Category Archives: Kid Friendly

Chocolate Raspberry Cake

January 29, 2011 admin Leave a comment

You won’t even miss the frosting when you make this awesome raspberry sauce – the extra flair is a nice touch to add to a holiday table.

8 servings
210 calories per serving

Cake:
9 oz. package devil’s food cake mix
1/3 c light sour cream
¼ c water
¼ c Egg Beaters
2 t powdered sugar

Pan prep:
Pam
1 T flour

Sauce:
10 oz. frozen raspberries in syrup, thawed
3 T sugar
1 t cornstarch
¼ t vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 inch round cake pan with Pam and then lightly flour it. (INSTRUCTIONAL VIDEO) Combine all cake ingredients except the powdered sugar and beat 2 minutes at medium speed then spread into prepared pan. Bake 25 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly pressed. Cool ½ hour and then invert onto a plate and sprinkle with sugar. In a blender puree berries until smooth and strain out the seeds by pushing the puree through a sieve. Combine puree, sugar and starch in a saucepan and cook on low heat until slightly thickened. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Serve warm sauce over cake. Garnish with fresh raspberries.

Dinner, Kid Friendly, Turkey

Roast Turkey

January 28, 2011 admin Leave a comment

A turkey roasting in the oven makes me happy 🙂 Don’t save it just for holidays ! Roast a small turkey for dinner and there are tons of recipes you can make with the leftover meat. Roasting is easy and at only 153 calories for 4 ounces, it’s a great meal choice.

1 serving (4 ounces meat, no skin)
153 calories per serving

1 turkey
1 onion
1 t oil
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Clean turkey and salt and pepper the inside. Peel onion and place whole onion inside the bird. Place turkey in a roasting pan, preferably one with a bottom that keeps the turkey raised out of the cooking juices. Oil the top of the turkey and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place 1/2 c water in the bottom of the pan. Cover loosely with aluminum foil and roast approximately 20 pounds per pound. Baste with juices every hour, recover, and return to oven. During the last 15-25 minutes remove the cover to let the skin brown.

Remove from oven and let sit 20 minutes before carving.

One great recipe for leftover meat is Turkey Noodle Soup !

Kid Friendly, Snacks

Caramel Dip

January 26, 2011 admin Leave a comment

Light on the caramel, heavy on the yummy cream cheese – – and a great dip for any fruit. I serve with apples. (1 large apple = 116 calories)

12 servings
102 calories per serving (1 serving = 2 T)

8 oz. low fat cream cheese
½ c caramel ice cream topping
½ c marshmallow fluff

Mix cream cheese and caramel then add marshmallow. Microwave 1 minute at 50% power, mix, then microwave in 15 second intervals until warm throughout (usually takes another 30 seconds total).

Serve with apple slices or other fruit.

Crock pot, Dinner, Kid Friendly, Sides

Cheryl’s Crock Pot Sweet Potatoes

January 21, 2011 admin Leave a comment

Wherever the recipe came from, this is now “Cheryl’s Sweet Potatoes” to me since my friend Cheryl gave me this recipe 🙂 These are a bit on the high side for calories, so serve them with a nice light serving of fish or chicken. They are so satisfyingly good – just sweet enough without being too sweet ! You could skinny these up using less butter, Splenda brown sugar blend – – but why mess with perfection !?!?!

4 servings
289 calories per serving

2 lb sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into small cubes
1/4 c packed dark brown sugar
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t nutmeg
1/8 t salt
2 T butter, cut into pieces
1 t vanilla

Combine potatoes, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt and place in the crock pot. Cook on low for 7 hours or high for 4 hours. Add butter and vanilla at the end, stir gently to blend.

Kid Friendly, Snacks

Ranch Popcorn

January 19, 2011 admin Leave a comment

Some of the simplest snacks are the best – adding ranch flavor to popcorn is just a match made in heaven. And this is so easy to do !

1 serving
184 calories per serving

6 c air popped popcorn (you can use microwave popcorn, but the calorie count goes up a bit)
2 t Molly McButter
2 t Dry ranch dressing mix
ICBINB Spray

Pop popcorn and spread out on a cookie sheet then spray with ICBINB and sprinkle with the Molly McButter. Then spray again and mix with the ranch dressing mix.

Crock pot, Dinner, Kid Friendly, Pork

Barbecue Pork Chops (Crock Pot)

January 15, 2011 admin Leave a comment

How nice to place some ingredients in a slow cooker/crock pot and come back 4 hours later to a perfectly cooked meal ! Serve with a small side of mashed potatoes for a great meal.

