Baked Zucchini Chips Recipe

Pin It now! Yesterday I posted the recipe to these yummy turkey burgers with zucchini and I'm sure you all are on the edge of your seats waiting for the baked zucchini chips recipe, right? ;) They really are good, in fact they are one of our new favorite sides. Even Dawson, who may be the pickiest eater in the world, loves them! He begs for seconds which is so not like him, but I am not complaining!

We tried Gina's zucchini sticks recipe first but the middle of some of them were super mushy, I think because I didn't cut them all evenly. My solution to that was make them as chips instead of sticks! It's a lot easier to keep them the same size that way.



Baked Zucchini Chips (adapted from SkinnyTaste.com)

• 2 medium zucchini cut into 1/4 inch slices
  
• 1 large egg white
• 1/3 cup seasoned whole wheat bread crumbs
• 2 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
• cooking spray
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
  
• salt
• fresh pepper

Preheat oven to 475°.

In a small bowl, beat egg whites and season with salt and pepper. In a bowl, place breadcrumbs, garlic powder and cheese and combine. Spray cookie sheet with cooking spray and set aside.

Dip zucchini chips into eggs then into bread crumb and cheese mixture, a few at a time and coat well. Place the breaded zucchini in a single layer on cookie sheet. Bake at 475° for about 7-8 minutes, then turn over and bake for another 8-10 minutes until browned and crispy. Serve with marinara sauce or ranch for dipping.

Enjoy!

Turkey Burgers with Zucchini Recipe

Pin It now! I am seriously obsessed with skinnytaste.com. My obsession started about 2 months ago when my husband and I decided we were ready to lose weight together. We had both wanted to lose weight for a couple of years now, but we weren't ready to make the lifestyle changes that we needed to in order to be successful. I'm not sure what "clicked" but we are both ready now. In the last two months we have been eating healthier, exercising, drinking only water and lots of it, and just being a lot more active. Since the second week in April (almost 2 months ago) I have lost almost 16 pounds and my husband has lost 21 pounds!

I was so excited when I came across Gina's recipes at Skinny Taste and couldn't wait to start trying some of them. So far we have tried at least 10 of them and have loved them all! I'm going to start sharing the ones that we try here, along with any other new (or old favorites) recipes that we try and love. I know you could easily hop on over to Gina's blog (and I think you should!) and see these recipes there for yourself, but I like getting recipes from friends that I know they love so I figured you might too! (We're friends, right? ;) ) I also like to make a few changes to some of the recipes that we try to sort of make it our own, so the recipes that I post might be a little different from Gina's. :) We've been counting calories and not going over our daily calorie goal, and Gina posts how many calories are in each of her recipes which helps out a lot! Of course if you change the recipe up a little bit you will have to add or subtract calories to get an accurate count. If anybody knows of anymore recipe blogs like hers please let me know. :)

Anyway, have I rambled enough yet? Let's get to the recipe already! ;)



Turkey Burgers with Zucchini (recipe from SkinnyTaste.com)
Servings: 5 • Serving Size: 1 burger no bun Calories: 156

• 1.25 lbs 93% lean ground turkey
• 1 small zucchini, grated
• 1/4 cup seasoned breadcrumbs
• 1 clove garlic, grated
• 1 tbsp red onion, grated
• salt and fresh pepper

In a large bowl, combine ground turkey, zucchini, breadcrumbs, garlic, onion, salt and pepper. Make 5 equal patties. Barbeque burgers until they are cooked all the way through.

Easy enough, right? Adding the zucchini means less calories and fat per serving and they taste yummy! My husband and I agreed that we would be adding some garlic next time though.

Only my husband and I were eating these burgers (Dawson isn't a big meat eater yet) so I only used 6 or 7 ounces of ground turkey and adjusted the rest of the recipe around that.

Since the turkey burgers called for zucchini and I wasn't making the entire recipe I had some zucchini left over, so I decided to make zucchini chips to go with them. I'll post that recipe tomorrow, it's one of our favorite sides (even Dawson approves!). See the baked zucchini chips recipe here.


Does anybody else use sandwich thins instead of regular buns? We love them! And they're only 100 calories for the entire "bun". We like to use them with sandwiches also but we still use our whole wheat bread, too.

I plan on writing a little bit more about our weight loss journey in the next few weeks, we still have a while to go before we meet our end goals so I am sure they I'll have plenty to write about.

French Dip Recipe

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Today is my husband's birthday and he has requested french dip sandwiches for his birthday dinner. I have been meaning to post this recipe for awhile now (I actually uploaded the pictures on March 27th and this post has been sitting there waiting to be edited since. ha!) so I figured I might as well post it now since I am reminded about how much we love this recipe! (It's been in the crock pot for a little over an hour already and the house smells wonderful!!)

