Fancy Nancys

Tonight we invited our friends Alice and Rena to Suzanne's house to be our Victims.  Thank you to Alice for the wine and yummy bread from Panera, and thanks to Rena for bringing us beautiful flowers and the pinot grigio - it was delish (April is enjoying a glass as we write).

Such fancy company demanded an elegant meal. :) Our challenge this week was to make a complete meal without any dairy.  I think we did a great job from start to finish!

Spicy Roasted Chickpeas

Weight Watchers Points Plus Cookbook

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 tsp chili powder
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp table salt
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
2 15.5 ounce cans chickpeas, drained, rinsed and patted dry

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Arrange racks in top and bottom third of the oven. In a large bowl, stir together the oil, cumin, chili powder, salt and cayenne. Add the chickpeas and toss to coat.

Divide chickpeas between two large rimmed pans (aka cookie sheets). Bake, shaking pans occasionally and rotating pans from top to bottom after about 20 minutes, until chickpeas are browned and crisp, about 35-40 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature. Serves 6, with a PointsPlus value of 1 each.

April: First of all, they cooked much faster than the recipe said - I turned down the oven to 375 and only cooked them for 20 minutes.  Turns out if you let the chickpeas burn, they pop up in the oven like popcorn (if you open the oven door, they literally pop at you!).  Personally, I liked them cooked a little less - they absorbed more of the flavor and tasted less burnt.

Suz: I liked em, but they could have used a little more spice.  They had the consistancy of corn nuts almost, but a much better taste.

Lemony Chicken Saltimboca
from Cooking Light January/February 2011

4 (4-ounce) chicken cutlets

1/8 tsp table salt

12 fresh sage leaves
2 oz Proscuitto di Parma, cut into 8 thin strips

4 tsp olive oil, divided

1/3 cup fat-free, reduced-sodium chicken broth
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp cornstarch
1 medium lemon, cut into wedges (for garnish)

Sprinkle the chicken evenly with the salt. Place 3 sage leaves on each cutlet; wrap 2 slices prosciutto around each cutlet, securing sage leaves in place.

Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add 1 tablespoon oil to pan and swirl to coat. Add chicken to pan; cook for 2 minutes on each side or until cooked through. Remove chicken from pan; keep warm.

Combine broth, lemon juice and cornstarch in a small bowl; stir with a whisk until smooth. add cornstarch mixture and the remaining 1 teaspoon of oil to pan; bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Cook for 2 minute or until slightly thickened, stirring constantly with a whisk. Spoon sauce over chicken. Serve with lemon wedges, if desired.

Serves 4 with a PointsPlus value of 5.  With angel hair pasta, PP add 5 additional points.

April: Very moist, lovely flavor, but not to overbearing.  It still tasted like chicken, which was good.

Suz: Oh my goodness, this came out so good!  I doubled the amount of sauce since we were serving the chicken with the angel hair - it didn't change the PP value though.  The chicken was tender and juicy and the prosciutto gave it a yummy saltiness.  Wish I had made more!

Roasted Asparagus
Suzanne’s recipe

1 pound asparagus, trimmed

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

1/2 tsp table salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

2 tsp olive oil

Toss ingredients together, bake at 400 for 12-15 minutes or until cooked through. Stir once or twice during roasting.  Serves 4 with a PointsPlus value of 1.

April: Tasted good, still tasted like asparagus (which I don't normally like) but it had a good balance of flavor so it wasn't like it tasted fake, you know what I mean?

Suz: I love asparagus.  It was a nice accompaniment to the chicken and pasta!

Berry Trifle
adapted from Tyler’s Ultimate

2 cups unsweetened frozen blueberries, thawed
2 cups unsweetened frozen strawberries, thawed and sliced
4 cups unsweetened frozen raspberries, frozen, thawed
1 medium lemon, juiced
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp cornstarch
One container Cool Whip Whipped Topping Free Whipped Topping, thawed
One jar (11 oz) lemon curd
One store-bought angel food cake, cut into 1/2" slices

Place the berries into a large bowl and sprinkle with half of the lemon juice. Lightly toss.

Combine the berries, sugar, cornstarch and remaining lemon juice in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a simmer and cook just until the berries begin to break down and give up their juices, about 3 minutes. Take the berries off the heat and let cool; the mixture should thicken up as is cools.

