Crockpot Chicken Caesar Sandwiches

I returned to the working world from my maternity leave almost a month ago and I am just getting around to sharing the recipe I made on my first day of school- these delicious chicken sandwiches. My crockpot has become a favorite tool of mine now that my time is so constricted. I love coming home from work and being able to take Landon out for a wagon ride, or play blocks with him in his room, and not have to worry about cooking! These sandwiches were so delicious that I know we'll have them over and over again. I even used the leftovers in a panini for John with provolone cheese and he said the chicken was just as good that way. Very versatile- I could see mixing it into a pasta salad, or even topping a green salad with it. We're fans!

Source: Slightly adapted from The Girl Who Ate Everything

Ingredients:
1 pound chicken breasts
Salt and pepper
1/3 cup Caesar dressing (I used the Boathouse Creamy Yogurt Caesar- lighter and just as flavorful!)
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
Romaine lettuce
Rolls

Directions:
1- Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Place in the crockpot along with 1/3 cup water or chicken broth. Cook on low for 6 hours.
2- Drain the water/broth. Shred the chicken. Stir in the dressing and cheese.
3- Cook an additional 30 minutes on low.
4- Serve on a roll, topped with romaine lettuce.

Chunky Cake Batter Cookies

My two most popular recipes on the blog are my no butter chocolate chip cookies and my cake batter cookies. I get more hits from those two recipes than all my other recipes combined! (Well, not exactly, but almost... and that's insane). The cake batter cookies are my all time favorite. I realize it's cheating and taking the easy way out but after making those I have just been modifying the mix ins and trying to find my favorite combinations. These chunky cake batter cookies were the result of an impulse buy at the food store. I went to ShopRite late on a Friday night to get something for the baby and ended up buying a bag of peanut butter M&Ms. And not a snack size bag... a big bag. I couldn't leave those sitting around so I decided to use some of them up in cookies. Enter these cookies! They were great- chunks of yumminess in each bite. John and I were big fans! I also delivered half to my neighbor who just had a beautiful baby girl 3 weeks ago, so hopefully they liked them as much as we did. Overall an easy, delicious, and fun recipe.

Source: Stephanie Cooks Original

Ingredients:
1 box yellow cake mix
1 tsp. baking powder
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup peanut butter M&Ms

1/2 cup chocolate chunks (or chips if desired).

Directions:
1- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2-In a medium bowl, stir together the cake mix and baking powder. Add eggs and oil, then mix until well blended.
3-Stir in chocolate chunks and M&Ms. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto cookie sheets.
4- Bake for 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

White Pizza with Chicken and Mushrooms

First, I'm sorry I disappeared last week! We were away early in the week for my birthday, then I had to work, and blah blah blah... excuses excuses. So I apologize, but I'm back.

When it comes to quick last minute dinners pizza is a go-to for me. I buy the crust (either fresh dough, Boboli, Whole Foods organic thin crusts, Pillsbury, or naan bread) and then just top it with whatever we have laying around. A lot of you have contacted me in the past telling me that one of your favorite things to read here is pizza recipes, so I'm happy to present you with yet another pizza recipe. This one was delicious. John and I both were in heaven, the whole meal was delicious! I highly suggest this for your next pizza night.

Source: Stephanie Cooks Original

Ingredients:
1 batch pizza dough
1 tsp olive oil
5 ounces chicken
Salt & pepper
1/2 cup diced mushrooms
4 tbsp light Alouette garlic and herb cheese
1/2 cup chicken broth
Mozzarella cheese
Dried parsley

Directions:
1- Preheat the oven to 425. Assemble your pizza crust.
2- In a skillet heat the oil. Season your chicken with salt and pepper and cook until cooked through, set aside and dice. Add the mushrooms to the pan, stirring frequently, for about 5-7 minutes, until soft.
3- Remove the mushrooms from the skillet. Add the alouette cheese and broth. Cook until the cheese melts into the broth and is a smooth mixture.
4- Top the crust with white sauce mixture. Layer the chicken and mushrooms over top and sprinkle with mozzarella cheese (as desired). Season with dried parsley.
5- Bake 12 minutes or until golden.

BBQ Chicken Pasta Skillet

I didn't always love BBQ sauce. In fact I used to be pretty neutral on the topic. I enjoyed the occasional piece of BBQ chicken over the summer, but that's where my love ended. Recently I've been on much more of a barbecue kick... I think it started with this recipe for BBQ chicken pizza and followed up with these BBQ chicken enchiladas. I now bring you yet another recipe that stars my love for BBQ sauce. I'd seen recipes similar to this floating around but I never committed to making it. I thought the sauce on the pasta might be too gross or strong, but after constantly seeing different versions of this meal pop up on blog after blog I decided to make my own version. John and I both loved it. The sauce doesn't scream BBQ sauce- in fact it just offers a subtle taste to the dish.  Best of all it cooks in one skillet, pasta and all! Can't beat that, can you?