If you're like me and the thought of soggy bread completely grosses you out, don't worry, you can eat french dip without eating soggy bread! You just have to make sure you toast the bread really well and it won't get soggy at all when you dip it. It's SO good!

Ok, so this is a pretty simple recipe but it tastes fabulous!

French Dip (adapted from Allrecipes)

What You'll Need

• 4 pounds rump roast
• 1 onion, sliced
  
• 1 (10.5 ounce) can beef broth
• 2 (10.5 ounce) can condensed French onion soup
• 6 fluid ounces of dark beer
• garlic powder
• pepper
  
• 6 French rolls
• 2 tablespoons butter
• Mozzarella cheese
  

Directions

1. Trim excess fat from the rump roast, and place in slow cooker. Add the beef broth, onion soup, beer and onion. Sprinkle with garlic powder and pepper and stir a little bit. Cook on Low setting for 7 hours. (I slice the meat when there is about an hour left and then put it back in the crock pot to finish cooking)
   
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
   
3. Split French rolls, and spread with butter. Bake 10 minutes, or until heated through. (After 10 minutes I turn the oven to broil and keep them in a couple minutes longer, just keep an eye on them)
   
4. If you haven't already, slice the meat on the diagonal, and place on the rolls.
   
5. Top with cheese and put back in the oven (I still have it on broil) until the cheese is melted.
6. Serve with sauce for dipping.
   

When I am making this just for the two of us (Dawson isn't a big meat eater) I only use a pound of meat but keep everything else the same and we always have leftovers.

I am totally looking forward to dinner tonight! Good choice, babe, and happy birthday!!! I love you!

Breakfast Casserole Recipe

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Before we head into the weekend I thought I would leave you with this yummy breakfast casserole recipe. It's super easy and tastes SO good! Adapted from Mommy D's Kitchen.

Lasagna Style Breakfast Casserole

What you'll need:

• 6 eggs, beaten
• 8 frozen hashbrown patties
• 1/2 lb bacon, chopped
• 2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded
• 1 green pepper, diced
• 1 can mild Rotel, drained

Bake hashbrown patties according to package directions. While they are baking cook your chopped bacon until crispy.

Once your bacon is crispy remove to some paper towels to soak up extra grease. Drain grease from your pan and return to the stove. Cook your green pepper until soft.

Add your beaten eggs to the green peppers and scramble. Add the can of Rotel a minute or so before they eggs are done. Remove from heat and set aside.

Spray an 8x8 casserole dish with non-stick spray. Layer your ingredients like so:

4 hash Browns, 1/2 your bacon, 1/2 your scrambled egg mixture, 1/2 shredded cheese, then start over.

Bake at 350° for 15 minutes or until cheese is melted and gooey! Let rest for 5 – 10 minutes before cutting.

Delicious! Enjoy! :)


(Sorry about the picture quality, like I said in a post earlier this week I use my phone a lot to take pictures, I need to stop being so lazy and start using the really nice camera that we bought a couple of months ago!)

Apple Fritter Recipe

Pin It now! When I saw this apple fritter recipe over at Oh My! Sugar High yesterday I knew I had to try it right away! I did make a few changes and they came out perfectly so I will go ahead and post the recipe that I used.


Apple Fritters

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
  
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 cup milk
• 3 tablespoon butter, melted
• 2 large eggs
• 2 medium Granny Smith apples, peeled and diced
• Vegetable oil for frying

Glaze

• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons milk

Pour 1 1/2 inch deep vegetable oil into pan and heat over medium heat. Allow it to heat up as you are making the batter.

Combine flour, baking powder, salt, brown sugar and cinnamon in a medium bowl stirring with a fork to break up any clumps.

Add milk, butter and eggs. Mix together well.

Mix in diced apples.

To make the glaze just stir together the powdered sugar and milk. Set aside until fritters come out of the oil.

Using a large spoon (or a small ice cream scoop) gently place some batter into the oil. I probably only used 2-3 tablespoons of batter for each fritter, I made them small to ensure the insides cooked completely. Once the batter starts bubbling around the edges and a little in the middle (kind of like pancake batter does) it's time to flip it. You can also peek every 30 seconds or so and when the bottom looks brown enough it's time to turn it over. Brown on the other side and then using tongs take the fritter out and place on a paper towel.

Using a butter knife spread the glaze on the top of the fritters while they are still hot.


I made ours pretty dark brown because hubby and I both like a little bit of crispness on the outside and the middle is still soft and yummy!