Put the lemon curd into a bowl and stir in a little of the cool whip to loosen it. Then fold in the rest of the cool whip.

To assemble the trifle, spoon a layer of the lemon cream into a large glass bowl. Add a layer of angel food cake, breaking the slices into pieces that fit. Then soak the cake with a layer of berries and their juices. Keep going to make 3 or 4 more layers, depending on the size of the bowl, finishing with a layer of lemon cream. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Serves 10, with a PointsPlus Value of 8 each.

April: It was really good, I wish the layers had worked out differently.  Easy to make.  Next time, will add another container of cool whip.  We used a lemon pie filling instead of curd that didn't have any dairy in it.

Suz: Yum again.  I'm starting to appreciate lemon a lot more.  I really liked how light and satisfying it was!




April and Jesse bonding over a glass of pinot grigio!


Next week we're back at April's house with a family-friendly meal and hopefully another guest.  Thanks again to Rena and Alice for being our Victims tonight - it's great to have another opinion and get to spend time with good friends!

Sweet... Sour... and Salty

Tonight's dinner was lovely. We invited our dear friends Bridget and Melissa this evening as our tasters. Suzanne was doing some traveling and adopting a new dog, Jesse. He is the cutest dog and he and Luke took quite well to each other. Luke is not showing me much love this evening. I think he's a little bitter about how it all went down... well how he went downstairs that is and Jesse got all the cuddle time.



Jesse the Dog



Dinner tonight overall was comforting and it was so nice to have guests.



Our pre-dinner snack... We would show you a picture, but it was gone before we knew it. 6 cups of popcorn simply vanished. I made this entire thing during my daughters morning nap. I put it in a mixing bowl with a lid and it kept all day like the recipe states in the magazine. It says it will keep for up to two days (but seriously, it won't last that long!).

Spicy Maple-Cashew Popcorn

from Cooking Light Magazine December 2010



The empty bowl, after we all scarfed down the popcorn!



1 tablespoon Canola oil

1/4 cup  unpopped popcorn kernels (about 6 cups popped)

1/4 cup dry-roasted cashews

1/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup maple syrup

1 tablespoon of butter

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1/4 teaspoon of ground red pepper



1. Heat canola oil in a medium heavy saucepan over medium-high heat. While saucepan heats, line a jelly-roll pan with parchment paper (a large cookie sheet is fine....) Set pan aside.

Add popcorn to oil in saucepan; cover and cook 2 minutes or until kernels begin to pop, shaking pan frequently. Continue cooking for 2 minutes shaking it constantly.  When popping slows down, remove pan from heat. Let stand 1 minute or until all popping stops. Stir in cashews.

2. Combine sugar and remaining ingredients in a small saucepan; bring to a boil. Cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Removed from heat; cool 1 minute.

3. Pour hot syrup mixture over popcorn mixture; toss well to coat. Immediately spread popcorn mixture out onto prepared jelly-roll pan. Cool 3 minutes.

Yield: 6 servings (1 cup per serving)

Cooking tips from April: Jelly-Roll pan process. reminded me of smooshing down rice crispy treats. It has that kind of texture. I thought the canola oil wouldn't be enough but it was... I carefully timed what the recipe said and it came out perfectly... no burnt. dry. or funky popcorn. Follow this recipe strictly in it's directions and it will turn out great.

 April, Bridget, Melissa, and Suzanne: "OH MY GOD!" Then the bowl was empty. We didn't even offer it to the children. Everyone agreed that the sweetness of the maple, the salt and then the kick of cayenne at the end of the taste of popcorn was perfect! Suzanne was irritated (April's words, not mine!) however because she was on baby duty and was not able to reach the bowl as well as others :O)


The Main Course was sweet and sour chicken. I doubled the recipe and measured the weight out to make sure I had it right and halved the chicken breast myself. I'm a busy mom so I cut the chicken breasts and peppers during the early morning nap of my youngest and the oldest played with play-do. Lovely way to start the day in the kitchen.

