Quick & Easy Dinners; Healthy Soups, Stews & Chili’s for Fall!!

Fall is a perfect time for Soups, Stews and Chili! As much as I hate to see the Summer come to an end, I do love to eat these warm, delicious meals. It’s great to have hearty meals that will warm and fill your belly on those chilly evenings. 

BUT WHO HAS TIME FOR THAT?!?!?!

Here I will share some recipes that we enjoy this time of year and are quick and easy to make! Most are low carb, low calorie friendly!

 1. Sausage Stew

This one is a Italian sausage and bean stew that is served with Parmesan cheese. It can be made in the crock pot or on the stove-top. My kids love it when I throw in those little soup noodles!!! 
In a 1 cup Serving there is approx 198 calories, Carbs 11g, Fat 10g and Protein 11g. Check it out!

Sausage Stew From Kalyn’s Kitchen

2. Chicken Tortellini Soup

This IS my absolute FAVORITE Soup. This recipe is the Ultimate comfort food! It is so easy to make and can be thrown in the crock pot or cooked on the stove-top. When we make this at home, we buy a rotisserie chicken from the deli and use the meat for the soup. 
A 1 cup serving of this soup has approx 193 calories, Carbs 19g, Fat 8g and Protein 13g.

Tortellini Soup from The Recipe Critic

3. Black Bean Chili with Lime and Cilantro

I love this Crock pot (or stove-top) Black Bean Chili with Lime and Cilantro that’s thickened with refried beans, and this tasty chili is gluten-free, dairy-free, low-glycemic, and South Beach Diet Phase One.

A 1 cup serving has approx 172 Calories, Carbs 23g, Fat 4g, and Protein,14g.

Black Bean Chili from Kalyn's Kitchen

4. Taco Soup

This recipe is from my mom. Where she got it from, I have no clue. Every time I make it ,I know I should take a picture but I ALWAYS forget. Let me just tell you that this could be the most easy one to make on the list. This is a hearty soup that has all of the Tex-Mex flavors we love. Serve it with shredded cheese, sour cream and/or green onions and this will be a hit in your family. 
And if you love Tex-Mex Food, Check out this recipe for delicious Black Bean Enchilada Ring HERE   
Instead of using spoons to eat this soup, we use fritos scoops!!! 
A 1 cup serving has approx 218 Calories, Carbs 23, Fat 5g and Protein 20g.

So there you have it! Quick, easy and healthy soups, stews and chili your family will love!

Let me know what you think of these recipes in the comments! What are your Fall Favorites???
Get your home Fall ready with this cute DIY Idea: Mercury Glass Pumpkin DIY

Recipe: Reese's Puffs Treats! Our spin on Rice Krispies Treats:)

We love Reese's Peanut Butter Cups at our house. It's a staple candy for us. Who doesn't love Reese's? Peanut Butter and Chocolate together.... MMMMmmmm! It's so delicious... Wait there is a Reese's Puffs Cereal!?!?! Oh My Gosh!!!!!

I am not a breakfast person for the most part so at first I did just buy this cereal for my kids. I eventually tried it, IT IS SO GOOD! (I really don't like cereal) So I was suprised that I liked it. Now there is always a box in our pantry. :)

 

We were trying to decide on a treat to make for dessert one night and I had a taste for rice krispies treats. I had all of the ingredients... except rice krispies cereal. Hmmmm.... What to do? Oh! There is a box of Reese's Puffs! Let's give this a whirl!

I started by using a basic Rice Krispies Treat Recipe.

 

1/2 cup butter

10 oz mini marshmallows

5 Cups Cereal

 

 

 

Then, I rubbed the pan I was using with a pat of butter.

 

 

 

In a pot, I melted the 1/2 cup of butter on medium to low heat.

 

One the butter was completely melted, I added the mini marshmallows.

 

And stirred,

 

And stirred.

 

And STIRRED. Untill the marshmallows were nice and smooth, and then turned off the heat.

 

Next, my assistant poured in the Reese's Puffs!

(My assistant is so cute!)

 

And then, we stirred it all together until it was well combined. This is my favorite part of making these treats because when you pour the Reese's Puffs into the pot, the warmth releases the chocolatey, peanut-buttery aroma of the cereal.

