Justin & Meredith Winokur's Kitchen Cooking Notebook
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posts/2010/09
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Shrimp Quesadilla and Seasoned Zucchini Chips -- back to top
First, the chips. Yes, I am obsessed with thin slicing things and making chips out of them. But, these were incredible. I thin-sliced zucchini with the mandoline, then coated the baking sheet with spray. After placing them, I sprayed it again. I made two different types. The first were rosemary, salt pepper, garlic powder and Trader Joes 21 Seasoning Salute (like Mrs. Dash). They were okay. The second batch was jerk seasoning, pepper and sesame seeds. These were amazing. The jerk seasoning (McCormick) was a bit sweet for my taste but still good. And the sesame seeds added SO MUCH FLAVOR. They really toasted. I baked them at 450 for 10-20 minutes. I will have to try sesame on potato chips too!
For the quesadilla I grilled shrimp with some Emril Essence on the griddler. I also sautéed some pepper slices. I put them on a high fiber tortilla with provolone slices. I 4 slices but I could have gotten away with only 2 or 3. I also added some seasoning on top of the cheese. Then I put the whole thing on the griddler to melt and warm it. It was definitely good but a bit salty.
Points:
Zucchini...1 (for spray, seasonings, etc)
Quesadilla:
Cheese...5 (1/slice but rounding stops working)
Tortilla...1 (barely 1)
Shrimp (0.45 lb)...4
Note that shrimp is low in points but salty and high in cholesterol.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 318, 2010-09-01_202128
Homemade Whole Wheat Spinach Pasta, Carrot Soup and Sautéed Chicken -- back to top
The pasta was made roughly with this recipe except I cut it to be 1/3 cups of each flour. I also used egg beaters. I didn't exactly cut the recipe. I kind of added the flour, some egg, some oil and then added water until it became dough. I then used some frozen spinach. I made the mistake of not draining it well enough for the first bit do I had to compensate. I also added some garlic powder and other seasonings
It worked out okay. I was not overly impressed with how the dough formed but it worked. At the very bottom is what I used to hang it. I was worried that it would all stick but it came apart enough in the water. Also, because I was using the main pan for it with the soup, I used a shallower pan with water. It worked but not ideal. I did let it sit and everything. I though maybe I over kneaded it but gluten strands would have made it better so I do not know. It could be the strange and off mix of ingredients. I will do more research on making pasta.
The soup was very good though maybe a bit thick. I boiled carrots in mostly chicken broth with a sodium-free beef as well. I also added some white wine. There was also onions and garlic. It was definitely good but not stellar. I also added some half and half to make it creamier.
The half-serving of chicken was just sautéed with salt and pepper. A note about this is that I did not trim this piece because I wasn't the one to freeze it. I actually like it trimmed more. The thin membrane on the pieces makes nice looking coating when cooked but it made it curl when cooking and was chewy. Plus, it is healthier to remove it. I did bang down the chicken a bit to flatten it more.
Points below photo. Also, note to the future, when you get as much flour on the floor as I did today, it is slippery.
Pasta:
1/3 cups whole wheat...~150/0.5/5
1/3 cups white...140/0/0
Oil...1
egg beaters+extra...1
Total is 2+3+1+1=7 (it made a good amount)
Chicken...4 (over estimate)
soup...1
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 322, 2010-09-02_205324
Tilapia, Whole Wheat Pasta and Edamame -- back to top
I was tired after a late class and I didn't have much in the apartment because I was away so a quick but good meal was in order. I pammed the tilapia (frozen) then put a bunch of fresh basil, some dried basil, a bit of oregano, garlic powder and onion powder. It needed salt but I was trying to avoid it. The pasta was just Barilla Rotini with spray butter, cheese and garlic powder. Finally, I steamed some TJ's edamame. I really enjoy eating edamame when you have to peel it. It is very good, and easy. It is no fun if it comes shelled.
Tilapia...3
Pasta (~1 1/4 servings)...4
Edamame---3
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 328, 2010-09-07_205729
Beef Kheema and Samosa -- back to top
Meredith and I made the Indian dish Beef Kheema from this recipe (LOCAL). It was okay. We did some substitutions but overall, it tasted a bit like taco meat. Probably too much cumin. Definitely something we will revisit. Also, modified it to make it healthier (no butter, etc). Served over brown rice.
