Spinach and Pizza Stuffed Shells and Garlic Toast

***This is from last spring. Luckily, because I had already had a good start on the post, it came together easily. Seeing these pictures made my mouth drool, especially thinking about the pizza ones. Too bad we have long since polished these off. Otherwise, I know what we would be having for lunch.
By the way, the point values were actually one point lower than I posted on booth when I calcualted them, but they seem so sinful I upped them both by one. It just sits better with me and how I will be counting them.
These past few weeks were a mess. I wasn't making good food choices, I was eating too much, we were eating out a ton and I WAS HATING COOKING! I couldn't really figure out why but I think in hindsite, I was missing blogging. I usually have my camera in the kitchen and create a post in my head as I go, hoping it turns out good enough that I was to share with you. (This is not always the case, but oh well!) I had my parents in town and didn't want to be taking pictures
This was a dinner that I made quite a while ago and have been meaning to post. I had some of the leftover shells (Don't worry, they were from the freezer!) for lunch and they were delcious. I thought it was the perfect time to share.

Spinach Stuffed Shells
4 pts
Serving - 3 Shells

box of large pasta shells
2 c fat free cottage cheese
4 oz part skim mozzarella, shredded
1 egg (could use 2 egg whites)
2 T parmesan cheese
1/4 t salt
dash of pepper
1 T oregano
1/2 t minced garlic
10 oz. frozen spinach (thawed & drained)
3/4 c pasta sauce
1 oz finely shredded mozzarella for topping

Cook shells according to package directions until al dente. Drain and set aside. I like to set them out on a cookie sheet so that they don't stick together or rip. Let cool enough to handle.


While noodles are boiling, combine cottage cheese, egg, garlic, salt, parmesan, mozzarella and oregano in a large bowl. Strain and press all the water out of the frozen spinach. (I wrap it in a paper towel and squeeze it to get out most of the water.) Add spinach to cottage cheese mixture. I use the whole package but it is a little on the "spinachy" side but I work under the theory "the more veggies the better." If you are nervous about the spinach only use 1/2.


Man, isn't this pasta pretty. Make sure that you don't cook them too long or they get mushy. Stuff the shells with about 2 Tablespoons of the mixture. I stuff them just full enough that you can see the filling poking out but not so full that you run the risk of it oozing out everywhere.



I use bottled sauce (usually Ragu Light) but you could use tomato sauce with some Italian spices in it too. Spread a thin layer of sauce on the bottom of Pyrex. Put shells in Pyrex. Spoon more sauce over the top. Sprinkle 1 oz of mozzarella on the top. I shred mine fine so that it goes a bit farther. Bake approx. 30 minutes at 350 degrees.




This made much more than pictured above. I stuffed at least 12 - 16 more shells and laid them in a single layer on a pan that fit in the freezer (no sauce!) and put them in a Ziploc after they freeze. Directions on how to do this are in the recipe below.

They came out so cheesy and delicious. I love that way that cottage cheese melts when you bake it. I am not a ricotta fan but you could use it instead if you prefer it or have it on hand.



I served it with a salad and garlic toast. To make garlic toast I just take a thin slice of french bread and brush some olive oil and garlic on top. I broil it for a minute or two. I have to sit in front of the oven and watch it or else I forget about it. It will burn on you really fast. This was store bought bread but I have been working on french bread and made some today that was near perfect. I will be posting that soon. I have to be careful not to make it too often because I could easily polish off half a hot loaf.

I had cooked the whole box of pasta shells and had a ton left and was looking for a way to use them. This is what I came up with. While I love the spinach stuffed shells, I have to admit that these are better. So delicious the best of pizza and cheese pasta all rolled into one.

Pizza Stuffed Shells
5 pts
Serving Size 3 shells

pasta shells (cooked according to package directions)
1/2 c diced white onion
1/2 c diced green pepper
1/2 c diced fresh mushrooms
12 large olives, diced
20 slices turkey pepperoni, diced
1 1/2 c cottage cheese
4 oz mozzarella, shredded
1/2 t minced garlic
1 t oregano or Italian seasoning
2 T parmesan cheese
3/4 c pasta sauce
1 oz mozzarella, finely shredded for topping

Sauté onions and green peppers and mushrooms in a pan with non-stick spray till soft.

Mix cottage cheese, mozarella, parmesan, seasoning, egg and garlic together in a large bowl. Add chopped olives, pepperoni and onion mixture to cottage cheese mixture and mix together.





Stuffs shells with mixture. Shells should be full but not over-full.


