Indian Chicken with New Potatoes, Simplified

I love Indian Food, but with two small children who do not like spicy foods, we often avoid this cuisine at home.  When looking for a dinner option, I happened upon a recipe that did not seem spicy and had fairly common ingredients that I already had in my pantry.  I did make a few modifications for simplicity and wound up with a dish praised by those of all ages in my household. In the spirit of recording recipes that my family liked, I am preserving this one for future dinners.

Chicken and New Potatoes
Serves 6

1&1/4 lbs of chicken breast cut up (I used Tenders for simplicity)
1 clove of garlic chopped fine
1/2 tsp ground ginger (or fresh grated if you have it)
1 tsp ground corriander
1 medium onion chopped
3 TBSP vegetable oil
1 cup of hot water
1&1/2 tsp of salt
1/2 tsp cumin
2 cans of new potatoes (cut into quarters if whole)
black pepper to taste

Put chicken into glass bowl or dish, rub all over with garlic, coriander, and ginger.  Set aside for an hour or two to marinate.  Heat 2TBSP of vegetable oil in a large frying pan and saute chopped onions for 5 minutes or until softened.  Add chicken and fry until brown.  Add water and salt to pan, bring to a boil, cover and simmer until chicken is tender.  Meanwhile, in another frying pan, heat 1 TBSP of oil.  Add new potatoes to this pan to fry.  Turn the potatoes occasionally so they don't stick the pan.   During the last few minutes of cooking, sprinkle cumin and black pepper on the potatoes and stir to coat evenly.  Combine the potatoes and the chicken mixture and serve.

In addition to being pretty simple and family friendly, it turns out that this dish is fairly low in calories.  The Weight Watchers Points Plus total on this recipe is 6 points plus per serving.

Lightened Spinach Queso Dip

This is a perfect Summer Party Dip.

Queso typically is a Tex-Mex Cheese and Salsa mix popular in parts of Texas.  The recipes shared by our Texas family and friends use Velveeta and Ro-tel Tomatos.  This is definitely a guilty pleasure.

I wanted to make a Queso with Velveeta without so much guilt, so I lightened up a recipe for Spinach Queso found right on the Velveeta Box. Mine turned out to be about a quarter of the calories of the original.

Here's what I used:

1 12 oz bag of frozen spinach
4 oz Velveeta
1 Can Ro-Tel Tomatoes and Green Chiles
2 TBSP Philadelphia Whipped Cream Cheese
1 Can Black Eyed Peas (optional)

This also makes a nice side dish for a dinner. Split into four

One Lunch at Subway

The new Weight Watchers Points Plus system is a bit tough to get into if you have been in a long term relationship to the old system. Until I get used to the new values, I am stuck pounding out calculations on the little six dollar point calculator that WW sells, for every little thing. There is a dearth of information online about restaurants unless you have the weight watchers dining out guide. I was stuck running out to Subway the other day without the calculations. I did fine with a 6 inch Turkey sandwich and Broccoli Cheese soup, but I would have done even better with Chicken Noodle.

Here are a couple of Points Plus Values for some Subway lunches, in case you are stuck for calculations, too.

Ham Mini Sub 5 Points
Roast Beef Mini Sub 5 Points
Turkey Breast Mini Sub 5 Points
Veggie Delite Mini Sub 4 Points

6 Inch Turkey Sub with Veggies, Red Wine and no cheese 7 Points

6 Inch Black Forest Ham, no cheese 8 Points
6 Inch Roast Beef, No Cheese 8 Points
6 Inch Subway Club 8 Points
6 Inch Sweet Onion Terriaki 10 Points

Foot Long Veggie Delite 12 points
Foot Long Turkey 14 Points
Foot Long Turkey and Ham 15 Points

6 Inch Tuna, No Cheese 14 Points (the fat really jumps up on this one)

Want to add some cheese?
Provolone, Pepper Jack, or American are 1 point for two triangles.
Cheddar, Monterey Blend, or Swiss are 2 Points for two triangles.

Roasted Chicken Noodle Soup 2 Points
Tomato Garden Vegetable with Rotini 2 Points
Vegetable Beef Soup 3 Points
Broccoli Cheese Soup 5 points
Wild Rice with Chicken 6 Points

Here is a link to the Subway Nutrition site for more information.
http://www.subway.com/applications/nutritioninfo/index.aspx

Southern "Fried" Chicken (Without the Frying)

Tonight I got good reviews on a "fried" chicken recipe that I made at home.  Here's a secret, it wasn't really fried.  In fact, it was kind of healthy.  I built the recipe from one in my Weight Watchers Cookbook.  A few substitutions seemed to make this dish tastier than when I made it in the past, so I am archiving it here, for future dinners.  Sorry, no pictures; it is in our bellies, now.

Southern Oven "Fried" Chicken

1/2 Cup of Skim Milk
1 tsp Vinegar
3-4 drops of Franks Red Hot Sauce
1/2 cup of Total Cereal
1 TBSP Grated Parmesan Cheese
1 Graham Cracker
3 TBSP All Purpose Flour
1/4 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Freshly Ground Pepper
1 1/2 to 2 Pounds of Skinless Chicken Breast, sliced into chicken finger sized pieces
4 tsp vegetable oil
Olive Oil Spray

Combine the Milk and Vinegar in a large shallow bowl.  Add the Red Hot Sauce and set aside. Do this before anything else so the Milk Mixture has time to curdle.


