Skinny Pink Lemonade Margarita

Its been a little while since I posted a recipe to this blog.  So long that I have been over analyzing what should be my "come back" recipe.  Then, it came to me by accident last night when I went to make margaritas.  We were out of the limeade concentrate I usually use.  Oh no! AND it was Jersey Shore night.  (Yes, I did just openly admit to watching that train wreck of a show... what can I say, they make me laugh!!!)  So I decided to get a little creative and the Skinny Pink Lemonade Margarita was born!  :-D  Lets have a toast... to a wonderful weekend and the beginning of a new year!  Cheers!

Skinny Pink Lemonade Margarita

Servings: 4 • Calories: 159 • Fat: 0g • Carbs: 7g • Fiber: 0g • WW Points:3

Ingredients

• 1 8 serving packet of Crystal Light Pink Lemonade
• 4 oz Tequila
  
• 2 oz Triple Sec
  
• ice
  
• salt (optional)

Dissolve the Crystal Light packet into one cup of water.  Quick FYI, use the packet you would normally use to make a pitcher, not the on the go packets. Fill your blender about half way with ice.  Pour the pink lemonade mixture into the blender.  Measure 4 oz of tequila and 2 oz of triple sec and pour into the blender.  Blend and serve in a pretty glass (salt the rim if you so desire).  Makes 4 servings.  Share with 3 friends... margaritas taste better that way! :)

Moroccan Mahi Mahi and Couscous

Moroccan Couscous
(Recipe adapted from Woman's Day Magazine)
Servings: 4 • Calories: 193 • Fat: 2g • Carbs: 35g • Fiber: 3g • WW Points:3

Ingredients

• 1 box Roasted Garlic & Olive Oil Wheat Couscous (Near East)
• 1 1/4 cup water
  
• 2 tsp olive oil
  
• 1/4 cup raisins
  
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
  
  

The first time i made couscous, I couldn't believe how easy it was!  It really is just as easy as making a Cup O Noodles soup!  Using a large microwave safe bowl, combine water, seasoning packet (inside couscous box), olive oil, cinnamon, and raisins.  Cook in the microwave for 5-6 minutes.  Remove from the microwave and immediately stir in the couscous.   Cover and set aside for at least 5 minutes.  Fluff with a fork immediately before serving.  (For me, I can barely tell the difference between wheat and regular couscous.  Its not like wheat pasta where it is obviously different.)

Moroccan Mahi Mahi
(Recipe adapted from Woman's Day Magazine)

Servings: 4 • Calories: 213 • Fat: 9g • Carbs: 11g • Fiber: 2g • WW Points:5

Ingredients

• 1 lb mahi mahi (Or any other firm, mild white fish)
  
• 4 tsp olive oil
  
• 1/4 tsp pepper
  
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 2 tsp minced garlic
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1 can (14 to 15 oz) diced tomatoes
• 1/4 cup pitted Kalamata olives, halved
  

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Place fish on a pan  and drizzle  with 2 tsp of olive oil.  Sprinkle with the pepper.  Bake for 10-12 minutes or until fillets are cooked through. 

Heat remaining 2 tsp oil in a large saucepan over medium heat.  Add onion and cover.  Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally until tender.  Add garlic, cumin, and cinnamon.  Cook for a couple of minutes until fragrant.  This is such an interesting combination of ingredients, isn't it? :D 

Stir in tomatoes and olives.

Simmer for 3 minutes for flavors to blend.  Spoon about 1/2 cup of sauce over each serving of fish.  Serve with couscous on the side.

Chocolate Almond Marshmallow Treats

This a great "go to" recipe for a quick, easy, and healthy snack sure to cure your sweet tooth.  (These have been kid tested and approved.)  Using Cheerios instead of Rice Krispies gives you more "nutritional" bang for you "calorie" buck.  =)  I love the extra level of flavor the almond extract adds to this treat.  Although, if almond isn't your thing, you can easily sub in vanilla extract.

Chocolate Almond Marshmallow Treats

Servings: 16 • Calories: 97 • Fat: 1.4g • Carbs: 21g • Fiber: 1g • WW Points:2

 

Ingredients

• 6 cups Chocolate Cheerios
  
• 4 cups small marshmallows
  
• 2 tbsp light butter (Land O Lakes)
  
• 1/2 tsp pure almond extract
• butter flavored non-stick spray

 

Place marshmallows, butter, and almond extract in a very large microwave safe bowl.  Cook in microwave until melted.  (I cooked mine for 2 minutes, stirring half way through.)