We also made the baked whole wheat samosa again but with some changes to the recipe and method. To the recipe, we added garam masala (which we did last time too) and much more salt. For shaping, we tried a new method Meredith read about. We combined two servings worth of dough and made a big circle (or as close as possible). Then, cut that in half. With the semi circle, we folded it over and crimped the cut ends together. Then we stuffed it, stretched the dough over, and crimped that closed. It looks more authentic and different.
Finally, a good note for dough: rather than use the food processor then the dough hook, which makes a mess and takes longer, and rather than just use the dough hook, which doesn't work well and is slow, I used the beater blade (cookie blade) with the mixer to combine and then, after it was doughy, I switched to the hook to knead. Much faster, lower cleanup and more effective.
Points (per person):
Kheema (4 oz/beef per serving + peas, pam, etc)...5
Brown Rice (1/2 cup raw)...3
Samosa...2 each...4
Not bad for a good amount of food.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 331, 2010-09-08_224258
Meredith and I made moussaka roughly based of this recipe but with extra lean ground beef instead of lamb. It was very good but took a long time. We also cut down on some of the points. For example, for the béchamel (the recipe doesn't call it that but it is), we used fake butter stuff (smart balance I think), and skim milk with whole wheat flour. In the future we may try with evaporated milk. We also used egg beaters when appropriate. Finally, we salted the eggplant before broiling to remove some of the sourness. Also, as is usual, we adjusted the seasonings to taste. Oh, and less tomato.
It was very good but did take a long time. Also, as usual, we had trouble cutting something like this as can be seen below. The points are below that. It was pretty low for the entire thing.
1.1 lb extra lean ground beef...17
4 small potatoes...6
2 cups skim milk ...4
Tbsp fake butter ...1
Whole wheat flour...1.5
Egg beaters ...0.5
Whole thing...30. Made over 4 servings!
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 336, 2010-09-10_112512
Dessert: Baked Bananas -- back to top
Very simple recipe but good. Sliced a banana in two, lightly drizzled honey and sprinkled with cinnamon and nutmeg. Baked for a bit at 300 (or so). Meredith said they were overcooked a bit but I didn't think it was too bad.
Banana...2
Honey...1 to 2. Depending on what you use.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 339, 2010-09-10_113607
Homemade Whole Wheat Gnocchi and sautéed Spinach and Mushrooms -- back to top
I wanted to try something Italian and a bit more challenging. Since I saw this recipe (halved) recently, I figured I would give it a try. Honestly, it wasn't incredible. Lacked a bit of flavor but may not be too far from "real" gnocchi.
It was only mildly successful. First, I made a few substitutions of egg beaters for eggs and whole wheat flour.
I needed a LOT of flour and even then I am still not sure it was enough. I think I know the issue. The recipe calls for boiling potatoes and then peeling and cutting them. I pealed, cut and then boiled them to save time. I think this made them absorb too much water.
A trick I figured out to make them was to roll them to the long log the right thickness and then press with a fork with a small space between. Definitely not as nice as rolling each one, but much faster!
As for the spinach and mushrooms, this was my first total failure. I think I forgot that added salt already (maybe more than once) and what was a lot of work (peeling the mushrooms), ended up a salty mess. Also, it was the truffle salt so I may not have been accustomed the how much to use.
Points for Gnocchi. I halved the recipe and it made 3-4 servings.
1.5 lb Yukon Gold potatoes...10
~1 cup whole wheat flour...440/2/16
egg Beaters...>1
So each serving is about 2.5 for the potatoes, around 1.5 for flour and almost negligible for egg. Pretty low. And in the future, it needs less flour
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 344, 2010-09-10_231716
Breakfast: Gimme Lean, Zucchini, Toast and Figs -- back to top
The gimme lean was cut and cooked on the Griddler with the way my dad showed me. It worked well and they were good. I also made the zucchini chips again with the jerk seasoning and sesame seeds. It was pretty good but could have used a bit more time cooking. Finally, toast and some figs (which we needed to eat because they would go bad)
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 348, 2010-09-11_121648
Carrot Cake Pancakes -- back to top
Meredith was in the mood for something sweet and this was the result. We based it off of this recipe (halved) but made some notable changes. We skipped the honey butter. We used apple sauce for oil (didn't have canola and EVOO may have been strange), we didn't use cloves (didn't have it) and we skipped the walnuts. Also, we used whole wheat flour and egg beaters. Finally, we went somewhat heavy on the spices
I was a bit surprised that the recipe calls for baking power and not baking soda considering it has buttermilk. Generally, when the recipe is acidic (from buttermilk), baking soda is fine. Only if it is not, do you use baking powder. And when it is semi acidic but not acidic enough, you use a combo. This just used baking powder.
