The Pioneer Woman's Apple Dumplings

Apple Dumplings for Two (or maybe 3 if you're feeling really generous)

Ingredients:
1 Granny Smith apple
1 can of crescent rolls
10 oz. of Mountain Dew
1 stick of butter
3/4 cups of sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
cinnamon



TO DO:
1. PEEL the apple...this is very important or you will not be a happy camper when you take this out of the oven!
2. CUT the apple into 8 slices.
3. UNROLL the crescent rolls.
4. ROLL up an apple slice in each of the crescent rolls.

LIKE THIS:

5. MELT 1 stick of butter, add the sugar and vanilla and mix.
6. POUR the sugar mixture on top of the apples.
7. POUR the Mountain Dew along the side of the baking dish and a little in the middle.
8. SPRINKLE cinnamon on top.
9. BAKE @ 350 for 35-40 min.
10. Add a couple scoops of vanilla icecream, close your eyes, take a bite, swallow and CELEBRATE!!!!

Grasshopper Pudding Pie

Makes 8 servings

Ingredients

1 pkg. Oreo 100 calories packs

1-1/2 cups cold fat-free milk
1/4 tsp. peppermint extract
1 pkg. (1 oz.) JELL-O Pistachio Flavor Fat Free Sugar Free Instant Pudding
2 cups thawed COOL WHIP Sugar Free Whipped Topping
1 square BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate, chopped

Method
CRUSH the wafers inside the 100 calorie pack; sprinkle onto bottom of 9-inch pie plate sprayed with cooking spray.

BEAT milk, extract and pudding mix with whisk 2 min. Stir in COOL WHIP and chopped chocolate; spread into pie plate. Top with remaining wafers, cut into quarters.

FREEZE 6 hours or until firm. Remove pie from freezer 10 min. before serving; let stand at room temperature to soften slightly before cutting to serve.

Nutrition (per serving) **based on kraftfoods.com

Calories 100
Total fat 4g
Saturated fat 3g
Cholesterol 0mg
Sodium 200mg
Carbohydrate 15g
Dietary fiber 1g
Sugars 6g
Protein 2g
Vitamin A 2%DV
Vitamin C 0%DV
Calcium 6%DV
Iron 0%DV

Mushroom and Swiss Patty Melt with Peas

Lunch was a success! So this recipe is good for days you need a light lunch or dinner. It fills you up, but it won't leave you wanting a nap. It was good!

Ingredients

The original recipe on the website was for 1 serving. I changed the amounts to make 4 servings.

1 pound ground turkey, formed into 4 patties
Salt and ground black pepper to taste or any other seasoning(s) of your choice
6 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 small onion, sliced
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 cup frozen green peas
2 tablespoons shredded Swiss cheese

Method

Lightly season patty with salt and pepper. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat; add patty and cook until golden brown on the first side, about 3 to 4 minutes. Flip patty, move to one side of skillet. Add onions, mushrooms, salt and pepper to cleared side of skillet and cook until softened and golden brown, about 5 minutes. Add peas and cook for 1 minute more, checking to ensure patty is cooked through. Sprinkle patty with cheese and transfer to a plate. Spoon hot mushroom mixture on top and serve.

This is where I had to take the meat out and continue to cook the veggies for another 3 minutes. I like my veggies to be really soft, almost mushy, so if you like a little crunch you may want to just take them off the heat after the extra minute.

FINISHED PRODUCT:

Jim was proud, and that makes me happy!

Things I will do differently next time:
1. add more seasoning to the meat
2. throw some fresh garlic in the mix
Last but not least: Thaw the ground turkey in the fridge the day before. I used the microwave this time ( I know mom, you told me NEVER to do this with turkey, but it was desperate times) and let it defrost for too long and cooked the edges of the meat. I threw that part of the meat away and just used the pink part. So I probably only ended up with 3/4lb. of turkey. Oh well, I told you people that I wasn't a pro, right? :)

Would I ever prepare this again? You bet!

Dessert: Sugar-Free Vanilla Pudding
The directions are on the box. I swear a newborn could make this. However, I did find out that you can NOT use Soy Milk; it must be milk from a cow. There may be other forms of milk that work, but those are the only two I have worked with.

Bad-Will turn out to be vanilla soup!

Good - Will turn out to be this...

By the way, this blogging is more complicated than it looks. It took me 45minutes to post this. Can anyone give me a lesson?

Happy Eating!