These turned out SO good!!! I had to throw my first 3 away because the inside wasn't done completely, I just had to play around with the oil temperature a little until I got it just right.

I definitely recommend making these and eating them the same day. My husband and I each ate one last night (ok, maybe we each had two!) and they were perfect. We wrapped up the extras and today they are not very good, to me at least. Hubby took some to work and I haven't been able to ask him what he thinks of them. The outside is no longer crisp and they are almost soggy in the middle. Next time I make them I will definitely do it in the morning and I'll make sure we have people to share them with!

S'more Brownies

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The other day Christina over at Three A's and a C posted a recipe for some Rocky Road Brownies. YUM! Hubby and I are not big fans of nuts so I decided to change it up a little bit and instead of using chopped nuts I used graham crackers. And because I love peanut butter, I threw on some Reese's peanut butter chips, too. (And I cheated a little and used a box of brownies instead of making them from scratch.)

To recreate these super yummy little pieces of heaven you will need:

1 box of brownie mix
1 1/4 cup mini marshmallows
3/4 cup graham crackers broken into small pieces (3 or 4 whole graham crackers...I can't remember exactly how many I used)
1 cup milk chocolate chips
1/2 cup Reese's peanut butter chips

1- Bake brownies as directed on box.

2- While brownies are baking mix remaining ingredients together.

3- Pull brownies out of the oven when they have a few minutes left. Sprinkle chocolate chip mixture over top. Continue baking 5 minutes or until marshmallows have softened and puffed slightly.

4- Let cool for a few minutes and then dig in! Enjoy!

These are like the ultimate s'more. Ooey, gooey and delicious!

Three Cheese Chicken Penne Pasta

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We tried this Three Cheese Chicken Penne Pasta recipe from kraftrecipes.com the other day and it was so easy and so yummy that I thought I'd share it with you!

Three-Cheese Chicken Penne Pasta Bake

What You'll Need:

1-1/2 cups whole grain penne pasta, uncooked
1 pkg. (9 oz.) fresh spinach leaves
1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
1 tsp. dried basil leaves
1 jar (14-1/2 oz.) spaghetti sauce
1 can (14-1/2 oz.) diced tomatoes, drained
2 oz. (1/4 of 8-oz. pkg.) PHILADELPHIA Neufchatel Cheese, cubed
1 cup KRAFT 2% Milk Shredded Mozzarella Cheese, divided
2 Tbsp. KRAFT Grated Parmesan Cheese

HEAT oven to 375ºF.

COOK pasta as directed on package, adding spinach to the boiling water the last minute.

COOK and stir chicken and basil in large nonstick skillet sprayed with cooking spray on medium-high heat 3 min. Stir in spaghetti sauce and tomatoes; bring to boil. Simmer on low heat 3 min. or until chicken is done. Stir in Neufchatel.

DRAIN pasta mixture; return to pan. Stir in chicken mixture and 1/2 cup mozzarella. Spoon into 2-qt. casserole or 8-inch square baking dish.

BAKE 20 min.; top with remaining cheeses. Bake 3 min. or until mozzarella is melted.

I need to work on taking pictures of food because I really don't know what I'm doing. *lol* It was really good though and we'll definitely be making it again.

Homemade Churro Recipe

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When I told Dave that this week's Muffin Tin Monday theme was Cinco de Mayo he suggested that we make some churros for Dawson's tin. Awesome idea honey!!! We've never made churros before. I looked up some different recipes and found the one that I wanted to use on AllRecipes.com. After reading the reviews we decided to tweak the recipe a little and they turned out perfect! This is the recipe that we ended up using:

What you'll need:

1 cup water
1 tablespoon white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 quarts oil for frying
1/2 cup white sugar, or to taste
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon


1. In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine water, 1 tablespoon sugar, salt and 1 tablespoon vegetable oil. Bring to a boil and remove from heat. Stir in flour until mixture forms a ball.

2. Heat oil for frying in deep-fryer or deep skillet to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Pipe strips of dough into hot oil using a pastry bag. (I used a Wilton 4B tip.) Fry until golden; drain on paper towels.

3. Combine 1/2 cup sugar and cinnamon in a plastic bag. Place drained churros (a few at a time) into bag with sugar mixture and shake until well coated.


Dave said they were just as good as any churro that he's gotten at the fair. I think they are better than any churro that I've gotten at the fair because half the time those churros are stale. These were so yummy and so easy!

Bread Machine Cinnamon Rolls

Pin It now! If you have a bread maker and you love cinnamon rolls then you *must* try this recipe that I found over at Money Saving Mom. They are SO easy and they taste SO good!


