Roasted Veggies + Arugula

Confession! This recipe was supposed to be a different recipe, however I forgot 3 key ingredients at the grocery store. So, here is an adapted easy weeknight dinner that can also help you clean out your fridge.  Salad topped with flavorful roasted veggies topped with fried egg (or poached if you arn't lazy like I am).  I accidently ate 18pp for lunch yesterday, so had to think up a very low pp dinner to compensate.  This was filling and tasty! Keep a lookout on the blog for the REAL recipe I was trying to post in a few weeks.

Servings: 2
Serving Size: 2 cups salad + 1 1/2 cup veggie mizture + 1 fried egg
Points Plus: 6pp
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes
Rating: 3 stars - Good

Ingredients:
4 oz raw mushrooms, chopped
15 brussel sprouts, cleaned and cut in half
1 cup cherry tomatos, cut in half
1 t. olive oili
2 slices of turkey bacon, cut into small peices
1 T. fresh sage, chopped
2 eggs
4 cups arugula
Salt + Pepper to taste

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Put your mushrooms, sprouts ad cherry tomatos in a baking pan and toss with 1 t. olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast for 30 minues. While veggies are roasting sautee turkey bacon and sage until cooked through, set aside. Heat a non-stick pan on your stove and fry two eggs.  To assemble (pretty simple), split your arugula between two bowls.  Top with roasted veggies and a fried egg.  add some hot sauce if you would like!

Tip:
As mentioned above, you can modify a recipe similar to this by using what is in your fridge! Let us know what veggies you try in it!

XOXO Katie

The Perfect Poached Egg

Dinner tonight (pictured below) did not fully turn out. In an effort to utilize some CSA Lacinato Kale I sauteed some up with chopped onions, garlic powder, salt and pepper. My plan was to top it with the perfect poached egg, and it seemed wonderful in my head, but I must admit, I think kale is gross.  I haven't been able to figure out a way to cook it without using a ton of fat, so I suppose I wont be making it again any time soon!  (meanwhile my husband is making his second dinner of NACHOS in the kitchen, boooooo I want nachos!!!)  Anyways, lucky for me the perfect poached egg turned out amazing.  Follow these simple instructions below.

Serving: 1
Serving Size: 1 poached egg
Points plus: 2pp
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Prep Time: 1 minute
Cook Time: 2:30-3 minutes
Rating: 5 - Excellent

Ingredients:
1 raw egg
1 t. vinegar

Directions:
Fill a pan with water and bring to a low boil.  Add vinegar and reduce heat so water is just slightly boiling. Crack egg into a small bowl.  Using a spoon, create a clockwise tornado in the pan with the water.  When you have your tornado going drop the egg in FAST to the outside of the pan.  The tornado will help to have the egg sort of catch itself and stay together.  Let the egg cook for 2:30-3 minutes then remove with a slotted spoon.  Tip with a tad of salt and a tad of pepper!

Tip:
Even if you want to, do not try and poach more than one egg at a time.  They will not turn out right.  But if you follow the instructions above they will turn out perfect every time!

XOXO - Katie

Mixed Greens + Egg + Grains Salad

Here is another unique entree salad (for one) combo that turned out really tasty!  I love putting a soft fried (or poached) egg on a salad, it works as a unique salad dressing.  This salad also features my favorite Trader Joes Harvest Grains.  IF you haven't tried those yet you need to get on that ASAP.  Enjoy!

Servings: 1
Servings Size: 1 salad
Points Plus: 8pp
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 3 minutes (for egg)
Rating: 4 - Very Good

Ingredient List:

1 handful of mixed greens

3/4 cup Trader Joes Harvest Grains, cooked according to package directions

1 egg, raw

1 T. fat free feta

1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, cut in half

Salt + pepper to taste

Spicy Dressing (optional, if you omit it will decrease the pp value by 1)

Siracha

1 T. light mayo

Directions:

Heat a skillet and fry your egg until cooked to your desired hardness. Mix 1 T. light mayo with 1 squirt of siracha to make a spicy dressing.

