Chicken Salad

HG's Sweet 'n Chunky Chicken Salad
Ingredients:
1 cup (about 4.5 oz.) cooked & roughly chopped skinless lean chicken breast
1/2 cup chopped Persian or Kirby cucumber
1/3 cup red seedless grapes, halved
1/3 cup chopped apple
1/4 cup plain fat-free yogurt
2 tbsp. fat-free mayonnaise
1 no-calorie sweetener packet (like Splenda)
1/4 tsp. lemon pepper seasoning
dash salt
Directions:
Mix together the yogurt, mayonnaise, sweetener, lemon pepper seasoning, and salt. Coat the chicken in this mixture, and then stir in the chopped cucumber, grape halves, and chopped apple. Then try not to pass out as you chow down on this insanely good chicken salad! MAKES 2 SERVINGS
Serving Size: half of recipe (about 1 cup)
Calories: 145 Fat: 1.5g Sodium: 332mg Carbs: 14g Fiber: 1g Sugars: 10g Protein: 21g
POINTS® value 3*

frozen peanut butter cups

I thought these sounded pretty tasty, so I thought I'd share. Found over at Hungry Girl again.

HG Fluff-tastic Frozen Peanut Butter Cups
1 (8 oz.) Container Fat Free Cool Whip
1/3 Cup Reduced Fat Creamy (or Chunky) Peanut Butter
1/4 Cup Hershey's Light Chocolate Syrup

Line a 12 cupcake pan with cupcake holders (foil ones work best). Combine 1 Cup of Cool Whip and the peanut butter, with a whisk. Fold in remaining Cool Whip. Divide the mixture into the liners evenly (approx. 2 1/2 tablespoons each). Top each cup with a dollop of chocolate syrup. Freeze.

Serves: 12
Per Peanut Butter Cup: 73 Calories; 2g Fat, 2g Protein; 10 carbs, Fiber: 0g
(2 WW points if you're counting)

2/1 edited to add: These are good, I had one and Chris had two tonight for dessert :)

cue the choirs of angels

I've found a ww-friendly chocolate molten cake that involves Bailey's Irish Cream. I'm in heaven. Thank you recipe review board on weightwatchers.

Molten Irish Cream Chocolate Cakes
Prep: 9 min Cook: 11 min

2/3 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup Dutch process cocoa, divided
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup 1% low fat milk
2 tablespoons light stick butter, melted
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
cooking spray
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
3/4 cup hot water
2 tablespoons Irish cream liqueur (such as Bailey's)
1/2 cup vanilla fat free ice cream

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 2 tablespoons cocoa, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Combine milk and next 3 ingredients, stirring with a whisk. Add to dry ingredients, stirring just until moistened. Spoon evenly into 4 (10 ounce) custard or ramekins coated with cooking spray.
3. Combine 1/3 cup brown sugar, remaining 2 tablespoons cocoa, hot water and liqueur in a 2 cup glass measure. Microwave on HIGH 1 minute or until almost boiling; pour evenly over batter in custard cups.
4. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes or until almost set. Serve warm with ice cream.

Yield: 4 servings (serving size 1 molten cake and 2 tablespoons ice cream).

Per Serving: Cal 298 (22% from fat); fat 7.2 g (sat 2.4g); protein 6 g; carb 56.6g; fib 1.8g; chol 62mg; iron 2.5mg; sod 310mg; calc 225 mg.

Mmmm Minestrone

Hungry girl promises its good, we'll see, I love the Olive Garden's minestrone. Probably not too authentic, but I'm 0% Italian so you can fool me. I'm using chicken broth and ditalini pasta since it's what I have, and northern beans since I couldn't find canellini and throwing in some corn & celery. I'm living dangerously. Going to have some foccacia and salad with it :) should be pretty tasty, and Dad won't care that its meatless and my veggie-adverse husband will be out of town. Should be something good and healthy to freeze for my grandparents too. Haven't been freezing latley since they don't handle spicy well.

Here's the recipe, for those of you who don't get the HG e-mails.

Hungry Girl's Mmm-mmm Minestrone

PER SERVING (1 generous cup): 105 calories, 0.5g fat, 512mg sodium, 19.5g carbs, 4.5g fiber, 4g sugars, 5g protein -- POINTS® value 1*

Need a big pot of soup PACKED with veggies (not calories!), but don't want to spend forever chopping? This recipe is a DELICIOUS shortcut to Soupville!

Ingredients:
Two 14-oz. cans (3 1/2 cups) fat-free vegetable broth

Two 14.5-oz. cans diced tomatoes, drained

One 15-oz. can cannellini (white kidney) beans, drained and rinsed
One 10-oz. package frozen spinach, mostly thawed

1 cup frozen cut green beans

1 cup frozen peas and carrots
1 cup uncooked whole-wheat-blend rotini or penne pasta
1 tbsp. dried minced onion 

2 tsp. chopped garlic

1 tsp. Italian seasoning

1 bay leaf

Salt and black pepper, to taste

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a large pot on the stove. Add 1 cup water and stir it up. Cover and bring to a boil.