Source: Stephanie Cooks Original, inspired by Prevention RD

Ingredients:

1 tsp olive oil

1 bell pepper, cut into strips

1 cup water

2 cups chicken broth

1/2 pound pasta

1 1/2 cups shredded chicken

1/3 cup bbq sauce

1/4 cup light cream

Cheese for sprinkling, optional

Directions:

1- Heat the oil in the skillet. Add the pepper, saute until soft. Remove from the heat.

 2- Bring the water, broth, and pasta to a low boil in the skillet. Cook until most of the liquid is absorbed.

3- Stir in the chicken, bbq sauce, and cream. Heat until warm throughout and the pasta is well coated. Stir the bell pepper back into the skillet.

4- Top with cheese if desired.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Pudding Cake

I love get togethers. I'm a big fan of having somewhere to go, having something to do, and most importantly having a reason to bake something I would otherwise never make. Like this cake. This delicious, delicious, delicious cake. You see, the last thing I need is a big cake like this sitting around in my house. Because you know what will happen? I will eat it- all of it- and maybe share a tiny corner with John. So really that doesn't work. Recently my uncle had a birthday to celebrate and I quickly volunteered to bring the cake. My uncle is not picky and will eat anything (except peanut butter- weird...) so I had plenty of options to work with. I finally settled on this recipe because of the cream cheese layer. It was reminiscent of cheesecake, his ultimate favorite, but not as heavy and dense as a cheesecake.

When all was said and done this recipe was divine. We all ate it and loved it. My cake doesn't have the perfectly aligned layers as the original recipe's picture shows, but hey- I'm just your average home cook! I am not claiming to be a master chef 'round here! What I am claiming though is that I can make one mean dessert- and this was unreal. Try it- now- right now- go- run- go make a cake!

Source: Taste of Home

Ingredients:

1 tube (16-1/2 ounces) refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 carton (12 ounces) frozen whipped topping, thawed, divided
3 cups cold 2% milk
1 package (3.9 ounces) instant chocolate pudding mix
1 package (3.4 ounces) instant vanilla pudding mix
Chocolate chips

Directions
1- Let cookie dough stand at room temperature for 5-10 minutes to soften. Press into an ungreased 13-in. x 9-in. baking pan. Bake at 350° for 14-16 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely on a wire rack.

2- In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and confectioners' sugar until smooth. Fold in 1-3/4 cups whipped topping. Spread over crust.
3- In a large bowl, whisk milk and pudding mixes for 2 minutes. Spread over cream cheese layer. Top with remaining whipped topping and chocolate chips.

4- Allow to sit in the fridge overnight or at least 8 hours.

Baked Lemon Tortellini

Lemon is such a vibrant flavor. It's light, adds no calories or fat to a dish, but delivers a ton of flavor and tang to a meal. Some people find lemon to be too tart (like these babies- have you ever seen this youtube video of babies having lemon for the first time? If not you can thank me later!) but to me it's really one of the best ingredients. Some of my favorite lemon based meals are chicken with lemon basil pasta, lemon chicken, lemon cream pasta, lemon pepper shrimp scampi, shrimp in a Chinese lemon sauce, and lastly this delicious recipe for lemon pecan cookies. Can you tell I cook with lemon a lot? I had to really try to narrow it down to share just a few of my favorite lemon meals- there were tons more!

I will certainly be adding this baked tortellini recipe to the ranks of my favorite lemon-based meals. For starters I love stuffed pastas. I've discussed that love in depth many times so we'll move on. Beyond that it's a Weight Watchers friendly meal so you can have a creamy, cheesy, pasta-y dinner without guilt. Um, that deserves a YAY for sure. Plus, if you see the bacon sprinkled on top, you know you're in for a treat. Try this. It's so delicious.

Source: Emily Bites

Ingredients:
12 oz package of dry Cheese & Spinach Tortellini (I used Barilla – find in the dry pasta aisle)
2 slices center cut bacon
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 T flour
2 c skim milk
¾ t salt
1/8 t black pepper
1 ½ t dried basil
¼ t crushed red pepper flakes
1 T freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 t lemon zest
2 c fresh spinach, loose, not packed
1 ½ oz Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
2/3 c reduced fat 2% shredded Mozzarella cheese, divided

Directions:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350. Lightly coat an 8x8 baking dish with cooking spray and set aside.
2. Cook the tortellini in a large pot according to package directions.
3. Meanwhile, place bacon in a sauté pan or large skillet and bring over medium-high heat. Cook for 7-9 minutes until crisp. Remove bacon from the pan and place on paper towels to dry. Leave one tablespoon of bacon grease in the pan (if you have less than that like I did you may want to add a little butter to make up the difference. I counted one tablespoon of bacon grease in the recipe builder. If you want to make this vegetarian then just skip the bacon altogether and use butter). Add the garlic to the bacon grease and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add flour to the pan and whisk into grease. Add the milk slowly and continue to whisk until combined. Add the salt, pepper, basil and red pepper flakes and stir. Bring sauce to a simmer.
4. Once sauce is simmering, add lemon juice and lemon zest to sauce. Stir until thickened, 2-3 minutes and remove from heat.
5. Drain the tortellini and place back into the pot. Crumble the bacon and set aside. Add the spinach along with most of the Parmesan and the Mozzarella (reserve some of each to sprinkle on top). Add the sauce and stir everything together to combine. Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish and sprinkle the remaining Parmesan, Mozzarella and bacon over the top.
6. Cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove foil and continue to bake uncovered for 5-10 more minutes.

