Pineapple Meatloaf

I have been wanting to make this recipe for awhile now, but my husband hates pineapple and especially crushed pineapple. After reading several reviews, I learned that most people said you could not taste the pineapple. I decided to go ahead and make it without telling him. I made it before going to my meeting last night and left him to serve dinner to the kids. When I came back, I asked him if he liked it and he said it was pretty good. So, I guess I tricked him. You really can't taste the pineapples so don't let that stop you from making this because it is so good. I served mine with green beans and 80 calorie Betty Crocker instant potatoes and a biscuit. It was a great meal! I also made a mistake and did not add the oats, but it still cooked well even with those left out. I'll add them next time. I had my onion and green pepper already chopped so this was a very quick meal to cook! Here's the recipe, so you can try it yourself

Pineapple Meatloaf

1 egg, beaten

1/2 cup quick cooking oats

1/2 cup onion, finely chopped

1/2 cup green bell pepper, finely chopped (or any color)

1/4 tsp. salt

1 pound lean ground beef

8 ounces crushed pineapple

BBQ sauce, optional (add points if you use)

Combine egg, oats, onion, bell pepper, and salt. Add beef and pineapple. Mix well. Place in a baking dish and bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes or until meat is no longer pink. Top with BBQ sauce, if desired.

Serves 4 (I served 6 with it, but I also have 3 small children)

Calories: 250; Fat 7g; Fiber 2g

Using Your Crock Pot on Weight Weighters

I love the crock pot! I own three. I got a new one this past January. You can only get it at Walmart and it is digital. It also can be removed for serving and has a retractable cord. The lid can be secured so it will not fall off when traveling and I like that you can cook on low, high or just warm and set a timer for your foods. Here is the crock pot if you want to go check it out. It also is a fairly reasonable price. I looked and looked for a couple of months for this crock pot and could not find it at my Walmart so I ordered it through the Walmart's site to store program and got free shipping!
I use the crockpot a lot with my family. It saves me from having to heat up my house with the oven, especially in the summer. I can also use cheaper cuts of meat and they come out tender and that saves me money! I also like that with most recipes I just put it in and forget it until dinner.

I have several favorite recipes that my family loves and that we cook a lot in my house. All are great if you are doing Weight Watchers or just watching your weight. Here are my favorite crock pot recipes for my kitchen.


Crockpot Cheesy Chicken Spaghetti
Serves 12 ( one cup each)
16 oz. dry spaghetti, cooked
1 lb. Velveeta Light (2%)Cheese
12.5 oz can chicken breast, drained & flaked
1 can 98% FF cream of mushroom soup
1 can 98% FF cream of chicken soup
10 oz. can diced tomatoes & green chilies (Rotel)
4 oz can mushroom stems & pieces, drained
1/2 cup water
1 small onion, diced
1 med. green pepper, diced
salt & pepper to taste
Spray slow cooker with non-stick cooking spray. Combine all ingredients in slow cooker and stir to mix well. Cook on LOW for 2-3 hours. Stir again just before serving.
Nutrition Info:286 Cal., 5.7 g Fat, 2.7 g Fiber

To Die For Roast
1 envelope of brown gravy seasoning packet
1 envelope ranch dressing seasoning packet
1 envelope good seasons Italian seasoning packet
1/2 c water
Mix all 3 seasoning packets together. Spray crock pot. Place roast in middle and surround with potatoes. Pour in 1/2c water. Sprinkle roast and potatoes with seasoning mixture. Cook on low 7-8 hours. Enjoy!

Unstuffed Green Pepper Soup
1 Lb. 96% Lean Ground Beef, cooked
2 (14.5 oz.) Cans Diced Tomatoes seasoned with basil, garlic and oregano
2 (10.5 oz.) Cans Chicken Broth
1 Large Onion, chopped
3 Bell Peppers, chopped
2 (10 3/4 oz.) Cans Condensed Tomato Soup
1 1/2 Cups Cooked Long Grain Rice
Spray crockpot with non-stick cooking spray. Inside the crockpot, Combine the cooked beef, diced tomatoes, chicken broth, onion, bell peppers and tomato soup. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours. Warm up the rice, stir it into the soup and serve.
Serves: 12 (1 Cup Each)
Per Serving: 141 Calories; 3g Fat (18.2% calories from fat); 11g Protein; 18g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber; 22mg Cholesterol; 470mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1 Grain (Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 1 Vegetable; 0 Fat.

