Fun Times Friday

So today was my friend Kim's birthday. To celebrate, several of us got lunch from Panera. As a surprise to Kim, we stopped by Jilly's Cupcakery on our way back to school. Holy Delicious.

My favorite flavor today was chocolate chip cookie dough. I mean, it was a little bite of Heaven, for sure.

We even got to meet THE Jill, the namesake and owner of the bakery. Really cool chick, she was.

Jilly's has two locations in the north metro, one in Roswell and one in Alpharetta. I highly suggest stopping by for a little treat!!

I am a Pinterst addict.

My name is Ann-Margaret and I am a Pinterest addict. Out of all the many items I have discovered via Pinterest, this pretty much sums up the major conundrum of my life:



So true......so true......

Everybody loves a casserole.

Okay, maybe not everybody. I think back to the story my parents tell of when they first got married. My mom was a very young bride and had received a casserole cookbook as a wedding gift. Being such a good little wife, she left no page of her new cookbook unturned. She put a casserole on the dinner table - every. single. night. My daddy was SICK of casseroles and still shutters at the thought of a one dish dinner to this day, some 34 years later. He will make a chicken pot pie occassionally, but that is about it.


I, on the other, love me a good casserole. As I started clearing out my camera in preparation for Easter weekend, I stumbled upon pictures of two casseroles I experimented with a few months ago. Both turned out very tasty and provided enough leftovers for several days thereafter. Both casseroles were  Weight Watchers AND husband friendly; in fact, the husbando could not get enough of the Bubble Up Enchilada casserole.


Check out the recipes below and let me know your thoughts. And also let me know - what is your favorite casserole dish?

Bubble Up Enchiladas
a Weight Watchers community recipe originally posted by user jaimew1976

1 pound lean ground turkey
10 oz canned enchilada sauce
8 oz canned tomato sauce
1 1/4 cup reduced fat mexican style shredded cheese
8 small low fat refrigerated biscuit dough

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brown turkey and drain if needed. Mix in a enchilada and tomato sauce. Cut the refrigerated biscuits into fourths and stir them in the meat mixture. Place mixutre into a greased casserole dish and bake for 25 minutes. Take out of oven and sprinkle cheese on top. Bake an additional 10 minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.

Serves 6, 7 PointsPlus per serving


Weight Watchers Deep-Dish Pizza Casserole
adapted from Food.com

1 pound lean ground turkey
15 oz can of diced tomatoes, any variety
sliced mushrooms (or any veggie you wish to add!)
10 oz can refrigerated pizza dough
6 oz shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Brown meat in a non-stick skillet. Drain, if necessary, and then add mushrooms. Continuing browning until mushrooms begin to release moisture. Add tomatoes and cook until heated through.

While meat cooks, coat a 9X13 baking dish with cooking spray. Unroll pizza crust dough, and press into bottom and halfway up the sides of the baking dish. Top the pizza crust with meat mixture.

Bake, uncovered, for 12 minutes. Top with cheese, and bake 5 minutes or until crust is browned and cheese melts.

Serves 6, 8 PointsPlus per serving

I love me some cookbooks....

I am super excited that I got a cookbook in the mail to test drive today!! Unfortuately, today's pollen count has given  me quite the headache and I just don't feel like looking through my new cookbook. But stay tuned....I know I will be cooking something from this one real soon!

Finding the time....

No one tells you how time consuming it is to be a new parent. I miss laying in bed at night, reading a book. Now, I give Jackson his last bottle at 10:30 pm, lay down to rea.......snore......snooze....snore......

And alas, when I am time starved, the last thing I want to do is cook. And clean up the kitchen. But somehow last weekend, I mustered the energy to cook beef stroganoff. And it was pretty darn good. I found the recipe on the back of a package of Publix brand egg noodles that was taking up space in the pantry. I amazingly had every ingredient on hand. The recipe was easy, yummy, and made enough for lunch the next day. I do believe this recipe is a keeper.

 





my plate....



















Eric's plate....isn't her clever?

Publix Apron Meals - Beefy Stroganoff

Ingredients 1 small yellow onion
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 lb lean ground beef, 7% fat
4 oz pre-sliced fresh baby portabellas
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup flour
8 oz wide egg noodles
1 (10.5-oz) can condensed beef broth
1 (8-oz) container sour cream


Prep
Put water on to boil for pasta.

Peel and dice onion.

Steps

Melt butter in large sauté pan on medium-high, then add onions and garlic; cook and stir 1 minute to soften. Add beef, mushrooms, salt, and pepper (wash hands); cook and stir 5–7 minutes or until meat crumbles and no pink remains.

Stir flour into beef mixture; cook and stir 2 minutes.

Cook pasta following package instructions.

Slowly stir broth into beef mixture; then stir in sour cream. Reduce heat to medium; cook and stir 7–8 minutes to blend flavors.

Drain pasta; serve beef mixture over pasta.

CALORIES (per 1/6 recipe) 360kcal; FAT 15g; CHOL 100mg; SODIUM 520mg; CARB 31g; FIBER 2g; PROTEIN 22g; VIT A 6%; VIT C 2%; CALC 4%; IRON 20%




I have been cooking up something really special....

So I have been missing from the blogosphere for over a year now. But I have a pretty good excuse...

 



I cooked up this cutie for about 9 months and gave birth in late July. I really hope to start finding pockets of time to focus on cooking, losing baby weight, and blogging about it. Please stay tuned....

where did i go?

I'm here...I am just completely over-committed right now. My mama told me tonight I need to start cutting some things out of my extra curricular life. Mama knows best....I hope to be more centered and back to blogging soon.

Good night, ya'll!