If you were eating these immediately you would prepare with the pasta sauce as in the spinach recipe above. 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

However, I made these to freeze for future use. After stuffing the shells, I placed them on a plan lined with plastic wrap and stick them in the freezer overnight. The plastic wrap keeps it from sticking to the pan. Once frozen through, I transferred them to a Ziploc bag. This way I could take out what I needed for dinner that night. So easy! And so delicious! Just add a little to the cooking time if cooking from frozen.

Between these two stuffings, I used all the shells. I had dinner for 4 or 5 nights for my little family.

How to Peel and Egg & Ham and Egg Breakfast Sandwiches

I follow a lot of "mom" blogs and one of favs is Design Mom. A white back, she had a post on "How to Peel an Egg" that really blew me away. Check it out! There is a video and it is pretty amazing. I decided to try it at home.

Boil the eggs at a slow boil for 12 minutes. Cool the eggs by throwing some ice in. In the video he says when you put the water in you put a 1/2 teaspoon on baking soda in and it raises the pH thus reducing the adhering of the egg to the shell. OK, I have to admit that I didn't really know if you boiled it with the baking soda (which is what I did) or if you add it after. I guess I could have done some more research. He cracks and peels a small hole in the top and bottom of the egg and blows it out of its shell. No, I couldn't blow the egg out when I tried it but the shell did come off easily without taking any of the while with it. To my skack and awe, the egg came out perfectly, no pocks where I had gouged the white. This was a first. (My husband makes fun of how bad eggs look after I usually peel them.) Its worth a try and a fun experiment.

So after experimenting, I had to put the eggs to work. I decided on a super easy breakfast sandwich. We make these sandwiches all the time with scrambled eggs but after trying them this way, I am converted to hard boiled.

Ham and Egg Breakfast Sandwich
4 pts
Serves 1

high fiber English muffin (1 pt)
1 slice of lean ham or canadian bacon
FF or 2% american cheese slice
1 boiled egg

Peel egg (per instructions above). Split and remove yolk. Disgard yolk. Slice egg white and lightly salt.


Split and toast Enlish muffin. Place slice ham, cheese and egg on the muffin.



Put two halves of muffin together and enjoy! You can boil a bunch of eggs at once for a fast breakfast. Just warm the egg white for a few seconds (under 10) for a quick morning meal.

Breakfast Hash

I am always looking for something new and different from my usual breakfasts: cereal, oatmeal or a fried egg. The other night we had baked potatoes for dinner and there was a half of one left that I bound and determined to put to good use. I stuffed it in the fridge without a plan. The next morning I pulled it out and started thinking that it would be great as hashbrowns. I almost stredded it, but settled on peeling and cubing it instead. I wanted a breakfast hash like one of those that you get at a diner with a little bit of everything in it. This is what I found in my fridge:



I know, not much but enough to make do. I really wish I would have had some mushrooms at the time because I definately would have thrown those in.

This is what I came up with:

Breakfast Hash
Serves 1
4 Points

1 whole egg
2 egg whites
1/2 baked potato
1/2 oz reduced fat cheddar
1 green onion
1 slice canadian bacon
various 0 pt veggies, diced (optional)

For the eggs, I just crack 3 whole eggs into a bowl and pull out 2 of the yolks with my hands. I know that you can save points by just eating the whites, but in my opinnion, the yolk gives it too much flavor to leave it out. After all, it is only 1. Mix whites and yolks together with a fork and set aside.

Spray a pan with non-stick spray or an oil spritzer. Heat to medium heat. While pan is heating, peel and cube 1/2 potato. Add potatoes to the pan and brown. Add green onions once potatoes start to brown. If you are using veggies now is the time to add them to the mix. Like I said, I thnk that mushrooms would be awesome in this. Saute until tender. When veggies are almost done, add diced canadian bacon.



Push mixture to the side and add eggs to the empty side of the pan. If your pan is prone to sticking, give it a light spray. Scramble eggs. When about half cooked, incorporate the potato mixture.



Once eggs are cooked through, sprinkle with cheese while eggs are hot so that it starts to melt.



Serve it with a fruit and toast. Like you see from the first picture, I ate it with tangerines and a light english muffin with sugar free jam. Yum! Oh and don't forget a tall glass of water. The whole meal was only 6 pts.

Breakfast Sundae with Microwave Granola - 3 pts

This is a simple breakfast sundae. You could add more fruit to it or serve it as a parfait but it was absolutely delicious just like this. The microwave granola recipe below is very easy and fast. It is a great breakfast or even a quick homemade gift for a friend.

