Taco Seasoning

I've always experimented with my taco seasoning, but I think this will be as perfect as it gets. This seasoning is not only great for tacos, but also for omelets, scrambles, pork loin, chicken, etc. Enjoy!

    

  Ingredients

2 tbsp onion powder

3 tbsp chili powder

2 tbsp ground cumin

1 tsp salt

2 tsp crushed red pepper

1 tbsp cornstarch

1/4 tsp garlic powder

Makes a bunch. o_o

Tangy Orange Beef & Broccoli - 5 POINTS! (9 with rice)

Ever since I got into broccoli, I've absolutely adored beef and broccoli. I was skimming one of my older Weight Watchers books the other day and decided I've give their orange beef and broccoli recipe a go. Let me just start off by saying this turned out delicious, but the points are a TAD bit high, and I assure you my posts in the future will be filled with numerous low point meals. Anyways, on to the recipe:

Prep: 25 minutes / Cook: 10 minutes / Serves: 6

               Ingredients

• 1 large bunch broccoli
• 4 navel oranges (I made by with 2!)
• 1 tbsp cornstarch
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
• 3 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
• 1 (1 1/4 pound) flank steak, trimmed, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced crosswise
• 1/3c water
• 1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced (I did without it this time. :( )
• 3 scallions, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 3 large garlic gloves, minced
• 1 tbsp minced peeled fresh ginger
• 3 bags boil in a bag brown rice

Cooking Directions      

1. Remove florets from stems of broccoli and cut into bite-size pieces. Trim, peel and thinly slice stems.
2. In a  decently sized pot, fill with water and heat until boiling.
3. Place the rice in the boiling water until cooked.
4. Grate 1 tsp orange zest from 1 orange, then squeeze *3/4 cup juice (from about 2 oranges) into measuring cup. Stir in cornstarch, pepper flakes, orange zest, and 2 tbsp soy sauce. Remove peel and white pith from remaining oranges and cut into segments.
5. Spray nonstick wok or large deep nonstick skillet with nonstick spray and set over medium-high heat. Toss beef with remaining 1 tbsp of soy sauce in a large bowl. Add half of beef to wok; stir-fry just until beef is no longer pink, about one minute. Transfer to plate. Repeat with the remaining beef.
6. Add broccoli florets and stems and water to wok. Cover and cook 1 minute. Uncover, add bell pepper and then stir-fry 1 minute. Stir in scallions, garlic and ginger; stir-fry until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in beef and cook until heated thoroughly through. Spoon mixture onto platter on top of your rice and top with orange segments.

(Without rice) Fat: 5g / Carbs: 19g / Fiber: 5g / Protein: 23g

(Without rice) Weight Watchers PP: 5  (Serving - 1 2/3 cups)

(With rice) Weight Watchers PP: 9 points (1 2/3c of mixture, 1c of rice)

Uh-oh! Fried Pickles

 

 I did something bad last night as a treat for my will-never-gain-weight boyfriend. I fried up some pickles.

I never deep fry anything, so this was something foreign to me, it took a while to realize what would be the perfect time to remove them, etc.

Regardless, I'm unsure of the point plus value for them. Help??

 Ingredients:

Vegetable Oil 

2 cups all-purpose flour 

1 tsp salt 

1 tsp pepper 

1 tsp sugar 

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

4 cups pickle chips

Serves 4-8

                                                                                     
Heat your oil in a deep fryer, or a deep pan until oil sizzles when water is flicked into it. Combine the flour,, salt, pepper, sugar and cayenne in a large mixing bowl and mix until well blended.





Toss in wet (but drained) pickles into dry mix. Shake off excess flour mix. Place the pickle chips in the hot oil. Cook for 3-4 minutes, or until the pickles are floating. Remove from oil and place on a plate lined with paper towel.  Repeat until all pickles have been cooked.

So how many points plus do you think that'd be? Let's say we  used 3 cups of vegetable oil.

This week I'm going to experiment with baking them to avoid the oil.

Spice-Rubbed Pork Tenderloin

For all of my Weight-Watchers readers out there, I wanted to eliminate the fear of pork. Personally, for a while I kept my meals exclusively to chicken or turkey; beef and pork were danger zones in my head. I'm sure I'm not alone on that.

