The chicken just fell apart when I touched it, so I didnt really have to do anything to it. It tasted the same too.

Ingredients
2 chicken breasts - frozen
1 large can enchilada sauce
1 can diced tomatoes

1. Put chicken in crockpot pour enchilada sauce and tomatoes over the top
2. Set on low for 4 hours

Super Chocolatey Fudgy Brownies

Ingredients
1/2 cup butter
6 oz chocolate chips
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder

* Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
* Grease an 8x8 pan
* In a saucepan melt the butter and the chocolate chips together. You can use any type of chocolate chips you want. I used milk chocolate.
* Remove from heat and pour into a bowl.
* Stir in sugar, eggs and vanilla
* Stir in the cocoa powder
* Sift the flour, salt and baking powder together
*Stir a little at a time into the wet ingredients
* Pour into pan
* Bake in the oven for 40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean

This goes great with my chocolate frosting recipe

Super Easy Chocolate Frosting

This makes the best frosting and it is so easy!!

2 1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup butter (softened)
5 tablespoons milk (any kind)
3/4 cup cocoa powder

* Combine all ingredients together in a bowl and mix together.
* I find its easiest to go in this order - powdered sugar, milk, cocoa, vanilla, butter
* You can adjust the recipe to include more cocoa if you want it more chocolatey

Weight Watchers Garden Vegetable Soup

Let me just say - I love vegetable soup. I love homemade soups - canned soups, not so much. The weight watchers version has 0 points, probably more if you eat a lot of it. I ate this soup every day for lunch, sometimes for dinner and I still had bunches left. Next time I make this, I will definetly cut this recipe down.

The soup was good, a lot of veggies, pretty filling.

Ingredients
6 cups broth
carrots - peeled and diced
1 large onion - chopped
4 teaspoons garlic or 4 garlic cloves - minced
1/2 cabbage, chopped
1 can green beans
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 can stewed tomatoes
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 large zucchini, diced
1 large yellow squash, chopped

1. Saute the onions, garlic and carrots for 5 minutes on medium high
2. Add all the remaining ingredients except for the zucchini and squash and bring to a boil.
3. Cover, reduce the heat to medium and simmer for about 15 minutes

4. Add the zucchini and squash and cook until they are tender.

Nutritional Information
Per Cup: 61 Cal (3% from Fat, 24% from Protein, 73% from Carb); 4 g Protein; 0 g Tot Fat; 0 g Sat Fat; 13 g Carb; 3 g Fiber; NetCarb10; NetCarb10; 52 mg Calcium; 1 mg Iron; 701 mg Sodium; 0 mg Cholesterol; Weight Watchers - 0 points

Product Rave: Tortilla Land Uncooked Tortillas

We bought these at Costco. They were in the refridgerated section by the pastas.

We weren't sure how they would freeze, but we hoped they would. It says on the packet that once the packet is opened, to use all the tortillas in 20 days. I wasn't sure if we could eat 44 tortillas in 20 days. So when we got home, I split them into packets of 6 and 8 tortillas, put them in gallon freezer bags and put them in the freezer.

I left a bag in the refridgerator. The next morning I cooked some up with some eggs and bacon and made breakfast burritos.

The packet says to cook on medium heat. So I put them in a skillet and browned them up. It took about a minute or two per tortilla, so it was pretty time consuming, but the end product was worth it. Soft, moist, warm and really yummy.

Spanakopita

Ingredients
2 (10 ounce) packages frozen spinach
2 eggs
1 large onion, chopped
juice of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon dill
1 teaspoon of nutmeg
2 cloves garlic, minced
salt
pepper
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1 (200 g) package feta cheese
12 sheets phyllo pastry
1/4 cup melted butter, for brushing pastry

1. Heat oven to 375°.
2. Drain spinach of all liquid.
3. Sauteé onions and garlic in 1/4 cup butter until tender, then add spinach, salt and pepper to taste.
4. Sautee 1-2 more minutes.
5. In a large bowl, combine spinach mixture, eggs, dill, lemon juice and crumbled feta.
6. Butter a square or round pan.
7. Place phyllo between a damp (but not wet) towel so it doesn't dry out.
8. Layer 6 sheets of phyllo in the pan, brushing each with melted butter.
9. Fill with spinach mixture and fold edges over.
10. Layer 6 more sheets of phyllo, brushing each with melted butter.
12. Bake 45 minutes or until golden

this was really good! I would next time use another packet of spinach or two. It only filled about 1/2 up the pan I used.

Fudgy Blondies

These blondies are moist and rich. Ooey gooey, everything I look for in brownies without the chocolately goodness.

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 sticks (12 tbsp) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
2 large eggs
4 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Grease a 9x13 pan
3. sift together flour, baking powder and salt and set aside
4. Whisk melted butter, brown sugar and vanilla together in a medium bowl until combined
5. Add eggs - one at a time and whisk together
6. Slowly add the dry ingredients into the wet mixture
7. Pour into pan, smooth out with a spatula and bake until top is shiny and golden - 22-25 minutes.