Sweet 'n' Sour Chicken
from Taste of Home Healthy Cooking December 2010

4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (4oz each)
2/3 cup water
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup reduced sodium soy sauce
1 medium sweet red pepper, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 medium green pepper, cut into 1 inch pieces .
2 tablespoons of cornstarch
3 tablespoons of cold water
Hot cooked brown rice

1. Place chicken in an 11 X 7 baking dish; set aside. In a small saucepan, bring the water, sugar, vinegar and soy sauce to a boil, stirring constantly. Add peppers; return to a boil. Combine cornstarch and cold water until smooth; gradually stir into pepper mixture. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 1-2 minutes or until thickened. Pour over chicken.
2. Bake, uncovered, at 350 for 10-13 minutes on each side or until a meat thermometer reaches 170. Serve with rice.

Cooking Tips from April: Suzanne brought the rice which was tasty. I placed the chicken in a 9 by 13 since I double the recipe and it worked fine. I thought I should butter the dish, but didn't since the recipe didn't call for it... I thought it was quiet odd just placing the breasts in the dish and pouring the sweet and sour mix on top to bake it. Very simple recipe but make sure you follow it closely with the time. It cooked exactly 26 minutes in the oven.

April: I think next time I will cut the breast in fourths because the halves just seemed quite large and did not soak up the seasoning as much as I would have liked. Great simple recipe that besides having the pay close attention to making the sweet and sour mixture was easy enough to do even with all the kids running around. I will be making this one again for sure.

Bridget: Chicken is moist and the pepper and sweet and sour mix over the rice is quite tasty.

Melissa: The seasoning is good and the right amount of sweet and sour. Unlike other recipes it didn't have too much sweet.

Suz: I saw this recipe when I first got the magazine over Christmas, and have been itching to try it.  I thought the cooking method was interesting, and was quite frankly surprised that it didn't need to be sauteed or anything first.  I thought the chicken was delicious, and the sauce was perfect.  I think thinner chicken breasts would be good, or maybe chicken tenderloins - it would give the sauce a chance to get soaked in a little better to the chicken. 

Suzanne brought over some wild and brown rice that she had in the house - one of those 90 second bags.  It wasn't anything special, but it went well with the chicken.  One of the things that makes cooking rice a pain is the time it takes - I don't mind the shortcut with bagged rice or minute rice at all.  She also made some roasted brussel sprouts, which were yum!

Roasted Brussel Sprouts
from Suzanne's head

2 bags frozen brussel sprouts (use fresh if you can find them!)
1 shallot, sliced
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 teaspoon white balsamic vinegar (or regular, whatever you have is fine)
1 clove garlic, crushed
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Toss the brussel sprouts with the rest of the ingredients.  Put in a single layer on a large cookie sheet or roasting pan.  Bake 20-25 minutes, stirring twice, or until sprouts are cooked through and browned. 

Suz: I usually chop up some canadian bacon and add that in, which gives it an extra salty-meaty flavor.  I tossed in about a tablespoon of bacon bits that April had at her house. The first time I had these, there was lots of olive oil and pancetta.  It was great, but I like this lighter version a whole lot more (so does my figure!)  I'm not normally a brussel sprouts fan, but any vegetable is about 10x better when you roast it!

April: I think I might have been the only true fan of brussel sprouts at the table and I absolutely loved them. I will be making these in this house. Now if I can just figure out how to hide the leftovers from my husband. I'm not sure I want to share them.

Melissa: I like the chicken, don't get me wrong, but the brussel sprouts are good.

Bridget: We don't get to eat these in my house, but these I could have all the time.

Next week, we're having dinner at Suz's house with Alice and Rena M. Due to health restrictions, our challenge is to make an entirely dairy-free meal (no milk, no butter, no cheese).  Check us out to see how it all comes together!  Have a great week!

Happy New Year!

We have been MIA for quite a while - the holidays were, as usual, crazy but wonderful.  Seeing people's faces as they open a gift that they really wanted is so great.  And being around children that understand that Christmas is not only about trees, candy and lots of presents but also the birth of Jesus Christ, is such a refreshing experience.  Both April and I traveled to see family, celebrating the season of giving and missing those that we've lost in the last year.

Even though there was the threat of a winter storm (which totally passed us over without incident), we got together to share a meal and have some much needed "girls time".  The casserole was amazing; even Alden liked it (he said his favorite were the peas, aka zucchini)!  It was the perfect one-pan meal - the only thing it might have needed is a green salad to accompany it.

