Spooky Orzo and Orange Dreamsicles...(WW Points? Do you really want to know?)

So one night this week, while at work, I was flipping through a Bon Apetite magazine. I stumbled upon this orzo recipe and orange "drink" recipe that both sounded heavenly. I decided Halloween night was a good night to splurge on points and thought I'd make these. Here are the recipes as I found them, with calculated points values. Now, before you get scared off, read on my friends. I made some alterations to make them both "reasonable" points values - still a splurge, but at least one can eat them occasionally without turning into a pumpkin!

Ingredients:




Orzo with Creamed Corn sauce (12 WW points)
* 3/4 cup orzo
* 1 1/2 cups whipping cream
* 2 ears of corn, kernels cut from cob, divided (1 cob reserved)
* 2 T olive oil
* 3 T finely chopped fresh leek (white part only)
* 3 T dry white wine
* chopped fresh chive

Cook orzo in large saucepan of boiling salted water until tender but still firm to bite, stirring occasionally. Drain



Meanwhile, place cream, half of corn kernels, and reserved cob in heavy medium saucepan. Boil over medium heat until thickened, about 10 minutes. Discard cob: puree sauce in blender until smooth.






Heat oil in heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add leek and saute until tender, about two minutes. Add wine and simmer until almost evaporated, about 1 minute.



Add remaining corn kernels and suate until tender, about 3 minutes. Add creamed corn sauce and cooked orzo. Bring to simmer. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer to bowl, sprinkle with chives, and serve. (Serves 4)



The feast!


Orange Dreamsicle (8 WW points)
* 2 cup(s) vanilla ice cream, (1 pint)
* 3 tbsp fresh orange juice
* 1 jigger(s) vodka, (3T)
* 1 fl oz orange-flavored liqueur, (3T)
Blend all ingredients, pour into 2 glasses and serve.

Even though I planned to splurge, the thought of using 20 points just for a side dish and after dinner/dessert drink made me ill. Plus, we invited my sister-in-law and her husband to join us for dinner and trick or treating, so I needed more food anyway. My overall plan for dinner was some shrimp (simply sauteed in a pan with some olive oil, garlic, lemon zest, and seasoned with salt and pepper) asparagus, and orzo. Sister in law and her husband are vegetarian though, so the orzo needed to be their main course. I decided to do 1 1/2 times the recipe, with a few changes, and call it 6 servings. We'll see how many servings it ends up being, but this is my "new" orzo recipe based on 6.

Orzo with Light Creamed Corn Sauce (6 WW Points)
* 1 1/2 cup orzo
* 1 1/2 cups 1% milk
* 1 T flour
* 2 T butter
* 3 ears of corn, kernels cut from cob, divided (1 cob reserved)
* 2 T olive oil
* 3 T finely chopped fresh leek (white part only)
* 1 1/2 T white wine vinegar, mixed with equal parts water

Follow the same instructions, except mix the cold milk with flour to make a roux, then add the milk and butter instead of the whipping cream. 6 servings

Lean Orange Dreamsicle (5 WW Points)
* 3 cup(s) fat-free ice cream, no sugar added
* 1/4 cup(s) fresh orange juice
* 2 oz vodka, (1/4 cup)
* 2 fl oz orange-flavored liqueur, (1/4 cup)
* 1 cup(s) 1% low-fat milk
Blend, pour into 4 glasses, and serve.

Apparently by the time we had the Orange Dreamsicles, I was too overloaded with sugar to remember to take pictures of them. But yes, they were yummy! I did get pictures of my dear hubby making our first drink of the evening - Orange Blossom martinis. I didn't calculate points for these, but they were yummy so I'll share the recipe!





Orange Blossoms
Ice
2 lemon wedges
1 1/2 ounces orange vodka
1/2 ounce cherry liqueur
1/2 ounce Grand Marnier
1/2 ounce fresh orange
1/4 tsp ground anise
1 fresh lavender sprig (optional)

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Squeeze the juice from the lemon wedges into the shaker and drop them in. Add all of the remaining ingredients except the lavender sprig and shake well. Double strain into a chilled martini glass and garnish with the lavender sprig.

General Tsao's Chicken - 6 WW Points

I used to cook various oriental chicken dishes with rice. It's been a while, and I needed something simple for tonight. This Weight Watchers recipe looked reasonable, so I gave it a shot.

