Saturday Snack{Flag Dip}

Last Sunday Ava and I went to a 4th of July party at my friend Erica's.  She hosts the best parties and her 4th of July party is amazing.  She lives in the country and has a huge yard, a creek, an amazing screened in porch and a pool.  Her house is the perfect setting for a summer party!  I saw this Flag Dip recipe on pinterest and decided to make it for the party.   It's super easy to make and everyone loved it.

Ingredients
1 lb. lean ground beef
1 pkg. taco seasoning
16 oz. sour cream
1/3 cup salsa
1 pkg. (8 oz.) shredded taco cheese
1 pkg. ( 8 oz.) shredded iceberg lettuce
1 can (2.25 oz) sliced black olives
1 cup cherry tomatoes halved

Instructions
Cook meat and drain add taco seasoning and cook as directed on package. Let cool. Mix sour cream and salsa together.  Spread onto bottom of 9x13 inch baking dish (I used a disposable one) and layer beef next and then top with the iceberg lettuce, top with cheese, tomatoes and olives in a flag pattern.  Serve with tortilla chips.

Enjoy and have a happy weekend!

Xoxo

Saturday Snack {WW Lemon Cupcakes}

Last night I went to my friend Sabrina's for a girls night.  I always love to get together with my girl friends and catch up.  Since we are all on Weight Watchers I made these delicious lemon cupcakes.  They were tasty and low in points only 2 points each!!  

{Weight Watchers Lemon Cupcakes}
1 box lemon cake mix 
10 ounces diet 7-up
2 ounces freshed squeezed lemon juice
zest from two lemons

Mix cake mix, diet 7-up, zest from one lemon and  fresh squeezed lemon juice and mix with a mixer for two minutes.  Add cake mix to cupcake liners and bake at 350 degrees for 16-18 minutes.  Cool completely and ice the cupcakes  with low fat cool whip and a pinch of lemon zest on each one.   Enjoy!!

Happy Saturday!!
Xoxo

Saturday Snack {Wonton Tacos}

I have a delicious snack for you today.  A few weeks ago I went to my friend Heidi's for a craft night and I brought these delicious Won Ton Tacos along for us to snack on.  Our craft night was right during the dinner time so I wanted to make something hearty and delicious for us to share.  I looked on pinterest and found Won Ton Tacos and thought that would be good to make.  I love anything with taco meat in it!

{Wonton Tacos}

1 lb. lean ground beef, browned and drained

1 envelope taco season

1 (10oz.) can Ro-tel diced tomatoes

1 1/2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

48 wonton wrappers

 Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Generously coat a standard sized muffin tin with non stick cooking spray.  Combine cooked beef, taco seasoning, cheese and  tomatoes in a bowl and stir until combined.  

(Here are the tomatoes that I used) they gave this dish a little kick and a lot of flavor!!

Line each cup of muffin tin with a wonton wrapper.  Add 1.5 tablespoons taco mixture and top with 1 tablespoon of shredded cheese.

Add another layer of wonton wrapper, and another tablespoon of shredded cheese.  

Cook in the oven for 11 minutes on 375 and enjoy!!  You can serve these with salsa, guacamole and sour cream. 

Happy Saturday!! 

Saturday Snack {Soft pretzels with cheese}

Yesterday we got a huge snow storm.  Everything was closed and we stayed at home and had a fun day.  I watched two Oscar nominated movies (Dunkirk and Thr Darkest Hour) and made these delicious homemade pretzels. 

Look at how much snow we got! We always get our biggest snow storms in March and I absolutely love it.  Everything looks so pretty.

I have had this recipe saved on my phone for a while now and I thought yesterday was a good day to make them. You can find the recipe here.  The step by step directions are so easy to follow.  The recipe makes 10 soft pretzels.  

I love pretzel bites so I cut my dough to make pretzel bites. 

The pretzels were so good!!   I was excited about making and trying the cheese dip.  I love jalapeños and they gave the cheese sauce a little kick.  

This was a delicious snow day snack!  

A few notes:

The original recipe calls for you to brush melted butter on the pretzels after they come out of the oven.  This would be so delicious but I decided to skip this step.  I thought this recipe had enough flavor (and calories!)  without the butter

The jalapeño cheese sauce was just ok.  I had high hopes and was excited to try it but when I make these again I will try a different recipe or  buy cheese sauce at the store.  

I will definitely make these pretzels again Happy Saturday!

Xoxo

Saturday Snack {2 ingredient bagels}

I have made these two ingredient bagels a few times now and they are delicious!  My friend posted this recipe on Facebook and I immediately wanted to try to make them.  This is a weight watchers recipe and each bagel is 150 calories.  If I have one of these in the morning with some cream cheese I stay full until lunch time.  