4 servings
237 calories

8 5-ounce boneless pork chops
Salt and pepper to taste
Pam
1/2 c BBQ sauce
14.5 oz. can of diced tomatoes
10 oz. frozen vegetables

Sprinkle chops with salt and pepper. Spray a warm skillet with Pam and return to heat. Add chops and cook until brown on both sides. Pam a crock pot and place the chops in the crock. Mix the sauce, tomatoes and vegetables. Stir well and pour over the chops. Cook on high 4 hours.

The BBQ sauce is what really makes the dish – make sure to choose one of your favorites and to embellish it with extra garlic, lemon, vinegar….whatever makes it good to you !

Drinks, Kid Friendly, Pork

Caramelized Pork

January 12, 2011 admin Leave a comment

For those that like a little sweet with their savory, this is a great quick pork dish. The meat comes out nice and tender and the caramelized glaze is quite good ! Try Serving with Mushroom and Zucchini Orzo.

4 servings
200 calories per serving

1 lb. pork tenderloin cut into 1 inch slices
2 t canola oil
2 cloves garlic minced
2 T brown sugar
1 T orange juice
1 T molasses
½ t salt
¼ t pepper

Flatten the pork slices to ½ inch thick each (place between pieces of plastic wrap and pound with the bottom of a heavy skillet). Brown the pork in oil on medium high heat and then remove from the pan and keep warm. Saute the garlic in the same skillet for 30 seconds and then stir in the brown sugar, OJ, molasses, salt and pepper then return the pork to the pan and cook 4 minutes.

Beef, Dinner, Kid Friendly

Beef Stroganoff Casserole

January 9, 2011 admin Leave a comment

Another in my search for the perfect ‘homemade hamburger helper’ recipe. This one is definitely a contender ! It is very flavorful and sometimes you just gotta have beef (many of my others use ground turkey). It’s 404 calories – so just do a few jumping jacks before dinner and you’ll burn off those extra 4 🙂

6 servings
404 calories per serving

1 lb. lean ground beef
¼ t salt
¼ t pepper
1 t oil
8 oz. sliced mushrooms
1 large onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
¼ c white cooking wine
1 can low fat cream of mushroom soup
½ c light sour cream
1 T Dijon mustard
4 c cooked egg noodles
Pam

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray a 13×9 pan with Pam. Cook meat in a skillet. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and cook until no longer pink, separating the pieces as it cooks. Drain liquid and fat from meat and set meat aside. In same skillet add mushrooms, onion and garlic and cook 3 minutes. Add wine and reduce heat and cook another 3-4 minutes then remove from heat and stir in soup, sour cream and mustard. Return beef to pan and mix well. Put noodles in the baking dish and then pour beef over the noodles. Mix well. Bake uncovered 30 minutes.

Dessert, Kid Friendly

Caramel Apple Pudding Cake

January 6, 2011 admin 1 Comment

This was sooooo easy to do and everyone just loved it ! You pour a whole lotta liquid over the top but by the end of the backing time, all the brown sugar makes its way to the bottom and drizzled over the top, it is pure heaven !

9 servings
140 calories per serving

9 oz. yellow cake mix
1 t apple pie spice
1/3 c skim milk
1 medium apple peeled and coarsely chopped
¾ c brown sugar
1 ½ c water heated to 120 degrees
Pam

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 inch cake pan with Pam. Combine cake mix, spice and milk then stir in apple and spread the mix in the prepared pan. Combine brown sugar and water and mix well and then pour over the batter. Bake ½ hour or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Spoon warm cake into dishes and serve immediately.

Dinner, Kid Friendly, Sides

Simply Roasted Potatoes with Garlic Sauce

January 5, 2011 admin Leave a comment

Simple and elegant – potatoes and garlic are just meant to go together !

Simply Roasted Potatoes with Garlic Sauce

4 servings
200 calories per serving

1.5 lb. new potatoes, quartered
2 T oil
10 cloves garlic
1 t oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Put potatoes in a baking dish and drizzle with 2 T oil. Toss well and roast 10 minutes. Place whole garlic cloves in a small baking dish or ramekin and drizzle with 1 t oil then cover with foil and place in the oven after the potatoes have cooked for 10 minutes. Roast the potatoes and garlic for ½ hour them remove from oven. Mash garlic with salt and pepper and then toss with the potatoes. Add extra salt and pepper to taste.