Justin & Meredith Winokur's Kitchen Cooking Notebook
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posts/2010/12
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Curry Chicken, Kale, French Onion Soup + Buffalo Chicken for Lunch -- back to top
Our original planned meal needed too much time by the time I got home so we switched to this. The chicken was a bit of an experiment. I did not really know what to do with the curry paste so I just put it on the chicken but it really doesn't work. Meredith said that she used to use coconut milk so I took the paste and put it in skim milk then poured it on the chicken. I think next time I could use water and it would work fine. It is what we did with the shrimp a while back that was good. We baked the chicken in the oven
The kale was dino kale Meredith got at Whole Foods. I do not know what recipe it was based off of, but she cooked some turkey bacon with it too. It was good.
The french onion soupe was more or less the normal. I used 5 cups of water and one of white wine. I really let the onions cook down first and I used a bit of Smart Balance. Finally, we topped it with a toasted Arnolds Roll and then low fat Colby. We used the kitchen torch to melt the cheese. The soup was very good this time. I liked it a lot. We used a bit too much onion but that is not really too bad of a prob elm.
We also made buffalo chicken for lunch tomorrow. While we were using the oven, I put chicken in a dish and put a good amount of Franks Red Hot and then spray butter on it. I will report on how it is after I eat it.
Points (Points Plus), per person:
Chicken...3 or 4
Kale...0
Bacon for kale...0.5
Soup:
1/2 Arnolds...1.5
(I do not know the cheese and the smart balance at the moment but I will update with them).
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 718, 2010-12-02_082923
Kheema and Samosa -- back to top
The kheema was base off of a bunch of recipes which I will link to when/if Meredith sends them to me. Basically, it was extra lean ground beef, a bunch of Indian seasonings included coriander, cumin, garam masala and turmeric. Then there was sautéed onion, garlic, tomato paste, peas, and some fat free greek yogurt (just a bit)
The samosa was okay. We used the same dough that we had been using for the empanada. We filled them with a mix of potatoes, onions, peas and a wide mix of seasoning. Points are difficult to figure but I try below.
Points Plus: Kheema (per serving, made 4)
4.5 oz beef...4.5
Peas+yogurt...0.5 (probably, I do not know the new plan as well)
----------------------
5 per serving.
Samosa. These are hard because I did not measure the milk.
Dough (6 servings)
1/2 cup whole wheat flour...5.4
1/2 cup Bread Flour...5.5
Egg Beater...0.6
milk...~1 (skim is 2 per cup and I doubt I came close to a 1/2 cup but whatever)
smart balance...1.3
---------------------------
around 14. That made 6 dough pockets so 2 each.
around 1.25 lb potatoes...11.25
so 2 for them.
Therefore, figure each samosa was 4.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 722, 2010-12-02_222621
Pomegranate Scones (made even lighter) -- back to top
The recipe is based of off Gina's but we halved it and made some changes both due to what we had and to lower calories.
For example, we did not have (defrosted) butter so we had to use smart balance. It was cold but it may not have worked as well as real butter. Also, we did not have egg so we just used egg beaters both inside and for the topping. We used half white whole wheat and half all purpose. Also, we did not have 2% milk so we used half skim and half whole (we have whole milk for coffee). And of course, we used splenda instead of sugar except for topping
They were really good. Not overly sweet but scones aren't supposed to be. We would do this again. Especially since they are only 3 points each!
The numbers before may be for a serving size divided by what went into the recipe. They are points plus
1/8 cup of Skim...2/8=0.25
1/8 cup whole...4/8=0.50
1/8 cup egg beater...0.6/2=0.3
1/2 cup white whole wheat flour...2x2.7=5.4
1/2 all purpose flour...2*2.7=5.4
1.5 tbsp Smart Balance...1.5*1.3=1.95
1/2 cup Pomegranate seeds...0
sprinkle of sugar...1
-----------------------------------------------
14.8 which is approx. 15. We cut it into 6 servings so say 3 each!