Anyway, it was pretty good. We halved the recipe and it was just enough for two people.
Points (for 2):
Flour...440/2/16 (so 4/person)
1/2 cup Low Fat Buttermilk...1
Brown Sugar...1
egg beaters...0.5
extra/???...0.5
6 points/person is not bad. We topped them with apple sauce, nothing, fat free cool whip, and butter spray.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 351, 2010-09-12_191220
Not too special but I wanted to note the technique here. I put 3 Tbsp of popcorn kernel in the large glass bowl with the microwave cover loosely on top. I tried two batches. The first, I sprayed them with pam. The second without. While both popped well, the pammed ones held their seasonings (Emril Cajun) better than the unpammed (curry). Also, I had some un popped ones but I was afraid of burning the rest so I stopped. Next time, Kettle Corn (splenda!!)
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 353, 2010-09-12_191258
Whole Wheat Rosemary Bread -- back to top
We made bread based off of the Joy of Cooking Whole Wheat recipe, with the addition of some rosemary (crushed with the mortar and pestle). Also, I proofed the yeast first. As I noted with the gnocchi recipe, I used the beater blade then the dough hook.
Overall, it was just okay. Not incredible. We need to play more. I had a pan of water to make a better crust but it was still not incredible. As you can see in the photo below, it did not form an nice of dough as I am used to. I did knead it a lot so that shouldn't have been an issue. I used the instant thermometer to tell when it was done which was convenient. Points below photo. We estimate it made about 16 slices.
2 cups real flour...800/0/0
2 cups Whole Wheat...880/2/24 (less than the older whole wheat I had)
2 tbsp butter...200/22/0
Total, 1880/24/24. per serving, 117.5/1.5/1.5-->2 points a slice.
Note that the flour had one less gram of fiber than my older one. Using that instead, it would be the same points but an even 2 grams per slice.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 363, 2010-09-12_191325
Crab Cakes, Broccoli, Guacamole and Bread -- back to top
The crab cakes were made with greek yogurt instead of mayo. I think I put too much in because they were slightly mushy. I also used a bunch of spices including garlic powder, cayenne pepper, onion powder, some old bay and a bunch of others. There was also pre sautéed onions. Also some egg beaters and ground fiber one bread crumbs. In addition to a bit too much greek yogurt, I also think some larger chuncks would have been better. That is due to both the crab and the amount I mixed it. I then broiled them, flipped and kept broiling until they were done. Half way through the first side, I moved the rack closer to get some more crisp.
The broccoli was just steamed and the bread was from earlier in the day. We had a avocado going so Meredith made a small amount of guacamole. It was very good.
Points for crab cake (made 6 +1 slightly smaller):
1 lb crab...7 (from the nutritional label)
greek yogurt 1.5
egg...0.5
Not bad for 7 cakes.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 389, 2010-09-12_222849
Dough Pockets (Beef, Chicken, Peach and Breakfast) -- back to top
I was in the mood to try something adventurous so I made dough pockets. I made the dough loosely based on this. I basically took 1/2 cup of whole wheat and 1/2 cup all purpose flour, a tiny bit of olive oil and egg beater, and yeast (of course). I added water and flour until it felt right. I am starting to get an idea of how it should feel. The dough was really, nice in the end. Also, I am a total convert to the beater blade then dough hook method. Good compromise of speed and cleanup.
Anyway, while it was rising, I sautéed some spinach, mushrooms and onions. Then I made italian seasoned chicken pieces, and some beef with jerk seasonings. I also sliced a peach, put some splenda and cinnamon on it, and then toasted that for 10 minutes. Finally, I microwave poached an egg.
I made a pocket with spinach mix and chicken, then I made one with the mix, some beef, some ricotta (skim) and FF cheddar. Then I made one combined with beef, chicken, spinach and cheese.
