Catfish Po' Boys, p. 144

I love me some creole food.  I do. This recipe was fairly easy but when cooking catfish, due to it's slimy texture and fishy taste, it should be fried.  Period.  So, this recipe would be a winner with a milder fish, like tilapia.  However, maybe I just suck at grilling catfish (or was I attempting to blacken?).  Whatever the case, my meal was just so-so.

The 5 Ingredients: Catfish, Cajun seasoning, romaine lettuce, FF tarter sauce (I made my own), and multi grain hamburger buns.

The Final Result:

So, you are probably looking at the picture noticing there are more than 5 ingredients.  As I said earlier I made my own LF tarter sauce b/c finding FF tarter sauce is like finding my flex pts mid-week... it ain't happenin', they ain't there.  So, I grabbed my LF mayo, sweet relish, and a lemon, mixed to taste and viola!  LF tarter sauce.  It was the best thing on that po' po' boy.

Then I proceeded to over season with Cajun seasoning to help alleviate the fishy taste of the catfish.  Talk about a sodium overdose.  Won't do that again.  Use the Cajun seasoning sparingly, unless you like to see people draw their cheeks in from salt poisoning.  Bleh.  Totally my fault.

I will make this again, except with tilapia or even shrimp!  I paired the po' boy with a baked potato soup.  Now that, my friends, was good and a meal saver.  Moral of the story:  Don't over season!!!!

Roast Salmon with Cilantro and Lime, pg. 92

I love salmon! Do you love salmon? I have been able to cook it various different ways and it never disappoints!  Well I take that back... I'm always disappointed to discover a 5 oz portion is very small but I'm able to scarf down 10 oz adjust and do that with no problem because I'm such a pro at this WW thang.  This recipe is great and very quick.  The 5 oz fillet will cost you 6 pps.  Be careful because you'll want to make a side or two to go along with it.  I chose brown rice and greens. 

The 5 Ingredients:  Salmon, FF Mayo (I used LF), Garlic, Cilantro, and Lime.

The Final Dish:

The recipe instructions say to brush on mayo then press cilantro in... I failed to read that and mixed the mayo, cilantro, garlic, and lime juice together.  I did that early that morning and let it sit in the fridge all day so I could just brush and go.  Dinner time is such a rush in my house so that worked out great.  Chez magnifique!  The salmon was tender and the "sauce" (it's really not saucy at all) was great.  It needed a little more salt and garlic.  It called for one clove, I used two, and still wanted more.  My husband didn't even know there was garlic.  And THAT should never happen.

Now that mayo mix that I created, accidentally, would make a FAB addition to a sandwich.  Mmm Mmm. Just watch out for untrustworthy people (aka my husband) sneaking around right under your nose.  I kept catching him *trying* to dip carrots in it!  So, for world peace, just make double!

I will make this again, no question, with the salmon I'm breeding in my back yard RIGHT now.

Spinach and Sun-Dried Tomato Pizza, p. 149

This pizza was awesome.  If you make it according to the book it's only 4pps per serving.  If you use full-fat cheese and ignore the instructions on the amounts of ingredients to use, you are looking at about 5 or 6 pps per serving.  Remember I'm the girl that likes quantity, so I was able to cut mine into 8 slices/servings!  I got a little over zealous with the goat cheese and tripled the quantity suggested.  My family wasn't overly impressed with that.  And for the record I paid for my over zealousness later!

The 5 ingredients: Spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, prebaked thin whole wheat pizza crust, LF Italian cheese blend, and LF goat cheese.

The Final Dish:

I live in a house full of carnivorous, heathen men.  If I would have put that pizza on the table without some sort of meat, they would have revolted.  If you live like me, then toss on a couple pieces of sliced chicken breast to keep the menfolk happy.  I got a little chef-y last night when preparing this.  I sauteed my spinach (instead of microwaving with water per the instructions) with fresh garlic in PAM until wilted and soft.  I also sprinkled some garlic (dried) on the crust itself.  YOU MUST DO THAT!!! I give you that tip for free, people!  Garlic is a must.

So, let me explain my goat cheese mishap... I calculated the points in the container, and it was low.  So I assumed the whole thing needed to go on top and would melt like mozzarrella... um, no.  That didn't happen, so just put the proper amount for happy-tummy's sake, ok?

Anyway, this may not be the best dish for a bunch of boys, although my hubby claimed to like it.  I plan to make this for my next girls night to serve with lots of wine.  The ladies will be happily full and drunk before 10pm!

That's how I roll.