Breakfast Sundae
3 pts
Serves 1

1 pt worth of fruit
1 pt yogurt cup (This is Fiber One Strawberry.)
2 T microwave granola

Cut up fruit and place in bowl. Top with yogurt. Sprinkle on microwave granola.

Microwave Granola
4 pts
Serving Size 1/2 c
About 12 Servings

1/3 c sliced almonds
1/4 c walnut halves
2 1/2 c uncooked oatmeal
1/8 c Splenda Brown Sugar Blend
1/4 cup(s) honey

Place the nuts in a 13 by 9 inch glass baking dish. Cook on high for 2 minutes to lightly toast the nuts. (The time may vary with your microwave so watch them carefully.)

Stir in oats, and Splenda brown sugar blend until well mixed. Stir in honey, making sure to coat the mixture well.

Cook on high in microwave for 3 minutes. Stir well. Cook 1 minute longer. Cool slightly. Stir in raisins and/or dried cranberries (optional, but will may change pts). Store in airtight container.

Big Bowl Cereal - 4-7 pts

Well, I keep saying how I have a bunch of recipes or ideas to post here and never follow through so today is a the day. I think I am going to post 1 or 2 a day so that some of the first ones I post don't get lost behind the latter posts.

Really, who measures their cereal?

No one unless they are watching calories or points or whatever. From kids on, we crack open the box and poor it into the bowl until it looks like a reasonable amount and will satisfy our hunger. Fast forward. As an adult, we want to shed the pounds and so watch our portions. We break out the measuring scoop and have anywhere for 1/2 cup to 1 1/4 cups depending on the cereal. Well, when you put that in a regular cereal bowl, it sure seems like a puny amount. In thee past I measure out my cup of Cheerios and pour my milk on it and wolf it down in 3 bites or so. I end up feeling totally unsatisfied and I am hungry in 90 minutes or so.

The above reasons is why I started doing this. My Big Bowl Cereal. It is a mixture of different cereals and some fruit if you care for it. You end up with a big soup bowl filled to the brim with cereal and after eating it, you are full all morning.






Big Bowl Cereal
4-7 points
Serves 1

1 serving of cereal, 2 pts for 30 g of cereal (I use Cheerios - 1 c or Kix 1 1/4 c.)
1 serving Fiber One Original, 0 pts for 30 g
1 serving of Puffed Wheat, 1 pt for 15 g
1 pt serving of fruit (I use 1/2 banana or a couple of strawberries cup up.)

Mix together.

Pour 1 c milk over top of cereal. (see options below)

1 c skim milk, 2 points
1 c unsweetened vanilla almond milk, 1 pt (If I use this I usually add a package of Splenda to it and sometimes skip the fruit because it has a nice flavor to it already.)

I usually have 15 g Kix, 15 g Cheerios, 30 g Fiber One, 15 g puffed wheat, and 1 c. unsweetened vanilla almond milk with a package of Splenda. This is 4 pts, the same as 1 c Cheerios and 1 c skim milk, with lots of fiber to keep you full all morning.

Tortilla Pizza - 3.5 pts

made this last night. homemade pizza is a weekly meal in our house. to be honest in the past the topping pretty much consisted of ham and pineapple or pepperoni and olives. i have a great garlic pizza dough recipe but really adds to the points because it has quite a bit of oil in it. i can swing the points if i only eat 1 peice. that was not the case last night.


i decided to dig through the veggie drawer in the fridge and pull out a bunch of veggies that i could top the pizza with. i came up with peppers, onions, olives, mushrooms, and zucchini. for the rest of the family, i made regular pizza with all the veggies. last night, because i was really hungry, so i threw my toppings on two mission carb balance whole wheat tortillas instead and made a regular pizza. i got this idea from the world according to eggface and have done it a few times before. Here are the pizzas pre-oven. i was so anxious to dig in there were no pictures of the finished project. (seeing this picture make me realize how bad i need a better camera) remember, both pizzas are only 8 pts.


Tortilla Pizza
3.5 pts
1 pizza = 1 serving

1 tortilla (Mission Carb Balance)
2 T spaghetti sauce (Ragu Traditional)
1/2 oz finely shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 oz lean ham, cubed
3 olives
assorted 0 pt veggies

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Put tortillas on a baking sheet and toast 5 minutes. Remove from oven.

2. Spread spaghetti sauce over the top of the tortilla. Top with meat and veggies. Sprinkle cheese to cover sauce and toppings.

3. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until cheese is completely melted. Makes 1 serving.