I made a breakfast pocket with the egg, canadian bacon, and cheese. For the dessert pocket, before the second rise, I kneaded some splenda and cinnamon into the dough and I sprinkled it with sugar after it was formed but before the oven. The rest got an egg/water wash.
I baked at 375 but I will go hotter next time because they grew in the oven more than they should have before cooking. Oh well. It could have also been from the relatively large amount of yeast.
They were all very good. I need to get better at rolling and forming the dough. Also, because I tried to stretch the amount I made, I made the dough too thin at times. Still, it was all very good.
On the plate is the three savory pockets with extra spinach and beef mixture topped with cheese. On the dessert plate is the dessert pocket with extra peach. For the peaches, I also tried to sprinkle some sugar on them and brulee them to mixed success.
The jerked beef was very good. Maybe next time I will just use that without spinach.
The photo below the dessert plate is all of the fillings. Points below that!
Points: The dough had 4 points of white flour, 3 of whole wheat and lets say one of oil and other. It made 5 potions so lets say the four was 6 points and the breakfast one tomorrow is 2.
There was 4 points of extra lean beef and 2 points of chicken. There was a total, including breakfast tomorrow, of 2 points FF cheddar and 1 points ricotta. The canadian bacon and the egg on tomorrows count as one.
So, for tonights dinner, there was 6 (dough), 4 (beef), 2 (chicken), 2 (cheeses), 1 (peach), 1 (extra sugar) for a total of 16. It was high but a lot of food. Could have gone with less.
Tomorrow's breakfast is 2 (dough), 1 (cheese), 1 (egg/bacon) for 4 points total.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 394, 2010-09-13_205117
Chicken and Asparagus over Pasta with a Mustard "Cream" Sauce -- back to top
My goal was to cook at Meredith's without buying anything new and this was the end result. The main focus was the "cream" sauce. My original attempt was a bit of skim milk, water, and dry skim milk powder at a much higher concentration. Still getting used to gas, it boiled by accident so I had to try again but this time with just powder and water. I was fairly successful. After mixing the powder and water for a bit over medium-low, I added some whole wheat flour, some grated parmesan and then a lot of dijon mustard. Whisking it made it all come together nicely and I ended up with a fairly thick sauce. It was a bit gritty but that is to be expected. If I made a "cream" sauce again, I will use evaporated milk, but I didn't want to go and buy it.
The asparagus was cut into pieces and steamed. I sautéed the chicken with just salt and pepper.
The entire sauce as 7 points for the milk powder and 1 for the cheese. There was also some leftover so I will say 3/person. The chicken is 3-4 and the pasta is 3.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 400, 2010-09-14_203059
Open-face Steak Sandwich and Steamed Broccoli -- back to top
I was in the mood for a steak-type things and this what I came up with. I used about 6oz of very lean steak. It was not the highest quality, but it was fine. I marinated it in a bit of olive oil with white wine, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. I then cooked it on the griddler. I used high heat and it seemed to cook well with some red inside still. It was pretty good but the balsamic flavor was a bit too pronounced. I will work on that for the future. And, maybe higher quality steak cubes. I liked that they were extra lean though. Then, I put them on a lightly toasted whole wheat roll and used Weight Watcher's lite Colby Jack and Sargento light prov.
The broccoli was just steamed with some lite parm and garlic powder.
Steak...6 (it was very lean)
Cheese...3
Roll...3
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 403, 2010-09-15_205303
Chipotle Chicken over Brown Rice -- back to top
I got inspired for this from a cooking show. First, I marinated cut up chicken pieces in a bowl with a can of "chipotles in Adobo." Then I sautéed the chicken with some of the sauce. After taking out the chicken, I sautéed onions and peppers in the same pot. Then, after they were browned, I added back the chicken and all the sauce, with a 1/2 to 3/4 cup of sodium free chicken broth. I let it cook down until it was very thick and then served it over brown rice and topped with FF cheddar
Overall, it was very good but also extremely spicy. I think I underestimated the spice of the chipotles in adobo. Still, it was a very good and easy meal. I made two servings and took the other for lunch.