Stir in chocolate cheerios.  Spray a 9 x 13 inch pan lightly with non-stick spray.  Spread mixture into pan.  Spray the back of a large spoon with non-stick spray.  Use the spoon to press marshmallow mixture firmly into the pan.  Cover and refrigerate at least an hour before serving.

Light and Easy Frozen Key Lime Pie Fix

Arighty, time to show a little bit of Florida love here!  Let's talk Key Lime Pie, the official pie of the state of Florida.  (Yes, I am a bit of a dork and looked that up, thank you Wikipedia.)  Before moving to Florida 12 or so years ago, I hadn't really heard of Key Lime Pie or Key limes for that matter.  Key limes are more aromatic and tart than traditional Persian limes.  Anyway you want to look at it, its good stuff!  If given the chance, you must try the real thing.  This can not even compare, but will definitely give you a "Key Lime Fix"  with out breaking your belt.  If you think Key limes just aren't your thing or you are not able to find any of the canned pie filling, I would imagine other creamy pie filling would be yummy as well.  Get creative!

Frozen Key Lime Pie Fix

Servings: 18 • Calories: 85 • Fat: .2g • Carbs: 19g • Fiber: 0g • WW Points:2


Ingredients

• 1 can Key Lime Pie Filling
  
• 16 Reduced Fat Nilla Wafers
• 1 tub Cool Whip Free (thawed)
• Nonstick spray, butter flavored

Place Nilla wafers in a ziploc bag.  Make sure it is closed. Now take out your aggression on those naughty little cookies =) Seriously, though... make sure you crush the cookies fine enough to mimic pie crust. 

Lightly spray a 9x13 inch pan with non-stick spray.  Evenly spread a thin layer of the crushed cookies across the pan.

Carefully drop dollops of the pie filling on top of the crust.

Spread the filling evenly across the pan. Be careful not to disturb the crust. (Try not to "taste" too much while doing this!)

Now, spread the cool whip over the filling.  Cover with plastic wrap and freeze for a couple hours.  I cut it when it was almost completely frozen, but I think i liked it the most when it had thawed out a teeny bit.

Crazy Good Coconut Ginger Chicken 'n Rice

This whole recipe is cooked in the rice maker.  "Shut the front door!" Yes, seriously the whole thing, not just the rice.  I found this recipe in Food & Wine Magazine, and I have been so excited to try it out.  I must say it exceeded my expectations GREATLY.  The chicken was cooked perfectly and stayed moist.  The combination is delish and a bit exotic.  (Think trendy Asian-Fusion restaurant take out.) Towards the end, the rice maker starts sending out this lovely coconut-ginger steam.  For a second I thought to my self, "Who's cooking?"... oh yeah it's me, but I am not doing a thing!!! :D  If you have a rice maker, you MUST try this recipe.  If not... well, I would seriously consider getting one just for this recipe.  (Its that good!)  This has definitely inspired me to come up with some of my own creations for sure!

Crazy Good Coconut Ginger Chicken 'n Rice

(adapted from "Rice-Cooker Ginger Chicken and Rice" by Laurent Gras of Chicago's L20)

Servings: 4 • Calories: 399 • Fat: 11g • Carbs: 41g • Fiber: 1g • WW Points:9
** (If you use Lite Coconut Milk ) Servings: 4 • Calories: 343 • Fat: 5g • Carbs: 41g • Fiber: 1g • WW Points:7

  Ingredients

• 1 1/4 lb boneless skinless chicken (cut into 1 inch chunks)
  
• 1 cup of rice
• 1 cup of coconut milk (unsweetened)
• 3/4 cup of water (hot)
• 3 cups fresh spinach (packed)
• 2 inch piece of fresh ginger (peeled and cut into match sticks)
• 1 chicken bouillon cube
• salt and pepper to taste

I was so busy earlier taking about how good this recipe tastes, I forgot to mention the best part.  It is so easy!  (I mean "crock-pot meal easy" with out having to wait all day for it to cook.) The hardest part is cutting up the ginger.  Here's a tip to make it easier:  Use a spoon to peel the ginger.  (Sounds strange, I know.)  Just use the spoon to rub off the skin.  I find it so much easier versus using a peeler. 

Dissolve the chicken bouillon cube in 3/4 cup hot water.  I stuck it in the microwave for about 30 seconds and then it dissolved easier.  In the rice cooker, add the rice and ginger.  Gently toss the two together real quick.  Add the chicken, spreading it out to an even layer.  Add the spinach.  Pour the coconut milk and bouillon  broth over the top.  Add salt and pepper to your liking.

Close the lid and turn on the rice maker like you normally would.  Cook for 45 minutes.  (For me the rice cooker switched to warming mode at around the 30 minute mark.  I still waited the full 45 minutes.)

