Leftovers + Mr. Bento = Happy Fern

If you've been cooking up all these wonderful things for dinner, what do you do with the left overs? Well, my brother got me an awesome birthday present that solves this problem in style...

I am so excited to use my Mr. Bento lunch box tomorrow (dorky I know). I plan on including some cheesy potato chowder (not the healthiest thing on the planet). When I make this recipe, I make a ton and then freeze it in small portions. Supposedly the Mr. Bento can keep my soup hot for up to 6 hours, so I am going to reheat the soup tomorrow morning and test Mr. Bento's ability to keep my soup hot until lunchtime. I'll report back tomorrow....

Quick Stir Fry Veggies

I whipped this up one night when I was tired of salad but still had a lot of veggie servings to squeeze in. It's less labor intensive than a traditional stir fry, but was still yummy and definitely a nice change from salad.

Ingredients
2 TBS Olive Oil
3 TBS Low Sodium Soy Sauce
1 TBS minced garlic
1/4 cup water
1 cup broccoli crowns
1 cup baby carrots
1 cup green beans

Heat Oil and garlic in a pan (preferably a wok) til hot. Add carrots and 1 TBS soy sauce and toss. Saute 5 minutes, tossing frequently. Add broccoli crowns and 1 more TBS soy sauce and toss. Saute additional 5 minutes, tossing frequently. Add green beans and remaining soy sauce. Continue sauteing until veggies have reached desired tenderness. Add water in cooking/tossing process if additional liquid is needed to achieve desired tenderness.

Serves: 3 1 cup servings
WW Flex Points Per Serving: 3*

*Note: I use the oil because we need our oil (fatty acid) portion per day (according to WW) and I don't otherwise cook with oil. I use this as a way to get our serving in without affecting the flavor of what I'm cooking.

For a lower point, lower calorie version, use low sodium chicken broth or vegetable broth in place of oil. If broth is used instead of oil, the recipe is 0 points per serving, or 3 points to eat the whole batch. (Applying points to single servings does not always produce an exact fraction of points, which is why 1 cup is 0pts but 3 cups is 3pts.

Fern: I tagged this as Vegetarian. Am I correct in assuming is Vegetarian Friendly? If not, please correct! :)

Black Bean Salad

• 1 can black beans, thoroughly rinsed, and drained
• 1 1/2 cups frozen corn, defrosted (or fresh corn, parboiled, drained and cooled)
• 1/2 cup chopped green onions or shallots
• 3 fresh plum tomatoes, seeded and chopped
• 1 avocado, peeled, seeded, and cut into chunks
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2-1 teaspoon sugar (to taste)
• salt and pepper

1. In a large bowl, combine the beans, corn, onions, tomatoes, avocado, cilantro, basil, lemon juice and olive oil. Add sugar and salt and pepper to taste. Chill before serving.

I usually serve this over couscous or brown rice for a simple dinner but it would also make a good side dish alongside a Mexican or Tex-Mex main dish. Makes 6-8 servings.

Per serving: 216 calories, 8 grams of fat, 0mg cholesterol, 8mg sodium, 628mg potassium, 31.2 grams carbohydrates, 10.2 grams dietary fiber, 8.8 grams of protein.

Crunchy Personal Sized BBQ Chicken "Pizza"

Per Person:
2 TBS BBQ Sauce
3-4 OZ Cooked, Shredded or Chunk Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast (optional cooking instructions below)
2 TBS Cilantro, Chopped
1/4 Cup 2% Cheese of your choice
2-3 TBS chopped red onion
1 Ezekiel 4:9 Sprouted Grain Tortilla, 8.5" size

Spread 1-2 TBS BBQ sauce on Tortilla for "Pizza Sauce." Sprinkle Chopped Cilantro over sauce. Top with Cheese. (Covering the cilantro with the cheese helps protect it from wilting). Spread chicken and onion generously over top of cheese. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.

Optional Chicken Cooking Instructions:
Brush a piece of foil lightly with BBQ sauce and lightly pepper. Place chicken on top. Brush top side of chicken lightly with sauce and add additional pepper. Cover with foil and seal in a packet. Bake at 350 for 45-60 minutes, depending on how much chicken you're cooking.

Take out of oven and allow to cool. Shred or cube. Add 1-2 TBS of BBQ to chicken and stir to coat chicken. Proceed with Pizza as instructed above.

Serves 1
WW Points, with chicken prepared this way: 9.

Optional: Reduce Points by using a smaller tortilla (subtract 1 point for 6" or smaller tortilla), or Sugar Free BBQ Sauce (subtract 1 point). Chicken less than 3 ounces is 1 point per ounce so if you serve less chicken, deduct for that. (4 oz chicken is 3.5 pts)

Serve with a green salad and you have a filling lunch with relatively low points!

Zesty Chicken

Zesty Chicken
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts or tenders
Several tablespoons of Red Robin Seasoning. You can buy it at RR restaurants for $3 or here is a copycat recipe to make your own I've never tried the copycat recipe.
1 TBS Olive Oil

Spray a piece of foil with non stick cooking spray. Sprinkle with RR Seasoning. Lay out chicken on greased side. Sprinkle Top with more seasoning. Drop a few drops of olive oil on to each piece of chicken. I use a baster to control distribution. Cover exposed side of chicken with another sheet of foil and seal up sides to make a packet. Place packet on cookie sheet and bake in oven at 350 for 1 hour.

