TEXAS SHEET CAKE

I'm sure most of you have either had this, or made it at one time or another. But for those of you who aren't as fortunate (haha) you simply must give this a try sometime! It's super easy to make and goes over REALLY well at any function. I like it because, not only does it taste good, but it serves 32 or more. So it's a good economical choice when you are feeding a crowd. And you probably have most of the ingredients in your pantry, right now.

I like to do the top half nuts (chopped pecans) and half plain, to please everyone. The icing tastes like a thin fudge, it's so yummy with a tall glass of cold milk! Definitely not on WW, but a nice treat once in a while.

TEXAS SHEET CAKE

In a mixing bowl, combine the following, and set aside:

2 c. flour
2 c. sugar
2 eggs
1/2 c. sour cream
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder

In a saucepan over med-high heat, combine the following and bring to a boil:

2 sticks butter or margarine
1 c. water
2 Tblsp. cocoa, heaping

While hot, add to flour mixture above. Cream will with mixer. Pour into greased and floured jelly roll pan (or cookie sheet with tall sides). Bake 20 min at 350. Frost while still warm.

FROSTING

1 stick butter or margarine
6 Tblsp. milk
2 Tblsp. cocoa

Bring to a boil. Remove from heat and add all at once:

1 box powdered sugar (4 cups)
1 tsp. vanilla
1 c. chopped nuts

Stir until well combined. Pour over warm cake and spread evenly to edges.

CHEESY CHICKEN ENCHILADAS

I borrowed this recipe from my daughter in law, Monica. She makes a killer chicken enchilada! I changed it just a tad, because I felt more comfortable doing the thickening of the sauce a bit differently. But it still turned out fantasmagoric! haha Super easy and quick too! I should have served chopped lettuce and roma tomatoes with these though, but I was in a hurry and we were starving! Next time! These were easily "lightened" up with light sour cream, FF chicken broth, and low fat Cheddar cheese. Not positive on the points value, but as near as I could figure, they seemed to be around 6 pts per enchilada. If you're not dieting, by all means, feel free to use the full fat versions of those ingredients though.

CHEESY CHICKEN ENCHILADAS

12 boneless, skinless chicken breast tenders, cut into chunks
Cumin
1 large onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 or 3 Tblsp butter
1 (6 oz) can chopped green chilies w/ juice
1/4 cup flour
2 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup sour cream
1 pkg large whole wheat tortillas (my pkg had 8 in it)
1 (8 oz) pkg shredded cheddar - Mexican blend

Preheat oven to 375. Spray a 9 x 13 baking pan with cooking spray. Place chicken chunks in small skillet, heated to med-high. Sprinkle chicken liberally with Cumin and cook until done. Set aside. In separate skillet, heated to med-high, place butter, onion and garlic. Cook until onions are translucent. Add chopped green chilies w/ juice. Stir until chilies are heated through. Add flour and stir to combine - will be very thick and pasty. Add chicken broth and whisk to combine. Stir in sour cream and simmer until slightly thickened. Add chicken to sauce and simmer for a few minutes. In the meantime, in a separate skillet, heated to med. Add just a drizzle of oil. Heat each tortilla in the oil for a few seconds on each side, just enough to soften them for rolling. Remove from heat and keep warm on a pizza pan covered with paper towels.
To assemble: Use a slotted spoon to scoop up the chicken and veggies. Place 1 spoonful on the center of each tortilla, top with a small handful of shredded cheese. fold up each end of the tortilla and hold in place while you roll in each side of the tortilla. Place seam side down in baking pan. After all your tortillas are filled, pour the remaining sauce over the top. Heat in the oven for 15 minutes, or until bubbly. Top with remaining cheese and stick back in oven for an additional 5 - 10 minutes, or until cheese is melted.

Yield: 8 enchiladas

UNFRIED CHICKEN

This is the best "unfried" chicken you will ever have. The coating also works well on skinless, boneless chicken tenders to make into chicken fingers for the kids. You could serve that with honey mustard dipping sauce (I'll add a yummy recipe for that at the end of the chicken recipe). This particular chicken went really well with steamed white rice and the roasted veggies that we had for dinner tonight. My daughter Sarah cooked dinner tonight and surprised us with this meal. It was delicious! The black specks on the chicken is fresh ground black pepper. I sprinkled it on just before I dug in. Mmm!

UNFRIED CHICKEN

1/4 cup Fat free mayo
1 t. dijon mustard
2 t. grated lemon zest
1/2 t salt
4 drops hot pepper sauce (more or less to taste)
1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 c. cornflakes, crushed

* Preheat oven to 375. Spray a large baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.
*whisk together mayo, mustard, lemon zest, salt and hot pepper sauce in a bowl. add chicken, toss to coat.
*Place cornflake crumbs in a large zip-close plastic bag. add chicken, one piece at a time and toss to coat.
*place chicken in the baking pan, drizzle lightly w/ olive oil.
*Bake until golden brown and cooked through - about 30 minutes.

Number of Servings: 4

WW points value: 3 pts

HONEY MUSTARD DIPPING SAUCE

3/4 cup mayonnaise 3 tablespoon honey 2 tablespoon yellow mustard 1 tablespoon lemon juice or juice from 1/2 lemon 1 dash paprika 2 tablespoon orange juice (more or less as needed)
Combine all ingredients except orange juice; stir well. Thin to pouring consistency for dressing or dipping consistency for dips with orange juice. Cover and chill for 2 or 3 hours.

