Tuscan Potato and Pepper Packets, 3 WW Points

We have been working hard remodeling our laundry room/pantry area, and master bathroom, so my house is in shambles. Seemed like a good night to do an easy dinner. Mark had picked up some cheese and asparagus stuffed chicken breasts at Safeway a week or so ago, so I pulled those out of the freezer. I did, however, try out a WW potato recipe to go along with them. Both were delicious. Well, sort of. I grilled the chicken, and it oozed a lot of cheese, causing some grill flames. As a result, the chicken got a little dried out. Would have been better off baking them, but I wanted to grill them with the potatoes and spare the heat in the kitchen. Oh well.

Tuscan Potato and Pepper Packets (3 WW points)
*from the WW web site
* 1 pound uncooked red potato(es), scrubbed and thinly sliced (about 3 cups)
* 1 medium yellow pepper(s), cut into thin strips (about 2 cups)
* 1 medium red onion(s), thinly sliced (about 1 cup)
* 1 Tbsp olive oil
* 2 medium garlic clove(s), minced
* 1 Tbsp rosemary, fresh, chopped, or less to taste*
* 1/2 tsp table salt
* 1/2 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
* Heat outdoor grill. Tear off four 12-inch long pieces of aluminum foil.

In a large bowl, combine all ingredients until mixed and coated. Spread about 1 1/2 cups of vegetable mixture in a fairly even layer near 1 end of each piece of foil. Fold foil over to form packets; fold edges in to form a tight seal.
Grill packets, turning a few times, until potatoes are tender, about 20 to 25 minutes. Yields 1 packet per serving.

Here are my ingredients:



I used pieces from red, yellow, and orange peppers. I also omitted the rosemary and used some garlic salt instead, because Mark isn't a big rosemary fan. To try to spare some calories, I used my olive oil sprayer and just lightly coated everything, rather than measuring out a whole tablespoon.

Ready to grill:



Here are the chicken breasts. Don't they look absolutely sinful?



At about 6 ounces a breast (I'm just guessing on the unstuffed weight) and a pound of cheese each, they were like 97 points. Fortunately, a lot of the cheese was lost in cooking. My guess is 6 oz of chicken at 4 points, 1 ounce of cheddar at 3 points, and 0 points for the asparagus, and we're looking at 7 points each. They looked so simple, I'm thinking of making my own using feta or goat cheese sometime. I'll keep you updated. In the meantime, feel free to drool. Just don't lean over your keyboard, it's not good for the keys.

Chicken & Rice Soup, 3 WW points per serving

I slaved all day today to prepare dinner. I made Chicken and Rice Soup in the crockpot (that I swear I got from here but I can't find the recipe there now). I spent about 4 minutes chopping veggies, 2 minutes putting all the ingredients in the crockpot, and then the next few hours going to church and then out to lunch and shopping with my family. When we got home, the house smelled wonderful. The soup looks pretty good - I am looking forward to eating it in a few hours!

The recipe: (I might have altered this slightly from the original, I'm not sure. Also, I was short on onion but had leeks, so I added some of the white part of a leek)

Chicken & Rice Soup (8 servings at 3 WW points each)
* 8 cup fat-free chicken broth
* 1 cup uncooked brown rice
* 1 cup water
* 1 bell pepper (I used pieces from red, yellow, and orange)
* 1 cup onion
* 1/2 cup carrot
* 1 tsp herbs de provence
* 10 oz cooked chicken breast
Chop veggies into whatever size you like (food processor ok - any veggies you want).
Dump all ingredient into crockpot. Season with salt and pepper.
Cook on low all day.

From my fridge:



Here I am, slaving over the crockpot:



Mmmmm, smells good!



I'll be back to post the results.

I'm back. Soup was good. Nothing spectacular, but good and hearty - definitely a good winter meal that I'll do again.

Lemon Zester cookies, 5 WW points each

At around 9:30, we decided we needed a sugar fix. Mark loves the Paradise Bakery lemon zester cookies. I have a copycat recipe for their sugar cookies (which turns out JUST like the ones from PB, btw!), so we decided to make those and try to turn them into lemon zesters. We simply replaced the vanilla extract with lemon extract. They tasted lemony and yummy! (they weren't yellow though - we opted to not add food coloring to make them look lemony - we cared only about taste)

We paused our movie, and with two people on the job we whipped up the dough in no time!

