Panko Crusted Fish Sticks

This is my second time making these courtesy of my friend Colleen at Cooking This and That. Emma loves them so I thought I'd surprise her this Sunday night after she was so good on our Turkey Trot walk this afternoon we did to help raise money for a local soup kitchen.

Once again, they were a huge success. They are easy, fast, crunchy and healthy. Instead of using tilapia as Colleen does, we use Alaskan Cod. It's a personal preference as I just like this fish better. And we don't bother with the sauce, we just use good old bottled cocktail sauce.

Broccoli and Cheese Soup

I have been searching for the last few days for a good broccoli cheese soup but none had all the elements I wanted. Some called for heavy cream or half and half and I just want to use milk. Some wanted me to use Velveeta. Sorry but no dice. So finally I came up with my own. I guess sometimes I'm afraid especially when it comes to exact measurements but I think I did really well with this one. It was a good blend of broccoli and cheese without all the fat of heavy cream.

4 cups low sodium chicken broth
1 cup water
1 cup milk
1/2 cup all purpose flour
salt & pepper
1 large head of broccoli, about 4 cups chopped
6 oz. shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

In a medium sized pot, combine the chicken broth, water, milk, and flour (salt & pepper to your taste) and bring to a boil, stirring often with a whisk so the flour doesn't sink to the bottom and burn. Make sure there are no lumps too!

Once the liquid has boiled, add in the broccoli and 1/4 cup of the parmesan cheese and lower the temperature and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove from heat.

With an immersion blender, blend the soup until there are no large pieces of broccoli left. Mix in the cheddar and remaining parmesan cheese. Again, add salt and pepper if needed.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Waffles

In honor of Halloween, I made these delicious waffles for breakfast this morning. I found the recipe on Pennies on a Platter and then adopted to fit my pregnant needs (hehehe). The pumpkin and spices mixed so well with the chocolate. And they were light and fluffy, not hard and dense like premade waffles. Certainly a treat. This makes a lot of batter so it's great for a crowd or leftover snacks. Two were plenty for me for breakfast, and considering the amount of butter in them, that made me happy. :)

1 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
3 large eggs
2 cups 1% milk
1 cup pumpkin puree (canned or fresh)
3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted
Cooking spray for coating the waffle iron

Preheat waffle iron. Sift together flour, brown sugar, baking powder and soda, salt, and spices. Whisk egg in a large bowl with buttermilk, pumpkin, and butter until smooth. Whisk in dry ingredients just until combined.

Spray the cooking spray on the waffle iron and spoon batter (about 1 cups for each waffle) into waffle iron, spreading quickly. Cook according to manufacturer’s instructions.

Cavatelli with Veggies and Ricotta Sauce

This I made based on some suggestions from fellow bloggers as to what kind of sauce to pair with the cavatelli and veggies. I decided the ricotta sauce would be best and it was certainly good. It was just enough cheese and sauce but not too much that it was overwhelming. It allowed all the other flavors to come through which I really liked

1 package frozen cavatelli, cooked to instructions
2 TBSP olive oil
3 slices turkey bacon, chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped finely
1 head of broccoli, chopped
5-6 baby bella mushrooms, sliced thinly
2 TBSP part skim ricotta
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
2 ladles starchy pasta water
Salt & pepper to taste.

Boil the water for the cavatelli and cook according to package instructions.

Heat the olive oil in a skillet and add the bacon to it. Cook the bacon thoroughly. Drain and set aside.

To the same skillet, add the garlic, onion, broccoli and mushrooms and cook, stirring often, about 5 minutes.

Add the bacon bacon into the veggie mixture. Ladle in two servings of the starchy pasta water. Add in the ricotta and parmesan cheese and stir well until everything is combined. Drain the cavatelli and add that to the skillet. Mix it all together and serve, topping with extra parmesan, salt & pepper if desired.

Chicken Pot Pie for a weeknight

Okay for those who like things only from scratch, please stop reading here because I used (gasp) Bisquick Heart Smart in this one. We love it though anyway. Yes, I've made a chicken pot pie completely from scratch and if you do believe me, click here. But for a weeknight meal, it's just not possible. And this hits the spot for us. So if you aren't anti-some help, click here and try it out. I think you'll really like it!

Healthy Chicken Marsala

Chicken marsala is usually made with lots of butter and cream. So it's delicious but not something I'm willing to splurge on when I'm making it at home. So I found this great recipe at Cooking Light that delivered both on taste and ease tonight. But since I didn't have any peas, I left that step out, as well as the half and half. The family still enjoyed it and we felt good about eating it.

Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Bolognese Sauce

I got the inspiration for this meal from Proceed With Caution but I put my own spin on it. I prepared the dough a bit differently from her way because I didn't have quite long enough to bake the potatoes and I made my own version of a bolognese sauce with what I had in the house. I think they came out pretty good and I even froze the leftover gnocchi to use another time.














Sweet Potato Gnocchi

1 large sweet potato
2 large russet potatoes
1-1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 cup parmesan cheese

Scrub the potatoes thoroughly and submerge in a pot of boiling water for 30 minutes. Remove from the pot and cool. Removed the skins and shred each potato using a potato ricer into a large bowl.

Add in the flour, 1/4 cup at a time, kneading the potatoes and the dough. At the end, knead in the parm cheese. The consistency should be sticky, not dry. Divide the dough into workable amounts (about 5-7 small balls) and roll them out between your hands and a cutting board into long, thin strands. Cut the gnocchi into bite-sized pieces and mark indentations in them with a fork. Place them on a floured cookie sheet to dry, approximately 30-45 minutes.

Boil a pot of water and place 1/2 the gnocchi in it and let them rise, about 3 minutes. Once they have risen immediately remove them with a slotted spoon and drain.

Sauce

2 large cans (28 oz.) crushed tomatoes with basil
1/2 lb. ground beef
1/2 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic diced
4 oz. baby bella mushrooms, chopped
Olive oil, 1 TBSP
2 TBSP dried oregano
1 TBSP dried basil
Salt & pepper to taste

Heat the olive oil in a large stock pot. Add in the onions, garlic and mushrooms and saute for approximately 5 minutes. Add in the ground beef and cook until no longer pink. Pour in the crushed tomatoes and the spices and mix well. Bring to a low simmer and cook 2-3 hours, stirring occasionally.

Cream Cheese Brownies

I was bored Monday night and needed something to do. So I pulled out my Best of Cooking Light cookbook and made these fabulous cream cheese brownies. Unfortunately my oven is a little hotter than what the temp says because the cream cheese topping got a little browner than I would have liked. They still tasted wonderful though!