Healthy & Delicious Fries

Now no fry is exactly healthy for you, but these are "healthier" for you. You honestly can't go wrong with parmesan herb crusted homemade fries. Makes your mouth water huh? Just wait till you taste them. They are something I have to fight my kids over. And possibly may have stolen a few off their plates? oops! They're that good. Seriously give them a try, you won't leave the pan til their gone.

You'll need:
-6 medium potatoes, sliced into 8 wedges.
-1/4 c. low fat parmesan cheese
-1 tbs. season salt
-1 tsp. pepper
-1 tbs. oregano
-3 tbs. olive oil
-1 gallon ziplock bag

Directions:
-Preheat oven to 350.
-Cut potatoes into wedges. I usually get 8 wedges out of each potato.
-In a gallon zip lock baggie, put your parmesan and spices. Zip it and shake them around to mix them.
-Put the potato wedges in the baggie. Then drizzle the olive oil over it.
-Close the baggie and hand it to your kids. They can shake it around to coat the wedges with the seasonings.
-Dump the coated potato wedges onto a cookie sheet lined with foil.
-Bake them for 15-20 min. Until golden brown and you can stick a fork in them and can tell they're soft on the inside, with a nice crust on the outside.
-Gobble them up as fast as you can!

Parmesan Sausage Stuffed Zucchini Boats

These were by FAR one of my all time favorite recipes! My kids licked-yes licked- their plates clean and my hubby ate 4 of them! I on the other won't tell you how many I ate. :) Remember I'm on a diet and I need to watch my portions? Well that flew out the window once I tasted these. Holy moly these were delish! And super simple to make which made it even more one of my favs. Okay seriously you have to try them. Plus it serves 8. Or if you're like my family, we ate them all and we were only 4. Ooops. :)

Here's what you need:
-4 med. zucchini
-1 lb. sausage (mine was sage flavored)
-1 small onion, chopped
-1 clove garlic, minced
-1 c. bread crumbs, seasoned (mine were italian)
-1/2 c. + 2 tbs. parmesan cheese
-1 egg, beaten
-1/4 tsp. salt
-1/2 c. water

Directions:
-Cut zucchini lengthwise, and scoop the pulp out. Like so.


- Chop the pulp up.
-Brown the sausage, add the onion, garlic & the pulp. Saute it for 5 min. Then remove from the heat.
-Add the bread crumbs & 1/2 c. parmesan & the egg. Mix it well.
It should look like this at this point.


-Fill the zucchini boat shells. Then sprinkle the 2 tbs. of parmesan cheese over the filled zucchini boats. Put the shells in a baking sheet. And pour the 1/2 c. water into the bottom of the baking sheet. Like so.


-Bake it at 350 for 15 min. Uncover them and bake them another 15 min.
-Scarf them up as fast as possible before anyone else can get their hands on them! :)

Easy Chicken & Cheese Enchiladas

This was a snappy meal to fix and the kids loved how creamy it was and it had just enough kick for me and the hubs. I love it when the recipes don't call for that many ingredients! I also took the pic, before I topped it with the ingredients. My kids were starving so I had to hurry and snap the picture quick. Hopefully next time the picture will be much better!

You'll need:
-1 can cream of chicken soup $.88 (on sale at case lot)
-1/2 c. sour cream $.56
-1 c. pace picante salsa (I used my own bottled salsa) $free
-2 tsp. chili powder $.10
-2 c. cooked chicken, chopped (about 2 chicken breasts) $1.50
-1/2 c. monterey jack cheese $.50 (bought on sale for $1)
-6 flour tortillas, warmed $.60 (again bought on sale when pkgs were $1)
-1 tomato, chopped $free from garden
-1 green onion, chopped $free from garden
Total: $4.14

Directions:
-Preheat oven to 350.
-Stir the soup, sour cream, picante & chili pwd. in a bowl with the cooked chicken. Spoon it into the tortillas, then top the mix with some cheese.
-Roll tortilla up and put in a 9x9 pan.
-Spoon remaining mixture on top of the rolled up tortillas. Then top that with cheese.
-Cover pan with tin foil.
-Bake for 40 min. Top with the chopped tomato and onion.
*I served this with fresh corn on the cob from the garden and some steamed squash and zucchini from the garden. We were stuffed!
*This should serve about 6 very hungry people.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie

This recipe is sinfully yummy and deceptively easy. I didn't have the choc. crust at home with me, so I had to improvise and make my own graham cracker crust. Still turned out great. And I can't wait to try it with the choc. crust! My kids gobbled this up and I may have had 2 pieces (okay 1/2 the pie-don't tell.) This is fun to take to a gathering with friends or maybe when you're craving choc. which is basically every min. of every day for me. ha!

You'll need:
-1 tub cool whip
-1/2 bag of reese's pb cups, or more if you choose.
-1 pudding mix
-1 c. milk
-1 choc. crust

Directions:
-Make pudding mix, but only with 1 c. milk instead of 2 c.
-Let it thicken for a few min. While pudding is thickening, cut up your reese's into chunks. Leave about 4 to cut up and decorate your top.
-Gently fold in the cool whip into the pudding mixture.
-Gently fold in the reese's to the mixture.
-Decorate the top.
-chill for 15 min. And chow down baby!