 

We poured it into the buttered pan. Then, I used a buttered spoon to smooth  it all down.

 

My assistant then added some green sugar sprinkles because it was nearing St. Patrick's Day! LOL!

 

And that's it! We let then cool and tried them later.

THEY WERE AWESOME!!!

We make them often and use different colored sprinkles to go with the seasons!:)

Black Bean Enchilada Ring Recipe

Mexican food is always a favorite in our house. We do a lot with chicken, and this original recipe was a winner. This was a Pampered Chef recipe that I had gotten; you can see the original recipe made with chicken here: Chicken Enchilada Ring

We were getting together for a "fiesta" at my friend's house and I decided to make this dish. My friend is a vegetarian and I didn't want her to miss out on the yumminess! So, I tweaked this recipe to make it vegetarian and it turned out to be a favorite with everyone!

 My version makes one for dinner tonight and another to freeze for later!

So here is my Vegetarian version!

Black Bean Enchilada Ring

1-14.5 oz can of refried black beans

1-14.5 oz can of black beans -Drained

1-14.5 oz can of whole kernel corn- Drained

1/4 cup chopped pitted black olives

1 1/2 cups shredded Monterrey Jack Cheddar Blend Cheese

1-4 oz can chopped green chilies- Undrained

1/2 cup Mayo

1 Tbsp Taco seasoning

1 plum tomato

1 lime

2/3 cup finely crushed tortilla chips

2 packages regular crescent rolls

Sour cream, salsa and shredded lettuce as optional toppings

1.Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

2. Mix beans, refried beans, corn, olives, cheese, green chilies, mayo and seasoning in a bowl. Mix until well combined.

3. Get a freezer bag and scoop half of the mixture into the bag. Put bag into the freezer to use to make another ring later! Nice! *You must do this before adding the rest of the ingredients.

4. Seed and chop tomato.

5. Slice lime in half and juice one of the halves.

6. Add chopped tomato and lime juice to the remaining bean mixture in the bowl.

7.Add crushed tortilla chips to bean mixture, reserving 2 tsp of chips.

8. Mix well.
9. Sprinkle reserved chips over your pan or stone that you will be baking the bean ring on.

10.Separate dough into triangles and place onto stone to make the ring.

11. Flatten out your shape with a rolling pin.

12. Scoop bean mixture onto dough shape.

13. Fold points over and tuck under.

14. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

15. Serve with optional toppings

Instructions for making the frozen one.
What you will need to add:
1 Seeded and chopped Tomato
Juice of 1 half lime
2/3 cup finely crushed tortilla chips
2 packages regular crescent rolls
Sour cream, salsa and shredded lettuce as optional toppings

Thaw bean mixture in bag. ( overnight in the refrigerator works well for me)
Empty bag into mixing bowl.
Begin from #6. in the above instructions and follow the rest of the steps from there.
Enjoy!

 

Spooky Dessert! Easy!

Here is a cute seasonal spin on one of our favorite desserts! A spooky graveyard scene on top of "Mud"!

"Mud" is that yummy dessert made with crushed up oreos layered with a whipped cream and vanilla pudding mixture. It is a favorite here with kids and adults!! I just put some candy pumpkins, vanilla sandwich cookies (I decorated them with icing but I don't even think that was necessary!) and "glued" some pretzel sticks together using royal icing! The kids went wild for this sppoky graveyard treat!

Here's the "Mud" recipe I use:

 

1 stick of butter softened

8 oz cream cheese softened

Mix those together

Add- 1 cup powdered sugar

Set aside

 

2 instant french vanilla pudding

4 cups milk

Blend for 2 minutes

Add 12 oz Cool Whip

 

Blend Pudding mixture and cream cheese mixture.

 

Crush 16 oz Oreo Cookies

 

Layer in a bowl or pan.

 

Chill for at least 1 hour.

:)

 

 

 

 

Yummy! Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Cookie Brownies!

For my husband's birthday, I always ask him what he wants me to makefor him to eat. We LIVE to eat here! It's all about the food! He wanted something for dessert and he loves Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. So we brainstormed and came up with these...

So delicious! They have a chocolate cookie on the bottom, brownie on the top and a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup in the middle. They were super easy to make, too!

Here's what I did:

For a 15X9 inch cookie sheet or Large stoneware bar pan.

