Shepherd's Pie & Tuscan Bean Soup!

I have had a few recipes that we are trying from the new Weight watchers points plus recipe book. So far we have 2 that have turned out fantastic! I forgot to take a picture of the Shepherd's Pie. But instead I will just have to post the recipe for that one until next time we make it and we will make it again.

Shepherd's Pie (makes 6 servings)

WW Ppts: 6 pts a serving

1 1/2 pounds (3 potatoes was enough) Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks.

1/2 cup plain fat free yogurt

2 Tbsp finely chopped parsley (I used 1 Tbsp dried parsley flakes)

3/4 tsp Salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

2 tsp olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

1/2 pound lean ground beef (5% or less fat)

1/2 pound ground turkey (breast meat only)

1- 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes

1 cup frozen peas (I used peas and carrots mix b/c it's what I had)

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1. Preheat oven to 375.

2. Put potatoes in medium saucepan and add enough water to cover. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, partially covered for 20 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Drain. With potato masher, mash potatoes until smooth. Stir in yogurt, parsley 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper.

3. Heat oil in large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add onion, cook, stirring until softened, about 5 minutes. Add beef and turkey, cook breaking apart meat with spoon. Once fully cooked, drain off any fat.

4. Add tomatoes, peas, thyme, and remaining salt and pepper, bring to a boil. Reduce and simmer, stirring occasionally, 10 minutes.

5. Spread meat mixture in 10 inch deep-dish pie plate or 1 1/2 quart baking dish. Spread mashed potatoes on top. Bake until potatoes begin to brown and filling is bubbly about 20 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

The only thing that I can think that would have made it any better. Is some brown gravy. But that is only b/c I'm used to Shepherd's pie with gravy. There are some low fat option out there that only use water to mix. Which I would have made except I didn't have any.

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The Tuscan Bean Soup was delicious, but I "bulked it up a bit". Without making it go way up in points, and it was worth it.

Tuscan Bean Soup (makes 4 servings)

WW Ppts: 5 pts a serving

2 tsp Olive oil

1 Onion, chopped

2 Carrots, diced

2 Celery Stalks, diced

2 Garlic cloves, minced

1 - 15.5 ounce can Cannellini Beans, rinsed and drained

4 cups Chicken broth, fat free

2 - 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes

1 Tbsp dried basil

1 tsp pepper

1 tsp crushed Rosemary

1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese

1 package of Tyson Ready Grilled chicken breast strips

1. Heat oil in medium saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, carrot, and celery; cook stirring, until onion is softened, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant. About 30 seconds. Stir in beans and broth. With potato masher, coarsely mash cannellini beans.

2. Stir tomatoes, basil, and pepper into soup. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes or until carrots and celery are soft but not mushy. Heat Chicken strips in microwave and then mix into soup.

3. Serve sprinkled with Parmesan cheese.

Judy's Stuffed Cabbage Rolls.

I found this recipe on Allrecipes.com, it's from a lady named Judy, and I've got to give her kudos for this one. It was DELICIOUS. Even Michael liked it. The only thing I would have done differently is probably add more pepper or some garlic salt. But either way, this one is going to be made again!!!

Stuffed Cabbage Rolls (makes 4 servings)

WW pts: 6 pts a serving

• 2/3 cup water
• 1/3 cup uncooked white rice
• 8 cabbage leaves
• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 1 egg, slightly beaten
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed tomato soup
• 
  

In a medium saucepan, bring water to a boil. Add rice and stir. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
Bring a large, wide saucepan of lightly salted water to a boil. Add cabbage leaves and cook for 2 to 4 minutes or until softened; drain.
In a medium mixing bowl, combine the ground beef, 1 cup cooked rice, onion, egg, salt and pepper, along with 2 tablespoons of tomato soup. Mix thoroughly.
Divide the beef mixture evenly among the cabbage leaves. Roll and secure them with toothpicks or string.
In a large skillet over medium heat, place the cabbage rolls and pour the remaining tomato soup over the top (I added a little bit of water too, and it made more sauce). Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for about 40 minutes, stirring and basting with the liquid often.

Pot full of chili for 5.00.