April and I got to do a lot of planning for the next couple of months of Victim Nights - watch your email for an invitation to dinner! 

Mexican Chicken Casserole
adapted from Cooking Light Magazine, Jan/Feb 2011

1 cup onion, chopped

1 cup frozen corn kernels

1 cup zucchini, diced

1 cup sweet red pepper, chopped

3 cups roasted chicken breast, shredded

1 Tablespoon garlic, minced

2 tsp chili powder

1 tsp Ground Cumin Seed

4 oz Diced Green Chilis

1 ¼ cups Green Chili Enchilada Sauce
12 corn tortillas

1 cup shredded reduced-fat Monterey Jack cheese

1 cup feta cheese, crumbled

1 tub fresh salsa (from the refrigerator section)

Preheat oven to 350. To prepare casserole, heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Lightly coat pan with cooking spray. Add onion, corn, zucchini, and bell pepper; sauté 6 minutes or until tender. Add chicken, garlic, chili powder, cumin, enchilada sauce and green chilies; sauté 2 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Remove from heat.

Spread 1/2 cup salsa over the bottom of a 13”x9” baking dish coated with cooking spray. Arrange half of the tortillas over salsa. Spoon half chicken mixture evenly over tortillas. Top with 3/4 cup salsa. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup of each cheese. Repeat layers, starting with remaining tortillas and ending with remaining cheeses. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes until bubbly. Serve with a dollop of sour cream. 

Makes 8 servings, with a PointsPlus value of 7 each. 

Suz: Yum!  I found this recipe a couple of weeks ago and have been patiently waiting for our first RV of 2011 to try it; it did not disappoint!  The flavors were perfect together and the feta gave it a nice salty kick - I think you can substitute queso fresco if you like.  Definitely something I will make again, and it would work well with a rotisserie chicken - took about 15 minutes to put it together, then another 25 in the oven.  I do have to admit that I eyeballed a lot of the measurements, specifically with the veggies and the chicken.  I used one whole red pepper, one whole zucchini, and 3/4 of an onion.  I roasted 3 chicken breasts (about 1 pound) and used all of them, I think it was a little over 3 cups of chicken.

April: If you don't try this one you're missing out. That is all I have to say.

Alden: Didn't like the feta but otherwise seemed to really like the meal which is wonderful.

Lemon Poppyseed Pound Cake

from Weight Watcher's: Easy Homestyle Cookbook

Cooking Spray

1tsp all-purpose flour

1 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup butter or stick margarine softened

2 large egg whites

1 large egg

1 tablespoon grated lemon rind

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons of poppy seeds

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/8 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup low-fat buttermilk

2/3 cup powdered sugar

4 teaspoons of fresh lemon juice

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2.  Coat an 8 by 4 inch loaf pan with cooking spray; dust with 1 teaspoon of flour. Set aside.

3. Combine granulated sugar and butter in a bowl; beat at medium speed of a mixer for 4 minutes or until well-blended. Add egg whites and egg, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add lemon drind and vanilla; beat well. Combine 1 2/3  cups of flour, poppy seeds, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, stirring well with a whisk. Add flour mixture to sugar mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture.

4. Pour batter into prepared pan; bake at 350 for 1 hour or tooth pick can be inserted in center and comes out clean.  Let cool in pan for 10 minutes on cooling rack ; revoved from pan. Poke holes in top of cake using a skewer.  Combind powdered sugar and lemon juice in a small bowl and stir well. Brush over warm cake. Let cool completely.

Yield:12 servings with 1 slice each.

Old points value of 5.

April: Very simple recipe but quite tasty. I doubled the batch because I knew we would be crazy eating it. The 1 lemon rind that I used was able to make the amount of juice it called for both batches... however I thought it tasted too sugary so I added more lemon. I would recommend mixing the sugar and juice while it's on the cooling rack... I think it would have gone over better if I hadn't waited so long. While putting in the poppy seeds I thought it was calling for too much but it actually ended up being perfect. It has a banana bread texture to it and yet has that crisp sugary shell of a pound cake.

Suz: Yum.  I had to restrain myself from having a second piece.  Will pass this recipe along to my lemon-loving mother!

Alden: Why doesn't it have icing all the way around? It should.