Marbled Chocolate Fudge

I'm not one to bake a ton of cookies every Christmas but I do love fudge and enjoy giving that away. It's less work and tastes just as good. Since today was a snow day, Emma and I whipped up some delicious marbled chocolate fudge. We'll be bringing some to our family Christmas get together and give some away to my co-workers.














3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 can low fat sweetened condensed milk
dash of salt
1-1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
10 oz. white baking chocolate (I used Ghiradelli), chopped

Melt the chocolate chips with the sweetened condensed milk in a heavy sauce pan over a low heat. When it is smooth, remove it from the heat and stir in the vanilla and white chocolate.
Line an 8 inch square pan with wax paper and spread the fudge mixture evenly into it. Chill for 2 hours in the refridgerator. Remove from the wax paper and cut into bite-sized chunks. Store in a covered container in the fridge.

Breakfast Burrito

I'm trying to eat better this holiday because I know what all the parties and celebrating entail and I need to try and keep some semblance of health in my life! This morning I really wanted a "bad" breakfast but I reined myself in and made a delicious breakfast wrap with probably 1/2 the calories of my husband's pork roll, egg and cheese sandwich.














1 whole wheat wrap
2 slices of turkey bacon, cooked and chopped into pieces
1/4 cup eggbeaters
1 slice of Alpine Lace reduced fat American Cheese

Cheese, Spinach and Bacon Stuffed Chicken

December's Cooking Light issue is filled with great ideas. I especially love the Pan-Frying section and have really learned to perfect this technique after reading through it. This stuffed chicken is based loosely on the Proscuitto-Fontina Stuffed Chicken breast they featured. Except I didn't have proscuitto OR fontina so I improvised and came up with this. Spinach, turkey bacon and mozzarella cheese. I didn't do any exact measurements but what I list below is pretty close. It was really good and will definitely continue to make pan-frying a staple in our house.

4 thin chicken breasts (3-4 oz. each)
4 oz. light cream cheese
1/2 cup reduced fat mozzarella
3 oz. frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
2 slices of turkey bacon, cooked and chopped into smaller pieces
2 egg whites
1 tbsp of dijon mustard
1 cup panko
1 tbsp olive oil for frying


Mix together the cheeses, spinach and bacon. Salt and pepper both sides of the chicken. Cut a pocket into the thickest part of the breast and stuff with the spinach mixture. Whisk the mustard into the egg whites. Dip the chicken into the egg, allowing the excess to drip off, then dredge in the panko. Cook on each side for 8-10 minutes, until chicken is no longer pink.

Merry Christmas! A little early...

The lights are strung up outside, the tree is decorated and twinkling inside, the stockings are hung on the mantle and the snow-couple are hanging out in the near the bar. Yup, it must be Christmas. This time of year makes me so happy. I'll just share a few photos with
you.

New Jersey "What's Cooking" Get Together

On Saturday, five of us ladies from the What's Cooking board I frequent (and get a lot of my recipes and ideas from) got together for a luncheon at Brooke's house, which she graciously opened up to us. We all made something for the occasion. Colleen made the appetizers, delicious spinach, sausage and cheese mini pizza pockets. I definitely ate more than a couple! I brought the main course,chicken marsala. Lauren made a delicious pasta side, creamy baked orzo. Sarah made zesty broccoli casserole for our veggie side, which is really one of the greatest veggie sides ever. Brooke, our hostess, made hot apple toddies (YUM!) and a pumpkin gingerbread trifle for dessert (MORE YUM). Everything was fabulous and I'm so happy we were all able to get together and chat the afternoon away.

For pictures of everything visit Sarah's post here. She chronicled the day for us. Thanks again ladies for a great day!

Spicy Chicken Sandwiches

I read through my new Cooking Light really fast this week and the section on healthy pan frying really caught my eye. Tonight I tried their recipe for Spicy Chicken Sandwiches. We loved them! I did make a few minor changes... I had no tortilla chips so I used panko, making them healthier and we didn't make the mayo they included and instead topped them with a little blue cheese and ketchup. Delicious dinner! We ate them with some broiled asparagus and the mashed potato pancakes.

Got more leftover mashed potatoes? How about Mashed Potato Pancakes!

So I still had leftover mashed potatoes and really wanted some potato pancakes. I found this recipe on foodnetwork.com for mashed potato pancakes and voila, a side for tonight! I got to use up my mashed potatoes finally AND made something that may even be better than french fries! Just a note, I used cooking spray with just a little oil and they came out just fine, no need to use as much as the original says.

Penne with Pumpkin and Turkey Sausage

Sounds odd right? Well, it's delicious and very savory. The two flavors compliment each other so well, this may become a staple in our home. I found this recipe on Just2Good and pretty much copied it to a T except I used sweet turkey sausage. I had bought fresh sage earlier in the day and with the 1 cup of pumpkin I had left over was a perfect fit. Thanks Amy for a great dinner!

PS, I prepared the sauce on Sunday for a Tuesday night dinner and it saved me loads of time tonight. I love pre-planning!