Side note: Whole wheat flour doesn't save you anything anymore :-(
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 724, 2010-12-02_222708
Vegetarian 3-Bean Chili, Vegetable Soup and home-made Cornbread -- back to top
The chilli was very full of vegetables. It had cabbage, butternut squash, zucchini and a 3 different beans. It was pretty good and pretty thick. We also have a lot of leftovers. We tried to do our own chilli seasonings. I think we still need to work on a good chilli seasoning recipe. We served it with avocado, Greek yogurt and FF cheese on top (but, we will probably not rush to do avocado again. It went up a lot in points)
The cornbread came about because Meredith briefly mentioned that cornbread goes well with chili so we made it based on this (but made even lighter). We cut it in half and used Splenda instead of sugar. We also used half whole wheat flour. Even with there being more equivalent sugar, it wasn't sweet enough. It was a also a bit dry.
Finally, the soup was a vegetable soup but it had chicken stock. We just let it simmer for a while with parsnips, carrots, celery and onion. It had a lot of flavor and was good.
Points below cornbread
Points:
The chilli had about 4 cups of beans which is about 24 points. That was it for the whole thing that made probably 6-8 servings. The avocado on top was 3. I do not remember for the fat free greek yogurt and cheese. But probably 7 for a (very big) serving with the toppings.
Soup...free.
Cornbread:
1/4 cup whole wheat flour...2.66
1/4 cup all purpose flour...2.66
Egg Beaters...0.60
3/8 cup cornmeal...1.5*2.54
1/2 cup skim milk...1
1 tablespoon olive oil...3.6
--------------------------------------------
~14 for the whole thing. That made 6 so about 2.5 each
A note is that I had thought about using melted smart balance instead of olive oil. That would have saved 3 points.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 732, 2010-12-03_223128
Chicken Cacciatore -- back to top
This was our first attempt with the crock pot. Honestly, it wasn't very good. I basically just mixed chicken, tomato, garlic, seasonings with onion, celery, carrots, parsnips and peppers. It cooked for about 9 hours. I thought the chicken was a bit overdone and it just wasn't that good. Meredith and I made chicken cacciatore a long time ago and it was really good. I would rather do that next time.
Points were low because it was just the chicken that had points.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 735, 2010-12-04_215207
Carrot Cake Pancakes and Turkey Bacon -- back to top
We made the pancakes from this recipe that we had used before. The difference is that we halved the recipe except we kept the spices all the same. That is, we basically doubled the spices. In addition, instead of cloves, we used pumpkin pie spice. It was really good. Not only was it better than last time, but it was just down right good. Also, no walnuts and apple sauce instead of oil
The turkey bacon was pretty straight forward.
Points for the pancakes:
Whole Wheat Flour...2.7
Reg Flour...2.7
3/8 cup buttermilk=3/8*2.4==0.9
egg beaters...0.3
------------------------------
6.6. This made four large, thick pancakes for two servings. that is, 3.3 per serving
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 740, 2010-12-05_122324
Greek Night: Chicken, Tzatziki, and Avgolemono (Lemon Egg Soup) -- back to top
This was a very good meal. Meredith made Tzatziki. I do not know the exact recipe but she spooned out the seeds and went to great lenths to dry the cucumber. This helped a lot! Also, instead of lemon juice, she used white vinegar
The soup was based off of the recipe below. It was strange. I used egg beaters instead of egg. I may have beaten it a bit too much because we had a lot of egg foam that I skimmed off to get to the soup. I also went a bit (but not much) light on the lemon juice. Also, I used Israeli couscous instead of orzo and I used much less.
Finally, the chicken had lemon juice sprinkled on it with some sage, thyme, oregano, salt, pepper and garlic powder. It was good and fit the theme.
The whole wheat pita was from Wegmans.
2010-12-27 update: Changed to say "sage", not "sake". Fixed thyme.
--------------------------------------------------------
I am trying something new. I will copy/paste in the recipes as well as linking to them this way if the site goes now, I will still have it.
