Fajitas, Not as Healthy as I Thought.....

 

 

I thought I was making a good choice tonight, doesn't it look delicious??  It was!  I guess when you don't figure things out first, you end up making mistakes. However, I did have a protein (pf) from this afternoon, so maybe it wasn't too bad.  I probably will only have one instead of two next time.

 

 

These are the tortillas I used, I liked them better than the 80 calorie La Tortilla  ones even though they are smaller.  They have more of a tortilla texture and flavor.

 



Steak and Shrimp Fajitas

I don't have a real recipe for this, but here is what I did.  I used a pre-packaged mix from the butcher, it was the skirt steak (really lean) and veggies.  I added shrimp and mushrooms to the mix.

I measured out 4 oz of meat for me (a mix of steak and shrimp), then loaded on the veggies.  I had 1/4 cup of ff shredded cheese, 2 T ff sour cream and 2 T wholly guacamole and a bit of salsa.

Because I didn't measure the steak and shrimp separately, the calorie count may be off some. 

Calories 484
Fat 20.4 ( I find this hard to believe, the steak was super lean)
Carb 31.8
Fiber 5
Protein 41.5

WW points  12

Obviously, one fajita would be half of everything, and again, I could be wrong, but I really don't think there was that much fat involved. 

Live and learn, and the take away is figure things out BEFORE eating them!!

Make it a great day everyone!

Cheesecake Factory Style Chicken Madeira

 
 This is what I always order at Cheesecake Factory, so of course I had to figure out how to make it at home.

 

 

I was happy with how this turned out, it was pretty tasty!

 

Chicken Madeira

 

48 oz chicken breasts, I use the Costco ones and cut them in half, that made them about 6 oz each, pound until flattened.

 

1 T olive oil

24 oz sliced mushrooms

2 t butter

14.5 oz can reduced sodium beef broth

3 1/4 cups Madeira wine

1 1/3 c part skim mozzarella cheese, shredded

 

Brown chicken on both sides in olive oil, about 5 minutes each side.  Remove from pan and cover to keep warm.  Add butter and sauté mushrooms.  Add broth and wine.  Bring to a boil and simmer until the sauce thickens (about 20 minutes), I usually add some sure gel to thicken it more because I like thick sauces.  Return chicken to pan to re-heat, basting with sauce.  Serve with asparagus.

 

serves 8

 

Calories 222

Fat 11 g

Carbs 2 g

Fiber 0

Protein 11

 

WW points 4

 

The restaurant serves this with garlic cheese mashed potatoes, but I made this creamy noodle dish instead.

 

Creamy Garlic Noodles

12 oz Smart Taste Egg noodles

8 oz fat free cream cheese

1 T horseradish

1 t garlic

 

Cook noodles according to package directions.  Drain, add rest of ingredients.  Cover and allow cream cheese to melt, stir well. 

 

Serves 12

 

Calories 110

Fat .3

Carbs 23

Fiber 3.5

Protein 6.2

 

Weight Watchers points  3

 

I counted this as a dinner entrée plus veggies.

 

 

 



 

 

Chocolate Eclair Dessert

For Father's Day I decided to make this delicious dessert.  I altered it a little to make it more NS friendly, and it came out great!  I thought about subbing egg whites for the whole eggs, but I didn't want to re-do the whole thing if it didn't work, so maybe another time.

Chocolate Éclair Dessert

1 cup flour
1/2 cup butter
1/4 t salt
1 c water
4 eggs
4 small packages Jell-O fat-free, sugar free vanilla pudding
3 cups skim milk
2 cups fat free half and half
8 oz fat free cream cheese

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.  Bring the water, butter and salt to boil until butter is melted.  Dump in all of the flour, remove from heat and mix until the mixture leaves the sides of the pan and forms a ball.  Add one egg at a time, mixing well after each one until batter is completely smooth.  Spread into 10 x 15 inch pan.  Bake until golden brown, about 30 minutes.  Crust will puff up while baking.  Remove from oven and let cool.

Beat pudding, milk, half and half, and cream cheese until well blended and slightly thickened.  Pour and smooth over crust.  Serve with desired toppings, I used strawberries, chocolate syrup and cool whip.  Not included in nutrition information.

24 servings

138 calories
5.2 g fat
12 g carb
.2 fiber
4.7 protein

Weight Watchers Points Plus:  3

Fettuccine Alfredo on a Diet??

 Alfredo is one of our favorites, but it's not usually very diet friendly.  This recipe however is delicious and skinny to boot! 