The recipe: (I am guessing, if you don't eat any dough, this makes about 3 dozen good size cookies, which makes them 5 points each, not including the sugar you sprinkle on top).
Paradise Bakery Sugar Cookies
* 1 cup sugar
* 1 cup powdered sugar
* 2 cup shortening
* 1 egg, lightly beaten
* 3/4 tsp vanilla extract
* 4 1/3 cup all-purpose flour, cake
* 3/4 tsp baking powder
* 3/4 tsp baking soda
* 1/4 tsp table salt
Beat sugars and shortening on low for 30 seconds. Scrape sides of bowl, beat on medium speed 2 minutes. While mixing, add vanilla and egg.
Meanwhile, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in seperate bowl.
Add gradually to sugar mixutre. Beat just until mixed.
Place cookie dough balls on a cookie sheet. Flatten with bottom of a glass (Can roll the dough and cut with cookie cutters as well).
Bake 8-11 minutes at 350 degrees. Cookies are done when fine cracks appear; cookies should not brown. Sprinkle generously with sugar immediately after removing from oven. Cool on wire rack.

The dough:



The cookies:



Tip for those lacking self control (don't be insulted, I include myself in this category!): when you get a hankering for something sweet, and then find yourself eating the leftovers the next day simply because they're there, FREEZE! I like to make all my dough into ready to bake dough balls, freeze, drop in a ziploc bag to keep "freezer fresh", and then the next time you get a sweet tooth you can pull a couple dough-balls out of the freezer, pop in the oven, and you have freshly baked cookies for little effort and zero mess! (Even better, when mother in law or June Cleaver stop over unexpectedly, you can impress them with freshly baked you cookies you just happened to have on hand - assuming, of course, your husband and daughter don't eat all the dough balls out of the freezer...)

My first blogged meal - Filet Mignon, risotto, and grilled asparagus (11 WW points for the meal)

I have come to the realization that I love reading people's blogs when they include recipes of yummy food, and pictures. Some people read novels, others read news on the web, some just surf the web mindlessly. A couple weeks ago I spent about 2 hours reading a blog and copying recipes I wanted to try. Because I'm a slight bit neurotic (my husband would say I'm down right nuts), I also spent a good chunk of this time inputing the recipes into the Weight Watchers calculator to determine how many points per serving (and making slight recipe adjustments to lower the points value).

While discussing my neurosis with said husband, we came to the conclusion that others might appreciate my efforts, and enjoy my recipes with points values already calculated. (disclaimer notice: these points values are NOT endorsed by Weight Watchers, they are simply my amateur calculations as determined by plugging ingredients into my online recipe builder) From this discussion, Family, Food, and Friends was born.

I think the hardest thing for me will be remembering to photograph my kitchen adventures. Tonight was my first attempt. The menu: filet mignon on the grill, risotto, and grilled asparagus. Wonderfully delicious, but nothing too extravagant in the recipe creating department. Anywho, here is my first attempt at photo journal-ing dinner.

The meal: two filets from Costco, arborio rice, and asparagus from Trader Joe's


The ingredients for risotto:
1 cup arborio rice
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup or so of chopped spinach
3 cups vegetable broth
1/4 cup shredded parmesan
olive oil spray



The directions:
Heat a nonstick saucepan over medium/high heat, and spray with olive oil spray. Add onion; sautee a few minutes (like my attention to detail?). Add the spinach and arborio rice. Sautee a few more minutes. In a seperate saucepan, heat broth to a slow boil. Add 1 cup at a time to rice mixture, allowing liquid to absorb before adding more, stirring regularly (directions for risotto always say stir constantly, but really who does that?). When all the broth is added and absorbed, add cheese and stir well. Serve immediately.
Yields 4 servings at 4 WW points per serving.

Mmmm, starting to cook...



Ready to eat...



For the asparagus, I use my olive oil sprayer and coat it lightly, then season with garlic salt and fresh ground pepper. I toss it in my grill basket, and let the grillmaster do his thing. Here is it ready to go. Mmm, I L.O.V.E. asparagus... (one cup of cooked asparagus is, are you ready for this? zero points!).



At 7 points for 3 ounces (uncooked weight), those filets look absolutely fabulous!



And finally, you really can't eat a superb steak without a really nice bottle of wine. We enjoyed this Barbera from Bantam Cellars in northern California, that I picked up while wine tasting the weekend of my uncle's wedding (we won't even go into how much fun that was, or how much wine I drank in one afternoon...).



Kaelyn was very helpful. Her dinner preparation included working up a hearty appetite jumping rope in the backyard while Mark grilled.





Finally, we're ready to eat! (Those were some dang thick steaks, they took a while to cook - even for us medium-rare/medium loving folk!)



Kaelyn thought the filet tasted like "really good chicken"... Whatever, at least she enjoyed it all (well, she won't eat asparagus so she had some steamed broccoli instead)



And, finally, the sign of a successful meal (even the dog got to enjoy some scraps!)



Happy eating!