A St. Patrick’s Day Doll and an Easy Dessert

On this St. Patrick’s Day morning, my daughter had my doll table all ready for the celebration.  The doll was decked out in a hand crocheted shawl and tam o’shanter and there was a new embroidered cover for the table.  The picture of the cover doesn’t do it justice – it only measures 2-½ x 5 inches, so you can imagine how tiny the stitches are.

We’re having our traditional Reuben sandwiches for lunch (corned beef and cabbage in a more palatable form for us) and a quick and easy dessert with a little green to honor the day.  This is a deliciously rich dessert.

ST. PADDY PISTACHIO DESSERT

• Servings: 6 to 8
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Crust:
* 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
* 1/4 cup butter, cut in small cubes
* 1/2 cup toasted pecans, chopped

Filling:
* 4 oz. cream cheese, softened
* 1/2 cup granulated sugar
* 8 oz. carton of Cool Whip whipped topping, thawed, divided
* One small package of instant white chocolate pudding (four ½ cup svgs)
* One small package of instant pistachio pudding (four 1/2-cup svgs.)
* 1-1/2 cups milk, divided
* Green sugar for sprinkling on top

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

To Make the Crust:

Mix the flour, butter and pecans well.  Press mixture in a 9×9 baking pan.  Bake @ 350 degrees F for 15 minutes until lightly brown.  Cool

To Make Filling and Assemble:

Layer 1: Beat cream cheese and sugar until fluffy.  Fold in 4 ounces (half of an 8-oz. carton) of whipped topping.  Spread over cooled crust.

Layer 2: Whisk one package of white chocolate pudding and 3/4 cup of milk until thickened.  Spread over Layer 1.

Layer 3: Whisk one package of pistachio pudding and 3/4 cup of milk until thickened.  Spread over Layer 2.

Layer 4: Spread remaining 4 oz. of whipped topping over Layer 3.

Sprinkle top with green sugar – maybe you’ll be more creative than I was in sprinkling the sugar.

Refrigerate for at least one hour before serving.

6 to 8 servings 

Brickle Cream Dessert

This is a quick, easy dessert – made with ingredients I happened to have on hand.  Allow an hour for it to chill.

• Servings: 4
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• 1 cup Cool Whip topping, thawed
• 3/4 cup Greek honey yogurt (or flavor of your choice)
• 1/2 cup brickle bits
• Large banana, sliced
• 4 maraschino cherries, blotted dry with a paper towel

In a medium bowl, combine the whipped topping and honey yogurt.  Stir in the brickle bits and banana slices.  Divide among 4 dessert dishes and top with a maraschino cherry.  Chill for an hour.

4 servings 

Enjoy a cheery, delicious dessert.

Low in Calories – High in Flavor

My youngest daughter is a busy stay-at-home mom who always finds time to get together with me on Fridays for lunch.  I try to make meals that are tasty, quick and easy, and reduced in fat and calories.  Here is the meal we had this week.

This dish is reduced in fat and calories and is a good choice when trying to lose a few pounds, but just by making the servings larger, you get a really good flavorful meal for anybody at the table.   This is my meal of choice after having Marinated Pork Tenderloin for Sunday dinner (see recipe here).

PORK TENDERLOIN WITH ARTICHOKE HEARTS

• Servings: 5
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• 1 cup dry pasta
• 1 oz. pine nuts
• 1 tsp. olive oil
• 8 oz. pork tenderloin slices, marinated and grilled, cubed
  
• 1/2 cup red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 cup thinly sliced mushrooms
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1 tsp. dried oregano leaves
• 1/2 cup marinated artichoke hearts, drained and cut in pieces
• 1/4 cup feta cheese, crumbled

In a large pot of boiling, salted water, cook pasta 9-11 minutes until tender.  Drain, do not rinse.

While pasta is cooking, in a large non-stick skillet over medium-low heat, toast pine nuts until golden brown (watch them – they burn easily) and transfer to a small bowl.

In the same skillet, heat olive oil, add red pepper, mushrooms and garlic.  Cook, stirring frequently for 4-5 minutes until tender.  Remove vegetables from skillet and set aside.

Add broth, vinegar and oregano to same skillet, bring to a boil.  Cook 4-5 minutes until liquid is reduced about half.  Return vegetables to skillet, add artichokes and grilled pork.  Simmer on low heat until most of the liquid has been absorbed.

Serve immediately with a sprinkling of feta cheese and toasted pine nuts.

Yield:  5 servings

I’ve been making this dish about 10 years, adapted from one on Weight Watchers Light & Tasty software.

Nutrition count based on 5 servings per Diet Power software:  251 calories, 10.7 g fat, 10 mg cholesterol, 306 mg sodium, 151 mg potassium, 21.5 g carbohydrate, 1.27 g dietary fiber, 2.6 g sugars, 5.9 g protein

Weight Watchers:  5 points 

I got the idea for dessert from several recipes on the All Recipes web site.  I made the cake from an angel food cake mix and baked it in three 7-3/4″ loaf pans.  I used one loaf for this recipe and wrapped and froze the remaining loaves for another time.  Of course, you can also use a bakery or store-bought cake.

Make the dessert the night before serving so the flavors can blend together well.

TOFFEE ANGEL FOOD DESSERT

• Servings: 6
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• One package angel food cake mix (Betty Crocker)
• 1 cup whipped topping, thawed (Cool Whip Lite)
• 1/4 cup Heath Milk Chocolate Toffee Bits

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

Prepare cake according to package directions.  Pour into three ungreased 7-3/4″ loaf pans.   Bake at 350 degrees F for approximately 30 minutes for the 7-3/4″ size.  Leave cakes in pans and set pans on sides on a rack until cakes are cool.  Remove cakes from pans.

Take one cake and divide into 12 slices.

Place a slice of cake in each of 6 dessert dishes.

Mix together Cool Whip and toffee bits.  Take half of this mixture and spoon about one tablespoon onto each of the 6 cake slices.  Place another slice of cake on top of the Cool Whip mixture and divide the remaining portion of mixture to spoon on top of second cake layer in each dish.

Wrap dishes and refrigerate overnight.

Yield:  6 servings 

The dessert looks a little messy, but it sure is good.

Nutrition based on the above ingredients and 6 servings per Diet Power software:  173 calories, 4.67 g fat, 3 mg cholesterol, 247 mg sodium, 26.7 mg potassium, 31.3 g carbohydrate, 0 dietary fiber, 21.3 g sugars, 2 g protein.

Weight Watchers:  5 PointsPlus

This was a very tasty and satisfying lunch.