camille's ww recipes

2009-07-06T09:24:00.000-07:00

Straw and Hay Fettuccine Tangle with Spring Asparagus Puree

Another great recipe from Heidi Swanson. I’ve been wanting to make this one for about a year and was so glad I did. I cut down on the cheese and oil considerably and left out the pine nuts. I think by doing this, you could taste the fresh spinach and asparagus so much more, which made it great, but not rich.

The folate-rich asparagus and spinach puree can be made ahead of time; store it in the refrigerator in a jar topped with a layer of olive oil.

Ingredients:

Spring Asparagus Puree:

1 bunch asparagus spears, trimmed and halved crosswise

3 handfuls baby spinach leaves

2 cloves garlic

¼ Ccup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for topping

1 Tablespoon cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for topping

Juice of ½ lemon

½ teaspoon fine-grain sea salt

4 ounces dried spinach fettuccine, or 6 ounces fresh

4 ounces dried egg fettuccine, or 6 ounces fresh

Directions:

Bring two pots of water to a rolling boil, one large and one medium. You’ll use the large one to cook the pasta and the medium one to blanch the asparagus.To make the asparagus puree, salt the asparagus water and drop the spears into the pot. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes, or until the spears are bright green and barely tender. Drain and transfer to a food processor (preferably) or a blender. Add the spinach, garlic, and the 1/4 cup of Parmesan. Puree and, with the motor running, drizzle the tablespoon of olive oil until a paste forms. It should be the loose consistency of pesto; if too thick, thin it with a bit of the pasta water. Add the lemon juice and salt, then taste and adjust the seasoning.Salt the pasta water well and cook the pasta until just tender; you’ll need less time for fresh pasta, more for dried. Drain and toss immediately with 1 cup of the asparagus puree, stirring in more afterward depending on how heavily coated you like your pasta. Serve sprinkled with a dusting of Parmesan, and a quick drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil. I added a couple of sprigs of fresh basil.

Serves 4 to 6.

5 points per serving (for 4 servings total)

2009-07-06T09:02:00.000-07:00

Baked Sweet Potato Falafel
This recipe recently popped up on 101Cookbooks.com and inspired me to host a Mediterranean Potluck with my friends. I’ve made a couple of different falafel dishes and this is by far my favorite. The texture is creamy and they aren’t lacking moisture despite being baked. It’s super easy (but requires a bit of time) and it my new fav dish! Plus it’s gluten free!
Ingredients:
2 medium sweet potatoes (orange inside), around 700g or 1 1/2 pounds in total
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 small cloves of garlic, chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander
2 big handfuls of fresh cilantro/coriander, chopped
Juice of half a lemon
a scant cup (120g) gram /chickpea flour
a splash of olive oil
a sprinkling of sesame seedssalt and pepper
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 425F degrees (220C) and roast the sweet potatoes whole until just tender - 45 minutes to 1 hour. Turn off the oven, leave the potatoes to cool, then peel.
Put the sweet potatoes, cumin, garlic, ground and fresh coriander, lemon juice and gram/chickpea flour into a large bowl. Season well, and mash until smooth with no large chunks. Stick in the fridge to firm up for an hour, or the freezer for 20-30 minutes. When you take it out, your mix should be sticky rather than really wet. You can add a tablespoon or so more of chickpea flour if necessary (the water content of sweet potatoes varies enormously).
Reheat the oven to 400F/200C. Using a couple of soup spoons (put a well-heaped spoonful of mix in one spoon and use the concave side of the other to shape the sides) or a falafel scoop if you have one, make the mixture into falafelly looking things and put them on an oiled tray. Sprinkle sesame seeds on top and bake in the oven for around 15 minutes, until the bases are golden brown.
Makes about 16-18 falafel, enough for 4 - 6.
This came to one point per falafel.

2008-08-19T13:47:00.000-07:00

Curried Tofu Scramble

I was craving Indian but wanted a dish that wouldn’t feel heavy in my tummy. I’d been eyeing this recipe in my Heidi Swanson Super Natural Cooking book. I stuck close to the recipe and just added some cumin, chopped green, onion and a small portion of avocado to the dish. I cut back the onions and still felt like it had too much cooked onion. To be honest though, I ended up getting bored with the leftovers and will give it new life with added ingredients next time. Any suggestions?

Ingredients
1 pound extra-firm tofu
2 cloves chopped garlic
½ chopped red onion
1 ½ teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon cumin powder
3 handfuls fresh spinach
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Instructions
- Drain and press tofu between two plates and a heavy book for 15-30 minutes. Crumble into small pieces.
- Heat fat free cooking spray in skillet over medium heat, add garlic and onion. Cook for a few minutes until onion is soft.- Add curry powder and cumin, stir well, then add the tofu.- Cover and cook for 3-5 minutes until tofu is heated throughout -Add salt and pepper, stirring in and letting cook another 305 minutes

Notes: Makes 4-5 servings
You can get 4 hearty servings form this and they come out to be 5 points a piece with ¼ avocado added to each plate. I served mine with a couple of rounds of polenta I heated on the skillet.

2008-07-23T11:13:00.000-07:00

Polenta with Eggplant, Mushrooms, and Mozzarella

Makes 4 servings, 5 points each

Ingredients:
16-18 oz tube of polenta
14 oz can of diced tomatoes flavored with garlic, basil, and oregano, Drained
1 package mushrooms, sliced
1 eggplant (this recipe called for zucchini, but I wasn’t in the mood)
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese,

Directions:
Cut eggplant into thin (1/2”), bite-size slices and broil on greased baking pan for about 25 minutes on 450, until golden. Cut Polenta into 8 rounds (I had 18 oz so did 9 rounds). Cook on oiled skillet, medium heat, about 3 minutes on each side, till golden. Remove from skillet and set aside. Place mushrooms in skillet and sauté about 7 minutes. Add tomato, salt, pepper and cook 1-2 minutes, turn off heat. Arrange 2 polenta rounds on plate. Add mushrooms, tomatoes, and eggplant on top. Top with ¼ cup mozzarella. Enjoy!

*I found this recipe to needed a little extra kick. You might consider adding a pinch of cumin to the mushrooms and tomatoes. I topped mine with salsa (adding some extra moisture and tang), and roasted garlic cloves.

2008-07-16T07:09:00.000-07:00

Chickpea Cakes
Makes 6 servings, 2 points each.

This recipe was featured in the Houston Chronicle, but after reading it I realized I have the same recipe in my Weight Watchers New Complete Cookbook. I didn’t want the spice so I left out the hot sauce and served mine on a pita with fat free sour cream, red onion, and tomato. The recipe I was given was served with salsa which sounded good, but I was craving the Greek take on this. I think next time I make this, I’ll add cilantro and parsley to the patty mix so it will be even closer to a falafel. This did come darn close though. I doubled the recipe so I have TONS of leftovers. I also only used ½ the cornmeal for coating and replaced the sour cream with fat free plain yogurt, all of this cut out 3 points which brought each patty down to 1.5 points a piece! I’d say my pita pocket was 3.5 points and certainly filling with my side salad.

