Comfort Food on this Uncomfy Day

We all have those days.  You wake up in a bad mood, nothing goes right, the weather is gross, the kids are too loud and whiny, you drop everything in the kitchen, and all you want to do is go back to bed but you can't because you have twelve million things to do and most of them you would rather pull out your toenails one by one than do...maybe that last part was a bit extreme or maybe it was just perfect;)

I have decided to try and salvage the few nerves I have left and throw my bad mood into something productive.  For me this means either cooking, cleaning, or organizing...type A I know.  Today I am feeling the cooking angle.  I started by looking in the fridge and on the counter and seeing what was going to go bad the fastest.  Those things were boneless chicken, squash, and broccoli.


For the chicken I had one of those newer Kraft Fresh Take mixes, the Italian one.  For those of you that don't know what this is, it is actually really cool.  I bought one on sale with coupon so only ended up spending $0.75 for it.  It is breadcrumbs and cheese separated in this baggie.  When you open it, it combines and you make stuff with it.  I went the easy route, rinsing my chicken and throwing it in the bag.  Fast, easy, and little clean up.  Just right for my mood.  You can also do dips, meatballs, chops, etc with it and those recipes are also included on the package.  I then baked per instructions and that was that.  These have a WW PP* value of 6 per serving roughly 4 ounce serving.  If you don't have one of these, no problem!  It could be made healthier by using 2 % Italian blend cheese, bread crumbs, and a teaspoon of garlic salt.   

Next I made Cream of Broccoli and Cheese Soup.

2 cartons FF chicken broth
2 bags broccoli (I used fresh but can do frozen no problem)
Minced onion
Minced Garlic

Bring this to boil and boil broccoli within an inch of its life, at least 30 minutes.  This makes it easy to puree and also brings your broth down to a thicker, saltier level.  It also tricks you kids into eating green things because it is a smooth soup and not chunky.  At this point you are at 0 WW PP *.  What you do from here is up to you.  There are many things you can do:  use condensed unsweetened skim milk, low fat cheese of any flavor, garlic salt, Dijon mustard, FF half and half, skim milk, 2 % milk etc...generally I would choose one of the milk options and one of the cheese options. 

I chose to add a can of Progresso Recipe Starter 3 Cheese Flavor.  It has cream, cheese, and seasonings so I am good to go.  I pureed the Broccoli in the blender, added the Progresso can plus a can of water and a tablespoon of chicken bouillon because I like salty stuff:)  If you aren't a huge salt lover I would decrease to 1/2 T of bouillon.  Heated through and VIOLA!  The entire can is 12 WW PP* so you are looking at roughly 3 WW PP* per bowl of soup.  I can eat this for days and days and it is soooo good.  You can top with cheese or sour cream.  Eat it with a hunk of bread or a nice grilled sandwich for a great leftover lunch meal.

On to the squash casserole...

I had 4 small crooked neck squash.  Cut them into half moons and saute with a small diced onion and 1 T olive oil.

While that is sauteing, mix
1 cup milk,
1 egg
3/4 cup 2% cheddar cheese
1 T Dijon mustard

in a large bowl.  When squash become soft, about 10 minutes, add to bowl and mix.  Put into greased square dish and bake 20 minutes on 350.  If you want to stop here the WW PP* value would be 2 per
 1 cup serving.

But this is comfort food right?  So I took
2 T parm cheese
10 crackers (i used Club buttery garlic)
3 T French Fried Onions

Crushed, mixed, topped casserole, sprayed with Pam Butter Flavor (this aids in browning process without having to mix topping with actual butter) and baked another 15 minutes.  This adds another point per serving.

YUM!  I am in a better mood already! 

*WW PP=  Weight Watchers PointPlus Values