Pineapple Upside Down Biscuits

This recipe is EVIL! It was created by Paula Deen, if you know her, you know that this is going to be good... And you're going to need hospitalization afterward to unclog your arteries! But it's worth a try, at least once in your life...
If you can't get refrigerated buttermilk biscuits, look up a recipe and make them! It's worth the effort!

1 (10-ounce) can crushed pineapple
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 stick butter), at room temperature
10 maraschino cherries
1 (12-ounce) package refrigerated buttermilk biscuits (10 count)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Grease 10 cups of a muffin tin. Strain the can of crushed pineapple, save juice for later.

Combine the pineapple, sugar, and butter, and mix well. Divide the pineapple mixture among the muffin cups. Place a cherry in the center of each muffin cup, making sure cherry hits bottom of cup.

Place 1 biscuit in each cup on top of sugar and pineapple mixture. Spoon 1 teaspoon reserved pineapple juice over each biscuit.

Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until golden. Cool for 2 minutes. Invert the pan onto a plate to release the biscuits. Serve warm.

Baked Snickers Apples

This is so delicious. I found this in an email, I cannot take credit for it... But I've tried it, and it's fantastic!


Leftover Snickers bars make a delicious dessert. Simply chop them up with the food chopper. Peel, core and slice a few apples. Place them in a baking dish and sprinkle the chopped Snickers bars over the apples. Bake at 350 (180 Celsius) for 15 minutes!

Serve alone or with vanilla ice cream.

Stuffed Bell Peppers/Capsicums

(I used Uncle Ben's brown rice, which I cooked with Swanson's roasted garlic chicken broth, leftover from Thursday night's dinner.)

STUFFED PEPPERS VEGETARIAN (for four halves)

2 medium red peppers/capsicums
1.5 cups cooked rice
1/4 cup Eggbeaters (egg substitute)
2/3 cup chopped onion
5 oz (1/2 can) Rotel tomatoes (tomatoes and green chillies, chopped in a can)
1 tsp. vegetable oil
1/2 cup bread crumbs or wheat germ
2/3 c. grated cheese

Cut peppers in half vertically (lengthwise), remove and discard seeds. Mix all ingredients, reserving 1/2 cup cheese. Stuff peppers and wrap tightly in foil. Grill for 15 minutes. Sprinkle with reserved cheese. Cover; let stand 2-3 minutes. Then serve. This dish can be made ahead and frozen for later use. Do not cook until after thawed.

(Or non-grill instructions...)

Stuff peppers and place in a round microwave casserole. Put extra filling around peppers. Peppers should fit tightly. Cover with plastic wrap, piercing 4-5 times for vents. Microwave on High 15 minutes. Sprinkle with reserved cheese. Cover; let stand 2-3 minutes. Then serve. This dish can be made ahead and frozen for later use. Do not cook until after thawed.


(If you can't get Rotel, used some canned diced tomatoes and put some chopped green chillies in it.)

Turkey Meatballs & Spaghetti

Here's my own recipe I made up:

In a crock-pot, put half of a jar of Prego/Ragu/Dolmio pasta sauce of your choice. I like to use Ragu Light, as it has less sugar in it. Add a 16 oz can (410g) diced tomatoes, and half of a large onion finely diced. I also add some fresh ground salt and pepper, and some garlic herb seasoning.
Cook on low for 8 hours, or on high for 4 hours.

For the meatballs:
1 pound (1/2 kg) lean ground turkey
1 egg
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
2 tsp garlic herb seasoning

Mix these ingredients together. If the ground turkey is near room temperature, it will actually mix really well with a potato masher! (No messy hands!)
I use a medium-size scoop (from Pampered Chef, thanks Amber!) to scoop out the meatballs, and I get 10 meatballs out of it.
I brown them in a fry-pan on medium heat, with some non-stick spray, and then add them to the crock pot about an hour before serving. At this stage, if the crock pot is not on high, turn it on to high temp.

Boil your favourite type of pasta (I like to use Ronzoni Thin Spaghetti, it is higher in fiber), and serve!

