Zucchini & Corn Fritters

On Pinterest I keep seeing fritters...corn, cauliflower, zucchini, zucchini and corn, etc. It made me want to revisit my Zucchini Pancake Recipe that I modified from Ina Garten. So here I was....zucchini shredded, corn ready to go....I reached for my eggs and the carton was empty. Yeap completely empty. That prompted a few choice words from me followed by a shrug and a "oh well.... we'll try it without the egg" What do you know, it worked, tasted just fine and made it just a touch healthier! This was a great way to use up some leftover corn from a previous meal.



Zucchini & Corn Fritters: Serves 2-3

1 Medium Zucchini - Shredded (approx 2C)
1/2C Corn - Frozen or Canned
1/4C Flour
1/2tsp Baking Powder
Salt & Pepper
1/2tsp Olive Oil
1tsp Butter

Shred the zucchini, then squeeze out as much liquid from the zucchini as possible, I just picked it up a handful at a time and rung it out. Mix the corn, flour, baking power and salt and pepper together. In a large saute pan heat the olive oil and butter together over medium heat, scoop the mix into palm size balls, and form down into a patty and place in the skillet, repeat with the remaining mix and saute until the patty loses most of the wet look and the underside is browned. Flip the fritter and cook for another few minutes to brown on the second side, then remove from the pan, serve and enjoy!

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WW: 3 Points Plus / serving @ 2 servings
2 Points Plus / serving @ 3 servings

Goat Cheese Salmon

One of the first times I can remember having salmon was at a Christmas Dinner with my family. It came out wrapped in individual parchment paper packets with something "funny" melted on top. At the time I didn't really appreciate it as a teenager but obviously it stuck in my mind as a decade later here I am writing to you about it! I'm sure this probably didn't taste like the one we had at Christmas but it tasted pretty good! Another plus....you can have dinner in the oven in about 3 minutes and ready to eat in 20.



Simple Salmon: 2 Servings

(2) 6oz Salmon Fillets - de-scaled
1/3C White Wine - I used a Chardonnay
1oz Goat Cheese

Take a sheet of parchment paper and place a fillet in the center of it, grab all the edges and hold them up, pour half the wine into the sheet and carefully wrap up to create a sealed package - you can use a stapler if you need to. Repeat with the other fillet. Place in a 350° oven for 10 minutes on a sheet pan. Remove from the oven and carefully unwrap the packages, flake the goat cheese evenly over the salmon, gently wrap the packages back up and bake for another 5-10 minutes until the fish is cooked through and easily flaking. Remove from the oven, discard the parchment, serve and enjoy!

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WW: 10 Points Plus / serving

Cherry Baked Oatmeal

I know I know...another Baked Oatmeal. Well I love them, so you are stuck reading about them! This has really changed my breakfast routine over the past year, I make a pan once every two weeks, slice it into 18 pieces and have it for breakfast almost every morning and before a yoga class to tide me over as I find myself not eating dinner until 9:30/10:00 on those nights. Really you can make any variation of baked oatmeal you want, I tend to go to the frozen fruit section and find whatever is on sale that week. I saw frozen cherries and just had to try and I am glad I did!



Cherry Baked Oatmeal: Serves 12-18

4 Eggs
3C Milk - I use FF or 1%
2-1/2C Unsweetened Apple Sauce
1/2C Brown Sugar
6C Uncooked Old Fashioned Oats
2C Frozen Cherries
1.5tsp Baking Powder
1tsp Salt
1tsp Vanilla Extract

Mix the eggs and milk together then add all remaining ingredients. I let it sit for 5 minutes so the oats can absorb some of the liquid. Pour into a greased 13×9 or 10×15 pan and bake at 350° for 60-70 minutes until the top of the oatmeal is evenly cooked. Remove from the oven and let it cool on the counter, then slice into 12-18 slices, and refrigerate until you are ready to eat. I personally like to eat them plain, with a tsp of butter, a TB of cream cheese, some honey or some maple syrup, I really haven’t found a way that I don’t like baked oatmeal!

