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Mercy me!! I concocted a “to die for” summer recipe that comes in at only about 1.5 WW points per cup. I have always loved the broccoli salad with the red onions, bacon, raisins, & mayo dressing but never made it myself. Figured I’d have more self-control if I ate it only at picnics & had no leftovers. BUT, if you make substiutions, you can have all the taste & a fraction of the calories. Here’s how…
1 1/2 to 2 bunches of fresh broccoli, chopped up to bite-sized pieces (free)
11 slices turkey bacon cut up (that was 1/2 the package I had)
– Turkey bacon is 1 point per slice fyi.
2/3 cup raisins (4 points)
1 small red onion, chopped (free)
1 1/2 cup fat free Miracle Whip dressing (7 points) – use less if you want less points. It’s 5 points per cup.
1 cup Splenda (free)
3 Tbl vinegar (free)
Refrigerate for supposedly 2 hours or more. I couldn’t wait, so ate some after 1 hour – INCREDIBLE!!! So good!! This recipe has made it into the summer rotation. The bowl I made had about 12 cups of salad in it & totaled 20 points!! I like plenty of dressing.
Gotta go. More broccoli salad calls!
It’s never too early to think about April Fool’s around these parts. For history on this subject, read here. Anyway, since the kids don’t read this blog, thought I’d share some ideas for you to get the juices flowing. I’m thinking of going the food route this year. I’ve never done that before, so the kids will be unsuspecting. : ) Perfect! Here’s a great site with oodles of ideas. Personally, I’m thinking of doing a variation of this one and/or this one. A lot of them are sweet treats & cute, but I’m looking for a tricky meal. The faux french fries & pizza are awfully cute, though! Check them out & let me know if you’ve got any more fun ideas for a healthy-ish tricky meal. Here’s another site with a few more ideas. My boys would sure love this one!
Here’s a great substitute for pumpkin pie. And let me tell you, they are delicious! This recipe makes 9 servings, 2 points each.
Pumpkin Squares
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup cold water
1 can (29 oz) pumpkin
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 cup Splenda
5 whole graham crackers
1/2 cup low-fat Cool Whip
In saucepan, sprinkle gelatin over cold water & let stand for 2 minutes. Heat over low heat, stirring until gelatin is completely dissolved. Add pumpkin, brown sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, salt, ginger, & cloves. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat; simmer uncovered for 5 minutes stirring frequently. Remove from heat & cool to room temperature. Stir in Splenda. Line bottom of an 8-inch square dish with graham crackers. Pour pumpkin mixture over crackers. Cover & refrigerate overnight. Serve with a dollop of Cool Whip.
Stats: 120 calories, 2 g fat, 190 mg sodium, 4 g fiber, 5 g protein, 23 g carb.
Taken from Light & Tasty Magazine.
Here’s a new recipe for those of us Weight Watching…
Point Chopper Potato Chowder
6 cups of water
6 cubes of chicken bouillon
1 envelope of Pioneer Brand Country Gravy
1 pkg. frozen southern style hash brown potatoes
1 can of corn, drained
1 can of creamed corn
salt & potato flakes as desired
I throw in about 2 or 3 Tbl. dried minced onions
Bring the water & bouillon to a boil. Make sure the cubes are dissolved. Add everything else. The potato flakes add “body”, but don’t add too much or you’ll start adding points. I gave this two squeezes on the flake box – I call it two “poofs”. : ) 1/3 cup? This soup is delicious! I added the corn, creamed corn, onions, & potato flakes on my own so haven’t figured out the points exactly yet, but without that stuff (which I wouldn’t think would add more than a point per cup) it’s one point per cup!! Again, this new recipe makes the weekly rotation.
FYI – I did try a new recipe last week that didn’t work, but why bother sharing that here? I’m gonna give that recipe one last chance in a few weeks with a few new tweeks before probably ditching it. The family seemed to like it more than I did. It was Pineapple Chicken from the WW booklet. I added too much ginger for one thing, so we’ll see what happens when I lay off that a tad.