Avgolemono (from Martha Stewart)
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Original Wordpress ID and Date: 742, 2010-12-05_203620
Filipino Adobo Chicken, Vegetables and Leftover Soups -- back to top
We roughly made the chicken from the recipe below. When we cooked it though, we did not need to let it simmer as long. After it simmered for a bit, I took the chicken out, turned up the heat, added some corn starch and reduced the sauce.
Overall, it was pretty good. The soy sauce was the main flavor making it not too different from other recipes. Most notably, it was a bit like teriyaki. Still, we enjoyed it. We also had leftover soup and some frozen vegetables
Points: Chicken...3
-----------------------------
Filipino Adobo Chicken (from Gina's)
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Original Wordpress ID and Date: 746, 2010-12-06_175001
Steak and Celeriac Smashed Potatoes -- back to top
First the steak. I do not know much about buying steak so I just looked for a really lean looking cut that was not extremely expensive (tenderloin). Well, it was not good! It was very chewy and overcooked. To sum up Meredith's view, "it tasted too much like steak." On the bright side, it was lean and we had small portions.
The Celeriac Smashed Potatoes were much more interesting. Celeriac is celery root. We cut it up and boiled it along with the potatoes (though we put it in first because it needs more time). After everything was soft, we smashed them and added a bunch of seasonings, a bit of smart balance, etc to make it close to mashed potatoes, but healthier. I do not know the exact points but it was around a pound of potatoes and not much other stuff.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 750, 2010-12-08_092331
Green Tea (Matcha) Scones -- back to top
The picture did not come out well. Anyway, continuing Meredith's scone craving, we made green tea (Matcha) scones. We actually made two batches because I screwed up the first. We followed the same recipe with the same changes as last time from the recipe below. We halved it and added a tsp of matcha. It was a bit clumpy but it eventually mixed. The problem was I forgot to put in the smart balance. Well, apparently that makes a big difference. The dough seemed really dry and small. We baked it because we had nothing to lose and made another batch.
We did the second batch the same way except I remembered the smart balance (used two knives to cut it and mix it well). Also, since I had issues with the matcha clumping, I used a bit more and sifted it. That wastes some and matcha isn't cheap, except that our is (and doesn't taste as good). Still, it was worth it. This batch came out much better!
They were okay. Still a bit dry but you could taste the matcha! See the previous time for points.
Low Fat Pomegranate Scones (From Gina's Skinny Taste)
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Original Wordpress ID and Date: 753, 2010-12-08_092830
Homemade Whole Wheat Pasta with Fat Free Vodka Sauce and a Stuffed Zucchini -- back to top
This was a very good meal. Sadly, we assumed it would not be as bad as the points ended up being but it is hard to say because the vodka in the sauce cooks down a lot. Oh well, it was worth it.
We made pasta from the recipe below (halved. I think we used that recipe before. As before, it needed more water but I was careful with how much I put it in. I gave it a good amount of time kneading in the mixer and the resting helped. I also made sure everything was very, very well floured when it came to rolling and waiting to go into the water. The pasta came out very good. It had a nice texture, consistency and flavor. I also added some garlic powder and pepper (but very little of both) to the dough. It made two very big servings. The pasta was 9 points Plus per person. A lot but worth it. Also, we had some chicken on it for protein.
The sauce recipe is also pictured below. Meredith had handwritten it a long time ago so I took a photo. The major changes here were we used fat free evaporated milk instead of cream and used smart balance instead of butter and only used half of what it called for. It was very good and didn't really taste fat free.
Finally, we made a stuffed zucchini thing. I cannot post the recipe because it was from Meredith's Italian book...in Italian. It had feta (we used lite), mozzarella (we used fat free), garlic, onions, dill and some other stuff. The recipe called for nuts which we skipped. Meredith may bullet point the recipe. In that case, I will include it later.
Points+Recipes after the break...
