Menu Plans 01-25-10

We're going on vacation next week so my goal for this week is to clean out the freezer!

Monday - Pulled Pork Tacos, Jasmine Rice, Salad
Tuesday - Beef Roast, Brown Rice, Broccoli
Wednesday - Grilled Chicken, Pasta, Salad
Thursday - Chili Turkey Burgers, Sweet Potatoes, Broccoli
Friday - Vacation! We'll be skiing in Breckenridge, CO for the next week.

Chili Turkey Burgers

This is another great turkey burger recipe. When cooked right, turkey burgers are juicy and just as satisfying as beef burgers. The chipotle peppers added a delcious smoky flavor to this recipe. Instead of using whole dried peppers, I used canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. I had some pureed in my freezer that worked perfectly. My husband and I had these on wheat buns with all the fixings.

Adapted from Proceed with Caution

Ingredients
1.5 lbs lean ground turkey
1/3 cup reduced fat shredded cheddar
2 tbl pureed chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
2 tbl chopped onion
1 tsp chili powder
1/3 tsp salt
1 tsp coriander
Pinch black pepper
Pinch cayenne pepper
2 tbl egg substitute
2 tbl chopped cilantro

Directions
1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Mix thoroughly by hand.

2. Form mixture into 6 equal sized patties.

3. Grill for approximately 7 minutes on each side, or until cooked through.

The Facts
6 servings
Calories 178.7
Total Fat 9.5 g
Fiber 0.5 g
WW Points 4

Steak Tips with Peppered Mushroom Gravy

I’ve been looking forward to cooking this recipe since I found it in my first Cooking Light issue. I cooked the recipe as is without any changes. The beef gravy was quite tasty! The shallots added good flavor, however my husband mentioned that he was missing ‘chunks of onion’ for texture. Next time I make this I will add some chopped onion in addition to the shallots.

Adapted from Cooking Light January/February 2010

Ingredients
6 oz. whole wheat egg noodles
1 lb top sirloin steak, trimmed, cut into 3/4 inch pieces
6. 1 tbl butter
1 medium shallot, finely chopped
8 oz sliced baby bella mushrooms
2 garlic cloves, pressed
1 tbl low sodium soy sauce
3 tbl AP flour
1 1/2 cups fat free, less sodium beef broth
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dried thyme

Directions
1. Cook noodles according to package directions, omitting salt and fat; drain.

2. While noodles cook, heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add steak; sauté 5 minutes, browning on all sides. Remove from pan; cover.

3. Melt butter in pan over medium-high heat. Add shallots and mushrooms; sauté 4 minutes.

4. Add garlic; sauté 30 seconds.

5. Stir in soy sauce. Sprinkle flour over mushroom mixture; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly.

6. Gradually add broth, stirring constantly.

7. Add salt, pepper and thyme. Bring to a boil; cook 2 minutes or until thoroughly heated.

8. Return beef to pan; cook 1 minute or until thoroughly heated. Serve over pasta.

The Facts
4 Servings
Calories 337.4
Total Fat 6.2 g
Fiber 5.8 g
WW Points 6

Saffron Quinoa

I had heard quinoa mentioned at one of our WW meetings as a great natural grain to try. And then I saw it at Costco. Do I wait and but a small bag at the grocery store to see if I like it? Nope! I buy it in bulk, because that’s what Costco does to me. The first time I made it, I simply cooked it chicken broth, no seasoning, nothing special. I was not a big fan. Needless to say it’s been sitting in my pantry untouched for the past few months. I decided it was time to try it out again so I searched my google reader and came across this recipe. I put it on the menu, and that made it official. I WAS making quinoa this week whether I wanted to or not. So, I added the saffron to my grocery list and went on my happy way. Ha, well little did I know that saffron was so expensive! It was $5 for MAYBE 2 teaspoons worth of it. Sheesh. This better be good.

I don't know what it is about quinoa, but I can NOT get used to the texture/flavor. The first bite is always good, but then it's down hill from there. This dish was not any better for me. My husband, however liked it (with butter and extra salt). We brainstormed ideas to give it more flavor for next, so maybe I'll try it a third time.

Adapted from Culinary Bliss

Ingredients
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup quinoa, rinsed
1 tsp saffron

Directions
1. Combine all ingredients in a pot with a heavy lid. Bring to a boil, reduce to low, cover and let it sit for 15-20 minutes or until the grain has absorbed all the liquid.

