Ready for some more recipes?





First we will begin with Red Lentil Soup from, as you guessed it, WeightWatchers! This recipe was a little interesting but still very good. I actually really enjoyed it but I don't think it was enough for my mom and dad. They like really hearty meals. But if your needing a nice light meal (not to mention sweet), this is the recipe for you.

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp olive oil


• 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin


• 1/2 ground coriander


• 1/4 tsp ground red pepper


• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon


• 1 small sweet red pepper, chopped


• 2 medium carrots, chopped


• 29 oz fat-free chicken broth


• 8 oz dry lentils, red, washed


• 1/8 tsp table salt


• 1/4 cup plain fat-free yogurt (I did without and it still tasted good!)

Heat oil in a medium nonstick pot and add cumin, coriander, ground red pepper, and cinnamon. Once you begin to smell the different fragrances you can add the bell pepper and carrots. Cook them until they start to become tender.

Add broth, lentils, and salt and bring to a boil. Simmer the lentils until they begin to become tender. It takes about 20 min.

Puree in batches in blender. (I didn't puree all of it so there would still be some texture from the lentils). Serve with dollop of yogurt (or not).

Serving size is 1 1/4 cup and 1 tbs of yogurt and serves about 4 people. Points Value is 6 (5 without the yogurt).

As I said I did really enjoy this meal. It was definitely different from what I normally have but still an interesting meal that I would try again. I think a side of bread would really be tasty with this soup and give it a little extra boost. All in all it was good, I would try it again, but not my favorite.

So I was going to post another recipe except that recipe is MIA at the moment. Way to many cookbooks....

Aaaah, just got done eating my Kashi maple oatmeal. If you haven't tried it yet, go out and buy some RIGHT now. It is so amazing and I think I might be addicted to it....

It has been a few days since I have posted so I have a lot of recipes backed up...I will not overload you! .... No, really I will post two recipes and that's it. Then I will post maybe some more tonight, maybe.

Ok, so first recipe happens to be Chipotle rice! Um, yum? I have actually been wanting to make a duplicate for some time now but I never could find a recipe but now I do! All thanks to Gina!

Ingredients

• 1 cup long grain rice
  
• 1/2 lime, juice of
  
• 2 cups water
  
• 1 tsp salt
  
• 3 tbsp cilantro
  
• 4 tsp vegetable oil
  

Cook rice according to package:

Add rice, water, 1 tsp oil and salt. Boil on high until most of water evaporates. Reduce to low and cover for 15 min. Turn off heat and cover for another 5 min.

Once rice is cooked combine the cilantro, lime, and rest of oil.

This recipe produces 4 serving's (serving size being 6 oz) and each serving is 4 points

Once you have done this your delicious Chipotle's rice is complete! I mean really who does not love their rice! It totally makes the whole restaurant. Without who knows what we all would do!

Now on to the next recipe!

Like a lot of my recipes this one happens to be from WeightWatcher's. It is Angel Hair Pasta With Eggplant-Tomato Sauce. I know a mouth full but a yummy mouth full! I had been wanting to try eggplant for some time. This wasn't extremely focused on the eggplant but it was enough for me to expierence the taste and cooking of it. What really made this recipe was the feta cheese that went in with it! So good! (of course I am a feta cheese fanatic...)

Ingredients

• 1 medium raw eggplant, baby-variety, sliced into 1/3 think rounds


• 1 meduium sweet red pepper, cut into 8 strips


• 1 spray olive oil cooking spray


• 3/4 tsp table salt, divided


• 1 medium garlic clove, minced


• 2 large tomatoes, coursely chopped


• 1/4 small crushed red pepper flakes


• 1/8 tsp black pepper


• 2 tbsp basil, fresh, minced


• 2 tbsp chives, fresh, minced


• 1/2 cup fat-free chicken broth


• 8 oz uncooked angel hair pasta, cooked according to package


• 4 oz reduced-fat feta cheese, crumbled

Preheat grill to medium.

Place eggplant slices and pepper strips in a grill basket. Coat vegetables with cooking sray and season with 1/2 tsp of salt. Grill until tender, about 2 to 3 min per side. Remove and cool. Cut veggies into bite size pieces and set aside.

Coat a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray and heat over low-mediium heat. Add garlic and cook, stirring, for 1 min. Add tomatoes and cook until slightly pulpy, about 1 min more. Stir in veggies. Add remaining salt, red pepper flakes, black pepper, basil, chives and broth. Increase heat to medium-high. Cook until broth is slightly reduced and mixture has a sauce consistency, about 2 to 3 min. Add pasta and toss to coat. Add feta cheese on top.