Stir up the goodness and enjoy!  I love how easy this recipe is.  Want a bite?

Skinny Strawberry Rangoons

These are so good.  I love crab rangoons.  For those of you not familiar with crab rangoons, they are deep-fried dumplings usually served in American Chinese cuisine. They are stuffed with cream cheese and flaked crab meat.  Really good, but sooo not healthy!  These  skinny strawberry rangoons are their slimmed down distant dessert cousins.  Wow, that's a mouth full! LOL If you are wondering about the cinnamon and strawberry, as I once was... so good!  I was actually inspired by the fresh cinnamon cake donuts from "Smokey Bones" that are served with a creamy berry dipping sauce.  To die for! :)  This is another recipe that fills your house with a deliciously intoxicating scent.

Skinny Strawberry Rangoons

Servings: 24 • Calories: 89 • Fat: .5g • Carbs: 7g • Fiber: 0g • WW Points:2

  Ingredients

• Wonton wrapper dough recipe (I subbed in egg beaters)
  (You could always buy the pre-made ones from the store too.)
• 8 oz block of fat free cream cheese
• 4 Tbsp Strawberry Preserves
• Butter flavored non-stick spray
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 Tbsp ground cinnamon

Prepare wonton wrappers per recipe provided in list of ingredients.  Preheat oven to 400°F. Combine sugar and cinnamon in a bowl.  Mix and set aside.

Separate the dough into four equal sized amounts.  Roll out the dough to be very thin.  You will need to get 6 wrappers out of each ball of dough.  For me, I rolled out the dough very thin and then used a pizza cutter to cut out 4 equal squares about 3 to 4 inches in size.  I then combined the scraps from each dough ball I rolled and repeated the process.  In all fairness, I didn't make 24 at one time.  I covered and refrigerated the dough for later.  If you plan to make 24 at one time... well, you may want to just buy the pre-made wrappers?  Just a thought. :)

Cut your block of cream cheese into 24 equal pieces (I cut it 8 x 3).  Place 1 of the blocks of cream cheese onto each of the wonton wrappers you are making.  Place 1/2 a teaspoon of strawberry preserves on top of the block of cream cheese.

Dab you index finger in some water and gently wipe the perimeter of each wrapper before folding them in half to create a triangle.  Try to make sure you do not get any air trapped inside of the wrapper.

Dab your index finger in a bit of water again.  This time fold together the 2 outer point of the triangle to make a little envelope.  Dab the water on the pieces of dough that touch.  This helps hold them together.

Now you should be able to stand your cute little rangoon up.  Using the non-stick spray, do 3 or 4 quick sprays to cover the whole rangoon.  Gently press the rangoon into the cinnamon sugar lightly coating all sides.  Place the rangoon standing up on a cookie sheet.  (I suggest using some non-stick foil on your cookie sheet first.)  Repeat this process until you have made all the rangoons.

Cook in the over for 10 minutes or until browned.  Remove from oven and let them cool off for a couple minutes.  Be careful!  The outside may be cool, but the inside may still be very hot!  These are best enjoyed fresh and hot for sure! (But not too hot.) :D

Apple Cinnamon Raisin Bread Twist

The smell of this apple cinnamon goodness baking was amazing!  It filled my house with a smell Yankee Candle only wishes they could recreate! :D  With the start of school and fall upon us, this is a great feel good recipe that you don't have to feel guilty enjoying. Double the dough recipe and make this for an after school snack. Then, use the rest of the dough to make pizza for dinner!

Apple Cinnamon Raisin Bread Twist

Servings: 10 • Calories: 187 • Fat: 1.5g • Carbs: 37g • Fiber: 2g • WW Points:3

  Ingredients

• Quick 'n Yummy Pizza Dough Recipe
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1 cup unsweetened apple sauce
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 3 Tbsp Splenda (or your choice of sweetener)
• 3 Tbsp I can't believe its not butter (Fat Free)

Prepare Quick 'n Yummy Pizza Dough (recipe here). Preheat oven to 400°F. In a small bowl, combine applesauce, raisins, cinnamon, and Splenda.

Divide dough into 3 equal pieces.  Roll each ball of dough into long 3 inch wide strips.  Spread 1 Tbsp of butter onto each dough strip.  Spoon out 1/3 of applesauce mixer onto each strip.

Fold over both sides of the dough and the ends making three dough "ropes".

Carefully place each of the three dough "ropes" onto a greased pan with their seams facing down.

Loosely braid together the three ropes.  This does not have to be perfect!  Just have some fun here.

Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes.  Allow the bread to cool for 5-10 minutes before cutting.  This is over the top when served warm out of the oven. :D