Lemon Chicken (5WW Points) and Lemon Barley Pilaf (3WW Points)

Lemon Chicken (5WW Points)

Ingredients (sorry no photos, guess I was busy...)

1 1/4 pounds uncooked boneless, skinless chicken breast
3 tbsp all-purpose flour
2 cups fat-free chicken broth
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp olive oil

Instructions

Pound chicken breasts with meat mallot to a uniform 1/2 inch thickness. Dredge lightly in flour and reserve excess (flour). In large sautee pan over medium-high heat, heat oil until it sizzles. Add chicken breasts and cook 4-5 minutes.



Cook until the chicken is lightly browned on both sides, and the juices run clear.



Remove chicken to plate. Stir reserved flour into saute pan. Whisk in broth and lemon juice; heat to boiling.



Boil 1 minute to thicken slightly. (It didn't really thicken too much. I tried adding some corn starch, which helped slightly. I would recommend not using any of the leftover flour, but make a roux out of corn starch (more than the teaspoon I used) and thicken it that way. The sauce really has a nice lemon flavor, and would be better if it stuck to the chicken more.) Return chicken to pan to heat through. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Serve the chicken with some sauce, atop a bed of rice. Well, that's what the recipe said. But I made the barley salad instead. Really, my meal was all about wanting to make a barley salad, and this lemon chicken just seemed like it would go well with it, being they were both lemony and all.

Lemon Barley Pilaf (3 WW Points)



Ingredients

1 tbsp unsalted butter
1 small onion, finely chopped
3/4 cup uncooked barley, pearl variety
2 cups fat-free chicken broth
1 medium carrot, peeled, finely chopped
1/2 red bell pepper, finely chopped
1 tsp raw lemon peel, finely grated

Instructions

Melt butter in heavy medium saucepan over medium heat. Add onion; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Sauté until onion is beginning to soften, about 5 minutes.



Add barley; cook 3 minutes, stirring constantly.



Add chicken broth and bay leaf; bring to boil.



Reduce heat to low, stir once, and cover. Cook until barley is almost tender, about 25 minutes.
Add carrot and bell pepper; cover and cook until vegetables are tender, about 6 minutes. Remove pilaf from heat and stir.



Cover and let stand 10 minutes. Discard bay leaf. I've forgotten to do this before (in other recipes). I wouldn't recommend it. Bay leaves add nice flavor when cooking, but aren't so good for eating.



Season to taste with salt and pepper. Stir in lemon peel and serve.



The verdict?

I thought it was all quite yummy. Mark and Kaelyn liked the chicken just fine (nothing fabulous, they thought, but good enough). They didn't like the barley though. Kaelyn could barely eat it - though I suspect she was just being a bit melodramatic, and she did manage to eat most of it. Mark ate it but said he didn't really like the stuff in it (the carrots, bell pepper, and perhaps even the lemony flavor). He liked the chewy-ness of the barley though. I LOVED the chewy-ness of the barley, and liked the stuff it was cooked with. Since the rest of my gang weren't fans, I won't make it again. I will, however, use it in place of Arborio rice in some of my favorite risotto recipes. I just loved the texture of the barley, and it adds some great variety nutritionally to the other grains we usually eat.

Chickpea Patties (4WW points)

I came across this recipe in my Real Simple magazine this month.



It said it was a low-fat twist on falafel. I love falafel, and low fat sounds even better! So I gave it a go. It's supposed to be served with a Mediterranean salad dressed with yogurt dressing. Since I'd be the only one eating the salad, I didn't bother.

Ingredients



15 1/2 oz can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup parsley
1 garlic clove, chopped
1/4 tsp ground cumin
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
2 tbsp olive oil

First, have your husband open and decant a bottle of Big Ass Cab. Cooking is always more fun when enjoying a glass of wine!



Put chickpeas, drained and rinsed, along with parsley, garlic, and cumin in a food processor. Pulse until coarsely chopped.