Crockpot Brown Sugar Chili
8 Servings
240 Calories 4 g. Fiber 6 g. Fat
FROM: “Fix it and Forget it Lightly” Cookbook
1 lb. extra-lean ground beef
½ c. brown sugar
2 T. prepared mustard
1medium sized onion, chopped
2 cans (14 oz. each) kidney or red beans
2 c. low-sodium tomato juice
½ t. salt
¼ t. pepper
1 t. chili powder
Brown ground beef and onion in a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Stir in brown sugar and mustard. Combine all ingredients in slow cooker. Cover. Cook on HIGH 2-3 hours. If possible, stir several times during cooking.

Mexican Rice Casserole
1/2 pound lean ground beef
2 TB diced onion
1 large green pepper, chopped
16 oz. can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
16 oz. can diced tomatoes, undrained
8 oz. can tomato sauce
1/4 cup water
1 package taco seasoning
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 cup instant rice, uncooked
In a non stick skillet, brown beef, onions, and peppers. Combine all ingredients in a slow cooker, except rice. Cook on low for 5-6 hours. Stir in rice, cover and cook until rice is tender, about 15 minutes.
Yields: 6 servings (about 1 cup each)
Per Serving: 272 calories, 2g fat, 6g fiber

Smothered Buttermilk Chicken
1 pound boneless chicken thighs (see note, I did that)
3 medium carrots, sliced
1/3 cup onion, chopped
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons light margarine
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 bay leaf
1 package chicken gravy mix
1/3 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons flour
1 cup frozen peas
In a 4 to 6 quart crock pot, combine chicken, carrots, onion, water, butter, salt, pepper and bay leaf; mix well. Cover; cook on low setting for 6 to 8 hours or on high setting for 3 to 4 hours. About 20 minutes before serving, stir gravy mix into crock pot. Remove and discard bay leaf. In a measuring cup, blend buttermilk and flour until smooth. Stir flour mixture and peas into chicken; mix well. Cover, increase heat to high; cover and cook an additional 25-20 minutes or until peas are cooked. Serve with rice or biscuits.
Serves 4 (I served 8 people this meal but added more chicken)
7 points
NOTES: **You can use frozen bone in chicken thighs as well. Just turn up the heat to high for the first hour, then down to low for the remaining 6 hours. Before stirring in gravy mix, remove the skin from the chicken. The chicken will fall apart and meld nicely with the rest of the dish- just be sure to remove the bones before serving.

Crockpot Taco Junk
1 lb Lean Ground Beef 90% Lean
Cooked & Drained Or Ground Turkey
15 oz Whole Kernel Corn, Drained
15 oz Kidney Beans, Or Northern, Or Pinto, Drained
1 envelope Ranch dressing powder
1 envelope Taco Seasoning Mix
10 oz Rotel Tomatoes
16 oz Salsa
Brown ground beef, drain if necessary. Mix all ingredients together. Place in crock pot and cook on high for 4 hours.
Makes 5-1 cup servings:
Per Serving: 406 Cal; 11 g Tot Fat; 8 g Fiber
OR
10- 1/2 cup servings:
Per Serving: 203 Cal; 5 g Tot Fat; 4 g Fiber

Crockpot Rotisserie Chicken
1 whole chicken
spray olive oil
Lawry's seasoned salt -no substitutes
Aluminum foil
Clean chicken inside and out. Spray with olive oil spray. Sprinkle with Lawry's. Spray inside of crock with Pam. Note: Do not put any water in the crock. Roll 3 or 4 wads of aluminum foil into 2”-3” balls and put them in the bottom of the crock. The chicken is going to sit on these. Place chicken breast side down in crock on top of aluminum balls. (The chicken breast sits on the aluminum balls, for the simple fact that the natural juices drain to the bottom of the pot, so with the breast on the bottom the juices stay in the breast instead of draining from the breast keeping the breast super moist!)
Cook on High (will not come out the same on low), 4-6 hours. (3lb. chicken took 4 hours)

You have to use the aluminum to get the deli taste. This chicken tastes very close to one you would buy, precooked, in the deli section of your supermarket

**NOTE** wrap a potato in foil and place them in the bottom of the crock pot to make the foil balls, then you have both chicken and potatoes cooked to perfection


Crockpot Chicken and Stuffing
4 chicken breasts (halves)
1 pkg. Stove Top Stuffing
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 can FF cream of mushroom soup
Spray crockpot with non-stick cooking spray. Place chicken on bottom of crockpot. Pour broth over the chicken. Mix together the stuffing and soup. Place on top of the chicken. Cook on low for 7 hours.
Serves 4
Nutrition Information:403 Cal., 5.1 g. fat, 1.3 g. fiber

