Category: recipes

Chicken Florentine Pasta

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I gave you a salad recipe and I just must give you a companion recipe to go with it! I’m nice and OCD like that. Salad is probably my favorite thing to eat with pasta. Probably because pasta is so high in points and it needs a super low point side. And there is something about the combination of something heavy and something so light and fresh. 

Chicken Florentine Pasta 

Ingredients:

  • 1 pound of whole wheat penne
  • 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
  • salt, pepper and Tony’s to taste
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon Brummel and Brown butter
  • 3 teaspoons refrigerated minced garlic (or 4 cloves minced)
  • 1 1/2 fat free chicken broth
  • 1 bag baby spinach (6-8 ounces)
  • 2 cups grape tomatoes, halved length wise
  • 4 ounces Parmesan, shaved with vegetable peeler

How can you go wrong with grape tomatoes and fresh Parmesan? Go fresh! It’s the best way.

Directions: 

Cut up chicken into bite sized chunks and season with salt, pepper and Tony’s. Heat olive oil over high heat and add chicken chunks.

While chicken is cooking start your pasta.  Cook pasta according to package directions in salted water. Drain and set aside. You can also salt and pepper your tomatoes at this time and shave your Parmesan. Multitasking!

Let the chicken brown on one side and then turn it to brown on the other. About 5-7 minutes on each side. Once done, remove chicken from skillet and set aside.

Increase heat to medium, add butter and garlic, and stir quickly so it doesn’t burn. After a few sizzling seconds, pour in the chicken broth and stir to deglaze the pan. Allow the mixture to bubble and reduce heat to medium low. Allow the mixture to reduce by half, it should still be bubbling, just not heavy boiling.

Turn off the heat, add spinach, salted tomatoes, chicken, and pasta to the pan. Toss to combine. Add the Parmesan and toss more. Tomatoes will get warm and cozy. Spinach will get wilty and perfect. Serve with extra Parmesan shavings if desired.

Yields about 7 cups of pasta. Each 1 cup serving is 10 points for a filling hearty pasta. A good BIG meal to serve to other people. It makes much.

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Wedge Salads & Spicy Avocado Lime Dressing

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More green! I do love green stuff a whole lot. It worked out well for me when I started Weight Watchers, the loving veggies and fruits thing. I quickly discovered how to make a big salad filled with 0 point things and selectively pick my point worthy toppings of choice. 
I’m always looking for ways to spice up a salad, make it main dish worthy, or tweak the flavors to make it a perfect side for any meal. One of my favorite ways to do that is to make my own salad dressing. I can eat a salad without dressing if it has the right toppings, but mostly, I have to have some dressing on my salad. Store bought creamy dressings are always high in points and so they are my favorites to make at home. Skinny Taste is the best source for healthy made at home creamy salad dressings.

Spicy Avocado Lime Dressing

(adapted from Skinny Taste’s recipe)

Ingredients: 

  • 3 tablespoons powdered butter milk + 3/4 cup water (or 3/4 cup low-fat buttermilk)
  • 1 jalapeno
  • 1/2 cup cilantro
  • 1 avocado
  • 1 teaspoon minced garlic
  • 1 green onion, sliced
  • juice of two limes
  • 1/4 teaspoon cumin
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
Green. Green. Green. 

Directions: 

Add cultured buttermilk powder and water in a food processor first to combine. If you’re using normal buttermilk, just toss it all together. Add in all the other ingredients. Most of them don’t need to be pre-chopped. Deseed the avocado and remove the meat from the shell and just toss it in whole. Slice the jalapeno in half lengthwise and then again and toss in. Roughly chop the green onions. Add cilantro, sugar, garlic, lime juice, salt, cumin and pepper. Pulse until blended well. 
Note – If you don’t add the jalapeno seeds, decrease the amount of sugar, it would probably be a little too sweet. 
Warning – this is SPICY! Like serious kick here folks. I liked it, but it’s even spicier than the salsa I made earlier in the week. 
Last step. Don’t misspell spicy when you go to take a picture of your yummy dressing for you blog. Oops. 

Yields 1 1/2 cups and 12 servings. Each 2 tablespoons serving is only 1 point! Add to your favorite salad or make one of these lovely wedge salads I made!

