The Best Skinny Ranch Dressing

January 27, 2018 by Nettie 4 Comments

How are you doing with your New Year’s Resolutions? One of mine was to eat healthier including lots of salads. I get tired of the same old salad dressings and am always looking to vamp them up to be creamier and tastier. So when I came across this delicious Skinny Ranch Dressing from Skinny Kitchen, I had to share it with you! You only need 3 ingredients!

I am always looking for delicious salad dressings and this one is the most popular recipe on Skinny Kitchen. It’s been that way ever since Nancy posted it years ago. It’s been pinned over 140,000 times.

Nancy Fox is no stranger to the food industry. She founded Mrs. Beasley’s, a gift-basket company featuring baskets full of decadent baked goods. I couldn’t believe when I met Nancy online that she was “Mrs. Beasley”! I am a huge fan of hers since I was a teen growing up in the Valley we loved Mrs. Beasley’s Lemon Pound Cakes!

Mrs. Beasley’s became the “hot” gift to give amongst the Hollywood community.  Nancy later opened 2 low-fat restaurants called Nancy’s Healthy Kitchen. Her line of reduced-fat cookies was featured on “Oprah’s Favorites” gift show. Continuing her passion for cooking and baking Nancy created a recipe website called Skinny Kitchen. Each week she shares decadent tasting recipes we all love but with a twist, they are SKINNYFIED! All recipes include nutritional facts and Weight Watchers SmartPoints.

It’s called The BEST Skinny Ranch Dressing (3 ingredients)   It tastes amazing! Each 2 tablespoons serving has just 30 calories, 2g fat & 1 Freestyle SmartPoints.

The BEST Skinny Ranch Dressing (3 ingredients)

PIN IT:

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Winter Kale and Wild Rice Salad #SundaySupper

February 21, 2016 by Nettie 18 Comments

We have had the mildest winter in Maine that I can ever remember. Even so, I still have big cravings for fruits and vegetables. I created a Baby Kale, wild rice, fruit and veggies salad for our #SundaySupper. This salad can be eaten as a main course or a side salad. It’s so easy putting together a large salad for a group or gathering, just give yourself time to prep and chop the vegetables and fruit. This salad is vegan and gluten free. It would also be great with goat cheese or cheddar cheese and some nuts, keeping it vegetarian. Dress the salad with a delicious citrus vinaigrette before serving.

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Broccoli Salad

July 5, 2015 by Nettie 20 Comments

This is my favorite summer side salad, I am actually very happy to have it as a meal! It is so delicious with fresh picked Broccoli, crispy Hardwood Bacon, Crispy Gala Apples, Chopped Hazelnuts, Slivered Almonds, Cabot White Sharp Cheddar Cheese, Zippy Red Onion and Dried Cranberries.

It’s like a Cobb salad but instead of lettuce, broccoli is the main star.

Our friend Jenny picked this HUGE Broccoli from her Veggie Garden and left it on our kitchen table! Lucky me, so immediately I thought of making a delicious salad with it! Thank you Jenny and Carol!!

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Twice Baked Potatoes

January 22, 2014 by Nettie 6 Comments

Remember me? The one with the hubs who buys FIFTY POUNDS of potatoes for $7.00 ??? Yeah that’s me… I always have lots of teens coming in and out so I always double my recipes, or bake an extra couple potatoes. It comes in real handy if they are hungry or not. I made these delicious Twice Baked Potatoes with a couple extra baked potatoes. This recipe is for two people, but you can always double the recipe. Recipe is adapted by The Duchess of Fork….Isn’t that a great name for a blog??!!

