Top 2 Tuesday

Top 2 Healthy Recipes and Snack ideas!

About 4 years ago, I did weight watchers while on summer break from college. I had a lot of success with it but unfortunately didn't have the time to commit to it once I went back to school.

Here are two recipes I have continued to enjoy.

Diet Soda Cupcakes Recipe

Makes 24 servings

Cake mix combined with diet soda makes yummy cupcakes!

Ingredients

• 12 ounces of any diet soda
• 1 package of cake mix

Directions
Combine cake mix and can of diet soda; cook as per directions on cake box. Makes 24 cupcakes.

For frosting I like to use Coolwhip. You can mix it with cocoa powder and use Splenda to sweeten.

And if you're doing Weight Watchers, if I remember correctly a cupcake is only 1 point.

Orange Crumbed Baked Chicken

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons orange juice
• 2 tablespoons dijon mustard
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup whole wheat crackers, crumbled
• tablespoon orange zest, grated
• 1 shallot, finely chopped
• 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper, freshly ground
• 12 ounces boneless skinless chicken thighs

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a nonstick baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray.

In a small bowl, combine the orange juice, mustard and salt. On a sheet of wax paper combine the cracker crumbs, orange zest, shallot, and pepper. Brush the chicken on both sides with the mustard mixture then dredge in the crumbs, firmly pressing the crumbs to coat both sides. Place the chicken on the baking sheet.

Bake 15 minutes, turn over and bake until cooked through. 15 to 20 minutes longer.

Enjoy!

Ten

So I'm very pleased with myself that it didn't take me a month to update.

I come to you with another delicious recipe. Double Chocolate Cookie Bars. They are like little squares of heaven.

I made them a couple of weeks ago and my roommate ate most of the pan in a weekend.

I love this recipe because not only are they amazingly delicious they are really easy to make!



They are not brownies. They are fudgey bars with an oreo crust. I'm telling you bring them to a holiday party and everyone will love you.

24 OREO cookies
1/4 c. butter, melted
1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp. vanilla
2 c. semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Set aside 6 cookies and grind the rest in a food processor or blender. IN a small bowl, stir together the cookie crumbs and butter until well blended. Press into the bottom of a 9x13 pan.

Over a double broiler or in the microwave (for 1 minute), melt 1 cup of chocolate chips together with the condensed milk. Stir and add the vanilla. Stir frequently until smooth. Spread evenly over the crumb crust. Sprinkle the remaining cup of chocolate chips over the top. Break remaining cookies into pieces by hand and sprinkle over the top.

Bake for 20-25 minutes in the oven. Cool completely before cutting into the bars.

I didn't have a 9x13 pan so I used a smaller one. Next time I make these I'm definitely going to try and find a larger pan. They were amazing regardless.

I borrowed this recipe from Swanky Pear and here is one of her photos. Because I neglected to take a picture after cutting into them. We were too busy eating them.

Six

I've been craving cookies for about a week now. I wanted to make something simple and delicious. I decided to make snickerdoodles. I found this recipe on Allrecipes.com and it's almost perfect. This recipe says to turn your oven to 400, and in my opinion that is too high a temp for cookies. I set mine to 350 for 10 minutes and the cookies turned out perfect.



Recipe

1 1/2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons white sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1. Combine 1 1/2 cups white sugar, butter or margarine, vanilla and eggs. Mix well.
2. Stir in flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt. Blend well. Shape dough into 1 inch balls. Combine 2 tablespoons sugar and 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon. Roll dough in sugar/cinnamon mixture and place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until set. Immediately remove from cookie sheets.

You wont be disappointed!

Five

Last night I enjoyed cooking dinner for myself. I made Chicken stuffed with spinach and mozzarella cheese. It's delicious, fast, and easy.


Recipe
Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breast
Salt
Pepper
Italian Seasoning (I like Mrs. Dash Italian Blend)
Crushed Red Pepper
Garlic (minced)
Spinach
Mozzarella Cheese

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Use olive oil or cooking spray to lightly oil a 8x8 baking dish. Butterfly the chicken breasts by cutting in half horizontally through the thickest part of the breast. Cut into 2 pieces. (If the tender is attached, remove and form 6 bundles instead of 4). Place one piece of chicken on a large piece of plastic wrap, fold over the chicken and pound to 1/4-1/2" thickness. Season with salt and pepper and Italian seasoning on both sides.

On each chicken breast, lay several spinach leaves, a pinch of minced garlic, a sprinkle of mozzarella cheese and crushed red pepper flakes. Roll each piece up and use a toothpick to hold the bundle together if necessary.



Cook for about 20 minutes and then switch the oven to broil, grate Parmesan cheese over the chicken and continue cooking until the cheese is melted and the chicken is lightly browned and cooked through.

I think it would be delicious to add mushrooms or red peppers sometime!

Happy cooking.