Mini Cinnamon and Buttermilk Scones

I've been sitting on this scone recipe for a couple months but never had the opportunity to make them. Well, Easter changed that. Scones tend to be a little dry naturally, so expect that when you make them. They are perfect for dipping in coffee or tea. These Cinnamon and Buttermilk Scones are wonderful and really easy to make. I put a vanilla glaze on the top to help keep it moist. Store scones for a couple days in an airtight container at room temperature.

Cinnamon and Buttermilk Scones

The Stuff:
1 egg
2/3 cup buttermilk
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup white flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 tablespoon of cinnamon (you can do less, but I LOVE cinnamon)
3 tablespoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoon cold, unsalted butter cut into cubes
zest of 1 Meyer lemon

The How To:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees
• Beat egg, buttermilk and lemon zest together, set aside
• In a large bowl, whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt together

• Add the butter and using your fingers (you can use a pastry cutter, but whats the fun of that?) to cut butter into flour until you have a pebbly mixture

• Pour the egg and buttermilk mixture into flour mixture
• Stir with a rubber spatula until combined, do not over mix
• Flour a working surface and turn the dough out and pat to quarter inch thick
• Using a sharp knife make triangles with the dough
• Place triangles onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper

• Bake for 15-18 minutes or until browned
• Serve with your favorite jam

Enjoy!

Tomatillo, Chicken, and Hominy Soup

This dish is a posole, which is a thick and heart soup perfect for dinner! Never used hominy? It is basically a corn kernel, sold in a can, not much of a taste but adds a nice texture to soups. Tomatillos add a lemony taste - even though the name seems like it should be a tomato I never get much of a tomato taste out of them. They are delish though! This soup is yummy, low points, easy to put together and filling. Top with light sour cream, cilantro and crushed tortillas.

This makes 6 servings

Tomatillo, Chicken & Hominy Soup

The Stuff:

1/2 pound tomatillos, husks and stems discarded
2 shredded chicken breast from this recipe
32 oz low sodium chicken stock
1 can fire roasted tomatoes
1 small can chopped green chilies
1 large onion chopped
5 garlic cloves chopped
1 jalapeno
1 30oz can hominy drained
salt and pepper to taste
2 teaspoon cumin
1 cup cilantro

The How To:

Quarter the tomatillos and the jalapeno, remove the jalapeno seeds if you don't like heat

Add 3/4 cup cilantro, the tomatillos and the jalapeno to a food processor or blender, pulse until chopped

Add tomatillo mixture, onions, tomatoes, garlic, chilies to a pot and cook for 10 minutes

Add chicken stock, salt & pepper, and cumin and simmer for 15 minutes until warmed up

Serve up into bowl, top with avocado, remaining cilantro, sour cream, and half chicken breast

Add crushed tortillas and eat up! (you can add all the toppings at once, but I forgot the tortillas so I added them after:))

Weight Watcher Friends: 1 serving is 3 p+, add extra points for your toppings

Enjoy!

Shrimp Salad

We had a potluck at work the other day and since I anticipated their being lots of heavy type foods I wanted to make something a bit lighter. This recipe from Gina's Skinny Recipes is a sure winner! I changed some things, but either way would be great. This is crisp, refreshing and filling!

Shrimp Salad

The Stuff:
3/4 pound shrimp, peeled
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 tablespoon red onion (Gina adds less, but I thought more was good)
1 tablespoons olive oil mayonnaise (if you haven't tried this, give it a shot, yum!)
2 tablespoon fat free plain Greek yogurt
Seasoned Salt, Chili powder, dash cumin
30 cucumber slices, about 1 large cucumber
Chopped chives

The How To:

Run a knife through the shrimp once or twice, add to a mixing bowl
Add celery

Add Onion, mayonnaise, yogurt and seasoning

Mix until well combined

Place a heaping tablespoon of shrimp salad on each cucumber slice

This is a small portion of the shrimp salad, you can beef it up

Top with chives and eat up!

Weight Watcher Friends: 1 cucumber slice with 1 tablespoon of shrimp salad is 0pp, 4 are 2pp

Enjoy!

Cheesy Pasta Bake

I love cheese and I love pasta and this dish is a yummy combo of the two. I basically cleaned out the pantry and the fridge and came up with this keeper. You could add all sorts of ingredients so don't be shy to add different veggies. Broccoli or asparagus or even cauliflower would be tasty, I bet sundried tomatoes, or even fresh tomatoes would be good too! The MR really liked this and asked that I add it to the regular rotation - I rarely make the same meal twice, but I will make this one again.

