Birthday Girl Cake Bites

A wonderful friend showed me how to make these cake bites, inspired by Bakerella's cake pops, for Baby Girl's 1st Birthday party. I used lemon cake (made with lemon juice, in place of the water in the recipe), and lemon frosting for some, and strawberry cake and buttercream frosting for the others. Everyone LOVED them!

Mama Bear

Winning "Fried" Chicken Recipe

Last week, I tried a new recipe, found in the Biggest Loser Cookbook. It got TWO THUMBS UP from Papa Bear, me, and our teenage son! Please keep in mind that this recipe is only for two servings. I tripled it, so that we would have enough to eat, and still have leftovers. I took pictures while making it, so here you go:

3 Tbsp. fat-free plain yogurt
4 large fresh basil leaves, chopped
1 tsp. chopped fresh oregano leaves (I used dried...didn't have fresh)
1 tsp. chopped fresh thyme leaves
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder (I might or might not have used a little more!)
Pinch of salt
Pinch of ground black pepper
4 Tbsp. Ian's Whole Wheat Panko Breadcrumbs or finely crushed Wasa Light Rye Crispbread (I used dried whole wheat roll bread crumbs...because that's what I had on hand.)
2 small (1/4 pound) boneless, skinless chicken breasts, trimmed of visible fat
Mustard or low-fat, low-sodium marinara sauce, to taste (optional)

*****
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly mist a small nonstick baking sheet with olive oil spray.


2. In a medium, shallow bowl, combine the yogurt, basil, oregano, thyme, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Stir to mix well.


3. Place 2 tablespoons of the bread crumbs in another medium shallow bowl. Set next to the yogurt mixture. Dip 1 chicken breast into the yogurt mixture to coat.


(By the way, make sure that you pat your chicken breasts dry, in between paper towels. This will help assure that your yogurt coating will stick to the meat.)


Transfer to the crumbs to coat evenly.

Place on the prepared baking sheet. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons crumbs to the bowl. Repeat the process with the second chicken breast. Place on the baking sheet, not touching the other piece.


4. Bake for 10 minutes. Flip the chicken and bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until no longer pink. Serve immediately with mustard or marinara sauce on the side, if desired.

(Sorry about this photo. No matter how many times I tried to put it in, it still TURNED on me!)

(We used the marinara sauce with a bit of cheese melted on top, and it was delicious! We also had steamed green beans with marinara sauce, and my Tomato Rice Pilaf--for which I have previously shared the recipe.)

Let me know if you make this, and what you think!

Mama Bear

Our Dessert of Choice

Papa Bear and I have joined Weight Watchers. There! I said it! Yep, we're trying to get a lot healthier and lose weight too! Papa Bear craves fruits, which is good. I crave sweets, which is not so good. No, I don't crave sweet fruits...I crave SUGAR!!! But, we have found a great way to get around the sugar, and enjoy dessert for VERY few Weight Watchers points! One of my favorite desserts now, is Sugar Free Fudgsicles from Popsicle. I crave chocolate, so this is a GREAT choice for dessert! (I don't totally ban chocolate, but now I am learning to count the points, and watch my portion sizes.) A Sugar Free Fudgsicle only has 40 calories and less than 1 gram of fat! You can have two of these frozen delights for only 1 WW point, so I definitely choose to indulge in the yummy creaminess that Fudgsicles offer.

We also like the Tropical Sugar Free Popsicles, regular Sugar Free Popsicles, and Sugar Free Creamsicles (which can be found in the Healthy Pack).

Try one! Then, let me know what you think!

Mama Bear

Simple & Healthy Sauteed Zucchini

I told you that I would share my recipe for the sauteed zucchini that Papa Bear came up with. So here it is:

Start with one Tbsp. of Olive Oil; heat your pan to medium high.

Slice about 2-3 medium to large zucchini into thin slices, and add to hot pan.
You can also add however much minced garlic you like (um, yeah, we LOVE garlic!),
according to your own taste, as well as salt and freshly ground pepper.

Sautee lightly, until SOME of the zucchini turns a little transparent.
Be sure to "rotate" slices frequently, so they have equal cooking time.
You don't want to overcook, or you will have mush,
instead of crisp, yummy, sauteed zucchini.

Enjoy!

Mama Bear

Tomato Rice Pilaf -- Recipe

Last night for dinner, I made Spice Rubbed Pork Chops (a Weight Watchers recipe), Tomato Rice Pilaf, and Sauteed Garlicky Zucchini. My whole meal was only 10 Weight Watchers points! Here is my very own recipe for

Tomato Rice Pilaf

1Tbsp. butter
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
3-4 medium tomatoes, chopped

1-2 tsp. powdered chicken bouillon
2 cups jasmine rice

4 cups water (or just enough to cover the rice and veggies)

1 tsp. salt

½ tsp. black pepper

In a saucepan (that comes with a lid), over medium high heat, saute the chopped onions in the butter, until caramelized and golden on the edges.

Then, add the chopped tomatoes....

along with the rice, chicken bouillon, salt and pepper.

Add enough water to just cover the rice and veggies; stir.

Bring to a boil, then cover and turn heat down to simmer.
Allow to cook for about 20 minutes.

Give the rice a bit of a fluff with a spoon or fork, and make sure it's cooked all the way, after the 20 minutes is up. May take a little longer.

Enjoy! I will post the recipe for the sauteed zucchini next.

Mama Bear

What I Did Over My Summer Vacation...

Right now, Papa Bear is home all day, every day, recovering from carpal tunnel surgery. He's been "off work" since early June pretty much, and I LOVE it! I know most couples wouldn't be able to stand being together that often, but we're pretty different from most couples. We have been really enjoying our kiddos, and our garden. We've even made it to the park every now and then, and to the library. Due to getting stitches out too soon, it appears that he will be out through September, so that will give us a lot of opportunity to spend MORE time together. Yahoo! Here are some photos of what we've been up to lately!

Taught our 16 year old some great photography tips, while we photographed Baby Girl.

Tasted some of our first produce from our garden, including this delicious tomato, some carrots, radish, garlic greens, onion greens, green beans, cherry tomatoes,
strawberries, and basil.

Played in the water park with friends from church.

Participated in a July "Easter Egg Hunt" and park play date with the same friends from church.

Photographed my youngest brother, Chris' wedding in New Mexico on June 26.

Got to see my little sister get baptized while in New Mexico for the wedding.

Took sunset photos in New Mexico (in my parents' back yard), while there for the wedding.

And that's not all! (Nor is it in chronological order) I will be sharing more of what we've been doing this summer as I get the chance. I stumbled upon a blog today, where the author mentioned how she wanted to try to keep up with her blog, so that she could "preserve" more of those very special family moments. That inspired me to do this post, and more posts to come. I hope you enjoy these posts!

God bless,
Mama Bear

It's All in the Post-Production

The original photo.

I have been having loads of fun with my new camera. I got a few "on the fly" lessons from our pastor, who is a GREAT photographer. With those lessons, and some from Digital Photography School's website, I'm learning new things all the time.


I've also been doing a lot of playing around with post-production editing. I save my originals, so that if I "mess something up", I'll still have the original, but I've tried out a few different filters and techniques in Microsoft Picture It 9, that have allowed for some totally different looks.

Check it out!

Have a great day!

Mama Bear