Crockpot Sour Cream Salsa Chicken
4 skinless, boneless, chicken breast halves
1 package reduced-sodium taco seasoning mix
1 cup salsa
2 tablespoons cornstarch
¼ cup light sour cream
Spray the crockpot with cooking spray. Add the chicken breast. Sprinkle with taco seasoning. Top with salsa. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. When ready to serve, remove the chicken from the pot. Place about 2 tablespoons cornstarch in a small amount of water. Stir well. Stir the cornstarch mixture into salsa sauce. Stir in ¼ cup sour cream.
Serves 4
Per serving: 170 calories, 2g fat, 1g fiber

Crock Pot Lasagna
1 pound uncooked lean ground beef with 7% fat
1 small onion, chopped
1 medium garlic clove, minced
28 oz canned crushed tomatoes
15 oz canned tomato sauce
1 tsp. table salt
1 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes or to taste
1 c. part-skim ricotta cheese
1 and 1/2 c. part-skim mozzarella cheese, shredded and divided
6 dry lasagna noodles, no cook
1/2 c. shredded Parmesan cheese
Heat a large skillet over med. heat. Add beef, onion, and garlic. Cook until meat is done or about 5-7 minutes. Stir in crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, salt, oregano, basil, and red pepper flakes. Simmer 5 minutes. In med. bowl stir together ricotta and 1c. of mozzarella. Spoon 1/3 of beef mixture into a 5 qt. slow cooker. Break 3 lasagna noodles in half and place over beef mixture. Top noodles with 1/2 of ricotta cheese mixture. Repeat another layer and finish with remaining 1/3 of beef mixture.
Cover slow cooker and cook on low setting 4-6 hours. Remove cover. Turn off heat. Season to taste if desired.
In a small bowl combine remaining 1/2 c. mozzarella and parmesan; sprinkle over beef mixture. Cover and set aside until cheese melts and the lasagna firms up, about 10 minutes.
Serves 6 people.
Nutrition Information (per serving): 425 calories; 16.7 g. fat; 45 mg. cholesterol; 32.2 g. carbohydrate; 5 g. fiber; 39.2 g. protein

Crockpot Cheeseburgers
1-1/2 lb. lean ground beef
1/2 t. garlic salt
1/2t. pepper
8 oz. Light Velveeta
2 T. skim milk
1 c. onion, chopped
In skillet, brown ground beef with garlic and pepper. Drain.
Combine cooked meat and remaining ingredients in crock pot.
Mix well and cook on low 2-3 hours.
Serve on buns or over mashed potatoes for additional points.
10 servings (1/2 cup each)
4 points per serving

Crazy Crust Pizza

This recipe was really good. The reason it's called Crazy Crust is because you put all you toppings except sauce and cheese into the batter . The crust is very thin and more of a batter so don't be scared if that happens. I made mine in a 12 inch round pizza pan and it worked fine. You need a pan that has sides. My pampered chef round stone would not work because it does not have anything to keep the batter in the pan. Some people online recommend using a half sheet pan that is 10x15. You can play around with this pizza and add any toppings you like, just make sure you refigure the points. My kids liked it but thought it was too spicy, so next time I think I will leave out the black pepper in the crust all together. I only added the pepperoni to the kid pizza or they probably would not have eaten it. I also thought that the cooking times were too long, so I recommend watching it until you figure out how long it takes in your oven. My oven was about 5 minutes less for both cooking times. On both pizzas, the sides of the dough came up when the crust cooked and made like an area to put your cheese and sauce in kind of crazy like, maybe another reason it's called crazy. Overall this was good and we will make it again.

Note: In the picture, I took it out of my pizza pan after it cooked and put it on my pampered chef round stone and then took a picture. I cooked it in a 12 inch round pizza pan and only had one so I was cooking the other. So know it was not cooked on that stone, the batter will run off the sides.

Crazy Crust Pizza

Dough:

1 cup(s) all-purpose flour

1 tsp table salt

1 tsp McCormick Oregano leaves

1/8 tsp black pepper

1/2 cup(s) Egg Beaters Egg Beaters

2/3 cup(s) fat-free skim milk

Toppings (can substitute)

17 slice(s) Hormel Pillow Pack Turkey Pepperoni

1 cup(s) mushroom(s)

1 cup(s) pizza sauce

1 cup(s) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese (I used part-skim pizza cheese on mine)

1/4 cup(s) onion(s), chopped

In a small bowl, combine batter ingredients until smooth. Pour into greased and dusted 14" pizza pan (or sheet pan of similar size). Tilt pan so that batter covers bottom. Arrange toppings and bake at 425 for 25-30 minutes or until crust is deep golden brown. Remove from oven and drizzle with sauce. Sprinkle with cheese and return to oven for 10-15 minutes until cheese is melted and sauce is hot.