Twice Baked Potatoes

Ingredients

2 medium baking potatoes
2 tbsp. butter, softened
1/4 cup sour cream
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese, divided
Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Scrub potatoes and dry completely.
Bake potatoes for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and prick each potato with a fork a few times. Return to oven and bake 30 more minutes.
Allow potatoes to cool long enough to handle. Cut the top of each potato off lengthwise. Remove flesh from top and bottom, leaving enough so that the skin holds up.
In a bowl, mash potato flesh with butter, sour cream, salt, pepper, garlic and 1/2 cup cheddar cheese. Stir until all ingredients are combined.
Press potato filling back into potato skins. Top with remaining cheese.
Lower oven temperature to 375 and bake for an additional 25-30 minutes.

Garlic Parmesan Crusted Potatoes & Video

May 13, 2013 by Nettie 61 Comments

Garlic Parmesan Crusted Potatoes~ The best side dish for any occasion!

I have a LOT of food blogger friends. Not just friends that you write to on Facebook and blogs, but friends that you wish you could hang out with if they lived closer.

One of those friends is Monica Mooney, whom I fondly refer to as Moondoggie. She has the food blog, Sweet Heat Chefs, and I think she is wonderful.

We belong to a food group where we talk and laugh and cry and talk about all kinds of personal stuff with no judgment, stuff we can talk about such as our blogging, or how do we get more followers? Or how do you like this recipe? Or my kid got an award today!

Check out my YOUTUBE Video! Make sure to Follow me on YOUTUBE and not miss my newest videos!

I can’t wait for the day when we can all get together and share a meal and a big bottle of something!! These friends mean a lot to me, like a pen pal but in a group and way better!
So, Chris ( or as I fondly call her Pickles~ yes I fondly have nicknames for the friend’s I love) from Foodthoughtsofawannabechef Blog came up with a brilliant idea to have a food ingredient swap, a secret swap with our Foodie Group.

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Israeli Salad

September 4, 2012 by Nettie 9 Comments

One of my first jobs was working in an Israeli Restaurant in the Valley. I learned a lot that summer. Not only did I waitress, but I cooked and learned how to prepare so many amazing Israeli dishes. This was a Mom and Pop restaurant and Mom and Pop didn’t speak very much English. So we did a lot of communicating through our love of food. One of my favorite dishes that I ate every day was Israeli Salad. It is such an easy delicious addition to any meal. All you need are tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, preferably red, lemon juice, Olive Oil and I added grilled corn for fun. I am so lucky to have so many nice friends who are growing abundant amounts of veggies in their garden, I am able to make my favorite Israeli Salad.

Dice Cucumbers

Dice Tomatoes

Dice onions


Squeeze the juice from 1/2 lemon

Israeli Salad

Ingredients

6 cucumbers, diced
4 roma (plum) tomatoes, diced
1/2 red onion, diced
Grilled Corn on the Cob (corn cut off cob)
1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 tablespoons fresh Lemon Juice
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper

Directions

Toss the cucumbers, tomatoes, onions and corn together in a bowl. Drizzle the olive oil and lemon juice over the salad and toss to coat. Season with salt and pepper to serve.

Easy Asparagus

November 24, 2011 by Nettie 4 Comments

I love asparagus! It is the greatest way to alkalize your blood level, delicious and healthy! I snap the ends off. Place in a bowl, sprinkle with EVOO and Provencal salt and Provencal herbs.

Roast in the oven at 375 F until tender.

Easy Garlic Bread

November 24, 2011 by Nettie 3 Comments

Butter dense chewy bread. Sprinkle garlic powder or add pressed garlic to butter, top with Parmesan Cheese.

Toast under broiler until crispy brown, keep a close eye on it, browns fast!