Wedge Salad

Ingredients: 

  • 1 head of iceberg lettuce
  • handful of chopped red grape tomatoes
  • handful of chopped yellow cherry tomatoes
  • julienned cucumbers
  • chopped green onions
  • turkey bacon bits
  • reduced fat blue cheese crumbles
  • balsamic vinegar
  • Spicy Avocado Lime Salad Dressing (or your choice)
  • any other toppings you like

Directions: 

Assemble. Really! It’s that easy. Use a big mega knife (I used a watermelon knife) to slice a head of iceberg lettuce in half and then in half again. Cut off the hard end of edge wedge. These made BIG salads. If you want smaller ones you could cut each iceberg half into thirds instead of in half again. Carefully sprinkle on your toppings. Drizzle with your favorite dressing and splash with a little balsamic. 
The Weight Watchers points value of your wedge salad will depend on what you add to it. 2 tablespoons of reduced blue cheese crumbles are only 1 point. 1 tablespoon of turkey bacon bits is 1 point. 2 tablespoons of the dressing is 1 point. The rest is 0! My whole big salad was 3 points, and less probably! I didn’t use a whole 2 tablespoons of dressing or blue cheese, but always better to round up a little. 

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Homemade Salsa & Smashed Beans

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Meal planning ideas and inspiration come from everywhere for me. Other food bloggers inspire ideas often, restaurant dishes, cravings, the Food Network and it’s many shows that are often [read always] playing on my television, walks down the grocery isle, or just crazy brainstorming.

This meal plan inspiration was a combo! First my friend and fellow blogger Emily made my mouth water and cravings begin with a salsa recipe she posted. She adapted hers from the Pioneer Woman‘s homemade salsa recipe. Once I knew I had to make salsa, I was on the lookout for other ideas to make it into a meal. Along came Melissa D’Arabian’s Ten Dollar Dinners’ chile episode. I used her Smashed Black Beans as an inspiration to make my own version.

Note – I also added stuffed peppers to this meal that were a total flop. Melissa made cheese and corn stuff peppers, battered and fried. I tried to do a veggie stuffed pepper idea with corn, spinach and tomatoes, baked. Some recipes are great! They work out, I share them, I make them again. Some just aren’t! Real life folks. Everyone creates recipes that don’t work, even people with food blogs.

 

Green! I told you this week’s recipes could be summed up with one word, green. But seriously, how can something not be good that starts so fresh!?

Homemade Salsa

  • Servings: lots
  • Difficulty: EASY
  • Print

(Adapted from Pioneer Woman’s recipe)

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 – 28 ounce can of whole tomatoes, with juice
  • 2 cans of diced tomatoes with green chilies (like Rotel, I used Great Value brand)
  • 1/2 red onion, chopped
  • 1/2 cup green bell pepper, chopped (optional)
  • 1 teaspoon of jarred/bottled minced garlic (or 1-2 cloves to taste of fresh chopped)
  • 1 whole jalapeno, sliced (I left the seeds, but if you don’t like spicy, discard them.)
  • 1/4 teaspoon sugar
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp ground cumin
  • 1 cup cilantro (You either love or hate cilantro, I love it. If you hate it, leave it out or add less.)
  • juice of 1 lime

DIRECTIONS:

I made mine in a big food processor, but Emily made hers in a blender. Either would work. Toss everything in and pulse/blend! Do it to a consistency that you like. I like it pretty thin. It’s like your favorite Mexican restaurant’s salsa, but BETTER! Yes. I said it. I like this made at home salsa even better than the Mexican restaurants’ versions.
Refrigerate for at least an hour. Yields about 5 1/2 – 6 cups. GUILT FREE! 0 points. Serve with chips.

 

Look at that seed! It’s got a kick. I like it, but if you are sensitive to spiciness you might want to leave out the seeds. That said, I’ll never leave them out. I was quite proud of my taste buds for handling/liking it.
I don’t know why I’ve never braved salsa before! I always thought it was some long expensive process involve blanching and skinning tomatoes plus more. The canned tomatoes in this recipes and the simplicity won me over forever. Don’t count on me serving jarred salsa to anyone again, unless I’m in an unplanned pinch.