Points Plus:
Pasta:
3/4 cup white whole wheat flour...8
3/4 cup regular flour...8
egg...0.6
olive oil...~1
-------------------------
~9 per serving+2 for chicken.
Sauce:
Skim Evaporated Milk...8*0.62=~5
1.5 Tbsp Smart Balance=1.5*1.29=~2
Vodka...~8 (who knows because a lot does cook out)
---------------------------------
figure 7 each because who knows about with the vodka
Zucchini:
2 oz lite feta...4
Mozz...1
bread crumbs...1
----------------------
3 each
Okay, this meal was a lot but it was very good and worth it every once in a while.
Meredith's Vodka Sauce
In a large frying pan over medium heat, melt the butter with the cream. In a small bowl, dissolve the tomato paste in the vodka. Stir into cream mixture and add basil plus crushed red pepper. Season with 1 tsp salt. Cook until most of the alcohol has evaporated and the sauce is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon; about 5 minutes
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 762, 2010-12-08_212506
Beef Enchilada Casserole (Take II) -- back to top
This is the same casserole we have done before from Hungry Girl. It was, as before, very good but quite salty. We did not have fat free cheese so we used light cheese and used less of it.
I cannot do the points at the moment because I do not know what the soup had in it but overall, it is not too bad.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 765, 2010-12-12_222311
Green Chili Chicken and Pureed Cauliflower -- back to top
The chicken was from the recipe below. We had made it a while ago and it was good but this time, the chicken was kind of flavorless. I think it had to do with doing a quick defrost. Also, we may have over cooked it. We will try it again because we know it has been good in the past.
The cauliflower was...different. I steamed cauliflower and garlic for a long time and then, on the suggestion of a bunch of sites, used the food processor to puree it with some seasonings. I added Molly McButter, cheddar powder, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper, crushed red pepper, etc. It was okay tasting but using the food processor was a mistake. It over puréed it. Next time, we will just mash it with a fork like we do for potatoes. It was like eating baby food. Still, I liked that it was essentially zero points. (some for the cheese I put in it as well)
Recipe and Points after break.
Points plus:
Chicken...3
cheese...2
Cauliflower...0
Cheese...1
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Smothered Green Chile Pepper Chicken (from CookingLight)
The mild spiciness of canned green chiles marries well with the creaminess of the melted mozzarella cheese. Fresh lime juice adds a bright note. Serve with Corn-Filled Mini-Muffins (a start-with-a-mix recipe) for an easy weeknight meal.
Skinless, boneless chicken thighs (8)
Fresh lime juice
Taco seasoning (reduced-sodium)
Canned whole green chiles (2 to 3 cans)
Shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
Prep: 4 minutes
Cook: 35 minutes
[My Note: It doesn't really say what to do but we sprinkle lime juice and taco seasoning, Then lay the pepper over it and sprinkle with cheese. Cover and bake.]
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 767, 2010-12-12_222336
Funky Spinach Salad, Tomatoes and Butternut Squash Soup -- back to top
First the salad. This was what we call a "Funky Salad." It was spinach (Meredith doesn't really like lettuce), with two cans of tuna fish, an apple, some raisins (not much), some sunflower seeds, tomatoes and pickled jalapeños. We also put a bit of cheese on it but not much. I had mine with FF catalena. It was really good and low in points. See later
The soup was just butternut squash. I was trying to use the rest of the chicken base so it was a bit too strong. It was definitely good but not the best butternut soup ever.
Finally, the tomatoes were because they were going to go bad. They had nothing fancy. Just a mix of Orange Muscatt Vinegar and regular Balsamic. Then I sprinkled some dried basil on them. Like garlic powder, dried basil does not taste like real basil but it still has a nice flavor.
The points (plus) for this meal were really low. It made like four or more servings and I am taking more for lunch.