The ingredients:


The chicken is cooking...


It looked (and smelled!) really good as it started to brown.


Time to eat!


So how was it? I thought it was good, not great. No complaints from Kaelyn, she gobbled it up without any prodding. Mark wasn't a big fan. He just said he wasn't a fan of the flavor. He did say he appreciates that I cook though... Oh well, can't win 'em all.

General Tsao's Chicken (6 WW points, including rice)
from Weight Watchers
* 3/4 cup(s) canned chicken broth, reduced-sodium
* 1 1/2 tbsp cornstarch
* 2 tbsp sugar
* 2 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
* 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
* 1/2 tsp ground ginger
* 2 tsp peanut oil
* 2 medium scallion(s), chopped
* 2 medium garlic clove(s), minced
* 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes, or 1 dried chili pepper, minced
* 1 pound(s) uncooked boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 2-inch pieces
* 2 cup(s) cooked white rice, kept hot
~In a medium bowl, whisk together broth, cornstarch, sugar, soy sauce, vinegar and ginger; set aside.
~Heat oil in a wok or large skillet over medium-high heat. Add scallions, garlic and pepper and cook 2 minutes. Add chicken and cook until browned all over, about 5 minutes.
~Add reserved sauce and simmer until sauce thickens and chicken is cooked through, about 3 minutes.
~Serve chicken and sauce over rice. Yields about 1 cup of chicken and sauce and 1/2 cup of rice per serving.

A couple changes I made (that didn't effect the points value), was I used brown rice instead of white, and I eliminated the sugar and used Splenda instead.

Happy cooking!

Ice Cream Flower Pots with Butterflies

Kaelyn and I made these for her birthday party last weekend. She didn't want a cake (or cupcakes, or giant cookie, or anything - just ice cream). So we decorated flower pots with each child's name, scooped the ice cream into pots, and put a butterfly in each one.

They were super easy, and turned out pretty cute. They definitely don't look professionally made, but I'm no professional. So I'll settle for pretty cute. We set out bowls of mini M&M's, mini chocolate chips, and a container of Halloween sprinkles and let each child top their own flower pot. I am very glad we did this outside...

So what do you need to make your very own butterflies, you ask?


Simply melt the chocolate in a double broiler (or a glass bowl over a pot of boiling water, if you are like me and don't own one)


Let your child stir (supervise of course, that's a hot stove!)


Dip (or drop an stir) pretzels - rods and twists - into melted chocolate.


Lay pretzels on cookie sheet covered in foil (for easier clean up), using one rod and two twists to make a butterfly. Let your child (either actual offspring or simply your inner child) sprinkle generously with sprinkles of their choice.


The result? Very cute butterflies chillin' on a pot of ice cream.


And the gardeners at work...

White Bean Chili - 4WW Points

I got this recipe from a co-worker like 10 years ago. It is a staple in my home; however I don't measure much, and sometimes add variations. The following is how I made it this time. Feel free to be creative and do your own thing.

We enjoyed the chili with some warm French bread my neighbor kindly brought over just before dinner time. He intended it to go with the chicken and vegetable soup that he brought as well, but it just looked so yummy we had to eat it. Usually, I like to serve the chili with tortilla chips and some shredded Monterey Jack cheese on top. Um, no, chips and cheese are NOT included in the points total, but nice try.

Here are my ingredients (until I looked at the original recipe and realized I forgotten green chilis, and decided to add some chicken broth and hominy since I had a lot of chicken in there)



All dumped in the crockpot:



Mmmmm.....smells SOOO good!



Fiesta time!





White Bean Chili

* 14 oz shredded, cooked chicken breast
* 1 small onion(s), chopped
* 3 clove(s) garlic clove(s), minced
* 28 oz can green enchilada sauce
* 2 cans Great Northern white beans or Canellini beans (or if your store is out of
both of these, try some Pinto beans like I did tonight!), drained and rinsed
* 4 cup(s) fat-free chicken broth
* 1/4 tsp white pepper
* 1 tsp ground cumin
* 2 4oz cans green chili peppers, diced
* 3 cups Mexican Style Hominy (one large can), drained and rinsed