Form mixture into 8 1/2 inch thick patties (2 patties per serving).


Coat the patties with flour, tapping off excess.



Heat olive oil in a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Cook the patties, turning carefully (and I do stress carefully) until brown, 2-3 minutes per side.



Attempt to remove from the pan without letting them crumble.



The verdict? Well, they were super dry and fell apart. I used quite a bit more oil than the recipe called for to try to hold them together. Plus, they were a tad bland. I would make them again, because they were easy and healthy, but I'd make a few changes. I think 1/4 cup of feta added to the mixture would have added delicious zest and flavor to the patties. Plus, an egg would have added moisture and held the patties together better. Do those couple things, and perhaps you could have a winner. Serve with some greens, some yogurt dipping sauce, and some pita bread, and you have yourself a tasty, fairly healthy, Greek meal!

Shrimp and Asparagus Risotto (4WW Points)

I continue to enjoy the use of a stove, with meals that require it! I even scrambled an egg for Kaelyn this morning, just because I could! I have quite a few things planned out of stove-excitment. Two of them are shrimp meals, which means a different meal for Kae. Oma sent her home with some leftovers the other day, so tonight seemed like a good time to try out one of those dishes.

Ingredients: (I forgot to show my white wine vinegar - which should have been white wine, so if you have some open, use it!)


8 oz cooked asparagus
3 oz cooked shrimp
4 cups fat-free chicken broth (I didn't end up using it all)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
5 sprays olive oil cooking spray
1 tsp shallots
1 1/2 tsp parsley, chopped
8 oz risotto (about a cup I guess - the recipe called for 5oz but I wanted to use more, it just didn't seem like enough with all the liquid - which I still had extra)
2 tbsp white wine vinegar, and equal parts water

Some of the prep:

Mmmm....fresh shredded parmesan.



My asparagus, steamed for a few minutes. In retrospect, I don't think this was necessary. It cooks plenty while the risotto is cooking.



I had frozen, uncooked shrimp on hand, so I put it under the broiler for a few minutes. Frozen cooked shrimp would work just fine.



Directions

Heat pan over medium heat, spray with olive oil spray.

Sautee the shallot in olive oil (though I find the olive oil spray is sufficient here, and saves points!) for 2 minutes.



Add the asparagus, then cook for another minute.

Add the risotto rice; stir for a couple of minutes to toast the rice.



Add broth, 1/4 cup at a time, until absorbed. (I like to heat the broth - it speeds up this process. And like I mentioned in the recipe, I didn't end up using it all - my risotto tasted done and I didn't want it to be mushy.)



Add the shrimp, stir for 2 minutes.



Once done, add the parsley and the parmesan cheese.

Serve!


The verdict? It was good, but nothing great. The asparagus just doesn't have a good texture cooked this way, and the shrimp was rather blah. I think I'd rather have shrimp, asparagus, and risotto as seperate things for a meal, than all as one. Then each has it's own good flavor. I did like that the risotto absorbed some asparagus flavor, but I love good asparagus so I was sad this kind of ruined it. I'd choose fabulous aspragus and good plain cheesy risotto over this.

Cheesy Baked Tortellini

As of today, nearly five weeks after moving into this house, I have a working stove. Hallelujah!!! Well, actually, it only sort of works. Despite waiting a month to have this stove built, it was made wrong...well, actually, it's the guy who placed the order who screwed up. Mark clearly stated that the stove was going to run on propane, but the guy ordered it for natural gas. So when we turn it on, we get mega-flames. I turned the oven on it's lowest temp and thought I was going to burn the house down. So I stuck with the toaster oven. However, one of the less powerful burners, on low, was perfect for boiling the tortellini. Anyway, the point of all this, is that in celebration of having a working stove and oven, I had planned a super yummy meal (that looked too fattening to bother calculating points, so I apologize) that required the use of both. Oh well, the meal was still super yummy, as planned. It just had to get finished off in the over-used but ever-so-appreciated toaster oven.