Smashed Mexican Beans

  • Servings: 1
  • Difficulty: EASY
  • Print

CALORIES:  260 for 1 serving (via MyFitnessPal)

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 yellow onion, minced
  • 1 jalapeno, minced (I left the seeds in)
  • 1 teaspoon olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons jarred/bottle minced garlic (or 3 cloves fresh minced)
  • 1 can of black beans
  • 1 can of dark red kidney beans
  • 1 cup chicken stock
  • 1 tablespoon white vinegar
  • 1/4 cup reserved cooking liquid

DIRECTIONS:

Cook the onions and jalapeno in olive oil over medium heat until soft. Add cumin, oregano, salt and garlic. Cook for another 3-5 minutes. Add the beans and stock and bring to boil. Turn the heat to low and simmer about 15 minutes.

Remove the beans from stove top and strain, reserving the cooking liquid. Smash beans with a potato masher. Add in vinegar and cooking liquid and continue to smash until combined and a consistency that you like.

Yields about 3 cups. Each 1/2 serving is 2 points (6 servings). Slightly larger 3/4 cup servings are 3 points each (4 servings).

 

And what do you do when the main dish to go with your two yummy sides that are way better than the main dish doesn’t work out? Made the sides into their own main dish of course. Nachos! Layered with good corn tortilla chips, beans, a little cheese and avocado chicken warmed in the oven at 350 for 7-10 minutes. Topped with fresh chopped avocado and served with abundant salsa for dipping.

 

Pineapple Dreamsicle Fluff

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You know I don’t love summer. I’m admittedly a little bit of a diva and I hate sweating. If I could have it my way, I’d live in a place where people had the same hospitality and helpful spirit as my great Mississippi, cooked just as well, but the temperatures would be quite different. All year round it would never be too hot to wear cardigans. In Cardiganland I’d never sweat or be hit in the face with pea soup thick humidity that makes my hair look like a mess. 
Dislike for Mississippi heat and summers aside, there are parts of summer I like. I like afternoon storms, even the ones with lightening and hail like we had yesterday. I like snow balls. I like popsicles. I like Smith County watermelons. I like paper sacks full of home grown veggies from my pawpaws garden. I like cookouts and BBQs. I like sandals. I like swimming pools. And despite my love obsession with fall and all its flavors, I actually love the flavors that go along with the rising temperatures of summer. This little easy to make treat is guilt free, full of summer flavors and reminds me of my favorite snow ball, dreamsicle! 

Pineapple Dreamsicle Fluff

Ingredients:

  • 1 can mandarin oranges, drained (in Splenda)
  • 1 can crushed pineapple, not drained (in Splenda)
  • 1 package sugar free vanilla pudding (big box)
  • 1 container of fat free cool whip 
  • coconut shavings (optional edible garnish)

Directions: 

Stir together pudding mix, cool whip, drained oranges, and pineapple with its juice until combined. Chill and eat!

Yields 5 cups and 10 – 1/2 cup servings. Each 1/2 cup serving is 1 point on Weight Watchers! Totally guilt free. I sprinkled a little shaved coconut on top of mine. 1 tablespoon of sweetened coconut is 1 point, but I didn’t use a whole tablespoon. I’m certain I will keep my refrigerator stocked with this all summer. 

What’s your favorite summer treat? 

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Dr. Pepper Ten Brownies

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Weight Watcher’s at home chefs and bakers have to be some of the most innovative people out there! Tips and tricks are passed down at every meeting. Shortcuts and substitutes can be found on any food blog that shares Weight Watcher recipes. Some of my favorite recipes are the SUPER easy ones. The mix this with a box of that and done ones! Lower in points and easier? Win win! 
Cake mix recipes mixed with cans of diet soda (or assorted cans of fruit) are all over the place. I haven’t actually had a cake mix with soda that I like yet. (However, I do enjoy cake mixes mixed with pumpkin or pineapple.) But… when I saw this Diet Coke Brownies recipe, my interest was stirred. It helped that it came from a healthy eating blog that I trust. Craving chocolate probably helped a bit too. Needless to say, I found myself having to try out a version of these brownies. Dr. Pepper Ten is my all time favorite diet soda and I always have it. If I don’t, I’m mad at someone for drinking the last one. I think it was the perfect diet soda for these easy peasy brownies. 