• 2 packages of chocolate chip cookie dough. (any brand you like) softened a bit.
• 24-30 Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. unwrapped.
• 1 box brownie mix and ingredients to make brownies.

Preheat oven to 350F. Roll out the cookie dough evenly on the bottom of pan. Arrange the peanut butter cups on top of the cookie dough. Mix the brownies as the box instructs and pour over the top. Bake for about 25-30 mins depending on your oven. Mine is like on the 22-25 minute range of time... it bakes FAST! Let cool for a bit. Then cut them into serving sizes with a plastic knife.

Give them a try and let me know what you think!

Chocolate Caramel Cupcakes!

Chocolate Carmel Cupcakes!?!?! Yes please! I saw this recipe on pinterest and I just had to try it. Who doesn't love chocolate and caramel???? The original recipe is from bakeitinacake.com and you can find it here: Chocolate Carmel Cupcakes This recipe calls for Fran's Salted caramels... they were a little on the pricey side and I was also short on time to actually order them. So, I found an alternative... Milky Way Simply Carmel! (In the bite size) It actually worked out great and these little babies turned out AWESOME!!! Check out the bake it in a cake website too for other great cupcake ideas! This recipe was great and I thank them for it!!!!

Here's what I did:
This recipe will make about 3 dozen.

For the brownies you’ll need:
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
4 oz. unsweetened chocolate
2 c. granulated sugar
3 eggs
1 t. vanilla
1/2 t. salt
1 c. flour
about 36 bite-sized Milky way simply caramel
A little kosher salt
Mini cupcake foil-lined baking cups

For the buttercream you’ll need:
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
15-20 caramels ( I used kraft)
2 T. heavy cream
2 c. powdered sugar
kosher salt

Directions:
Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees (F).
To make the brownies, melt together the butter and unsweetened chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl on high heat for 90 seconds. Remove it from the microwave and stir until all the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth.
Add in the sugar, and stir until it is well combined. Mix in the eggs, one at a time, then add the vanilla and salt. Finally, stir in the flour.
Put a teaspoon of brownie batter into paper-lined mini cupcake tins. They should be about half full. I scooped the batter into a big zip-top bag and cut off one of the bottom corners to make a piping bag and it worked out great! Put one caramel in each tin, sprinkle with a little salt, then cover with another teaspoon of batter so the tins are about 3/4 of the way full.
Bake for about 15 minutes, until the brownies have set. My oven cooks FAST, so mine only needed like 12 mins. They will give a little when you gently press your finger into the top of them, but they should not be too soft.
Allow to cool, then make the buttercream!
First, melt the caramel with the heavy cream. You can pop it in the microwave for 30 second increments, until the caramel is smooth. Allow it to cool in the fridge for a few minutes.
Whip the butter for about 30 seconds on med-high speed, so it gets fluffy. Add in about one cup of powdered sugar, and mix until it’s all combined. Once the caramel is cool to the touch, turn the mixer on medium speed and then drizzle the caramel into the frosting. If it’s too hot, it’ll melt the buttercream, so be patient.
Beat until fluffy. Then add in the other cup of powdered sugar and the salt, a 1/4 to a 1/2 t. at a time, mixing and then tasting after each addition to make sure you don’t add too much. A little goes a long way with the salt. Once it tastes the way you want it to taste, frost the cupcakes!
Grate a few chocolate shavings over the top. Fancy! You can also drizzle a little more caramel on the top but make sure it is not too hot... maybe try caramel ice cream topping for this.

Give these a try and come back to let me know what you think!!!!
Enjoy!

Bailey's Irish Shakes!

I am posting this for my wonderful Mother-in-law so she can pin it on Pinterest!;)
These are Awesome! It's such a great recipe to make for St. Patrick's Day, Or Christmas.... Any holiday...or Just an Adult Treat! Yummy! We had these on vacation one time and they were so good that we COULD NOT wait for our next trip so we had to duplicate them at home! Give them a try!

Bailey's Irish Shakes

 

1 cup vanilla ice cream

1/4 cup chocolate syrup

3/4 cup milk

Whipped cream

Bailey's Irish Cream to taste

Mix ingredients in blender

Drizzle chocolate syrup in cup

Pour into cup

Top with whipped cream

Enjoy!