Category Archives: 5 points +

Pumpkin Pie

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Pumpkin, pumpkin, pumpkin. That’s all people seem to be cooking with this time of year doesn’t it? I went to the grocery store and picked up 12 cans of pumpkin puree for .85 a can this weekend. Score! There’s so many pumpkin recipes, I want to try and make a low fat version of and this is one of them. Pumpkin Pie.

Who doesn’t like Pumpkin pie? I know of one person that doesn’t and that’s Ina Garten. She has come out on her show and said that she didn’t care for pumpkin pie as much. Can you believe that? Oh well she makes plenty of other pumpkin goodies on her show and I still love her anyway. I want to make her turkey roulade recipe one time here. I picked up another turkey breast at the grocery store today just to make that. Can’t wait.

This is a Weight Watcher recipe for pumpkin pie and I thought it was just ok. It requires beating egg whites until frothy and most pumpkin pie recipes I know just require mixing ingredients in a bowl. It’s kind of a time consuming recipe but in the end it’s worth it. I wish it almost was a thicker pie too. Ben looked at it and said that’s a pumpkin pie? Why is it so thin? Ha ha. It still tasted like a good pumpkin pie and on Weight Watcher’s website it says it’s only 5 points plus per slice.

PointsPlus Value:    5
Servings:  8

Ingredients from Weight Watchers

3 oz reduced-fat cinnamon graham crackers, about 5 1/2 sheets
1 Tbsp packed light brown sugar
2 Tbsp regular butter, melted
2 large egg white(s)
1 large egg(s)
1/2 cup(s) dark brown sugar
1/4 tsp table salt
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice, or less to taste
1 cup(s) canned pumpkin
1/2 cup(s) fat-free evaporated milk
1/4 cup(s) lite whipped topping

Instructions

Position rack in middle of oven. Preheat oven to 350ºF.

Place graham crackers and light brown sugar in a food processor; process into crumbs (or smash into crumbs in a sealed plastic food bag with a rolling pin). Spoon crumbs into a small bowl; add melted butter and combine with fingers into a coarse meal. Distribute crumbs evenly on bottom and up sides of an ungreased 9-inch pie plate. Chill for 30 minutes before baking. Bake until crust starts to turn golden, about 8 to 10 minutes; remove from oven and let cool.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, using an electric mixer, whip egg whites until frothy; fold in egg, dark brown sugar, salt, pumpkin pie spice, canned pumpkin and evaporated milk. Beat pumpkin custard until smooth and pour into pie shell. Bake until a knife inserted in center comes out clean, about 45 to 55 minutes. Slice into 8 pieces, top each piece with 1/2 tablespoon of whipped topping and serve warm or at room temperature. Yields 1 slice per serving.

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Mashed Potatoes with Garlic

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I think that once November hits, I start craving a Thanksgiving Dinner. Right on November 1st. It’s weird, I know…. Then this week the grocery stores started posting ads for turkey sales and I was so happy to go there and buy a turkey breast. On the Weight Watchers facebook page they started posting recipes for Thanksgiving and that made me very happy when they posted this recipe for garlic mashed potatoes.

These mashed potatoes are very garlic-y and that’s because when you boil the potatoes, you boil the garlic a long with the potatoes. The garlic ends up infusing the potatoes when you cook them. It’s nice when you bite into the potatoes and get a big chunk of garlic as well. This is a good recipe and I’m glad I found it. Potatoes are so carb loading they’re hard to make low fat.

Ingredients from Weight Watchers

Points Plus Value: 5
Servings:  8

4 large uncooked potato(es), Idaho variety, peeled and cut into 2-inch chunks
8 clove(s) (medium) garlic clove(s), peeled
1 cup(s) light sour cream
1/2 cup(s) buttermilk
1/4 cup(s) parsley, fresh, chopped
3/4 tsp table salt, or to taste
1/4 tsp black pepper, or to taste

Instructions

Place potatoes and garlic in a large saucepan; fill with enough water to cover them.

Set pan over high heat; bring to a boil. Boil until potatoes are fork-tender, about 8 minutes; drain and return potatoes and garlic to pan. Add sour cream to pan; stir and then mash mixture until almost smooth (or desired consistency). Stir in buttermilk. Fold in parsley; season to taste with salt and pepper. Yields about 3/4 cup per serving.