Egg Salad, Weight Watcher eTools online

A little variation from the norm!  I'm doing a review for a recipe I found online.  I just had a craving for egg salad, a bunch of boiled eggs laying around, and motive.  That eTools is quite handy.  I found one for 3pps per half cup serving.  And it was delish.  Now warning... you may need to spend a few hours alone after eating this if you catch my drift or maybe you DON'T want to catch my drift. *blush*

The Ingredients:

The Final Dish:

If you know me (do you know me?), you know I added and changed some things... I just couldn't fathom the thought of discarding egg yolks for two measley egg whites, so I only used 4 whole eggs and left out the 2 eggs needed for the whites.  It's not fair. Then I added some celery, pickles, and regular onions because I forgot to buy chives.  I only used 1/4 cup serving of the yummy goodness (instead of 1/2 cup) b/c it looked like plenty and made TWO sandwiches.  I'm a sucker for quantity.  I used my 1pps per slice of bread-bread and viola!  An egg salad sammich that even my non-weight watchering husband enjoyed.  I think next time I'll add a little dill to give it even more zing!

Click the following url http://www.weightwatchers.com/food/rcp/index.aspx?recipeid=108261 for the ingredient list and instructions.  Enjoy!

Braised Beef Shanks with Wine and Shallots, p. 47

If you want an easy, crock pot meal... this will be a great one for you!  Only thing, leave time for the prep.  You have to brown the shanks and onions before moving to a crock pot or dutch oven.  The recipe uses a dutch oven but I don't have one so I used my crock pot on low ALL day.  The result was extremely tender beef with flavors galore.  You got yourself a hearty din-din with this meal at 7 pps per serving.  

The 5 Ingredients (what they were suppose to be): beef shanks, shallots, canned no-salt-added diced tomatoes (I used ones with oregano, garlic, basil), red wine, beef broth (I used chicken because that's what I had).

 The Final Dish:

Yum-mo!  My husband loved this because usually beef from the crock pot, no matter what you do to it, tastes like a pot roast.  Not these shanks and I'll shank you if you say different!  I browned the meat, onions, then added the wine and chicken broth (according to the recipe). Now hold onto yourself because here's where it gets exciting.  I added a tablespoon of tomato paste and two beef bullion cubes!  Oh Em Gee!  With the recipe's dutch oven route the dish will cook in an hour and a half.  My way, I had it all in the crockpot by about 10am on low.  About 5pm I changed the setting to 'keep warm' so they didn't over cook. 

I served this over brown rice and my whole family loved it for two nights!  Winner!!!  Will I make this again?  Don't make me shank you for asking!  Of course I will.  (Sorry, I can't help myself with the shankin' pun.)

Pinapple Upside-Down Shortcakes, p. 178

In my best Hammer voice:  STOP, shortcake time!  These are some good shortcakes, chile'!  The first comment made, as my family started to dig in, was "so are these diet?"  They fooled everybody.  Granted I bought the wrong type of biscuit because the recipe says to buy reduced fat, but Grands whole wheat reduced fat was all I could find.  Then I got home to discover I bought 17 oz can instead of 7 (not that THAT can be found either), oh well. I don't think that would make a difference, except in points.  These are easy to make and you don't even need to have a fork!  Just pick 'em up and eat 'em.  They are 7 pp per cute little cupcake sized serving. 

The 5 Ingredients:

The Final Dish: 

Do you know why this is such an awesome dish?  Because, it's dessert AND breakfast!!!  I did stray from the instructions a little b/c 7 pp is a little too much of a sacrifice at the end of the day (says the girl who ate 12 pp worth of gummy hearts yesterday - I didn't know, ok?).  Anyway, before I realized I bought too big of a container of biscuits I had already decided I'd half all the biscuits and make 12 instead of 6.  Brillance!  More is always better.  I still ate two, so, maybe it wasn't brillance?  Also, if you have the spare flex points, go ahead and plop a nice little bit of cool whip on top!  It's your world girl (or guy?).

Incidentally, that is clearly a whole biscuit in that picture up there... how on earth that happened, I don't know.

I will be making these again, yes I will, for a girls night or when we have out-of-town guests.  Perfect little treat that's hard to beat!

Simmered Italian-Style Pork Chops, p.51

When it comes to cooking a pork chop, I am challenged because I will always cook it to the consistency of a boot - the leather kind.  This is partly due to my fear of pig poisoning.  So if you are like me, then proceed with caution.   Other than that tiny fact, these chops were very good.  The sauce was full of flavor.  My pork chops were a little thicker than the recipe called for, but if you follow it exactly you'll use about 5 pp per serving.

