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A day at TJ’s Test Kitchen!

March 11, 2011 by DanicasDaily 21 Comments

Happy Friday!!! Today was an absolutely FANTASTIC day and I have so much fun stuff to share with you all.  I had so much fun at TJ’s Test Kitchen today whipping up 2 new recipes that I just might be addicted to for awhile.  Can I just say that I LOOOOOOOOVVVVEEE and WANT her kitchen?!  Maybe she will just let me go over there to cook for her whenever just so I can use her kitchen Winking smile 

My brain was so tired this morning….I was so glad I only had to “think” of what to eat for breakfast.

I know, I really KNOW I need to show you all something different for breakfast, but, this morning, I just really had to continue my LOVE AFFAIR with Bread N Butter (5 points+) with a banana and Venti Iced Dirty Latte (4 points+).

banana

My breakfast didn’t hold me over as well, I was STARVING by the time lunch rolled around.  I think it might have been the fact that I was DREAMING all morning about the deliciousness we were making at lunch.

One of my FAVORITE people in the world!!!  I finally remembered to bring a gift this time for her ~ one of my Danica’s Daily Tees that The Husband had made up.

Doesn’t she look so SKINNY?! She wears her 75+ LB loss so well!

danica's daily t-shirts

She greeted me with homemade iced tea and orange wedges ~ quite possibly my favorite new combination.

how to flavor iced tea

Earlier this week when TJ invited me to lunch I told her she had to PICK what we were eating since it was “her test kitchen”.  She knew right away what she wanted.  She wanted to make a ‘”HEALTHIFIED” version of her childhood favorite ~ Mini Pizza Rolls!

She takes her recipes pretty serious ~ she had everything lined up complete with hand written instructions.

test kitchens

With the Points+ values of EVERY ingredient!! Did I mention how awesome she is yet?!

weight watchers recipespizza toppings

The “secret” ingredient for this recipe was Nasoya’s Egg Roll Wrappers.

nasoya

REAL ingredients!

nasoya nutrition facts

4 Points+ for 3 wrappers is pretty darn good!

calories in an egg roll wrapper

These Pizza Roll ups are so simple to make, I already know I am re-creating them possibly this weekend!

We measured out all our toppings before putting them in the bowl ~ Pizza Sauce and Romano Cheese

romano cheese

2 Ounces of Reduced Fat Mozzarella (for the veggie version, 1 oz for the pepperoni version)

reduced fat mozzarella

She sautéed the peppers, onions and mushrooms ahead of time to help remove some of the water.  Also in the dish, chopped olives.

how to saute vegetablespizza mix

Stir it all to combine.

how to make healthy pizza roll ups

Divide into 3 sections, 1 for each wrapper.

egg roll filling

I ALWAYS thought folding egg rolls was hard, but, after checking out the instructions it didn’t seem so bad.

how to roll an eggroll

Until she told me I HAD to make some too!

danica's dailyuses for egg roll wrappers

No worries, I think I did ok….mine are the back 3.

egg rolls

Spray with nonstick spray and bake at 400 for about 12 minutes.

weight watcher egg roll recipes

While the pizza rolls cooked, she whipped up our dipping sauces.  I totally had to take pictures of her bowls too ~ I LOVE them!

rachael ray bowls

Fat Free Ranch!  FF Sour Cream plus Hidden Valley Ranch Dip.

fat free ranch

More pizza sauce ~ warmed.

marinara

While she worked on the sauces, I put together our salads.  I looked over all your ideas and went with a “grab and go” salad.  I literally grabbed 3 things from the store along with a few things I always have on hand.  I wanted salty, sweet, crunchy with several different textures and flavors. 

I have also been wanting to create a salad that would work perfectly with this NEW Wish-Bone Super Fruit Salad Dressing.

wishbone salad dressings

1 Point+ per Tablespoon!

super fruit berry salad dressing ingredients

Bacon, Candied Walnut & Feta Salad with Strawberries

weight watchers salad recipes

INGREDIENTS

* 3 cups Organic Mixed Greens

* 2 Tbsp Organic Shredded Carrots

* 4 Organic Strawberries, sliced

* 1 Tbsp REAL Feta Cheese (not low-fat or fat-free)

* 3 Trader Joe’s Candied Walnuts, chopped

* 1 slice Trader Joe’s Peppered Turkey Bacon

* 1 Tbsp Wish-Bone Super Fruit Dressing

INSTRUCTIONS

Layer up the ingredients starting with the mixed greens and ending with the dressing.