Anyways, my boyfriend was begging me to make something other than those two things as our protein portions and I finally looked some into pork. I was surprised to see for 4oz. of tenderloin it's only 4P+.

Ingredients: 

1 pork tenderloin (apprx. 1lb)

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

2 tsps smoked paprika

2 tsps ground cumin

2 tsps salt

1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

Makes 4 servings

 

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

In a shallow dish, combine paprika, red pepper flakes, cumin and salt. Drizzle your tenderloin with the olive oil and rub so it's even and moist. Roll your pork in the spice mix and shake off any excess spice. Place your pork in a roast pan and roast for roughly 15-20 minutes; your meat should read to be about 145 degrees with a thermometer.

When the pork is finished, allow it to rest outside of the oven for about 5 minutes. Cut and serve with desired sides.

(4oz/serving)
Protein: 23.29 / Fat: 6.13 / Carbs: 0 / Fiber: 0

4 Points Plus / Serving

PB Rollaways

This is a real great recipe for someone that is constantly on the move. It's quick and versatile, I've done it plain, with oatmeal, with bananas, etc. The lowest in points plus would plain, or maybe with the bananas, but the oatmeal makes it that much more filling.

Today, I'll be going over the oatmeal version.

Ingredients

2 Whole wheat tortilla wrap (I used chichi's whole wheat tortillas [4pts/wrap])

2 tbsp of Peanut Butter, reduced fat (I used jif creamy reduced [5pts/2tbsp])

1 package of Oatmeal (I used a store brand instant one, [3pts/packet (regular flavor])

Water

Makes 1 serving.

Prepare your oatmeal as instructed. While you're waiting for the water to boil, heat up a skillet. Once skillet is nice and warm, place tortilla on it for approximately 10 seconds, flip it and repeat. You're just wanting to warm the tortilla and nothing more than that.

On your warm tortilla, spread 1 tablespoon on peanut butter, per wrap. Try to get as close to the edge as possible, without making it too messy to handle, this helps the tortilla stick better. Once this is done, place a layer half of the oatmeal on top of the peanut butter. Personally, I like centering mine, but you could also make the layer as thin as possible over all of the peanut butter, besides the edge areas, so you can roll it properly.

Next, we tuck and roll! Roll it as tight as you can.

After rolling, your product should resemble this. :)

Exclude the oatmeal if you want it plain, or for an equal points plus value to plain, chop up some bananas and add them in!

P+ (with oatmeal!): 6-8

Fat: 11

Carbs: 45

Fiber: 5

Protein: 11

Sneaky, sneaky!

Everyone knows restaurants are the worst case scenario to go to when you're trying to eat better.  You might have the best intentions in the world and stick to what you planned on getting, but is that really the best choice?

The first thought that comes to mind when you're going to eat well when going out is a salad. Not only for you, but your friends I'm sure will tease you whether you get it or not.

If you get it, "Of course you're getting a salad, lighten up a bit, eat whatever tonight."
If you don't, "Aren't you on a diet?"

It's a lose-lose situation.

So, say we go for that salad at Uno's. It's the Honey Crisp Chicken Salad, alright, fantastic.

We feel good about it, then we get home and look it up...
Calories: 480
Fat: 31g (8g Saturated)
Cholesterol: 75mg
Sodium: 930mg
Carbs: 30g
Fiber: 3g
Sugar: 9g
Protein: 26g
Total P+: 13

Okay.. well... we think to ourselves it could be worse, but wait. You notice a little "2" up in the right hand corner. 2 servings.

Calories: 960
Fat: 62g (16g Saturated)
Cholesterol: 150mg
Carbs: 60g
Fiber: 6g
Sugar: 9g
Protein: 52g
Total P+: 26

If we went with the Herb Roasted Chicken or the Baked Stuffed Chicken, we could have been at 15 P+ (after doubling it, since the majority of Uno's meals are 2 servings... EVEN the children's menu).

So the lesson? Never go for the salad, look into small plated options, or some yummy chicken. Not even the kid's menu is safe anymore for portions.

I'm back!

I'm back, with a new blog title! Pornomgraphy! 

Here's a tease of what's to come:

Cheesy Meaty Pasta Delite 

 

Tangy Orange Beef and Broccoli 

 

Spice-Rubbed Pork Tenderloin