First, sautee the onion and garlic in a nonstick pan. I used just a little olive oil spray. Then dump all ingredients in a crock pot. Stir. Turn crock pot to "On". Walk away. Return hours later. Ladle into bowls. Eat. Eat more. Drink some water, it's a tad spicy. (for those who need exact cooking instructions, even when using something as forgiving as a crock pot to cook soup, cook on low for 7-8 hours or high 3-4 hours - it's just all about melding flavors, not cooking anything)

Shrimp Scampi and Roasted Asparagus (5 WW points + 1 WW point)

So I've been away from blogging a while. We went on vacation (4 nights in Puerto Penasco, Mexico, doing NOTHING - well, if you count floating in the lazy river, wading in the ocean, playing Sorry and Uno with Mark and Kae, napping in the afternoon, eating, and warming up in the jacuzzi nothing). When we got back, things were just so hectic: Kaelyn's birthday, then I left for San Franscisco for a marathon. I just kept forgetting to take pictures to blog what I did cook (and I cooked a wonderful birthday meal for Kaelyn - turkey chili, heart shaped biscuits, and a giant flower shaped sugar cookie with ice cream for dessert!). But thanks to Mark, I did not forget to photograph tonight's meal. And, to make up for my lack of posts, I took a lot of pictures tonight!

Monday night football usually means Monday night pizza in our house. However, Mark and Kaelyn went out for pizza after church yesterday, so we thought we'd break from tradition just this once. We bought fresh shrimp while we were in Mexico, and have been anxious to taste test it. So, we gave our first portion a whirl tonight with a shrimp scampi recipe from the Weight Watchers website. I made a few alterations (see note below), but it was delicious. The asparagus was just a creation meant to compliment the shrimp, and it was delicious as well. Enjoy!

Ingredients:



Let the cooking begin!





Ready to put in the oven:





Looks good...





Let's eat!


(so I didn't mention the wine, but what does one do when one has to open a perfectly good bottle of Pinot Noir for the sake of a very important recipe? It goes without saying that one must drink the leftover wine, lest it go to waste...1 serving white wine, 2 WW points)

Shrimp Scampi, 5 points per serving
(from Weight Watchers)
* 1 1/2 tsp olive oil
* 2 medium garlic clove(s), minced
* 1 1/2 tbsp shallot(s), finely chopped
* 1/4 cup(s) white wine, divided
* 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice, divided
* 2 tsp parsley, fresh, minced
* 1 tsp fresh tarragon, minced
* 1 tsp thyme, fresh, minced
* 1/4 tsp table salt
* 1/4 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
* 2 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
* 1 1/4 pound(s) shrimp, jumbo-size, shelled and deveined*
Instructions
* Warm a large skillet over a medium-low heat; add oil and heat until shimmering. Add garlic and cook, stirring constantly, about 1 minute. Add shallots and sauté for 5 minutes. Add 2 tablespoons of wine and 1/2 tablespoon of lemon juice; stir, scrapping bottom of pan with a wooden spoon. Cook, stirring occasionally, until shallots are translucent, about 5 more minutes; allow to cool.
* In a small bowl, combine shallots, parsley, tarragon, thyme, salt and pepper with softened butter; refrigerate until butter hardens (can be made 1 day ahead).
* Preheat oven to 475°F.
* Using a medium-sized oven-proof casserole dish or skillet, arrange shrimp in a ring, tails up and touching one another for support; place bits of chilled herbed butter around shrimp. Pour remaining wine and lemon juice in bottom of dish. (Or cook in four individual oven-proof dishes as pictured above.)
* Roast in oven until shrimp turns pink and butter starts to sizzle, about 4 to 5 minutes. Yields about 3 jumbo shrimp per serving.

(Note: I altered this a bit. I had 3/4 lbs shrimp that we bought fresh in Mexico last week. So I cut the recipe down - most ingredients in half- and used light butter instead of regular butter. I also just sprayed my pan with olive oil spray and omitted the 1 1/2 tsp of olive oil. This yielded 3 servings at 3 WW points each. I ate one serving, Mark ate 2!)

Roasted Asparagus (1 WW point, serves 2)
* 3/4 pound(s) asparagus
* 1 spray(s) olive oil cooking spray
* 1/3 cup(s) shallot(s)
* 2 tsp lemon zest
Place asparagus in oven safe dish. Spray with olive oil and toss to coat. Season with garlic salt. Sprinkle with lemon zest and shallots. Roast in a 425 degree oven for 15-20 minutes. Inhale, being careful not to burn your tongue.