A Real Pampered Chef

My Stinkerbell loves to be in the kitchen with me when I cook. Who am I kidding, she HAS to be where ever I am or she melts down. Anyways, last night I made Honey-Balsamic glazed chicken and she made Alphabet Soup:

Well over due…..

OMG we moved in this house after this expired!

EWWWWWWWW DO NOT DRINK

So today I decided that I would go though our kitchen cabinets and get rid of anything that had expired. First of all, we had about 10 cans of black beans and 10 cans of evaporated milk???? Why? I have no idea, but since the black beans weren’t expired I would suggest that you don’t stand downwind from me for a few weeks. The evaporated milk was about a year past expired so I chunked it. At first I was all “Maybe I should donate this to the food pantry?” Then I was all, “wouldn’t it be sort of, like, degrading to give them past due foods?”

Me: Here’s some food for your donation center

Donation center: “Um… gee thanks for the expired food? Are you trying to kill off the needy?”
So….. yeah I wound up throwing it in the trash can because then I was all if someone REALLY needs expired evaporated milk that bad and they happen to be dumpster diving then they can have it. I also threw away approximately 1,002,853.5 packets of tea bags because we NEVER drink tea in this house unless my in-laws are here and then all of the sudden dear hubby is all “OMG WHY DON’T WE HAVE TEA????” And then I politely remind him that he is a DAMN YANKEE and refuses drink tea the correct way, sweetened, and thus we don’t make it. Until your parents come. Then you decide that you do like tea. And vegetables. But whatever.

yeah.... that got drank right up......

except... oh wait.... no it did not........

In the end I wound up with not one, not two, but THREE garbage bags full of expired or stale food. That is just too much wasted food in my opinion. SOMEONE, ahem ahem self, needs to stop buying impulse foods, and stick to the grocery list.

Goat Cheese and Herb Stuffed Chicken Breast

Tonight for dinner I made this dish. It was incredibly delicious! This is definitely a “must do again.” The combination of the goat cheese with sun-dried tomatoes was a perfect pairing. The recipe calls for canned sun-dried tomatoes but I was only able to find a bag of them. This, in my opinion, worked well with the recipe anyways as you are instructed to wash and pat them dry anyways.

Ingredients:

2 oz Goat Cheese

2 oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, rinsed under water, patted dry, and finely chopped

1 scallion, chopped

1 tbsp chopped basil

2 tsp chopped thyme

1/4 c plain dry bread crumbs

4 (1/4lb) skinless boneless chicken breasts

4 tsp reduced calorie mayonnaise

1 1/2 lbs baby spinach, rinsed

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 425. Spray a nonstick baking pan with nonstick spray.

2. Combine the cheese, tomatoes, scallion, basil, and thyme in a bowl, mashing with a fork, until blended. Place the bread crumbs in a separate small bowl.

3. Cute a pocket into the side of each chicken breast about 2.5″ long. Place one-quarter of the goat cheese mixture inside each slit. Lightly press the pocket closed with a fork. Brush the top side of each breast with the mayo. Dip the chicken, one piece at a time, coated side down into the bread crumbs. Transfer coated-side up to the baking pan.

4. Spray the tops of the chicken lightly with nonstick spray. Bake until the chicken cooks through and the crust is golden, about 25 minutes

5. Meanwhile, place the spinach in a large steamer basket set in a saucepan over 1″ of boiling water. Cover tightly and steam until the spinach just wilts, about 3 minutes. Transfer the spinach to the platter, then top with the chicken.

Makes 4 servings

Nutritional Information:

Weight Watchers Points: 6

Cal: 284

Fat: 12g

Sat Fat: 5g

Chol: 80 mg

Sodium: 356mg

Carbs: 12g

Fiber: 5g

Prot: 34g

Calc: 284mg

Shrimp and Soba Salad

For the record this is NOT a pic of mine. I forgot to take one 😦

 For I don’t know how long my husband has raved about Soba noodles saying how much he loves them. I had never had them before. While looking through one of my Weight Watchers Cook Books (Take Out Tonight) I saw this recipe for Shrimp and Soba Salad. My local grocery store (Hell-Mart) did not have Soba Noodles, but since I was making a run later in the week to Whole Foods I just got them there. If you don’t have access to Soba noodles then you can substitute whole-wheat spaghetti. I found this dish to be refreshing on a hot day. The flavor of the sauce paired well with the shrimp. It had a little bit of a tang to it that invited your taste buds to come back for more. It’s definitely a meal that I would cook for a dinner party. The other really awesome part is that you only use ONE pot to cook everything so clean up is a breeze (always a plus for me!) Enough rambling on my part now, here’s the recipe:

1 tbsp mirin (Rice Wine)

1 tbsp seasoned rice vinegar

1 tbsp reduced-sodium soy sauce

1 tbsp sugar

1 tsp Asian (dark) sesame oil

1 tsp minced peeled fresh ginger

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 pound soba noodles

4 scallions, thinly sliced

1 carrot, cut into matchstick-thin strips (or you can do like I do and just buy them that way because who wants to spend all that time cutting up carrots?????)

