Reduced-Fat Pimento Cheese

I really love pimento cheese for grilled cheese sandwiches, and the full fat version of pimento cheese is outrageously high in calories. It's 9 WW points per serving just for the pimento cheese if you made it full fat. If you make it reduced in fat, it's only 4 WW points per serving. That's 5 WW points less!! This recipe is great for weight watchers, and I'm currently on weight watchers and this is a nice treat to eat once in a while without feeling quite so guilty about it. :)

Six 2.5 oz. servings
WW Points: 4 points per serving

* 3 oz. light cream cheese
* 4 oz. / 1 cup reduced-fat shredded cheese (I used Sargento Reduced-Fat 4 cheese mexican blend)
* 1/2 cup reduced-fat mayonnaise
* 1/4 tsp crushed garlic, or 1/4 tsp garlic powder
* 1/4 cup pimentos, or chopped roasted red peppers (I used the roasted red peppers, it was very good in flavour)
* salt and pepper to taste


Place 3 oz. cream cheese in a small bowl, and microwave for 30 seconds at 50% power.

In a medium size bowl mix with a whisk together cream cheese, mayonnaise, salt and pepper, and garlic paste.

Clean off whisk, and using a spoon mix in the pimentos/red peppers and shredded cheese until combined thoroughly. Place in refrigerator for at least 2 hours to set up. However, if you plan to make grilled cheese with the pimento cheese, you can use it right away.

Store in an air tight container in the refrigerator for up to one week.


If you make grilled cheese sandwiches with this awesome pimento cheese, be sure to use a reduced-fat butter spread on each slice of bread.

Weight Watchers Friendly Chicken-Etti

This is a great recipe, and it's low in fat but still tastes great! It's called Chicken-Etti. The original recipe has one pound of full fat cheese, and it comes out a bit oily and greasy... This is great because it's less cheese, but less oily. I actually like it better with less cheese. Plus the cheese used in this is reduced fat cheese. It's also only 5 weight watcher points per serving!

* 18 oz cooked whole wheat spaghetti cooked in salt water, drained
* 2 cups 2%/reduced fat sharp cheddar (I bought the Kroger 2% sharp cheddar)
* 1 can cream of celery
* 11 ½ oz. of Foster Farms fully cooked grilled chicken strips, defrosted in the microwave, and cubed (if you don’t use the foster farms grilled chicken, the points won’t be the same. We bought our foster farms grilled chicken at Costco.)
* 1 can mild Rotel tomatoes with green peppers/chilis, with juice
* 1 cup chicken broth
* 1 green bell pepper, diced
* No added salt, or pepper.

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease, or spray a 13 x 9 pan.

Spread out your cooked, and drained pasta on the bottom of the pan.

In a 1 quart glass pyrex measuring cup, place the can of cream of celery, chicken broth, rotel tomatoes with juice, and whisk. Add 1 cup of cheddar to the liquid mixture and microwave for 2 minutes, stir, then cook for another 2 minutes or until the cheese is just barely melted.

Add the diced bell pepper to the hot liquid and stir.

Spread out the cubed chicken over the spaghetti and pour the sauce over the top. Stir it around a little bit, then top with the remaining 1 cup of cheddar cheese.

Bake for 30 minutes.

Enjoy!

Serves 8

Weight Watcher Points: 5

Lemon Cupcakes with Raspberry Cream

I really love these cupcakes, they are so moist and light. The raspberry cream adds another dimension that makes them a taste sensation. If you don't like raspberry you could use blueberries, or even blackberries. I don't know how well strawberry would work. Give these a try, they are very light and refreshing. :)

Lemon Cupcakes:

* 1 1/3 cups flour
* 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
* 6 tablespoons butter, softened
* 2/3 cup sugar
* 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
* 1 tablespoon ground lemon zest
* 2 tablespoons lemon juice
* 1/2 cup sour cream
* 1/4 teaspoon lemon extract

Preheat oven to 350F; Line 12 muffin tins with paper liners and set aside.

To make the batter whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a small bowl; set aside.

In medium bowl, beat the butter until light and fluffy.

With mixer on high speed, gradually beat in sugar, and continue beating until mixture is very light and fluffy.

Lower speed to medium, beat in eggs, one at a time, beating just until blended, then beat in lemon juice, and zest and extract.

Lower speed to low, alternately beat in flour mixture and sour cream, beating just until blended.

Bake cakes about 20 minutes.

