The Philly Nibbler and Philadelphia Holy Rollers Recipes and Other Updates

Hi everyone and welcome to Tuesday!

In the six weeks since I began my journey as The Determined Dieter I have lost 18 pounds - and have to admit the weight began to really come off steadily when I added apple cider vinegar to my daily repertoire.

The jogging, however, also doesn't hurt and I'm shocked by how well I'm doing. The trick seems to be to walk and jog. Slowly increase your jogging time and decrease your walking time with a long term goal being ten minutes of jogging, 1 minute of walking. I have a friend who runs marathons this way.

And then there's the Philadelphia Cream Cheese - an ingredient showing up in most of my dishes right now because of The Real Women of Philadelphia contest - a contest where I've just found out I am free to post my submitted recipes here on my blog!

So with this being a bit of an update today, I'm going to share my first two submitted recipes for the contest - but before I do so, I have a great recipe for a quick and easy fish dish that I got from a heart association cookbook years ago and use all the time:

Take a baking sheet and cover with tinfoil. Onto the tinfoil drizzle one Tbsp extra virgin olive oil, one Tbsp red wine vinegar, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, 1 Tbsp tarragon. Mix it all together and then lay four pieces of white fish over all making sure to cover both sides in the oil and vinegar. Bake in a 375 oven for 15-30 minutes depending on the thickness of the fish and how done you like it.

Really delicious!

Okay, onto the Philly Recipes

Philly Nibblers
44 calories per serving, 2 grams fat
For printable recipe click here

Mini Muffins

• Vegetable oil spray for muffin tin
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup yellow cornmeal
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1/4 cup mashed ripe avocado
• 1/4 cup light Herb and Garlic Philadelphia Cream Cheese
• 1 Tbsp Salsa Verde
• 1 Tbsp finely diced jalapeno pepper
• 1/4 cup cilantro

Directions

1. Sift together flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
2. Combine buttermilk, egg, avocado, cream cheese, salsa, jalapeno pepper, and cilantro. Stir buttermilk mixture into flour mixture until combined.

Filling

• 3 diced green onions
• 1/2 cup finely diced red pepper
• 1/8 cup finely diced jalapeno pepper
• 2 cans cocktail shrimp drained, rinsed, and dried
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1 cup light Herb and Garlic Philadelphia Cream Cheese
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro

Directions

1. Whip together the cream cheese, salt, pepper, and cumin
2. Add the shrimp, and diced vegetables.
3. Add fresh chopped cilantro.
4. Set aside.

Directions

To assemble the dish

1. Spray a mini muffin tin with cooking spray and fill each cup with a half rounded teaspoon per cup of the muffin mix
2. Using your fingers, flatten the mixture along the bottom and work it up and around the sides of the cup. The idea is to make your cornbread batter into a little bowl your filling will go in. (Don't worry if it seems thin - resist the urge to add more batter, it will inflate as it bakes and you don't want a crust that is too thick.)
3. Fill each cup with the filling (about the size of a melon baller) and top with another rounded 1/2 tsp batter.
4. Smooth batter over the top of the filling with a butter knife so that it forms a muffin cap.
5. Bake in a 375 oven about 17 minutes; until a toothpick inserted into the dough comes out clean.
6. Serve warm from the oven.
7. Makes app 32 mini muffins

Philadelphia Holy Rollers
67 calories per roller, 2 g fat
For printable recipe click here

Ingredients

• 1 can chunk crab meat
• 2 diced green onions
• 1 large stalk celery, diced
• 1/2 cup drained and dried mandarin slices
• 1 cup roughly chopped baby spinach
• 1/2 cup roughly chopped roasted unsalted cashews
• 1 1/2 cups chopped vermicelli noodles that have been cooked and cooled
• 1/2 cup Philly light cream cheese at room temperature
• 2 Tbsp light mayonnaise
• 2 Tbsp plus 1 tsp sweet chili sauce
• 1 1/2 cups chopped rice vermicelli noodles
• 1 pkg of rice paper wrappers
• Large bowl filled with hot water.

Directions

1. Cook vermicelli noodles in boiling water according to package directions (about one minute) Drain and cool under running water. Roughly chop and then set aside in a small bowl.
2. In a medium mixing bowl stir together the crab, green onions, celery, mandarin oranges, cashews, and spinach. Add the cooled rice vermicelli noodles and stir until all the ingredients are well incorporated.
3. In a large mixing bowl, stir the Philadelphia cream cheese, mayonnaise, and sweet chili sauce until smooth and well blended and then add the crab and vegetable mixture and stir until all of the ingredients are well blended and completely incorporated.
4. Take a rice paper wrapper and immerse in hot water for 10-15 seconds - just until the wrapper becomes soft and pliable. Place it on a clean flat surface and then place 1/4-1/2 cup of the salad mixture in the middle of the wrapper. Fold it over once just to cover the salad mixture and then fold the sides in - much the same way as a burrito would be folded. Once the sides are tucked in continue to roll to make a cigar shape.
5. Cover and chill until ready to serve. Can be kept in refrigerator for up to one day.
6. When ready to serve cut each roller into even thirds and plate. Can be served with a little extra sweet chili sauce on the side to dip.