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Ginger-Lime Chicken

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Need a new marinade for your grilled chicken routine? Well stop looking, cause you found it. This chicken is marinaded in soy sauce, ginger,garlic, and citrus.I’m going to use the left over chicken to make chicken taquitos probably featured in a later post down the week. :)

I got tired of posting nutrition info for every post, but don’t worry. If you like low fat recipes you can still come here. I’ll post one that’s low in calories every once or twice a week. Just cause. No, really. One of my favorite magazines is Cooking Light and I will stop by the Weight Watchers website every now in then and look for a new recipe to try. Usually, I find quite a few there.

Ingredients from Weight Watchers

Points Plus: 5
1 chicken breast per serving (4 oz breasts)

1/4 cup(s) low-sodium soy sauce
3 Tbsp fresh lime juice
2 tsp lime zest, finely minced
2 Tbsp ginger root, finely minced or grated   2 clove(s) (medium) garlic clove(s), minced
1 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp chili oil, or other hot oil
1/4 cup(s) cilantro, fresh, chopped, divided
1 pound(s) Chicken, breast, raw, without skin & bone, four 4 oz pieces
1/8 tsp sugar
2 Tbsp scallion(s), finely minced

Directions

In a large non-reactive bowl, combine soy sauce, lime juice, lime zest, ginger, garlic, honey, oil and 2 tablespoons cilantro; mix well. Add chicken to bowl, tossing to make sure each piece is coated; refrigerate for 2 to 4 hours.

Preheat broiler to high. Remove chicken from marinade and place in a baking dish; strain marinade and set aside. Broil chicken, 4 to 6 minutes; flip and brush chicken with reserved marinade (discard any remaining marinade). Return chicken to oven and broil until chicken is cooked through, about 4 to 6 minutes more.

To serve, sprinkle chicken with scallions, remaining 2 tablespoons cilantro and any sauce accumulated in baking dish. Yields 1 chicken breast and about 1/3 cup sauce per serving.

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Cobb Salad

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After a day of indulging, in nothing but good for you salty food like buttered popcorn at the movie theater, Chinese at the Food Court, and Nachos later on for dinner, a salad sounds really good the next day. I’ve been craving a cobb salad really bad and I’ve also been trying to figure out how to hard boil an egg correctly.

I’ve tried many different methods of cooking hard boiled eggs, including one where you boil the eggs for so many minutes, but the egg end up cracked and they start leaking. Other times when I let them sit in the pan, they turn this really bright orange color. Does that mean that the eggs are over cooked?  I finally found one  method that worked for me. You fill a pot with cold water, enough to cover the eggs. Let the eggs come to a boil. Usually takes about 7 minutes. Turn a timer on for 16 minutes and cover the eggs. Remove them from heat. Once the timer comes off cool the eggs in cold water or ice bath. Voila, the eggs weren’t a bright orange color.

Cobb salad reminds me of a scene from Julie and Julia where the girls were all sitting around a table and eating a cobb salad. Julie takes a bread stick and one of her friends grabs it away from her. I don’t know about you, but if that were my friend, I would have punched her. Let me eat my bread stick, dangit! :)

Ingredients from Weight Watchers

Points Plus: 5 (Servings 3)

8 cup(s) romaine lettuce, chopped
1/3 pound(s) deli-sliced turkey, cut into thin strips
1/4 pound(s) low-fat Swiss cheese, cut into thin strips   (I used low-fat cheese sticks and cut them up into pieces)
1 large tomato(es), diced
4 slice(s) cooked crisp turkey bacon, crumbled
2 large egg(s), hard-boiled, diced
6 Tbsp reduced-calorie blue cheese dressing

Instructions

Arrange lettuce in 4 salad bowls. Evenly divide turkey, cheese, tomato, bacon and egg among bowls.

Spoon 1 1/2 tablespoons dressing over each salad just before serving. Yields 1 salad per serving.

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Rainbow Rice Krispy Treats weight watcher recipes

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Oooooooooo…. Aahhhhhhhhhhhhh look at all the pretty colors!

Having some rainbow sprinkles sitting around your house can come in handy. Especially these days, since all I see are funfetti just about everything lately. Funfetti cinnamon rolls, pancakes, you name. I am sucker for pretty rainbow things like these rice crispy bars.

I had a sweet tooth craving and had to make something. Rice Krispy treats aren’t bad point wise actually. They’re 5 points a piece on the new plan. Now, do you want a rice krispy treat? I sure do. :) I really didn’t change anything about the original recipe other than adding some rainbow sprinkles. If you add in the cake mix to the batter it’s extra points.

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Ingredients adapted from How Sweet it Is.

6 cups of rice crispies

3 tablespoons of butter

1 10.5 oz bag of marshmallows

5 tablespoons of rainbow sprinkles

1/4 cup of cake batter mix if desired (more points)

Melt butter and marshmallows over medium. Add in rice crispies and sprinkles until well mixed. Add to 8 X 11 inch baking dish.

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Swedish Meatballs Weight Watcher Recipes

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You know what I like most about food photography? You don’t have to worry about the weather. If you have a big window with sunlight coming through you can just set your plate of food down and take the picture. Or… you can even set up your own light studio. I like to take my dish outside in our patio, and take pictures out there. Since it’s a 3 seasons porch, I’ll even go out there during the Winter sometimes.

I do love, love,  love nature photography. Especially photos with lightning bolts in the pictures. My goal this summer, is to take a picture of lightning now that I know how to operate the manual settings on my camera. I’d also like to get some storm pictures or go out with a storm chaser. I actually do know one. ;)

For the weather forecast today it read, muggy,  with a chance of meatball sized hail and a flash flood watch with possible gravy. The temp for today read a high of 350 degrees for only 20 to 25 minutes after the cold front came through. Sometimes those damn meteorologists can be wrong and be totally off. Like a recipe, that you thought you’d like,  but it  ended up not turning out to be good.

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Calories 218 |  Total Fat 4.37g | Carbohydrate 17.45g | Fiber 0.9 | Protein 27.19g

Serves 6

Points Plus: 5

Ingredients from Tasty Kitchen Blog

  • ½ cups Minced Fresh Onion
  • 2 cloves Garlic, Minced
  • 20 ounces, weight Lean Ground Turkey
  • 1 whole Egg
  • ½ cups Dry Bread Crumbs
  • 1 Tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
  • ½ Tablespoons Dried Parsley
  • 1 teaspoon Ground Allspice
  • ¼ teaspoons Ground Nutmeg
  • 1 whole 14.5 Oz. Can Low Sodium Beef Broth
  • 3 Tablespoons All-purpose Flour
  • 1 Tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
  • ½ Tablespoons Dried Parsley
  • ¼ teaspoons Ground Black Pepper
  • ½ teaspoons Salt, Or To Taste
  • ¼ cups Light Sour Cream (I actually used milk)

Preparation Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. In small skillet, heat olive oil over med. heat. Add onion and garlic, and saute 2-3 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes.
3. In medium mixing bowl, combine turkey, onions and garlic, egg, breadcrumbs, 1 T. Worcestershire sauce, 1/2 T. parsley, allspice, and nutmeg.
4. Shape meat mixture into 1″ balls and place in baking dish. Bake 25-30 minutes, or until cooked through.
5. Pour beef broth and flour into a jar with a tight fitting lid. Shake vigorously until flour is dissolved.
6. Pour beef broth mixture into large skillet with lid and add remaining Worcestershire and parsley, black pepper, and salt to taste.
7. Heat to a boil over med.-high heat, stirring frequently. Reduce heat to medium and simmer until thickened, 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
8. Reduce heat to med-low and stir in sour cream. Add meatballs and cover. Simmer 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Serve over egg noodles, if desired.

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Hawaiian BBQ Chicken sandwich weight watchers recipes

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This recipe is so easy. I let the chicken defrost for a little while (not all the way) and threw all the rest of 3 the ingredients into the pot. You can’t go wrong with your favorite bottle of BBQ sauce and a can of pineapple. If you don’t like onion leave it out. That’s the only hard part to this recipe, chopping the onion.

I didn’t used to like onions myself. I liked green onions so I used those in recipes for awhile. Then I gradually started trying onions in different recipes. Roasted onions are the best, I think because they come out very sweet.

I believe there’s a  whole wheat bun from Sarah Lee out there that’s only 2 points so with the bun it would a 9 point sandwich. I had some grapes with mine and it was very filling. So far I’ve lost 1.6 pounds! Only 13 left to go. :)

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Calories 203 | Fat 5.05g | Carbohydrate 18.26g | Protein 19.42g | Fiber 1.2
Points Plus 5 (without bun)

Serves 12 (I had mis read my recipe for this last time and thought it had said only 8 serves, it’s actually 12) I fixed the points for this.

Ingredients adapted from the Tasty Kitchen Blog via My Retro Kitchen

3 pounds Boneless Chicken Breast, Thighs Or A Combo Of The Two
1 whole Onion (large), Sliced Into Chunks
1 can (20 Oz. Size) Pineapple, I Recommend Nibblits Or Crushed, Drained But Reserve The Juice If Using (See Note Below)
1 bottle (18 To 20 Oz. Size) BBQ Sauce Of Your Choice (Our Favorites Are Sweet Baby Ray’s Or Open Pit If We Want To Give It A Little More Of A Kick)
Hamburger Buns Or Kaiser Rolls

Directions

If you use frozen chicken, make sure it is completely defrosted. If you cook it frozen, it will indeed cook but it will make a very “wet” sauce. Place your chicken in the bottom of the crock pot. Top with onions, then pineapple. Pour the entire bottle of BBQ sauce over the whole thing.

