From the category archives:

Recipes

Weekend Cheese Enchiladas

by agirlandhermutt on April 23, 2012

Hello friends! Did everyone have a lovely weekend?! I did. It was relaxing and lovely in all ways. It was gorgeous on Saturday so the Mutt and I took advantage of it with a few long walks around the neighborhood.

The Scientist and I also went to the movies to see Cabin in the Woods. WHOA. If you are a fan of Joss Whedon then you will be a fan of this movie. SO GREAT and totally not what I expected.

I also had a brief experience with Piloxing at the gym. Has anyone tried Piloxing before?

The class is a mixture of boxing and pilates. It also one of the weirdest classes that I have been a part of. I felt like a nerd for the majority of the class. I’m not sure if it was my instructor or if it was the class itself, but I was just not feeling it. Don’t get me wrong…I worked up a serious sweat, but I definitely think I could find another thing to do for an hour of my time. It is always good to try new things though, right?!

Oh, and have I mentioned I got some new kicks? Ya buddy. These suckers are getting me compliments left and right.

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Food time!…Near the end of last week I became part of the Tone It Up crew. I’m obsessed with these two girls and their YouTube videos. I decided to go all out and give their nutrition plan a twirl. Part of the plan is to do a 5-day clean eating piece where there is little dairy involved throughout the week. I’m starting on Monday so I decided to dairy it up over the weekend.

Enchiladas are one of my favorite things to make at home. It is easy to take whatever you have laying around stuff it into a corn tortilla and bake it up. You don’t have to be a Master Chef to make these bad boys. My absolute favorite enchilada is my plain ol’ cheese version. There is nothing fancy to these at.all.

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Cheese Enchiladas

In the Mix (Makes 4 servings):
-8 corn tortillas
-1 cup cottage cheese
-1/2 c. white onion
-1 4oz. can diced green chilies
-1/2 c. shredded Mexican cheese blend
-black olives, sliced
-S&P to taste
-Enchilada Sauce

*In a large bowl, mix together cottage cheese, onion, green chilies, half of the shredded cheese, and S&P.

*Heat corn tortillas in the microwave for 1 minutes to soften and reduce cracking.

*Spread out 1/4 cup of the cheese mixture onto each tortilla, roll and place seam side down in a dish sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.

*Pour enchilada sauce over the top.

*Bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees. After 15 minutes sprinkle the remaining shredded cheese and olives across the top and bake for 10 more minutes.

*Each serving is 2 enchiladas.

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I apparently couldn’t get enough cheese so I whipped up a batch of Cheesy Red Hot Rice from Eat-Yourself-Skinny. The only thing I did differently from the recipe is to use rotel tomatoes. I love the kick.

Finally, you just can’t do cheesy Mexican food without the crowing jewel of an avocado. It is a must have. Well it is for me. Honestly, I could eat an avocado for every meal if I was able to. True story.

I just mixed together a little lime juice and olive oil, brushed it over the avocado half and placed it on the grill till it was warmed through.

I mixed together a salsa to put in the middle of the avocado, but I’m not ready to share that recipe just yet. Mostly because the heat from my salsa made me sweat a little. The Scientist loved it. I thought my mouth was never going to forgive me. Live and learn kids.

Check out those pretty grill marks. That, my friend, is an avocado that is just screaming to be demolished.

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By the time you are reading this I will be well into my 5 day eating plan. Wish me luck friends!

What is the last movie you saw in the theater?

{ 3 comments }

Turkey & Cheese Crescent Roll-Ups

by agirlandhermutt on April 10, 2012

I should really step away from Pinterest. I have a serious issue with that site. There are some really creative people out there and I’m starting to feel like there are so many ideas to steal yet so little time.