Word of Caution: Don't over-season. The RR Seasoning is very salty if you have too much of it. I don't usually measure things so I haven't measured how much I use so just be careful. Be generous enough to flavor the chicken but not so generous as to kill it!

Servings: 4
Points per serving: 4

Optional Serving Methods

1. Tear up in a salad. Per person, serve 1.5 cups mixed greens, 1 TBS Cilantro, 1 TBS 2% cheese, 4 Crushed Tortilla Chips, 1/2 cup organic canned, cooked black beans, 1/4 cup cooked, cold baby corn kernels, 2 TBS light ranch
Points for measurements shown:
0 for Veggies
1 for Cheese
1 for black beans (1/4 cup to 1/2 cup is 1 point. 1/8 cup and under is 0 points)
1 for corn
2 for Light Ranch
1 for Chips

Total for salad as shown, with chicken: 10. It's high for a salad alone but as a whole meal, it's not too bad. And you can eliminate things you don't like. I don't like beans or corn so I shave off 2 points that way. I also don't need a full 2 TBS of dressing so I shave off another there so for me, the salad with chicken is 7 points.

2. Serve salad above rolled in a tortilla. Add 2 points for 1 medium flour tortilla.

Ranch Chicken

This one is a tweak of a recipe off the back of the Ranch Package. I've altered it to make it a little more moist.

Ranch Chicken
1 lb of boneless skinless chicken breast tenders
1 package of Hidden Valley Ranch Dip Mix
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1-2 TBS olive oil

Put all ingredients except in a bag or bowl and mix or shake until chicken is coated evenly. Spray a piece of foil with non stick cooking spray. Lay out chicken on greased side. Drop a few drops of olive oil on to each piece of chicken. I use a baster to control distribution. Cover exposed side of chicken with another sheet of foil and seal up sides to make a packet. Place packet on cookie sheet and bake in oven at 350 for 1 hour.

Variations. I take the top cover off of mine for the last 15 minutes and set the oven to a low broil setting to make the chicken crispy. If you only have one broil setting on your oven, you may need to experiment with how much time it takes.

Serves 4.
WW Flex Points Per Serving: 4

Optional Serving Methods: We've served this several ways:
1. Torn up and tossed with a salad and light ranch dressing.
Meal with Chicken, Salad and 2 TBS Light Ranch Dressing: 6 Points

2. Wrapped in tortillas with salad fixings
Meal with Chicken, Lettuce, Tomato and 1 Medium Flour Tortilla: 6 Points
Optional: Add 2 TBS 2% cheese. Add 1 Point
Optional: Lightly spread tortilla with light ranch. Add 1 point for 1 TBS

3. As an entree with High Fiber Rye Bread, Salad and Near East Long Grain Rice
Meal with Chicken, Salad, 2 TBS Light Ranch, 1 Slice High Fiber (3g or more per slice) Rye Bread, .5 Cup Prepared Near East Long Grain Rice: 9 points

Strawberry Pear Walnut Salad

I've been asked by a couple of folks now about this blog. Truthfully I haven't updated it in a year, largely Fern stopped participating and so I saw no need to keep a separate blog for recipes. I'll try to post there now too, though. I'll probably post them both places for now to decide what I like.

So without further ado, a salad. This is per salad. I don't usually make a whole bowl of it because there are just two of us so you'll need to tweak quantities if you want to prepare it to serve a whole family.

Strawberry Pear Walnut Salad

1.5 cups mixed baby greens
3-5 strawberries, washed sliced thinly
8-10 walnut halves
1/2 Pear, cleaned and sliced thinly
1 TBS Parmesan cheese

Toss greens together and top with fruits, nuts and cheese.

Optional I candy the walnuts first in a pan with a couple tablespoons of yogurt spread (like margarine but better) and a couple tablespoons sugar substitute. Heat spread and sugar together in a pan til melted, add walnuts, and heat 5-10 minutes on medium heat, stirring frequently to coat walnuts.

Optional This salad is also good with just strawberries or just pears. In truth, with both the pears and the strawberries, it almost has too many flavors and textures going on but I enjoy it because it's an enjoyable way for me to get my fruits and veggies in.

Optional Try it with apples instead of pears. Or try Pecans instead of Walnuts.

Cranberry Dressing
Dressing Recipe from Weight Watchers
1/2 cup canned cranberry sauce, whole-berry or jellied
2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
2 Tbsp water
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1/8 tsp table salt, or to taste
1/8 tsp black pepper, freshly ground, or to taste

In a medium bowl, whisk together cranberry sauce, vinegar, water, oil and mustard; season to taste with salt and pepper.

Note: We used white wine vinegar because I had no red wine vinegar and it worked just fine.

Review Todd liked the dressing, I thought it was a little too much. I liked the salad dry because the cheese, nuts and fruit added enough flavor. The dressing WAS good, I just didn't like it combined with the other elements. So maybe sample it before you toss your whole salad in it.