Baked Mashed Potatoes with Parmesan Cheese and Bread Crumbs

November 4, 2011 by Nettie 14 Comments

THE CRAZY COOKING CHALLENGE!
Baked Mashed Potatoes with Parmesan Cheese & Bread Crumbs
Recipe from cookbookshelf.wordpress.com
I love potaters. Yes, that’s right I said potaters. I am so excited, and when I am excited, I start speaking with a drawl! There is something so wonderful about them, you can make a bazillion recipes with a potater or just eating them baked is simply wonderful with all of the fixin’s. But today, I am not baking potaters, I am mashing them, because today is THE CRAZY COOKING CHALLENGE. The challenge for this month is to come up with a mashed potato recipe that has been previously blogged about. So, I looked around and found this delicious recipe from cookbookshelf.wordpress.com. My family loved it! These potaters or potatoes, I am calming down now, are mmm mmm good. My family actually requested them- get this- instead of Thanksgiving mashed potatoes- I know, I couldn’t believe the die hard fans of mashed potatoes have succumbed to these- happy day! Why? You can make this up to 6 hours ahead of time, up to when you would like bake it. Cover and chill.

Here’s what you will need: potatoes, milk, butter, mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese, bread crumbs, salt and pepper.

Scrub potatoes.

Peel potatoes.

Cut potatoes into 1 inch pieces.

Butter baking dish.

Boil salted water.

Measure out ingredients for butter, mozzarella and Parmesan cheese, milk and bread crumbs.

Drain cooked potatoes.

Mash potatoes.

Add butter and milk, mix.

Add cheeses. Mix.

Place mixture in baking dish.

Sprinkle Parmesan cheese and breadcrumbs to make a nice topping.

Pop it in the oven for 20 minutes uncovered.

Comfort food perfection.

Ingredients:

2 pounds russet potatoes- cut into 1 inch pieces
½ cup milk, room temperature
1/4 cup(½ stick) butter, melted and 1 tablespoon butter
3/4 cup grated mozzarella cheese
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper
1 tablespoon plain bread crumbs

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Coat 13 x 9 inch baking dish with butter.
Cook potatoes until tender, about 15 minutes in a large pot with boiling water with salt. Drain potatoes, return to pot. Mash potatoes. Mix in milk and melted butter. Mix in mozzarella and 3/4 cup of Parmesan cheese. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Transfer mixture to baking dish. Stir bread crumbs and remainder of Parmesan cheese in a small bowl. Bake uncovered for 20 minutes. Serves 8. If you agree that these might possibly be THE ULTIMATE MASHED POTATOES, be sure to vote below by clicking “like” under the picture. Also be sure to check out the other bloggers who are participating in the challenge…don’t forget to stop in and say HI!! 😉

This post has been linked up to these wonderful blogs!

This recipe has been featured on:WHAT THE FLICKA HAPPY VIRTUAL THANKSGIVING

Felicity Huffman's What The Flicka? - Happy Virtual Thanksgiving!

Baked Beets and Carrots

October 14, 2011 by Nettie 2 Comments

Root Vegetables are abundant now. This is a simple recipe that you can use with any root vegetable that you have on hand. I am making Baked Beets and Carrots.

Use a bunch of beets, about 4 or 5 beets and a bunch of carrots, about 5 or 6.

Scrub and trim the beets and carrots.

Cut the beets in half. They are gorgeous. I always get so excited seeing the beautiful striations and patterns.

Yes Carrots, you are beautiful too.

Butter a baking dish, a 9 x 12 glass dish works well.

Slice 2 tablespoons of butter.

Sprinkle dots of butter over the vegetables.

Sprinkle Provencal Spices and Grey Coarse Salt over Carrots and Beets.

Cover baking dish with foil. Bake for 90 minutes.


Beets and carrots caramelize and taste very sweet.

Ingredients

A bunch of beets (4-5 beets)
A bunch of carrots (5-6 carrots)
Two tablespoons butter
Grey Coarse Salt
Provencal Spices

Method

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter a baking dish that will hold the beets and carrots in a single layer. Scrub beets and carrots, trim ends.
Place vegetables in a dish and sprinkle with butter, salt and spices.
Cover with foil and bake for 90 minutes.
If the skins of the beets are tough or unattractive slip them off before serving.
Serves Six.

Recipe adapted from The Fannie Farmer Cookbook