Winter Fruit Turnovers

1 tsp cornstarch
1 tbsp water
2 medium apples, Granny Smith, peeled and chopped
2 medium pears, peeled and chopped
2/3 cup water
1/3 cup unpacked brown sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
6 sheets phyllo dough

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray and set aside.

To make filling: dissolve cornstarch and 1 tbsp water in a measuring sup and set aside.

In a medium sauce pan, combine apples and pears and 2/3 cup water. Cook and stir on high heat until mixture comes to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes.

Stir in brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Simmer, stirring frequently for 5 more minutes.

Add cornstarch, mixture to fruit mixture; bring to a boil and boil for 1 minute.

Place one sheet of phyllo dough on a large piece of wax paper and fold it in half lengthwise. Coat folded sheet with cooking spray. Keep remaining phyllo dough sheets covered with a damp cloth to prevent them from drying out.

Spoon about 1/3 cup of apple mixture about an 1-inch fro one end of folded strip. Fold end over apple filling at a 45 degree angle. Continue folding to form a triangle that encloses all of the filling. Repeat with remaining sheets of phyllo dough.

Place turnovers on baking sheet and bake about 8-10 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.

Jan 23 2010

It's Christmas time at the Dunn house today.....

Finally, my daughter is home and we are celebrating the holidays. Thursday was Thanksgiving, yesterday was my daughters birthday celebration and today is Christmas. I don't know why it takes me so long to realize that when I eat sugar, I feel horrible....I had planned on making a pumpkin roll dessert today, but there is just no way that I can handle anymore desserts like that... have used too many flex points this week already, so dessert tonite is going to be a winter fruit dessert~I got the recipe from weight watchers.com....it is going to be yummy!

Oven-Roasted Sweet Potato Wedges

4 medium sweet potatoes(about 2 1/2 pounds), each cut into 6 wedges
1 tbsp rosemary
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder

Preheat oven to 450 degrees

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl; toss well. Arrange potatoes in a single layer in a roasting pan.

Bake at 450 degrees for 20 minutes. Gently stir potatoes, and bake an additional 10 minutes or until lightly browned and tender.

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This pretty much confirms that sweet potatoes are becoming my FAVORITE veggie right now!! I wasn't so sure about this recipe after I got it all mixed up but they are very good....I will be making these again.

Chicken Apple Bacon Burgers

2 bacon slices
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast, coarsely chopped
2 tsp sage
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
cooking spray
1 granny smith apple, peeled, cored, and cut crosswise into 8 slices
4 kaiser rolls

1. prepare grill

2. cook bacon in a large nonstick skillet over med-high heat until crisp. Remove bacon from pan, and crumble. Add onion to drippings in pan, and saute 2 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool slightly.

3. Place chicken in a food processor; process until coarsely ground. Combine chicken, bacon, onion, sage, salt and pepper. Divide chicken mixture into 4 equal portions, shaping each into a 1/2 inch-thick patty. Place patties on a grill rack coated with cooking spray; grill 5 minutes on each side or until done. Place apples on grill rack coated with cooking spray; grill 1 minute on each side. Place rolls, cut sides down, on grill rack; grill 1 minute or until toasted. Place patties on bottom halves of rolls; top each serving with 2 apple slices and top half of roll.

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Here is what I did:

I am always looking for an easier way to do things. First of all I used very lean(4%fat) ground beef instead of chicken. I wasn't so sure about grinding my own...You could always use ground chicken. But the beef was VERY TASTY!

I am not much for frying bacon so I used real bacon bits (and decided to just use a 3 ounce package of oscar mayer brand bacon bits.)
I used 1/8 cup onion flakes. I also grated the apple and and added it to the beef mixture. I cooked these in a pan on the stove top that I sprayed with Pam Spray.

OMG~this are SO GOOD!! I served them with sweet potato fries. This recipe is a keeper.

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Good Morning!!
I went shopping yesterday....to a store that actually has a few things I am looking for. I have made copies of several recipes I want to try~there were several things on my list that I have NEVER bought before....fresh pineapple, mango, fennel seeds, a cheese called Parmigiano Reggiano and so forth. I ordered some lite coconut milk a week or so ago so I have that when I need it. A few of my recipes I want to try are coming out of the most recent Cooking Lite magazine. I need to figure out weight watcher points on those.

