Spinach & Feta Cups & Southwestern Chick Pea Salad.

I've had an awful craving for the Spinach Pies from the pizza shop down the street lately but as I'm sure you know they are far from low calorie. These tasty little cups are only 66 calories each, and so creamy and crunchy you can't eat just one.

Spinach and Feta Cups

12 Wonton Wrappers
2 Cups Fresh Spinach, washed, dried, and chopped small
1/4 Cup Reduced Fat Feta
1/2 Medium Onion, diced small
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 egg white
Non-Stick spray, such as PAM

Preheat your oven to 375. Spray your 6 cup, cupcake pan well to keep your wrappers from sticking.


Brown your onions in a non-stick pan, and add your minced garlic when your onions are almost done. This keeps your garlic from burning and getting bitter.

While your onions are browning, chop your spinach and place in a bowl. Add your feta and mix with your hands. Add your egg whites and mix well with a spoon, coating all of your spinach leaves. When your onions and garlic are done, add them to your spinach and feta and mix well.

Place a wonton wrapper at the bottom of each of your cups. Place a well rounded tablespoon of your spinach mix in each cup. Cover with another wrapper and repeat with your mix. You should have nice full cups.

Place on the middle rack of your oven and bake for 12 minutes. Your wrappers should be nicely browned when they're done and crunchy when you eat them.

Each Spinach Feta cup is 66 calories.




 One of my favorite side dishes is your typical Chick Pea Salad, made with a vinaigrette dressing and green peppers and onions. Today I saw the Chick Peas sitting along side the Rotel Tomatoes and had an idea that ended up being a stroke of genius. The Rotel adds a nice "bite" to the chick peas and the onions add the crunch to counter act the soft from the chickpeas. Next time I'm going to try adding black beans and yellow corn to it to give it a true southwestern flavor.

Southwestern Chick Pea Salad

1 Can Chick Peas, drained and washed
1/2 Can Chunky Rotel Diced Tomatoes and Green Chillies, drained well
1/4 Cup Cillantro, chopped small.
1/4 Cup chopped onion
3 stalks green onion, diced
Salt Pepper Garlic to taste

Combine all ingredients in a bowl, mix well, and to sit in the refrigerator for 30 min or so if you can. This allows your flavors to blend and your salad to cool some which makes it taste that much better.

Each 1/2 cup serving is only 98 calories.  I love to put this on top of my salads, or just on the side of whatever I'm eating at that point.

February 10, 2013

I found this recipe recently on Pinterest for Two Ingredient Cookies made with just banana and quick oats and then whatever you want to add to them. I've been dying to try them, but haven't had the time until tonight. So there I am, in the kitchen, looking at my pantry and not finding any quickoats, so I thought I'd try it with instant oatmeal. Thankfully it worked, and with the addition of some chocolate chips, they were a HUGE hit. Very soft, and smooth and the banana and chocolate worked very well together.
If you like this recipe, you should try the One Ingredient Banana Ice Cream.

Two Ingredient Cookies

2 Medium, slightly brown bananas
1 Cup quick oats

Preheat your oven to 350.
Mash your bananas, add in your quick oats and whatever else you want to add, and drop by the heaping teaspoon full onto a well sprayed cookie sheet. Don't add too much of your extras or the cookies won't stay together.
It is very important to spray your pan, because there is no fat in these cookies to keep them from sticking to the sheet.

The above recipe (with 2 Tbsp milk chocolate chips added) makes 14 cookies at 44 calories each! You can have more then one and not feel guilty... if you can keep them away from the kids that is.
Bake these cookies for 15 minutes and once cool enjoy!!

Low Calorie, Garlic Mushroom Chicken, Super Stuffed Ravioli

January 28, 2013

I saw a commercial on TV today for a local chain restaurant who is bragging about their new Mac-N-Cheese meals. Guess who was craving cheese after that... Yup! This girl right here. So hubs and I sat and brainstormed up a low calorie, very cheesy, super stuffed ravioli.  These are cheesy, chickenie, mushroomie bundles of yummy, and because they're made with wonton wrappers they are low calorie as well.


Low Calorie, Garlic Mushroom Chicken, Super Stuffed Ravioli


54 Wonton wrapper
1/8 cup fat free ricotta cheese
1/8 cup Bertolli Light Alfredo
1/2 cup Reduced Fat 4 cheese Italian blend
1/2 cup (5 oz) boneless skinless chicken breast
1 small onion
5 garlic cloves (or less if you want... we really LOVE garlic)
1 cup diced mushrooms
A pasta sauce of your choice

Cut your chicken into small chunks and cook in a frying pan sprayed with Pam until browned. Remove from heat and transfer your chicken to a bowl.
In a food processor chop up your onion & garlic. Spray your frying pan again & sautee your onion garlic mix until they are browned & lose some of their bite.
In the same food processor chop your chicken real small so they fit into your ravioli. Add your mushrooms to the food processor and pulse to mix in your mushrooms and chop them down a little smaller.
In a large bowl place your chicken/mushroom and your onion/garlic combos and mix well to combine. Add your Italian cheese and mix well.  Add in your ricotta cheese and your alfredo sauce and mix well to combine.
Have a small bowl of water at the ready. Place 6 wonton wrappers on a cutting board; top each with 1 teaspoon of your chicken mixture. Dip your finger in the water and moisten the edges of your wonton & top with another wonton wrapper. Pinch edges with a fork to seal. Repeat with remaining wrappers and chicken mixture.
Place a large pot of salted water on the stove and bring to a boil. One at a time gently, and carefully, place your ravioli into the water until you have a enough boiling so they have room to move without overcrowding the pan. When the ravioli floats to the top it's time to remove it. For this, have another baking pan aside with enough warm sauce of your choice to cover the bottom of the pan. Place your cooked ravioli into this sauce to keep them from sticking together. When all of your ravioli is done and in the sauce spoon the sauce over the top to coat, and enjoy!!