Pasta Alfredo

18 oz whole wheat pasta, I used Ronzoni Smart Taste Penne
1 c fat free half and half
1 c skim milk
8 oz fat free cream cheese
2 T margarine
8 T grated parmesan
1 tsp garlic

Cook pasta according to package directions.  Heat the rest of the ingredients over low-medium heat until all is melted.  Stir with whisk until well blended and thickened.  Stir often so it won't scorch.  I was afraid it wouldn't thicken, but it did after sitting a bit.  Pour over noodles and mix well.

Serving size is 1/2 cup noodles with sauce, so this makes 16 servings.  If I didn't have such hungry boys in my family, I would prepare much less.

152 calories
2.8 g fat
27 g carb
3.4 g fiber
7.3 g protein

Weight Watchers points plus 4

I counted this as a smart carb plus one extra.  Serve with 4 oz. grilled chicken and veggies of your choice for a complete dinner.

I like the Smart Taste pasta because it doesn't taste like whole wheat but most of the benefits, plus it's not an unappetizing brown.  This really didn't taste like a low fat dinner, it was delicious!

Jambalaya!!

 
 Dinner is by far the hardest meal for me to do on my own.  DH is a big meat and potatoes kind of guy.  He loves lots of pastas, potatoes and cheesy dishes.  Not exactly healthy fare.  On NS  (1200 calorie plan) dinner consists of 2 powerfuels, 1 smart carb and vegetables to make your daily total at least 4 low gi veggies.  Calories should range from 130-300 with 1.5-10 g fat, 14-51 g carb and 8-26 g protein.  This Jambalaya fits the bill.  It may be a little on the low end for protein, so you could add a little more meat to pump it up if you wanted, sometimes I'll add chicken breast to mine, but of course that would change all of the values.  This recipe makes a ton!!  I have a big family with teenage boys and physical men so we eat a lot, this would be easy to half though or cut it down even more.

Jambalaya

Ingredients:

• Rice, Success Boil-in-Bag Whole Grain Brown Rice, 4 cup (one box with 4 bags, 4c dry)
• Shrimp, cooked, 12 oz
• Hillshire Farm Turkey Polska Kielbasa, 6 serving 
• *Tomatoes, red, ripe, canned, wedges in tomato juice, 2 cup
• Bush’s, Black Beans, 3.5 cup 
• Tomato Sauce, 3 cup
• Zucchini, 5 cup, sliced 

Cook the rice as package directs.  In large skillet, sauté the zucchini, add all the other ingredients.  Stir to mix well, season with Tony Chachere's Cajun seasoning to taste.  It's best to add a little at a time, it can get too hot pretty quickly.

 

This makes 15 cups and I counted a serving size as 1 cup just to make it easy.

 

Nutrition Facts Serving size is 1 cup 181.8 calories 2.9 g fat 28.5 g carbs 4.9 g fiber 13.6 g protein
		13.6 g

 

WW points plus: 5

 

Everyone loved it, miss picky pants pulled out the zucchini but stirred in her broccoli, so... it was a wash.  I think next time I will shred or puree the zucchini so she won't even know it's there!  This is an easy throw together dinner that I'm sure will get eaten every time. 

Parmesan Pizza Bites

 
 I have been on the Nutrisystem diet plan since the end of January.  I have lost 30 lbs so far, and have at least 30 more to go.  I was getting tired of my food choices and have decided to take a break for a while.  If this is to be a life change and not a diet, I need to learn to cook more healthy all the time.  Thus the change in focus to this blog.  I still love food, and love to eat, but I am making a conscious effort to make my favorite foods more healthy as well as try some new ones.

Parmesan Pizza Bites
38 oz. lean ground turkey (you could sub turkey pepperoni or beef)
24 oz. Hunts No sugar added pasta sauce
9 oz fat free cheddar
22 Nasoya Egg Roll wrappers

Brown and drain meat, add sauce and seasonings to taste.  Place one big spoonful of meat in each wrapper, add a bit of cheese and roll up.  Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.  Bake at 375 for 20 minutes, or until golden brown and crispy.

Serving size is 2 rolls.
310 cal.
9.1 g fat
26 carb
1.3 g fiber
30 g protein

For NS you could count this as your dinner entrée (2 pf's and 1 sc) or for lunch, your entrée plus a pf from mid-morning.  It is at the higher end for calories, but within the limits.  Serve with veggies and a salad.  WW points 8

The family liked it, even miss picky pants!  Definitely a keeper.