Ingredients:
1 (15 ounce) can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1/3 cup reduced fat sour cream
4 garlic cloves, crushed
1 teaspoon cumin
½ teaspoon salt
¾ teaspoon hot sauce
¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons white-cornmeal
Olive oil cooking spray

Directions:
1. In a food processor, puree the chickpeas, sour cream, garlic, cumin, salt, hot sauce, and 2 tablespoons cornmeal. Transfer to a bowl, cover and refrigerate until chilled, about 30 minutes.
2. Remove from fridge, form the mixture into six 3-inch patties, about ½ inch thick. Place remaining cornmeal on a place, and gently dredge the patties through to coat both sides.
3. Spray a large nonstick skillet with olive-oil cooking spray, and set over a medium heat. Add the patties, and cook until browned on the bottom, about 5-6 minutes.
4. Spray the tops of the patties with oil, then flip and cook another 5-6 minutes.

2008-07-13T12:03:00.001-07:00

Vegetarian Chicken with Black Bean Sauce
Makes 4 Servings

I took this recipe from my Take-Out Tonight! cookbook by weight watchers and made it vegetarian. I've found that the stir-fry I make at home has this generic chinese flavor instead of being lemongrass chicken, black pepper chicken, etc. This was SUPER simple and reminded me how cornstarch helps the consistency in the sauce. My only complaint was that the sauce needed a little more punch, maybe a hint of chili pepper sauce next time will do the trick.

Ingredients:
4 naked veggie chicken breasts by Quorn
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 cup low sodium vegetable broth
2 tablespoons black bean sauce (found in the asian section)
1 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon sugar (I used agave nectar)
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger
3 garlic gloves, minced
1/4 pound white mushrooms quartered (left this out and added my own because Robby isn't a mushroom fan)
1/4 pound fresh snow peas
1-2 carrots, thinly sliced

Directions:
1. Combine the chicken with 1 tablespoon of the corn starch in a medium bowl; toss well to coat and set aside. Combine the remaining 1 tablespoon of corn starch, broth, black bean sauce, soy sauce, and sugar in a small bowl; set aside.
2. Heat a nonstick wok or large, deep skillet over medium high heat until a drop of water sizzles. Swirl in the oil, then add the chicken. Stir-fry until lightly browned, 2-3 minutes. Add the ginger and garlic; stir-fry until fragrant, 30 seconds. Add the mushrooms, snow peas, and carrots; stir-fry until crisp-tender, about 3 minutes. Add the broth mixture and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture boils and thickens, 1-2 minutes.

Serving size is about 1 cup. This was a 5 point recipe before, but replacing it with fake chicken brought it down to 2 points, that seems crazy! I served mine with 1/2 cup of rice and some chives form my yard. Sorry about the blur on the photo, I had cornstarch goo on my lens and didn't realize until it was too late.

2008-05-12T07:51:00.001-07:00

Otsu (Soba Noodle Salad)

From the book Super Natural Cooking by Heidi Swanson

The package of noodles I purchased were actually 8.8 oz, when the original recipe called for 12 oz, yet it still made at least 6 servings. This also allowed me to reduce the oils in the dressing to cut down on fat. I calculated each serving to be 4.25 weight watcher points! Good thing, since I couldn’t stop eating it! There is something about the sesame oil and the sweetness of the agave nectar that left me wanting more, and more. It has just enough salt and just enough sweet. I suggest leaving out the cucumber and adding it fresh to each serving; it doesn’t keep well if you store the salad for leftovers. I wanted to add avocado, but mine weren’t soft enough yet. Next time!

Ingredients

Dressing
Fresh ginger, cut into a 1-inch cube, peeled, and grated
1 Tbsp. honey (I used agave nectar)
3/4 tsp. cayenne (I used only ¼ to reduce the heat)
3/4 tsp. fine-grain sea salt (left this out completely, wasn’t needed)
1 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice
¼ cup unseasoned brown-rice vinegar
1/3 cup shoyu sauce (wheat-free soy sauce)
2 tsp. toasted sesame oil

Salad
12 oz. dried soba noodles (I used the 8.8 oz package made by Eden)
12 oz oz. extra-firm nigari tofu
¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
3 green onions, thinly sliced
½ cucumber, peeled, cut in half lengthwise, seeded, and thinly sliced
1 small handful of cilantro sprigs, for garnish
¼ cup toasted sesame seeds, for garnish (I just used a little on each serving, fresh)

Directions
1. Create the dressing by combining the zest, ginger, honey, cayenne, and salt in a food processor (or use a hand blender) and process until smooth. Add the lemon juice, rice vinegar, and shoyu, and pulse to combine. With the machine running, drizzle in the oils.
2. Cook the soba in plenty of rapidly boiling salted water just until tender, then drain and rinse under cold running water.
3. While the pasta is cooking, drain the tofu, pat it dry, and cut it into rectangles roughly the size of your thumb (½ inch thick and 1 inch long). Cook the tofu in a dry nonstick (or well-seasoned) skillet over medium-high heat for a few minutes, until the pieces are browned on one side. Toss gently once or twice, and then continue cooking for another minute or so, until the tofu is firm, golden, and bouncy.
4. In a large mixing bowl, combine the soba, the ¼ cup cilantro, the green onions, cucumber, and about ⅔ cup of the dressing. Toss until well combined. Add the tofu and toss again gently. Serve on a platter, garnished with the cilantro sprigs and the toasted sesame seeds.

2008-03-31T14:42:00.000-07:00

Garbanzo Burgers

I used this recipe from a Heidi Swanson's book, Supernatural Cooking and modified it just a tad. I'm a carb lover and because of the way she assembles these burgers, I didn't even miss the bun.

Ingredients:
2 ½ cups garbanzo beans
¾ diced onion
1 cup chopped sprouts *(I used alfalfa)
1/3 cup fresh chopped cilantro
1 cup breadcrumbs
1 tsp fine-grain sea salt
1 tsp garlic powder
2 whole eggs, 2 egg whites
1 tbsp olive oil *(I used fat free olive oil spray)

Directions:
Combine the beans, eggs, salt, and garlic powder in a food processor and pulse until it’s the consistency of runny, yet chunky hummus. Transfer mixture into a medium bowl and stir in the onion, cilantro, and sprouts. Add the breadcrumbs and let them set for a few minutes. Heat the oil over medium in a large skillet. I used a 1/3 cup measurer to scoop the mixture from the bowl and transfer to the pan, making uniform patties. This cut out the work from forming each patty by hand. Each side should be cooked 7-10 minutes until brown. Transfer to a cookie sheet or plate and let cool at least 5 minutes. Slice each patty in half (a bit tricky) and place your fillings inside. I filled mine with tomato, cilantro, red onion, and avocado. The recipe is supposed to make 12, but I only got 8 from it, I estimated each patty to be about 3.5 points.

2008-03-10T08:08:00.001-07:00

Artichoke Tarts

This recipe is straight from Weight Watchers. I didn't change a thing! Maybe I'll use my leftover wrappers to make veggie potstickers this week!