One goal for this new year is to mix it up a bit in the kitchen with one healthy, low point new recipe each week or so. The new one for this week turned out to be a keeper just like last week. : ] Here it is…
Healthy Fried Rice
(Makes 10 one cup servings)
4 cups brown rice, cooked
chicken breast (12 oz.), cubed
good shot of ginger powder
good shot of garlic powder
dried minced onions
(if you like, get the real things on the three above. I’m just too lazy & use the powder.)
soy sauce
2 chicken bouillon cubes
4 egg whites only
2 cups frozen peas, thawed
2 cups diced carrots
Have the rice cooked & waiting. Cook up your chicken pieces. When they start to brown, add your garlic, ginger, onions, & soy sauce all to taste. Let that sit on a medium heat a bit. Then put that aside with your rice. Dice your carrots & thaw out your peas. I then cook my carrots in the skillet that had the chicken ( to get whatever chicken flavor out of the skillet I may have missed), add a tiny bit of water & the two bouillon cubes in & cover to steam cook about ten minutes. When they are done, put your carrots aside along with all the other stuff (a big bowl does the trick to work as a holding tank). Last step! Cook up the egg whites just like scrambled eggs in the same skillet. Once they are done, all you have to do is dump your bowl full of stuff set aside, stir, give it all a few shots of soy sauce & eat.
One thing we accidentally stumbled on to tonight that absolutely sends it over the moon delicious is a secret “topping”. Let me tell you the story behind it. Anders was balking a bit before knowing what we were having tonight. “Can I have peanut butter?” he asked. My first reaction was “NO!”, but then Keith & I looked at each other. I used to make a Thai dish that was pretty involved to make but we loved. It had ginger, rice, soy sauce, & peanut butter! Why not?! “Okay, Anders. You can have pb with it. Let’s all have pb with it.” We each stirred in a Tablespoon of pb & all thoroughly enjoyed it! Try it, you’ll be surprised. It tastes much like the Thai dish, but is so much easier to make. Gotta love that!
So, if you eat the stir fry plain, you’re looking at 3 Weight Watcher Points per cup. When you add one Tblspoon of peanut butter (we love the extra crunchy), you add 2 more points. Not shabby! You could also do without the chicken & have a 2 point per cup recipe if you wanted. It really fills you up with good stuff & is very satisfying. The pb goodness makes this dish a stand out. This, like last week’s Perfect Soup, is now added to our weekly meal rotation. Two for two ain’t bad.
Found a keeper new recipe!! This one is a combo of a blogger friend, Michele’s Black Bean Soup, Aunt Marilyn’s White Chili, & with a little of my own stuff thrown in. It’s low in fat, high in fiber & taste. We haven’t come up with a name for it yet. Any ideas?
4 cans of black beans (drained)
or a bag of dried black beans soaked overnight & cooked
3 cups water
3 chicken bullion cubes
1 jar or your favorite chunky salsa (I like sweet, so prefer peach)
1 can of corn (drained)
2 tsp. cumin
dried minced onions (I guess I used about 2 Tablespoons?)
Bring the water & cubes to a boil. Add the beans, mashing about half of them against the pan while you stir to thicken. Add the corn, salsa, cumin & onions. Eat & enjoy – quick, simple, nutritious & delicious!
If you serve as above, you end up with 9 cups of soup at 240 calories, 2 grams of fat, & 12 grams of fiber per cup. If you’re doing Weight Watcher Points, that’s 4 points a cup. Pretty good bang for your buck if I do say so myself.
You could throw in some chicken pieces if you like, I just didn’t think it needed it. Beans have loads of protein & are cheap. It doesn’t seem to need the flavor either. But some hubbies may want the meat. I just gave mine some on the side for him to throw in his bowl.
Serve with a dab of plain non-fat yogurt. Could also have tortillas on the side or cheese chunks.
One of the great things about this new soup is it falls under the “could take camping” category. We are planning a longer family camping trip this summer & so are on the lookout for healthy recipes to be able to fix in a camp setting without a lot of fuss. This one is all canned, super healthy, & goes in one pot. Bingo!
