Black Bean Soup

Ok so after much debate on how to make good black bean soup easily, a woman at Trader Joe's said to me.... I have an awesome and easy recipie. So here goes......


What you need.....
1 can refried black beans w/ jalapenos
1 can black beans
4 cup FF chicken broth
1 bell pepper diced very small [i used red]


What to do.....
In a medium pot bring 2 Cups of broth to a boil.
Add the refried black beans to the broth , breaking it up into the broth.
Lower temp to med. and stir and break up until well blended.
Drain black beans just until clear fluid turns to dark
[you want to keep the dark fluid and the beans in the can.]
Add red pepper, beans and juice to the pot
Mix very well
Add 1 cup broth
Simmer for 20-30 mins
Then add the remaining cup of broth

Easy and yummy

1 pt for 1/2 a cup
2 pts for 1 cup

I had the other day 1 pt worth of cheese on WW bread, and 1 cup of black bean soup, for an awesomely filling 4 point lunch!!! {the next day I made it 6 points ... had 2 grilled cheese}

Peach Chiffon [or any other flavor]

Chiffon can be made with any flavor jell-o you can find. Personally I like Royal Gelatin, because i think it has more true to life flavors.

What you need...

1 3/4 Cup boiling water
2 packet of gelatin dessert [flavor of your choice] i used Peach
1 8oz package Lite Whipped topping softened [like coolwhip] I used Wegman's brand

How to do it...

In a Pyrex [or other glass hot/cold safe measuring cup] put contents of jello packet in the bottom. Add boiling water to the 1 3/4 cup line. mix very very well till all the gelatin is dissolved. let stand until it starts to thicken.

You can speed this up by sticking it in the fridge for a bit.

***DO NOT let it set*** You want it to be just shy of setting.

In a decent sized mixing bowl mix the whipped topping with a whisk until it is smooth [try to mix as little as possible]


Slowly add the thickened, but still liquid, gelatin to the whipped topping. Mix until consistent.

pour into 1/2 cup dessert dishes, or on one bowl [larger then 1 quart]


Refrigerate for 2-4 hours

this ends up being 2 points for 1/8 of the dessert, and it cuts like a pie and then can be scooped.


**DO NOT use sugar free whip topping for this, it adds more calories, however you can use sugar free jello and then it is 1.5 points for 1/8 the dessert**

Yummy yummy [toddlers liked it too, even with the nasty cold]

Oatmeal Banana Muffins

Ingredients

1/4 cup veg, oil
3/4 cup brown sugar packed
3 egg whites beaten
1 cup skim or constituted powder milk
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt [optional]
1/2 tsp allspice [optional]
2 medium bananas mashed


Directions

1. Cream together oil and brown sugar.
2. Mix in egg and milk.
3. Mix in oats, flour, baking powder, salt and allspice.
4. Stir in Bananas.
5. In a muffin pan with nonstick sprayed [Pam, hahaha] muffin pan, filling almost full.
6. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 to 23 minutes until toothpick comes out clean or golden brown.

Made in mini muffin pan 2 muffins are 1, made is regular muffin pan 1 is 1.5

Low Sugar Fat Free White Cake

{ modified from cooks.com }

1 c. flour {9}
2/3 c. equal measure splenda or 16 packets of splenda
1/3 c. cornstarch {2.5}
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder
2 egg whites {0.5}
2/3 c. skim milk {2}
1/3 c. Karo light corn syrup {5}
2 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. almond flavor [optional]

WHAT TO DO....

Preheat oven to 350.

Spray standard muffin pan with Pam. In large bowl combine flour, sugar, cornstarch, baking powder and salt. In medium bowl using fork or wire whisk, mix egg whites, milk, corn syrup and vanilla. Add to flour mixture. Stir until smooth. *Pour 1/4 Cup into each pan cup. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until toothpick inserted into middle comes out clean. Cool in pan.
{2 points each}

OR

*Pour 1/8 Cup [standard coffee measure] mixture into mini muffin pan, sprayed with Pam. Bake 6-8mins at 350 or until toothpick inserted into middle comes out clean. Cool in pan.
{1 point each}

Lemon Sandwich Cookies

Well I have all of this lemon curd needed to find something to do with it.