POINTS Value: 2 Servings: 8

Your guests will think you spent hours in the kitchen to make these eye-catching, appetite-whetting hors d' oeuvres.
Ingredients
· 6 sprays cooking spray
· 16 pieces wonton wrapper(s)
· 1/4 cup low-fat shredded cheddar cheese
· 4 oz fat-free cream cheese, softened
· 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
· 1/2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
· 2 Tbsp sweet red pepper(s), chopped
· 7 oz canned artichoke hearts, without oil, drained and chopped
· 1/4 cup parsley, fresh, sprigs
Instructions
· Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat a 16-hole miniature muffin pan with cooking spray.
· Gently press 1 wonton wrapper into each muffin hole, allowing ends to extend above cups. Coat edges of wrappers with cooking spray and set aside.
· Combine cheeses, cayenne pepper and mustard in a medium bowl; mix well. Stir in red pepper and artichoke hearts; spoon about 1 teaspoon of cheese mixture into each muffin cup.
· Bake until cheese mixture is set and edges of wrappers are lightly browned, about 15 minutes. Garnish with parsley and serve. Yields 2 tarts per serving.

2007-12-18T09:13:00.000-08:00

Grits Souffle’s with Tomato and Roasted Red Pepper Coulis
I adapted this recipe from one found in Vegetarian Times magazine. My ramekin dishes are half the size requested, so I halfed the recipe and changed some items out for healthier options. They were the perfect size paired with a fake chicken breast (1 point) and steamed asparagus (1 point). They had so much great flavor, I can only imagine how they’d taste with the full fat items and the gouda cheese that was originally used. The Coulis did not call for roasted red pepper, but it was a great addition.
Souffle’ :
To be used in 5 4-oz ramekin dishes. Double recipe if you have 8 oz dishes
½ cup grits
1 ½ cups fat free milk
1 tsp baking powder
Handful steamed asparagus, chopped
½ cup shredded 2% milk cheddar cheese
3 Laughing Cow Lite original soft wedges
1 ½ large egg whites plus ½ egg (use your eyes)
Tomato and Roasted Red Pepper Coulis:
½ cup onion, chopped
7 ½ oz can diced Italian-style tomatos
2 tablespoons rinsed, drained roasted red pepper
1. To make Souffle’s: Preheat oven to 375F. Coat 5 4-ox. Ramekins with cooking spray and dust with grits.
2. Bring grits, milk, and baking powder to a boil in pot. Reduce heat to medium and cook 8 minutes, whisking constantly. Cool 5 minutes, then stir in asparagus, cheese, and whole egg.
3. Beat egg whites with electric mixer until stiff peaks form. Fold into grits mixture. Season with salt and pepper. Divide among prepared ramekins. Bake 25 minutes, or until puffed and golden.
4. To make Tomato and Pepper Coulis: Sautee’ onions in small pot with fat free spray oil. Add tomatoes and simmer 8-12 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Puree with roasted red peppers in blender until smooth . Unmold soufflés and serve with Coulis and asparagus spears for garnish. I estimated each souffle' to be 3-4 points.

2007-06-28T07:51:00.001-07:00

2007-06-27T10:13:00.000-07:00

So I had a seperate weight watcher blog just for daily stuggles and posting my food intake, but due to a server tragedy, that blog is gone. It was time to combine the two anyway. I didn't log yesterday, so I'll just post a photo of my bento box today, worth about 9 pts. You can view the details on my flickr.

2007-04-10T09:30:00.000-07:00

Eggplant Lasagna

I watched The Victory Garden on PBS recently where they used fresh eggplant, basil, and garlic leaves (yes, the leaves or a garlic plant) to make a low fat eggplant lasagna. I used their idea and altered it to make it a little more like lasagna and a little lower fat. I cannot tell you how delish this dish came out! I used 1/2 point bread the next day with garlic spray and made an eggplant lasagna sammich in my old skool sammich maker. Even better the next day!
Eggplant Lasagna
Ingredients:
2 eggplants, grilled.
Fresh herbs (I used basil)
Salt, pepper
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
1 ½ cup light pasta sauce, your choice
½ cup low fat cottage cheese
1 ¼ cup low fat mozzarella cheese

Directions:
Preheat Oven to 400, slice eggplant lengthwise into 1/2 inch strips. Spray with ff spray (I used butter flavor), lay on baking sheet and sprinkle salt and pepper. 2 eggplants took up 2 baking sheets. Bake till golden, possibly flipping midway (check after 10 minutes). Turn oven down to 350 and keep on after the eggplant. Make sure the eggplant is cooked thoroughly, not too tough.

You can heat up your sauce with the garlic and herbs to get them mixed well, or roast your garlic separately and just add that and a couple of leaves of basil, chopped, to the sauce later. Place ½ of the grilled eggplant in a casserole dish, laying down for even coverage. Add all of the cottage cheese and spread evenly. Add ¾ cup red sauce and ½ cup of the mozzarella. Add second layer of eggplant, then red sauce and ¾ cup mozzarella. I like more cheese on top. Place in oven and bake for 15-25 minutes. I can’t remember top on or top off. You just need to reheat it some and it depends on how you like your cheese top!

You will want to re-calculate the points as you make this, but if I am correct and you also use a light sauce, it should be about 4 pts a serving, and I made 4 huge servings from it.

2007-03-20T08:30:00.000-07:00

Sweet Potato Fries!

I have been enjoying my baked zucchini fries lately, but I needed to break it up. I didn't want to get burnt out on them and I wanted to try something new. I have never really liked sweet potatoes much, but I have recently tried BBQ sweet potatoes and teriyaki sweet potatoes so when my boyfriend suggested we make sweet potato fries, I decided to give it a go!

Ingredients: 1 large Yam salt
pepper
Fat Free Butter Flavored cooking spray

Directions:
Cut into thin strips.
Spray baking sheet with ff butter spray, lay the fries out, spray them once more, and sprinkle salt and a little pepper on top.
Bake them at 400 degrees for about 20-30 mins, flipping then mid-way.

You want them to get just a little brown, a couple super thin ones might burn a tad, but I like then almost burnt. It's something about the sweet and salty combination that makes these addictive! We made them two nights in a row and I had to stop myself.
We ate these with fake grilled chicken (1.5 pts) on lite sourdough bread (1 pt) and a little mozzarella (1 pt)
One cup of yams is 2 pts, so I think our yam made 2 servings. So this is a 5.5 point meal!

2007-03-08T06:53:00.000-08:00

Southern Comfort

After reading one of anna's entries, I decided it was time to get myself a GFG (George Foreman Grill). I don't cook meat too often, but I like the idea of being able to grill inside and I can even make veggies on the GFG.

So last night Robby bought us some lean tenderloin steaks. We christened the new grill and complimented our steaks with mock mashed potatoes and fake fried zucchini. I cut my steak almost in half to make it about 4 oz which was 3 points. It was plenty of beef for me. I altered my zucchini recipe a little so I'll update that.

