Strawberry Daquiri Bundt Cake

Cake:
1 strawberry cake mix
1/4 cup lime juice and 3/4 cup water OR 1/2 cup limeade and 1/2 cup water
1/3 cup oil
3 eggs

Mix together ingredients with mixer for 2 minutes.  Grease bundt pan well and bake at 350 degree for 35 minutes until toothpick come out clear.

Strawberries:  slice up 2-3 cups of strawberries and sprinkle with 1-2 Tbsp sugar.  Stir and let sit for an hour while cake cooks and cools.

Lime Glaze: 
1 Tbsp melted butter
2 cups powdered sugar
2-3 Tbsp lime juice

Stir together and add more juice or powdered sugar as needed to achieve desired consistency.

Slice up bundt when cool, top with strawberries, and drizzle with glaze. (Note:  This cake has a subtle lime flavor, if you were looking for a more intense lime flavor I would probably change the balance of water and lime in the cake.)

Zucchini Cookies

Camille made some Zucchini cookies....tis the season of the great zucchini.

1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
2 cups grated zucchini
3 1/2 cups oats
1 cup  of mix in: rasins, or nuts, or chocolate chips and/or butterscotch chips ( I prefer chocolate and butterscotch chips)

Cream butter and sugar together.  Add and beat in eggs and vanilla.  Mix in flour, baking soda, and salt.  Add grated zucchini, oats, and mix in (ie. chocolate chips).  Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.  Makes a ton of large cookies!

Camping Cassoulet

This is an easy & filling recipe that we have eaten as a family while camping (and at home) for as long as I can remember.

1-2 cups boneless chicken, cut into pieces
1 medium onion or 1/2 of a large onion, chopped into pieces
1 clove garlic, minced
2 Tbsp veg. oil
1 large or 2 small cans Busch's baked beans
1/2 lb kielbasa sausage, cut into 1//2 inch pieces
1/2 tsp crushed dried thyme
salt and pepper to taste

Sautee oil with onion, garlic, and chicken pieces until chicken browned and onion is tender.  Stir in remaining ingredients.  Cover and simmer for 15 minutes.

Oriental Chicken Salad

Applebee's oriental chicken salad

Dressing:

3 Tbsp Honey
1 1/2 Tbsp rice vinegar
1/4 cup mayo
1 tsp dijon mustard
1/8 tsp sesame oil

Whisk all ingredients together until well corporated. 

Salad:
2 cups Romaine lettuce
1 cup fresh spinach
1 cup red cabbage
1 cup napa cabbage
1 carrot, grated
1 green onion

toasted almonds
chow mein noodles

Coarsly chop romaine lettuce.  Finley chop cabbages.  Grate carrot and slice green onion.  Combine all salad ingredients.  Sprinkle with toasted almonds and chow mein noodles. 

Chicken:  I used Tysons pre-grilled chicken strips.  They are quick, easy, and have good flavor.  Any grilled chicken will work, or to make it more authentic to applebees use breaded chicken strips.

Note:  This recipe and dressing are for a "large dinner salad"... when we made this for a family of 6 eating we decided to multiply the recipe by 4.  We didn't even eat 1/2 of it and we had huge portions.  Instead of mixing in the dressing we added it to our personal plates as desired.  In reality 1 salad could most likely feed 2 people. 

This recipe is so tasty and easy to make.

Homemade Pancakes

I am loving Fiber One's new Buttermilk pancake mix.

I have made them several different ways including,

Blueberry:
1 cup mix
1/2 cup blueberries
1/3 cup water
1 container Brown Cow Blueberry Greek Yogurt

(I liked this way because it packed some extra protein and was more filling.  Had great flavor and made 4 -5 large pancakes which was easily 2 servings.  Each serving is 3 weight-watchers points plus points).

Banana:
1 cup mix
1 smashed over-ripe banana
2/3 cup water

(This made 5 medium sized pancakes that were 2 WW P+ each and I served them with some spray 'I can't believe it's not butter' and  some sugar and nutmeg mix sprinkled on top).

Even plain and made with 1 cup mix and 2/3 cup water they are delicious and only 2 WW P+ each.  Of course you can be creative and mix in whatever sounds tasty or try making the blueberry or banana with a pancake from scratch mix.  Just recognize the balance of yogurt and other wet ingredients may need to be adjusted.

Happy breakfast (lunch or dinner)!! :)

Dinner Group Fruit Salad

Made this fruit salad for my dinner group tonight....possibly the easiest thing in the world.

Ingredients:
a bunch of cut up fruit
1 can peach pie filling


yup that is it.  To be more specific I sliced and diced up 3 kiwi, 2 bananas, a bunch of green grapes, about 10 strawberries, and about 1/2 cup of blueberries.

It was tasty and easy and got good reviews from the group.

Adapted from this recipe.

Pepperoni rollups

These are super simple and tasty.

1 package crescent roll dough
2 sticks of string cheese
32 slices of pepperoni
italian seasoning
garlic seasoning

(I used the turkey pepperoni, low-fat string cheese, and reduced cal crescent dough so they were 3 points a piece on weight watchers)

Roll out dough into the triangles.  Sprinkle with italian seasoning.  Place 4 slices of pepperoni on each triangle.  Cut the string cheese into quarters.  Place on quarter string cheese in the center of fat portion of the triangle on pepperoni and roll from wide to skinny forming a stuffed crescent roll.  Sprinkle with italian seasoning and garlic seasoning.

When all 8 are rolled bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes.  Dip in marinara sauce if desired.

Recipe adapted from Taste of Home.  Check it out for more detailed instructions and a picture.