The two ingredients in this bagel are self rising flour and Fage Greek yogurt.   I always keep this in the fridge so I can make these bagels whenever I want.

2 Ingredient Bagels

1 cup of self rising flour

1 cup of Fage Total % Greek Yogurt

1 Egg (for egg wash)

Trader Joe's Everything But the Bagel seasoning or use my homemade bagel seasoning

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine 1 cup of self rising flour and 1 cup of Fage Total % Greek Yogurt in a bowl until a dough starts to form.

Turn dough on a lightly floured surface and brush your hands with a bit of flour.

Knead and divide into 4 parts.

Roll out each dough ball to form a rope and pinch the ends of each rope together to make a circle. You will have four bagels.

Beat one egg and brush over the bagels and sprinkle with Trader Joe's Everything but the Bagel seasoning.

Bake at 350 degrees for 23 minutes and 500 degrees for 2 minutes so the tops can brown.

At first the dough is a little crumbly but keep stirring! 

Form the dough into a ball and then divide the dough into four parts.  

Form four little balls and then roll into logs.  Join the two ends of the log together to make a bagel shape.

Beat one egg and then brush egg on top of bagel and add bagel seasoning. 

Cook as directed and enjoy!

Let me know if you try these.  They are really good!  

Happy Saturday!

Xoxo

Saturday Snack {Almond Sugar Cookies}

I have made these delicious cookies a few times now and they are always a big hit!  This week I brought them to the annual Valentine's Day Tea for Garden Club.   I have also taken them to parties and get togethers and everyone loves them.  The best part about them is that they are SO easy to make! 

 The secret ingredient is organic almond extract.  I got this one from my BFF Rachael's organic grocery store but if you can't find it at your grocery store you can get it on Amazon.  

I added pink food coloring to my icing for Valentine's Day but you can color you icing to match any holiday or event.  

Almond Sugar Cookies

2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon flaked sea salt (or can use regular table salt)

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

2 teaspoons almond extract

1 cup powdered sugar

1 tablespoon milk (or water)

1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract

Preheat oven to 375°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In a stand mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and almond extract, mixing until combined. Add flour mixture 1/2 cup at a time, mixing until completely combined.

Roll 1 tablespoon of dough into small circles and then press with hands into a disk shape. Place on prepared baking sheet.

Bake for 8 minutes. The cookies will not look browned or cooked, but they are! Remove from oven and let cookies rest on baking sheet for 5 minutes. Then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

To Ice: In a small bowl, whisk together powdered sugar, milk and almond extract - until smooth.

Using a spoon, smooth icing onto the top of each cookie and let set for 10 minutes, or until hardened. Store in the fridge, let come to room temperature when ready to serve.

Let me know if you make these delicious cookies.  Happy Saturday!!
Xoxo

Saturday Snack {Mexican Street Corn}

Last night my friend Heather and I went to a cooking class in Albany.  It was her birthday present to me and it was the perfect gift because I love cooking.  The cooking school we went to has a ton of classes.  I’ve done other classes there before and I always love going because I learn something new every single time.  I picked a Mexican class for us to do for my birthday.

 Our teacher was so great.  She was laid back and super helpful and it made for a fun experience.  She teaches a lot of the ethnic classes so I’d love to go back and take another one of her classes.

 We made so many things including-a Mexican salad, smoky black beans, lime chicken, homemade corn tortillas,  salsa and guacamole.  My absolute favorite thing we made however was the Mexican street corn.  It was absolutely delicious and I will be making it this summer for barbecues.

Here is the recipe.  I will be adding this to my recipe book and making this one a lot!!!   Since it’s winter we used frozen corn and it came out super yummy.  I think it would be delicious with fresh corn in the summer.  The Mexican Chocolate pudding was good too.  I’m just not a chocolate lover so it wasn’t my favorite thing we made. 

Here are some pictures of the other things we made. 

Top left-salsa

Top middle-Lime Chicken sauce

Top left-Lime Chicken after we puréed and cooked the chicken Bottom left-Smokey black beans Bottom right-Guacamole

Our favorite part was making homemade tortillas.  It really is an art.  We spent a lot of time trying to make them and I still have a lot to learn.  I was super tempted to buy the tortilla press but I resisted.  I honestly think I’ll just buy corn tortillas in the store. It was fun making them though. 

After we cooked everything we sat down and had a feast!  Here is my plate. 

It was a great night!!