Easy Quiche

Biscuits were on sale for $.99 this week at our grocery store. I thought this would make a really quick and yummy breakfast. My kids devoured them and so did me and the hubs. I can eat two of these and be full clear past lunch. These stuff you! And they are so tasty.

You'll need:
-1 can of biscuits (usually contains 8)
-4 eggs
-1/2 c. cheese (I liked the mozarella, but anything works)
-4 slices of deli meat (I used smoked turkey cuz that's what I had)
-1 tsp. basil
-Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
-Preheat oven to 350.
-Get a muffin tin and spray it with non stick spray.
-Take biscuits out of can and press flat. (about 1/8" thick)
-Form flattened biscuit to the muffin tin cup.
-In a separate bowl, combine eggs, cheese, meat, basil & S&P. Mix well.
-Pour mixture into biscuits. Fill about 1/2-2/3 full. They will fluff up and run over so don't fill too full. (I filled the muffin cups closest to the center so if they did over flow, they just went into another muffin cup instead of on my oven.)
-Bake for 16-18 min.
-Serve hot. So delish!
*these would be great to bring to a brunch or something.

Rustic Veggie Pizza

Found this recipe over at kraft. You know I'm a sucker for anything pizza! So yummy! And healthy! Low cal and I can still enjoy pizza. mmmm....

avg rating

(4)

total time

44 min

prep

15 min

servings

8 servings

What You Need

3 Tbsp. KRAFT Italian Vinaigrette Dressing made with Extra Virgin Olive Oil, divided

1 onion, cut into thin wedges

1 small yellow pepper, cut into strips

1 zucchini, cut in half, then sliced crosswise

1 cup halved cherry tomatoes

1/3 cup pitted kalamata olives, cut lengthwise in half

1 can (11 oz.) refrigerated thin pizza crust

1 cup KRAFT Shredded Low-Moisture Part-Skim Mozzarella Cheese

1 pkg. (4 oz.) ATHENOS Traditional Crumbled Feta Cheese

1 cup baby arugula

Make It

HEAT oven to 425ºF.

HEAT 1 Tbsp. dressing in large skillet. Add onions; cook and stir on medium-high heat 5 min. or until crisp-tender. Add peppers and zucchini; cook and stir 5 min. or until onions are golden brown and peppers are crisp-tender. Remove from heat; stir in tomatoes and olives.

UNROLL pizza crust on baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray; pat into 14x10-1/2-inch rectangle. Fold over edges of dough to form 1/2-inch-wide rim. Bake 5 min. Brush with remaining dressing; top with vegetable mixture and cheeses.

BAKE 12 to 14 min. or until edges of crust are golden brown. Top with arugula.

Kraft Kitchens Tips

Special Extra

Add 1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper to vegetable mixture in skillet with tomatoes and olives.

nutritional information

per serving

Calories

220

Total fat

9 g

Saturated fat

4 g

Cholesterol

20 mg

Sodium

700 mg

Carbohydrate

25 g

Dietary fiber

2 g

Sugars

5 g

Protein

10 g

Vitamin A

10 %DV

Vitamin C

25 %DV

Calcium

15 %DV

Iron

8 %DV

Savory Garlic & Herb Stir Fry

*I love the end of Summer because that means harvest time from the garden and in my house that means lots of stir fry! I love stir fry. So I tried the new cooking creme that philadelphia brand makes and it is so yummy! I will definitely be making this again very soon. It was so easy and quick and delish!

You'll need:
-a ton of veggies. I used, carrots, celery, onions, squash, peppers & zucchini.
-2 chicken breasts, cubed
-italian dressing
-1 c. noodles,cooked. I used the fettuccine ones I had on hand.
-1/4 c. savory garlic and herb cooking creme from philidelphia brand.
-2 tbs. olive oil

Directions:
-Chop all your veggies.
-Heat olive oil in a large skillet and start to cook veggies. Cook till tender crisp.
-while veggies are cooking, in another skillet heat up some of the italian dressing. cook your chicken in it until done.
-Cook noodles in a separate pan until al dente.
-Combine noodles and chicken in the large skillet with the veggies. Add in the cooking creme. Warm through and enjoy!

Sundried Tomato & Artichoke Pizza

I had a can of artichoke hearts I wanted to use and had recently bought some sundried tomatoes. If any of you know me...I love all things pizza. Any kind, any time of day. I LOVE it! So I wanted to invent a new pizza recipe. This is what came from my experiment. Another pizza I LOVED!! Hope you like it as much as I did!

You'll Need:
-1 can artichoke hearts, chopped
-2 chicken breasts, cubed
-1/2 jar sun dried tomatoes
-1/2 jar pizza/spaghetti sauce
-pizza crust
-1 cup mozzarella cheese
-3 tbs. zesty italian dressing

DIRECTIONS:
-Make your pizza crust or buy one. Cook it 1/2 way. Then bring it back out.
-While crust is cooking cook your chicken in a skillet with the zesty italian dressing.
-Spread pizza sauce on crust.
-Top pizza with chicken, artichoke hearts and sun dried tomatoes. Then cheese.
-Bake for 10 min. or until cheese is melted and crust is finished cooking.
-Enjoy!
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