Bread Machine Cinnamon Rolls

Dough:
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons warm milk
3 tablespoons canola oil
1 egg, lightly beaten plus 2 egg whites
1/2 cup sugar
4 cups flour (Add a bit more if dough seems too wet after first few minutes of kneading in the bread machine.)
1 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons active yeast

Filling:
2 tablespoons butter
2/3 cup brown sugar mixed with 1 tablespoon cinnamon

Icing:
1 teaspoon milk (I had to add more milk because it just wasn't coming together for me.)
1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
4 tablespoons (or less) butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla


Put the dough ingredients in the bread machine in the order listed and run on the dough cycle.

After the dough cycle is finished, roll the dough into a large rectangle and spread it with 2 Tablespoons melted butter and 2/3 cup brown sugar mixed with 1 Tablespoon cinnamon.

Roll up and cut into 10-15 rolls and place in two greased round cake pans.


Bake at 325 degrees for 20 minutes or until browned.

Spread the icing on as soon as they come out of the oven.


If you want to make the dough and roll out the rolls the night before (which is what I did and why you don't see pictures of the first few steps...it was like 11 o'clock and I was tired. *lol*) you can put plastic wrap over the cake pans and stick them in the fridge until you are ready to bake them in the morning.

Creamy White Chili Recipe

Pin It now! I didn't do a lot of cooking while Dave was deployed because it's hard to cook for 1...well technically 1 1/2, but Dawson isn't always the best eater so I'm not counting him. So now that Dave is back I've started trying out all the new recipes that I've been wanting to try. I love being able to cook again!

This is recipe that I got from a friend. She brought this soup to the Superbowl party that my parents had and I was in love with it when I tried it. Seriously, I love this soup.

2 lbs. chicken breast cooked and diced
1 lg. onion diced
3 cans great northern beans drained and rinsed
2 (14oz) cans chicken broth
1 (7oz) can green chilies diced
1 tsp. garlic powder
2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. cumin
2 tsp. oregano
2 tsp. chili powder
1/4-1/2 tsp. pepper
2 cups sour cream
1 cup whipping cream or half & half

Combine chicken, onion, beans, broth, chilies, and seasonings. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 30-35 minutes.

Stir in sour cream and milk.

Serve immediately. Serves about 6


This soup is heaven.

Hubby and I agreed that next time that I make it I should add a little more pepper and chili powder. And instead of 2 cups of sour cream I am going to start with 1 and see how it looks and tastes and add more if it needs it. ***We tried it with 1 cup of sour cream instead of 2 and we like it better with 2 cups of sour cream. It was still good though.***

We just had this for dinner a few days ago (and I ate it for lunch 3 days in a row finishing up the leftovers) and I am already ready to make it again. It is that good!

Rainbow Cupcakes

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This coming Monday's muffin tin theme is the colors of the rainbow so I decided to make some rainbow cupcakes to go in Dawson's tin. They are super easy to make and I thought I would share them now in case anybody else wants to make them for their tin on Monday.

I used white cake mix and made the mix according to the directions on the package and then I followed the directions on Disney's Family Fun website to separate the mix and add the food coloring.


I love how pretty the colors look. And they look pretty cool once you put them in the tin, too.


While the cupcakes were baking I made vanilla frosting from this Pioneer Woman recipe. SO good and so easy!

After the cupcakes came out of the oven and cooled for a bit I frosted them. Voila, yummy rainbow cupcakes.


Make sure to come back on Monday and see what else was in Dawson's colors of the rainbow tin.

Christmas Cake Balls

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It's day 4 of the Holly Bloggy Christmas Bash! Wow, this week is just flying by! Anyway, today's theme is Christmas recipes. Earlier in the week I made cake balls to give out at my family's Christmas party. (They were a big hit by the way) I got this recipe from Bakerella and it's actually a cake pop recipe minus the lollipop sticks. (Really the only difference between the cake balls recipe and cake pops recipe is the balls are dipped in chocolate bark and the cake pops are dipped in candy melts. I dipped my cake balls in candy melts because I wanted them to be Christmas colors.)

Red Velvet Cake Balls

• 1 box red velvet cake mix (cook as directed on box for 13 X 9 cake)
• 1 can cream cheese frosting (16 oz.)
• 1 package chocolate bark (regular or white chocolate) or candy melts
• wax paper

1. After cake is cooked and cooled completely, crumble into large bowl.
2. Mix thoroughly with 1 can cream cheese frosting. (It may be easier to use fingers to mix together, but be warned it will get messy.)
3. Roll mixture into quarter size balls and lay on cookie sheet. (Should make 45-50. You can get even more if you use a mini ice cream scooper, but I like to hand roll them.)
4. Chill for several hours. (You can speed this up by putting in the freezer.)
5. Melt chocolate in microwave per directions on package.
6. Roll balls in chocolate and lay on wax paper until firm. (Use a spoon to dip and roll in chocolate and then tap off extra.)

