Cornbread

2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups cornmeal
1/2 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon Baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups milk
1/2 cup oil
2 eggs
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients, mix just until wet, do not overmix. Pour batter into greased 9x13 pan and bake about 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Yadira's Spanish Rice

My sweet Sister-in-Law gave me this recipe, I am not taking credit for it, I just post it here so I can find it again. :)
1 cup white rice
1/4 cup tomato sauce
1 1/2 cube beef boullion
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon onion
2 teaspoons oil
2 1/2 cups water
Heat oil in pan, add rice. Toast rice until it begins to brown lightly. Add rest of ingredients and simmer 5 minutes. Reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes covered. Let stand 5 minutes uncovered.

Easy Risotto

1/3 cup thinly sliced onion(can use 3 green onions)
butter flavored cooking spray
2/3 cup arborio or long grain rice
2 cups water
1 teaspoon chicken boullion granules
dash pepper
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

Traditional method: Spray medium saucepan well and cook onion until tender but not brown. Spray again and add uncooked rice. Cook and stir 2 minutes more. Carefully stir in water, boullion, and pepper. Bring to boiling, reduce heat. Cover and simmer 20 minutes without lifting cover. Remove from heat, let stand, covered, 5 minutes. Rice should be tender, but slightly firm, and the mixture should be creamy. If necessary, stir in extra water to make it creamy. Stir in Parmesan. 2.5 points per 1/2 cup.

I have a food and rice steamer and this is another method....Steamer method: place 1 cup rice to 2 cups water in rice bowl. Add boullion and pepper. Place rice bowl in steamer basket and steam for 50 minutes. When time is up, check to make sure it has the right consistency, adding water if necessary, and add Parmesan. Sorry, no picture yet...

Roasted Potatoes

These are my son's favorite "tomatoes!" He can never get tomatoes and potatoes straight! He does not like any other type of potatoes(except french fries, which totally don't count,) but asks for these almost every night! Totally kid-friendly and diet friendly, too!


6 lg potatoes, any kind
olive oil flavored cooking spray(or whatever you have)
1 Tablespoon garlic salt
2 teaspoons cumin
3 teaspoons paprika

Preheat oven to 400. Spray an 11x7" or roasting pan really well with the cooking spray. Mix together the 3 spices, set aside. Scrub the potatoes really well, (don't peel) and cut into about 1" cubes. Parboil them(this means boil them for 8 minutes or so until they are partially cooked, be careful not to boil them much longer than 8 minutes or they will be too soft.) Then drain and shake around in the strainer a bit(bang them about just a little.) Place potatoes into pan, then spray the tops of the potatoes with the cooking spray. Sprinkle half of the spice mixture over the potatoes. Stir the potatoes around, spray them again and sprinkle the rest of the spice mixture. Put in oven for about 20 minutes, then remove, spray the potatoes again and turn them over. Bake another 15 minutes or so until they are crispy. If you have a broiler and would like them done a little quicker, you can broil them at this point for 15 minutes or so to get that crispiness.

Crispy, but not hard, is the point. Be generous with the spray and respray every time you turn the potatoes, this is important. These are incredible hits with everyone I have ever made them for, however, they do not reheat well. 3 points for one cup of these. Serve with ketchup for the kiddos :) And one more tip: I know they are getting done soon when they start to make a high pitched noise and the surfaces are sizzling!

(Pictured with steamed zucchini and garlic butter fish.)

Incredibly easy zucchini

2 medium zucchini
1 Tablespoon Cumin
2 teaspoons garlic salt
2 teaspoons salt-free seasoning(such as Mrs. Dash)(optional)
cooking spray

Wash and slice zucchini into 1/4" slices, arrange in single layer on baking sheet and spray. Mix together spices and sprinkle on top. Bake at 500 for about 20 minutes or until you can cut it easily with a fork. We love to top with a bit of spray butter. 0 points per serving, this serves about 4 people.