Serves 8 at 3 points per piece

Serves 4 at 5 points per piece

Smothered Buttermilk Chicken and Holiday Buttermilk Biscuits

Last night, I made two new recipes, both of which were great! I got some chicken thighs on sale and most of the other ingredients I had on hand. I have been trying to use up some buttermilk and both these recipes helped. I have not found a light biscuit recipe that my kids and husband would eat. They loved these and so did I!




Smothered Buttermilk Chicken
1 pound boneless chicken thighs (see note, I did that)
3 medium carrots, sliced
1/3 cup onion, chopped
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons light margarine
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 bay leaf
1 package chicken gravy mix
1/3 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons flour
1 cup frozen peas
In a 4 to 6 quart crock pot, combine chicken, carrots, onion, water, butter, salt, pepper and bay leaf; mix well. Cover; cook on low setting for 6 to 8 hours or on high setting for 3 to 4 hours. About 20 minutes before serving, stir gravy mix into crock pot. Remove and discard bay leaf. In a measuring cup, blend buttermilk and flour until smooth. Stir flour mixture and peas into chicken; mix well. Cover, increase heat to high; cover and cook an additional 25-20 minutes or until peas are cooked. Serve with rice or biscuits.
Serves 4 (I served 8 people this meal but added more chicken)
7 points
NOTES: **You can use frozen bone in chicken thighs as well. Just turn up the heat to high for the first hour, then down to low for the remaining 6 hours. Before stirring in gravy mix, remove the skin from the chicken. The chicken will fall apart and meld nicely with the rest of the dish- just be sure to remove the bones before serving.


Holiday Buttermilk Biscuit Recipe
1 cup flour
1/2 cup fat free buttermilk or skim milk
2 tablespoons reduced-fat mayonnaise(I used fat free)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
Preheat oven to 375 degrees and spray a 6 cup muffin tin with cooking spray. Stir ingredients together and divide evenly between 6 muffin cups. Bake for 12 minutes or until golden brown.
Serves:6
1 point for one biscuit, 3 points for 2
Recipe from LaaLosh

Pizza-Style Meat Loaf

We had this for dinner and it was okay. It was kind of hard to get the seal to stay on the meatloaf, but my kids liked it! I had a piece of 1/2 point bread and green beans with this meal.

Pizza-Style Meat Loaf

2/3 cup pizza sauce, divided

1 1/2 pounds extra-lean ground round
3/4 cup Italian-seasoned breadcrumbs

1/2 cup onion

1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 large egg white

2 (1 oz) slices part-skim mozzarella cheese

1/2 cup diced red bell pepper

cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine 1/3 cup pizza sauce, meat, and next 8 ingredients (sauce through egg white) in a bowl. Shape meat mixture into an 8 x 12-inch rectangle on wax paper. Arrange cheese slices over meat mixture; sprinkle with red bell pepper, leaving a 1-inch border. Roll meat up jelly-roll fashion starting at short side. Pinch to seal.

Place meat loaf on a broiler pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until meat registers 160 degrees. Brush 1/3 cup pizza sauce over meat loaf. Bake an additional 5 minutes or until done; let stand 10 minutes before slicing.

Makes 6 servings

Calories 291, Fat 12.6g, Fiber 0.9g

Bean Burrito Casserole

We had this for dinner and it was really good, even the kids ate it! We served it with baked tortilla chips and fat free sour cream. I think this would also be good with corn.
Bean Burrito Casserole
1 medium onion
1 pound lean ground beef
1 packet reduced sodium taco seasoning
3/4 cup water
14 oz can diced tomatoes with green chilies
5 oz. tomato paste
15 oz fat free refried beans
2 cups fat free shredded Cheddar cheese
4 cups cooked brown rice
Dice onion and saute in a large skillet with ground beef. Add water and 1/2 packet of taco seasoning. simmer until sauce thickens. Add canned veggies, tomato paste, and beans. Spray casserole dish and fill with mixture. Top with 1 cup of shredded cheese. Cover with cooked brown rice. Sprinkle remaining cheese over top. Bake covered at 350 degrees until heated through for 20 minutes. Remove cover and continue baking until cheese is melty about 5 minutes.
Makes: 8 servings at 8 points each or 9 pts each with 2% cheese

Hungry Girl's Sassy Saucy Ribwich

Did you ever try the McDonald's Rib sandwiches or any rib sandwich for that matter? They are so good, but also very high in points. The McDonald's one is 12 points. Oh my! This one is only 6 points! My family really liked this!

Here's the recipe: Hungry Girl's Sassy Saucy Ribwich