Serving size is 1 1/2 cup and serves about 6. Each serving is 4 points

>you can also roast the vegetables instead of grilling them which is what I did. It still turns out incredibly good!

This recipe was good and a really good amount for the points value. I will definitely try this recipe again.

Two down and about four more to go not to mention today's lunch and tonight's dinner...

At least you know I am cooking and not slacking...well at least in the cooking department, kind of slacking on the writing department but it is summer!

More to come....

Time for a little Mexican food!


For dinner I made a recipe from WeightWatchers called Mexican Bean and Tortilla pie. It was pretty good and my father liked it ALOT. Which is always a good sign!






Ingredients

• 1 cup canned tomato sauce


• 3/4 cup salsa


• 1/4 cup cilantro, fresh, chopped


• 2 tsp chili powder


• 1 tsp ground cumin


• 5 medium corn tortillas, 6 in each


• 30 oz canned black beans, drained, rinsed and mashed


• 8 oz chopped green chilies, canned


• 1/2 cup low-fat shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Combine tomato sauce, cilantro, chili powder and cumin in a bowl

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat and add corn tortillas (none should overlap, so do two rounds if necessary). Lightly toast each side and try not to let them burn! I flipped mine a couple times just to make sure they were nice and toasted on both side. Once youv'e done this set them aside for later use.

Now the fun part! The layering! Ok, to begin put 1/4 cup of tomato sauce mixture at bottom of 9-in pie plate (or whatever fits your needs). Top with tortilla and add 1/4 cup more sauce. Next comes 1/2 cup of mashed beans. Then 2 tbs green chilies and 1 tbs cheese. Repeat for 3 more layers. Top with remaining tortilla, sauce, and cheese.

Cover dish with foil and bake for 30 min. Uncover for last five minutes and bake until sauce bubbles around edges.

Your Mexican Bean and Tortilla Pie is complete!

Serving size is 6 (4 points value for each serving).

Once again this was tasty and well done! I never seem to find a bad recipe of Weightwatchers, which is awesome considering it has really helped me keep my weight off and stay healthy. Thank you WeightWatchers!

Man I feel awesome! Guess who just ran 40 minutes! WHOO-HOO! As you can tell that is a really big accomplishment for me...

Well now that I have that done I need to begin talking about food! I have actually been doing a really awesome job at cooking at home, which is amazing for my family (even though I am breaking the streak tommorow...). To begin, a couple of days ago I made breakfest for my dad. Just a simple scramble for him with ham and cheese, the way he likes it. For me, instead of scraping up more calories then I really wanted I took an idea from Heidi Swanson's 101 Cookbooks blog. You take the egg and make it as if it were a crepe. Isn't that such a cool idea! I loved it and would defiantly do it again. I filled this one with some cheese and lettuce. It turned out really well even though I did have to try several times for the egg not to tear. The egg and the cheese gave it an almost buttery taste, then with the crunch of the lettuce! It was such a refreshing, amazing breakfast!

Ok, so I should have used a different plate but man were these things good!

Next my lunch!

In Dayton there is a place called the second street market which is a cute little market. It is only opened on Thrus, Fri, and Sat. It is in a long building and holds about I would say 20 or so stalls. They sell fish, soup, photos, bread, homemade noodles....which brings me to my lunch! There is a stall called Pastafinity and they sell homemade pasta in several flavors. I bought the portabella and red pepper pasta, both which were really good. There wasn't a tremendous difference in flavor but still who cannot love pasta!

I had some really great food while I was at the second street market. My first sample was some stuffed grape leaves. Let me tell you, those were good! The rice inside was rich and creamy but with a little kick to them. Yum! I definitely want to try to make those myself someday. So good!

While I was there I also had some really neat vegetarian meals. The little place I bought my lunch at was called Raw Vegetarian Bistro. My first thing I bought there (yes, I bought several) was a tofu peanut sauce wrap. It was pretty much a rice wrapper with red bell peppers, a little tofu, a little peanut butter, and some sprouts. I think that was all but the end result was fantastic. They put just the right amount of peanut butter! The next thing I had there was even better and so strange (at least to me..). It was zucchini noodles, noodles actually made out of zucchini, with pesto and pine nuts. It really did taste like noodles it was amazing! and once again I really want to make this too! Such an experience!

And so it is morning.



I get up and I go run. Practically die and only make it to 20 minutes. Great start of the day but then I look in the fridge and Tah-daa a perfect way to make my day better!