Oh, and I also bought a garlic press, and a few other handy kitchen gadgets that Mike thought I needed. He is really into this new recipe project.

I think for dinner tonite I will make apple, bacon bergers with sweet potato fries. YUMMY :-)

Coffee-Crusted Beef Tenderloin

1 tbsp freshly ground dark roast coffee
1 tsp kosher salt or 1/2 tsp table salt
1 1/2 tsp black pepper, divided
1 (2 pound) beef tenderloin, trimmed
cooking spray
1 tbsp flour
1 (14 ounce) can less sodium beef broth
2 cups brewed dark roast coffee
1 tbsp olive oil
3/4 cup chopped shallots
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp brown sugar
1/4 tsp kosher salt or 1/8 tsp table salt
thyme sprigs (opt)

1. Preheat oven to 500 degrees F
2. Combine ground coffee, 1 tsp salt, and 1 1/4 tsp pepper; gently press o a rack coated with cooking spray in a shallow roasting pan. Bake at 500 degree F for 20 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees F; bake tende4rloin for 20 minutes or until a thermometer registers 145 degrees (med-rare)or desired degree of doneness. Remove from oven; let stand 10 minutes before slicing.
3. While beef cooks, place flour in a small bowl; gradually add brth and brewed coffee, stirring with a whisk until well blended.
4. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over med heat, add shallots; saute 5 minutes or until tender. Stir in garlic; saute 1 minute. Add beef broth mixture, and bring to a boil over med-high heat, stirring frequently. Cook until sauce is reduced to 1 cup (about 20-25 minutes). Stir in remaining 1/4 tsp pepper, brown sugar, and 1/4 tsp salt. Serve sauce with sliced beef. Garnish with thyme sprigs, if desired.

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This was very good.....pretty spicy for me, so I didn't dare eat to much. Probably not a good idea to make steak with coffee on a Sunday nite, but we will just have to wait and see how it affects ....I may not sleep tonite!

I have never bought shallots before....but I think I will choose shallts over onions any day of the week. I am not an onion person(usually I used minced onion) but shallots are mild and very tasty.

I pretty much did everything exactly but after the steak went in the oven, I decided to make the oven fries from last week's recipe. The potatoes weren't getting done as quick as they needed to so I took the steak out and put them in the sauce and finished they that way.....the sauce didn't reduce as much as it should have but OMG, it was SO tasty.

If you look at the picture, you can see the coffee grounds in the steak....it looks burned but it isn't. I think I am gonna have to make this recipe when my daughter comes home to visit.....I would like to see what the thinks about it.....the steak was a little tough, next time I need to choose a different cut of steak.

Orange Soda Crockpot Chicken

2 pounds boneless chicken breasts, no skin
8 ounces diet orange soda
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tsp grated orange peel
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 Splenda packet
1 tbsp xanthan gum(thickening)

Rinse chicken, pat dry and cut into 1 1/2 inch chunks. In a crockpot, combine chicken, onion, garlic, orange pool, chili powder, cocoa, slplenda, cinnamon and cumin and mix lightly. Pour in orange soda. Cover and cook on low until chicken is very tender when pierced (about 6-7 hours)

Skim and discard fat from cooking liquid, if necessary. Then blend in the xanthan gum or other low carb thickener. Increase slow cooker heat to high. Cover and cook, stirring 2 to 3 times, until sauce is thickened(about 10 more minutes) Season to taste with salt.

What I did:

I used 1/4 cup minced onion, and used all the other seasonings as the recipe calls for. I wanted the orange soda to cover the chicken(I used 3 chicken breasts-didn't cut them up) So I used 2 12 ounce cans of diet soda. I am cooking this in a 375 degree oven ~ it should be done in about 3 to 3 1/2 hours. I haven't ever heard of xanthan gum so I will leave that out....I am sure that a little corn starch would work just fine, but I am going to try it without and see how it is.

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very interesting.....it didn't taste as spicy as I thought it would. My husband thought it was missing something. My son said it was ok but that is actually huge as he doesn't like alot of things. I am not sure how often I would make this but am thinking maybe I will make this again and double the spices as I used more soda than the recipe called for. Maybe using cornstarch would be a good idea. I like the idea of having a sauce to put on top of this(and also the rice)