Cheesy Pasta Bake

The Stuff:
16 oz cooked penne pasta
1 cup reduced fat cheddar cheese
1 16oz container fat free cottage cheese
1 10 3/4 oz can 98% fat free creamed chicken soup
1/2 cup fat free milk
3 cups sliced mushrooms
3 cups spinach
1 roasted red bell pepper



 1 cup onion
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 teaspoon oregano
Salt and pepper to taste

The How To:

• Preheat oven to 425
• Warm up olive oil in a saute pan, add onions, mushroom and red bell pepper and saute for 4 or 5 minutes

• Add garlic and saute another minute or so
• Add spinach and cook for 3 minutes or until just before spinach is wilted 

• Add cottage cheese to a food processor and pulse until cottage cheese is creamy
• In a bowl mix pasta, spinach mixture, cottage cheese, milk, soup, and 3/4 cup cheddar cheese until well blended



This is before you add the pasta, its a nice creamy base

• Spray  a casserole dish with non-stick cooking spray, add the mixture, top with remaining cheese

 Bake for 15-20 minutes until bubbly and golden

Weight Watchers Friend: 3/4 cup is 7 points

Enjoy!

Roasted Acorn Squash

Acorn squash is a favorite of mine. I've stuffed them with a rice mixture and baked them, I've steamed them and I've roasted them - all are great ways to cook them. Roasting them with apple cider vinegar and a little olive oil brings out a sweet quality and almost makes it taste like a dessert.

Roasted Acorn Squash 

The Stuff:
1 acorn squash cut into 1/4 inch size rings, scrape out seeds
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1.5 teaspoons olive oil
salt and pepper

The How To:
Preheat oven to 400
Coat a large cookie sheet with olive oil and apple cider vinegar
Lay out the acorn squash rings in a single layer on the sheet
Sprinkle with salt and pepper
Bake for 10 minutes and flip, cook an additional 10-15 minutes, checking every 5 minutes
To eat, remove the rind, it should peel off easily

Weight Watcher Friends: 1/2 the squash equals 1 pt

Enjoy!

Asparagus and Poached Egg Salad

Now that Spring has officially sprung, and asparagus is $.99 a pound rather than $3.99 a pound its time to start eating it! I love asparagus! There are so many ways to eat it: blanched - which keeps it nice and crisp, roasting, steaming, or shredding raw asparagus onto a salad - its all just wonderful! With Spring also brings the heat - it was 80 degrees last night! The perfect salad-for-dinner weather. One of my favorite salads is greens/roasted veggies/poached eggs - there are a million combinations you can do. I used asparagus but get creative: mushrooms, tomatoes, and brussel sprouts are all great roasted then top your greens and you have a salad that makes a meal. This meal is light and with the poached egg you get protein and it makes a sort of dressing.

Asparagus & Poached Egg Salad

The Stuff:
1 lb Asparagus with hard ends cut off
2 egg
4 cups spinach or whatever salad green you like
4 slices bacon
1 tomato, sliced
2 tablespoon grated Parmesan
1 tablespoon olive oil - for roasting asparagus
1 tablespoon white vinegar (for poaching eggs)
dressing (see recipe below)
Dressing:
1 shallot, minced
1 tablespoon dijon mustard - the more seeds the better!
3 tablespoons olive oil, I use meyer lemon flavored, you can also just use meyer lemon juice, or regular lemon juice if you want
1 tablespoon orange champagne Vinaigrette
salt & pepper

The How To:
Preheat oven to 350, pour olive oil onto cookie sheet, lay asparagus in a single layer, sprinkle with salt and pepper and roast for 15-20 minutes
While asparagus is roasting, cook up bacon until it is crisp, pour out bacon grease. Stick bacon on paper towels to soak up grease.

Bacon!

In same pan you used for bacon, saute the shallot for 5 minutes, set aside for the dressing. Meanwhile, mix olive oil, vinaigrette, mustard, lemon juice (if using), and s&p until combined, then add shallots. This will be your dressing - set aside

In a shallow sauce pan, boil 3 cups water and vinegar. Crack 1 egg into a shallow cup, careful not to break the yolk, once water and vinegar are boiling add the egg using the cup as a vessel, repeat with 2nd egg. Do not plop it into the pan, slowly pour it in. Once, eggs are in, turn heat off but keep pan on the burner. Leave it there until ready to use

Distribute salad greens onto 2 plates, distribute sliced tomato, crumble bacon, roasted asparagus, evenly onto greens. Top with a poached egg - when removing egg use a slotted spoon to drain all the water. Be careful when scraping it off the bottom of the pan - upi don't want to crack the yolk. Top with half the dressing and half of the cheese. Crack yolk and eat up!

weight Watcher Friends: 1 salad is 6 points
Enjoy!

Roasted Cauliflower

I've always looked at cauliflower as broccoli's ugly cousin - I've never liked the taste, I've never been a fan and I've never bought it, until now. Ohmygosh it is actually good - if you cook it right. I stumbled upon a roasted cauliflower recipe and wowza, it's good!

Make this tonight - you'll fall in love with cauliflower, too, or maybe you already like it and I'm just the weird one.

Roasted Cauliflower

The Stuff:
Head of cauliflower, cut into bite size pieces
1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt, pepper and chili powder to taste

The How To:

• Preheat oven to 450.
• Pour olive oil on a cookie sheet
• In a large ziplock bag ad cauliflower and seasonings and shake
• Pour contents of ziplock onto prepared cookie sheet
• Bake for 25-35 minutes

Weight Watcher Friends: 1 pt for half
Enjoy!