Ingredients: 

  • 1 box of brownie mix
  • 1 can of Dr. Pepper Ten (or diet soda of choice)

Directions: 

Stir brownie mix and soda together until smooth. Pour into a sprayed 9×13 pan. Bake at 350 for 30 – 40 minutes. Follow the package directions for cooking, but you may have to cook it a tad longer. Just rely on the tooth pick trick. 
Now… if you want to be good and very self controlled, you can (and should) stop there. However… Since we’re not adding eggs or oil, why not add a little coconut shavings? I mean aren’t they just so pretty and just in need of being the perfect topping for something? 

Since we’re adding things, a few chocolate chips sprinkled on hot right out of the oven brownies are the inseparable best friend to coconut shavings. 
Then… the fat free sweet condensed milk just felt left out! He asked nicely to be drizzled atop. I just couldn’t bring myself to tell him no. 

And that’s how Dr. Pepper Ten Brownies became Coconut Dr. Pepper Ten Brownies.

The Weight Watcher’s Recipe Builder was down tonight, so I couldn’t add it the little extras. But word to the wise, make these for people! They are dangerously good and easy to snack on. Without the extras, according to the recipe I used as a base, they are 4 points each for 18 servings. Mine made 12 large servings or 24 small ones.


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Double Chocolate Banana Bread

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Once upon a time, I didn’t eat breakfast very often. I was either too rushed, not hungry, woke up too late or just (let’s be honest) too lazy. However, as a Weight Watchers doer and meeting attender I quickly learned breakfast is essential! Fact – people who eat breakfast loose more weight and are just generally healthier. 
As you should know by now, breakfast has become one of my favorites! I mean I can’t ever get enough of these make ahead crustless breakfast quiches, I’ve posted them twice with different variations and made them WAY more than twice. There were the make ahead breakfast burritos and banana pancake muffins. And now… CHOCOLATE! 
Is there anything better for breakfast than chocolate? I mean it’s bread. Bread is a breakfast food. It has bananas. That’s fruit. Fruit is a breakfast food. So Double Chocolate Banana Bread can most definitely be eaten for breakfast right?! Glad you agree. 

Double Chocolate Banana Bread

(Adapted from a Pinterest recipe.)
Recipe yields 2 loaves of bread, 12 slices each loaf, 24 servings, 6 Weight Watchers points per whole slice, 3 per half slices (which is a great snack size). Calculated using the Recipe Builder on Weight Watcher Etools. 

Ingredients: 

  • 2 cup sugar
  • 1 cup egg beaters
  • 2/3 cup unsweetened apple sauce
  • 2 1/2 cup mashed, ripe bananas (about 6)
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 1 1/2 cup white flour
  • 1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1 cup cocoa powder
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 cup chocolate chips 
  • Optional garnish – powdered sugar for dusting (not counted)

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 350. Spray the bottom of an 8×4 inch loaf pan with cooking spray. I only had one, so I did it in two batches. If you have two, even better! 
Beat sugar, egg beaters, and applesauce on medium speed until combined. Beat in mashed bananas and vanilla on low. 
Combine flours, cocoa, baking soda and salt in a seperate bowl. Beat into banana mixture one cup sized scoop at a time on low speed until combined. Stir in chocolate chips. 
Pour half of the batter into loaf pan(s). Bake 60-65 minutes or until center of bread doesn’t jiggle. Cool 10 minutes. Turn out of pan unto a wire cooling rack and cool completely. Sprinkle top with powdered sugar to pretty it up a little.

This recipe can easily be halved if you only want one loaf. But I’m telling you, it’s so good you’re going to want to share! Which means, one loaf for you and one for sharing. Trust me, you’re not going to want to share your loaf.

How do you like your breakfast? Sweet or savory? 


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5 Minute Fruit Crisp

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As you surely know, I love Weight Watchers. It’s the only “diet” that works for me, even if it’s not working so well right now. Okay well even if I’m not doing it so well right now. Shhhhh. Don’t judge my lack of motivation and efforts. Students will be gone soon and there will be no more late night parties, end of the year celebrations, midnight movie premiers, or “hey look, I bought a dozen Krisy Kreme donuts and I’m bringing them to your apartment to share” moments until August! Don’t get me wrong, I will totally miss those faces like crazy. In trying to be positive about summer transitions, I got super excited about the mostly unlimited possibilities to eat healthier for a few solid months and catch back up on my weight loss. 
However, weight loss doesn’t exist or work for me without dessert! Call me crazy, but I definitely loose more weight knowing I can have dessert than cutting it out. I love to make healthy desserts and made over desserts. Without RAs or students here to feed made over (or not so made over in some cases) desserts to, a problem arises! Even healthy made over desserts have leftovers. Desserts are good for treats, not constant access! So what do we do? Oh I know! Make individual 5-minute microwaveable desserts. 
5-minute microwaveable desserts are totally in right now. This summer without RAs and living in a foreign kitchen, microwaveable desserts will be my weight loss dieting life savers. I was inspired for this particular recipe by Jo and Sue’s Blog. Check them out! They have a ton of 5-minute desserts. This one is my new favorite, inspired by their 5 Minute Apple Crisp. 
Pro tip – keep these in your freezer! I’m fairly certain there are endless dessert and treat possibilities found in this bag. 

5 Minute Peach Berry Crisp

Kasia’s Kitchen original, inspired by Jo and Sue. 

Ingredients: 

  • 3/4 cup of frozen peaches, chopped
  • 1/2 cup strawberries, chopped
  • 2 packets of Splenda
  • 2 teaspoons of cornstarch
  • 2 tablespoon brown sugar, packed
  • 3 tablespoons quick oats
  • 1 tablespoon Brummel and Brown yogurt butter
  • 1 tablespoon whole wheat flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
  • splash of vanilla
  • dash of salt

Directions: 

Microwave chopped peaches in a ramekin for 2 minutes. FYI – the peaches are really easy to chop even in their frozen state. Add strawberries, Splenda and cornstarch to the peaches and stir until well combined. Return to microwave and heat for 1 minute. 
In a separate bowl combine the remaining ingredients. Mix with a fork until combined and crumbly. (Or you could just jump in there with your fingers and get messy like I did. It was fun.) 
Top peach and strawberry mixture with the crumble. Return to microwave for 1 minute. Tip – put a napkin in the microwave for this step! The first time I didn’t and had spillage all over the microwave plate. This time I did, see? The napkin caught the spill. 
Yields one large serving. On Weight Watchers recipe builder if you could the fruit it’s 8 points and if you don’t it’s 6. I choose not to count the fruit because fruit is free if it’s without your 5-8 servings a day! You can make that choice for yourself. 
Remember when I made frozen yogurt bites? Three of the little bites make this perfect quick and easy treat even better. It feels like a fruit crisp with ice cream, but way healthier! 

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Pineapple Right Side Up Cupcakes

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Did you know that April 20th is National Pineapple Upside Down Cake Day? I totally didn’t! The moment I found out (via a tweet or blog or something), I became mildly obsessed with the notion that I MUST make something involving pineapple, cherries, cake and brown sugar. And so I do! I find a healthy pineapple cupcake recipe on my favorite healthy eating blog, skinnytaste.com, and adapted it to be a pineapple upside down cake-esque dessert. I fed these to a bunch of college girls and they all loved them.

Pineapple Right Side Up Cupcakes

Original recipe by Skinny Taste (I made mine to be more Pineapple Upside Down Cake-ish).

Ingredients

Cupcakes:

  • 1 box of yellow cake mix
  • 20 oz can crushed pineapple in juice (do not drain)
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar

Frosting:

  • 8 oz 1/3 less fat cream cheese
  • 20 oz can of pineapple in juice, drained (squeeze really well in your hands to get out all the juice)
  • 1 1/2 cup marshmallow cream
  • maraschino cherries for garnish (optional)

Directions

Mix cake mix and 1 can of pineapple WITH the juice. I used my KitchenAid stand mixer. Use an ice cream scoop to fill lined cupcake tins about 2/3 full. Bake according to cake mix directions or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Set aside to allow to cool completely on cooling racks.

Drain the other can of pineapple. Like super crazy drain! I drained it in a mesh strainer and then put it in my hands, freshly washed of course, and squeezed out the excess juice. Combine cream cheese, crushed pineapple and marshmallow cream and mix until combined well. Again, used my stand mixer. Spread on completely cooled cupcakes.

For a fun garnish and to get the Pineapple Upside Down Cake Day theme across, I added maraschino cherries. I took the stems off half of the cherries and stuffed one inside each cupcake for a little filling surprise. I garnished each with a stem on cherry. On a couple that I presented to others, I dusted a little brown sugar on top to set in the purpose of the cupcake even more.