This weekend I found the ultimate jello shot idea, but another food idea caught my eye too. There is a little pizza crescent roll wrap thingy floating around from Plain Chicken. I had a tube of crescent rolls around and was ready to use them up. Although, I’m not sure why I have these crescent rolls. I don’t ever eat them at the house and I had no plans to make anything that called for them. Did I accidentally steal these from someone’s cart? Totally possible.

Random crescent rolls in hand I realized that I didn’t have pepperoni or pasta sauce. I took what I had and made do. On a side note…I have about 800 cans of diced tomatoes. Apparently I had plans to make my own sauce several times and never got around to it. Nice work.

Turkey & Cheese Roll-Ups (Makes 8 roll-ups)
Adapted from Plain Chicken.
- 1 tube of crescent rolls
-8-10 slices of turkey deli meat (depending on how thick it is sliced)
-4 string cheese sticks, cut in half

*Break apart the crescent rolls and lay out on a cookie sheet.

*Place one half of the string cheese sticks at the larger end of the crescent roll. For these I used the Weight Watcher String Cheese, but would love to give the Polly-O Jalapeno String Cheese a try too!

*Add a few slices of deli meat. I used Cracked Black Pepper Turkey Breast so that explains the random little black specks.

*Roll the crescent roll up starting at the larger end.

*Bake for 15 minutes in 325 degree oven.

*Let cool and enjoy!

Depending on the deli meat and cheese you use use, these came out to be about 4pts per roll-up.

Anyone annoyed by my Pinterest love yet?! I hope not.All of my girlie middle school collage memories are coming back to me in a much cleaner and cooler way. I would spend hours cutting from magazines (Big Bopper and my Mom’s Country Living magazine to be exact) and had TONS of collages around my room. Do you know what I’m talking about? Some of you had to be a collage maker! Fess up.

See ya tomorrow!

{ 5 comments }

Cooking Success

by agirlandhermutt on April 5, 2012

As a struggling newbie cook I have made some awful mistakes in the kitchen. Things that have caused me to spit food out like a cat with a hairball once it hit my tongue. I haven’t had that big of a catastrophe in some time, as a matter of fact I have had some big successes that I share here with you! But I still struggle with the whole “my meal doesn’t look like it does in the recipe” dilemma. I always think to myself that my meal wasn’t nearly as successful if I didn’t make it look as pretty as it does on the website or in the cookbook.

This was the case for dinner on Tuesday night. I found this wonderful recipe for Chicken Rollatini on SkinnyTaste. I’ve made it a goal to try one new recipe and one new snack out each week. I don’t really have a problem coming up with snack ideas out of my little head, but lately I’ve been in a rut for ideas for dinner. So I have been going to the pros. You know, Rachael Ray, whoever wrote the latest WW magazine, and SkinnyTaste.

I didn’t tweak the recipe. I didn’t add something a little more. I followed it word for word. AND.IT.WAS.DIVINE.

The chicken was moist thanks to the zucchini mixture that I stuffed it with and the outside had a nice crunch because of the breadcrumbs. A total winner meal. I paired it with some asparagus drizzled with olive oil and a little parm cheese that was roasted at 450 for the last 10 minutes the chicken was cooking.

Unfortunately…my meal wasn’t nearly as pretty as the website photo. Maybe 2nd runner up if it was in a beauty contest?

Hers….

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Mine…

Then I took another bite of my hand rolled rollatini and it hit me. No. My meal was certainly not as pretty as the original. But I made it. Me, myself and I. My two little hands made the stuffing, it rolled chicken (which it has never done before), and it brought a bunch of random ingredients together to make a meal that was delicious and nutritious. At only 4pts a roll it was the perfect dinner AND lunch.

This struggling cook is struggling less and less these days. Meals come together at a faster pace than they used to (yay for not eating at 10pm!). I have many of the ingredients a recipe might ask for on hand. Gone are the days where I skip a recipe because the I determine the technique needed too hard or beyond my skill set.

So…to sum it up. While my Chicken Zucchini Rollatini might night look like the original, it still was a complete SUCCESS.