Points:
Chicken...3
Brown Rice...3
Cheese...1
Peppers in adobo...1
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 406, 2010-09-16_204446
Greek Chicken, Tzatziki and Butternut Squash -- back to top
The chicken is very loosely based on this but modified for much less chicken and with less oil. Also, I used tender pieces. After marinading and putting on a stick. I used the griddler. First on medium to cook it and then on high to get the lines. Next time, I should reverse that order. Put them on and then turn it down. I also flipped them half way so that the uneven pieces still get cooked.
The tzatziki was a seeded (really, deseeded) cucumber, 0% Greek yogurt, garlic, lemon juice and dill. It came out a bit watery. We added extra yogurt to counter that and then extra dill for flavor. Needs improvement still. I do not know that exact (if there was one) recipe that was used.
The squash doesn't really go but I wanted to use it up. It was roasted in the oven wit salt, pepper and oregano or rosemary (depending on the tray). They were all very good! Will do again.
We also had whole wheat pitas (store bought, but I want to make them in the future)
Points are less exact in this but probably around 3-4 for the chicken, 3 for the squash (maybe 4 or 5). The tzatziki was low. The pitas were 2 for the first and 3 after that.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 409, 2010-09-18_000933
Open-face "Chinese" Egg Sandwich -- back to top
This came from me testing out some microwave poached egg ideas for later in the week. I took egg beaters, whisked in some soy sauce, sriracha, ground ginger and anything else I felt like. Then I microwave poached it. Meanwhile, I took a piece (~1/4) of a red pepper, microwaved it for 20 sec to soften it and then I sautéed it. I then melted some cheese.
It was good and I hope to use some of the egg mixture type stuff later in the week.
Egg...~0.5
Cheese...1
1/2 Arnolds....0.5
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 412, 2010-09-19_213507
Sweet Potato Chips -- back to top
No photo because I figured I would take a picture on the second batch but they burned. Basically, I made the microwave chips with sweet potato. They were very good with salt and pepper. I forgot to use less time for the smaller second batch, hence the burn.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 414, 2010-09-19_214133
Chicken Saltimbocca over Spinach and Maryland Crab Soup -- back to top
The chicken saltimbocca was made roughly from Gina's Recipe except we made some modifications and made it smaller. We used tenderloins (the usual) and did not end up using any butter at the end. Also, we used much more fresh sage. The taste was very strong from the sage. I need to get better at controlling the heat of the pan. After the chicken was done (and slightly burned), the wine deglaze made the entire apartment fill with wine steam. Still, it was very good. Also, we forgot the salt and pepper but it was fine. Also, we used German prosciutto because it was much leaner and lower calories.
The soup was very roughly inspired by this but I really just used it for the ingredient list. I used a can (I think ~14 oz) diced tomatoes and then I filled the can with water and added that. I then used the immersion blender lightly to thicken it. I still left it very chunky. I then added a cubed yukon gold potato, asparagus (was going to go bad), frozen corn and frozen spinach. After simmering for a while, I added ~2/3 lb crab. I bought claw meat. While it looked less nice than whatever we got before, it was more flavorful. Also, I put some Old Bay in (of course!). And some Sriracha for a little bite. One nice thing is that since we were making it, we did not skimp on the crab like some restaurants.
The soup ended up a bit salty but very good. It was really thick. After dinner, I added almost 2.5 cups more water and some sodium free beef and chicken broth. That should stretch it a lot more.
Chicken Saltimbocca (per person):
Chicken...~4.5
Prosciutto...1.5
Soup (entire thing, over 6 servings)
Potato...~2
Corn+Peas...1
Crab....6
Chicken Saltimbocca (From Gina's Skinny Taste)
Local Copy-- password is the name of my dog, all lower case
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 422, 2010-09-19_214216
Empanadas and Edamame -- back to top
The empanada idea was roughly from this and the dough was roughly inspired by this. For the dough I used 1/2 cups all-purpose and 1/2 cup whole wheat flour. I added ~1 Tbsp melted Smart Balance light, a Tbsp of egg beaters and salt. I then added skim milk until it came together. I ended up adding too much so I added another 1/4 cup whole wheat. I let the mixer knead it for a pretty long time. In the end, the dough was very nice. Easily rolled and pliable. There were no holes in the final product either. Extra kneading did a lot. The dough did have a nice buttery taste and was soft. And, still low points. I think I may use this on Samosa next time.
