Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Southwestern Chicken Wraps

These were so so fast and easy! This was taken from my Better Homes and Garden Cookbook.

4 servings

Ingredients
1/2 cup dairy sour cream (I use fat free, so that might make the nutritional value in fat and calories even lower)
Guacamole (Just purchase the packet in the produce isle, and 2 avacados)

4 10-inch dried tomato, spinach, and/or plain flour tortillas (I purchased Jalepeno and Cheddar tortillas from Wal-mart and they ended up being more healthy than plain tortillas)
2 5.5-ounce packages Southwestern-flavored refrigerated cooked chicken breast strips (I couldn't find this, so I purchased Chipotle flavored at Lee's marketplace, and they were just as tasty)
2 plum tomatoes, sliced
2 cups shredded lettuce
Directions
1. In a small bowl stir together sour cream and guacamole. Divide sour cream mixture among tortillas, spreading over one side of each tortilla. Divide chicken, tomatoes, and lettuce among tortillas. Roll up. Makes 4 servings.

Nutrition facts per serving:
Servings Per Recipe 4 servings
Calories 395
Total Fat (g) 13
Saturated Fat (g) 4
Cholesterol (mg) 49
Sodium (mg) 1015
Carbohydrate (g) 45
Fiber (g) 2
Protein (g) 25

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Black and White Strawberries

I had a sick baby this week, so i didn't have a lot of time to try new recipes. I did make my Chicken Pesto Salad Sandwiches, so if you haven't tried that one, it's a must. It's under my cooking light recipes. But, I can always find time for some good chocolate. I tried this recipe out of a weight watcher's cookbook. How can this be bad??? Strawberries and chocolate, yum! And yes, this will be listed under my cooking light recipes. Also, I eliminated the raspberry liquer and I think next time I am going to try milk chocolate instead of semi-sweet. I am kind of a sucker for milk chocolate. I made these for our playdate, so I also used the chocolate to dip Animal Cookies. I just dipped the bottoms of the animals feet.They turned out really cute.Enjoy!

Makes 4 servings
¼ cup + 2 tablespoons semisweet chocolate chips
1½ teaspoons raspberry liqueur (framboise)
1½ teaspoons water8 large strawberries, with stems
½ ounce white chocolate, chopped, or 2 tablespoons white chocolate chips
1. Line a large baking sheet with wax paper. In a small microwavable bowl, combine the chocolate chips, liqueur, and water; microwave on High, stirring twice, until melted and smooth, about 1½ minutes. Holding a berry by the hull, dip the berry halfway into the chocolate; set on the wax paper. Repeat with the remaining berries and chocolate.
2. In another small microwavable bowl, melt the white chocolate in the microwave on High, stirring once, until melted and smooth, about 1 minute. Dip a fork in the white chocolate and drizzle over the strawberries. Refrigerate until the chocolate hardens. Serve chilled.

Per serving (2 dipped strawberries): 97 Cal, 4 g Fat, 2 g Sat Fat, 0 g Trans Fat, 0 mg Chol, 4 mg Sod, 15 g Carb, 2 g Fib, 1 g Prot, 21 mg Calc.
POINTS value: 2
Tip:Try this with other fruits, too: Grapes, orange sections, apple or pear wedges, or banana chunks (soak the apples, pears, or bananas for a minute or two in a mixture of lemon juice and water to prevent browning). It’s also delicious with fat-free pretzels.
from Weight Watchers New Complete Cookbook. Copyright © 2005 by Weight Watchers Staff.

Friday, May 9, 2008

Super Burritos

Okay, so i probably won't put this one under the Cooking Light Tab. It sounded really good in my Better Homes and Garden Cookbook, but I failed to look at the nutritional value. But, every diet deserves a splurge night and I would highly recommend this one! It was so yummy!



Ingredients
1 pound lean ground beef
1 cup chopped onion (1 large)
1/2 cup chopped green sweet pepper (1 small)
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon medium or hot chili powder
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup cooked rice
1 4-ounce can diced green chile peppers, drained
8 10-inch flour tortillas
1-1/2 cups shredded Monterey Jack or cheddar cheese (6 ounces)
1 cup chopped tomato (1 large)
2 cups shredded lettuce
1 recipe Guacamole or frozen avocado dip (guacamole), thawed
Bottled salsa (optional)

Directions
For filling, in a large skillet cook ground beef, onion, sweet pepper, and garlic until meat is brown and onion is tender. Drain off fat. Stir in water, chili powder, cumin, and salt. Cook about 5 minutes or until most of the water has evaporated. Remove from heat. Stir in cooked rice and chile peppers.