I didn't plan so well with the weather in mind, seeing as next week it's supposed to be cool, and today it was in the 80's. But nevertheless, we did a pot of Turkey Chili. My mom used to make this with leftover turkey from Thanksgiving, but since I didn't have leftover Turkey (yet) I used ground Turkey. This chili is so great because it's so cheap and it will be at least 2 dinners and 2 lunches for both Michael and I. The only downside to this recipe is the dried beans, but all you have to do is pour 1/2 lb of dried beans into a pot, cover with water and cover with lid and then let sit overnight.

Ground Turkey Chili (Makes 16 cups)

WW pts: 2 pts a cup

1 lb. Ground Turkey (sale) .99 cents

2- 28 oz. can Diced Tomatoes, drained (BIGI free) 1.28

2 packages store brand Chili seasoning .59 cents each

1/2 lb. Dried Red Beans 1.68 for whole bag

Onion, diced .75 cents

3 stalks, celery diced.

1/2 green pepper, diced, (sale- sliced and frozen) .25

1/4 cup ketchup

1/4 cup mustard

1-28 ounce can filled with water

Brown ground meat if you need to, if you are using leftover Thanksgiving Turkey dice it up into chunks. Drain beans from water. Pour beans and Tomatoes into crockpot. Pour the remaining ingredients, stir to mix. You may need to add more water if it seems thick. The beans will soak up some more of the water, so you can always add extra and it won't be runny in the end. Then turn on for low for 8 hours and go to work or leave it be.

We always serve it with Original fritos and shredded cheddar cheese. And you can always add a little Louisiana hot sauce.

It's Fall.

I have been trying to upgrade my computer which turned into me screwing a bunch of stuff up. I'm not meant to be on the Geek Squad, obviously. So it has taken me a few days to fix everything I screwed up and be able to get to my pictures... meaning I'm going to combine this 1 post into the 2 recipes that I wanted to share with you.

You know when you wake up one day and realize that it has gotten like 30 degrees cooler, and the leaves have started to pile up on the sidewalks. When you having to dig through your drawers for a sweater to put on b/c it's that cool out in the morning.... Well all that makes me want to bake. Warm hearty comforting meals and anything with chocolate....

One of the Fall meals that I remember my mom making for Thanksgiving, year after year was acorn squash with a butter and brown sugar. I haven't had this recipe since I was oooh maybe 14-15. So 10+ years later (yeah do the math, I'm still under 30), I saw them on sale and bought acorn squash. I was then surprised that Michael had never had acorn squash. EVER. All the years we have been together, and all the cooking his mom did growing up. So last night I inaugurated him into the acorn squash fan club.... It turned out just like I remember.

Acorn Squash (makes 4 servings)

WW pts. per serving: 3 pts.

2 Acorn squash, cut in half and seeds removed (like you would a pumpkin-leaving the fleshy part)

4 tbsp light butter/margarine

4 tbsp brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. On a sheet pan, place the acorn squash with cut side down. Bake for 30 minutes. After the 30 minutes, remove from oven, turn over and place 1 tbsp butter and 1 tbsp brown sugar in each 1/2. If the acorn squash seem to slide around on the sheet pan, I take a square of Foil and make a little ring to sent the squash in. Works everytime. Then bake for another 30 minutes.

Really good leftover too!!

The second recipe is a woops on my part. I took out some bison, thinking it was going to be flank steak type. It turned out to be ground bison. So our Bison fajita salad, turned into ground bison taco salad. Still good!!! You can use ground beef for this if you want.

Bison Taco Salad (makes 4 servings)

WW pts: varies, depending on cheese and meat

Ground Meat, browned

1/4 Olive oil

1/4 Vinegar

1 Tbsp Cayenne pepper

1 Tbsp pepper

3 Tbsp Cumin

1 Tbsp Chili powder

1 Tbsp Oregano (mexican if you can find it)

2 Tbsp Lime Juice

1/2 diced onion

1/2 diced red pepper or yellow

Mix all the Oil, vinegar, peppers, cumin, chili powder, oregano and lime juice in a bowl and stir with a fork to mix. Saute the onion and pepper in 1 tbsp olive oil. Then add back the ground meat. To warm, add the mixture of seasonings and let it cook down. Adjust the seasoning to your taste if you want to add other stuff.

Cut lettuce, then top with meat and veggies, and cheese and salsa.

I usually make a dressing to go on it. 1 cup salsa, 1/2 cup fat free sour cream. This dressing also makes a great dip for tortilla chips.

Bison.

