The Secret Recipe Club: Nutella-Chocolate Chip Cookies

I just joined a cool cooking blog club called The Secret Recipe Club. Each month you are given another person's blog. You can make anything form this person's blog, and however many recipes you want to. You just can't post til the given date or let that person know you have her blog. Pretty cool!

My blog for the month is Sara at Cupcake Muffin. Check her site out; she has a lot of nice looking recipes! I chose Nutella-Chocolate Chip Cookies. I was going to a picnic and thought these look heavenly and I had all the ingredients. These are super simple to make and are DELICIOUS! You must bake them!

Nutella-Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 stick unsalted butter

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup Nutella

2 eggs

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups chocolate chips or coarsely chopped dark chocolate

1/2 cup coarsely chopped nuts, optional (I omitted)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and line baking sheets with foil or parchment paper.

2. Whisk together the dry ingredients and set aside.

3. Beat together the butter and sugars; add Nutella and beat until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, followed by the vanilla. Fold in the dry ingredients, followed by chocolate chips or chunks, and nuts if using.

4. Drop by heaping tablespoonfuls two inches apart on the cookie sheets and then flatten slightly by hand. Bake 8-10 minutes, then cool on a wire rack.

About 4 dozen small cookies.

Simple Southern-Style "Unfried" Chicken

This recipe is from Kraft Recipes. This was under Healthy Living. It was soooo yummy! I want to double the recipe next time so I can put on a salad. My son and I are not big fans of Ranch dressing, so I used Light Creamy Caesar Dressing instead. I would think Creamy Italian would work too. I will definitely make this one again and again...

Simple Southern-Style "Unfried" Chicken

Ingredients:

1 broiler-fryer chicken (3 1/4 lbs), cut up (I used chicken breasts)

1/2 cup Kraft Light Ranch Dressing (I used Light Caesar)

1 pkt Shake 'n Bake Extra Crispy Seasoned Coating Mix

Directions:

Remove skin from all chicken pieces except wings (unless you use boneless, skinless like me). Place chicken in large resealable plastic bag. Add dressing. Seal bag; turn to evenly coat chicken with dressing. Refrigerate 30 minutes to marinade.

Heat oven to 400 degrees (I did 350). Place coating mix in pie plate or shallow dish. Dip chicken in coating mix, turning to evenly coat both sides of each piece. Place in single layer on baking sheet. Sprinkle with any remaining coating mix. Discard bag and marinade.

Bake 40-45 minutes or until chicken is done. (I did about 25 minutes).

Pasta Fagioli

I found this yummy recipe while looking through Ginas Skinny Recipes. She has lots of wonderful looking recipes! The best is the Weight Watchers points. Yes....I'm trying again. Now that I'm mid-40's I realize it's time to do better on watching my health. So, as of Sunday....it's a new me!

I was going to make this for dinner on Monday. I had it mostly made, but had to run my son somewhere. I decided on something else that night, but the pot in the fridge and finished in the morning before work. It made for a great filling lunch!

Pasta Fagioli

Ingredients:

1 T olive oil

1/2 onion

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1 celery stalk, chopped

1 carrot, finely chopped

1-15 oz can cannellini beans

15 oz can tomato sauce or crushed tomatoes

1 large bay leaf

1 T basil

1 T parsley

1 tsp oregano

2 (14 oz each) cans chicken brother (fat free)

1 cup water

salt and pepper to taste

1 1/2 cups (6 oz) dry Ditalini pasta or other small pasta

grated Parmesan

Directions:

In a deep pot, saute onion and garlic in olive oil over medium heat.

Add beans, tomato sauce, celery, carrots, chicken broth, basil, bay leaf, parsley, oregano, salt and pepper. Add water and bring to slow boil. Let simmer for 20 minutes stirring occasionally.

Add pasta and cook uncovered until pasta is al dente, according to package directions.

Ladle soup into bowls and top with grated cheese.

5 servings (about 1 1/2 cups each)

6 WW+ points (grated cheese extra)