The Facts
4 Servings
Calories 160.5
Total Fat 2.5g
Fiber 3.0 g
WW Points 3

Turkey Sausage with Pasta and Broccoli

This was a quick dinner that I threw together last minute. I had a coupon for some Butterball turkey sausage so I bought a pack at my last grocery store visit. My husband and I used to eat sausage ALL the time, however since adapting to the WW lifestyle, we’ve had very little as there is just so much calories and fat that it’s not worth it to eat on a regular basis. I thought I’d give this a try as an alternative. The turkey sausage was good, however it tasted more like kielbasa than sausage, but that’s ok!

I didn’t follow a recipe on this and pretty much made it up as I went. It tasted pretty good, especially since it didn’t require too much effort on my part.

An Erin’s Eatery Original

Ingredients
7 oz. turkey sausage
4 oz. whole wheat pasta
6 oz. sliced baby Bella mushrooms
1 head of broccoli, tops only
1 tbl butter
1 tsp olive oil
Spices to your liking – I used salt, pepper, seasoned salt, Italian season and cayenne

Directions
1. Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and set aside.

2. While pasta is cooking, add 2/3 cup water to medium sized skillet on medium heat. Add sausage and heat approximately 10 minutes or until sausage is heated through.

3. In a small skillet, add olive oil and set burner to medium high. Once oil is heated, add sliced mushrooms. Sauté until cooked through.

4. In a microwave safe bowl add broccoli and approximately 1/4 cup water. Microwave on high for 3 to 3.5 minutes, or until broccoli is tender. Drain.

5. Add butter and cooked mushrooms to drained pasta. Stir well. Add spices to taste.

6. Remove sausage from skillet and cut into 1/4 inch slices.

7. Serve pasta with sliced sausage and steamed broccoli on top. Enjoy!

The Facts
2 Servings
Calories 463.8
Total Fat 17.1 g
Fiber 8.6 g
WW Points 10

Menu Plans 01-18-10

Sunday - Steak, Sweet Potato Fries
Monday - Grilled Chicken, Saffron Quinoa, Salad
Tuesday - Turkey Sausage, Rice, Salad
Wednesday - CL Steak Tips with Peppered Gravy, Salad
Thursday - Dinner Out - Trivia at Smokey Bones!
Friday - Chili Turkey Burgers, Sweet Potatoes, Broccoli

Oven Fried Shrimp with Chili Lime Sauce

These shrimp were pretty good, and the sauce was even better! This was probably the crispiest coating I’ve gotten oven frying. The coating became almost like a shell around the shrimp. The original recipe was for popcorn shrimp, but I used medium sized (21-25 count) shrimp. Therefore, I decreased the amount of flour and corn meal I used for the batters. I’ve reflected that in the recipe below.

Adapted from Ellie Krieger

Ingredients
Dipping Sauce:
1/2 cup nonfat plain yogurt
2 tbl reduced fat mayonnaise
1 tbl lime juice (about 1/2 lime)
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 lime, zested

Shrimp:
1/3 cup AP flour
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp garlic powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup egg substitute
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 pound medium shrimp (21 to 24 count), shelled and deveined
2 tsp canola oil
Spray cooking oil

Directions
Dipping sauce:
1. Place yogurt in a strainer lined with a paper towel. Place the strainer over a bowl and allow to drain and thicken for 20 minutes.

2. Combine the yogurt, mayonnaise, lime juice, chili powder and lime zest in a small bowl and mix well to incorporate. Set aside.


Prepare the Shrimp:
1. Place flour, chili powder, garlic powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a shallow bowl and stir with a fork to incorporate. Place egg whites in another shallow bowl and beat lightly. Place cornmeal, 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper in a third bowl and stir with a fork to incorporate.

2. Toss the shrimp, a few at a time, in flour until well coated. Shake off excess flour, then dip in egg substitute. Transfer to cornmeal mixture and toss to cover all sides. Reserve coated shrimp on a baking sheet or piece of parchment paper and repeat with remaining shrimp.

3. Preheat broiler. Brush a large cookie sheet with the oil and heat the oiled sheet under broiler for 3 minutes. Remove from oven and quickly arrange shrimp in a single layer on the cookie sheet. Spray with cooking spray. Place shrimp under broiler and broil until crisp and browned, about 5 minutes.

4. Serve shrimp with dipping sauce.

The Facts
4 servings (Shrimp & Sauce)
Calories 201.7
Total Fat 3.7 g
Fiber 1.3 g
WW Points 4

Beef Roast

Oh my, this was delicious! The garlic added great flavor and the seasonings were perfect. I took my roast out when the internal temperature was 122 degrees anticipating it would rise to between 130-135 for a medium rare roast; however it rose to at least 140 degrees so it was more medium than I prefer. Next time I’ll take it out around 115 degrees.

Adapted from What’s for Dinner?

