Buffalo Quesadilla

Buffalo Quesadillas make a great appetizer or meal. I used two giant tortillas that were not the easiest to flip or you can use four small tortillas.

Ingredients:
Two chicken breasts
Buffalo sauce
Blue cheese
Tortillas

Directions:
Slow cook the chicken covered with buffalo sauce. Should take about three hours or so. Shred the chicken and top with more buffalo sauce. Place one tortilla on the bottom of a fry pan. Top with the chicken and blue cheese to your liking. Flip once to brown both sides. Serve with blue cheese dressing and whatever toppings to your liking.

4th of July Weekend

This year Tony and I did not go to WI for the 4th of July. It did feel a little strange not being around family this time of year but we did make the most of our weekend.

Friday night we went to First Friday which Raleigh puts on the first Friday of every month. The galleries open up for viewing along with wine, snacks, and discounted specials at local restaurants. This was the first time Tony and I went to this event. We had a lot of fun but the art was not what we expected. It was terrible. We visited art galleries in Palm Springs and Scottsdale in the past and saw amazing art. Raleigh's art tour was put on by people that rented space to display their art. Most of it was so bad and you have to wonder how they price this garbage. I saw one framed art that was three pieces of wall paper in strips and they wanted like $600 for it. Are you kidding me? We did at least find a neat African store and homemade lotions. Tony and I met up with our friends and by that point in the night I had a few drinks in me. They took video of my last fall riding a mechanical bull and now they have video of me hula hooping while buzzed.

Saturday evening I made fondue. The first batch was horrible. I tried a new recipe and the cheese stuck together. My friend and I had to run out and get the ingredients for a different fondue that I made in the past. I did not get any pictures of it but can tell you this German Beer Fondue is really good. After dinner we met up with our other friends to watch the fireworks. The fireworks reminded me of Bill. He always used to volunteer with the fireworks. It was like for a moment in time he was still with us.

Sunday was a grill out at our friend's parent's house. They have a pool so we got a lot of exercise in. We went back Monday for more swimming.

Saturday I found these really cool hanging lights for outside at Ross. They were $6 for 3. I hung them from the trees. I found some items in my house to make glass candle holders. I took sea shells, votive candles, canning jars, ribbon, and sand to make these. It was super simple and the fact it did not cost me any thing was even better. All of the candle light and tiki torches really light up or back yard.



Hanging lights from Ross


German Cheddar and Beer Fondue
Recipe courtesy Rachael Ray

Prep Time: 10 min Inactive Prep Time: -- Cook Time: 12 min Level:
Easy Serves: 4 servings Ingredients

Ingredients: 1 sack, 10 ounces, 2 1/2 cups, shredded sharp Cheddar, available on dairy aisle
1/4 to 1/3 pound, 4 to 6 ounces, Gruyere, shredded
1 rounded tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 cup German lager beer
2 tablespoons spicy brown mustard
A few drops hot sauce
A few drops Worcestershire sauce

For Serving:
1 1/2 pounds cubed or thick sliced and browned wursts: knock, brat 
1 package mini party franks (recommended: Boars Head)
1 head cauliflower, separated into florets
1 small jar mini Gherkin pickles, drained
1 small jar pickled onions, available on vegetable aisle
1 small, round loaf rye, pumpernickel or sour dough bread, cubed

Directions:
Combine cheeses in a bowl with flour. Add beer to a small pot and bring up to a bubble over medium heat. Reduce the heat to simmer and add cheese in handfuls. Stir constantly, melting the cheese in batches. Stir in a figure-eight pattern with wooden spoon. When the cheese has been incorporated fully, stir in the mustard, hot sauce and Worcestershire sauce. Transfer fondue to warm fondue pot.

In a large skillet, bring 2-inches of water to a boil and blanch the cauliflower for 2 to 3 minutes, drain and arrange around the fondue pot.

In the same pan, bring the cooking water back to a boil and add the mini franks and sliced wursts. Cook, uncovered until all the liquid has evaporated. Add 1 tablespoon butter to the pan to crisp the casings. Pile wursts and dogs near fondue. Complete the dipping selections with dishes of pickles, onions and cubed bread.