The 5 Ingredients:

The Final Dish:

I served this with baby spinach and arugula tossed with a tbsp of balsamic vinegar (my fave go to side).  I also tossed capers in my sauce, as suggested, as well as adding some sliced basil on top.  Yum and yum.  As long as I cut my chop into small bites, I was OK.  My kids managed to get the only tender pieces, so they were happy little chompers.  My husband was the odd ball out and almost cut through his plate. Poor guy. 

I will make this again, but I'd like to try it with chicken breast or I could try tenderizing the mess out of my pork chops.. hey could be fun!

Rigatoni with Spicy Sausage and Beans, p.61

I was pleasantly surprised by this meal and honestly if there wasn't a mouth-watering picture beside it I wouldn't have wanted to make it.  Who puts kale with red beans?  Not I!  Also, looking at the ingredients I was thinking, how will this be enough to feed my family, but it turned out to be perfect with leftovers! So, now you know what I'll be eating later today!  And for only 8 pts for a cup and a half serving I'm a happy girl!

The 5 Ingredients



 The Final Dish

I did add the "Simple Additions" of garlic and red pepper flakes that they suggested in the book.  The garlic gave it more depth and of course I added a couple pinches salt.  Everything is low sodium and they don't suggest ONE pinch of salt?  C'mon!  If you are giving this to young children, I recommend using mild sausage, which is what I did.  And when cooking you'll need to cook a little longer than the instructions say.  I cooked them whole (b/c if you cut them while raw they smoosh all up and make a big ol' mess), then sliced it and cooked it a few minutes longer to be sure we weren't fighting over the toilet later.  Oh and if you want to play a joke on your husband, only add the red pepper flakes to his bowl and watch him sweat and leave the table with a runny nose while you and the kids are totallly fine!  Love when that happens.

I will be making this again.  It was fast, easy, and different from our normal dinners.  I rarely get to use kale but I like it a lot and it's so good for you!  Enjoy!!

Lemon-Scented Macaroons, p.196

There is something not quite right about these macaroons.  Maybe it was me, but I followed the directions and well, hmm...  not sure what happened.  They weren't bad to eat, just different.  Kind of like a cookie meets peanut brittle-ish sort of treat.  It said it'd make 16 at 2 pp per macaroon.  I ended up with about about 22.  Well, until half the pan grew together for one ginormous macaroon, a ginormaroon, if you will.

The 4 ingredients:

The Final Dish:

I had to sift through the cookies to get enough to take a decent picture.   Yes, I know these don't look like any of the pictures of macaroons if you google it.  So stop laughing at them!  They're sensitive.  My husband and 5 yr old already taunted them saying "What's THAT?!" and "It doesn't look like a cookie!"  Although they did taste them and didn't run off screaming and spitting them out either, so maybe they weren't all bad.  I'm thinking not, judging by the FOUR I ate.  For sampling purposes, of course.

I probably won't make these macaroons again unless I want to prove to myself that it's not me, it's the cookie. 





Chicken, Cheddar, and Apple Panini, p.33

Holy panini, Batman!  This is one yummy sandwich! I don't have a panini maker so I used a grill pan with my never-used-cute-little bacon press (it has a picture of a cute piggy on the iron part and everything).  My result was a perfectly crunchy panini!  Made according to the recipe it's 3pp per serving.  That is half of a sandwhich, people.  Totally not gon' happen, right?  So, go ahead and call this a 6 pp lunch... and if you do it like I did... (follow me down the page, please).

The 5 Ingredients:

 The Final Dish:

You'll totally turn it into a 10 pp sandwhich.  I used full fat cheddar because that's what I had and another slice of 1 pp bread (3 total) because I can.  Simply marvelous to look at, no?  (Even using my god-awful cell phone camera?!) I served it with baby spinach and arugula tossed with balsamic vinagar.  Totally worth every point.  Mmm!

I will make this again and dance the jig in the process!

Blueberry-Buttermilk Cobbler, p.183

Hello, lover!  I have to admit that this is a dish that should be doubled and shared with the masses.  With only 5 ingredients I questioned it severely, being the cobbler connoisseur that I am.  If you love a good cobbler as much as I, then this will be a treat for you at only 4pp per serving.  Note: If you accidentally buy regular baking mix instead of low fat (like me), it increases your points per serving by 1.

The 5 Ingredients:

The Final Dish:

My only complaint is I made this in an 8x8 baking dish and the recipe forced me to cut it into 8 (yes EIGHT!) servings.  So, that my friends, is a small portion.   I guess I can't complain too loudly b/c isn't portion control the skill I lacked until starting Weight Watchers in the first place?  Yes. Yes, it is was.

Will I make this again?  Yes, in fact I want to grow and harvest my own blueberries for this recipe alone.