Power Nacho Dip and Chips

Over the past few months, I've gotten into some eating habits I'm not too happy about. I decided to go cold turkey and cut the junk out of my diet by sticking almost entirely to foods from the Weight Watchers Power Foods list. These foods are all very nutritious and filling, but sticking to eating them all the time could get boring without some creativity. So far I'm having lots of fun coming up with recipes using only foods from the list. From now on, any post on this blog with "Power" in the title is a power foods only recipe.

This nacho dip recipe is great because it really does feel like junk food, but it's not at all. I was quite pleased with my "junky" dinner tonight. There are many ways to vary this recipe: topping with lettuce and tomato, swapping the refried beans for black beans, adding nonfat plain Greek yogurt to the top (I use this in place of sour cream, tastes about the same but much healthier), or even adding a cream cheese/taco seasoning layer were all possibilities. I stuck with what I had on hand, but I will definitely be trying variations of this one.

As for the chips, I have been making different versions of these since I was a kid. Fresh-baked tortilla chips, even fat free ones, are so much better than the ones from the bag that you won't miss the extra calories. I have seasoned these a million different ways: taco seasoning, seasoned salt, ranch dip mix, garlic and parmesan cheese, etc. These are the perfect treat when you're craving junk food but know you shouldn't have it.

Power Nacho Dip

1/4 cup refried beans

1/4 cup salsa

1/4 cup fat free cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a small (6 inch or so) baking dish with cooking spray. Spread refried beans evenly in the bottom of the dish. Top with an even layer of the salsa and then top with the cheese. Bake 10 minutes or until cheese is melted. Serve with chips and fresh vegetables for dipping.

Power Chips

1 Flatout light Original flatbread wrap (Any type of tortilla/wrap will work)

cooking spray

garlic salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray top of entire wrap with cooking spray. Sprinkle evenly with garlic salt. Using kitchen scissors, cut wrap into 16 equally-sized squares and spread in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake for 8 minutes or until browned and crispy.

Fruit and yogurt breakfast bowl

I have been eating this, or a variation of it, every day for about a month. In addition to being nutritious, fast, and filling, it's got a great combination of flavors that leave you feeling as though you had a huge meal. You can vary the fruit and nuts according to what you've got on hand, what's in season, or what's on sale. In the picture above, I used a couple of different heirloom plums. I usually use chopped apples, peaches, plums, or berries, but there are probably lots of other fruits that would taste good here. Also, if using plain yogurt and flavoring it with your own vanilla and honey seems too complicated, you can use store-bought vanilla yogurt. I always buy plain because it's cheaper and I use it for a lot of different things, so I never have vanilla yogurt around. Also, if you like salt and sweet together, you'll love this bowl with salted nuts.

Fruit and yogurt breakfast bowl

1 cup plain, unflavored yogurt

1 t vanilla

1 t honey

1 cup chopped fruit

1/4 cup nuts

Mix yogurt and vanilla together in bowl. Drizzle honey on top of yogurt. Top with chopped fruit and nuts.

Faux macaroni and cheese for 1

I was craving macaroni and cheese one night after a 12-hour day at work and came up with this recipe based on what I had in the house. I then made this dish about every other night for several weeks! It's quick, easy, fairly low in calories, but still has enough cheese to satisfy a craving. I add pea pods because they taste great with the cheese and are filling and low in calories, meaning I need less pasta.

Faux macaroni and cheese for 1

3/4 cup uncooked whole wheat rotini

1 cup fresh pea pods

1/2 teaspoon olive oil

1/4 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

3/4 ounce (about 2 tablespoons) shredded pepper jack cheese

coarse sea salt

Cook pasta according to package directions. In last minute of cooking pasta, add pea pods to pot. Drain pasta and pea pods and put back into cooking pot. Toss with olive oil to keep pasta from sticking. Place pasta and peas in serving bowl and top with cheeses and sea salt to taste.

