Asian Chicken Salad

Asian Chicken Salad

One of my favorite lunch items is an Asian chicken salad which most places do with breaded and fried chicken as well as high fat dressing. My version has all the flavor and a fraction of the calories.

Here are the ingredients and amounts to toss together for a 6 Points+ value lunch.

Greens of your choice [0 P+]

Green onions  [0 P+]

Mandarin oranges [0 P+]

White chicken breast 2 ¾ oz   [2 P+]

Wonton Strips 11 grams  [1 P+]

Sliced almonds 15 grams [ 2 P+]

Toasted Sesame Ginger Dressing 2 T  [1 P+]

Japanese style fried rice

 

This is my version of Benihana’s fried rice and is approx. 7 PointsPlus per serving.
Per serving use:

• 1 t butter
• 1 t Olive oil
• 1/2 egg
• A couple carrots
• Part of a yellow onion
• A few green onions
• A couple cloves garlic
• 1 C cooked rice
• Soy sauce
• Sesame seeds

Make a batch of white, short grain rice (the sticky, oriental kind). I use a rice cooker.
Chop up some carrot, green onion and white onion and set aside. I use my food processor for the white onion and carrot and kitchen shears for the green onion.
This is best done in a wok, if you don’t have one use a large frying pan. Saute several cloves chopped up garlic in the butter and oil along with the carrot and yellow onion. Scramble and fry up your eggs in a separate pan. Add the rice, cooked egg and soy sauce and stir fry everything together. All you are doing is lightly frying the rice and getting the veggies warmed up, but you don’t want them too “cooked” or they’ll be soggy. Scoop into a bowl and top with sesame seeds. 

Quinoa Salad

Quinoa is hailed as a miracle grain for being one of the few non-meat foods providing all the essential amino acids (eight of them) that our bodies need to repair themselves. In addition it's a good source of fiber and protein while being low in calories. If you try to eat it on it's own, you won't be impressed. It takes a good recipe to get this to taste like something you'd actually want to eat!
Quinoa Salad
1 cup cooked Quinoa (cooks like rice, use 1/2 cup dry to get @ 1 cup cooked; I cook mine in my rice cooker)
Let cool... then toss together with;

• 1 oz dried cranberries
• 1 oz pecans or walnuts
• Chopped green onions
• A splash of white wine vinegar
• 2 t olive oil

This recipe makes about two servings at 7 PointPlus each. Will keep in fridge for a few days.

PointsPlus Humor

Why yes, I am woefully behind in adding new recipies based on the new PointsPlus system. *sigh*  They are coming, I promise! In the meantime, here's a little humor for you from the infamous Little Guy from SAHM: Surviving Assorted Home Mayhem.

After attending yesterday's meeting with me, in which he apparently learned something, this morning he comes over to me with a plastic apple from his kitchen and says; "I love apples, apples are a Power Food!"

I had no idea he picked that up!

Pumpkin Pancakes

After deciding that the easiest way to make Pumpkin Pancakes would involve using the already low-fat, low cal mix we use for regular pancakes, we came up with this recipe variation.

• 2 cups Krusteaz Buttermilk Pancake Mix
• 1 T brown sugar
• 1 1/14 cups cold water
• 1 ½- 2 t pumpkin pie spice
• ½ c canned pumpkin (pure pumpkin, not pie filling)

Stir together pancake mix, brown sugar and spice. Add water and canned pumpkin. Stir together with a whisk until blended. Pour enough batter onto a lightly greased (Olive Oil spray) griddle pre-heated to medium heat. Cook 1 minute or so per side, turning only once. This recipe should make about 11, 6” pancakes. 2 points+ each.

Watermelon Martini

We’re always playing around with cocktails to see what we can come up with that’s both tasty and low in calories. In addition, we don’t use chemical sweeteners so it adds an extra challenge. We’re loving this one!

Try our fabulous Watermelon Martini… all natural and only 2 WW points per Serving!

Recipe is for two:

~ 6 oz Dole 100% Natural Watermelon drink (a delicious juice drink I recently discovered in the refrigerated section of the grocery store.)

~ 2 oz Hint Watermelon Essence unsweetened water (the secret to cutting out some calories from sugar and getting a little extra watermelon flavor with no calories or chemicals!)

~ 2 1/2 oz Skyy Vodka (just shy of two shots)

Mix together in a cocktail shaker. Pour in to martini glasses rimmed with Green Watermelon sugar rimmer (this one’s from Stirrings.) Garnish with Watermelon wedge. (My apologies for the pale watermelon wedges, I was a little late in the season for this one, folks!)

Chicken Salad Sandwich

Here's one of my creations I'm particularly proud of. When made with Oroweat's Sandwich Thins this yummy little sammie is only 3 points!

Each 1/3 cup serving of chicken salad is a mere 2 points. This recipe makes about 5 servings.

• 1 large can (12.5 oz.) chicken breast (we get the Kirkland brand from Costco)
• 2 T Reduced Fat Olive Oil Mayo
• 15 gr (approx .1/4 cup) chopped walnuts
• 30 gr (approx. 1/4 cup) dried cranberries
• 1 apple, chopped (I use Gala or Fuji)

Simply mix all ingredients together in a bowl. I use a fork to separate the chunks of chicken. Spread on your bread of choice.