Boiled Raisin Cookies

Boiled Raisin Cookies
I remember when us grand kids went to my Grandparents house, my grandma always had boiled raisin cookies in the red Tupperware container. When she moved into a home, I was lucky enough to get the Tupperware but unfortunately never saw her recipe for these cookies. The day before her funeral, I felt the need to find a worthy recipe and make these cookies for the family. I was told I did a pretty good job! One suggestion is to heat the oven to 350 not 400 as the batter is very wet and my first batch was a little too dark brown on the bottom (ironically enough, so were my Grandmas!)

Pumpkin Frozen Yogurt!!!!

Pumpkin Frozen Yogurt!!!
4 ingredients!!
1 cup of fat free vanilla yogurt (we didn't have fat free so I used my activia vanilla yogurt)
1 cup of pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
1 TBSP sugar (unfortunately stevia doesn't work :( )
.5 tsp cinnamon
.25 tsp ginger
.25 tsp all spice
.25 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp cloves

If you use full fat yogurt the WHOLE batch is 9 points!!!!! If you use fat free, it's only 7 points!!!!! It's soooo yummy and spicy!
The pic below was taken after a ate a lot of it and after it melted!

My Dad's Awesome Spaghetti Sauce

Spaghetti Sauce

2 lbs hamburger

1 med. onion finely chopped

1 or 2 peppers (green or red - red is sweeter)

2 or 3 cans of sliced mushrooms

3 - 540 ml cans of diced tomatoes

2 or 3 small cans of tomato paste (or more if you want thick sauce)

Season to taste (italian spice, salt, pepper)

 

Brown meat with onions; drain

 

Mix everything together.  Simmer on low heat, stirring occasionally for at least 2 hours.  Or, can simmer in oven at 325 for a couple of hours stirring occasionally.   Or could use crook pot on low for approx. 6 hours. 

 

Will start out thick but will get thinner as it cooks.

My Dad's Yummy Hamburger Soup

Hamburger soup

*this recipe almost filled Mitch's 2 gallon crock pot! - I took a pic while it was cooking to show how full the pot was.

1.5 lb. hamburger ( I used extra lean)

1 med onion finely chopped

1 28 oz. can of diced tomatoes

3 cans of beef consomme (approx. 1 litre)

1 soup can of tomato soup

8 tbsp of pearl barley

4 carrots diced

3 celery stalks chopped

Salt, pepper, parsley and thyme to taste  (my Dad just buys an Italian Seasoning mix and use it for everything  - instead of getting a bunch of separate spices)

I added oregano too.

Brown meat with onions; drain

Mix everything together.  Simmer on low heat, stirring occasionally for at least 2 hours. 

Or, can simmer in oven at 325 for a couple of hours stirring occasionally.   

Or could use crook pot on low for approx. 6 hours.

*I used the crockpot this time as it was way easier! 

Following this recipe, the WHOLE pot is 57 weight watcher points plus so if you divide into 10 portions, it'd be about 6 points. 

Chicken Enchilada Sauce / Pasta

Chicken Enchilada Sauce / Pasta

I made this for my family and they loved it! It was nice to just use a rotisserie chicken that was already cooked. It smelled good but I was too chicken to try it as it smelled a little spicy. My mom ate hers over spaghetti squash and the boys ate theirs over penne; both were great! The green stuff on top was guacamole.

Protein Crepes

Beachbody Health & Fitness
Protein Crepes! 1/3c dry oats, 1/3c 1% cottage cheese, 3 egg whites, 1/3c shredded zucchini, cinnamon and nutmeg. Blend all ingredients in blender. Makes 1 serving (3 crepes) Top with one tablespoon of pure maple syrup or 1tbsp melted almond butter and fresh fruit:) If you dont like cottage cheese try it cause you can't taste it and it doesn't have that texture either.
Protein Crepes
I put everything in my magic bullet and mix it up until smooth. From there, I just pour a glob into a frying pan (Pam it first) and tip the pan all around to get the batter spread out and thin If it isn't spreading thin enough, I use a spatula to really thin it out. If you leave it pancake thickness, it will not cook.
One batch makes 3-4 crepes and 1 recipe is 7 weight watcher points plus. I am not huge on fruit so I fill mine with peanut butter and jam or peanut butter and a banana. Delicious!

Minion Bulletin Board!

A huge thank you to my amazing teaching partner Christel for constructing everything on the bulletin except the minions I made. The pictures are courtesy of my trip to Universal Studios where I got to ride on the Minion Mayhem ride.

Baked Apple Chips

These take 2 hours to bake so they aren't a quick snack...what's nice about them is that they are essentially 0 weight watcher points because I used stevia instead of sugar and less than tsp of it. After letting them cool in the oven as the recipe suggested, I put them in a ziplock but did not seal it, rather just folded it over so they wouldn't sweat. By morning, they were crispy like chips!

Minion Marshmallow Pops!

Minion Marshmallow Pops!
Everything is edible except the stick! The body is a marshmallow, the eyes are candy eyes from bulk barn, the overalls are fruit by the foot cut in half (to get rid of the red), the yellow is yellow chocolate from bulk barn and the black icing is just that, from bulk barn too. I also was foolish and bought the styrofoam from Micahel's until a friend recommended getting the green foam from a dollar store for wayyyyyy cheaper! They didn't end up as cute as the recipe but they weren't as sweet as I thought they'd be either!
A helpful hint: using a spatula, scoop some melted chocolate onto the marshmallow (after it's on the stick) and then spread it around. I tried dunking the marshmallow into a cup of the melted chocolate and lost the marshmallow.