Slow-Cooker Salsa Chicken

I made this yesterday for dinner. It is so good and low in fat. I ate mine with low fat tortilla chip and Tony made his into a chicken taco. The best thing was I used ingredients I already had in my pantry and fridge.



Black beans were not on the ingredient list but I added them in. When the meal was about ready it still looked a little watery to me so I filled that in by using the black beans. The recipe calls for salsa but does not say if it is chunky or pureed. I used pureed which is why I think it was more watery. My suggestion would be if you are using the pureed salsa do not add the 1/2 cup of water the recipe calls for. If you are using chunky salsa then add the 1/2 cup water. I loved it with the black beans added to it. Also I did not think it had that much of a taco flavor. I ran out of taco seasoning so I added Tastefully Simples Fiesta Party Dip Mix to give it more spice. If you do not have that I suggest adding another 1 - 2 tbs of taco seasoning.





Slow-Cooker Salsa Chicken

Prep: 10 mins
Cook Time: 6 - 8 hrs
Serves: 8
Cost per serving: $1.33

Ingredients:
2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 tbs taco seasoning
1 cup canned petite diced tomatoes
1 small onion diced (about a cup)
1/2 cup finely diced celery
1/2 cup shredded carrots
1 cup salsa
3 tbsp reduced fat sour cream

Directions:
1. Spray slow cooker with cooking spray. Place chicken in slow cooker. Sprinkle with taco seasoning. Spread tomatoes, onion, celery, and carrots over the top then cover with salsa. Pour 1/2 cup water over mixture. Cover and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours.

2. Shred chicken with 2 forks. Stir in sour cream and serve.

Per serving: 140 Cal; 2 g Fat; 63 mg Chol, 1 g Fiber, 24 g Pro; 7 g Carbs; 560 mg Sod.

Old Weight Watcher Points: 3 per serving

I am guessing a serving is about 3/4 cup.

Artichoke Cups

This recipe is from Pampered Chef. I tried making it low fat and it did not taste nearly as good as the real thing. I do recommend this recipe in the full fat version if you are looking for a great appetizer to serve at your next party.

Elegant Artichoke Cups

1 tbsp vegetable oil
24 square wonton wrappers
1 can (14 oz) artichoke hearts in water, drained and coarsely chopped
½ medium red bell pepper
½ cup (2 oz ) shredded mozzarella cheese
¼ cup (1 oz) grated fresh Parmesan cheese
1 lemon
2 tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley
¼ cup mayonnaise
1 garlic clove, pressed
Additional grated fresh Parmesan cheese

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly brush one side of each wonton with oil. Press one wonton wrapper into each cup of a mini-muffin pan. Bake 6 minutes or just until edges of wontons are light golden brown. Remove from oven; set aside, leaving wontons in pan.

2. Meanwhile, coarsely chop artichokes; place in bowl. Remove seeds from bell pepper and dice. Zest lemon to measure ½ tsp zest. Finely chop parsley. Add bell pepper, mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses, lemon zest, parsley, mayonnaise and garlic pressed to bowl. Mix well. Fill each wonton cup with about 1 tbsp of artichoke mixture; sprinkle with additional Parmesan cheese. Bake 8 minutes or until edges of wontons are golden brown and cheese begins to melt. Remove from oven to cooling rack. Remove wontons from pan; serve immediately. Yield: 24 appetizers

Crab Rangoon

This recipe is from Tastefully Simple. I made these for a party and they were gone! It is very simple to make. You will need a mini muffin pan. I bought mine from my Pampered Chef consultant, Maria. She is awesome if you ever need a Pampered Chef consultant. The picture is not shown with them topped with the Sweet Pepper Jalapeno Jam. It sounds weird but the people that tried with and without preferred with the jam on top. It gives it a completely different taste. I also added about a 1/3 of a pepper chopped into my recipe. I actually made these one day and then made the crap cakes the next for Tony. I just made a smaller batch of crab cakes for Tony since this recipe called for only 6 oz of crab.




