CrockPot Beef Stew (9 PTS+)

It’s a chilly fall Sunday night and I can’t think of anything more appropriate than beef stew in the CrockPot. I use the old school recipe right out of the CrockPot cookbook because why mess with a good thing! According to Recipe Builder it’s 9 PTS+ if I split it into 5 servings. Here’s what goes into it:

1 lb beef round cut into 1″ cubes (I use a leaner cut than stew beef)
1/4 cup flour
Salt and pepper to taste
1.5 cups low sodium beef broth
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 clove minced garlic
1 bay leaf
1/2 teastpoon paprika
1/2 bag baby carrots, chopped (calls for 3 carrots, sliced)
1 lb potato, chopped
1 onion, diced
1 cup diced celery

Put the meat in the CrockPot. Mix the flour, salt and pepper and pour over the meat. Stir it up to coat the meat. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir it all to mix. Cover it and cook on low 8 – 10 hours. Stir before serving.

It’ll be done about 5:30 tomorrow morning so I think this is lunch for tomorrow. Yum!!

Linguini and “Meat”balls

Tried a new version of an old classic tonight – spaghetti and meatballs. Here what I put together:

2 oz whole wheat linguini (5)
4 Quorn “meatless” meatballs** (2)
1/2 cup organic pasta sauce (1)
Peppers and onions sauteed in 1/2 Tbsp evoo (2)
2 Tbsp fat free ricotta cheese (1)

Total PTS+: 11

It’s a little high, but it’s so filling it’s worth it. I actually made two portions at once, and OMG were these servings HUGE!

I cooked the meatballs in the sauce for a while until it thickened up and it just made the whole thing so amazingly rich. I had it again for lunch today, and it was just as good. Definitely give it a shot!

**  (No soy in these meatless meatballs, which is important for me. I shouldn’t have too much soy. Got these at Whole Foods. For more information: http://www.quorn.us/products/Meatless_Meatballs.aspx)

Homemade crab cakes (2 PTS+ per crabcake)

I’ve recently begun eating some seafood, and crabcakes have become a new favorite. I especially like them on a big salad. Well, tonight I decided to make my own crab cakes at home from this recipe on weightwatchers.com:

http://www.weightwatchers.com/food/rcp/index.aspx?recipeid=183391

I made one substitution, using 1 1/3 cup whole wheat breadcrumbs instead of the 6 oz of french bread made into crumbs. I did this because (a) I had them in the house, and (b) I’d rather use whole wheat breadcrumbs thanwhite bread. And if I had it to do over again I would omit or halve the red pepper flakes because they were a little spicy for my taste. But beyond that, they were great! I just had two for dinner and yum, yum, yum.

Now, here’s the funny thing…the WW site says this recipe is 7 PTS+, but when I put the recipe into their own Recipe Builder it came out to be only 2 PTS+ values per crab cake (assuming it makes 10 crab cakes…I didn’t think I’d get 12 out of it the size I was making them). I suppose that’s close. They said the recipe serves 4 and makes 12 crab cakes, so that would make a serving three cakes = 7 PTS+ = just over 2 PTS+ per crab cake. I only needed two, though (late dinner) so I’m only going to count 4 PTS+ for today and save the rest for another day.

If you like crabcakes I definitely recommend trying this recipe. It was much easier than I thought, and so tasty. I’m thrilled to have something new to add to the regular rotation of my meal plans. Variety is the spice of life, after all!

Delicious dinner

Last night was my first night back from vacation. After a week at an all-inclusive resort in Mexico I was so ready for a home cooked meal. I made pork chops using the same marinade that I typically use for pork tenderloin and served it with quinoa and green beans with almonds (no sauce). It was delicious, and thanks to a rather spartan pantry I learned a new trick to make the meal look more appealing. 

I needed 1/2 cup uncooked quinoa to make 2 servings (I was having company for dinner) but I only had about 1/3 cup of regular quinoa. After checking that the cooking instructions were the same, I topped off the measuring cup with the red quinoa that I had from the same company. The result was a fantastically speckled, colorful side dish that looked as good as it tasted. With the brown pork and bright green beans it made for a beautiful plate. Of course I forgot to take a picture, but try it and you’ll see what I mean.