Note: If you want a sweeter BBQ, add up to half a cup of the pineapple juice you drained, depending on how sweet you want it. This is optional.

Turn your crock pot on LOW and cook for 8–10 hours (or on HIGH for 4–6).

An hour or two before it is finished cooking, carefully remove the chicken from the crock pot and shred it using two forks. Watch out, it will be hot! Place chicken back in the crock pot and stir well to combine. Finish cooking an additional hour or two so the chicken can absorb most of the sauce. Serve on hamburger buns and top with coleslaw if desired.

Note: When I had made it with Sweet Baby Ray’s and pineapple juice, it was a very sweet Pulled Chicken. It was great, and everyone loved it. But I have to say, using Open Pit BBQ Sauce and no pineapple juice was hands down our favorite! It had just the right amount of sweet and vinegar that we love in a good BBQ.

If you are making this for kids, children tend to like the sweeter variety.

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Breakfast Sandwich Frittata

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A frittata is basically like a huge omelet. You can throw whatever you want in there. A quiche is almost like a frittata but it has a pie crust. I wonder if this frittata would almost be considered a quiche since there was pitas in it? That almost acts like a pie crust.

I was trying to picture a sandwich when I was making this.  The pita left almost an inch of space for the egg mixture. This is what it looked like before I flipped it over. See what I mean?

And this is what it looked like when it was done cooking. More like a frittata.

Please use fresh herbs when making this recipe. If you think they’re too expensive then grow some in pots. Much cheaper. I think that fresh herbs make all the difference.  Enjoy. :)

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Calories 189 | Total Fat 7.82g | Total Carbs 9.7g | Fiber 0.3g |  Protein 19.72g
Points Plus: 5

Ingredients adapted from Every Day Food

3 large eggs
2 egg whites
1/2 cup of 2% milk
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
3 tablespoons of mixed herbs (I used chives, dill, and parsley)
2/3 cup of low fat cheddar
2 slices of bacon cut into 1/4 in pieces
1 pita, split horitzontally into 2 rounds

1. preheat oven to 425. In a medium bowl whisk together eggs, milk, crushed red
pepper, herbs, and cheese. Season with salt and pepper if you desire

2. In a small bowl oenproof nonstick or cast inro skillet, cook bacon over medium, stirring occasionall until crisp. 7 minutes. Transfer bacon to egg mixture and pour all but 1 teaspoon of fat into a small bowl.  Add 1 pit round to skillet and cookuntil toasted and golden. 3 minutes, flipping half-way through; transfer to a plate. Repeat with more reserved fat and remaining pita half. Leave pita in skillet, cut side up. mixture with other pita half. Cut side down. Leave in pan.

3. Add egg mixture and cook over medium, gently stirring. 30 seconds.Top egg
mixture with other pita half, cut side down;. Transfer to the oven and bake
for 8 minutes. Sprinkle evenly with remaining cheese, then bake until frittata is pulled puffled and golden. Let sit 3 minutes, then cut into wedges. Serves 4

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Banana Bread (Weight Watchers Recipe)

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Cranberry-Banana Bread (adapted from Weight Watchers)
# of Servings: 12, 5 points + per slice.
1 spray(s) cooking spray
1 cup(s) all-purpose flour
2/3 cup(s) whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp table salt
3/4 cup(s) sugar
3 Tbsp canola oil
1/2 cup(s) fat-free egg substitute
3 medium banana(s), ripe, peeled and mashed (about 1 ¼ cups)
1/2 cup(s) cranberries, fresh, chopped

Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat a 9- x 5-inch loaf pan with cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, combine both flours, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; set aside.

In a large bowl, beat sugar and oil with an electric mixer at medium speed until sugar begins to dissolve, about 2 minutes.

Beat in egg substitute; beat in mashed bananas. Scrape down sides of bowl and remove beaters; stir in flour mixture and cranberries with a rubber spatula, making sure you scrape down sides of bowl to moisten everything.

Pour batter into prepared loaf pan; smooth top. Bake until browned (a toothpick inserted into center of bread should come out with a few moist crumbs), about 45 minutes to 1 hour. Place pan on a wire rack to cool for about 10 minutes; then turn loaf out of pan to continue cooling on rack. Slice loaf into twelve 3/4-inch-thick pieces.

