I can't believe these are NOT bad for me: Buffalo Chicken Tenders

Buffalo and Blue Chicken Tenders

8 Weight Watcher Points Plus

This is another Rocco Dispirito recipe from his book, Now Eat This!. It was so, so good. I felt like I was eating boneless buffalo wings. If you love spicy food you have to try these. When you are eating them, close your eyes and you will be transported to your younger days when you were at the bar having wings and beers with friends -- until your 1 year old throws her plate on the floor and you are jolted back into reality.

I didn't have any blue cheese dressing so I just put about 1 T of blue cheese on top and ate it on a bed of spinach salad to bulk the meal up.

Here is a link to the recipe. Enjoy!

Weekend Wrap-Up: Weighin', Grillin' & Chillin'

Buffalo Blue Cheese Turkey Burger
6 Weight Watcher Points Plus

First, I did my weigh-in on Saturday and I was very nervous. I had a horrible week of eating Easter leftovers: scalloped potatoes, green bean casserole & chocolate bunnies. I have never been so happy to gain 1.2 pounds in my life. I consider myself very lucky. Now all of the bad food is out of our house and it back to our healthy lifestyle.

On Saturday night I needed a quick and easy dinner for me and the hubby. I had frozen turkey burgers from Costco that are ready to throw on the grill. I really like these turkey burgers because they are big and only 5 pp a piece. (You do have to make them on the grill and baste and/or season them).

Here is the info...

Ingredients

• Frozen Kirkland brand turkey burger (or your fav. turkey burger) = 5 pp
• Frank's Buffalo Wing Sauce = 0 pp
• 1 T blue cheese = 1pp

Directions

• Baste turkey burgers as you cook them on the grill. Cook through. Top with blue cheese.

These are 6 pp for the burgers plus the points for the bun of your choice if you choose to use one. These were a big hit!

After 2 weekends of entertaining, we are kicking back and relaxing. I hope you are having a great weekend!

Mac & Cheese 3 Ways

Macaroni & Cheese

9 Weight Watcher Points Plus (for 1 Cup serving)

First I have to start by saying that it has been awhile since I blogged for a few reasons. First, we hosted Easter last weekend and had so many leftovers that we have been eating them all week. This lead to a VERY bad week for me and not much (well any really) healthy cooking. I mean bad like eating chocolate bunnies bad. I finally just threw all the candy out. Second, it is difficult to cook with my youngest daughter on a normal day and she has been sick this week. This is what my kitchen looked like after I made the mac & cheese....

Back to the mac & cheese, this recipe is another Rocco recipe from his cookbook, "Now Eat This". Rocco replaces the normal flour and butter in the cheese sauce with a garlic & onion puree. I wasn't sure how this would work but it was delicious! And this definitely saves on the fat and calories. I pretty much followed the recipe exactly for the first version of the mac & cheese except I used regular cheddar cheese instead of low-fat (that's what I had in the fridge), I used italian bread crumbs instead of panko and I didn't use the parmigiano-reggiano. Click here for the recipe.

Version 2. is just the mac & cheese sans bread crumbs sprinkled with diced pepperoni. This was for my 3 year old daughter who is so picky right now that she doesn't even like mac & cheese. She loves pepperoni so I let her "help" by sprinkling pepperoni on hers. It worked because she ate it and said, "That is good!"

Version 3. was for me. I added a tiny bit of blue cheese on top of the mac & cheese and then topped it with diced tomatoes (from a can) and some bread crumbs. I love, love, loved this. The little bit of blue cheese & tomatoes added so much flavor and made this a more grown-up version of mac & cheese.

Overall I was pleasantly surprised with the dish. It was very good and the whole family enjoyed it. I definitely recommend doing a 1 cup portion in a ramekin so that you don't overdue it. It is very yummy!

Here is the point info:

Version 1 & 3: 9 pp for 1 cup, 4 for 1/2 cup

Well, I have to face the music at my weigh-in tomorrow. I have a feeling that it isn't going to be pretty but it will get me motivated to turn things back around for next week.

Now THAT is a Salad!!

Marinated Flank Steak with Blue Cheese Sauce

8 Weight Watcher Points Plus (for 1/4th of meat & 1 1/2 T of sauce)

I recently purchased Ellie Krieger's cookbook, "So Easy" cookbook. Have you seen her on the Food Network? She is a nutritionist and focuses on good but healthy food. I love that she cooks healthy but doesn't use any "fake" food. I define fake food as fat-free cheese (eck) and artificial sugars, etc. One of the first recipe's I flagged in the book was the marinated flank steak with blue cheese sauce because it used two of my favorite ingredients: blue cheese & balsamic vinegar.

This was very good and easy. The only thing I changed was using romaine lettuce instead of radicchio leaves. (I am not that adventuress with my produce). I made mine on our gas grill, even though it was windy and very cold. I am beyond ready for spring!! I did the onions in a non-stick skillet.

My husband loved this. See you keep the family happy and serve them healthy food!

Here is the recipe.

Baked Potato Soup - Without the Guilt

We love soup at our house. Well my husband and I do. It is hard to tell what the girls "love" on a consistent basis besides pizza and chicken nuggets. And unfortunately in Michigan, March is still very much soup season. There is NEW snow outside right now. This soup was really good and my hubby said it was the best thing I ever made. This recipe was adapted from Gina's Skinny recipes, http://www.skinnytaste.com/search/label/Soup%20Recipes . I altered the spices because we like a bit more than just salt & pepper. I also used blue cheese as a topper because I am OBSESSED with blue cheese.

I added the Weight Watcher points plus that I used but they are approximate. I really want to buy the WW scale so I can get a more accurate points on my potatoes.

Ingredients:

• 5 potatoes = approx 12 points
• 1 head of cauliflower = 0 points
• 4 C chick stock (one carton) = 0
• 3C Lactate free milk = 10 points (this is what we use at our house because we have milk issues you can use whatever kind of milk you prefer)
• 1 C light sour cream = 7 points
• Seasonings: salt, black pepper, white pepper, garlic powder, Worcestershire, parsley
• Toppings: bacon, blue cheese, chives, cheddar cheese

Directions:

• Bake potatoes at 400 degrees for approx one hour; peel
  
• Steam cauliflower until crisp tender
• Combine potatoes, cauliflower, chic stock & milk; bring to boil; puree with immersion blender (Thanks to my sister for my Christmas gift. Love my immersion blender.)
  
• Add sour cream & seasonings
• Approx 4 pts for 1/8^th of soup + toppings

If we can't get spring yet at least we can still enjoy our soup!!