New Recipe Day!

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Finally, a Sunday has come where I have NO plans and I am NOT hung over! Haha. So I decided to try out a few different recipes ideas today!

After church on Sundays, Kris and I normally like to eat a BIG brunch. We're normally starving, since we don't believe in eating before taking Holy Communion. Sometimes we go out for breakfast, but most of the time we switch off making eachother breakfast. It was my turn this week! (Since, if you remember last Sunday, Kris "made brunch" by picking up tacos from Taco John's. Haha, I guess it's the thought that counts!)

So I made..... Lightened Up Breakfast Pizza!

My mom has a wonderful recipe for breakfast pizza that she normally makes on Christmas morning. However, it is not exactly figure-friendly! (It consists of regrigerated crescent rolls for the crust, pork sausage, frozen hashbrowns, lots of eggs and LOTS of cheese!) Very good, but now what we needed today. So I decided to come up with my own recipe. I recently bought a box of Heart Smart Bisquick Baking Mix, so I decided to use that as my inspiration. Here's the recipe I came up with, and my oh my was it WONDERFUL!

Lightened Up Breakfast Pizza

7 strips turkey bacon
1 ½ cups Heart Smart Bisquick Baking Mix
1/3 cup hot water
¾ cup Egg Beaters original
8 oz. fat free sour cream
2 tbs. dried minced onion
1 tsp. garlic salt
Ground black pepper, to taste
2 cups bell pepper strips
1 cup sliced white button mushrooms
¼ cup reduced fat crumbled feta cheese
½ cup reduced fat sharp cheddar cheese
½ cup Italian blend shredded cheese

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Grease 12-inch pizza pan with olive oil cooking spray.
2. Cook bacon in nonstick skillet according to package. Set aside of plate covered with paper towel to drain excess grease.
3. Combine Bisquick mix with water until soft dough forms. Press dough onto pizza pan. Using bisquick-coated fingers, press around the edge creating a ½ inch rim around the pan.
4. Whisk together the Egg Beaters, sour cream, dried onion, garlic salt and ground pepper.
5. Using a pastry brush, brush a small amount of the egg mixture onto the crust. Bake for 8 minutes.
6. Pour the remaining egg mixture onto the crust. Layer bacon, vegetables and cheese on top of egg mixture.
7. Bake for 20 minutes, or until set in the middle. Cool for 8-10 minutes before cutting and serving.

Kris and I both loved it. I will DEFINITELY make this again.

Also, I've been wanting to making something with pumpkin all week, in honor of October! At first I was going to make pumpkin muffins, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized I wanted a cookie instead. I searched all over the internet for a good recipe, but I couldn't find one that I really liked. So instead, I took notes from several different recipes, including some of my own, and came up with a unique and delicious cookie!

Low-fat Pumpkin Coconut Oatmeal Cookies

1 cup canned pumpkin
1 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup natural, no-sugar-added applesauce
3 cups quick oats
½ cup shredded coconut
1 ½ cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 Tbs. cinnamon
1 ½ tsp. nutmeg
½ cup chopped pecans

1 can cream cheese frosting (or your own recipe)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cream pumpkin, brown sugar and applesauce with electric mixer.
3. Combine remaining ingredients (excluding frosting).
4. Gradually add pumpkin mixture to dry ingredients, mixing well with an electric mixer.
5. Roll batter into ping-pong sized balls. Place onto greased cookie sheets and press down with palm of hand to create cookie shape.
6. Bake for 20 minutes.
7. Cool 10 minutes, then frost with cream cheese frosting.

Very, very, VERY yummy. They definitely aren't a soft cookie. But they're not hard either. Their texture is actually kind of similar to that of a... Cliff Bar. Or maybe a Quaker granola bar. Either way, they are very good and healthy too! (Especially if you make your own cream cheese frosting with fat free cream cheese, which I was too lazy to do today!)

I'm off for a run!