Mock Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients:

1 head cauliflower, chopped

1 tablespoon I Can't Believe It's Not Butter, Light

1 tablespoon fat free sour cream

2-3 cloves of minced garlic (I like lots of garlic)

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Place chopped cauliflower in medium sized pot of boiling water. Let boil 6-8 minutes. Drain well. Place in bowl, add butter and sour cream. Mix with handheld blender/beaters or in regular blender. Add salt and pepper as you blend. After this, you might want to reheat them in the oven or microwave just a bit.

These were 2 points for the WHOLE DISH and we got 4 servings out of it. My boyfriend isn't a huge fan of cauliflower but loves mashed potatoes and he ate this stuff up! I would consider that successful.

Fake Fried Zucchini

I followed the same directions as the last entry I did on zucchini, but I only used half of the bag of shake n bake and 1/2 of a cup of Fiber One cereal I ran through the food processor. Added 1/4 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper to this mix as well. Shake n Bake gives you bags to use for the coating and these do a much better job than rolling around the pieces in a bowl. I calculated both of these items together since the cereal has so much fiber and it came to 2 points total. Is this fair to do? I used 2 1/2 zucchinis for this and we got 2 extrememely large portions which we gobbled up. I have to say, it was not quite as good as when I use straight Shake n Bake, but it if makes one large serving for one point and stretches out the mix giving me extra fiber for the day, I'll probably stick to this in the future.

My goal was really to make a super low point meal of things I like. I would rather use more points when I go out to eat since I have less control.

So to be precise, I would say this meal was 4.5 points and incredibly satisfying and filling. As I try to get enough veggies in for the day, I'm learning which ones have zero points and trying to cook with those more and more.

2007-03-07T10:37:00.000-08:00

Fake Fried Zucchini
A while back I was making Shake n Bake chicken (using Quorn fake chicken) and I had leftover mix. Instead of making my blackened okra, I coated the chopped okra in the seasoning mix and baked it. It turned out crunchy and DELISH! I am a huge fan of fried okra and honestly, I could stay away forever if I could eat my shake n bake. So after some failed zucchini coins using fish fry in the oven (my boyfriend's idea), I decided to try it with Shake n Bake and it turned out great. I've recently read a couple recipes for something similar using Fiber One cereal through a food processor. I'll add that to my mix tonight to bring the points down and stretch it out, but this is a great alternative. Here is my quick version

Ingredients:
2 small/medium zucchini's, sliced in sticks
1/2 packet of Shake n Bake of Kraft's Oven Fry (same points)
bowl of water

Directions:
Dip the zucchini slices in bowl of water
Coat them in seasoning (in a bag works best)
Place on non-stick pan
Spray with Butter or Garlic flavored fat free cooking spray, I go over the pan a couple times
If some slices look a little bare, you can sprinkle some extra mix on

Place in Oven on 400 degrees, 15 minutes, then flip and coat with more spray, another 15 minutes. I set my oven to Broil for the last 5 minutes to get them as crunchy as possible. They weren't , too salty, but they were still a little juicy on the inside and had such a good flavor. We got 3 decent sized servings from this so I would estimate 1.5 points. I wanted to eat all 3 servings!

We enjoyed the zucchini with 1/2 cup of cilantro lime rice and 1 grilled fake chicken breast (seasoned with lemon pepper, a touch of fat free italian dressing, lemon juice, salt, and black pepper)

So the entire meal was a total of 5.5 points!

2007-03-02T06:44:00.000-08:00

Spinach & Black Bean Quesadillas
So I found this recipe on Roni's WW Page, and wanted to try it myself. I was able to lower the points a little so that these tortillas, with a tablespoon of fat free sour cream and plenty of salsa is 3 pts total! Once I bought the ingredients, I ate this several nights in a week, making it a quick, easy, and low-point meal. When I come home at night, I'm not in the mood for a frozen dinner. I usually only like to eat those at work since they are easy and cheap.
Ingredients:
Handful of fresh spinach leaves
Chopped grilled onion or fresh green onion
Low fat or fat free refried Beans ( I only use about 1/6th of the can)
2 fat free La Tortilla Factory tortillas check it out
1 oz 2% cheddar cheese, shredded
Fat Free cooking spray (garlic or butter flavored)

Spread tortillas with black beans, add toppings, cook in skillet on medium to low heat (to prevent tortillas from burning before the cheese melts), about 2-3 minutes for each side. Let cool, cut, and eat with a side of fat free sour cream (I do one tablespoon) and salsa.

2007-02-21T12:45:00.000-08:00

Anna's Guest Entry

Eggsellent!

Eating healthy doesn’t have to be boring or a time consuming process. I found an easy, delicious and low value point recipe on the WW website I prepared for dinner the other night. Luckily for me I had most of the ingredients in my fridge.

Here is the recipe for the Chicken Fried Rice straight from WW:

Ingredients:

2 cups cooked brown rice
4 large egg whites
1/2 cup carrot(s)
2 medium garlic clove(s)
1/2 cup frozen green peas
3 Tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
12 oz uncooked boneless, skinless chicken breast
2 sprays cooking spray

Being the iconoclast that I am, I didn’t follow the instructions verbatim. Being creative in the kitchen is what cooking from the heart & soul is all about, right?

I used a medium frying pan and coated the pan with two sprays of Original Pam cooking spray. In went the egg whites. Scramble the egg whites for a few minutes; which are all it takes to cook the egg whites all the way through. Remove from the pan and set aside for later. Next I added the finally chopped garlic and scallions. Sauté until soft – about five minutes then throw in the peas, carrots and chicken breasts. I seasoned the chicken breasts with a little salt and a decent amount of pepper and cut into bit sized pieces. Cook and stir until the chicken is fully cooked then add the brown rice. Stir a little bit more then sprinkle the soy sauce in and stir again. Voila! Dinner in less than 30 minutes.

I added a couple of drops of Sriracha for added kick and it did nothing to increase the value points.

Chicken Fried Rice = 1 cup serving 3 points

Since I am cooking for one, I had plenty of leftovers. I found this interesting recipe from (where else?!?) WW for a fried rice breakfast omelet.... which I prepared and enjoyed this morning. The recipe is really simple. However, true to form, I didn’t follow the recipe on the WW website. I modified it to fit my daily points intake. Here is the recipe for my version:

Ingredients:

1 egg = 2 points
¾ cup egg whites = 0 points
½ cup chicken fried rice = 1.5 points
2 sprays cooking spray
salt and pepper

In a bowl, add egg and egg white then whisk.

Coat pan with two sprays of cooking spray then add the chicken fried rice. Cook until fried rice is heated. Then add the egg mixture and allow the eggs to sit for a minute until the egg mixture is solid:

Once firm, flip the eggs carefully to cook on the other side. The whole process will take less than 10 minutes.

I added a couple of slices of mango and some strawberries for garnish and the serving sizes are so small, it was 0 points. So the entire dish is a hearty and filling 3.5 points. Bon Apetit!

2007-02-16T14:00:00.001-08:00

Relaunch

It's been quite some time since I posted last. I fell off the wagon a bit. I gained a few pounds, stopped keeping track and stopped being really good about buying weight watcher friendly groceries. BUT, I'm back! I've lost a few pounds in the last few weeks of gettin back in the swing and picked up my old (good) habits again slowly. Thankfully, I purchased an electronic weight watchers calculator last fall and that has been a savior while shopping. I'll post some photos of new recipes and favorite foods this weekend.

2007-02-16T14:00:00.000-08:00

2006-10-30T07:45:00.000-08:00

King Ranch Chicken Casserole (vegetarian)
This was a casserole I used to LOVE, and haven't had it in years. I tried my best ot make a low far version and it turned out to be wonderful, but there were some lower fat foods I couldn't find at my local Kroger that would have lowered the points more. There is always next time.
Ingredients:
4 quorn naked cutlets, chopped
1 lg. onion, chopped
2 tbsp. butter ( I just used ff olive oil spray)
1 tsp. chili powder (I used taco seasoning)
Dash garlic salt
1 can cream of chicken soup or 1 can cream of mushroom soup (I used the 98% fat free)
1 can (10 oz.) Rotel tomatoes and green chilies, drained and crushed
1/2 lb. Cheddar cheese, grated (I used low fat smart balance)
12 corn/flour tortillas, cut into strips (I used low fat mission)
1/4 cup of chopped fresh cilantro
Directions:
Saute onion in ff olive oil spray. Combine taco seasoning, garlic salt, soups, 1/3 can of warm water and Rotel. Line 1/2 or tortilla strips in a large casserole; top with 1/2 chicen,1/2 soup mixture,1/2 onion and cilantro, then 1/2 cheese. Repeat layers. Cook covered at 350 degrees for 30 minutes; then uncover and bake an additional 15 minutes. (You can also use flour tortillas instead of corn.)
Let stand for 5 mins becuase it comes out a little soupy when it's super fresh.
This came to 6.5 points if the dish makes 4 servings and 10 points if the dish makes 6. I think I got 6 hearty portions from But next time I will use 1/2 fat free cheese and the SUPER low fat tortillas to reduce the points even more.

The next day I took a scoop of leftovers and put it on the skillet with an egg for a mexi style omelet, mmmmmm good!

2006-10-03T10:23:00.000-07:00

CHILI CHEESEDOG CASSEROLE
GUEST ENTRY BY CARRIE MURPHY

good afternoon hungry yet healthy readers.
this is a quick & delicious meal. this is great for those of you that
have kids, or are just a kid at heart that loves them some CHILIDOGZ!

i made this dish vegetarian.

the recipe calls for
8 hot dogs
8 hot dog buns
1 can of chili
2 tablespoons of mustard
2 cups of cheese
1/4 cup red onion (chopped)

what i used
8 veggiedogs
6 hotdog buns
1 can of veggie chili
almost 3 tablespoons of mustard
1 cup of kroger brand
casserole shredded cheese
1/4 cup onion (chopped)

preheat oven to 425
first you spray a casserole pan w/ kroger brand pam
tear up the hot dog buns and place in the bottom of the pan.
cut up the dogs into bite size pieces & scatter over buns. pour the
chili over the buns & dogs, sprinkle the chopped red onion all over,
then spread the mustard over everything. top off w/ the shredded
cheese & bake for 30 minutes.
Made about 12 sections and each section was 3 pts. We ate 2 sections each and filled us up!

i add dill relish to mine.

delicious!

2006-09-26T08:23:00.000-07:00

Vegetarian Sheperd's Pie

For those who love (fake) meat and potatoes, this is a good meal for cold days when you want some comfort food. I buy Colman's of Norwich Sheperd's Pie Seasoning packet that is in the British section of my local Kroger. They have the recipe on back but I pretty much know it from memory, this recipe is close.
Ingredients
1 lb. fake ground beef
1 1/2 pound potatos- mashed (might want to add some milk and salt)
2-4 carrots, diced
1 onion diced
cup peas (optional)
1 cup cold water
1 package colman's
Brown the onions and fake beef in skillet, add carrots and water and seasoning and simmer- 5-7 mins maybe. Transfer mince mix
to casserole dish. Spread mashed taters on top. Bake 30 mins at 400, or till top is a golden color.
The recipe is on the mix so go by that but this is close. If you can't find the seasoning packet, you can use a meatloaf sesaoning packet and it comes pretty close.

2006-08-21T09:35:00.000-07:00

Vietnamese Sammich, or Banh Mi
I was craving a vietnamese sammich, but wanted to try it on my own. So, I went to the grocery store and bought:
1 French Roll (this was actually a bollio, but for 20 cents, wutevz)
cilantro
cucumbers
shredded carrots
Quorn Naked Cutlets
I had low fat mayo at home (usually have ff nayonaise though), hoison sauce, one onion, Paul Newman's Low Fat Sesame Ginger Dressing, and soy sauce

First, I marinated the chicken (cut in half) and shredded carrots for about 15 mins in couple tablespoons of the sesame ginger dressing and soy sauce.
I cooked the chicken and a handful of onion on the skillet with some of the marinade and set the carrots aside to drain a little. While that cooked, I chopped the cucumber and cilantro. I took my lil baguette untoated but most places serve it toasted, and spread some mayo. Then I added all the veggies and chicken, cilantro, and put a little hoison on top. I usually get either tofu or bbq pork, but for an at-home healthy version, I'll try the fake chicken again. They also usually put fresh jalapeno on the sammich, but I'm a wuss so I left it off.

2006-08-14T10:21:00.000-07:00

Just a little bit...
I have been busy with life and haute tuna so I haven't had much time to cook. I will be back for a little while after this week or next. I miss this blog. I miss cooking and taking photos of my dishes. So, in the meantime I thought I'd share some low-point foods that I've been munching on. CRUMPETS! GLORIOUS CRUMPETS! I'm a big fan of english muffins, but I found these at a Kroger on the other side of town and had to try them. The brand I got was Farm Country, but they are not online. They are kinda spongey and moist on the inside even when toasted. ZERO FAT. I calculated it and they are one point a piece. Great for breakfast or with coffee/tea. I'm hooked. Guess I'm going to have to go back to that Kroger. Here is a place you can buy them online, but they've got to be in a british aisle near you. Otherwise, find em here
I toast them till they are golden on top and put some ff spray butter. MMMMMM, delish!

2006-07-24T06:59:00.000-07:00

Lean Cuisine Skillets Chicken Dish

I tried out the new Lean Cuisine skillets bag the other night. It's a bag with frozen pasta, sauce and veggies that serves 3 and is 15 points total! It was SO easy to prepare. I added a teaspoon of oregano, a tablespoon of spicy brown mustard, some ff vegtable cooking spray, about 10 sprays of ff margarine spray, some satl, pepper, and about 1/4 cup of sliced red oinios. This turned out way better than I expected and very flavorful. Had mine with a slice of 40 calorie light sourdough bread and ate more than 1/3 of the dish. I'd say this plate is about 8 points but it filled me up! I'm definately going to try more of these.