Here are a couple election day recipes for that party tonight…
Donkey Droppings
1 can sweetened condensed milk*
2 cups crushed graham cracker crumbs (a 16 oz. boz is 4 1/2 cups)
1 cup shredded coconut
1 teaspoon of rum (or milk)
2 Tablespoons of cocoa
Mix all the ingredients together. Roll into balls the size of buckeyes (1″) & then roll in coconut. You’ll need about 3 1/2 cups of coconut total. Freeze them, then take them out about ten minutes before serving. This recipe makes about 40 droppings, depending on how big you roll them.
If you don’t have any sweetened condensed milk on hand, Keith’s neighbor growing up passed this on to me years ago…
*Microwave Sweetened Condensed Milk
1/2 cup water, warmed
1 cup plus 2 Tablespoons dry skim milk
3/4 cup sugar
Gradually stir in milk, mixing well into warm water. Microwave until hot. Stir in sugar mixing until dissolved. Refrigerate 1 hour to thicken.
Elephant Ears
I’ve never tried to make elephant ears for election, but one of these years I just might. Here’s an easy & fun one that looks easy enough…
1 (10 can) refrigerated biscuits
1/4 c. sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1. Open can of biscuits. Press 2 together and roll out between 2 sheets of wax paper until thin as possible.
2. Heat vegetable oil (enough to cover bottom) in a large skillet over medium heat. Fry elephant ear one or two at a time until golden brown on one side, then turn and fry other side. Drain on paper towel and sprinkle with mixture of the sugar and cinnamon. Serve warm. Makes 5 large elephant ears.
Here’s my picks of favorite Weight Watcher recipes my mother-in-law shared with us. You will notice I *heart* Mexican food!!!!!! Peanut butter & chocolate rock, too! Does she know me or what?
Layered Tortilla Bake
(serves 8 making 5.5 WW points a serving)
1# lean ground beef browned
1 can dark red kidney beans drained & rinsed
1 can (28 oz) crushed tomatoes, Italian style
1 can (4oz) chopped green chilis (mild)
1 pkg (1.25 oz) taco seasoning dry mix
tortillas (about 7, 6″)
1 + cup of shredded low fat cheese (cheddar or Mexican)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix hamburger, beans, tomatoes, chilis, & taco seasoning. Spray 9×13 pan. Cut tortillas in half & place half of them in bottom of pan, overlapping to cover. Spoon 1/2 of the beef mixture over tortillas. Cover with remaining tortillas & then remaining beef mixture. Top with cheese. Cover. Bake for 45 minutes.
Mexican Casserole
(serves 8 making 7 WW points a serving)
flour tortillas
32 oz can fat free refried beans
12 oz canned chicken, shredded
2 1/4 cup salsa
16 slices 2% pepper jack cheese
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix beans, chicken, & salsa together to make it easier (recipe officially says to layer these, but who cares? It’s all good.). Spray 9×13 pan. Cut tortillas in half. Place 1/4 cup of salsa in bottom of pan – spread evenly. Layer tortillas, bean/chicken mix, cheese. Remember to alternate which way the tortillas go (flat edge facing outside of pan once, then rounded edge on outside edge of pan, etc. so tortillas are more evenly spread). Make about three or four layers ending with cheese slices on top.
Cover & bake about 60 minutes or until hot all the way through. Remove cover & bake for a couple more minutes or until cheese on top star5ts to brown. Let sit 2 or 3 minutes before serving.
(This is awesome when served with sour cream on top!)
Snicker Pie
(serves 8 making WW points 3 per serving)
12 oz. frozen fat free vanilla yogurt (1 & 1/2 cups)
1 small box sugar free instant chocolate pudding
1/4 cup chunky peanut butter
1 cup lite cool whip
3/4 cup grape nuts cereal
Mix together & pour into a 8″ pie pan & freeze.
(Graham cracker crust is awesome on the bottom of this! Also, you can double it & put it in a 9×13 pan, too.)
Two new Thanksgiving treats the kids are helping me make this year…
Thin Mints
(super easy & super good!)
Ritz crackers
melted chocolate
peppermint oil
Put some (ten”drops” maybe?) oil into the melted chocolate, put whole Ritz crackers in & fish them out with a fork. Tap off excess chocolate & lay on wax paper to dry. You can sprinkle some fall sprinkles on if you want to add fun.