So I made a batch of my sugar cookie dough, and cut them out with a shot glass [wished i could have done the shot that day] baked them and put them together.... YUM.

What you need...

a cookie sheet
a shot glass
an oven that works [this was art of our issue the oven was broken]
Pam [duh]

1 1/2 cups 10x [confectioners] sugar [get a whole box you will need it for the finishing] {24}
1 Cup butter or one tub Land O Lakes Light Butter {52 for butter or 22 for light butter}
1 Egg {1}
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond flavor
2 1/2 cups flour {22 1/2}
1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder

Light Butter makes it 69 total, Regular butter 97.5 total

What to do...

******Sifting is VERY important in this recipe*******

Mix butter, egg, and flavorings together. Sift in 10x sugar, and mix. Sift in Flour and baking powder, blend together. lay out two 12 inch pieces of plastic wrap, and dived dough in half onto the pieces. flatten to about 1/2 and inch think, wrap it up, and refrigerate for at least and hour. on lightly floured surface roll dough out to about 3/16th inch thick, and cut out circles.

Spray a little bit of Pam on a paper towel and wipe down the cookie sheet. place cookies on the tray [they can be rather close [1/2 inch apart] they do not spread a whole lot]. Bake at 375 for 7-8 minutes, they should not have browned, maybe some tiny edges may get golden. ***These cookies do not fair well on a "regular" cooling rack, i find it best to put them on a plate or pan [i put mine in a big Pyrex pan]***

After taking cookies out of the oven pair them up one s that are about the same size/ shape. While still warm spread some lemon curd on the inside of one cookie, and top with the other, set on a plate or tray to cool.

After cooled pour the rest of the box of powdered sugar into a big bowl, and roll the cookies thru the sugar coating all sides. and you are done [cookies will need ot be re-sugared if you are "presenting" them.

Notes:

These cookies are great with rasberry or strawberry preserves [almost anything]. I have also done them in little heart shapes raspberry filled for valentines day.

I also have made these in my microwave convection oven, and they came out just fine, just took much longer to bake them as i could not fit as many on the tray. [follow the instructions above exactly if making in the convection oven.]

this recipe makes abotu 3 1/2 dozen sandwiches. Done as follows with the curd or with low or now sugar preserves, they are 1.5 points each with the light butter, or 2.2 each for the regular butter.

The sugar cookie dough its self is very good, i have some rounds cut out and baked to use as a little snack for me, or as a little treat for the kids.

They hold up best in an air tight container in a cool dry place, and stay soft pretty long. My grandmothers cookies are a little bit different, [no almond of baking powder and not as soft] and hers have been known to be soft and fine for 2-3 months.

Taking Note

Sorry for nto posting for a while... with now 25 days till baby, and my SD card reader being down, oh and the holidays too, I have been quite busy. {note to self: not that busy yet, baby is not here yet, and 15 dozen sandwich cookies need to be made starting Monday}

Lately I have been taking note of what others eat, the guy in line behind me at the McDonald's drive thru [I got apple dippers], but mostly the toddlers. Until recently the two of them and I ate the same meal for lunch. I am now coming to realize many of the meals they so dearly love, are not all that bad.

Today's meal....
5 Saltines {1}
1 Skim Cheese stick {1}
1/4 Cup Edamame {0}
1 All Beef hot dog {4} [they like them cold, saves me some time]
{this hot dog can be replaced by 2 Smart Dogs {1}}



So their lunch, not including the 8oz of whole milk, was only 6 points. If I trade out the hot dog for 2 smart dogs, it is then only 3, not bad.

Issues

Well I have been tryign to get my SD card reader on the side of mt laptop to work.

I was having some issues with a program I had downloaded. I some how think I deleted the program for the reader.

Well I had pics and recipes to do, but they will have to wait.

Besides life is crazy 34 days till baby!!