As for the PTS+ value of the meal, here’s the breakdown:

Pork chop with marinade: 7 (5 for the pork, 2 for the marinade) 
1 serving red quinoa: 4
Green beans with almonds: 2   
Total PTS+: 13

That’s a little high for a normal dinner, but it was so nice to eat a home cooked meal and so many less PTS+ than what I was eating in Cabo (despite my best efforts to stay healthy). So today it’s back to my meeting, back to a normal meal plan, and back to losing.

Grilled Chicken Spiedini at Macaroni Grill

I was in Chicago this week on business, eating conference food for every meal. I did pretty well with that by filling most of my plate with veggies and lean proteins like chicken and fish (brusing off the sauce). By the last night I was ready for some simple food, but also limited by the option at O’Hare Airport. My colleague and I chose Macaroni Grill because it was the only real sit-down restaurant (vs. food court). I wasn’t expecting many good options on the menu, but to my surprise I found a dish called “Grilled Chicken Spiedini”. It was basically 2 chicken skewers brushed with lemon, garlic, olive oil, and rosemary then grilled. The only side was a small pile of grilled veggies. It was light, delicious, and just what I’d been wanting.

When I got home I looked up the nutrition information on the restaurant’s Web site and found that I made a pretty good choice.  The whole thing was 8 PTS**. I rounded out the meal with a house salad with a light sprinkle of balsamic vinaigrette and a 6 oz glass of Pinot Grigiot (much needed after a very long week!). All in all dinner cost me 11 PTS and set me up for a nice nap on the flight home.

The best news is this…when I weighed in this morning I was down 0.5 lbs!!!

** The site only lists saturated fat, but I used the WW site to figure out that the 8 PTS was valid as long as the total fat was less than 10 g.

Choosing healthy at Qdoba

As a follow-up to my last post, I played around with the nutrition calculator at Qdoba’s Web site and found some more PTS friendly options than the 16 PT Naked Burrito I actually got. Here are a few ideas:

Naked Taco Salad w/ black beans, pico de gallo, sour cream, fajita veggies and fat free picante ranch dressing:

- w/ Chicken (10 PTS)
- w/ Pork (9 PTS)
- w/ Grilled Veggies (7 PTS) 

Tortilla Soup w/ chicken, sour cream, tortilla strips, and pico de gallo (5 PTS)

Lil’ Naked Burrito (kid’s portion) with Chicken with rice, black beans, lettuce, sour cream, fajita veggies, pico de gallo (5 PTS, w/ cheese = 8 PTS)

Craft Two:
1) Mini Naked Burrito w/ chicken, rice, beans, lettuce, pico de gallo, sour cream, grilled veggies
2) Tortilla soup
Total PTS = 9

So there are definitely healthy, low PTS, filling options. You just have to look a little harder to find them because the calories add up more quickly than you think with the regular menu. But they give you all the tools you need on their Web site, so for that they will earn a spot in my list of HC approved fast-food restaurants.

Getting “Naked” at Qdoba

I went to a soccer game at Gillette Stadium Saturday night, and we ended up having to grab dinner at Patriot Place due to unexpected traffic on 93 (shocker, I know!) The first place we found was Qdoba, a Mexican place specializing in burritos. I’d never eaten there before, but I was immediately intrigued by the “Naked Burrito” which is the burrito filling in a bowl without the tortilla. I got a Naked Grilled Chicken Burrito and it was simple and delicious. Here’s what it was:

- Cilantro-lime rice (I had them put in a little less than normal)
- Black beans
- Chicken
- Fresh salsa
- Cheese and sour cream (I had them use very little, and it’s apparently all lite sour cream)

I also had them add fajita veggies, which were really just peppers and onions. They weren’t as well done as normal fajita veggies – more crispy – but that was actually a-OK with me! The result was delicious and very filling.

The company’s site has a nutritional calculator, which I used to estimate the PTS for my dinner. It came out to 730/28.5/17 which is a whopping 16 PTS. But I don’t think mine was that much. I was able to get at the info for each item individually and here’s how it broke down:

Pico De Gallo= 40/1.5/3
Rice (6 oz) = 330/8/1 (6 oz portion. I think I had less than that)
Fajita Veggies: 30/1.5.2
Black Beans (6 oz) = 210/1.5/20
Sour Cream (2 oz) = 60/4/0
Cheese (1.5 oz) = 170/14/0
Grilled Chicken (3.5 oz) = 190/10/0

So I was right to ask them to scale back on the rice, as the biggest caloric contributor in the bunch. The beans and chicken are also high in calories, but they’re filling foods so I don’t mind as much. The cheese is a definite opportunity to cut back, and while I had them use very little I think I’ll skip it next time. That would bring the total down to 14 PTS.