Cupcakes with no icing are 3 points each according the Weight Watchers Recipe Builder. With just icing they are 4 points each. With icing and cherries they are 5 points each. Even at their highest, they are way better than any regular cupcake a far as points values go.

Yields 24 servings. 

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Homemade Garlic Herb Croutons

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Do you like salads? If you do, I bet you don’t like them with just lettuce or only green things (and if you do, I’m impressed). How do you feel about croutons? I happen to love them. They add a nice crunch and flavor. Croutons are to salads as pearls are to a cute sundress. It’s true. Salads need accessories too.

Now let’s talk about bread. I bet you have it. I bet on occasion you end up tossing some pieces that get old or moldy. Allow me to share my collection of bread tips.

1. If you do end up with moldy bread on occasion, you can lengthen the life of your bread like whoa by keeping it in the fridge. I’m just me with no husbands or kids to eat bread and a loaf usually last me a month.

2. Don’t care for the ends? Don’t toss them! Keep a bag in a the freezer and collect any bread butts (that’s what I call them), funky pieces or smooshed pieces. Things to also toss in that bread freezer bag: extra bread of any sort that will soon go bad – hotdog buns, hamburger buns, white bread, wheat bread. ALL THINGS BREAD.

3. Don’t like the texture of your refrigerated longer shelf life bread? Two options. 1 – Toast it. I love a sandwich on toast. I also just love toast. Toast with Nutella, toast with peanut butter and bananas, toast with yogurt butter, cheese toast, cinnamon toast. 2. Microwave it for 5-10 seconds. It will be as fluffy and soft as new.

4. So you have a bag of frozen bread… Now what? My favorite choices are bread puddings, homemade bread crumbs (which I also keep in the freezer after I make them and have for the many recipes that call for them), and now… CROUTONS!

I am almost certain you have everything you need to make your own croutons which means… A. FREE, sorta. I mean you bought the stuff you have to make them at some point. But in comparison to buying croutons, FREE. B. You can make them healthier. C. They taste way better. 

Homemade Garlic Croutons

Recipe inspired by Savory Sweet Life

Ingredients: 

  • 6 slice of bread (I used Sara Lee Delightful 45 Calorie Wheat Bread)
  • 3 tablespoons melted Brummel and Brown yogurt butter
  • 2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons dried parsley flakes

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Cube the six slices of bread. If you don’t like crusts, you can removed them, but I like them and leave them on. I cut them in threes each way. Mix melted butter, garlic powder and parsley flakes together until garlic powder is dissolved. Toss the butter mixture and bread cubes in a large bowl together until the bread is evenly coated. 
Spread the coated bread cubes on a parchments or foil lined baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes and check to see if they are dry, crispy and golden brown. Stir the croutons around and bake for additional minutes according to your preference. I cooked mine for about 20 minutes total, but I like them with just a touch of softness. Store croutons in a ziplock bag (or any air tight container, I’m partial to mason jars) and they will keep fresh for a few days. 
I like making these because you can make as many as you need, less or more than this recipe even. I even like them as mouth popable little snacks. 
Yields 6 servings of 1/3 cup portions. Each serving is 2 points on Weight Watchers according to the recipe builder. 
I made Crock Pot Caesar Chicken on English muffin rolls with side Caesar salads complete with these yummy croutons. As a Round 2 recipe I did big Chicken Caesar salads with leftover shredded chicken and croutons of course. 

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Perfectionism & Oatmeal Whoopie Pies