Here it is, courtesy of Giada De Laurentiis of the Food Network.

Cheesy Baked Tortellini (?points - if you're counting points you technically shouldn't be eating this anyway...)



Ingredients

* Olive oil
* 2 cups marinara sauce
* 1/3 cup mascarpone cheese
* 1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves
* 2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme leaves
* 1 pound purchased cheese tortellini
* 2 ounces thinly sliced smoked mozzarella
* 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly oil an 8 by 8 by 2-inch baking dish.

Boil water on fancy-dancy new Blue Star range.


(yes, this picture is here just to show off my gorgeous new range - and yes, I do have the most wonderful hubby who did all sorts of research and then splurged and bought this for me!)

Chop your herbs.



Whisk the sauce, mascarpone cheese, parsley and thyme in a large bowl to blend. Cook the tortellini in a large pot of boiling salted water until just tender, about 2 minutes.



Drain. Add the tortellini to the sauce and toss to coat. Transfer the tortellini mixture to the prepared baking dish. Top the mixture with the smoked mozzarella and Parmesan.



Cover and bake until the sauce bubbles and the cheeses on top melt, about 30 minutes. (I forgot to cover mine, and it was still perfect after 30 minutes - in a real oven that probably gets hotter, it might have over-browned though, so you might try to remember this step)

Serve and enjoy!



The verdict? A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. So easy, yet so tasty. Adding the fresh herbs to the jarred sauce makes it taste fresh and homemade. The marscarpone cheese gives it an amazing creaminess. It was delish. Mark had to rush off to church, so we ate without him. Honestly, it was hard to not eat the entire pan - but I knew he'd be disappointed if he got home and there wasn't any left. Next time, I'll make a huge batch...Come to think of it, I only had 10 ounces of tortellini, so I made 3/4 of the recipe. Bad idea. Make the whole thing. I apologize if this ruins anybody's healthy eating plans, but don't blame me. Blame Giada. And the Food Network. And 24-hr Fitness for having the Food Network on while I was running on the treadmill. They are all to blame, I'm just the victim here.

St. Patrick's Day pesto and pudding parfaits

Spinach Pesto 1 point

In honor of St. Patrick's Day, I wanted to make a green dinner. It would seem logical to make a bunch of Irish food, but we had done that a few nights before (my good friend, Colleen -Irish friend, of course- and I cooked up a delightful Irish feast for the poker crew). The food was amazing, but i didn't really want to repeat. After that feast, we needed something lighter. So I decided to make pasta with green sauce. I had seen a recipe for spinach pesto, and decided to combine that recipe with a weight watchers spinach dip recipe. That and some green beans, some bread (Kaelyn wondered why I didn't make green bread...good thought, but my lack of oven doesn't exactly motivate me to make homemade bread. If I had thought about it in time, I suppose I could have put a loaf in the bread maker. Oh well, there's always next year.)

Sorry, forgot to take a picture of the ingredients, but here's the recipe.

1/4 cups grated Parmesan cheese
1 tbsp olive oil
2 medium garlic cloves
1/2 tsp table salt
4 cups basil
3/4 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 cup low fat ricotta
6 cup(s) spinach

This makes about 4 cups; 1 point is based on 1/2 cup servings.

Put the spinach and basil in the food processor, blend until all chopped up.



Add everything else. Blend some more.

Done! Easy as pie! Actually, much, much easier.



I cooked the linguine in green water, hoping it might tint the pasta green. It didn't really work, but was fun to try. I mean, I'm already attempting to cook pasta in the microwave (I lived the last 4+ years without a microwave and now somehow I have to try to rely on this foreign device to act as my stove and oven!).



Green pesto sauce on very, very slightly green tinged linguine



Mark was a little disturbed by the green butter, but I liked it.



