Mandatory Posting

I was thinking today, being Cinco de Mayo, that I should probably post something to commemorate the delicious meal we had this evening! I went all out and made chicken enchiladas, shrimp tacos and beef taquitos to have a multitude of flavors, it was quite the feast. It was all low fat and yet just as wonderful as if it were full of calories and unnecessary fat. So I should post it right?

Nope! I'm going to post another great recipe that deserves to be posted on a special day!

Mexican Braised Beef

2 lbs beef chuck roast, trimmed
4 poblano peppers
1 serrano chili
2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped rough
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup red wine
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes
1 tbsp dried oregano
8 small potatoes, baked

Roast the peppers in the broiler (or over an open flame) until the skin is charred. Place them in a bowl and cover with a towel to allow to steam and cool. When cooled, scrape/peel off the blackened skin. Cut off the stem, open the chili and remove the seeds and ribs. Rough chop the peppers and set aside. Season the beef generously with salt and pepper. Heat a large skillet over high heat, add the oil and then add the beef. Sear for about 2 minutes on each side and then set aside. Reduce the heat and add the onions. Cook them until they are slightly carmelized, about 4-5 minutes. Add the chopped chilies and garlic and cook for an additional 2 minutes. Add the wine and scrape the bottom of the skillet. Cook until it is reduced by half then add the tomatoes and bring it to a boil. Pour this mixture into a crock pot/slow cooker and place the seered beef on top. Cook on low for 6-8 hours until the meat is tender and falling apart. Shred beef, in pot, with forks and mix well with sauce and vegetables. Serve over baked potatoes that have been split in half and raked with a fork.

Although there is substantial prep time with roasting the peppers and reducing the sauce, it is well worth it. Plus, you get it done in the morning and don't have to do another thing until it's on the table!

Depending on the actual size of your roast this meal will serve a minimum of 8 people with plenty of left overs. I take about 1/4 cup of the leftovers and wrap it up in a flour tortilla for lunch the next day - I call it lunch perfection! Dinner is only a mere 9 points plus per serving (including the potato) and the lunch burrito with a carb balance tortilla is only 4 points plus.

Creamy Goodness

This Pacific Northwest weather has us all going a little stir crazy doesn't it? It feels like fall, it looks like fall, we act like it's fall, I'm dressed like it's fall... so I figured let's eat like it's fall!

Nothing like a nice warm bowl of chowder with a hot buttery biscuit to warm you up on a dreary July day! Yep - it was raining at the time we sat down to dinner. And then my husband informed me he turned the heater on when he got up in the morning! AND... I read on Facebook that a friend did the same thing! It was July 1st... what's going on? Enough about that, here's the food!

Creamy Chicken Corn Chowder
2 tbsp butter (220 cal; 22g fat; 0g fiber)
1/4 cup onion, diced (14 cal; 0g fat; .5g fiber)
1/4 cup celery, thinly sliced (4 cal; 0g fat; .5g fiber)
1 Jalapeno pepper, diced (4 cal; 0g fat; 0g fiber)
2 tbsp all-purpose flour (50 cal; 0g fat; 0g fiber)
1 cup milk, fat free (90 cal; 0g fat; 0g fiber)
2 cups Half & Half, fat free (320 cal; 0g fat; 0g fiber)
1 lb chicken breast tenderloin, cooked and cubed
4 small corn-on-the-cob, kernals only (252 cal; 4g fat; 8g fiber)
1 can cream style corn (350 cal; 2g fat; 3.5g fiber)
1/4 tsp Thyme
1/2 tsp salt
Dash red pepper flakes

Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion, celery and jalapeno; cook for 3 minutes or until tender, stirring frequently. Add the flour; cook for 1 minutes stirring constantly. Stir in the milk and remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil; cook until thick (about 5 minutes).
Serves: 6 Nutritional data per serving: 230 cal; 5g fat; 2g fiber

I tell ya, this stuff is awesome! It's so creamy and sweet you'll want to have way more than just one serving. Which is perfectly fine!! Check out the nutritional data for each serving... you can truly enjoy a whole bunch of this stuff!

Don't substitute the fresh corn for frozen - it WILL NOT work! The sweet crispy flavor and texture that the fresh corn adds to this recipe should not be messed with! Also, make sure you get the sweet corn with the light yellow or white kernels, you won't be sorry.

You can also modify it a bit to bring down the fat and calories by using all fat free milk instead of the half & half. I'll never do that - I love the creaminess too much. Having been on Adkins before I really miss all the cheesey creamy goodness so I take it where I can get it!

Of course, what is chowder without biscuits? The reduced fat Pillsbury Grands biscuits are perfect - the kids love making them and I love the mess!! Next time I'll include a low fat/low calorie cheddar biscuit recipe - this time, we had the canned variety!

Enjoy!

Today's Success

Welcome to my dinner table!

Tonight was a great success! With cheer practice running until 4:00 then flute lessons following the practice and everybody needing rides to somebody's house for something I thought it would be best to throw something in the crockpot. I figured everybody could eat when they wanted to and it would make things easy. Boy was I right!

Before I get into the recipe, I want to explain a couple things. With each recipe I'll put the nutritional values next to each ingredient. I do that with my electronic cookbook in order to more easily modify a recipe. I can add and delete things and quickly calculate the nutritional value with little effort. Since I enjoy being able to do that I figured you would too! I only keep track of calories, fat and fiber (yes, I do Weight Watchers!) so that's all that will be there. I'll total everything at the end of the recipe but I'm not going to put the WW points so I don't get into trouble!

Here's tonights success...

Crockpot Lasagna (Serves 8)
1 1/2 lbs ground turkey (1,014 cal; 55.5g fat; 0g fiber)
1 small red onion, chopped (28 cal; 0g fat; 1g fiber)
2 tbsp minced garlic (30 cal; 0g fat; 0g fiber)
1 cup mozarella, 2% milkfat, shredded (210 cal; 11g fat; 0g fiber)
1 cup cheddar, 2% milkfat, shredded (384 cal; 16g fat; 0g fiber)
1 1/2 cup cottage cheese, low fat, 1% milkfat (240 cal; 3g fat; 0g fiber)
8 oz lasagna noodles (9 noodles) (840 cal; 4g fat; 8g fiber)
1 jar pasta sauce, 26 oz (50 cal per serving) (300 cal; 9g fat; 12g fiber)
1 can diced tomatoes, 14.5 oz (87.5 cal; 0g fat; 3.5g fiber)
1 cup mushrooms, sliced (54 cal; 0g fat; 2g fiber)
1 cup green bell pepper, chopped (30 cal; 0g fat; 3g fiber)
1 cup fresh spinach (7 cal; 0g fat; 1g fiber)

Cook lasagna noodles as directed on the package (or you can use the no-cook variety). Immediately immerse noodles in cold water for 5 minutes. Drain cold water and lay noodles flat on a clean dry linen towel. In a frying pan, brown turkey with the onion and garlic - cook until no longer pink. Add pasta sauce and diced tomatoes, stir over medium heat until heated through. Mix all cheeses in a seperate container. Mix all chopped vegetables in a seperate bowl. Turn crockpot on low heat. Begin layering lasagna: 1/3 meat sauce, 1/3 noodles, 1/3 cheese mixture, 1/3 vegetables. Repeat 2 more times until all the ingredients have been used. Cook on low 4-5 hours.
Per Serving: 402 cal; 12g fat; 4g fiber

That's it! Enjoy with a small dinner salad using fat free dressing to keep it low... or not! It's got a good fiber count already and there's spinach and other veggies so the salad really isn't necessary if you're eating on the run.