Italian One Pot Wonder

Hi All! I hope you have had a good week, I am home from vacation and ready to cook some more. I wanted to share a great one pot meal I had right before vacation that I found on pinterest. I changed it slowly from the original recipe on Budget Bytes to be a little more weight watcher friendly but really this recipe is simple, easy and beyond tasty!



Italian One Pot Wonder: Serves 4-6

12oz Pasta
3C Chicken or Veggie Stock - Fat Free
10oz Frozen Spinach
8oz Tomato Sauce
1 Large Onion - Thinly Sliced
2 Garlic Cloves - Thinly Sliced
2tsp Dried Basil
2tsp Dried Oregano
1 Bay Leaf
1 Can Diced Tomatoes - 15 oz - do not drain
4oz Crumbled Feta Cheese

In a large sauce pot put in everything but the Feta Cheese. Cover & bring it up to a boil stirring occasionally while it is getting ready to boil - you want to break up the spinach which is essentially a huge ice cube in the pot. Once the pot is boiling remove the lid and stir occasionally, you will need to stir more often as the liquid evaporates and incorporates into the pasta. That is right....all this liquid, well the mass majority of it, will be absorbed into the pasta, no draining required! Okay so within 10-15 minutes it will be time to eat, stir until your pasta is done and has absorbed the liquid, remove from the heat, scoop into bowls, top with the crumbled feta, serve and enjoy!

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WW: 10 Points Plus / serving @ 4 servings
7 Points Plus / serving @ 6 servings

Grilled Pineapple

This recipe is courtesy of my sister, she was making a nice dinner for a friend and told me that this Grilled Pineapple was fantastic....of course I wouldn't know as my grill lives at my sister's house!! Someday I will live in a place that allows them again, until then we will have to take her word for the awesomeness of this recipe.



Grilled Pineapple: Serves 6-8

1 Large Ripe Pineapple
1/4C Honey
1TB Lemon Juice
1tsp Crushed Mint Leaves

First mix together the honey, lemon juice and mint and set to the side while you prepare the pineapple. Remove the top from the pineapple and leaving the rind on, slice vertically from top through bottom splitting the pineapple in half. Next slice each half length wise then carefully slice out the central core (hard part of the pineapple). Continue slicing the pineapple length wise until you have approximately 6-8 slices. My sister says you want to leave the rind on as it will help it retain its shape and form on the grill.

Next brush the fruit with the marinade and place cut side down on a grill for approximatly 10-15 minutes, remove from the grill and it is your option to keep the rind on for presentation or remove for quick eating :) Serve & Enjoy

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WW: 1 Points Plus / serving

Creamed Cucumbers

Is it hotter than you know what where you are too? I was really glad when I got home that I had some creamed cucumbers in my fridge as they are cool and refreshing and a side dish that reminds me of my childhood eating dinner on the back porch in the summer. This recipe is super simple with little prep time but does requires some waiting time before you can eat!



Creamed Cucumbers: Serves 4

2 Large Cucumbers - Peeled & Sliced Very Thin!!
1/2C Yellow Onion - Diced very fine
Salt / Pepper
2TB Sour Cream - I use Daisy's Light
2TB Mayo
1TB White Distilled Vinegar

Peel and Slice your cucumbers very thin - I used a mandolin to get consistent slices. Toss the cucumbers, onion and some salt and pepper together and place in a colander, then place the colander in a bowl (the bowl will need to be able to hold a cup or two of liquid). Now for the waiting part, the cucumbers need to release liquid, so I took an old cool-whip lid and placed it in the colander on top of the cucumbers then put a huge can of tomato sauce on top of it, this helps the cucumbers release their liquid. Place the setup in the fridge and give it at least an hour to release the liquid. I probably had 2C of cucumber juice in the bowl after an hour or two. About 30 minutes before you are ready to eat remove the cucumbers from the colander and place in a bowl, discard the liquid, and add in the remaining ingredients - sour cream, mayo and vinegar. Stir to incorporate, let it sit in the fridge for 30 min to give the sauce a chance to get the cucumber flavor in it then serve and enjoy!

This is a perfect side dish to burgers, grilled chicken, steak, kabobs, basically any summer dish! If you don't use it all in the first day that is okay, it just may be a little runnier the next day but still delicious!

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WW: 1 Points Plus / serving

Cream of Roasted Asparagus Soup

This is a soup that I have been meaning to make for years. When I was an intern in college my bosses took me out to a great little restaurant near our office that had a fantastic cream of asparagus soup, it was my first taste of asparagus actually. I finally saw it on sale at the grocery store and decided to just wing it. The result was nice and light with a slight thickness to the soup. I decided to roast my asparagus instead of only boiling in an attempt to really bring the flavor out and I believe it was a complete success. The whole soup was made in about 30 minutes and ready to eat in another 30 minutes and like any good recipe it only got better the longer it sat!