Baked Crab Rangoon

1 packet Creamy Crab™ Cheese Ball Mix
8 oz. softened cream cheese
1 Tbsp. Merlot Sauce
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
1 (6 oz.) can white crab, drained

24 wonton wrappers
Olive oil spray
Sweet Pepper Jalapeno Jam

Directions
Blend together first 5 ingredients. Press wonton wrappers into a mini muffin tin to form a cup; fill each cup with about 2 teaspoons of filling. Spritz the edges of the wonton wrappers with olive oil spray. Bake at 375° for 12 minutes, or until filling is bubbly and edges of wontons are lightly browned. Top each cup with a dollop of Sweet Pepper Jalapeno Jam. Makes 24 servings.

Homemade Salsa

I made homemade salsa for the first time. The ingredients cost me about $15 and made 9 pints worth. It would have been much cheaper if I could grow my own tomatoes but still less than buying salsa from the store. The salsa tastes SO GOOD! I love it. I like my salsa to be pureed rather than chunky. Even when I buy chunky salsa I run it through the food processor. If you ever tried Margaretville’s salsa it tastes just like it. The recipe did not call for it to be pureed but I did it any way before canning it. I took about three hours to make mainly because this was new to me. There is a great sense of satisfaction and fulfillment knowing I am eating salsa I made from scratch.

The first step was to peel the tomatoes. Who the heck peels tomatoes? After the first tomato was peeled I thought there had to be a better way. I looked in my canning book and found I have to submerge the tomatoes in boiling water for a minute. After that, put in cold water. The skins came right off. That was so easy. I continued preparing all of my ingredients when I went to the fridge for cilantro. I grabbed two things of parsley at the store and no cilantro. Damit! I got into my car and went to Walmart and picked up cilantro. Lucky for me Walmart is just two miles away.

On my way to Walmart my hands started burning – on fire and turning red. I forgot to wash my hands after deseeding the jalapenos and hot red peppers. It is now five hours after touching the peppers and my hands are still on fire. After I completed my canning I started searching for tips online to get the pepper oils off my hands. Of course all of these smart asses on the internet say to use gloves before touching peppers. I don’t care about preventative; I need to know how to get it off! The first thing I did was put lemon juice on my hands. That helped stop the burn for about a minute. Next I tried dumping rubbing alcohol all over my hands. That helped for about another minute. I continued to try vinegar, hand sanitizer, and even butter. The most soothing thing was aloe but it still hurts. Not as bad as an hour ago but sucks none the less. I can’t touch anything remotely warm.

Today I spent over half of my grocery budget for the month but I stocked up and the rest of the month will be small purchases. I spent $334.03 after my $113.10 in coupons. That included cosmetics, personal care items, pet supplies, canning supplies, cleaning supplies, and groceries. I had a lot of great coupons at BJ’s warehouse and now have enough toothbrushes and toothpaste to last me the rest of the year! So it seems like a lot but most of the items will last a few months.

Dinner Tonight

I got up this morning fearing what the scale would say since I have not counted Weight Watcher Points in a while. I made sure I went to the bathroom first, stripped down, and got on the scale. I closed my eyes for a second and then looked down. 130.2 pounds. Big sigh of relief. I am OK.

For dinner tonight I made one of Tony’s favorite meals. He loves angel hair pasta with marinara sauce. I only use Ronzoni Smart Taste pasta and Classico or Bertolli sauce. I cooked up some spiced chicken sausage to go with it. I made Hungry Girl’s cheese sticks as our appetizer. If you never tried this recipe before it is so good and hard to believe these cheese sticks are not fried.

For dessert I made the Hungry Girl Double-Trouble Chocolate Trifle. I googled what VitaTops are since I never heard of them. Holy Shit are they expensive. Online for a 12 pack they are $17 and all they really are is the tops of a muffin. I was not spending that kind of money when I can easily find substitutes. Instead of making it with the VitaTops I bought Weight Watcher Chocolate brownies and used two 100 cal packs of Chip’s Ahoy I already had. I used four brownies in my recipe. This dessert is just like a low fat dirt cake. I loved it and had to do every thing from eating the entire dessert. Tony found it just as amazing. I was going to use two Weight Watcher chocolate muffins for this recipe but could not find any when I was shopping. I am sure it would taste just as good.

Hungry Girl Cheese Sticks: http://www.hungry-girl.com/chew/chewdetails.php?isid=1156

Hungry Girl Double-Trouble Chocolate Trifle: http://www.vitalicious.com/recipe-double-trouble-chocolate-trifle.html