Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Chocolate Easter Eggs

This is a wonderful Easter treat. These are so easy and very delicious. Lemon pudding is my favorite, but I also like chocolate and vanilla. I'm going to try chocolate with a bit of mint flavoring for chocolate mint eggs. I hope it's as good as it sounds. You could make other shapes and have them for any holiday you'd like.

Ingredients:
1 pkg. (4 serving size)Chocolate Flavor Instant Pudding & Pie Filling (DO NOT USE SUGAR FREE)
1/3 cup boiling water
1/3 cup butter or margarine, softened
3 cups unsifted powdered sugar
1 pkg. (8 squares)Semi Sweet Baking Chocolate
2 squares White Baking Chocolate

Preparation:
Stir dry (unprepared) pudding mix, boiling water and butter in large bowl until well blended.

Add powdered sugar by cupfuls, stirring after each addition until mixture forms a ball. Form scant tablespoonfuls of pudding mixture into about 30 small (about 1 1/2 inches long) oval shaped eggs. (If pudding mixture is too soft, refrigerate for about 15 minutes to firm slightly before shaping.) Refrigerate eggs until firm, about 30 minutes.

Microwave semi sweet and white chocolates in separate bowls on HIGH 1 1/2 to 2 minutes or until slightly melted. Stir until chocolates are completely melted.

Dip eggs into semi sweet chocolate. Refrigerate on wax paper lined tray until chocolate is firm, about 15 minutes. Drizzle with white chocolate. Store in refrigerator.

You can use any flavor of pudding mix.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Manicotti

I got this recipe from a friend. It is yummy and simple to make. Low-fat and delicious.
Ingredients
10 manicotti shells
2 cups reduced fat spaghetti sauce
2 egg whites lightly beaten
1 (15 ounce) container low fat cottage cheese
1 TBSP fresh parsley, snipped
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1 3/4 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese, fresh is best
Directions
Cook the manicotti shells according to package directions. Drain, rinse with cold water and drain again. Arrange the shells in a single layer and set aside.
Spread 1/2 cup spaghetti sauce in bottom of 13” x 9” baking dish.
For the filling, stir together egg whites, cottage cheese, parsley, salt, pepper, and nutmeg until well combined. Stir in 1 1/4 cup mozzarella cheese and 1/4 cup parmesan cheese.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. To assemble, spoon the cheese mixture into manicotti shells and place the filled shells in a single layer in the baking dish. Spread the remaining 1 1/2 cups spaghetti sauce on top. Sprinkle with the remaining mozzarella cheese and remaining parmesan cheese. Bake 35 minutes or until bubbly.