Meanwhile, wrap tortillas tightly in foil. Heat in a 350 degree F oven for 10 minutes to soften. (When ready to fill tortillas, remove only half of them at a time, keeping remaining tortillas warm in the oven.)

Spoon about 1/2 cup filling onto each tortilla just below the center. Top filling with cheese and tomato. Fold bottom edge of each tortilla up and over filling. Fold opposite sides in and over filling. Roll up from the bottom. Secure with wooden toothpicks.

Arrange burritos on a baking sheet, seam sides down. Bake in a 350 degree F oven for 10 to 12 minutes or until heated through. Remove and discard toothpicks. Serve warm burritos on lettuce with Guacamole and, if desired, salsa.

Makes 8 burritos

Chicken or Steak Burritos: Prepare as above, except omit the ground beef. Partially freeze 1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves or 1 pound beef flank steak for easier slicing. Cut chicken into thin, bite-size strips and cut beef across the grain into thin, bite-size strips. Heat 1 tablespoon cooking oil in skillet. Cook chicken or beef, onion, sweet pepper, and garlic in hot oil until desired doneness for steak or until chicken is no longer pink and onion is tender. Stir in water, chili powder, cumin, and salt. Cook about 5 minutes or until most of the water has evaporated. Remove from heat. Stir in cooked rice and chile peppers. Continue with step 2 as above.

Per Burrito: 415 cal., 20 g total fat (6 g sat. fat), 52 mg chol., 472 mg sodium, 37 g carbo., 5 g fiber, 24 g pro.
Daily Values: 32% vit. A, 44% vit. C, 26% calcium, 17% iron

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Hernandez Fam Guacamole


If you have never had fresh guacamole, you have to try this recipe. It puts all the mexican resteraunts recipes to shame!! Remember Avacados are loaded with the "good" fat, so if you eat this in moderation, without a lot of tortilla chips, this is healthy for you!

2 ripe avacados, pitted and peeled
1 med. onion, finely chopped
2 green chillies, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 Roma tomato, chopped
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper

Run all the ingredients together in a food processor. Make sure you don't over puree it, you want it to be a "little" chunky.

Note: I add the green chilli seeds in with this, but if you are a wuss, you might want to remove the chilli seeds and then taste the guacamole, then if it still needs a kick, then add the seeds. Also, depending on the ripeness of all the fresh ingredients you may want to add more lemon juice and more salt, just add a little at a time until it tastes just right. Enjoy!

Shredded Pork Tacos

I really like this recipe, it was reallly yummy, it just takes awhile for the roast to cook in the oven, but other than that, it was really simple to make.

1 pork roast
cumin
onion
salt
pepper
garlic powder
12 taco shells or six 6- to 8-inch flour tortillas
3/4 cup bottled salsa
2 cups shredded lettuce
1/2 cup finely shredded Monterey Jack cheese or anejo enchilado cheese (2 ounces)
Dairy sour cream (optional)
1 recipe for Guacamole (look at Guacamole Recipe)
Directions
1. I sprinkled my roast with cumin, dried onion (you could probably use a half of lipton onion packet if you don't have dried onion,) salt, pepper and garlic powder, just enough to cover the top of the roast. I put it in a roasting dish and added a little bit of water and baked it for 30 minutes on 325, and then turned it down to 275 and let it cook for another 1-2 hours.
Shred pork using two forks to pull through meat in opposite directions. Drain pork and return the pok to the stove top. Stir in salsa, additional cumin, garlic powder and salt and pepper and a little water. If you would rather use a small can of whole tomatoes instead of adding water that would taste even better. Then just let it cook slowly on the stove stirring, to make sure that it stays moist and doesn't get dry.
2. To assemble tacos, place pork mixture in warm taco shells. Top with lettuce, cheese, and guacamole. (If using flour tortillas, place pork mixture in center of warm tortillas and add remaining ingredients; fold tortillas in half.) If desired, serve with sour cream.
4. Makes 12 tacos