Mothers Day Brunch Part 3: Recipes SuperPost

In my last post, I described a template menu I use for all of my brunch/dinner parties:

Fresh fruit/appetizer platter

Green salad with dressing

Bread

Pasta (for dinner) or quiche/frittata/egg bake (for brunch)

Chocolate dessert

Non-chocolate dessert

Alcoholic beverage

Non-alcoholic beverage

Let's see how I used this template to create this year's mothers day feast.

Fresh fruit/appetizer platter

I was pressed for time, so I picked up a big container of cut fresh fruit off the Hy-Vee salad bar and put it in a bowl to be served as fruit salad.

Green salad with dressing

Herb salad greens with Granny Smith apple slices, cheddar cheese, toasted walnuts and dijon vinaigrette.

Dijon Vinaigrette recipe

2 T olive oil

2T water

2T cider vinegar

1 t dijon mustard

salt and pepper to taste

Place all ingredients in a leak-proof container and shake to combine.

Bread

Another quickie from Hy-Vee: garlic take-n-bake baguette

Pasta (for dinner) or quiche/frittata/egg bake (for brunch)

Asparagus Leek Crustless Quiche

2 T olive oil

1 cup chopped leeks

1 bunch asparagus, cut into bite-sized pieces

1 cup sliced baby bella mushrooms

6 large eggs

3/4 cup shredded asiago cheese

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375. Coat the inside of a 2-quart baking dish with cooking spray. Heat olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add leeks to olive oil and saute for about 4 minutes. Add asparagus and mushrooms. Saute until tender, about 6 minutes. In a medium bowl, whisk eggs, cheese, salt and pepper. Spread vegetables in an even layer in baking dish. Pour egg and cheese mixture over top of vegetables. Bake at 375 until firm, about 30-45 minutes.

Chocolate/non-chocolate dessert

dark and white chocolate fondues with a variety of dippers

Fondue

2 cups (1 bag) white, dark or milk chocolate chips

1/2 stick butter

1/2 cup heavy cream

Melt all ingredients in microwave, 15-30 seconds at a time, stirring thoroughly between heating. Do not overheat, as this will ruin the fondue. When mixture is melted and smooth, transfer to fondue pot.

Alcoholic beverage

mimosas- no picture, but this recipe is easy: fill a wine glass half way with orange juice, then top with champagne ;)

Non-alcoholic beverage

Peach Italian Sodas

Fill a glass with ice. Pour club soda into glass until it is almost full. Add 2-3 tablespoons peach (or any flavor you like) syrup. I use torani syrups, found in the coffee aisle at the grocery store or at www.torani.com.

Mothers Day Brunch Part 2: Menu planning

I truly enjoy planning party menus, and I tend to take a lot of time doing it. I will spend hours looking up recipes, looking at what's on sale at the grocery stores, etc., before finally deciding on what to make. Fortunately, I have a few tricks I use to make it easier for me and give me some direction during my recipe searches.

Most people would never realize this if I didn't tell them, but I follow the same template menu for almost every party:

Fresh fruit/appetizer platter

Green salad with dressing

Bread

Pasta (for dinner) or quiche/frittata/egg bake (for brunch)

Chocolate dessert

Non-chocolate dessert

Alcoholic beverage

Non-alcoholic beverage

This template leaves tons of room for variation and works with almost any cuisine and during any time of year. Choosing specific dishes for each item on this menu can be overwhelming, but it's not nearly as overwhelming as it would be without the template. The main rule I try to follow is to use lots and lots of fresh, in-season produce and herbs. Not only is this healthy, but it makes each dish seem completely new.

Fresh fruit/appetizer platter- I usually serve this before the meal. I arrange whatever fruit is in season and on sale (I usually purchase fruit specifically for this purpose). I will also add whatever cheese, nuts, and/or olives I have lying around.

Green salad with dressing- I typically add a cheese, a fruit, and a nut to the salad, and top with an fresh herb and olive oil based vinaigrette.