To assemble salad - layer greens, Harvest Grains, cheese, egg, spicy Siracha dressing and salt and pepper to taste.  Serve with tomatoes on the side.

Tip:
On a totally unhealthy note (although healthy in moderation), my spicy siracha dressing is inspired by THIS totally delish shrimp sauce with is inspired by MN hibachi restaurant Benihaha. This sauce is really good on rice or grains, I actually have never had it on shrimp.  But I bet it is really good!

XOXO Katie

Breakfast Tacos

Saturday morning we decided to come up with a creative breakfast simply by using up what we had in our fridge!  Paul came up with the idea for these breakfast tacos since we had some leftover corn tortillas and an avocado.  This makes for an easy breakfast!

Servings:  2

Size:  2 breakfast tacos

Points Plus: 8pp

Level of Difficulty:  Easy

Prep Time: n/a

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Rating: 4 stars – Very good

Ingredient List:

3 eggs

4 corn tortillas

½ Tbsp. olive oil

½ avocado, diced

3 Tbsp. salsa

2 oz. shredded cheddar, reduced-fat

Salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

In a large frying pan, prepared scrambled eggs seasoned with salt and pepper.  In a small skillet, lightly fry/brown the corn tortillas in olive oil.  Dice the avocado.  Assemble the tacos by layering eggs, salsa, and avocado and sprinkle the top with cheese.  Enjoy!

Tip:

You can easily adapt these tacos to whatever you have on hand or any ingredients you really like!  Some people aren’t huge fans of avocado so go ahead and substitute other veggies into your breakfast tacos instead.

XOXO Megan

Mini Bacon and Cheese Quiches

I love mini foods and these mini quiches are so cute!  They are also easy to make and low in pp value (and a WW recipe!).  There are a lot of different varieties you could make with this recipe to serve it at a dinner party as an appetizer.  As bacon and egg quiches, I served this at a brunch party.

Servings:  18

Size:  2 mini quiches

Points Plus: 2pp

Level of Difficulty:  Easy

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time:  20 minutes

Rating: 4 stars – Very good

Ingredient List:

36 wonton wrappers (3 ½ inch squares)

1 small onion

1 cup fat free egg substitute

1 ½ cup evaporated milk

½ cup shredded cheddar, reduced-fat

4 slices turkey bacon, chopped

Cooking spray

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°. Coat 36 mini muffin pans with cooking spray.  Press wonton wrappers into each mini muffin cup and spray the edges of the wonton wrappers, this will ensure they brown while baking.  In a small skillet, sauté the onion until tender, about 3-5 minutes.  Whisk together the egg, milk, cheese in a glass bowl; stir in the bacon and onion.  Fill the mini muffin cups with approximately 1 Tbsp. of egg filling.  Bake for 20 min.

Tip:

Wonton wrappers can be used for so many different recipes!  They are perfect for making homemade ravioli – Katie is a pro at wonton raviolis. J

XOXO Megan

Green Pepper, Onion & Mushroom Omeletes

Similar to Katie's post yesterday... it is important when you have company to plan out some healthy meals (it will benefit your guests just as much as it does you!).  Last week my family was in town for the 4th of July and I planned a meal of veggie omelets for us to start our day with a healthy, protein-packed breakfast.

Servings:  4

Size:  1 omelet

Points Plus:  5pp

Level of Difficulty:  Easy

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time:  15-20 minutes

Rating: 5 stars – Excellent

Ingredient List:

1 Tbsp. olive oil

1 green pepper, chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

1 package sliced mushrooms

8 eggs

Salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

Wash and chop the green pepper and onion.  In a large skillet, heat up the olive oil and add all the veggies.  Sauté the veggies until they are tender, about 5-10 minutes.  Whisk eggs in a small bowl – 2 eggs at a time. In a small sauté pan, pour in your eggs to begin cooking the omelet over medium heat.  Cook the eggs until almost set, and then add your veggie filling.  You will be adding about 1/3 cup of filling.  Once the omelet is filled, fold over in half with a spatula.  Cook for another 30 seconds or so and then remove from the pan and serve immediately with fresh ground pepper and salt.  Repeat this process for your other omelets.