Other Baked Oatmeal's to Try:

Gingerbread
Blueberry Lemon
Strawberry Banana
Banana Bread
Apple Pie
Pumpkin Pie

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WW: 6 Points Plus / serving @ 12 servings
4 Points Plus / serving @ 18 servings

Baked Shells with Meatballs

Sometimes I really want stuffed shells but am way too lazy to do all that assembling, this recipe smashes together a couple different recipes of mine to make a great combo. Now I'm just sad that I finished my bowl already!



Baked Shells with Meatballs: Serves 6

1 Batch Italian Meatballs
12oz Pasta - I used Shells - you can use any fun shape you want

Tomato Sauce:
30oz Tomato Sauce
15oz Diced Tomatoes - Drained
2TB Tomato Paste
1tsp Oregano
1/2tsp Basil
1/4tsp Garlic Powder - or 1tsp Minced Garlic (I was out)
Salt & Pepper

Cheese Mix:
1C Part Skim Ricotta
1/3C Shredded Parmesan Cheese
1/4tsp Basil
1/4tsp Oregano
1/4tsp Garlic Powder

First make the Italian Meatballs - instead of frying in a pan I scooped the meat into 1/2TB balls and placed on a greased cookie sheet and baked at 400° for 10 minutes, removed from the pan and set to the side.

While the meatballs are cooking bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook the pasta until al dente. At the same time in a medium sauce pot mix together all the sauce ingredients, bring up to a simmer, reduce heat to low and continue to simmer lightly stirring occasionally as the pasta cooks. Once the pasta has finished cooking, drain it, return it to the pot, then add the sauce to the pasta and add the meatballs as well. Stir to toss it all together.

While the sauce and pasta are cooking mix together the cheeses and seasonings and set to the side.

Once all the parts are ready pour the pasta and meatball mixture into a 13x9 casserole dish, then drop rounded spoonfuls of the cheese mix on top of the pasta. Place the casserole dish into the 400° oven and bake for 15-20 minutes until the sauce is bubbling and the cheese has melted slightly.

Remove from the oven and let it cool for approximately 5 minutes, serve and enjoy!

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WW: 11 Points Plus / serving

Maryland Crab Stuffed Shrimp

This past weekend my parents celebrated their 40th Wedding Anniversary! To celebrate my sister and I threw them a dinner party with the main meal consisting of salad, roasted carrots, rice pilaf and stuffed shrimp. While I knew my mom liked my roasted carrots and rice pilaf and that stuffed shrimp were something she liked to order in restaurants I had never actually made them before! The weekend before I had to "suffer" through trying 2-3 different recipes for the crab stuffing before I realized I was trying to reinvent the wheel. I was trying to make the perfect binder for the mini crab cake that would sit on top of the shrimp when it occurred to me that my mom always makes great crab cakes and she uses a mix from Old Bay that has the perfect blend of spices that isn't too salty and isn't too much filler - Marylander's are very big on a crab cake being mainly crab! So off to the grocery store I went, if your grocery store sells Old Bay they will probably have a box of Old Bay Crab Cake Classic Mix right next to it - grab it, it is good stuff. Also mayonnaise....Hellmann's is the way to go here, believe me. Now get ready to get messy!



Stuffed Shrimp: Makes Approx 60 Shrimp

3lbs 16/20 Count Shrimp - De-veined and Peeled
2lbs Maryland Lump/Back fin Crab Meat
2 Packages Old Bay Crab Cake Classic Mix
1C Hellmann's Mayonnaise

First you want to make the stuffing for the shrimp. If you have kids this is a great time to use them. You need to take the crab meat and very gently pick through it to ensure that there are no shells in the mix - there are always shells, so the kids can pick through the crab and discard them. Next mix the Old Bay Crab Cake Classic Mix with the mayo until well blended. Add the shell-less crab to the mix and very gently with your hands spread the mix throughout the crab meat trying to not break the crab. Set in the refrigerator while you prepare the shrimp.