1/4 lb fresh snow peas, trimmed and cut diagonally in half

3/4 lb large shrimp, peeled and deveined (unless you like eating shrimp poo)

1. To make the dressing, whisk the mirin, vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, ginger, and garlic in a small bowl until blended. Set aside.

2. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the noodles and cook until just tender, about 4 minutes. With a strainer or tongs, transfer the noodles toa large bowl of cold water to cool; drain. Reserve the cooking liquid.

3. Transfer the drained noodles to a large bowl. Stir in the scallions and carrot. Set aside.

4. Return the cooking liquid to a boil. Add the snow peas and boil until just bright green and almost tender, about 2 minutes. Transfer the snow peas to a colander with a slotted spoon or tongs; rinse under cool water and drain. Add the snow peas to the bowl with the noodles.

5. Cook the shrimp in the same pot of boiling water until just pink, about 3 minutes; drain. Rinse the shrimp under cold water; drain and transfer to the bowl with the noodle mixture. Toss the salad with the dressing to coat well. Serve at room temp or chilled.

1 1/4 cup = 1 Serving

Servings: 4

Weight Watchers Points per serving: 6

Cal 314

Fat 2g

Sat Fat 0g

Chol 101mg

Sod 481mg

Carb 54g

Fib 3g

Prot 23g

Calc 48mg

ENJOY!

Mandarin Beef Medallions

 

The other day I kicked started back into weight watchers hardcore. First on the menu was Mandarin Beef Medallions with steamed green beans and mixed fruit for sides. The Mandarin Beef Medallions were DELICIOUS! I didn’t think that the marinade would add much flavor to the beef since it only marinated it for ten minutes, but I was completely wrong. It was the perfect amount of time for just enough flavor to soak in. My beef turned out tender and juicy, just the way I like it!

Here is the recipe:

4 (1/4th pound) beef tenderloin steaks, trimmed of fat

3 tbsp reduced-sodium soy sauce

3 tbsp rice vinegar

3 tbsp honey

4 tsp Asian (dark) sesame oil

1 garlic clove, minced

1/4th tsp ground ginger

1/4th tsp crushed red pepper

1/2 tsp salt

1. With your hands, gently press the steaks into ovals about 3/4″ thick

2. Combine the soy sauce, vinegar, honey, oil, garlic, ginger, and crushed red pepper in a shallow baking dish. Add the steaks and turn to coat. Cover and let stand at room temperature 10 minutes.

3. Set a nonstick ridged frill pan over high heat. When a drop of water skitters when placed in the pan, transfer the steaks to the pan and sear 1 minute on each side. Reduce the heat to medium-high and sprinkle the steaks with the salt. Cook about 2-3 minutes on each side for rare, or until done to taste. Pour the marinade over the steaks and cook, turning steaks once or twice, until the sauce thickens to a light glaze. Remove from heat. Top the steaks with the glaze before serving.

Per serving: 278 cals, 13g fat, 4g sat fat, 71mg Chol, 778mg Sod, 15g Carb, 0g Fib, 25g  Prot, 13mg Calc.

weight watchers points 7

Mix & Chop by Pampered Chef

Last year right before Thanksgiving I attended my first Pampered Chef party. We saw lots of amazing things to use in the kitchen. We also got to eat yummy brownies that were DELICIOUS! One of the coolest things that I got was this item called a Mix and Chop. You use it with just about whatever you want in the frying pan. It mixes and chops things up into tiny little pieces. This is GREAT if you have a picky eater on your hands like me who refuses to “lumpy” or large chunks of food. This picky eater would be dear hubby, so I don’t think he minded buying it for me 😛 The Mix & Chop is also dishwasher safe so this is a HUGE plus for me. I really hate doing the dishes (which I seem to do every waking minute or everyday or at least that’s what it feels like) so if I can just rinse it and toss it in the dishwasher it’s a winner. It’s also nonstick so the food comes right off. No scrubbing is definitely a plus. So if your interested, this is what it looks like: