Seafood Pesto Pasta Salad

I love checking out other blogs on the internet and seeing what recipes that look yummy to me.  This is one of those recipes.  Pasta-check!  Pesto-check! Well, you get the idea...I loved almost the ingredients!  The original recipe from Damn Delicious had tuna instead of the seafood mix.  I like tuna, but I found a great seafood mix at Trader Joe's and knew that would be a good substitution.  Hope you enjoy it as much as we did :)

Seafood Pesto Pasta Salad

Ingredients

·         1 cup elbow pasta

·         1/2 bag frozen seafood mix (bought mine at Trader Joe’s with calamari, scallops, and shrimp- yum!)

·         1/4 cup basil pesto (can make fresh, I used a jarred pesto)

·         1 avocado, diced

·         1/4 cup sliced sun dried tomatoes in oil, drained

·         2 tablespoons sunflower seeds

Directions

Boil water and cook pasta according to package instructions; drain well.  Meanwhile, cook seafood in pan.

In a large bowl, combine the pasta, seafood, pesto, avocado, sun dried tomatoes and sunflower seeds.

4 servings, 9 points a serving

Roasted Pesto Tomatoes

This is a quick, easy side that really spices up an otherwise generic meal (for us, it was steak and couscous).  The tomatoes also tasted great with the couscous.  I found it on the blog, 400 calories or less, so that made me feel good that it still healthy.  Enjoy!

Roasted Pesto Tomatoes

Ingredients

12 plum tomatoes, cut lengthwise and quartered
1/2 Tbs olive oil
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (you can use less spice if you don't want your tomatoes to have a kick)
1/4 cup pesto (I bought low-fat jarred pesto)

Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees and spray a baking sheet with cooking spray.

Mix the tomatoes with oil, salt, pesto and the pepper flakes and place on baking sheet.

Bake for 30 minutes.

Pierogi Lasagna

When I saw this recipe on my sorority sister's blog, Eating Well, Getting Skinny, I knew I would be making it asap :)  I love pierogis although I haven't had them since the summer of 2006 when another group of sorority sisters spent the day making them!

I was so excited to make this "lasagna," but I was skeptical that the food would actually taste like a pierogi.  It was delicious and had all the taste elements to bring me back to that day and great memories!

Pierogi Lasagna

Ingredients
1 package no cook lasagna noodles
1/4 cup reduced-fat sour cream
1/2 cup skim milk
1 1/2 cups low-fat cheddar cheese, shredded (save 1/4 cheese for end)
2 pounds potatoes (I also included one sweet potato), peeled and diced
1 package frozen cauliflower
½ cup butter
1 onion, sliced
1 package, frozen spinach

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Boil potatoes and cauliflower in large pot, drain when soft and fork can easily piece through potatoes.

In a bowl/pot used for boiling potatoes, mash potatoes and cauliflower with milk and sour cream.  Stir in cheddar cheese and season with salt and pepper.

Meanwhile pan, melt the butter and sauté onions and spinach until translucent.

In a 9 x 13 casserole dish,spread a light layer of the onion/spinach/butter mix on the bottom.  Then layer pasta noodles, butter mix, 1/4 mashed potatoes and repeat.  I also added some extra cheese on top :)

Bake for 30 minutes.

Serves 10, 10 points a serving.

Wedding Panic!

Today I am in a bit of a panic.  I have been in a panic all month (plus longer), and I feel like it's coming to a head as I prepare for the weekend.  The wedding is almost 2 months away, and I am freaking out.  There is just way too much to do!  I never thought wedding planning would be this stressful.  I thought it would be fun...lol.

I just want to be married.  Yes, I want to be surrounded by family and friends, but I feel like I'm getting lost in the minutia and am losing sight of the bigger picture.  I'm getting married for a life with Austin, so why is this event making us argue? Ah!!  Learn more about our wedding here!

I am getting married 10 hours away in Buffalo, NY, so any trip to Buffalo is a production.  This weekend, I am heading there for my bachelorette party #1, bridal shower #2, and bridal shower #3 (yes, I know I am a spoiled bride).

My pretty hat made during bridal shower #1 :)

Getting to Buffalo is seeming like a fiasco.  Here are all the things that need to fit into my car (a little Honda Civic):
-groomsmen gifts (2 huge boxes)
-large box from Oriental Trading with miscellaneous wedding stuff
-3 medium to large boxes of kitchen goodies for my sister (as I get new stuff, she gets my well loved stuff)
-6 cases of wine for the hotel welcome baskets (there are no Trader Joe's in Buffalo, so I need to come prepared)
-6 dresses (I can never decide what to wear and I always have an extra dress on hand, lol)
-Miscellaneous bags with wedding planning binder, knitting supplies, toiletries, snacks, wedding shoes, etc)
-My suitcase (currently in the front seat)
-Canopy for my future sister-in-law's grad party (This will be swapped out halfway through my trip for my future mother-in-law and her weekend supplies- hope she doesn't have too many....lol)

I'm thinking my car is somewhat of a clown car- I never thought it would all fit, but it does, miraculously!