Ingredients
1 1.6 lb. eye of round roast, or other lean cut, trimmed
(any size will work, just adjust cooking time)
4 - 5 cloves garlic, cut into quarters lengthwise
2 tsp olive oil
salt and pepper
dried herbs of choice

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

2. Stab roast 16 – 20 times with small, sharp knife. Insert garlic quarters into holes.

3. Rub roast with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

4. Sprinkle with dried herbs if desired.

5. Sear the roast in a hot, oven-safe pan, and then roast in the oven for about 30 minutes or until internal temperature reads approximately 115 degrees (for medium rare).

6. Remove from oven and let stand for 10 minutes. Temperature will continue to rise about 10-15 degrees. Slice thin and serve!

The Facts
6 Servings
Calories 213.6
Total Fat 6.7 g
Fiber 0.0 g
WW Points 5

Pho Ga – Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Soup

This was the main course for our Vietnamese inspired dinner. The final dish was ok, but not exactly as I expected. This is definitely a dish I plan on making again, but will be applying a few lessons I learned in the process. Check out the link below for the recipe. Once I perfect it to our liking, I’ll be sure to blog my changes.

The main problem with my version was there was not a lot of broth. The dish turned into more of noodle dish versus a soup dish. I think the noodles I chose and how I cooked them are to blame for this. They were bigger than what we've had before in traditional Pho at the local restaurahts. I’ve already bought some thinner ones that I’m looking forward to trying. I also read somewhere that you could just put the dried noodles straight into the broth. BAD IDEA. Don’t do it! The noodles absorbed almost all of the delicious broth. I will definitely cook the noodles SEPARATELY in the future. The flavor of the broth was amazing before I added the noodles so I don’t think I need to alter anything there; however I plan on doubling the amount I make next time.

Overall, I think it was a good first attempt, but there’s A LOT of room for improvement. I’ll keep you posted when I attempt Pho Ga, Take 2!

Adapted from Jaden’s Steamy Kitchen

I served ours with scallions, fresh Thai basil, fresh mint, bean sprouts, jalapenos, sriracha sauce and hoisin sauce.

Summer Rolls

I decided to recreate a Vietnamese dinner, inspired by some of the local Vietnamese restaurants we like to eat at in town. After a few (interesting) trips to the Asian grocery store, I had the ingredients I needed (and a few additional unidentified herbs). I started the meal with these summer rolls and peanut dipping sauce and then Pho Ga (Vietnamese chicken noodle soup) for the main course.

The summer rolls were pretty good, and were not that difficult to make. I had a hard time cutting the carrot into thin strips and I think next time I’ll just buy the precut matchstick carrots.

Adapted from The Way the Cookie Crumbles

Ingredients
16 Medium shrimp, peeled
2 oz. rice vermicelli
8 rice wrappers (8.5 inches)
1/2 medium cucumber, cut into matchsticks
1 medium carrot, cut into matchsticks
Handful of bean sprouts
16 thai basil leaves
16 mint leaves

Directions
1. Fill a medium skillet with water and bring to a boil. Add shrimp and cook just until shrimp are opaque, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat, and remove shrimp from pan. Cut the shrimp in half lengthwise.

2. Add vermicelli to the hot liquid and let set until tender, about 5 minutes. Remove from pan.

3. Pale a rice paper wrapper in the hot liquid and leave until softened, about one minute. Remove it from the water and place on clean, dry work surface.

4. Place 4 shrimp halves cut side up on the center of wrapper. Top with 2 basil and 2 mint leaves. Add bean sprout, carrot and cucumber strips, then rice noodles.

5. Fold up bottom 2-inch border of wrapper over filling. Fold left, then right edge of wrapper over filling. Roll filling to top edge of wrapper to form tight cylinder. Serve with peanut sauce, or sauce of choice.

The Facts
8 Servings
Calories 96.7
Total Fat 0.2 g
Fiber 0.8 g
WW Points 2

Peanut Sauce

This sauce went well with the summer rolls. I would recommend making it the day before you need it because the flavors really blended well for me over night.

Adapted from Cooking Light

Ingredients
1/4 cup lime juice
3 tbl reduced fat creamy peanut butter
3 tbl low-sodium soy sauce
3 tbl honey
1 tbl chili paste with garlic
4 garlic cloves, minced

Directions
1. Combine all ingredients in a small bowl; stir well with a whisk.

2. Refrigerate overnight. Bring to room temp before serving.

The Facts
8 Servings
Calories 69.4
Total Fat 2.3 g
Fiber 0.4 g
WW Points 1

Menu Plans 01-11-10

Monday - Beef Roast, Baked Sweet Potato, Salad
Tuesday - Chicken and Mushrooms in White Wine Garlic Sauce, Broccoli
Wednesday - Oven Fried Shrimp with Chili Lime Dipping Sauce, Yellow Rice, Salad
Thursday - Grilled Rosemary Chicken, Raspberry Shallot Dressing, Brown Rice, Broccoli
Friday - Leftovers or Dinner Out

Crockpot Turkey Chili

We’ve been making chill in the Crockpot for a while now. Each time we tweak a few ingredients or change the meat up. Over the past few years we’ve made chili for three different contests, one of which we won! We have a few secret ingredients that really enhance the overall flavor, however I must keep those between me and Bryan!