Turkey Legs
Thick rod pretzles
caramel loaf (I buy at an Amish store nearby)
crushed walnuts
melted chocolate
This is my answer for a Thanksgiving turtle. Snap the pretzle rod in two, wrap some caramel around the broken end, roll in the nuts, & dip in chocolate. Again, lay on wax paper to dry. I think these are going to be a hit this year! Start of a new tradition?
Since today is a recipe sharing day, here’s an election day tradition at our house…
Donkey Droppings
– I know, an odd choice for a house full of rah-rah Republicans, but it’s all we got.
(an Aussie friend passed these on to us in Korea – thanks Elaine!)
1 can condensed milk
250 grams plain biscuits (two sleeves of plain graham crackers)
1 Tbs. cocoa
1 cup dessicated coconut (I have no idea what that means – I use reg. shredded coconut)
rum (we are teatotalers here, so use milk:)
Combine all ingredients. Roll into balls like Buckeyes (for those outside of Ohio, about 1-1 & 1/2 inch round). Roll balls in coconut. If you put these in the freezer & remove a few minutes before eating, they are AWESOME! But could be eaten at room temperature as well.
Keith thinks I should learn how to make elephant ears at home, too, to represent both sides of the aisle, but we haven’t gone there yet. Anyone know a good Republican recipe for the upcoming Presidential race? It’s never to early to start thinking about that, you know.
After years of making stir fry, I finally found the ingredient that’s been missing. It’s probably one everybody else already knows, but I am excited to find it, so had to share. I stumbled upon it while making a gingerbread cake (Mom’s fall & winter fave, served warm with a dollop of cool whip for topping) for a family get-together the other night. The back of the molasses bottle had a suggested use for stir-fry.
We love our rice & chicken around here; have it once a week. When we lived in Korea, a girlfriend shared with me the “Korean secret” to sweet & sour from scratch, so that’s how I’ve done it every since. (Recipe found at the end of the post if you’re interested). But with the schezuan stir fry, I never felt confident enough out on my own. I have been buying the Green Giant bag with the sauce packet included, thrown in an extra bag of veggies to make it stretch, & spiced it up a bit with garlic, ginger, soy sauce, & brown sugar. I never figured out how they got that base sauce though. DUH!! MOLASSES! It’s dark, thick, & is what makes brown sugar brown – why didn’t I ever try that before? (In case you’ve never done this before, a fun trick to do with the kids is to “make” your own brown sugar by stirring in a little bit of molasses into a bowl of white sugar. The kids think it’s great, it’s fresh, soft, & makes do when you run out of brown sugar for those chocolate chip cookies.) Just keep in mind, it takes a little bit of molasses & a whole lot of stirring!)
So, now that we have the perfected recipe for our family, I share with you. It may not be right for your clan, but my group licked their platters clean tonight:) And I will never buy another bag of Green Giant overpriced stir-fry veggies again. Warning: I cook off the cuff. I never write down amounts, just go by taste. Sorry.
Schezuan Stir Fry Sauce
1/4 to 1/3 cup molasses, somewhere in there
about 2 Tbl. ginger
good shot of garlic salt (1/2 tsp?)
about 2 Tbl. soy sauce
2 or 3 Tbl. brown sugar (I like it sweeter than some might)
Throw these ingredients into the frying pan after browning up some chicken pieces & stir. Add two bags of your favorite variety of frozen stir-fry veggies. When the veggies are cooked, toss in about 1/4 cup of peanuts, stir, & serve over rice.
If you don’t have a good sweet & sour sauce recipe & have been buying it by the bottle, here’s a great one…
Sweet & Sour Sauce
1/3 cup cornstarch
1 cup water
2 Tbl. white sugar
2 Tbl. vinegar
a dash of red & yellow food coloring (otherwise it looks like someone had major sinus problems in your kitchen – NOT good!)
This is great to add to a skillet of browned chicken chunks along with: carrots, pineapple, green & red peppers, & onion. (Again, serve over rice.)
