Chicken and Broccoli Casserole

Sorry it's been so long! We were away in Seattle for 4 days and we have a very empty fridge but with what we did have, I was able to make a WW-friendly, warm, delicious meal tonight.















1 package of frozen broccoli, defrosted
2 cans of Healthy Request Cream of Chicken soup
1/2 cup reduced fat mayo (optional)
12 oz. diced chicken breasts, cooked
2 oz. dry stuffing mix
1/2 cup reduced fat shredded cheddar cheese

Mix together the soups and mayo in a bowl. Cover the bottom of a 9x13 dish with the broccoli. Layer it with the cooked chicken and then top with the soup mixture. Spread the stuffing mix on top and sprinkle the cheese on that. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 25-30 minutes or until bubbly.

Creamy Two Cheese Macaroni

Oh Cooking Light how I love you. When I need some creamy mac and cheese, you come to my rescue. I knew this week would be busy so I needed a make ahead meal. Plus, I've been craving mac and cheese. Served with a side of veggies, it made our Monday night happy and easy. I was able to do the 30 Minute Shred while it baked. How's that for convenient? Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture but this one, courtesy of Cookinglight.com will have to do.


















1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2-1/2 cups 1% low-fat milk
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded extra-sharp cheddar cheese, divided
6 ounces light processed cheese, cubed (such as Velveeta Light)
6 cups hot cooked elbow macaroni (about 3 cups uncooked)
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup panko
Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 375°.

Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup, and level with a knife. Heat a large saucepan over medium heat; add flour. Gradually add milk, stirring with a whisk until blended. Cook until thick (about 8 minutes), stirring frequently. Stir in the cheddar cheese and processed cheese; cook 3 minutes or until cheese melts, stirring frequently. Remove from heat; stir in macaroni and salt.

Spoon the mixture into a 2-quart casserole dish coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle with the panko. Bake at 375° for 25 minutes or until bubbly.

A Favorite, Crockpot Lasagna

After a great visit with my friends this weekend, I was craving some more comfort food but I didn't really want to do much cooking. Crockpot lasagna it is! I've made this before and it's a favorite in our home. Today I had to make my own sauce because I didn't have any jarred sauce, which was fine because who doesn't love homemade sauce. So, here's to a happy Sunday meal.

Light Sesame Chicken

Another weight watchers friendly meal. It's definitely not as tasty as the real stuff but there's a reason I need to be on weight watchers and it's not because I was eating light! Anyway, this was a recipe I got a while ago and never made but now that I'm sticking to the plan it fit right in. Thanks Brooke for the recipe! P.S. Yay for my 100th post!!!!

1 bag of brown rice (like Success Brown Rice)
3 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 garlic clove, finely chopped or crushed with a garlic press
2 large egg whites
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cut into 2-inch chunks
Coarse salt and ground pepper
2 tablespoons vegetable oil, such as safflower *omitted, I used cooking spray
4 scallions, thinly sliced *omitted
1 1/2 pounds broccoli, cut into large florets, stems peeled and thinly sliced

Directions
In a small bowl, combine honey, sesame seeds, soy sauce, and garlic; set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together egg whites and cornstarch. Add chicken; season with salt and pepper, and toss to coat.
In a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray, heat the pan over medium-high. Add half the chicken; cook, turning occasionally, until golden and opaque throughout, 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer to a plate; repeat with remaining tablespoon oil and chicken. Return all the chicken to skillet; add reserved sauce and scallions, and toss to coat.
As the rice cooks, place the broccoli in a steamer basket over the boiling water and steam the broccoli until desired tenderness. Add the steamed broccoli to the chicken and sauce and mix.
Serve sesame chicken over the rice and enjoy.

Chicken Piccata Pasta Toss

Dinner tonight was quick and easy thanks to Rachael Ray's cookbook. I was able to cook the chicken and chop the onion and garlic on lunch so that it made the nighttime prep almost non-existent. I amended it to fit my Weight Watchers diet and each serving was 9 points. After a hard exercise day, 30 Day Shred and running, I really needed some good food with carbs and protein. I added asparagus for some greens, which really topped it off. And my husband really liked it and that counts for a lot!















1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
Cooking spray
1 lb. chicken breasts, cut into chunk
Lemon pepper seasoning
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 shallot, chopped
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 cup white wine
1 lemon, juiced
1 cup low sodium chicken broth
1/2 bunch of asparagus, chopped (about 2 cups)
1/2 pound whole wheat rotini or fusilli

Heat a deep nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium high heat. Add the chicken to the pan. Season chicken with the lemon pepper. Brown chicken until lightly golden all over, about 5 to 6 minutes. Remove chicken from pan and return the skillet to the heat. Reduce heat to medium. Add a teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil, the garlic, and shallots to the skillet. Saute garlic and shallots 3 minutes. Add flour and cook 2 minutes. Whisk in wine and reduce liquid 1 minute. Whisk lemon juice and broth into sauce. Stir in the asparagus and chicken and heat through, 1 to 2 minutes. Toss hot pasta with chicken and sauce and serve.

Better than apple pie...

Apple crisp! This may be very wrong of me to say this but I think I'm more in love with this than apple pie. All the yummy flavors... apples, cinnamon, sugar, butter (yes, real butter) AND crunch to go with it. Dave and Emma agreed, better than apple pie. I grabbed this off of allrecipes.com and based on comments, increased the baking time and used 1/2 cup of white sugar along with a 1/2 cup of dark brown sugar. Don't forget to top it with vanilla ice cream!

4 cups sliced apples
ground cinnamon
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease an 8x8 inch baking dish.
Place apples in prepared dish. Sprinkle with cinnamon. Pour water over all. In a bowl, cream together sugar and butter. Blend in flour. Sprinkle mixture evenly over apples.
Bake in preheated oven 50 minutes, until apples are tender and crust is golden.

Chicken Paprikash

Chicken paprikash made another appearance for dinner tonight and was loved by the whole family. I love the different flavor of paprikash and the fact that it is still very easy. Tonight I didn't have whole wheat wide noodles so I used whole wheat pasta instead. Just so good!

Shrimp Pad Thai

This was for dinner last week, inspired by Cooking Lights quick weeknight dinners email they send to me. I'm never really sure of fish sauce but it came out really good and we were definitely happy with it. And I had enough for leftover for lunch!
















8 ounces wide rice stick noodles (Banh Pho)
1/4 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons fish sauce
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
2 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
1 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 cup (1-inch) sliced green onions
1 cup broccoli
1 teaspoon bottled minced garlic
2 tablespoons chopped unsalted, dry-roasted peanuts

Place noodles in a large bowl. Add hot water to cover; let stand 12 minutes or until tender. Drain.

Combine ketchup, sugar, fish sauce, and pepper in a small bowl.

Heat 2 teaspoons oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add shrimp; sauté 2 minutes or until shrimp are done. Remove shrimp from pan; keep warm.

Heat 4 teaspoons oil in pan over medium-high heat. Add eggs; cook 30 seconds or until soft-scrambled, stirring constantly. Add broccoli, green onions, and garlic; cook until broccoli is no longer raw. Add noodles, ketchup mixture, and shrimp; cook 3 minutes or until heated. Sprinkle with peanuts.