Sometimes, we also add Italian-Style turkey sausages that I've browned in a pan, too.

Weight Watchers: meatballs are 3 pts for 2 meatballs.

Mashed Potato Casserole

This is a favourite in my family. We got the recipe from very close family friends, the Pearse family. It's easy to make, and can actually be made the day before if you need to. It's the best reheated mashed potato that I've found! It stays hot, and doesn't dry out.


Ingredients:

6 large potatoes, for mashing
1 package of light cream cheese
1 large egg
2 cups of grated/shredded cheese


Method:

Peel, chop, and boil the potatoes until tender.
Drain them well, and mash them with a hand-masher.
When you have most of the lumps out, mash in the block of cream cheese and the egg, mixing well.
Place mixture into a casserole dish, and cover with the grated/shredded cheese. Bake in a 350 degree/180 degree Celsius oven for around 30 minutes, or until the cheese is golden and bubbly.


If you do make it the day before, just increase the cooking time until it is completely heated through. I hope you enjoy it as much as our family do!


Serves: 8
Weight Watchers: 6

Tortellini Soup

It's been a while since I last posted a recipe. Here is a new recipe that I tweaked tonight. Matt and I both said we would eat this again, and we're not soup eaters! It didn't take long to make, mainly food-prep.
I'm adding Weight Watchers information to the bottom of each recipe from this point forward, to help out anyone who is following Weight Watchers (as quite a few in our family here in America are doing right now).

Tortellini Soup


Ingredients:

1 can Swanson "Low-Sodium" Chicken Broth
1 can Swanson "Roasted Garlic" Chicken Broth
2 cups (uncooked) Barilla Spinach and Cheese Tortellini
4 cups (uncooked) Napa/Chinese Cabbage, finely shredded
1 cup sliced carrots
1/2 cup finely diced onion
2 cloves garlic, crushed or sliced (yes, we like garlic...)
1 tbsp tomato paste

Method:

Start heating water for boiling tortellini in a separate saucepan on the stove.

In a large deep skillet or saucepan, spray non-stick spray. Heat over medium-low heat.
Saute carrots, onion and garlic in pan for around 5 mins, until tender.
Add broth, cabbage, tomato paste to the pan. Bring to a boil, and reduce heat to simmer until tortellini is cooked.

Add tortellini to now-boiling water, and cook as per directions on package. Halfway through cooking, take approximately 2/3 cup of the boiling water and add to the soup.
When tortellini is cooked, drain and add to the soup. Serve immediately.

We added some finely grated Romano cheese to ours, and some salt and pepper to taste.

For those in Australia, you may need to substitute something for the tortellini if you can't find it over there, and maybe the flavoured broth.


Makes 4 servings (1.5 cups)
Weight Watchers: 4

York Peppermint Pattie Brownies

This is a recipe that was sent to me by my good friend Michelle. She got the recipe from her wonderful Mother-in-law, Barbara Oldani. I haven't tried these yet, but I have been told they're absolutely delicious. Thanks, Barbara!
(I have added Celsius temperatures, for the Aussies.)

Yields 36

1½ cups butter or margarine, melted
3 cups sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
5 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup Hershey’s cocoa
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
24 (1 ½ -inch) York Peppermint Patties (unwrapped)

(Australians could use Nestle Mint Patties, but you wouldn't need as many, because they're bigger. Maybe 10-12 would do.)

Grease a 9-by-13-inch baking pan. Preheat oven to 350 degrees (180 degrees Celsius), or 325 if using a glass baking pan (160-165 degrees Celsius). Beat together the butter, sugar and vanilla. Add eggs and beat until well-blended. Mix together the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Stir it into the butter-sugar mixture and blend well.

Reserve 2 cups of the batter, spreading the remaining mixture in the prepared pan. Arrange the peppermint patties about ½ inch apart in a single layer over the batter. Spread reserved batter over the patties. Bake 50-55 minutes or until the mixture begins to pull away from the sides of the pan. Cool completely in pan and cut into 36 brownies.