Preheat oven to 400°F.  Spray a large baking sheet with Olive Oil Spray.

Measure 1/2 Total Cereal; then crush it down.
Mix the crushed Total Flakes with the Parmesan Cheese and add Graham Cracker, crushing with a fork to make sure all the lumps are crushed out.  Add the flour, salt, and pepper.  Mix well. 

Dip the Chicken into the Milk Mixture, then dredge through the Crumb Mixture coating each piece well.
Place the coated chicken onto the baking sheet.

Drizzle the 4 tsp of Vegetable Oil onto each piece of chicken.  This will help crisp the chicken up in the oven.
Bake for 30 minutes; turn the chicken over and bake for 10-15 minutes more.

This recipe will serve 4 and is around 5 to 6 WW Points per serving.  

Comfort Food, Tuna Noodle Casserole

I have mixed luck with Tuna Casseroles.  Either the pasta isn't cooked right, the topping is weak, or there just isn't enough tuna.  Today, determined to cook a winner, I decided to take the best parts of several Tuna Noodle Casserole recipes and create a version of this traditional dish that was delicious yet not too fattening.  I used fresh vegetables to improve the nutrition in this dish.  The veggies not only added a health boost, but were also one of the tastiest components of the casserole.

This Tuna Noodle Casserole was yummy, however, the pasta was still a bit al dente for my taste.  The remedy is a different type of pasta like egg noodles, or to cook the pasta first, then add it to the mix.  I decided not to precook the pasta because I wanted to keep the process simple and have fewer dishes to wash.  If you want a better casserole, you'll precook the pasta and wash the dishes.  Anywhoooo, other than slightly hard shells, the casserole was pretty tasty.  Here is the recipe.

Tuna Noodle Casserole

Serves 6 people

Olive Oil Spray

1/2 Large Onion (or one small one)

1 Cup Chopped Carrots

1 Cup of Green Beans, either fresh or frozen ones that have been defrosted

3 Cups of Pasta (Egg Noodles, Shells, Macaroni, or any short cut pasta)

2 Cans of Tuna; drained and rinsed (I used 7oz cans)

1 Can of Fat Free Cream of Mushroom Soup

1 Can of Cream of Celery Soup

1 Cup of Milk

Dash of Freshly Ground Black Pepper

1/2 tsp Salt (Optional)

1 Cup Grated Sharp Cheddar

1 Cup of Panko Crumbs

1 Tbsp of Parmesan Cheese
Parsley Flakes

Spray a large pan with the Olive Oil Spray. 

Saute the onion, the carrots, and the green beans in the pan until the onions are soft and slightly browned. 

Preheat the oven to 350 Degrees.

Pour the vegetable mixture into a 9x13 casserole pan. 

Add the Pasta, the Tuna, the two cans of Soup, the Milk, the Pepper and Salt.
Mix these ingredients well with a spoon, so that the liquid fully covers all of the pasta.

Sprinkle the Cheddar Cheese evenly over the mixture.

Sprinkle the Panko Crumbs over the Cheddar.

Sprinkle the Parmesan over the Panko.
Sprinkle the Parsley Flakes over the top to make sparse flecks over the crumbs.

Bake at 350 Degrees for 30-35 minutes.

Enjoy your casserole! 

If anyone has the Weight Watchers Tools and wants to build out this recipe, I would be really interested in knowing how many points this has on their site.  I calculated it out on a nutrition site and ended up with these numbers...

For Serving 6 people with this recipe, per serving you get:
307.2 Calories
14 Grams of Fat
2.6 Grams of Fiber

I calculate that on my WW calculator to be about 7 Points a serving.

Muddy Buddies Recipe

As requested, straight from the back of the Box... General Mills, please thank me... The recipe for Muddy Buddies.

I will print the half recipe version that I made, here:

9 Servings (about 1/2 cup each)




1/2 Cup Semisweet Chocolate Chips
1/4 Cup Peanut Butter
2 Tbsp Butter
1 tsp Vanilla
4 1/2 Cups of Chex Cereal (any Variety)
3/4 Cup Powdered Sugar



Measure Chex into a large bowl and set aside.

In a 1 Qt. Saucepan, heat the Chocolate Chips, Peanut Butter, and Butter over a low heat, stirring frequently, until melted.

Remove from heat and stir in Vanilla.

Pour Chocolate mixture over the Cereal, stirring until evenly coated.

Pour Mix into a 2 Gallon Food Storage Plastic Bag.
Add Powdered sugar, seal, and shake until well coated.

Spread mix out on parchment or waxed paper until cooled. Store in an airtight contained in the refrigerator.


1 serving = 5 WW Points, 220 Calories, Fat 9g, (Sat fat 4g, Trans Fat 0g), Fiber 1g, Cholesterol 5mg, Sodium 200mg, Total Carbs 30g, (Dietary Fiber 1g, Sugars 17g), Protein 3g,

Muddy Buddies

I don't care, call it white-trash-junk-food, Muddy Buddies are awesome. I am so glad I only made half a batch. Who knows how many Weight Watchers Points are in there... OK, I'll calculate it... 5 points a serving, 9 servings in this 1/2 batch. 45 points in the pan, yikes!

I won't do it alone.

Between the kids, Friend of Food, and Me, these things may not make it 'till tonight. Husband of Food, I'll try to save you some. Come back soon!
Save me from this yummy batch of self destruction!!!