Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese Cookie Bars

Looking for an easy dessert that will impress everyone? They are dangerously delicious!

I made these fantastic Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Cookie Bars from Pillsbury. I would recommend these to anyone.

Ingredients:
1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup coconut (optional - but I chose to include this and it added a lot)
1 roll (16.5 oz) Pillsbury® refrigerated chocolate chip cookies

Directions:
Heat oven to 350°F.
In small bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar and egg until smooth. Stir in coconut.
In ungreased, 9- or 8-inch square pan, break up half of cookie dough.
With floured fingers, press dough evenly in bottom of pan to form crust.
Spread cream cheese mixture over dough crust.
Crumble and sprinkle remaining half of dough over cream cheese mixture.
Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until golden brown and firm to the touch.
Cool 30 minutes.
Refrigerate at least 2 hours or until chilled.
For bars - cat and store in refrigerator.

Skinny Chicken Enchiladas

I am always looks for new things to make and I saw this recipe on Skinny Taste and decided to give it a try. It turned out very well, but extremely - I mean REALLY - spicy. If I were to make it again I would make some changes with the spices.

Ingredients:

For the sauce:
2 garlic cloves, minced
1-2 tbsp chipotle chilis in adobo sauce (This is something I may avoid in the future to reduce spiciness)
1-1/2 cups tomato sauce
1/2 tsp chipotle chili powder
1/2 tsp ground cumin (I may avoid this ingredient or reduce it as well to decrease spiciness)
3/4 cup fat free chicken broth
salt and fresh pepper to taste

For the chicken:
1 tsp vegetable oil
8.5 oz (2 breast halves) cooked, shredded chicken breast
1 cup diced onion
2 large clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup cilantro
salt
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp chipotle chili powder
1/3 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup tomato sauce
8 (7-inch) reduced carb whole wheat flour tortillas (la tortilla factory)
1 cup shredded low fat Mexican cheese
non-stick cooking spray
1/2 cup chopped cilantro for topping

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 F
Sauce: In medium saucepan, spray oil and sauté garlic. Add chipotle chiles, chili powder, cumin (if using), chicken broth, tomato sauce, salt and pepper.
Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 5-10 minutes.
Set aside until ready to use.

Chicken Enchiladas
Heat the vegetable oil in medium skillet over medium-high heat.
Sauté onions and garlic ~2 minutes on low.
Add chicken, salt, cilantro, cumin, oregano, chili powder, tomato sauce, chicken broth, and cook 4 to 5 minutes.
Remove from heat.
Spray a 13 by 9-inch glass baking dish with non-stick spray.
Put 1/3 cup chicken mixture into each tortilla and roll it.

Place on baking dish seam side down, top with sauce and cheese.

Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 20-25 minutes.
Top with low fat sour cream if desired.

Crock Pot Shredded Chicken

Shredded chicken is easy to make in a crock pot and should be made ahead of any recipes requiring this ingredient.
Crock pot shredded chicken takes about 4 hours to make, so I may make it the day before I plan on needing it. This is also good to have around for salad toppings. The original recipe can be found here on Skinny bits.

Ingredients:
Chicken Breast
Water
Chicken Broth

Directions:
Place chicken breasts in crock pot.
Cover chicken breasts with water or chicken broth (I used chicken broth).
Cover and cook on high for 4 hours.

When it is finished, place the chicken on a plate and shredd with a fork. It comes apart incredibly easily.
I do have to say the chicken is a bit dry when it comes out and I haven't yet figured out how to avoid this.

Skinny Pizza Grilled Cheese

I love pizza - have I mentioned this once or twice..?

I am always looking for new ways to enjoy pizza and I found I one which was very easy to make and reasonably healthy... pizza grilled cheese... yum!

Ingredients:
2 slices WW bread (buttered)
Shredded Cheese (either reduced fat, skim, or ff). I used mozzarella.
Turkey Pepperoni
Pizza Sauce (I use a natural sauce that is basically tomatoes and salt)

Directions:

On a heated skillet, place one slice of bread topped with mozzarella cheese and turkey pepperoni. Place the other slice of bread on top. Heat until cheese is melted and both slices of bread are browned on the outside.

To enjoy, dip in pizza sauce. It was a great and different way to enjoy pizza!

Crock Pot Creamy Mushroom and Chicken Stew

Still looking for healthy recipes that can be made in the crock pot, I found this recipe from Laaloosh.