Whole thing (points Plus):
Raisins...3
Tuna (based on the label amounts), both cans...5.5
Soup...0
Tomatoes...0
Like I said, a very low meal. The biggest point source was the salad dressing.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 774, 2010-12-13_222100
Salmon and Green. Beans -- back to top
The salmon was made in foil packs with lemon and fresh rosemary. The green beans were made (accidentally) Cajun style with 21 seasoning salute and garlic powder. The spices were a bit too burned in my opinion but it was still good
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 780, 2010-12-15_174112
Chicken Cor Don Blu and French Onion Soup -- back to top
We made chicken cor don blu with the Hungry Girl recipe plus some bread crumbs. It was really not great. I think that may have something to do with the chicken not being the best sized pieces.
The soup was pretty good. We used too much onion so we let it really cook down. It was good. Salty as usual but very good.
Points were not too bad but I do not know them off the top of my head.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 785, 2010-12-17_122621
Ice Cream Bread -- back to top
We tried to make ice cream bread off of the recipe below. It was really not very good. I thought it tasted a lot like really bad scones. And it was a good amount of points for only six pieces.
I do not know the exact points but it was about 8 for the flour and 6 for the ice cream. So about 2.5 per piece. Not worth it!
Ice Cream Bread ( FromA Taste of Home)
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Original Wordpress ID and Date: 788, 2010-12-17_123158
We made the usual Moussaka from the recipe on my page. It needed more seasoning than the recipe called for but I updated it with that note.
It was really good but I do not think it was as good as previous times. I am redoing the points here as best I can.
Points plus:
1.25lb Lean Beef...20
2 cups milk...4.3
1/4 cup whole wheat flour...2.67
1.5 tbsp Olivio (smart Balance)...1.93
around 1 lb potatoes...9
------------------------------
whole thing has 38 points plus. It made over four servings or four large servings. Either way, it is not bad for a lot of food.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 791, 2010-12-17_123729
Breakfast Taquitos -- back to top
I made these on a whim. I used 2 pieces of turkey bacon and some ham mixed with egg whites. After cooking that all together (turkey bacon cooked first), I layed it on a small Trader Joes low carb tortilla. I layed it in a line, added some lite cheese, and rolled it up. I used a toothpick to hold it together and pammed them. I cooked them for about 15 minutes in the toasted but on bake at 350.
They were very good! And I think low in points but I am not sure about the tortilla. Still, the filling was mostly protein so that stays low.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 795, 2010-12-17_124045
Pizza -- back to top
We made pizza dough with the usual recipe but I flipped the whole wheat and regular flour. I 1/3rd the recipe to make two medium sized pizzas a person (3 people with my sister visiting). I was really not thrilled with the dough. It wasn't overly flavorful and didn't crisp nicely. I think I need to do more pizza dough research. Also, I need better pizza cooking instruments.
We used tomato sauce that was half home made and half from a can. Toppings included spinach, Skim ricotta, mushrooms, onions, peppers, broccoli, jalapeno peppers, Canadian bacon, etc. We used fat free and lite cheeses. I do not remember any specific ones but I think Meredith's second one was a Tex-Mex pizza. It also had chipotles in adobo and salsa.
I do not think I did a Points plus calculation on the dough so it is after the break.
Whole Recipe (points plus)
White sugar...1
2 cups whole wheat...2.67*8=21.36
1 1/2 cups bread flour...2.75*6=16.5
1 tbsp Olive Oil...3.60
--------------------------------
Whole Recipe...42.46
We 1/3rd it so it had 14 total. We made 6 pizzas so figure 2.5 each
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 803, 2010-12-20_105501
We made these for Meredith's work party so there was no attempt to lower the calories. We tried one and they were very good. The main recipe is below but we made some changes.
The biggest change was we used creme-de-menthe in the butter cream instead of peppermint. The cookies came out very dense but they have a really nice chocolate flavor. We had to refrigerated everything in the middle of putting it together because everything was getting too soft.
I am not going to try to do the points. It isn't worth it.