2006-07-23T16:50:00.000-07:00

Asian Chicken Stiry Fry

I have decided to finally try cooking with frozen veggies. I went to the store and bought a bag containing broccoli, carrots, snow peas, water chesnuts and some noodles, a bag of chopped carrots, and a bag of chopped broccoli. I put on 3 quron cutlets in the skillet with a teaspoon of minced garlic, ff vegetable cooking spray, one copped green bell pepper (for robby only) and some chopped white onions. Added at least 1/2 cup from each bag of frozen veggies, a tablespoon of light soy sauce, a tablespoon of black bean garlic sauce, a tablespoon of hoison, and a tablespoon of plum sauce. It took a little over 10 minutes to cook and in the meantime I cooked some medium grain rice. This plate is about 1/4 of the skillet and 1/2 cup of rice. The points value for the plate is probably 5 points. SOOOO good! I ate all the leftovers!
*Note* Roadie (pictured above) provided supervision for this dish

2006-07-02T16:25:00.000-07:00

LEFTOVERS!!!
I used the leftover chicken breast I had from last night's "lemon garlic roast chicken" and put it in a wheat pita pocket with 3/4 a serving of ff Lays on the side. MMMMMMM! So good and only 4 points for the entire plate! I need to do this more often with pita pockets.

2006-07-02T15:57:00.000-07:00

Lemon Garlic Roast Chicken
I got this from the ww "Take-Out Tonight" book again. The recipe is way more complicated so I'm going to try my best to tell you how I did it. This recipe is using fake chicken so it doesn't have to be cooked long. If you want the recipe straight from the cook for chicken, I can type that up- just comment.
Serves 4
Ingredients:
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
4 quorn naked cutlets, thawed
1 pound small red potatoes, quartered
1/8 cup water

1. Preheat Oven to 425
2. Combine 1/4 cup lemon juice, 1 tablespoon of the pil, the garlic, oregano, margoram, 1/2 teaspoon of the salt, and 1/8 teaspooon of the pepper in a large bowl. Add the quorn, tossing well to coat and let sit 20 mins, turning occasionally.
3. Meanwhile, combine the potatoes, remaining 1/2 tablespoon of ooil, 1/4 teaspoon of salt, 1/8 teaspoon of pepper, 1/8 cup water and 1/4 cup lemon juice in a casserole dish. Put in oven to roast for 15 mins. Add the chicken to the oven, maybe swapping racks and cook both for another 15 mins (check after 10). You may want to spray the potatoes with non-stick veg oil spray throughout and turn the chicken halfway through.
I served this with 1/4 cup chipotle style rice (i pt) and 1 "Whole Wheat Salad Pocket" (1 pt) with a lil ff margarine spary. Since I used fake chicken instead and the recipe was 6 pts for the chicke, I estimate the whole plate to be 6 pts with the fake chicken. It had a really nice tangy flavor and was in the greek section but could pass for italian.

2006-07-02T10:27:00.000-07:00

Eggplant Parmesan Hero
I got this one from my ww "Take-Out Tonight" book. It's been my bible lately.
Makes 4 servings- 7 points each
Ingredients:
1 (1 pound) eggplant, unpeeled and cut into 1/4 inch thick slices
1 large egg
1 tablespoon fat-free milk
1/2 cup italian bread crumbs
2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese (can use low fat kind)
1 cup marinara sauce, warm
1/4 cup shredded- part skim mozzarella cheese
4 italian hard rolls

1. Preheat oven to 375. Spray nonstick baking sheet w/ nonstick spary, set aside
2. Lightly beat the egg and milk in shallow bowl. Mix bread crumbs and Parmesan on a sheet of wax paper (I didn't have wax paper so I used foil). Dip eggplant in the egg mixture, then in the bread crumbs, and arrange in one layer on the baking sheet. Lightly spray the eggplant with non-stick spray. Bake eggplant until softened and lightly browned, about 25 mins.
3. Divide eggplant into 4 portions on the baking sheet. Overlap each group so they are no longer than the dimensions of each roll. Top each portion with 1 tablespoon of mozzarella. Bake until the cheese is melted, about 2 mins.
4. Transfer each eggplant portion to the bottom of each roll; top each with 1/4 cup of the sauce. Replace top of rolls and serve at once.

I peeled these by accident first. I also added some salt n pepper at the end for extra kick that I think they needed. You can add some to the bread crumb mixture befcore you coat them.

2006-06-28T06:42:00.000-07:00

Diana's Szechuan Chicken with Peanuts
We had ww at my house, but Diana cooked. She got the recipe from the weight watchers “Take-Out Tonight” book which is AWESOME. Everything in there looks fabulous. Here's the recipe.
Szechuan Chicken with Peanuts
From weight watchers “Take-Out Tonight”

Makes 4 Servings, 6 pts per serving (with chicken)

Ingredients:
1 pound skinless boneless chicken breasts, cut into thin strips (we used quorn naked cutlets)
3 tblspns hoison sauce
2 tblspns cornstarch
½ cup low- sodium chicken broth (can use vegetable broth)
2 tblspns rice vinegar
2 tblspns sugar (can use splenda)
2 tspns chili-garlic sauce (cut in half if you can’t have the spice)
1 tblspn canola oil
1 tblspn minced peeled fresh ginger
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
2 medium carrots, thinly sliced on a diagonal
¼ cup unsalted, dry-roasted peanuts

Combine the chicken, 1 tblspn of the hoison sauce, and 1 tblspn of the cornstarch in a medium bowl; toss well to coat and set aside. Combine the remaining 2 tblspns of hoison sauce, 1 tblspn of cornstarch, the broth, vinegar, sugar, and chili-garlic sauce in a small bowl, set aside.
Heat a non-stick wok or a large, deep skillet over medium-high heat until a drop of water sizzles. Swirl in the oil, then add the chicken. Stir-fry until almost cooked though, 2-3 minutes. Add the ginger and garlic; stir-fry until fragrant, about 15 seconds. Add the bell pepper, carrots, and peanuts; stir-fry until crisp-tender, about 2 minutes. Add the hoison sauce mixture and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture boils and thickens and the chicken is cooked though, about 1 minute.
We substituted the chicken with quorn naked cutlets and had ours with ½ cup of jasmine rice- It probably still came out to 6 points for the entire plate!

2006-06-23T08:27:00.000-07:00

Snack Favorite of the Week!
I just discovered that Nabisco makes fat free fig Newton bars in lil snack packs that come 12 to a box. Hello convenience! Each pack is 2 points as opposed the the non ff packs featured here which are 3.5 points. I also found a site which sells a TWENTY FOUR pack for 11 bux!!! These are great for a snack or dessert and being individually wrapped should keep you from eating too many. It amazes me how many choices we have at the grocery store these days. I think my friend Ryan will be reviewing the smart ones breakfast sandwich next week. Mantry.