Spray 1-2 cookie sheets with baking spray and set to the side, now take your shrimp which have been de-veined and butterfly them - with a paring knife very carefully cut along the cut the was made to remove the vein, you do not want to cut all the way through the shrimp, you just want to open the shrimp up to create a nice flat plate to put the crab on top of. When you finish with each shrimp lay it flat onto the baking sheet, cut side up and repeat with the remaining shrimp.

Once all the shrimp are butterflied get the crab mix back out of the fridge and place a heaping tablespoon of the crab mix into your hand and gently form into a ball, press down onto a shrimp and repeat until you are out of shrimp to stuff! I used my handy dandy cookie dough scoop to ensure I was getting the same amount of stuffing on each shrimp.

Heat your oven to 350° and bake for 20 minutes. Carefully remove the sheets from the oven and serve and enjoy!

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WW: 2 Points Plus for 1 Stuffed Shrimp
3 Points Plus for 2 Stuffed Shrimp
5 Points Plus for 3 Stuffed Shrimp
7 Points Plus for 4 Stuffed Shrimp
9 Points Plus for 5 Stuffed Shrimp
10 Points Plus for 6 Stuffed Shrimp

Parmesan Asparagus

I love asparagus and all winter it has been upwards of $4.00 / # which makes me sad so I have been doing without. When I saw it on sale at the grocery store I jumped at the chance for it. I often have it mixed into pasta and a sauce but this time I wanted it nice and simple so I had a great meal of Rice, Jerk Chicken and Parmesan Asparagus. Sometimes the simple meals are the best meals and this was definitely one of those days.



Parmesan Asparagus: Serves 2-3

1lbs Fresh Asparagus - Ends Trimmed
1tsp Olive Oil
Salt / Pepper
2TB Shredded or Shaved Parmesan Cheese

Rinse and trim your asparagus, I usually take off about 2" from the bottom of the stalk which tends to be really fibrous and not appetizing. Toss the asparagus with the oil, salt and pepper and place in either a large saute pan or on a baking sheet. I prefer to saute my asparagus but you can roast it for 10-15 minutes (depends on the thickness - you don't want it to get soggy!). I placed mine in a saute pan over medium to medium high heat in a single layer and cooked for about 10 minutes until the asparagus was a vibrant green, still had a crunch to it but was fully cooked through. Then as soon as I removed it from the heat I sprinkled the Parmesan Cheese over it. A little goes a long way and adds just one more layer of taste to this side dish. Serve & Enjoy!

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WW: 1 Points Plus / serving @ 2 or 3 servings

Italian Chicken Pasta Salad

One of my favorite summer salads is my mom's Pasta Salad, I was in the grocery store and the mood hit me, who cares that it was snowing outside and summer was a distant memory?! I grabbed the good looking fresh vegetables and headed towards the meat aisle, while my Mom's recipe doesn't have chicken in it I decided that it was necessary if I was going to have it as a full meal. This took it from the nice refreshing side dish to a great dinner that had me wishing for the first Summer BBQ.



Italian Chicken Pasta Salad: Serves 4

8oz Pasta
3/4lbs Chicken Breast - Cubed
1C Kraft Fat Free Zesty Italian Dressing
2TB McCormick Perfect Pinch Salad Supreme Seasoning
Cucumbers
Bell Pepper
Carrots
Celery
Cherry Tomatoes

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil, add the pasta and cook until al dente. Drain and set to the side. While the pasta is cooking place the chicken and 1/4C of the dressing in a large saute pan and cook over medium heat for 5-6 minutes until the chicken is fully cooked through.

Once the chicken and pasta is cooked toss them together with the dressing, seasoning and 2-3 cups of your favorite salad vegetables chopped up. I used cucumbers, bell pepper, carrots and celery. Stir it together and if you have the time let it all sit in the fridge for 30-40 minutes before serving - this isn't required but the longer the pasta sits in the dressing the better it gets! Serve and enjoy.

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WW: 8 Points Plus / serving