The verdict? Mark said it was fine, but that's it. A little too healthy for him, I think. Kaelyn said it was bad - but I caught her putting her green beans in the sauce and she even let a "yum" slip out. She can't help but love the basil, but she's 6 so she has to be turned off by how "green" and healthy it looks. Those are just the rules when you're 6. I loved it, so fresh and light tasting. I like dipping carrots and celery in it though, more than eating it as a pasta sauce. Mmmm.... Great way to enjoy the leftovers without having to subject the fam to such a nutrition packed meal.

Dessert

We made pudding parfaits for dessert. No recipe for you here - we just made some chocolate pudding (Jell-O sugar free chocolate pudding, mix with milk, refrigerate - you get the idea). The fun part was making green cool whip.



Topped with a thin mint (gosh I love girl scouts!). YUM!

(yes, poker glasses - can't help it)

Roasted Root Vegetables (2 WW Points)

12 servings

We visited our dear friends in Chicago this past weekend. As tends to happen when visiting a city like Chicago, we ate a ridiculous amount of ridiculously fabulous food. I came home feeling like all I wanted to eat for the next week was veggies. Obviously, that hasn't happened, but I have had an unprecedented ability to resist the holiday treats.

The one healthy thing we ate while in Chicago were roasted root vegetables, prepared by our hosts, as a side to a wonderful beef stew dinner. (If I ever make this, I'll make sure to post. You won't want to miss it!) I decided to make up a giant pan of these tonight, to have for meals at work this week. I also thought it would be nice to share with our next door neighbor who loves veggies even more than I do and is always cooking for us. You could use any veggies you want, and any quantity. This is just what I bought, and how much I ended up with when I chopped them all up.

Ingredients

24 cloves garlic cloves (peeled, whole)
5 cups sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
2 cups carrots, peeled and chopped
3 cups raw parsnips, peeled and chopped
4 cups rutabagas, peeled and chopped
4 cups turnips, peeled and chopped
2 tbsp olive oil

Chop everything up, toss with olive oil.



Bake at 350 for and hour and a half or so, until veggies are tender.



Let me just say, YUM. A tasty fall side dish, or a nice light meal.

To be perfectly honest, before preparing this dish, I had never in my life purchased turnips, parsnips, or rutabagas. I had absolutely no clue how to prepare them, so I did a little research. In case you are like me, and somewhat clueless when it comes to the less common root vegetables, I will pass on my newfound wealth of knowledge. Rutabagas need to be peeled prior to cooking. Young turnips can be washed and trimmed, and not peeled. If they are more mature, peel. Parnsips, if small, can also just be trimmed. Medium and large ones should be peeled. This is also true for carrots - and I know with carrots so perhaps with other veggies, if you can avoid peeling you retain a lot more nutrients. Just give them a little scrub.

Keilbasa and Bean Slow Cooker Soup (4 WW points)

9 servings

Ingredients



58 oz fat-free chicken broth (4 14oz cans)
15 oz canned pinto beans
15 oz canned black beans
15 oz Cannellini Beans (these aren't pictured because I added them at the end, when I thought the soup needed more "stuff")
4 medium carrots, chopped
3 medium celery, chopped
1 large onion, diced
1 tsp thyme
14 1/2 oz canned diced tomatoes
16 oz low fat Kielbasa (I used Trader Joe's Turkey Kielbasa)

Instructions

Chop all your veggies.



Mix all ingredients, except tomatoes, in a 5 to 6-quart crockpot.


Cover and cook on low-heat setting at least 6 hours or until vegetables are tender.
Stir in tomatoes; cover and cook on high-heat setting until heated through, about 15 minutes more.



Yields about 1 heaping cup per serving.



This was good, but I wish it wasn't so brothy. I wish it was thicker, like a stew. Next time, I'd maybe make a roux using some of the soup base and some corn starch, and finish the soup off by boiling it. I have never tried thickening with a roux in the crockpot, but maybe cooking on high for 30 minutes or so after adding the roux would work? If I try it, I'll let you know. If you try it, you let me know. It's only fair.