2006-06-22T06:28:00.000-07:00

Pizza and Game Nite

My high school friends (who are still my adult friends), came over last night for pizza and games. We made pizza on pita bread or as carrie calls it, pitza. I forgot to use her recipe. I bought wheat pitas (2 pts), spread some regular ole pizza sauce on it (1/8 cup) because I could not for the life of me find any Healthy Choice ff sauce (.5 pts.), sprinkled some italian seasoning and pepper, added 2.5 oz of smart balance mozerella cheese (5 pts), and topped it with onions, mushrooms, and some more itialian seasoning. I cooked it on 350 for 6 mins and then broil for another 6 mins to get the cheese a lil golden. They turned out really great! Perfect size, crust was great, mmmm. I added a side salad of spinach, cucumber, olives, mushrooms, msall amount of diced onions and grape tomatoes. I finally tried the wishbone spray vinegarette salad dressing and it was AMAZING! Not too much vinegar, just tart enough, and being able to spray it on allows for full but not over-coverage. Everyone loved it. So the total points for the meal is 8. I might use less cheese next time or do half mozerella and half ff feta. Despite the stack of games, we only got to play Truth or Date Jenga and that didn't even last too long.

2006-06-21T06:37:00.000-07:00

Anna's WW Nite

We had weight watcher's at Anna's last night. Diana did hair, I cooked Indian bread,Bubbles begged for food, Anna made her yummy curry veggies, and we watched KOQ (King of Queens) on DVD. Hello Heaven! Anna made this recipe up and it was so delish. I got the bread recipe from a ww cookbook, and we served it with Chipotle style rice (recipe on previous entry- scroll down).
Anna's Vegetable Curry
Ingredients:
1 can of low fat coconut milk
1 cup cauliflower, chopped
3 white potatoes (cubed)
1 1/3 cup baby carrots
1 samall can of peas
1 green green bell pepper, chopped
1 handful cilantro, chopped
1 tsp.salt
1 tsp. pepper
1-2 tsp. cumin
1 pkg curry mix of choice (i used taste ofAsiaaIndiann curry)
Directions:
In a large pot, Sautee veggies in ff vegetable oil spray for 5 minutes. Add salt, pepper & cumin (I sprinkled enough to cover the veggies). Stir veggies for a minute or so. Add low fat coconut milk and curry paste. Let it cook on medium heat for 25 minutes. Add cilantro last to bring out a nice flavor. Serve with rice, enjoy!
Serving size, about 1 cup. Estimated points value is 2-3 points.

Chipati Indian Bread (basically a wheat version on naan is how it turned out)
Ingredients:
1 1/3 cup whole wheat flour
2/3 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup warm water
1 tsp. salt
Directions: In medium mixing bowl, combine both flours and salt. Form a well in the center and add warm water. Mix (Knead) dough with hands 7-10 minutes (I recommend adding 1 tsp of veg. oil with the water to moisten the dough a lil). Set aside and cover, let sit 10 minutes. Split dough into 12 sections. Form sections into balls with your hands.Rolle each ball into a flat, round piece about 6 inches wide. Heat a skillet (I added a lil ff veg. oil spray for each piece) on medium heat and place onepiecee on at a time. Let cook at least 1 min., the top should bubble a little and the bottom should become browned. Flatten each side with a spatula as it cooks. You should cook each side 1-2 minutes. Just eyeball it to see that it's done. Pile em up on a plate be carefull, they are super hot when you take them off the skillet) and serve with curry veggies.
1 point per piece.

2006-06-20T06:22:00.000-07:00

Robby's Italian Dinner

Saturday night Robby made me dinner! We had wheat spaghetti topped with Healthy Choice Garlic and Basil marinara sauce. In a skillet he browned 1 quorn nacken cutlet in lemon pepper seasoning, salt n pepper, and ff vegetable oil spray. I made garlic toast on 7 grain bread with spray butter and fresh garlic. The fresh garlic gives it a strong flavor that added to the meal. We split the quorn cutlet and topped it with some chopped basil I had that comes in a tube. I would say we had one cup of the wheat pasta. I estimate the meal to be 7 points, not bad!

2006-06-19T18:14:00.000-07:00

Megan's Weight Watcher Nite

We had weight watcher's at Megan's new house. It was Chicken Parmesan made with Quorn fake chicken patties, wheat pasta, and healthy choice pasta sauce. We had a nice salad on the side with Newman's Own low fat vinegarette. MMMMM! Megan originally estimated the meal to be about 7 points, but I think it's more like 9. Either way it was a HUGE delicious meal, I can't believe I ate it all! I couldn't tell that the pasta was wheat either. And Anna brought Krusteaz fat free brownie muffins, so good!

2006-06-15T07:36:00.000-07:00

The Diet Soda Challenge
My fellow ww-friend Anna , recently told me that she wanted to cut diet sodas out of her diet. I kinda laughed it off since diet sodas are no calories, thinking drinking them wouldn't change anything. I'm a diet soda addict (meaning I have to have at least one a day) so I think I just didn't want to comprehend giving up my bubbly.
Then I thought about it more. Consuming aspartame everyday is not exactly a good thing. Also, the carbonated can lead to bloating and gas (not pleasant I know). So I got back to Anna and decided to try to cut the diet coke out. I'm replacing it with tea to which I add Stevia, a natural calorie free sweetener made from Stevia Leaf. I found this Article .which doesn't go into why we gain weight from diet sodas. Then I found this Article which debates aspartame and it's long-term effects. I can't say now whether quittting diet coke will lead to any amount of weight loss, but it can't be a bad thing to reduce your intake of aspartame and cut down on the carbonated beverages. So, Anna and I will be taking on this challenge to see if we can find any results of our own. I can't say that I won't have ANY diet cokes, but for now I'm trying to resist them completely and not rely on them each day. Wish us luck!

2006-06-11T12:17:00.000-07:00

Grilled Mushroom and Onion Sammich on Garlic Loaf
Carrie's sammich blog has been making me (and many others I'm sure) think about sammiches more lately.
So today I took some leftovers, bought a fresh garlic loaf from Kroger and made yumminess.
The loaf comes underbaked, so you bake it and it tastes all fresh n warm and it has whole garlic cloves in it, mmmmm.
I grilled the onion and mushrooms in ff canola oil spray, added salt, pepper, and season-all.
Spread one slice of the bread with a lil ff nayonaise and put 1/2 slice of 2% pepper jack single on there (wasn't even necessary). Topped it with the onions and mushrooms and added baby carrots as a side. The bread was 3.5 points a serving and the cheese was MAYBE a point (if that). Next time I'll just leave out the cheese. The sammich is small, but I needed to eat some carrots anyway so it kept it healthy.