Xoxo

Saturday Snack {Cowboy Caviar}

I made this delicious dip for my Bunco night earlier this month.  Sadly I had to cancel bunco because of the extremely cold temperatures and snow. This  dip is delicious and since Bunco was cancelled we got to snack on it for a few days after Bunco.  It’s also a pretty healthy dip option for any occasion.  I think I will make this for the Super Bowl next weekend.    

Here is the recipe it’s super easy to put together!

Cowboy Caviar 

1 can corn drained ( you can also use fresh corn if you have it and it’s in season!) 

1 can black beans drained and rinsed

1 brunch cilantro chopped 

1 red onion chopped

2 Roma tomatoes chopped

1/4 cup olive oil

2 T  red wine vinegar

2 t sugar 

1/4 t garlic powder 

Juice from one lime

Salt and pepper to taste

Mix and the ingredients together and enjoy with chips!

I hope you have had a great Saturday!  It has been so warm here I took a walk outside today which was so lovely.  We have been stuck inside for weeks because of all the cold weather and snow.

Xoxo

Saturday Snack {Everything Bagel Topping}

Happy Saturday!!!  Today is Graig’s 46th birthday.  I got him his favorite chocolate pie and tonight our friends are having a card party so we are going to go to that this evening.  This morning I went to boot camp and my plan was to make homemade bagels but my family wanted pancakes so we had pancakes instead.  

I did make this everything bagel topping to use this week.  I tried to get it at Trader Joe’s but it was all sold out so I decided to make my own.  I also made two extra batches for friends.  This will be great on homemade bagels, deviled eggs, and avocado toast. 

Everything Bagel Topping 

4 t white sesame seeds

3 t dried minced onion 

3 t dried minced garlic

3 t black seasame seeds

2 t sea salt flakes

1 t poppy seeds

Mix all ingredients together and store in an airtight container.

I doubled this recipe and put it in a small mason jars.  I added all the ingredients to my mason jar and shook up all the  ingredients in the jars.  

I got all the ingredients in bulk (except for the poppy seeds)  at my BFF Rachaels’s organic grocery store.

I had enough ingredients to make three jars of the topping.  I’m going to keep one and give two away to friends.

I wanted to try it after I made it but I didn’t have bagels so I added some of the topping to buttered toast.  It was delicious!

Happy Saturday!  

Saturday Snack {Sausage Jalapeño Bites}

I made these tasty little treats last Saturday for the swap party.  They are a variation of the Jalapeño poppers I made last week.  The filling is the same but this time for the base I used mini Fillo Shells.

Sausage Jalapeño Bites 

1 lb. breakfast sausage (I used reduced fat)

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1 block of cream cheese (I used reduced fat)

2 jalapeños seeded and chopped 

Cook sausage until brown and crumbly.  Drain the fat. Cut and chop  jalapeños (make sure you remove the seeds).  Add all ingredients to kitchenaid mixer and mix on a low speed for a couple of minutes to combine.  Add a spoonful of the mixture to each mini fillo cup. Pace filled fillo cups on baking sheet and cook at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes.  

I use my mixer to make combining  all the ingredients together easy.  

These are the fillo cups I get.  They are pre-baked and they are perfect for these bite sized appetizers. 

This appetizer is so easy to make and is so delicious!

I hope you enjoy. 

Xoxo

Saturday Snack {Jalapeno Poppers}

I made these tasty little treats for my Bunco group.  We were supposed to get together and play this week at my house but it was so brutally cold I cancelled it.  Our weather has been awful! 

I made these little treats before I cancelled.  I spent the next few days eating them.  They are delicious and not too spicy but they have a little kick from the jalapeño and sausage.

Jalapeño Poppers

15 jalapeno peppers

filling:

1lb breakfast sausage (I used reduced fat) 

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 onion, diced

1 teaspoon black pepepr

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup cream cheese (I used reduced fat)

1/2 cup shredded cheddar (I used reduced fat) 

Heat olive oil in a skillet and saute diced onion until translucent. Add in sausage  and give it a good stir and cook covered. Wait until it releases and then absorbs its juice. Add in spices and cook for 10-15 minutes covered over low heat. Put it aside.

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Cut the jalapenos lengthwise in half and using a spoon or knife, discard the seeds and veins.

Stuff each jalapeno half first with 1/2 teaspoon cream cheese, saisage and cheddar in this order. Place them on the baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes.

Serve them hot.

After I cut the jalapeño I used a spoon to get all of the seeds out.

After I had all the jalapeños cut I added the filling and then popped them in the oven.

The poppers were so good, and really easy to make.  I will definitely make them again.  They were the perfect mix of spicy from the jalapeño and sweet from the sausage.  I ate waayyy too many of them when they came out of the oven.  

Let me know if your try this recipe.

Xoxo