I know it's a regional thing, since most restaurants in Alabama don't carry Bison/Buffalo burgers. I had seen on my cooking shows the hosts trying Bison burgers and raving about them. Well last week while we were in South Dakota, I decided to "buck up" (pardon the pun) and try something new.... The burgers were fantastic. Not greasy like most hamburgers are, and had great flavor. So before we packed up to head south. My dad nicely filled our cooler full of a bunch of bison goodies. He gave us roasts, strip meat (for fajita style), ground buffalo (hamburgers), and Michael's favorite- Jerky.

So as a thank you to my wonderful in-laws who watched our dogs while we were gone, I am making Bison Stew (thanks to allrecipes.com). Think Beef stew with Bison instead of Beef. So far it's been cooking for 1 hour and it smells delicious. The only downside to the recipe, is I don't know how to convert Buffalo to points I've gotta look that up tonight. So for tonight, you are going to get the recipe, so if you choose to use beef then you can add up the points. But just from looking at the recipe, it can't be too many points for a serving.

*post dinner: This recipe was awesome. I had enough meat to be able to make a whole other batch, which will come in handy in about a month when it's good and cool outside. Perfect soup for a cool winter day. And I actually liked it without the potatoes, which you could add if you wanted.

Bison Stew (makes 6 servings)

• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 2 pounds bison meat, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 1 cup minced yellow onion
• 1/2 cup minced celery
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 cup water
• 3 tbsp ground black pepper
• 3 whole cloves
• 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• 1/4 teaspoon ground thyme
• 
  
• Heat 2 tablespoons canola oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat; brown the bison in oil, 2 to 3 minutes per side; remove bison and set aside. Pour 1 tablespoon canola oil into the Dutch oven; cook and stir the onion and celery in the oil until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic; cook and stir another 2 to 3 minutes. Sprinkle the flour over the mixture and stir to coat. Stir in the broth, water, wine, salt, pepper, cloves, tomato sauce, parsley, and thyme to the mixture; bring to a boil. Return the bison to the mixture and stir through. Reduce heat; cover and simmer until meat is fork tender, about 1 hour.

Meatloaf Muffins and S'more Pie

Yes that is a weird combination but I would say a completely kid friendly meal. We found the Meatloaf Muffins on Aimee's Adventures. Anyone who is trying to lose weight should check out her site, she's lost like 140+ lbs and has a TON of recipes on her site. That is where we found the Mexican meatball subs. Everything we've tried off her site has been awesome including these muffins. They are perfectly portioned, and just a great version of meatloaf.

As for the S'more pie, if you guys remember I had wanted to do a S'more Pie for Michael's birthday in May, but I ended up doing cupcakes. Well apparently Tiffany at EatatHomeCooks must have read my mind, because she made up this recipe, and just reading the recipe my mouth was watering!!! So tonight I am doing a S'more Pie.

please ignore the "seasoned" look of my muffin tin. It has been good to me.

Meatloaf Muffins (makes 12 muffins)

WW pts: 4 pts a muffin

1 lb Extra lean ground beef or Ground Turkey

1 small Zucchini, unpeeled and shredded

1 egg

1 cup Ore Ida hasbrowns, Frozen (I used 1 small potato shredded)

1/2 cup Fat Free Shredded Cheese

1/2 package of Stop Top Seasoned Stuffing mix

1/4 reduced Fat Parmesan cheese

1/2 tsp minced garlic

1 tsp Worcestershire Sauce

1/4 cup Ketchup

1/2 medium onion diced

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix all the ingredients together. Divide evenly into 12 sprayed Muffin tins (I used a 1/3 cup measuring cup). Bake 30-40 minutes or until done.

You could make these into hamburgers and they would be good, just patty them out, and grill or bake.

S'more Pie (makes 8 servings)

WW pts: 4 pts a slice

Reduced fat graham cracker crust

1 box Chocolate cook and serve pudding mix (I used the instant)

1/4 cup Nutella

1/2 cup Marshmallow fluff

3/4 cup Mini Marshmallows

Make the pudding according to the directions. While it cools put a layer of the marshmallow fluff in the bottom of the pan (we both had problems with the crust crumbling-so just be gentle). Spread Nutella over Marshmallow fluff. Pour Pudding over nutella. And let cool 10 minutes. Sprinkle the mini marshmallows over the top, so all the pudding is covered. Put the pie under the broiler just until the marshmallows toast. Watch it so it doesn't burn. Cool the pie and cover and refrigerate.