This recipe turned out okay, but I made a mistake on one crucial part of the recipe (which I will learn from) which made it another bumpy adventure. Edible but could have been better.

Ingredients
1 lb chicken breasts cut into bite-sized pieces
8oz baby Portabella mushrooms, sliced
1 onion (finely chopped)
1/2 cup carrots, chopped
1/2 cup fresh or frozen peas (I forgot to buy this, so I just skipped it)
2 stalks of celery (chopped)
1 packet powdered Mushroom Sauce seasoning mix (the original recipe call for one by Simply Organic. I couldn't find this anywhere so I used mushroom gravy mix)
2 cups fat free chicken broth
1 cup plain, non-fat Greek yogurt, at room temp (AT ROOM TEMP!!!! This is where I went wrong...)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Directions:
Combine all ingredients EXCEPT the yogurt and place in crock pot.

Cook on low for 4-6 hrs.
Stir in (room temperature) yogurt, and warm until heated through, about 5 minutes.

I made the mistake of adding the yogurt before it was room temperature - huge mistake. It practically curdled in the stew. I ate some and it was tasty but looks wise it wasn't appealing. I also tried to freeze it... another misadventure.

Skinny Buffalo Quesadilla

In the mood to try something a little different, I decided to make the Buffalo Burger Quesadillas from Skinny Taste.

Overall it was a nice change, but I think if I made it again I would stick to chicken.

Ingredients:

1 lb 100% lean grass-fed ground buffalo
1 cup pico de gallo (I didn't have this)
1 cup shredded reduced fat cheddar jack cheese
8 small whole wheat flour tortillas, cut smaller if desired (La Banderita)
spray olive oil (Pam)
salt and fresh pepper

Directions:

Form 4 thin burger patties. Season with salt and pepper. Heat a pan to medium-high heat; when hot, lightly spray the pan with oil and add the burgers.
Cook burgers about 2 minutes on each side. Set aside.

In another pan, heat on medium heat. Lightly spray with oil and place the tortillas on the pan (I used a small pan, so I had to do it one at a time). Place 2 tbsp cheese on each tortilla. (This is where I realize I do a horrible job at measuring - I have no idea how much cheese I used).

Place buffalo burger onto tortilla with cheese and add 2 tbsp of cheese on each. Place the other tortilla on top; flip and cook until the cheese melts.

It will look like this...

Crock Pot Pulled Pork

I have never made pulled pork before and when I found this recipe on Skinny Taste I decided to try it.
I used store bought sauce, which made it amazing but definitely less skinny.

Ingredients:

2.5 lb boneless pork loin roast (center cut, trimmed of all fat)
2 tsp red wine vinegar
2 tsp Hickory liquid smoke
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp sea salt
1 cup BBQ Sauce (I like sauce.... I used the whole bottle in my version)

Directions:

Place pork in the crock pot and season with salt, vinegar, garlic powder and liquid smoke. Cover and set to high 6 hours.
Remove pork and place on large dish; reserve all the liquid into a cup and set aside.

Shred the pork with two forks and put it back into the crock pot along with about 3/4 cup of the reserved liquid and the BBQ sauce (Recommendation from site: for every 3 oz cooked pork, I used 2 tbsp BBQ sauce).

Cook on high one more hour.

This was delicious! So delicious in fact - that I shouldn't make it again... I couldn't stop eating it!

Light Three Cheese Chicken Bake

I wanted to make a casserole in order to have some good leftovers. Any good casserole has noodles and cheese - anything else is optional!

Ingredients:
3 cups WW corkscrew-shaped noodles (cooked)
2 chicken breasts (cooked & shredded)
1/3 cup grated parmesan Cheese
1 package shredded two cheese blend
1 cup milk
1 can Campbell's Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup (Reduced fat)
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Pulling the casserole together is relatively quick but if you want to make your own shredded chicken that has to be done ahead of time. I didn't realize how easy making my own shredded chicken was.
I found the recipe to make shredded chicken in my crock pot here at Skinny Bits.
Place the chicken into the crock pot and cover the chicken with water. Cook the chicken on high for 4 hours. After 4 hours, remove and shredded chicken using two forks.

After cooking the pasta, in a casserole dish, stir in the cooked pasta, soup, cheeses, milk and black pepper. After mixed, top with cheese and bake at 400 F for 20 minutes.

The finish product came out looking like this (below)...

It was delicious but hard to eat just a little!