Corn and Black Bean Salsa

I was recently faced with the task of bringing an appetizer to a friend's home. One would think...."What's so hard about that?!" Well, I normally wouldn't either but when that hostess happens to be vegetarian, lactose intolerant and gluten free.....I started to panic just a little.

Normally I would whip up something with cream cheese, sour cream or sausage, but I obviously couldn't do that in this situation. So my wheels started turning and I came up with this great alternative that happens to be very health friendly, vegetarian, gluten free, lactose intolerant AND delicious!

Ingredients:
1 can black beans (drained)
1 can white corn (drained)
1 can yellow corn (drained)
1 red bell pepper, sliced and chopped
1 tomato, chopped
1/4 red onion, chopped
1/2 bunch cilantro, finely chopped
1/4 tsp garlic salt
juice of 1 lime

Mix all and serve with corn chips (for gluten free) or tortilla chips if no preference!

Enjoy

Bacon Wrapped Green Bean Bundles

These little cuties are easy to make ahead and stick in the fridge until you’re ready to pop them in the oven before all your guests arrive.

Ingredients:
Canned Whole Green beans
Thinly sliced bacon
Catalina dressing (I used light)

Wrap 4-5 green beans with half a slice of bacon. Make the bundles and lay them in a casserole dish. Once all made, pour some dressing in there and bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Serve warm!

SUNDAY SLOW COOKER: Super Bowl Salsa-Bean Dip

With Super Bowl Sunday looming around the corner, it's time to start planning that menu. This one is a quick fix you can throw in the crock-pot so you can concentrate on your other items. Requires little time to prep and easy to find ingredients.

Source: Weight Watchers Nov/Dec 2010 issue

Ingredients:
2 cans black beans, rinsed and drained

1 c salsa

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp oregano

Grated zest and juice of 1 lime

1/4 c chopped fresh cilantro

1/4 c crumbled low-fat goat cheese

2 Tbs finely chopped red onion

1. Combine beans, salsa, garlic, cumin, and oregano in a 5-6 quart slow cooker. Cover and cook until beans are hot, 1-2 hours on high or 2-4 hours on low.

2. At end of cooking time, stir lime zest and juice into slow cooker. With large spoon or potato masher, coarsely mash bean mixture. If making ahead, keep warm on low or warm up to 2 hours. Stir in cilantro. Serve sprinkled with goat cheese and onion and garnished with cherry tomatoes (if using)

*I totally forgot the chopped onion and I thought it was still good. Oops!

Spiced Honey Pretzels

It never fails, after the Christmas/New Year’s season is gone and all of the chex mix making is complete….I find myself with a bag of pretzel sticks that I will never eat just by themselves.

So getting ready for some of my friends to get into town to help me celebrate my birthday, I decided to look for a way to “spice” them up and to have a nice new improved snack for us. I found a great new recipe in “Taste of Home’s Comfort Food Diet Cookbook” that turned boring hum drum pretzels sticks into something with a little hmmm, what is that?

Ingredients:
4 cups thin pretzel sticks
3 Tbl honey
2 tsp butter, melted
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp chili powder

Line a large baking pan with foil; coat with cooking spray. Place pretzels in a large bowl.

In a smaller bowl, combine honey, butter, onion powder and chili powder and mix well. I warmed mine up for about 20 secs so it would pour easier. Pour over pretzels; toss to coat evenly. Spread onto the prepared pan.

Bake at 350 for 8 minutes, stirring once. Cool on a wire rack, stirring gently several times to separate.

*Note: I did find it quite odd putting sticks on a wire rack (hello! they’re just going to fall through), so I put a plate underneath to catch them when they did indeed fall through. It doesn’t take these interesting sticks long to cool off….so start breaking them up as soon as you take them out of oven. Also, don’t overcook them! They have honey and the sugars will burn.

Enjoy!

Leek and Potato Soup

This versatile soup is good as a side dish, a warm creamy appetizer at a party or even as a main course.

Serves: 2-3 for main dish
Ingredients:
10 oz potato, peeled and chopped, about 2 cups
2 cups sliced leeks, about 2 leeks if using the green parts
3 cups water
¾ tsp salt
Pepper to taste
3 Tbl heavy whipping cream

Bring leeks, potatoes, water and salt to a boil. Cover and simmer for 20-30 minutes or until tender. To finish the soup, puree the soup through a food processor or blender and add cream. You can serve right from the blender or put back in the soup pot.

I tried to just use a potato masher but the blender is the way to go to get a thick creamy stick to your ribs soup.

*Note: If you don’t mind a green tint to your soup, feel free to use the stalks of the leeks. I also used a can of chicken broth in place of 14 oz of the water.