Once completely cooled, the loaf can be stored at room temperature, wrapped in plastic wrap. Yields 1 slice per serving.

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Hurray for Day Light Savings! I actually took this picture after 5:00 pm today and was so happy that light was still coming through our 3 seasons porch. Sure beats taking everything downstairs.

Now, since it’s lighter out and the temperatures are getting warmer, my dog Jerry Lee likes to sit outside in the snow chewing on his bone for hours. He doesn’t mind the  temps outside, since he has such a thick coat of fur on right now.  He’s getting a hair cut sometime next month. :)

I really liked this banana bread recipe. It called for fresh cranberries, but I left those out. It’s a low fat recipe, and I kind of do miss the butter and eggs in the normal banana bread recipe that we use. At least it’s healthier. We have a a huge bag of frozen bananas in our deep freeze downstairs. Gotta start using those up!

Thank you to everybody who’s been joining my facebook fan page, I now have 71 fans. (Woohoo!) Let’s make it 100!!!

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Chocolate Ricotta Mousse

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Weight Watcher Recipes

Calories:166 |  Fat:7g | Protein:11g | Carb:18g | Fiber:1g | 5 points +

2 cups part-skim ricotta
3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
2 large egg whites, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
pinch of salt

In a food processor (or blender should work) blend ricotta and cocoa powder until completely smooth. Transfer to a large bowl.

Place egg whites, sugar, salt in a medium heatproof mixing bowl (metal) and place bowl on top of a pot of simmering water.

Cook and whisk constantly until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is warm, about 3 minutes.

Remove bowl from heat and beat with an electric mixer on high, until stiff peaks form (about 5 minutes).

Using a rubber spatula, gently fold egg white mixture into the bowl with ricotta until well combined.

Divide into 6 6 oz ramekins or small bowls and refrigerate at least 3 hours.

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Do not be tempted to eat this mousse mixture right away. It will taste ok, but not that great. Be patient and wait the whole three hours because it will get really creamy and thick. I wish I would have had some cool whhhip to dollip on top of this mousse. You have to say Cool Whip like Stewy does on the Family Guy. I love that episode. :)

I have also decided to start putting nutrition info on my posts, since people like that right?

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Bananas Foster Bread

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Nutritional Info: 16 servings

Calories: 194, Fat: 5.8g , Protein:  2.9g, Carbohydrate: 31.1g, Fiber:  1.5g,  Points Plus + = 5

Yield: 16 servings

  • 1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana (about 3)
  • 1 cup packed brown sugar, divided
  • 6 tablespoons butter, melted and divided
  • 1/4 cup dark rum or cognac, divided
  • 1/3 cup plain fat-free yogurt (including fat-free Greek yogurt)
  • 2 large eggs
  • 6.75 ounces all-purpose flour (about 1 1/2 cups)
  • 1/4 cup ground flaxseed
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
  • 1/3 cup powdered sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan with cooking spray. Set aside.

2. Combine banana, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 5 tablespoons butter, and 3 tablespoons rum in a nonstick skillet. Cook over medium heat until mixture begins to bubble. Remove from heat; cool.

3. Place banana mixture in a large bowl. Add yogurt, remaining 1/2 cup brown sugar, and eggs. Beat with a mixer at medium speed.

4. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, flaxseed, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and allspice.

5. Add flour mixture to banana mixture; beat just until blended.

6. Pour batter into your prepared loaf pan. Bake for 50 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from oven; cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack. Remove bread from pan; place on wire rack.

7. For the Glaze: Combine the remaining 1 tablespoon melted butter, remaining 1 tablespoon rum, and powdered sugar; stir until well blended. Drizzle over the warm bread.

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This banana bread recipe is awesome and it’s a Cooking Light recipe. The serving size says that you can get 16 servings out of this. I kind of find that hard to believe. You’re going to want to slice these really thick! It calls for a glaze on top, but I didn’t make that.

I’ve actually never had the dessert bananas foster before. I’ve seen it made on Food Network, but never had no desire to make it. The first 4 ingredients in this recipe are from that dessert. I saw the ingredient rum in the recipe and thought that this would make for a really good banana bread recipe. The sugar and butter melt together to form a caramel type sauce. Yum! I think this recipe is a keeper.

Do you like my plate? I got it on sale in the clearance section at Pier 1. My mom works part time there so she gets a 25% discount. I got 3 other plates too. My mom asked me what I’m going to do with all the plates I have (I have a big pantry downstairs where I keep them all) and she suggested that we can  use a different plate for each person at the wedding. Ha ha! That would actually be quite funny. No, I don’t have that many plates yet either. Maybe someday I will. I love collecting plates now.

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