**9 WW points plus for 1/6 of the recipe

Honey Marsala Glazed Chicken

I cannot tell you how much I enjoy a meal that fits the traditional dinner role of "protein-starch-vegetable". Most of my dishes are all tossed together in one pan (think skillet pastas, enchiladas, etc.) so when I make something traditional like this meal I get really excited for dinner. I am a big fan of Near East rice/cous cous sides. Ironically as a child I hated them because I didn't think they had enough flavor, but now as an adult I can appreciate that that lack of "flavor" is actually a lack of overly processed fake seasonings. Their wild mushroom cous cous is an absolute favorite of mine. I had bought a box and planned to serve it was a honey balsamic glazed chicken, but something about the balsamic chicken didn't mesh well with this cous cous in my mind. I decided to change it up to a honey marsala chicken- best decision ever! This came out so good. It was so simple and yet had a perfect amount of flavor. I was hesitant- I felt that with only two tablespoons of "sauce" this chicken would have no flavor- but I was very wrong. It perfectly coated the chicken and complimented the cous cous. Definitely a meal that will be repeated around here.

Source: Heavily adapted from Weight Watchers

Ingredients:
2 (4 ounce) chicken breasts
Salt and pepper
1/2 tsp olive oil
Cooking spray
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tbsp marsala wine
1 tbsp honey

Directions:
1- Season both sides of your chicken with salt and pepper.
2- Heat a skillet with the oil and cooking spray. Add the garlic, stir well, cooking for about 1-2 minutes.
3- Add the chicken and allow to brown well on both sides, cooking through.
4- Combine the wine and honey together in a bowl. Pour the wine mixture into the skillet, turning up the heat.
5- Keep flipping the chicken in the glaze until the chicken is well coated. Serve hot.

** 5 WW points + per chicken cutlet

Balsamic Feta Pizza

When I recently asked on a giveaway on my facebook page what you like seeing the most on my blog so many people wrote that they love my pizza recipes. I was shocked! I mean, I personally love my pizza recipes, but I never knew they had such a following. I will say that making pizza at home is one of my favorite things to do in the kitchen. You can add any toppings to it to make a totally different meal, and quite frankly, pizza is so delicious so you know you're in for a good dinner! This recipe came across my radar and immediately needed to be made. It has a bit of a Greek flair and is totally amazing. Give it a shot- John and I were both in love.

Source: Heavily adapted from Emily Bites

Ingredients:
1 batch pizza dough (I used individual sized Boboli's)
1 cup grape tomatoes
2-3 tbsp balsamic glaze (not vinegar- you need glaze or a reduced vinegar- it's thicker)
1 cup baby spinach
1/4 cup feta cheese
1/4 cup mozzarella cheese

Directions:
1- Preheat the oven to 425. Place the grape tomatoes in an oven safe dish. Season with salt and pepper. Roast 20-30 minutes, until they begin to burst.
2- Transfer the tomatoes to a small bowl. Add the spinach and stir so the spinach begins to wilt from the heat.
3- Prepare your dough. Top the dough with 2 tbsp of the glaze, spread thinly. Top with the tomato/spinach mixture. Layer the cheeses on top. Drizzle the remaining tbsp of glaze over the top.
4- Bake 12 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the crust is crisp.

Lighter Vegetable Alfredo Pasta

I am a true believer that just because you're trying to lose weight doesn't mean you need to live on salad, grilled chicken, and almonds. In fact I could never stick to a weight loss program if it didn't allow for me to have creamy pasta like this! To keep this meal lighter I used a low fat sauce, loaded it with a whole skillet of veggies, and tossed it was pasta. I mean really... can you say delicious?? John and I were both really into this meal. The best part was that since I was using a jarred sauce this really took no time at all. I think the whole meal came together in the time it took for the pasta to cook. Can't beat that can you?

Source: Stephanie Cooks Original, inspired by Laa Loosh

1 pound pasta, any shape
Cooking spray
2 cloves garlic, minced
8 ounces mushrooms, diced
1 jar roasted red peppers, sliced into thin strips
2 cups baby spinach
1 jar Classico Light Asiago Romano Alfredo sauce
Salt and pepper

Directions:
1- Preheat the oven to 350. Cook the pasta according to packaging directions.
2- Spray a large skillet with cooking spray. Add garlic, stirring for about one minute. Add the mushrooms, cook until soft. Add the red peppers and spinach.
3- Add the sauce, stir well, season with salt and pepper. Allow to cook together for 5-7 minutes.
4- Drain the pasta, toss the pasta with the sauce and veggie mixture.
5- Transfer to a 9x13 dish, bake 15-20 minutes. (I transfered mine to 2 8x8 dishes and froze one for later).

** 10 WW points+ for 1/6 of the recipe