Makes 1 HUGE salad for only 3 POINTS+!

Of course, I made two salads for us and split an entire container of Organic Mixed Greens between us.  I LOVE her salad bowls ~ perfect for HUGE @$$ Salads Open-mouthed smile

low points plus salad ideas

MMMMM!!! Total Pizza Deliciousness!  Each roll is only 3 Points+ each!

homemade pizza egg rolls

I had 2 Veggie Rolls and 1 Turkey Pepperoni Roll. 

healthy appetizers

Slightly crispy, but, really doughy like good pizza dough.  They were saucy, cheesy and just plain good when dipped in ranch and marinara.  CLICK HERE to get TJ’s Pizza Roll Recipe!

Pizza

I told you all she IS really the HOSTESS WITH THE MOSTEST!  After lunch she brewed us Coffee in her super cool Keurig machine!

keurig coffee review

Then, she served up these crunchy Lemon Chia Cookies that are 1 Point+ each.

lemon chia lemon cookies recipe

I was in the process of telling her whenever I use Chia Seeds, I want to say “Cha-Cha-Cha Chia!” and wasn’t even paying attention.  I put a cookie in my mouth and grabbed my phone to respond to The Husband’s text……

I didn’t even notice she snapped a picture until…….I looked up Open-mouthed smile

funny pictures

This of course led us to taking a bunch of random pictures…..I LOVE her!  TJ is really the best ~ She is funny, real, someone who inspires me to do better on Weight Watchers and just a great friend!  Thanks for letting me cook in your kitchen TJ ~ Can we do it again soon?! LOL….

friends

Going back to work wasn’t quite as fun, but, I survived. We decided to clean out the fridge tonight have have leftovers.

I had 1 Cheesy Stuffed Mini Meatloaf with Super Cheesy Zucchini (8 points+)

Leftovers

NEW AT FRIENDS FOR WEIGHT LOSS

* I NEEEED to make these Garlicky Spinach and Cheese Squares ~ I want to just grab one right off the plate.

IF YOU WANT TO TRY THIS WISHBONE DRESSING ABOVE, ENTER MY GIVEAWAY!

Q’s

Have you ever used Egg Roll Wrappers for something other than egg rolls?  If so, what did you make?

I have actually never made any type of egg roll until today, but, I have made potstickers.  I definitely NEED to experiment more because I LOVE the idea of using these wraps for healthy treats!

LET THE WEEKEND BEGIN!!!

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Filed Under: Fun, Product Reviews, Recipes Tagged With: Pizza, Salads

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Comments

  1. 1

    Tj says

    March 11, 2011 at 10:08 pm

    Awwwww I loved his post! You are so sweet! I totally enjoyed cooking with you & YES you can come over anytime to cook! 🙂 thank you for my new shirt ( & calling me skinny! Lol) Not only are you a cool fellow blogger, a weight watcher, a food pic snapper, but also a friend! 🙂 thank you!

    Reply
  2. 2

    Marlene says

    March 11, 2011 at 10:21 pm

    Hi D; Looks like you two had a blast. The food looks great on both of your blogs. I wanted to ask you if those eggroll wraps ae “freezable”,oh and where did you buy them? I was thinking my chicken lettuce wrap recipe would taste great wrapped in the eggroll…

    Reply
  3. 3

    janetha @ meals and moves says

    March 11, 2011 at 11:16 pm

    Oh my gosh–what a blast!! I love that you guys got together to do this!

    Reply
  4. 4

    sherry says

    March 12, 2011 at 4:17 am

    OH wow, its early early -6am and I am craving a pizza rolll!!! can’t wait to try these. And I am hankering for some potstickers also (i use ground turkey in mine) ya, just a special treat that I m ake a few times a year!! I have a recipe for some low fat/ sugerfree cannolis that I am making today wi/ potsticker wrappers,, so almost the same thing as the eggroll wrappers. Love reading your posts every morning,even though I read friday’s sat. morn for example, just look forward to it. have a great weekend.

    Reply
  5. 5

    Gail H. says

    March 12, 2011 at 6:00 am

    What a great post full of lots of new ideas!! Can see I need a new WW scale, and I also bought some chia seeds in at our store so I can make those muffins! Now I need to try these recipes also! Love ya Danika!! You are helping me stay on track more than you know!

    Reply
  6. 6

    Marisa @ Loser for Life says

    March 12, 2011 at 7:07 am

    I love it! My two favorite girls in one place!!!! So glad you had a great time together! Everything looks delicious!