Bread- I always bake it myself, even if it's just take and bake from the store. It tastes so much better when it's fresh from the oven. Sometimes I'll include a special flavored butter or olive oil dipping sauce.

Pasta/egg dish- again, vary the vegetables, cheese, and fresh herbs according to what's available and you can create limitless unique meals

Desserts- desserts tend to be the most time-consuming part of the meal, so I try to choose make-ahead desserts that I can make the night before the party.

Alcoholic beverage- usually wine or a wine-based cocktail. Wine always feels more elegant than other types of alcohol.

Non-alcoholic beverage- I like to have some type of flavored tea available, but will usually have a few choices on hand.

It is important when choosing recipes to consider what you can get in season at a fair price that will taste delicious. Try to choose foods that are appropriate for the season: butternut squash-stuffed ravioli in the fall, strawberry shortcake in the spring, etc. Trying to make these dishes out of season can be expensive and disappointing.

Almost all of my recipes are designed to feature one special ingredient. Always make sure this ingredient is of the best quality you can afford. This includes not only fruits, vegetables, and herbs, but cheeses, nuts, olives, olive oil, and chocolate. Don't ruin your hard work in the kitchen with shoddy ingredients!

My other key to a successful meal is to do whatever I can on some day other than the day of the party. I do all the cleaning I want to do ahead of time. I also decorate and set the table. Then I chop all the vegetables, grate the cheese, etc., the night before. This way I don't spend the day of the party working so hard I'm too exhausted to have fun. If I have procrastinated and am feeling overwhelmed on the day of the party, I have a drink of whatever the alcoholic beverage du jour is before my guests arrive :)

Mothers Day Brunch Part 1: Decorations

Every year for mothers day I have my mom and grandmas come to my house for a nice brunch. I also love to have friends over for dinner parties, etc. I like to make everything from scratch and always have tons of food so no one goes away hungry. I have been asked before how I "pull it off," as a busy working person. Here are a few of my secrets...

I have used decorations for my last few parties and found that they make the environment much less formal and more fun. For the mothers day brunch, I saw some pink springtime party decorations at Hobby Lobby and was inspired. I started by hanging my decorations, along with some paper streamers, above the table as shown:

Ceiling decorations are eye-catching and are sure to wow any guest. I almost always hang things from the ceiling if I'm decorating for a party.

For the table, I always start with a crisp white table cloth and cloth napkins. These will go with any theme and can be washed in bleach if they get stained. Setting the table ahead of time always looks impressive to guests. I put wine glasses on the table and stuff the napkins inside them rather than buying fancy napkin rings. The "decorations" on the table include fresh flowers that match the color scheme (hot pink, in this case) as a centerpiece and little candles between all the place settings. I put all this on the table but there wasn't enough pink to tie the table to the ceiling decorations, so I cut up some of the paper streamers into "confetti" and sprinkled it all over the table. Fresh flowers, candles, and confetti- this combination looks classy yet festive. Confetti can be pretty messy, but the streamer confetti is light so the vacuum picked it right up.

As a final touch, I like to add some type of personal gift to each place setting. This time I found these little flower pot picture holders and made happy mothers day cards for each one.

My mom and grandmas were quite pleased with the final picture. I am leaving the ceiling decorations up for a while since they are so cheery :)

Kale Chips

Kale chips are my new obsession. These definitely are not an invention of mine, but I decided tonight they are not regular enough in my repertoire, hence the post. These are hands down the best low-calorie substitute for potato chips. They are just as delicious and addictive. No one would want to skip their leafy greens with these around! I have tried a couple of variations on this recipe, using seasoned salt, Old Bay seasoning, or sprinkling them with malt vinegar. To save even more calories, skip the olive oil and spray leaves lightly with cooking spray.

Recipe

• 1 bunch kale
• olive oil
• salt

Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray. Remove kale leaves from the stems and tear into bite size pieces. Wash and dry leaves in a salad spinner. Spread leaves in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Sprinkle with olive oil and salt. Bake until the edges brown, about 15 minutes.