Tag: Recipe

Pork Chops with Squash and Mushroom Salad

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Friday night dinner was magnificent!

I made the Pork Chops with Squash and Mushroom Salad, on page 147 of the Weight Watcher’s PointsPlus Cookbook.  The result?  A delicious, healthy and enjoyable dinner.

The recipe calls for bone-in center-cut pork loin chops, but I made the thin cut pork chops instead, and they turned out really nice and moist.

Pork Chops

This recipe includes the Squash and Mushroom salad to be served with the pork chops.  It is a lively and wonderful grilled vegetables salad, which I made almost exactly according to the recipe, but added white zucchini squash, which I find to be slightly more delicate in flavor.

Squash an Mushroom Salad

If you are tracking your points for Weight Watchers, this delectable combo is only 6 PointsPlus per serving (1 pork chop and 3/4 cup salad).

An additional side dish (not part of this recipe) decorated our table.  Garlic couscous, is an out of the box dish, and may satisfy a craving you may have for the occasional carbs.  And… it is so very tasty!

Garlic Couscous

And of course… let’s not forget the wine.  I paired these dishes with the full body and “sophisticated” Argentinian Malbec.  Another favorite which I recommend you try if you haven’t yet.

Puramum Malbec 2011

 

A Fun Summer Night Grilled Indian Chicken Dinner

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The Weight Watchers Points Plus Cookbook has proven once again that you can make a finger licking recipe that is also healthy.  My family was so excited as we put these beautifully marinated chicken breasts on the grill last night.  The wonderful smell of Indian spices was so appetizing, my son and husband said that they LOVE my new blogging project.  Smile!

This delightful and easy recipe for Grilled Chicken with Cilantro and Indian Spices can be found on page 154 of the book.  I followed the recipe exactly as written (except for the garnish part), but scaled up the ingredients for the paste since I made a little more chicken than the recipe calls for.  It does not take more that 15 minutes to prep, but allow a couple of hours for it to sit in the fridge after you marinate it and before you grill it.  Using raw and fresh herbs and spices for the paste is so simple and yet refreshing.

Grilled Chicken with Cilantro and Indian Spices

Grilled Chicken with Cilantro and Indian Spices

While the chicken is on the grill for about 25 minutes, you can enjoy a nice chilled glass of Chardonnay.  In the last 10 minutes of grilling you may add a few slices of polenta, to make for a satisfying and easy side dish.  The Points Plus Value for this delicious chicken is 4 points per 1 serving (one chicken breast).  If you are tracking your food’s points values for Weight Watchers, please know that any additional food or wine will be extra points.

To embellish this summer night dinner, you can prepare a nice Mediterranean style vegetable plate with some goat cheese.  Season with a little salt and pepper and drizzle olive oil to bring out the flavor of the cheese.  And voila!  A great dinner you will be thanked for!

Israeli Veggie Plate

Mediterranean Style Vegetables and Goat Cheese

 

Healthy and Colorful Dishes for Dinner

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The exquisite culinary experience continued last night with two delicious recipes from the Weight Watchers Points Plus Cookbook.

The amount of planning needed for these dishes was a little more than I expected. As I said yesterday, using ingredients that are new to me simply takes time to get used to. The prep time for the recipes I chose for last night was a little longer than I anticipated, and that was largely due to the combination of recipes I chose.   Things like chopping fresh cilantro or rosemary are a bit time consuming, but nothing is more motivating to cook than the fresh fragrance of these wonderful herbs around your kitchen.

We started our evening with this refreshing, colorful and tasty salad, which can be found on page 114.  With fresh squeezed lime juice, some cumin and coriander, this salad will tickle your taste buds.  I have never used coriander before, but love to use cumin.  The fruit tossed in these spices has a real nice flavor to it and makes for a great summer night salad.  It is also filling and only 2 points per 1 cup serving.  And… it looks beautiful!

Spiced Watermelon and Tomato Salad

Spiced Watermelon and Tomato Salad

The main course was the Rosemary Lamb Stew with Spring Vegetables.  I was able to find the boneless lamb shoulder at Whole Foods, where they cut it to nice 1-inch cubes for me (I recommend calling ahead to your local store).

As with a lot of healthy vegetable dishes, this recipe required a bit of cleaning and cutting of vegetables.  I never used leeks or baby carrots prior to making this dish.  Leeks add a great fragrance and flavor, and baby carrots have a more delicate taste than regular carrots.  I found that this stew can be served over brown rice, but it will make you perfectly happy without it too.  A one and a quarter cup serving has a value of 9 points and makes for a great and satisfying dinner at the end of a long day.

Rosemary Lamb Stew with Spring Vegetables

Rosemary Lamb Stew with Spring Vegetables