A Tofu Scramble!



Ok, I'll tell you a secret, I planned it all along...I knew I was going to make it but that didn't stop it from making me happier! So actually this is my first time ever making a tofu scramble so I was a bit nervous...



I had had a tofu scramble in Moab, Utah in a awesome little cafe called EklecticCafe (Trust me I have no idea how to say that). If you do ever find yourself in Moab I would recommend, actually more like command you go to this cafe. It is the cutest place with a really fun atmosphere as well as amazing food! My mom and I had this fantastic bread. It was sweet with little hints of sunflower seeds, Mmmm so good! I wish I was there! But all well I will have to live with my own tofu scramble...



So anyway my first time EVER making a tofu scramble.



Ok, so to begin I researched around to see recipes to make a tofu scramble and learned that there are a million different variations. I took the basics of each one a tried it out and I think I was successful considering both my parents liked it (neither likes tofu so big accomplishment!).



Ingredients

• 1 block of firm tofu


• 1 tsp turmeric


• 1 tsp salt


• 1 tsp pepper


• 1 tbs soy sauce


• 1 tsp of minced garlic


• 1 cup of diced red bell pepper


• 1 cup diced onions


• 1/2 shredded carrots

Before you begin make SURE your tofu is rid of as much water as possible.

I first sauteed the garlic, red pepper, and onions until cooked.

Once cooked crumble the tofu into your mixture and cook until tofu is a little golden on the outside. Then add the rest of the ingredients and make sure to mix well (the turmeric will make your tofu a really bright yellow!!!). Cook until tofu is cooked throughout.

Your tofu scramble is complete.

Yum!

Mini Turkey Meatloaves

Last night I made really tasty cute little mini turkey meatloaves (isn't that a mouth full!...of deliciousness!). They were so cute and soooo good! I got this recipe out of a cookbook I rented from the library. It is from EatingWell and is called Healthy in a Hurry. It is a really nice book that gives pictures for a good amount of their recipes as well as definitions in the back for newer cookers (Which is a plus for me!).

Going to the library to find cookbooks is a great way to find some really good recipes. Online is great of course, convenient and at home but the library is also free as well as helps out the community! I know the library in my hometown is struggling to keep up and I hope that they will stay open because I am a very big dedicated reader. It makes me sad to think it could close! So get out and go to your local library and expand your horizon! Rent that really old looking cookbook! Who knows what could be in there!

Anyway back to our lovely turkey meatloaves.

Ingredients

• 1 pound 93% lean ground turkey


• 1 medium zucchini, shredded


• 1 cup finely chopped onion


• 1 cup finely chopped red bell pepper


• 1/3 cup uncooked whole-wheat couscous


• 1 large egg, lightly beaten


• 2 tbs Worcestershire sauce


• 1 tbs Dijon mustard


• 1/2 tsp pepper


• 1/4 tsp salt

Now remember when you are shredding or chopping your vegetables the size you make is going to be the size it will stay in your turkey meatloaf. With this said you can vary the size depending on your liking.

To begin you should preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Then spray a nonstick muffin pan (around 12 muffins should be able to be made). Once you have this complete mix your ingredients together with your hands until it is nicely mixed. Equally divide the mixture into the 12 muffin cups.

Once this is complete you put them in the oven and cook for about 25 minutes. Once they are done cooking leave them out for about five minutes before serving.

Tah-dah your mini meatloaves are complete!

They are really great for storing for later because of the convenience of their size. Just as in any recipe you can play around with the vegetables added and see what yummy ways you can make them even better for your taste buds. I know when my family ate them we liked to add ketchup or barbecue sauce to them. This really gave them some flavor because they could be considered a little plain.

Overall I really enjoyed this recipe and will definitely do it again!

Nutrition: 196 calories, 6 g fat, 79 mg cholesterol, 18 g carb, 19 g protein, 3 g fiber, 368 mg sodium (Serving size is 2 mini meatloaves, makes a total of 6 servings).

So I have decided that I am not very good at this blogging...I have two posts that are pretty separated in their dates. All well...Well anyway I am here again, attempting to make this work. Since my other posts I have created several recipes but forgot to take photos of them...Wow good job Elizabeth. I did take a picture of a easy (VERY easy) recipe.

Simple Tomato Soup

It was very delicious even for all of it's simplicity.

Combine a can of stewed tomatoes Italian style and then a can of diced tomatoes

How simple and how delicious?

I had pita bread with this soup and it made it taste soo delicious!

It is easy and delicious, the idea's of a perfect meal!

Enjoy