Chicken Soup

4 Chicken Breasts

Chicken Broth

Place chicken breasts in a pot with enough chicken broth to cover the breasts. Bring to a simmer and simmer gently for 6 minutes. Turn heat off, cover and let sit for 15 minutes then shred or cube the chicken.

In a saute pan over medium, heat 2 T. olive oil

add:

1 onion

1 clove garlic

saute for 1-2 minutes

Add

2 stalks celery

4 carrots

1 t. salt (I omitted because of the chicken broth)

1/4 t. pepper

3T. parsley

Cook until softened and add to the chicken and chicken broth.

Stir in 1-2 T. fresh pesto and serve.

This is so good! My son who doesn't like pesto and is not a soup fan, LOVED it. He keeps asking me to make it again.

Reagan's Special - The Ab's Diet Burger

Recipe from Reagan Leadbetter on Good Thing's Utah

1 lb. leanest ground beef

1 cup fresh spinach

2 T lowfat Mexican blend shredded cheese

1/2 cup chopped onions

1/2 cup whole oats

1 egg

Steak Seasoning to taste

Salt and pepper to taste

Soy sauce

Fry onion with a little soy sauce, chop spinach. Mix together all ingredients - shape burger patties and grill.

Suzanne's special touches:

Serve on a thin bun with sun dried tomatoes, spinach and some blue cheese dressing. I prefer this recipe without the charring that grilling can add, so broiling is my preference.

Chicken Burritos

When you haven't been grocery shopping with a menu in a very long time (like me). You make things you might not consider otherwise. This is one of those "otherwise" recipes. All healthy ingredients (which was my first priority), very easy to make (my other first priority) and in spite of the non-traditional ingredients surprisingly good!

I'll make these again.

Here's what the filling looked like before rolling them up. Kind of pretty huh?

I'm not a huge fan of whole wheat tortillas but I found a La Flor whole wheat uncooked tortilla at Macey's that is pretty good.

And here is what mine looked like while I was eating it.

These were very filling. You could totally fatten these up with cheese and sour cream or a number of other traditional burrito ingredients but not me...not today. I'm trying to behave in the cholesterol, fat, whole food category and recipes like this make it easy.

Ingredients

1 medium green pepper, chopped (I used a mixture of red and green)

1 medium zucchini, chopped

12 oz. chicken breast, cooked, skinless, cubed

1 cup frozen corn kernels, thawed or fresh

1/2 small onion, minced

1/2 cup fat free sour cream

1/2 t. cumin

1/2 t. chili powder

4 T green sauce (optional but so good)

6 flour tortillas

2 cups salsa

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 F

In a nonstick pan, lightly saute pepper and onion until slightly cooked, about 3 to 4 minutes.

Add the zucchini, chicken, corn, green sauce and saute for 1 - 2 minutes more. Do NOT overcook. Nobody likes mushy zucchini!

Add the cumin, chili powder and sour cream.

Divide mixture among 6 tortillas. Fold in sides and roll closed. Place opening-side down in a baking pan, cover burritos with salsa. Bake until tortillas begin to brown and filling warms through, 15 - 20 minutes.

Serves 6

8 points-4 of those are the tortilla

Slow Cooker Island BBQ Chicken

Got the photo and recipe at Perry's Plate (one of my favorite recipe blogs). It was Yum-O!!!

2 pounds chicken breasts (I used boneless/skinless)

salt and pepper to taste

1 whole medium onion, sliced thinly

1/4 cups raisins

1 bottle of fruity barbecue sauce (18-20 oz bottle, guava, mango or pineapple)

(I just used my favorite Jack Daniel's bbq sauce)

2 T. balsamic vinegar

6 Sandwich Buns

Place chicken breasts into slow cooker and sprinkle salt and pepper to both sides. Add sliced onion and raisins. Pour 3/4 of the bottle of barbecue sauce and balsamic vinegar over chicken and combine. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours.

When cooking is complete, remove the chicken from the crock pot, take 2 forks and gently pull apart. I used some of the juice (about half) from the crock pot and put it back into the chicken then discarded the rest. I then added some more bbq sauce (not much) until it was as saucy as I wanted.

Serve on a bun (I used a whole wheat thin bun) and top with coleslaw.

The tart in the coleslaw and the sweet in the chicken makes the perfect combination!

I doubled the chicken recipe ingredients except for the onion. And I just used bbq sauce to my discretion (not quite doubling).

Dutch Apple Pancakes

1 cup milk

3 large eggs

3/4 cup all purpose flour (we like whole wheat)

3 T sugar (divided)

2 T butter

2 medium green apples peeled and cut into 1/4" slices

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

powdered sugar for dusting

lemon wedges (optional)

Pre-heat oven to 375. In a medium bowl, mix together the milk, eggs, flour and 2 T. of sugar.

In a heavy oven proof skillet, melt butter. Add apple slices, cinnamon and the remaining 1 T. of sugar. Reduce the heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally for 2-3 minutes, or until the apples are softened slightly. Remove pan from heat. Pour batter over the apples in the pan. Place the pan in the oven and bake for 30-35 minutes, until the pancake is lightly browned and puffy.

Dust with powdered sugar and serve with lemon wedges (if desired). A little maple syrup is okay too.

Serves 5

6 points

Balsamic Chicken With Mushrooms

Ingredients

2 tsp. olive oil (divided)

3 T. balsamic vinegar (divided)

2 t. Dijon mustard

1 clove garlic clove, crushed

4-4 oz. uncooked boneless, skinless chicken breasts

2 cups mushrooms, small, halved

1/3 cup canned chicken broth

1/4 t. dried thyme, crumbled

2 T. sun-dried tomatoes (optional)

1 T. capers (optional)

Instructions

In a non stick skillet, heat 1 teaspoon of oil.

In a medium bowl, mix 2 T. of vinegar, the mustard and garlic. Add chicken and turn to coat.

Transfer chicken and marinade skillet. Saute chicken until cooked through, about 3 minutes each side. Transfer chicken to a platter and keep warm.

Heat remaining teaspoon of oil in skillet. Saute mushrooms for 1 minute. Add broth, thyme and remaining tablespoon of vinegar. Cook stirring occasionally, until mushrooms are deep brown, about 2 minutes longer. Toss in capers and sun-dried tomatoes.

Serve chicken topped with mushrooms.

(4 points)

Cowboy Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 3/4 cups sugar

1 3/4 cups brown sugar

2 cups butter flavored shortening (do not substitute)

4 large eggs

1/2 t. water (if not using large eggs)

4 1/4 cups flour

1/2 t. baking powder

2 t. baking soda

2 t. salt

1 t. vanilla

2 1/2 cups oats

chocolate chips/butterscotch chips

Cream sugars, shortening, eggs and water. Sift dry ingredients and add to creamed mixture. Stir in oatmeal, vanilla, and chips. Scoop onto cookie sheet and bake 350 degrees for 10 minutes.

Makes a lot!

I have no idea where I got this recipe, I've had it for so long. It's the cookie that my kids grew up on and it's the cookie that we always come back to.

I like it best made with 1/2 bag of Guittard maxi milk chocolate chips, 1/2 bag of semi sweet chocolate chips, 1/2 bag of butterscotch chips (or not).