Reduce heat to low and allow soup to simmer, covered, for 10 minutes. Remove bay leaf, add salt and pepper to taste, and serve!

MAKES 10 SERVINGS

You get a two-fer

Some recent finds that are low fat and tasty:
Mann's broccoli slaw. Mom would be so proud I eat broccoli now, I was the kid who ran screaming from it. Made a salad with mandarin oranges, cooked chicken, water chestnuts, almonds, and my favorite Ken's lite Asian Sesame dressing. So yummy. Good recipes on their bags, on their site, and on hungry girl.

I made a spicy peanut chicken from that low fat crock pot cook book I posted about awhile ago, the healthy slowcooker and it was tasty.

Spaghetti Casserole

This is a weightwatchers friendly recipe I used last time I did WW back in 2005. My husband liked it a lot, so I'm breaking it out again this go around.

Ingredients:
8oz cooked whole wheat spaghetti
6 slices Kraft 2% singles
3 cups boca meat or about 1 lb ground turkey, cooked/crumbled
jar of favorite marinara (5 or 6 1/2c servings)
1 cup reduced fat 4 cheese italian
most of a pack of a turkey pepperoni "pillow pack"

Preheat oven to 350, cook spaghetti, pam a 9x13 pan.
layer starting on bottom:
spaghetti
american cheese
crumbled meat (boca or turkey)
pepperoni
sauce
shredded cheese

bake @ 350 for 30 minutes

Beef & Barley with rosemary and orange

Large slow cooker (5 quart minimum) required.
From the book "The Healthy Slow Cooker" by Judith Finlayson. Book has some whackadoodle recipes I'd never try (in addition to the whole seafood chapter) but has some neat ideas. Did you know you can bake bread in your slow cooker if you have a pan that fits it?

Beef and Barley with Rosemary and Orange
8 servings

Ingredients:
2Tbsp olive oil, divided
2lbs trimmed stewing beef, cut into 1 inch cubes
8oz mushrooms (small ones quartered, large ones sliced)
3 cooking onions, finely chopped
4 stalks celery, diced
4 carrots, peeled and diced (I just used about 3/4 cup matchstick carrots)
4 cloves of garlic, minced (2 tsp minced garlic)
4 sprigs fresh rosemary –or- 2tsp dried rosemary, crumbled
1 tsp cracked black peppercorns
Grated zest and juice of 1 orange
1 cup whole (hulled) or pot barely, rinsed
3 cups beef stock
1 1/2 cups dry red wine
Salt, optional (it says if you don’t use reduced sodium beef stock to not add)
(I skipped shrooms because the scare Chris and just used the quaker quick barley)

Persillade (optional):
1 cup finely chopped parsley
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
(note says this adds a “zesty finish” while allowing you to enjoy the health benefits of garlic free from worry about garlic breath because the parsley works to negate any offensive odor.)

1. In a (huge) skillet, heat 1tbsp of the oil over medium-high heat. Add beef, in batches and cook, stirring until browned, about 4 minutes per batch. Transfer to slow cooker stoneware (I drained mine on paper towels on a plate first and rinsed/wiped out the pan).
2. Add remaining 1 tbsp oil to pan. Add mushrooms and toss until lightly seared, about 2 minutes. Transfer to slow cooker stoneware. Reduce heat to medium. Add onions, celery, and carrots and cook, stirring until carrots are softened, about 7 minutes. Add garlic, rosemary, peppercorns (I used fresh ground pepper) and orange zest and cook, stirring for 1 minute. Add barley and toss to coat. Add orange juice, beef stock, and wine and bring to a boil. (this is where the huge skillet is required). Season to taste with salt, if desired. Transfer to slow cooker stoneware, stir well.
3. Cover and cook on low 8 hours or high for 4, or until meat is tender.
4. Persillade (optional): In a bowl, combine parsley, garlic, and vinegar. Set aside at room temperature for 30 minutes to allow flavors to develop. Ladle stew onto plates and garnish with persillade, if using.

book recommends a tossed green salad & crusty whole grain roll.

Healthy recipe to share :)

This was excellent with some brown rice, crinkle cut carrots, and a mixed greens salad with mandarin oranges & almonds on it. :)

Hoisin Chicken
POINTS: 5, 4 servings

1/4 cup(s) hoisin sauce
1 tsp dark sesame oil
2 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp Seasoned rice wine vinegar
2 tsp cornstarch
2 tsp water
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp five-spice powder
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp table salt
1 pound(s) Chicken breast, skinless, boneless, raw (I bought the Tyson trimmed & ready thin chicken, there were 4 in the package).

Preheat broiler on medium. combine hoisin, honey, vinegar, sesame oil, in a saucepan, bring to a boil.
Combine cornstarch and water and add to mixture, stirring.
Cook 1 minute, remove from heat and set aside. mix spices and rub evenly over both sides of chicken. Spray line a broiler pan with foil and spray pan grate with non stick spray, add chicken, broil 5 minutes.
Brush with hoisin mixture and cook for 5 minutes more. turn over and brush with sauce, broil 5 minutes, basting often, until done.