Fruit Dip

There are tons and tons of different fruit dip recipes out there using ingredients such as: jello, yogurt, cottage cheese (yes, I found one), cool whip and the list continues. My favorite...and the favorite of a few of my friends happens to use:

1 (7 oz) jar marshmallow creme

1 pkg of reduced fat cream cheese, softened

2-3 Tbl orange juice

Using an electric mixer, whip the marshmallow creme with the cream cheese. Once those are nicely incorporated, stir in the orange juice. If you drink orange juice on a regular basis and keep it in the fridge...use that. If you're like me and never have the stuff around, feel free to buy ONE orange and juice it yourself! For an extra flare, stir in some orange zest.

Use with fruits of your liking!

*If you're using apples, sprinkle them with some lemon juice to help them from going brown. Using bananas....soak in pineapple juice! Enjoy

Cocunut Shrimp with Black Bean and Mango Salad

What a wonderful melody of flavors! This one didn't let us down and I'm sure it won't for you either.

Source: Weight Watchers

Note: The shrimp part of the recipe is designed to be used for two meals (serves 4). Feel free to save some for left overs or adjust for just two servings.

Ingredients for shrimp:
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut
1/3 cup flour
3/4 t salt
1/ t crushed red pepper
1 large egg
1 lb jumbo shrimp, peeled (tails left on), deveined, butterflied and patted dry
1/4 cup apricot all-fruit spread
1 T prepared horseradish
1 t teriyaki or soy sauce

1. Preheat oven to 450. Spray a baking sheet with nonstick spray.
2. Combine the coconut, flour, salt and red pepper on a plate.
3. Beat the egg in a med. bowl. Add the shrimp and toss to coat. Lift each shrimp from the egg, letting the excess egg drip off the shrimp, then coat in the coconut mixture, pressing to adhere. Place shrimp on the baking sheet in a single layer. Lightly spray with nonstick spray. Bake until the shrimp are golden on the outside and opaque in the center, about 10 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, combine the apricot spread, horseradish and teriyaki sauce in a small bowl.
5. Transfer half of the cooked shrimp to a plate to cool. Then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 2 days for later use. Serve the remaining shrimp with the apricot sauce and the following black bean salad.

Ingredients for Black Bean and Mango Salsa for 2:
1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
1 T chopped fresh cilantro
2 t fresh lime juice
1 t extra virgin olive oil
1/8 t salt
1/8 t cumin
1 cup canned black beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup fresh or thawed frozen corn
1/2 cup fresh mango chunks

Combine the onion, cilantro, lime juice, oil, salt and cumin in a med. bowl. Gently stir in the black beans, corn and mango and serve with half of the shrimp recipe above.

Notes: If you would like, go ahead and take the tails off. Just a pain when you go to eat them. Egg substitute can be used in place of the egg. 425 is plenty of heat and I would suggest to turn the shrimp mid-way through. I used canned corn and didn't add the oil.

Tailgaiting Cupcakes

We all know there is a ton of food at pre-game parties....if you're in charge of bringing a side, try to make some changes to the normal guilty pleasures we all fall victim to. Hopefully I can provide some tips all week long in an attempt to get ready for the college game day kickoff!!! Starting with dessert of course.Ingredients:
1 box devils food cake mix
1 can diet coke

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Mix cake mix and diet coke together. Pour into cupcake pan and cook for 15 minutes. Makes approx 18. 2 pts each

*Feel free to frost anyway you prefer or leave them plain! Good either way.

Homeade Chips

Now, don't be overwhelemed by the thought of making your own chips...it's much easier than you would think, easy to portion control and extra good!





Ingredients: 16 chips 1-2 pts depending on the brand of corn tortillas
Corn tortillas
Sea salt


Directions:

1. Cut the corn tortillas into 8 triangles. Get a big stack of them at one time and cut with a bread knife.

2. Spray your cookie sheet with cooking spray and lay out your triangles (you will only spray the sheet for the first batch). Try to fit as many on the sheet without overlapping. Lightly spray the chips with cooking spray and then sprinkle salt on top.

3. Cook in a 375 degree oven for 8-12 minutes. Be very careful with cooking times...they go from raw to burnt in a matter of a minutes. Golden brown is what you're looking for...

4. Cook as many as you want.

5. Let cool and store in an air tight container!

Veggie Dip

Every party needs a good veggie tray and I normally get lots of compliments on this one....feel free to make it your own with variations you may like.

Ranch Veggie Dip:

1 envelope ranch dip

16 oz sour cream

1/4 c bacon bits

Mix all together and chill! Serve with your favorite veggies.

*I always use half fat free and half light sour cream instead of the full fat stuff. Imitation bacon bits seem to work the best.

*On this tray, I used carrots, cauliflower, green peas (found by the bagged lettuce) and small tri-colored bell peppers.

*My husband has also been known to use this on baked potatoes and it's quite good!