Blueberry Pie Bars

 

I made these last night and they were finger licking good! You can cut them up as bars, slices of pie orrrr just dig in with a spoon like I did!

Ingredients:

For the crumb part:

1 cup of sugar

3 cups of flour

1 tsp of baking powder

1/2 tsp of salt

1 egg

1 cup of cold cubed butter

For the filling part:

4 cups of fresh blueberries

 tsp of vanilla extract

 tsp of corn starch 

1/2 cup of sugar

Directions:

Preheat your oven to  375. In a mixing bowl, add the 1 cup of sugar, 3 cups of flour, 1 tsp of baking powder and 1/2 tsp of salt. Mix well. Cut in the cold butter and egg. The dough will be crumbly.

Next, make your filling. Add the blueberries, corn starch, 1/2 cup of sugar and 1 tsp of vanilla extract in a mixing bowl. Gently mash and stir the ingredients until they are well mixed.

Spray a 9x13 pan with non-stick spray. Take 1/2 of the dough mixture and layer it flat in the pan. Next, layer your filling mix on top. Top off with the remaining dough mixture. Cook in the oven at 375 for about 45 minutes or until it is golden brown and bubbly. If you are serving this warm, vanilla bean ice cream is the perfect topper! If you are cutting them into bars, let them cool completely before cutting them.

No "crab" rangoons

Ingredients:


I love crab rangoons. I could absolutely eat them once or twice a week but my jeans wouldn't fit! I created this version to help feed my craving! I'm not a fan of imitation crab meat, so I left out that ingredient. If you like it, add it in!

- 8 oz of fat free or 1/3 the fat cream cheese
- 2 wedges of laughing cow cheese (I used the French Onion kind)
- 1/2 of a medium white onion diced
- 2 Tablespoons of sugar
- Pinch of garlic powder and onion powder
- 1/2 bunch of scallions sliced thin
- 1 tsp of low sodium soy sauce 
- 1 package of nasoya wonton wrappers per batch (you can find them in the tofu section of the grocery store)


 Directions:

Combine all of the ingredients except the wontons in a bowl and let it sit out until soft (about an hour). Mix well. Preheat oven to 375.

Lay out a wonton wrapper and fill it with 1/2 tbsp of the mix. 

Wet the edges and seal them together to make a triangle.Make sure you have a tight seal so that the filling doesn't pour out while cooking.

Fold over the edges.

Continue for the rest of the wrappers. Spray a cookie sheet with pam and lay down the wontons. Spray the tops with pam so they can get crispy.

 

Place in the oven for about 12 minutes or until crispy. Be sure to flip them 1/2 way through so they can evenly get crispy. Enjoy!

Asian Beef Stir Fry

I love any type of Asian inspired meal! This makes for a great weeknight meal. Most of the work is done in the prep the night before.

Ingredients:

1 lb of flank steak
1 orange pepper
1 yellow pepper
1 red pepper
1 vidalia onion
1 bunch of green onions
2 cups of instant white rice
1 tablespoon of sesame oil
1 tablespoon of stir fry seasoning or sauce
3 tablespoons of your preferred Asian inspired salad dressing or marinade ( I used archer farms lemon ginger sesame salad dressing)

Directions:

24+ hours prior to cooking:

Chop up your peppers and onion to desired size. Place them in an air tight tupperware or large ziplock bag. Add the sesame oil and stir fry seasoning. Mix well. Set aside in the refrigerator for marinating for 24+ hours. Next, thinly slice the steak to your desired thickness. Place in an air tight tupperware or ziplock bag. Add the 3 tablespoons of Asian marinade and mix well. Set aside in the refrigerator for 24+ hours.

Next day:

Most of the work was done yesterday, so now lets cook up this delicious meal and enjoy! Set the oven to 400 degrees. Place the vegetable mixture in a casserole dish and place in the oven for 30-45 minutes or until the vegetables are cooked through. Next, fire up the grill. Allow it to warm up for about 5-10 minutes. While the grill is heating up, slice up the green onions for topping and set aside. Now that your grill is warmed up, place the steak on the grill and allow it to sear on one side. Flip when the steak is about 80% cooked. Now everyone has different ways they like their steak cooked, from rare to well done (in my opinion, why even eat steak if you're going to have it well done - but that's a different story!) Anyways, cook it the way you like it based on the thickness of your steak. When it is finished cooking, set aside. Your vegetables should be just about done by now. Cook the minute rice according to the instructions. I use the minute rice cups (I'm lazy but whatever). Plate up the rice. Top it with the vegetables, steak and top with the green onion. Yummy!