For this chili variation we decided to use ground turkey. It came out good, however we think the meat was missing a little seasoning. I think it would be good with some seasoning mixed in the actual meat before it’s browned. The ingredients filled my Crockpot to the brim and made enough to freeze some for a future meal.


Ingredients
1.25 lbs lean ground turkey
2 cups beef broth
1 15 oz. can kidney beans
1 15 oz. can white beans
2 14 oz. cans fire roasted tomatoes
3/4 onion, diced
1 scallion, diced
1 cup frozen corn
1 medium sweet potato, diced or shredded
1/3 can chipotle chilies in adobo sauce, processed in food processor
2 tbl low sodium soy sauce
2 tbl kosher salt
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tbl fresh oregano or 1 tsp dried
1 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp cinnamon
3 tbl chili powder
Dash of cayenne to taste
Secret Ingredients

Directions
1. Brown ground turkey.

2. Add ALL ingredients to slow cooker.

3. Cook on low for 9 hours.

4. Serve with your favorite toppings!

The Facts
12 servings
Calories 195.4
Total Fat 4.4 g
Fiber 6.5 g
WW Points 3

Spinach Artichoke Dip

It’s time to catch up on my New Year’s appetizer blogging! I made this spinach and artichoke dip for Thanksgiving and again for our New Year’s party. I’ve have made this dip many different ways with all different ingredients including mayonnaise, cream cheese, sour cream and Alfredo sauce. I’ve mixed and combined difference aspects of a bunch of recipes along the way that I feel confident enough to call this one my own! The recipe below I now use as my go to recipe and really like the flavor the Alfredo sauce brings to the recipe. It gives it that restaurant style creaminess.

Ingredients
4.5 oz. fresh baby spinach stems removed, chopped
14 oz. marinated artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
5 oz. Alfredo pasta sauce
4 oz. fat free cream cheese, softened
1 cup part skim shredded mozzarella cheese
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Mix together all ingredients in large mixing bowl.

3. Spread mixture into 8x8 inch baking dish or 9 inch pie plate. (Can refrigerate at this point and bake right before you need it!)

4. Cover and bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until cheeses are melted and bubbly. Serve warm. (Increase baking time 5-10 minutes if coming straight from refrigerator.)

Spicy Tequila Shrimp

We had a lot of leftover shrimp cocktail from our new year’s party so I searched Cooking Light’s shrimp recipes and found this one that looked good. After reading the review, I left some of the seeds and membranes in for some added kick. This dish had the right amount of kick to it between the salsa and jalapeno’s. My main substitution was the cooked shrimp for the raw shrimp, but I also used salsa instead of the diced tomatoes. My husband does NOT tolerate raw tomatoes so I knew those were not an option. The fire roasted salsa has a great flavor that added to this dish.

Adapted from Cooking Light

Ingredients
1 t vegetable oil
1 cup vertically sliced onion
1/2 cup julienne-cut seeded jalapeno pepper (I used 3)
5 garlic cloves
9 oz. cooked shrimp
1 T white wine vinegar
1/4 t salt
1/2 cup tequila
1 cup fire roasted tomato salsa
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 T lime juice

Directions
1. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add onion, jalapeno pepper, and garlic; sauté 8 minutes.

2. Add shrimp, vinegar, and salt, and sauté 1 minute.

3. Pour tequila into one side of skillet, and ignite tequila with a long match. Let flames die down. (This takes a minute or two so don’t be alarmed!)

4. Add salsa and cilantro, and cook 2 minutes or until thoroughly heated, stirring occasionally.

5. Remove from heat, and stir in lime juice. Spoon shrimp mixture over jasmine rice and enjoy!

The Facts
4 servings
Calories 183.0
Total Fat 1.6 g
Fiber 0.4 g
WW Points 4

Menu Plans 01-04-10

Sunday - Inside Out Chicken Cordon Bleu (Grilled), Grilled Asparagus
Monday - Spicy Tequila Shrimp, Jasmine Rice, Salad
Tuesday - Crockpot Turkey Chili
Wednesday - Summer Rolls, Vinegar Dipping Sauce, Pho with Chicken and Shrimp
Thursday - Chicken Sausage, Roasted Sweet Potatoes, Salad
Friday - Dinner Out