I’ll admit that this meal ended up being far more PTS than I expected (I was thinking 9 – 10). But information is power. I’m going to use their tool to find healthier, lower calorie choices so that next time I’m near a Qdoba I’ll know what the best choice is.

Past Fall Favorites

I’ve been at this since October 2008 (my 2nd blog-day is almost here!) and I’ve posted some great fall comfort food recipes in the past years. Here’s a look back at some of my favorites, as a reminder:

Sweet Potato Soup (4 PTS)

Tuscan Turkey Sausage and Barley Stew (6 PTS)

Philly Cheesesteak (6 PTS, great for watching a football game)

Homemade Chili with Cornbread (6 PTS total)

Au Bon Pain Veggie Chili (4 PTS)

Grilled Cheese & Tomato Soup

Chili Cheese Baked Potato (7 PTS)
(If I were to do this now I would use the homemade chili from above. The original canned chili has way too many preservatives for me these days!)

2 PT Hot Cocoa (1 milk serving)

Crab Cake Salad

My family and I are enjoying a mini-vacation right now (more like an extended day trip) so I’ve been eating out for every meal. Today’s lunch was a great find, though – tasty and PTS friendly. I got a large garden salad with balsamic and olive oil then ordered a 5.5 oz crab cake appetizer separately that I estimate was about 5 PTS (the highest PTS total of any crab cake listed in the WW POINTS-finder). I put the crab cake on the salad instead of grilled chicken and it was very tasty. I also liked that it was light as we were going to be walking and I didn’t want heavy food to make me groggy.

Out of this world Black Bean burgers!

My coworker K is a great cook, and makes almost her own natural dishes. She even bakes her own bread!  She was eating this yummy-looking black bean burgers for lunch the other day so I asked her for the recipe. I made it for myself this weekend, and all I can say is Oh.My.Goodness! They are amazing! It is a variation on this recipe from Food & Wine Magazine, 2008.

K made a bunch of variations, some I kept  some I didn’t. And I made a few of my own. I’m going to write this up the way I actually made it, which was based entirely on what I had on hand. Feel free to try your own combinations!

1/3 cup raw pearl barley
1 can organic black beans, rinsed and drained
3 teaspoons olive oil (used separately at different times)
1 small onion, finely diced
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp minced garlic
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup whole wheat breadcrumbs
2 tsp dried basil
2 tsp dried cilantro
1/8 teaspoon black pepper

1. Cook the barley as directed on the package. Set aside.
2. Puree all but 1/2 cup of the black beans in a food processor. Transfer to a bowl.
3. Put 1 tsp olive oil in a small frying pan. Add the onion and cook until tender.
4. Add the crushed red pepper flakes and garlic to the onions. Cook until fragrant, about 2 minutes.
5. Add the onion mixture to the bean puree along with the remaining beans, eggs, barley, bread crumbs, basil, cilantro, and pepper. Mix together until combined.
6. Refrigerate the mixture for 30 minutes to solidify. (I forgot this and it was VERY sticky!!)
7. Remove the mixture from the fridge and form into 8 equal patties.
8. Brush a grill pan with 1 tsp olive oil and heat just a bit.
9. Cook the first 4 patties until crisp on both sides and heated through, 5 – 10 min.
10. Remove the first batch, spread another 1 tsp of oil into the pan, and cook the second batch.

Serve warm on a toasted whole wheat bun, sandwich thin, or eat all by itself the way I did. These are so hearty and flavorful it’s hard to believe they are only 3 PTS! But that’s what the Recipe Builder said. I was thrilled!

You should definitely try these. They’re a wonderful alternative to the store-bought veggie burgers – much more filling. And they don’t contain anything I can’t pronounce or recognize, which is sadly not the case even with the supposedly “natural” packaged foods these days.

(I froze all but 2 of the patties in a storage container separated by wax paper so I can just take one out when needed.)