The filling was 6 oz 92/8 ground beef and 2 oz extra lean ground turkey. We added a lot of Adobo powder (very good!), some cumin and oregano. We also sautéed 1/2 an onion, some garlic and a bunch of minced Serrano chilli and some frozen corn. The chile did not add as much flavor as we expected but in the end, it was very, very good. The adobo was a nice new flavor (though, for better or for worse, it has MSG).
Even though it does not necessarily go with it, we had steamed edamame. Very good!
Dough (total, made 6): Around 4 points all purpose plus 4 for whole wheat. Around 1 for butter and egg. Around 2 for skim milk.
The filling was 8 total for the meat. So, 19 total or 3/empanada
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 428, 2010-09-20_214034
Breakfast: Home Fries and Ham Steak -- back to top
The home fries were very good. I cut the potatoes into small pieces and then I sautéed them with some hogie spread, and some Serrano peppers. They added heat but not until my lip started burning after eating it.
The ham steak was just plain and simple.
The ham steak was 2 and the potatoes were 2.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 432, 2010-09-21_171637
Butternut Squash Gnocchi with Sage "Cream" Sauce. Plus, Crab Stuffed Mushrooms -- back to top
Okay, I am at war with making gnocchi. I do not know why I have so much trouble with it. I roasted butternut squash halves, then I took it off the peel. After mashing it, I added a tiny bit of egg and then I started to add flour. The different recipes said 8 oz to 2 cups of flour. I lost count on about 5 or 6 cups. Plus, I beat it so long trying to get it, it became very stringy and elastic. I split off half and kept going. I finally started to form it.
They had almost no butternut squash taste. I was so full of flour that it masked it. I need to read a lot more watch videos and what not. I am determined to make it better and to get it. Not that I actually like gnocchi all that much, but I want to get it. Also, they were dense.
Meredith made the fake cream sauce. It was very good. She roughly followed this recipe. But, she used evaporated skim milk. It was great.
The mushrooms were an interesting experiment. We mixed crab (from the other day) with some laughing cow cheese and some bread crumbs. Usually when we do stuffed mushrooms, we spread the laughing cow on the mushrooms but I wanted to try it in the mix. It was not as good. I really like the way it melts into the mushrooms. This did not do that. So, I know for next time not to try it.
It is hard to figure out the points but since there was so much flour but we cut it and have lunch, it was not too bad. The mushrooms were pretty low. The "cream" sauce was 6 total and we ate very little of it.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 436, 2010-09-21_223249
Chicken Cordon Bleu And "Fried" Zucchini -- back to top
This meal was inadvertently largely from Hungry Girl. The chicken was roughly the recipe from "Hungry Girl 1-2-3" (p.94) with some modifications. First of all, I used tenders instead of a big chicken breast. And, I used prosciutto instead of ham because we had it leftover. Ham is lower points than prosciutto so I used very little compared to what I would have liked to use. Finally, After they were rolled, I rolled them in Fiber One bread crumbs (also, a la Hungry Girl).
The zucchini was based on the same one I always use. Except I kind of just winged it with some other spices as well. I used the mandoline to slice them thin. While slicing was faster, it took a long time to egg and "bread" crumb that many. I twas well worth it because they were much better with the thin slices.
Chicken was (per person):
Prosciutto...2
Laughing Cow...1
Chicken...4
Zucchini...1
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 440, 2010-09-22_225643
Lunch Tomorrow: Hamburgers with chillies -- back to top
I was putting away some 92/8 ground beef and I decided to make lunch for me and Meredith tomorrow. I do not know how they will taste yet, but I used all kinds of things in the burgers including tabasco, sriracha, serrano chillies, worcestershire and other stuff. I also grilled some serrano pepper to put under the cheese.I may have overcooked the burgers a little.
We will see how it it. There is about 2-3oz so about 2-3 points.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 443, 2010-09-22_231356
Pasta Ai Frutti Di Mare (fruit of the sea) -- back to top
Very easy, very fast, and very good. We bought a frozen seafood combination of calamari, bay scallops and shrimp. We sautéed it, with broccoli and grape tomatoes (very good) with a some seasonings including parsley, salt, pepper and garlic powder. The ice/water on the seafood made it cook a bit too much while waiting for it to boil away, but it was very good. And very easy! I will definitely be getting some more of the mix to keep on hand.