COOKING WITH THE YOUTH PASTOR'S WIFE

I'm so excited to introduce my daughter-in-law, Monica, to you all! She is a tremendous cook. For months now, I have rolled around the idea of adding her as a guest blogger on my site. She is so busy though, the timing is never right to just sit and work on it together. But tonight, she surprised me and started her own blog! Tonight was her first post, so be patient as she builds her recipe files. You won't be disappointed in any of them, I can assure you! She is an amazing & creative writer too. I know you will enjoy her wittiness as much as I do. Be sure to hop over and take a look and tell her I sent you!

SHRIMP SCAMPI

Don't you just love it when someone else does the cooking? I got to enjoy that wonderful treat tonight! My daughter, Hannah made dinner tonight. She chose this wonderful Shrimp Scampi dish and did a wonderful job on it. She has never made it before, but this one will be making an appearance on our table again! *NOTE* If you like a lot of sauce - just double the liquid in this (cooking wine, lemon juice and butter) not the veggies and herbs. She doubled both, but we all agreed, it was too much to double the latter. Very very tasty! The next time we have this, I'd like to try the WW skinny version of alfredo with it.

Shrimp Scampi

1 1/2 tsp olive oil
2 medium garlic clove(s), minced
1 1/2 tbsp shallot(s), finely chopped
1/4 cup white cooking wine, divided (sold next to the vinegar)
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice, divided
2 tsp parsley, fresh, minced
1 tsp thyme, fresh, minced
1/4 tsp table salt
1/4 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
2 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/4 pound(s) shrimp, jumbo-size, shelled and deveined*
Instructions

* Warm a large skillet over a medium-low heat; add oil and heat until shimmering. Add garlic and cook, stirring constantly, about 1 minute. Add shallots and sauté for 5 minutes. Add 2 tablespoons of the white cooking wine and 1/2 tablespoon of lemon juice; stir, scraping bottom of pan with a wooden spoon. Cook, stirring occasionally, until shallots are translucent, about 5 more minutes; allow to cool.

* In a small bowl, combine shallots, parsley, thyme, salt and pepper with softened butter; refrigerate until butter hardens (can be made 1 day ahead).

* Preheat oven to 475̊F.

* Using a medium-sized oven-proof casserole dish or skillet, arrange shrimp in a ring, tails up and touching one another for support; place bits of chilled herbed butter around shrimp. Pour remaining cooking wine and lemon juice in bottom of dish. (Or cook in four individual oven-proof dishes.)

* Roast in oven until shrimp turns pink and butter starts to sizzle, about 4 to 5 minutes. Yields about 3 jumbo shrimp per serving.

Notes

* Perfect for company, this dish looks great and is easy to prepare—especially when assembled in 4 individual oven-proof dishes. Make the butter ahead of time and have your shrimp already cleaned and on ice. When company arrives, just assemble the ingredients in a baking dish (or dishes) and pop in the oven.

*You can leaves the tails on if you prefer.

WW points value: 5 pts

* We couldn't afford the pricey jumbo shrimp for this dish tonight, but instead chose the "large" shrimp which happened to be on sale for half price - WOOHOO! It was just as good and appeared to be about the same size of shrimp that Red Lobster uses for their Shrimp Scampi.

3 Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies

THANK YOU to my friend Nikki for this one. She gave it to me a LONG time ago. The original recipe calls for full fat peanut butter and real sugar, but I've been meaning to try them, using Splenda. I tried it tonight and they are delish! I also used reduced fat peanut butter in these, and you can't tell the difference! If losing weight is no concern of yours, then I've included the regular recipe at the end of this post.

3 Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies

1 cup Splenda (bulk)
1 cup reduced fat peanut butter
1 egg

Combine ingredients in bowl, beat with mixer until combined. Using a cookie scoop, form dough into balls and place on baking stone. Flatten with fork. Bake at 375 for 10 minutes.
Makes about 16 cookies

WW points value: 2 pts

*For those that aren't doing WW and would like the regular recipe:
1 cup white sugar
1 cup peanut butter
1 egg

Mixing directions: Same as above.

DIET SODA CAKE w/ FRESH STRAWBERRIES & WHIPPED CREAM

Have you ever heard of the Diet soda cake? It's any flavor cake you like, mixed with 1 can of diet soda. This is the white cake, mixed with diet 7 - up. No eggs, no oil. So the fat content is very low. The next time I make the white version, I'm going to try using diet cherry 7-up. When I first heard about it, I wondered how the cake would bake up with only diet soda as the binder, but it bakes up beautifully and is SO moist. The chocolate version is good too. I make that one with diet coke and top it with fresh raspberries and light cool whip. The possibilities are endless. Use your imagination. This cake is good for those that have an allergy to eggs too. I have to say though that the original version of the diet soda cake is just that - cake mix and diet soda. The addition of the SF jello and the berries was something I did for us.

1 pkg White Cake Mix
1 (12 oz) can Diet Lemon Lime soda
1 small box, sugar free strawberry jello
Fresh Strawberries (sliced)
Cool Whip - Sugar Free (or light cool whip)

Directions

Mix together cake mix and lemon lime soda.

Coat 9x13 pan with cooking spray.

Pour cake mix into pan.
Bake at 350* for 20 - 30 minutes, until inserted toothpick comes out clean.
Using a meat fork, poke holes all over in the cake.
In a separate mixing bowl, combine the sugar free jello with 2 cups boiling water. Stir to combine until jello is completely dissolved. Slowly pour over the top of the cake, letting the jello sink into the holes in the cake.
Refrigerate until jello is set. Or if you want a "speedy set" put it in the freezer for 30 - 45 min.
Top with whipped cream and strawberries.
Makes about 15 servings.

Number of Servings: 15

Calories: 159
WW points value: 3 pts