Raspberry Cream:

1 pint heavy whipping cream
1/2 - 2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 10 oz. bag frozen unsweetened raspberries

Thaw raspberries; When thawed, blend in a blender until pureed.

Place sieve over a bowl, strain raspberry puree. With a rubber spatula press the sides of the sieve to get all the juice out.

Mix whipped cream until soft peaks form, add 1/2 cup to 2/3 cup of sugar depending on how sweet you'd like it to the whipped cream. Once heavy peaks form, spoon in the strained raspberry puree a little at a time into the whipped cream and continue to whip with the mixer. Once you've added as much raspberry as you'd like, cut the cupcakes in half and dollop the raspberry cream between the two halves. Dust with powdered sugar. Enjoy!

Sore Throat Remedy

Okay, so I have a sore throat right now, and my sister made me this remedy... It doesn't taste very good, but it really helps. It numbs the throat a little bit, and it soothes the soreness.

1/2 - 1 shot whiskey
1/2 lemon juiced
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons honey
Wedge of lemon
Boiling water

In a mug, add half a shot to one shot of whiskey.

Add the juice of half a lemon.

Add sugar and honey, and stir the mixture.

Add the boiling water to fill the mug 3/4 of the way full, and stir.

You can float the wedge of lemon in your glass for a little bit to add more lemon if you'd like, if it starts to taste bitter, take the lemon wedge out.

Now, it's going to be hard to drink it, but you need to drink it warm. The warmth helps, and if you want you can take two 500 mg tylenol (paracetamol in Europe) right before drinking this remedy.

It seriously helps, my throat was cured for a bit, and it helped me sleep throughout the night. The whiskey helped me sleep.

Pancakes with Coconut Syrup

So, I love pancakes with coconut syrup, sliced bananas, toasted coconut, and toasted pecans. You could make it with toasted macadamia nuts as well. This recipe is very easy to make and it's sooo good. :3

Buttermilk Pancakes:

2 cups flour
1 1/4 tsp soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 eggs, unbeaten
2 cups buttermilk
1/4 cup melted butter

Mix dry ingredients thoroughly. Add remaining ingredients and stir lightly to just moisten dry ingredients. Mixture will be thick and lumpy.

Pour 1/4 cup batter into a hot pan and cook until golden on both sides, approximately 2 minutes per side.



Coconut Syrup:

3 cups sugar
1 cup water
1 15 ounce can coconut milk
Pinch of salt

In a saucepan over medium heat add the sugar and water. Bring to a boil, and turn to medium low stirring frequently until reduced by half.

Add the coconut syrup and a pinch of salt and bring to boil, turn down to medium low stirring frequently until syrup is reduced by half.

Remove syrup from heat and set aside.



Toasted Coconut and Pecans:

Preheat oven to 350 F

In two tin pie pans, put one cup coconut in one pie pan, and one cup pecans in another pie pan.

Bake for 15 minutes stirring every 5 minutes.

I hope you enjoy these delicious pancakes with bananas sliced on top, toasted coconut and pecans with the coconut syrup. It's truly a taste sensation! ^_^

Homemade Ginger Ale

So, I've decided to start making my own soda... I don't like the fact that most companies put caffeine in their soda, and other ingredients that are not needed. I like this all natural soda, and it has a great taste.

Ginger Simple Syrup

1/2 cup peeled, organic ginger root
2 cups raw sugar
1 cup water
1 lemon
cans of sparkling water (which is the same thing as club soda)

In a saucepan add sugar and water. Bring to a light boil over medium heat.

While the syrup is coming to a boil, peel the ginger and wash your lemon.

Once the syrup comes to a boil turn down the heat to medium-low, and let simmer while you finish peeling and ginger.

Cut the lemon in half and juice it; Set aside.

Add the peeled ginger to the syrup and simmer for 9 minutes.

Cut the juiced lemon into quarters, removing the end pieces.

Add the lemon quarters to the syrup and cook for 1 minute.

Turn off the heat and stir in the lemon juice.

Strain the syrup through a sieve into a bowl. Cool to room temperature, and store in a jar, or air tight container in the refrigerator.

To make a soda:

3 - 6 tablespoons ginger syrup to taste
1 can sparkling water
Ice if desired

Pour the syrup into a 16 oz glass / tall glass, add ice if desired, and pour over the sparkling water and stir until well combined. You've just made homemade ginger ale with no added dyes, or preservatives! Enjoy!

Giveaway From Tricia's Dish

I know this is not cooking related, but there is a giveaway over at Tricia's Dish for a handbag, and I so I thought I'd share this with everyone else.