On a side note.... How are you all liking the mobile app? My sister has been working diligently to make it even better and easier to navigate and I really appreciate her efforts! If you don't have it and want to give it a try just go to Jillian's Kitchen on your phone and it should prompt you to try the mobile app, if not there is a link in the upper right hand corner of the navigation bar over >>>>>> there that will help you download it.



Cream of Roasted Asparagus Soup: Serves 4

2 Pounds Fresh Asparagus
1TB Olive Oil
2TB Butter
2C Milk (I used Fat Free)
2TB Flour
4C Chicken Stock (I used Fat Free) ** for vegetarians feel free to use Veggie Stock
1 Onion - Chopped (approx 1/2-3/4C)
Salt & Pepper

First you need to roast the asparagus, so turn your oven to 400°, rinse your asparagus and trim the rough ends off while the oven heats up. Toss the asparagus with the olive oil and a generous amount of salt and pepper. Spread out in a single layer on a sheet pan or two and place in the oven for about 15-20 minutes - you want the asparagus to actually get a little soft as in the end we blend it all together. While the asparagus is cooking you can get the rest of the soup going.

In a large pot bring your chicken stock to a low boil / simmer. In a skillet add 1TB of butter with the onions and some salt and pepper, cook over medium heat until the onions are very soft and translucent, add the remaining tablespoon of butter and once it has melted add the flour and stir constantly to make a paste, continue stirring so the flour doesn't burn and let it cook for a minute. Once the flour has had a minute to cook add the milk and with a whisk incorporate the flour into the milk, bring up to a low simmer while constantly stirring and let the milk and flour mixture thicken. Once it has gotten to a thin gravy consistency add it to the chicken stock and stir to mix it all together.

Okay your asparagus should be done cooking by now, take about 1/3 of the asparagus and chop it into 1" segments and set to the side, toss the remaining asparagus into the stock pot and let it cook for a minute or two. Now for the fun part....get your blender out! Pour the soup and asparagus into the blender (make sure to leave some air space and keep your hand on top of the lid, I typically fill the blender up halfway! the steam will try to push the lid off - I learned this the hard way when I exploded hot berry compote all over my fridge, ceiling and cabinets years ago!). Now blend, puree, beat the heck out of it until nice and smooth, put in a new stock pot or a big bowl and repeat until all of the soup and asparagus that was in the pot is blended. Return all of the blended soup to the stock pot and let it simmer for 15-30 minutes just so all the flavors can merry together, give it a stir occasionally and once you have finished cooking it add those reserved asparagus segments to the soup, ladle up, serve and enjoy!

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WW: 4 Points Plus / serving

Red Velvet Cupcakes - Fourth of July Fun!

One of the summer interns in my office makes great baked goods and today was no exception! She made us wonderful red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and blue sprinkles and I just had to share with you. If you are looking for a sweet treat to take with you to a Fourth of July Party or you just want to have some fun with your kids give this recipe from food network a try.



Red Velvet Cupcakes: 24 Cupcakes

Cake:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil **
1 cup buttermilk - room temperature
2 large eggs, room temperature
2 tablespoons red food coloring
1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Icing:
1 pound cream cheese - softened **
2 sticks butter - softened **
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups sifted confectioners sugar **

(** - see the points calculations for some possible substitutions to lower point values!)

To make the cakes sift all of the dry ingredients together in one bowl and in another bowl mix all of the liquid ingredients. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet, mix completely until the mix is nice and smooth. Pre-heat your oven to 350°, put 24 cupcake liners in your cupcake tin and fill to 2/3 full. Once the oven is heated up place the cupcakes in and bake for 20-22 minutes, half way through the cooking process rotate your pans 180 degrees so your cupcakes cook evenly.

While your cupcakes are cooking you can make the icing (my favorite part!). With a mixer beat together the cream cheese, butter and vanilla until nice and smooth, slowly add the sugar and incorporate it into the wet mix, turn the speed up to high and beat until nice and fluffy.

Once the cupcakes have finished cooking and have cooled off then spread the icing on top, if you want to get really fancy you can put the icing into a bag, snip the end off and pipe onto the cupcakes.

Now to make Fourth of July Special Cupcakes add some blue sprinkles to the top and enjoy!

Happy Fourth Everyone!

- Jillian's Kitchen

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WW: 12 Points Plus / cupcake **

** Note, the points above are for the recipe as is....I would suggest trying the following to reduce points: swap 1.5C of applesauce for the vegetable oil, and change the icing to 8oz of 1/3 less fat cream cheese and 2C of confectioner's sugar with a teaspoon of vanilla - yes you read that right....no butter and halving the rest of the ingredients! This will reduce the points to: 4 points per cupcake - I haven't tried this as I just had the real thing today, I will have to give it a shot though!