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I have a confession…
I’m not perfect.
I’m just not. I try to be, even though I shouldn’t try to be and in no way can I ever be. I struggle with perfectionism. It’s true. 
I just want to say out loud that I’m not perfect. I also want to say that I’m not always okay with not being perfect, but I’m trying to be.
In case you didn’t know, not every thing I cook comes out so well. It just doesn’t. One time I tried to make a homemade angel food cake and it looked far more like a flat frisbee than a fluffy angel cloud. 
Sometimes I drink coffee in the afternoon and stay up too late (like right now as I write this at 1AM). Sometimes I forget to put an item in my budget and it messes up my money plans. I’m really bad at calling friends. I’m even worse at sending letters. I freak out a little when plans change. I leave shoes on the floor. I lock my keys in my car. I rarely iron my clothes. 
So I just want you to know, even though I probably come across as trying to look like I have it all together with my meal plans, color coded Google calendars, documents, labels and folders, hair accessories and organized cabinets and refrigerator, I don’t. Fact – it’s hard for me to admit that! 
I know you don’t expect me to be perfect. But the beasts called perfectionism and the enemy tell me that you do, society does, the world does, Christians do, and the church does. I need to say that I know you’ll still like me despite being not perfect and not having it all together. 
I know that I’m far more disappointed that I didn’t post my meal plan on Sunday as promised than you are. However, I do promise it’s coming. The meals are planned and tomorrow morning (probably when you will read this) I will make my grocery list and shop. I have no good reason other than lack of motivation for writing for not posting. 
Sometimes motivation is so free flowing. Other times it’s just not. And sometimes it hits at random times in the wee hours of the morning. I’m encouraged. I’m reading a devotion book recommended by a dear friend called It’s a Wonderful (Imperfect) Life. Tonight I read, 
“God isn’t the one who pressures us. He wants us to delight in our life and work – whatever it is at this season. Satisfaction and enjoyment are God’s gift to us.”
Through church and this book God is tugging at my heart. Tugging for me to surrender, to yield, to release, to trust, and to allow him to change things in me. I’m not perfect. It won’t happen overnight. But I’m encouraged and this burst of encouragement again reminded me of the gifts and desires God has given me. Cooking, baking, writing, and blogging to name a few. And thus… inspiration. 🙂 Confessional inspiration? 
Of course, I can’t leave you empty handed. I probably should post an imperfect recipe to go along with this post, but I’m not gonna lie. This recipe is pretty darn great. Can we call it imperfect because it could be healthier? We’ll go with that. 
I really do cook healthy most days. I promise I do. Even when feeding small groups of people or people who I feed all the time, I do make “healthy” desserts and they never complain (like the healthy pineapple upside down cupcakes I’ll post soon). But… every once in a while for a special event (or because I had a bad day or just because), I make a non-altered (or minimally altered) recipe. 
Monday night my apartment hosted a Dips & Dessert night for my current RAs and new RAs for next year. The current girls brought either a dip or a dessert. I made both. The dip was my go to, no biggie. The dessert however, total biggie. As in deal. Not size. They were actually quite small little bite sized pieces of heaven. 
Oatmeal Whoppie Pies
Recipe adapted from Pioneer Woman. 
Ingredients: 
For cookies: 
  • 2 cups brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup butter, softended
  • 1/4 cup shortening
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/4 cup egg beaters
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 3 tablespoons boiling water
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
  • 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
  • 2 cups quick oats
For filling:
  • Marshmallow cream 
Directions: 
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cream brown sugar, butter, and shortening. Add eggs and egg beaters. Mix. Add salt, cinnamon, and baking powder and mix. Mix baking soda and boiling water. (I’ve never done this before, but the Pioneer Woman said to, so I did. I didn’t notice a difference, but the cookies were good.) Add baking soda and water mixture to the bowl and mix. Add flours and oatmeal and mix well.
Scoop dough onto parchment-lined cookie sheets in rounded heaping teaspoons. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven, transfer to a cooling rack, and let the cookies cool completely. 

Okay let’s talk about filling. Do as she did and not as I did unless you want to be sticky and get an arm workout! She used pre-made marshmallow cream, which would have been MUCH easier. I had a bag of marshmallows I wanted to use, so I made a marshmallow cream by melting down the marshmallows and corn syrup over a double boiler. One of my coworker friends, Christine, said she liked it better that normal marshmallow cream, which she normally doesn’t like. If you want to do it my way it’s 1 bag of marshmallow to 6 tablespoons of light corn syrup. When I make these again, I’ll probably actually make real homemade marshmallow cream from egg whites. 

If you use the pre-made stuff, just scoop on careful teaspoons full (I always type teaspoon fulls first – without fail). I tried scooping and ended up wearing far more of the filling than the cookies. I messily filled a gallon ziplock with the homemade marshmallow cream and piped a dollop on the cookies. 
Step Almost Done – Sandwich the cookies and the messy stuff. The End – EAT & ENJOY! And probably share. I lost count of how many this made, but over 30.