27 ravioli made
55 calories PER ravioli. The calorie amount of your meal will depend on what sauce you use, how much, and how many of these super yummy ravioli you eat.

January 26, 2013

Tonight the oldest child had a craving for something with Alfredo sauce so hubby said "Hey hun... What can you come up with for her Alfredo craving?" and I said "Hmmmmmm.... Let me think." And thus the Chicken Broccoli Alfredo Muffin was born.

Chicken Broccoli Alfredo Muffin
1/2 lb Boneless Skinless chicken breast, diced
½ cup light alfredo sauce, split in ¼ cup increments (I like the Bertolli Lite Alfredo for it's low calories)
4 oz Ronzoni Smart Taste spaghetti, broken into thirds
½ cup Shredded Parmesan Cheese, split into ¼ cup increments
2 egg whites (6 Tbsp)
1 cup broccoli, cut small

Preheat your oven to 400.
Pre-cook pasta.
While the pasta is cooking, brown your chicken and add the broccoli until slightly tender. Remove from stove to a bowl and mix in ¼ cup of your alfredo sauce and ¼ cup of the Parmesan.
When the pasta is cooled enough to handle, whisk the egg whites together in a large bowl and then add the pasta. Stir to combine and then add the rest of the Parmesan, and the rest of the alfredo sauce. Mix together until thoroughly combined.
Lightly mist a 12 cup muffin tin with cooking spray. Place about 1/3 cup of the spaghetti mixture into each cup in the muffin tin. Using your fingers, press down on the center and up the sides of the spaghetti, forming cups. Slide the tin into the pre-heated oven and bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and top with your broccoli and chicken mix and place back into oven for 10 more minutes.
Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly before removing from tins. Keep a small amount of Alfredo sauce in a bowl on the side so you can spoon a 1/2 Tbsp over the top when serving.

Makes 12 muffins
88 Calories per muffin

January 23, 2013

Tonight I was in the mood for tacos, but those damn shells can kill you with calories, never mind the cheese. So i came up with a Taco Wonton Lasagna "Cupcake"183 calories with all of the flavor and crunch of a taco.

Taco Wonton Lasagna "Cupcake"
12 Wonton wrappers
8 oz ground beef 80/20
1 pkg taco seasoning mix
½ cup Rotel Tomatoes, drained
½ cup low fat shredded Mexican cheese blend, split by ½
2 wedges low fat Laughing Cow swiss
3 stems green onion chopped for garnish on top (optional)

Heat oven to 375
Spray your cupcake pan lightly with a non-stick spray like PAM.
Brown the ground beef, then follow the directions on the package of taco seasoning mix.
In a large bowl mix your hot taco mix with your Laughing Cow Swiss wedges until the cheese is fully coating the taco mix. Add in your Rotel Tomatoes and mix well.
Place 1 Wonton Wrapper in each of your cupcake tins. Take half of your taco mix and evenly fill half of each of your cupcakes. Take a ¼ cup of your Mexican cheese and evenly cover your taco mix. Layer another Wonton wrapper over your Mexican cheese and repeat with the rest of your taco mix and another ¼ cup Mexican cheese. Top with your chopped green onion.
Bake for 18 min or until the Wontons and cheese are a pretty brown.
Let cool slightly before removing from tray.
Each “cupcake” = 183 calories 10 carbs 10 fat 12 protein

January 12, 2013

These were the first two "muffins" we tried to make completely on our own. The "muffin" on the left is the Turkey Cheeseburger "Muffin" and the on the the right is the Buffalo Turkey "Muffin" They came out very yummy for a first time, but I think I would have like to have seen more yellow mustard (maybe another 1 Tbsp) and another slice of American cheese in the Turkey Cheeseburger "Muffin". It was our first trial without following a set recipe and I think they came out well enough to share with you.


Buffalo Turkey "Muffin"
10 oz ground turkey
4 Tbsp buffalo sauce (we use Texas Pete because it's so low in calories)
2 Tbsp Lite Blue Cheese Dressing (we use Marie's Salad Dressing - Light Chunky Blue Cheese)
3 Tbsp egg whites (the equivalent of 1 egg)
6 Wonton Wrappers
Pam Spray

Brown 10 oz ground turkey in a saute pan with Pam. When brown, add 4 tbsp buffalo sauce, and 2 tbsp of lite blue cheese dressing, and egg whites to the cooked turkey. Put 1 wanton wrapper in the bottom of the cup and then add a tbsp or 2 of the mixed turkey, (filling the cup half way). Then add another wrapper and the rest of the turkey. Bake @ 375 for 15 to 30 min and your done! 
Makes 3 muffins
237 Calories per Muffin

Turkey Cheeseburger "Muffin"
10 oz ground turkey
1 slice Kraft Fat Free American Cheese
1 Tbsp Yellow Mustard
3 Tbsp egg whites (the equivalent of 1 egg)
1/2 Cup Kraft Shredded Mozzerella 2%
6 Wonton Wrappers
Pam Spray

Brown 10 oz ground turkey. Then I mixed in 1 slice Kraft fat free American cheese, 1 Tbs yellow mustard (although I think I'm going to use 2 slices and 2 Tbs mustard next time)and the whites of 1 egg into the turkey. When the cheese and mustard has coated the turkey I put 1 wanton wrapper into the bottom of the cup, add 2 Tbs of the turkey and enough 2% mozzarella to cover the mix, then repeat the layer with a wrapper, the turkey and the mozzarella. Then bake at 375 for 15-30 until the cheese at top is nicely browned.
Makes 3 muffins
225 Calories per Muffin