    Reply
  7. 7

    Lindy says

    March 12, 2011 at 9:13 am

    That looked like so so much fun! I love the idea of pizza rolls like this.I hope they have those wrappers at my store and am running to look online as soon as I finish typing this. You are so cute and it is so nice to have friends like this, makes the cooking and eating healthy so much fun! Thanks for this post !

    Reply
  8. 8

    Lindy says

    March 12, 2011 at 9:14 am

    ps. I love the idea of the orange slices in tea and with it beginning to warm up here this is a perfect refreshing idea!

    Reply
  9. 9

    Carbzilla says

    March 12, 2011 at 9:31 am

    D – You are looking Skin-neeeee!

    Those look great! I made baked pumpkin raviolis with egg roll wrappers once and they were not fantastic. I don’t know the secret to making sure the wrappers don’t get rock hard. I think my mouth always wants phyllo and is sadly disappointed.

    Reply
  10. 10

    Mary (What's Cookin' with Mary) says

    March 12, 2011 at 10:23 am

    I totally have… I love using wonton wrappers in for ravioli skins. I’m not a baker or dough maker, so those really help me out.

    Looks like you had a great lunch!!

    PS Love your hair! So purdy 😉

    Reply
  11. 11

    Sylvia says

    March 12, 2011 at 12:47 pm

    Use the smaller wonton wrappers and add a table spoon of apple pie filling. Roll up and bake at 350 until wontons turn golden brown. Mini apple pie. I like to sprinkle some extra apple pie spice on before rolling up.

    I also use the egg roll wrappers and put them in muffin pan cups so the points stick up. Mix pre-cooked ground turkey, tea spoon ground sage, onions, garlic, cheddar cheese and ranch dressing mix, Spoon into the egg roll cups and bake at 3:50 until the wrappers are golden brown and the cheese is melted.

    Reply
  12. 12

    Stephanie M. says

    March 12, 2011 at 1:23 pm

    I’ve used egg roll wrappers to make little apple pie-lets: http://playgroundkitchen.blogspot.com/2010/11/cute-little-rat-and-some-apple-pie.html

    soooo good!!

    Reply
  13. 13

    Manxgirl10 says

    March 12, 2011 at 4:21 pm

    Those look delicious and looks like you had a great time. Thanks for the recipe! I used egg roll wrappers to make breakfast wontons, it was in an older WW recipe book. Can’t wait to try some of the other suggestions from here.

    Reply
  14. 14

    Noura says

    March 12, 2011 at 4:49 pm

    I love this idea! Have to try it soon.
    I use wonton wrappers to make Moroccan & Turkish foods – Moroccan “meat pies” (can’t remember the proper name) & Turkish “boureks” (another stuffed pie-type thing). They are delicious & easy, but labor intensive.

    Reply
  15. 15

    BroccoliHut says

    March 12, 2011 at 5:54 pm

    Wow those pizza rolls look amazing! Can’t wait to try it.

    Reply
  16. 16

    RunToTheFinish says

    March 12, 2011 at 6:42 pm

    yeaahhh super fun day!!

    Reply
  17. 17

    Christin@purplebirdblog says

    March 13, 2011 at 12:26 pm

    So much fun!! Makes me want to do a blogger kitchen cookoff meetup too! 🙂

    Reply
  18. 18

    Lori Smith says

    March 13, 2011 at 7:11 pm

    Hey Danica. You are definitely such an inspiration and all these new recipes are so awesome for me to try on my kids. But where do I find egg roll wrappers? I’d love to try and make these this weekend.

    Reply
  19. 19

    DanicasDaily says

    March 13, 2011 at 7:15 pm

    HI Lori,

    Thanks for the nice comment 🙂 You can find the egg roll wrappers in the produce section where they keep all the tofu meats, asian noodles, etc at your local grocery store.

    I can’t wait to hear what your kiddos think 🙂

    Danica

    Reply
  20. 20

    Catherine says

    March 31, 2011 at 10:13 am

    I made these pizza rolls last night…OMG soo good and super filling! I cannot wait to make other kinds of “rolls”. Yum!!

    Reply

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About Danica

Whether she’s enjoying a dish at a local restaurant or whipping up a crowd-pleasing, nutritious meal at home, Danica has a passion for all things food. She believes in and follows the Weight Watchers principle of “all things in moderation” and chronicles her culinary adventures here. Besides sharing her daily eats and tasty, nutritious recipes, Danica connects others seeking a healthier lifestyle on her site and shares her travel adventures around the world.

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