Another point of stress is my wedding dress- my beautiful, amazing, dream wedding dress.  My first fitting is Saturday.  Only problem, no dress.  The dress ships today and won't arrive until late next week.  I am trying to be calm, but I also really want to see my dress and get the alterations started.  I am down 25 pounds, so I know the dress needs to be altered, and I want it to be as amazing on me as when I tried on the sample.  The store says not to worry- they will make the dress perfect between my second (now first) fitting and the wedding- 1/5 weeks apart.  And I believe them, kind of, but I'm still freaking out.

I know, I need to take a chill pill, but my Type A personality is not suited for wedding planning....lol.  Well, I think it will be an awesome party, but it's all the little details that drive me crazy!

So over my lunch hour, I am going to get a pedicure to see if I can clear my mind of the never ending wedding list.  Wish me luck!!  Any suggestions to help me out?

Mexican Casserole

I am not one to waste food.  While our fiesta last week was amazing, we had so much seasoned ground beef leftover.  This is one of two posts where I used leftover beef- I will spacing them about a week apart on the blog but made all the recipes within a week of browning the ground beef originally.  I also could have frozen the beef and made separate recipes that way, but I wanted to see if I could use the same main ingredient and make different tasting recipes.  While we eat lots of Mexican food the week after the fiesta, I was happy with how well re-purposing the seasoned ground beef went.

Mexican Casserole

Ingredients
Tortillas (I had leftover homemade ones)
1 lb seasoned ground beef
1/2 bag frozen corn
1 can black beans, drained
1/2 bag frozen pepper mix
2 diced tomatoes (fresh)
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
cumin
crushed red pepper
1/3 cup salsa
1/2 to 1 cup reduced fat shredded cheese

Ingredients
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray large casserole dish with cooking spray.  Add layer of tortillas.  Layer ground beef, corn, black beans, peppers, tomatoes, and cilantro.  Sprinkle cumin and crushed red pepper (for spice).

Add another layer of tortillas.  Spread salsa on top of tortillas and spread cheese.

Cook for about 30 minutes.  Serves 6, 8 points a serving!

Restaurant Review: Williamsburg's The Trellis

For Austin's birthday (it was April 30, so I'm posting a little late...), we splurged (both money wise and points) and went to the Trellis, a delicious restaurant right in the heart of Colonial Williamsburg.

We had a great meal!  It started with the best assortment of bread ever:  focaccia with olive oil, cornbread with honey butter, and pretzel bread with mustard.  Heaven!  Worth every point.

Our appetizer was Parmesan Gnocchi with Chicken Confit, Toasted Pine Nuts and Mushroom-Herb Reduction.

Austin's dinner was Pan-Seared Fresh Water Trout with Bourbon Cornbread, Crab and Crayfish Stuffing on a Bed of Wilted Arugula.

Mine was a Pork Trio:  Seared Pork Tenderloin, Braised Pork Belly, Pork Cracklin-Mashed Potatoes, Redeye Gravy and Collards Greens.

Austin was a happy birthday boy :)

Moral of the story:  If you ever find yourself in Williamsburg and want a nice dinner (and willing to spend a couple bucks), check out the Trellis on Duke of Gloucester Street (or DoG Street to the locals).

Strawberry Shortcake Cookies

It's been a couple weeks since I've posted a dessert, so it's time for a delicious cookie that uses fresh produce (you could use frozen too, but the best thing about strawberry shortcake are the fresh strawberries, so I would recommend fresh over frozen in this case).  I struggle with desserts on Weight Watchers because the best desserts are always high in points.  These cookies, though, are only 2 points a cookie- score!  And they taste like real strawberry shortcake without the high points of the shortcake.

Strawberry Shortcake Cookies

Slightly adapted from Emily Bites

Ingredients
12 oz strawberries, hulled and diced into tiny/small pieces
1 Tbs juice squeezed from an orange
1/2 tsp orange zest
1/2 cup and 2 Tbs sugar
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
4 Tbs cold butter, cut into pieces
2/3 cup fat free half and half

Directions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

In one bowl, combine strawberries, orange juice and 2 tablespoons of the sugar. Combine and set aside.

In another bowl, combine the 1/2 cup of sugar with the orange zest and mix together with your fingers.  The mixture should smell fruity and delicious. Add the flour, baking powder and salt and whisk together. 

Add the cold butter and cut the butter into the flour mixture using a pastry cutter until the butter is coarse crumbs. Add the half and half and stir together to form the dough. Add the strawberry mixture and fold together.

As you can tell, I am pretty messy when I cook/bake...

Spoon 36 overflowing tablespoons of dough onto baking sheets (either non-stick-- my favorite are AirBakes-- or grease/line with parchment paper). Bake 10-15 minutes until lightly golden. 

Makes about 36 cookies; 2 points a cookie