Seafood (per person)...3
Whole Wheat Pasta...4
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 447, 2010-09-23_200412
Homemade Pizzas with Whole Wheat Crust -- back to top
We made pizza with the usual crust recipe but with bread flour and the recipe cut in half. I also made sure to extra knead the crust. Despite the extra kneading, I had trouble stretching it. I ended up having to roll it out. Meredith was able to stretch hers. We each made a larger pizza with thicker crust. To make the thicker crust we did not roll it as much and let it rise a bit afer being formed.
We also made two smaller pizzas. Meredith rolled hers out flat so it was actually the same size but a really thin crust (and looks like Texas).
We also made our own sauce which ended up being really good but a bit spicy.
I will come back and update/correct the toppings/types later
My larger one was the tomato sauce, skim ricotta cheese, prosciutto (cut in pieces), sautéed chili serannos, and then FF cheddar and cut pieces of low fat colby jack. (top picture)
Meredith's larger one was: Tomato sauce, eggplant, turkey bacon bits, and FF cheddar cheese
My small one was BBQ sauce, thin slices (and partially cooked) of sweet potato, turkey bacon bits and again, a mixture of FF cheddar and pieces of Colby jack.(second from bottom picture)
Meredith's smaller (Texas) pizza was a no-sauce pizza with orange balsamic vinegar, spinach, slices of baby bell cheese and some other stuff I do not remember. Her's is the very bottom picture.
Rough points below photo.
As we figured out last time, the dough was about 5 for the large pizzas, 3 for each small one. Toppings varied, but in general, a slice of prosciutto is 1 (leaner than most), turkey bacon is really low at 1 point for 4 slices (we used two on each pizza with it). The sauce is zero but BBQ is one. So in general, it was not a low meal but not too bad.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 475, 2010-09-28_084715
Chipotle Chicken and Corn & Poblano Chowder -- back to top
I made the chipotle chicken just like last time. Really, I do not think I made a single change to the recipe. Oh well.
Meredith made a corn and poblano chowder. We used unsweetened plain almond milk because we did not have skim milk. I will link to a recipe later. It came out really sweet, probably from the corn. We added all kinds of spices to try to bring out more flavor to mixed success. It was worth trying but not incredible.
See older post for chicken points. I am not sure about the chowder but it is probably around 2-3/person considering it was just corn and almond milk.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 479, 2010-09-28_112939
Scallops over Pasta...and then Tilapia -- back to top
I read a few scallops recipes and then kind of did my own thing. I first made some canadian bacon. Then I sautéed/seared scallops in the pan. After taking them out, I added fresh minced garlic and scallions with white wine. After it reduced a bit, I added the bacon pieces cut on and the scallops. Served it over pasta.
The pasta and the sauce from the reduction with the bacon were really good. A lot of flavor and very tasty. But, for some reason the scallops were just flavorless! I do not think it had to do with how I cooked them. I just think we did not get good scallops for one reason or another. So, instead of eating flavorless scallops, I quickly made my backup quick dish.
I sprayed frozen tilapia with butter pam, and sprinkled Montreal Chicken seasoning. After wrapping in cling wrap, I microwaved it. It is so easy, tasty and really fast. A four minute main meal. I didn't take a picture.
Points (per person)
Bacon...0.5
Pasta...3-4
Scallops...about 2-4 (didn't finish them)
1/2 tilapia piece...1.5
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 483, 2010-09-29_210532
We tried to make a healthier version of Pad Thai based off a HG recipe from the emails on September 21, 2010 and off this. We basically used the latter with the shirataki noodles suggested by HG. We also significantly cut the peanuts and the peanut oil. Also, we used egg beaters and chicken instead of real eggs and shrimp
It was okay. Not great. I think you can only make pad thai so healthy. For example, peanut oil has a lot of flavor and by cutting it, we lost some of that. Also, I do not know about the tamarind sauce. It was very tangy. Maybe next time we will go with the HG version entirely. Also, the actual flavor from the peanuts were lost entirely but still contributed to the points. :-(
I can only really get a rough point count but I think it is something like the following for two servings:
Chicken...7
Peanuts...4
Peanut Oil...4
Other stuff...2-3
Shirataki...2 (yes, they are very low!)
So, I guess 8-10 or so per person isn't awful. More experimentation to come. Especially because Meredith really likes Pad Thai and I want to get it right.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 486, 2010-09-30_214305