Candy Cane Cookies (from Kitchen daily)
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Original Wordpress ID and Date: 807, 2010-12-21_111557
Whole Wheat Pumpkin Ravioli -- back to top
This was Emily's idea and it worked pretty well. We made the same pasta recipe as last time but we cut it in 1/3. Also for some reason, it did not need any more water. I used 1/3 cup egg whites for the 1/3 of 4 eggs and it seemed to be enough liquid. Odd that this time was fine but it worked.
The filling was somewhat haphazard. Emily and I read a bunch of recipes and just set out to do it. We mixed mostly pumpkin with skim ricotta and then added some nutmeg, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice and splenda. The filling was good but it tasted a bit like pumpkin pie. I think next time, I will look for a more savory pumpkin filling. I think it came out to what we were aiming for but I want to try it differently.
Overall, it was pretty successful and not really too hard. Last time Meredith and I made pasta, we halved the recipe and had more than enough noodles. Since we were stuffing them, we made less pasta. I felt like it made a lot less but it was enough.
When assembling, we folded it over making it a bit more like a dumpling with pasta but it was easier to assemble because the pasta sheets were not all uniform.
Points plus are not too bad. Last time, I calculated 18 for 1/2 recipe so 2/3*18=12 or 6 each. The filling was rather low with just skim ricotta. Really not bad! And, unlike most stuffed pasta meals, we got a lot!
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 805, 2010-12-22_105619
Vegetarian Bean Fajitas, Fiber One Fried Onion Rings and Spinach -- back to top
The fajitas were just onions, peppers, mushrooms and kidney beans with fajita seasoning. I would like to make my own seasoning sometime but this worked well enough. We added the red kidney beans right at the end so they didn't get too smashed. The beans were there to be a source of protein and some substance. We made the onions rings inspired by the Hungry Girl Recipe I copied below. We really just winged it but it was helpful to have the recipe. They were pretty easy with two people so you that I did not get my hand full of egg. Finally, we made sautéd spinach because it was getting old and we wanted to use it.
Fiber One Onion Rings (from Hungry Girl)
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Original Wordpress ID and Date: 823, 2010-12-23_113425
Bailey's Irish Cream White Chocolate Cheesecake -- back to top
I made the usual Bailey's Irish Cream Which Chocolate Cheesecake for a holiday party. Since it was not for me to eat, I made no attempt to lighten it at all.
There are a few notes from this. First of all, I had apparently incorrectly been using the whisk all of these years. Reading the recipe again, I realized the beater blade is really what I wanted. This was particularly nice because I now have one of those blades that scrape the bowl. It was much easier to do.
The other note is that every place I went either was out or didn't carry white chocolate in bars so I had to use the chips. This was fine for in the cake because it is just ground but for the topping, I also just had to use ground instead of grated chocolate. I do not think it has as nice of an airy, white look, but it is fine.
See the recipe page (linked above) for the Points plus as well.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 825, 2010-12-23_185122
Tilapia and Quinoa with Tomato. -- back to top
This worked out really well. It was a can of tomatoes with broccoli, peppers and a bunch of seasonings including crushed red pepper and other Italian seasonings. We put tilapia in as well but it got kind of broken up. It was still good though. We originally served the quinoa on the side but both Emily and I mixed it in.
It was really low in points and was pretty good. Also, it was easy and filling.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 828, 2010-12-24_155512
Lean Hamburger, Baked French Fries and Red Onion Marmalade -- back to top
I made a hamburger out of 93/7 lean ground beef. I added a bunch of seasonings and a tad of worcestershire but not too much. I think I overcooked it a bit but it was fine with me. I also made red-onion marmalade to go with it. I used red onions because Meredith is away and since she doesn't like them, I figured it was a good chance.
I made the fries by cutting yukon gold potatoes and pamming them. I sprinkled them with salt and pepper. I baked them at 375 for about 35 minutes. They were good but I made too many.
The burger was topped with low fat pepper jack. The burger was about 1/6 lb and very lean so it was only about 3 points plus each, plus the cheese, bun and fries.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 836, 2010-12-27_215743