***You can use any cake mix and frosting combination that you want. I made a batch of red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting and a batch with yellow cake mix and milk chocolate frosting. I actually prefer the yellow cakes ones.

I put the cake balls in mini Christmas baking cups and then put them in cute Christmas tins lined with tissue paper. They turned out pretty cute and were really yummy!

To see other Christmas recipes head on over to Simply Sweet Home.

Tomorrow's theme is Christmas Memories and Traditions and it will be hosted by Tidy Mom.

Christmas Goodies Recipe Exchange

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If you've made any goodies lately Sweet Jeanette is hosting a recipe exchange on the 15th. She'll have a MckLinky up so don't forget to head over there and link back to anything you've made. I'm looking forward to seeing what others have been making this holiday season and hopefully finding a new recipe that I want to try out.

Andes Mint Chocolate Cookies

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I am so excited to share this recipe! It's another very easy recipe and the cookies are so good! It's definitely my new favorite cookie! I found this recipe at Delightful Delicacies and I knew I had to try these cookies ASAP!

3/4 cup butter
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoon water
1 cup milk chocolate chips (the original recipe called for bittersweet instead of milk chocolate, I used what I had and think they turned out perfect)
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 eggs
2 1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
48 Andes mints

In a large bowl - melt together the butter, brown sugar, water and chocolate chips (Microwave in 1 minute intervals, stirring in between)

Beat in the eggs and then add in sifted remaining dry ingredients until blended

Chill for at least 1 hour

Shape into 1 inch balls and place on a greased cookie sheet

Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes. (I let them bake for the full 10 minutes)

Place a mint on top of each cookie and place them back in the oven for about 10 seconds.



Use a spoon to spread the melted mint on top of the cookie


And if you'd like, add some sprinkles to make them a little prettier. :-)


Let them cool and then enjoy!

Makes about 4 dozen

I usually like my cookies best when they are right out of the oven -- warm and gooey! But these cookies taste a million times better when they are completely cooled. To me anyway. I tried one right out of the oven and thought, yeah these are good, but they aren't great. Then I tried another one an hour or two later and I was in heaven!!!

Best. Cookies. Ever.

Cake Mix Christmas Cookies

Pin It now! Let me just start off by saying that these were the easiest cookies that I have ever made. Seriously. And they were so yummy, too!

You just need 3 simple ingredients:

• Cake Mix (I used yellow cake mix, but I'd imagine that any flavor would be great. I plan on trying chocolate next!)
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil

Mix together the ingredients

Roll the "dough" into small balls (about 1 inch or so)

Bake for 10-12 minutes @ 350

Makes about 2 dozen



Before I put them in the oven I rolled a few of the balls in red and green sugar. I also rolled one in sprinkles, and another in confetti, just to see how they would turn out and honestly there isn't a single cookie that I didn't like.

I also used Wilton's Cookie Icing and Holiday Mix Sprinkles to decorate some of the cookies.


I love this time of year! I have a lot more baking and some Christmas crafts that I want to do and I'll be posting everything in my blog. So check back often because there will be new stuff up at least a few times a week. :-)

Mini Pancake Muffins

Pin It now! If you have not tried Mini Maple Pancake Muffins also known as Puffins, by Bakerella, you are really missing out! I have made them a few times since I got the recipe from her blog and they are so good! We had them yesterday morning for breakfast and I'm sure we'll have them again sometime this week. (I don't have any other recipes that call for buttermilk, so I have to make more so I can use it up... Ok, ok, ok...that's just an excuse, I'll make them again soon because they are just that good and that easy!)

Here is the recipe from Bakerella's blog:

1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
2/3 cup buttermilk
1 egg
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
2 tablespoons melted butter
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar in a medium bowl. Sift together with a wire whisk.
• In another bowl, stir buttermilk, egg, maple syrup and melted butter until just combined.
• Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir with a spoon until combined.
• Stir in chocolate chips. Reserve a few chips to sprinkle on the tops.
• Bake for 8-9 minutes.

Makes 24 mini pancake muffins.

Here is how ours turned out this morning. (I used blueberries instead of chocolate chips)

Mmmm...so yummy! And just the perfect size for Dawson. :-)

I'm going to be making another one of Bakerella's creations within the next week or two, this one for the first time. I'll make sure to share it here when I do!