Tip:

Add a little splash of milk to your eggs when whisking – this will make for fluffier omelets!  Also, feel free to sprinkle some mozzarella cheese on top of your finished omelet for extra garnish and flavor.

XOXO Megan

Jalapeño, Sausage & Egg Breakfast Braid

I love to find new breakfast recipes to try out!  I came across this recipe in Cooking Light and tested it out for a summer cabin trip a few years ago.  It’s easy, yet looks pretty impressive, and sounds like it too (breakfast braid sounds kind of fancy to me at least!).  This breakfast dish quickly became a favorite and is a go-to staple if I’m having company and I want to serve something for breakfast or brunch.

Servings:  8

Size:  1/8 of the breakfast braid

Points Plus: 6 pp

Level of Difficulty:  Medium

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time:  15 minutes

Rating: 5 stars – Excellent

Ingredient List:

1 can refrigerated pizza crust dough

Cooking spray

1 Tbsp. olive oil

¼ cup onion, chopped

4 oz. chicken sausage with jalapeños, chopped

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

½ cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese

¼ cup shredded cheddar cheese

¼ cup jalapeño peppers, chopped and seeded

1 large egg white, lightly beaten

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425°. Unroll the pizza dough onto a baking sheet coated with cooking spray.  Shape dough into a 15x10 inch rectangle.  Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add the onion and sausage; cook about 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Stir in the eggs, cook another 1-2 minutes or until the eggs set.  Remove from heat.  Sprinkle Monterey Jack cheese lengthwise down the center of the dough, leave about a 2 ½ inch boarder on each side.  Spoon the egg/sausage mixture evenly over the cheese.  Sprinkle cheddar cheese on top of the egg mixture; top with jalapeño peppers.  Make 2 inch long diagonal cuts about 1 inch apart on both sides of the dough to within ½ inch of the filling.  Arrange the strips over the filling, alternating sides to make the appearance look like a braid.  Press the ends to seal.  Brush the top of the braid with egg white to ensure a nice browned crust.  Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.  Let stand for 5 minutes before cutting into slices.

Tip:

To make the cuts in the pizza dough to form the braid, kitchen scissors work REALLY well!  Simply snip out even strips to make your braid.  The scissors will help the dough for tearing or getting stretched out so you end up with a nice looking braid to serve your company!

XOXO Megan

 

Blueberry Stuffed French Toast

Brunch! I hosted a brunch this past weekend and served this amazing blueberry stuffed french toast.  I originally had this recipe at a bridal shower, and have been thinking about it ever since....(and that was over a year ago).  The egg base if not too sweet and goes SO WELL with the blueberry topping.  When making the topping you cook half of the berries (you could use any fruit!) until they are soft, then add the second half at the end.  This creates two different berry textures which make the dish so much more interesting.  This re-heats up well too, and I am sure the topping would be amazing on ice cream :)

Also, in case you didn't know, making an egg dish that has to sit overnight is so ridiculously wonderful and easy. I made two overnight egg dishes and it took me less than 15 minutes.  Just pop them in the oven in the morning, stress-free entertaining!

Servings: 16
Size: 1/16 of 9X13 inch baking dish
Points Plus: 7pp
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Prep Time: 10 minutes!
Cook Time: 1 hour, also must sit overnight
Rating: 5 stars - Very Good


Instructions:
I copied the recipe word for word (except smaller servings), so here you go!

Tip: 
The recipe asks for cubed cream cheese.  I don't really know how you would cube cream cheese unless it was frozen, so I just held it with one hand and broke off tablespoon sized chunks, distributing evenly over the bread mixture. With clean hands of course!

XOXO - Katie