2006-06-11T11:30:00.000-07:00

Chipotle cilantro lime rice and Beef/Quorn Kabobs

I love the cilantro lime rice at Chipotle so I decided to try to replicate it- Robby loves his grill so I thought we could do kabobs with it. We are both vegetarian-friendly so we did 1 skewer of beef and veggies and another with quorn naked cutlests (fake chicken) and veggies
I found the recipe for the rice online and altered it a lil
1 teaspoon vegetable oil or butter - replaced this with smart balance squeeze butter and ff vegetable oil spray
2 tsp. fresh cilantro
2/3 cup white basmati rice
1 cup water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 Lime
In a 2-quart heavy saucepan, heat oil or butter over low heat, stirring occasionally until melted. Add rice and lime juice, stir for 1 minute. Add water and salt, bring to a full rolling boil. At boiling, cover, turn down to simmer over low heat until rice is tender and the water is absorbed, about 25 minutes. Fluff rice with a fork.
KABOBS
marinated 2 quorn naked cutlets in some oiliv oil, balsamic vinegar, soy sauce, water, salt, pepper. I don't have measurements, but try a tablespoon of each of the liquids and a teaspoon of Salt n Pepper and see how that works. Stir the fake chicken around, then add mushrooms, zuchini and let let sit for 10 minutes. Stuck all this on skewers with onions and red bell peppers, grilled and done!
I estimate each plate to be 7-8 points. I measured 1/2 cup of the rice of each plate. If you used quorn instead of beef for the other skewer, it would be 4-6 points for the whole meal.

The rice held the shape from the 1/2 cup measurer, helped the presentation!

Robby had his with a 1/2 avacado, mmmmmm

2006-06-08T07:04:00.000-07:00

Vegetarian Low Fat Mexi-Tarts
So, I went to tart cafe recently http://www.tartcafe.com , and got pretty excited thinking about lil personal tarts!
So, I decided to attempt a tex mex tart first. I bought mini quiche tins, put a couple layers of wheat Filo Dough inside (bought it from Central Market in the frozen pie section). It breaks apart in your hands but you can just layer the pieces on top of each other, about 3 layers and they will cook together but still be flaky like filo. Then I added a dollop of ff (fat free) cream cheese at the bottom, then about 1/4 a cup of browned quorn, bell peppers, and onions with taco seasoning added to it in the skillet and some water so it wouldn't dry out. I put in a tablespoon or two of loose corn that I steamed in the microwave for a couple minutes, and smart balance cheddar and 1-2 tablespoons of some fancy hard spanish cheese we found at central market. We each got 2 and I estimate their points value to be from 4-5 points per tart depending on how much and what kind of cheese you use. I think next time I would just have one tart with a side salad or even a bean salad. I also topped mine with a lil warm Tejas salsa. mmmmmmmm.

2006-05-25T14:36:00.000-07:00

Layred Tortillas Bake
I got this recipe from a ww community blog and modified it a lil bit. It's yummy no matter what though.
Ingredients:
1 pound very lean ground beef (I replaced it with 2 quorn naked cutlets 2-3 points total)
1 can dark red kidney beans, drained and rinsed (you can use pintos as well)
1 can (28 oz) diced tomatoes
1 can 4 (oz) chopped green chilis (if you don't like the spice, leave these out or use a 1 oz)
i/2- 3/4 pkg taco seasoning
p kg corn tortillas (12, 6 inch tortillas)
1 cup (4 0z) shredded low fat cheddar cheese (i used 1/2 c smar balance cheddar and 1/2 cup ff cheddar)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brown ground beef in large nonstick skillet; drain well. Mix in beans, tomatoes, chiles and taco seasoning mix. Reduce heat; si,,er 5 min. Spray 9 x 13" baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Cut tortillas in half; place half them in bottom of baking dish, overlapping. Spoon half of beef mixture evenly over tortillas. Cover with remaining tortillas and then remaining beef mixture. Top with cheese. Cover, bake 25 min.
Makes 8 servings and each is 5.5 points, but with my modifications, more like 4.5-5 a piece.

2006-05-19T13:58:00.000-07:00

Asian Tempeh with Carrots and Rice
I know not everyone is a fan of tempeh, but it's yummy and nutty and healthy. The tempeh I use consists of water, soy beans, and brown rice and forms a rectangular patty. I used Lightlife Tempeh soy found in the produce section of my local Kroger.

Cut the thichness of the tempeh in half then into bite-size pieces.
Marinate for 1-24 hours *the longer the better* in:
3 tbsp. low sodium soy sauce
1 tbsp light maple syrup
2 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 tbsp water
1/2 tsp. chinese 5 spice seasoning
1/2 tsp sesame oil
Spray Skillet with FF Vegetable spray and put in 1/2 onion and a couple chopped carrots
Brown for about 2 minutes
Add marinated tempeh with sauces
brown for about 10 minutes and add 5-6 tbsp. of light soy sauce and veg. spray as needed
Serve with 1 cup asian rice (I use botan found at Fiesta)
Makes 4 hearty servings fo stir fry
1 serving with 1 cup of rice is 6.5 points!
http://www.lightlife.com/original.html

2006-05-17T06:31:00.000-07:00

Camille and Carrie's 7 point "Pitninis"
When Carrie isn't busy grabbing her boobs she's making awesome sandwhiches, or as she says "sammiches". Her dream is to open a sammich shop someday and she's been doing a sammich tour blog. So we teamed up last night on our weight watchers Tuesday.
We used white pitas (est. 4 points each)
spread some hummus inside (est. 1 point)
sliced cherry tomatoes
quorn (fake chick breast) cooked in italian dressing, veg broth, dill, salt/pepper/ceyenne (1 pt)
fat free shredded cheddar (1 point)
alfalfa sprouts
put em on the george foremon to get em melty
Some of Carries pickle juice got on mine and made it yummy
We estimated 7 points, wheat pita might have been lower but there were not available
me chowing down
Carrie's is fat
Mine is a lil wimpy looking

2006-05-10T06:39:00.000-07:00

Top of the Muffin to you!

I have been craving blueberry muffins forever now and found a mix for 2 point muffins. Krusteaz has a Fat Free Wild Blueberry Muffin mix with, get this, REAL BLUEBERRIES! Pretty Amazing! I wrote to Continental Mills and they provided me with the nutritional info, but I can't seem to copy and paste it. I can forward it via e-mail if anyone wants it. Enjoy!
http://krusteaz.com/brands/krusteaz/Muffin__Crumb_Cake_Mixes/fat_free_wild_blueberry_muffin_mix/

2006-05-08T10:35:00.000-07:00

Wish-ya-had-it

Wishbone has come out with spray-on salad dressing in 3 vinaigrette flavors that are only 1 calorie a spray. The serving size is 10 sprays, but I calculated 20 sprays and still only came up with half a point!
http://www.wish-bone.com/dressing.asp?kind=ss&dressing=ss_balsa

2006-05-08T06:44:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,
I've started this blog to post weight watcher-friendly recipes for those who don't have access to the site and to post ones that I have created or modified. I will try to photograph each item to give you an idea of how it turns out and will calculate the points to the best of my ability. I would also like to have "guest chef's" post their own recipes since I know many good cooks. Today is an appropriate day to start this since I heard it was "anti-diet" day in Europe. Some group that believes if you overcome the mental want for food at certain times, there is no need for a diet. I would just like to promote healthy eating and yummy alternatives to many high cal high fat recipes. I'll also post tips on new ww friendly products and hopefully where they can be found. Enjoy!
XOXO
Camille