Mixed Mushroom-Roast Beef Pilaf (page 94)

I am not normally a mushroom fan, but this dish was pleasantly surprising.  The mushrooms were not overpowering or a strong flavor.  This is a meal in the microwave, and it was quick and tasty.

The recipe calls for brown rice, red bell pepper, onion, olive oil, dried thyme, sliced mushrooms, salt, pepper, 1/2 pound lean roast beef. 

The rice gets cooked first for seven minutes.  I must say that at this point I was worried that 1 cup of uncooked rice would not be enough to balance the dish and meet the promised 4 servings.  I had faith and cooked only one cup.  It all worked out.  They know what they are writing when they put together the recipes - except for the cilantro parts... not a big fan. 

While the rice cooked, I prepped the other ingredients.  First came the 2-minute cooking of the red pepper, onion, thyme and oil.  My mother would be so proud - I used my Tupperware spin chopper to cut down the red pepper and onion.  Five turns of the crank and !voila! prepped ingredients.

Next, all of the remaining ingredients, minus the rice and the roast beef, get added to the peppers and onions and nuked for another two minutes.  The last step is to mix in the roast beef and rice.  For the roast beef, I used deli roast beef cut thicker than cold cut size (I was already there for the turkey for the recipe last weekend).  If I were to do it again, which I might, Joe has suggested that the steak from the beef and brocolli recipe might be a good choice.  Wonderful idea!

Overall, this was a very pretty dish that yielded a dinner and a lunch for my husband and me.  The serving size is generous and filling.  For dinner, I paired the dish with a side of green beans.  For lunch, the dish stood on its own.

1 serving = generous 1 cup = 4 points
PointsPlus:  5 points

Turkey Wraps with Lemon-Yogurt Sauce (pg. 46)

A routine has emerged - cooking on the weekend and fending as I can during the week.  This weekend almost went by without a recipe, but I bundled up the girls and went shopping for ingredients today.  I took a look through the cookbook to see what I might be able to put together during the week.  The activity lead to some efficiencies in ingredients.  That brings me to my lesson for this entry:  When a recipe calls for a tortilla, sometimes it's best to stick to the tortillas. 

This recipe calls for tortillas to make a wrap.  Another recipe that I chose for this week called for whole wheat pitas, so I decided to use the whole wheat pitas for this recipe as well (ingredient efficiency).  The pita bag insists that the product has flax seed in it, and it is very soft.  Translation that I discovered:  Soft = thin and brittle - not suitable for super stuffing.  I would not do the substitution again unless I used a thicker pita.

The yogurt sauce on this was delicious!  The sauce is made of plain yogurt, lemon juice, cumin and cayenne (I used Cajun spices instead).  I would use it on other sandwiches as well.  Joe enjoyed it.  He agrees that a tortilla would have been better.

1 serving = 1 wrap and 2 tablespoons sauce = 4 points
PointsPlus:  6 points

Teriyaki Chicken and Snow Pea Stir-Fry (pg. 192)

This was a very pretty dish.  The snow peas were crisp, the red peppers were a red that popped to the eye, and the water chestnuts looked like white polka dots.  Since starting this challenge, my house has smelled quite tasty when my family visits.  I would like to try to extend that to the rest of the days.  It will take a bit of planning.  As a professional Planner, this is what I am supposed to do.  Hmmm... maybe I will figure this out some day. 

This dish was a team effort.  Erin picked the recipe, Meg lined up the ingredients, I prepped the ingredients, Joe cooked the meal, and Aileen made it possible for us to do this by taking care of Jamie and Anna.  Joe says "Yum, please sir, can I have some more?" 

Besides being pretty, it was also delicious.  I would make it again.  I would definitely eat it again.

1 serving = 1 1/2 cups chicken mixture and 1 cup rice)
PointsPlus:  11 points

Morning Chai (pg. 31)

The idea of making chai was so foreign to me - it is something that you buy from a store or from a coffee shop.  So it was with eager anticipation that I boiled the water with 5 tea bags, 12 peppercorns, 8 cardamom pods, and a cinnamon stick (which was in the container bought for the first recipe of ithis blog experience).  Once it was boiled, we added 1 1/2 cups of vanilla soy milk.  The mixture gets poured into 4 cups through a sieve and served.  I used a coffee filter for the first cup, but the filter was too fine, and the liquid would not flow through it.  Luckily, I had a tea infuser to use - I usually use it for brewing tonsil tamer tea. 

The final product was not all that different from regular tea.  I think that was because of my inexperience with cardamom.  I just learned that the pods, which look like small garlic cloves, contain several seeds.  The recipe calls for crushing the pods, and I only did it with a spoon.  I just looked on the internet, and I found that the best way to process cardamom is with a mortar and pestle.  Got to get me one of those. 

This was also a very expensive drink to make.  Cardamom is one of the most expensive spices by weight.  $12 a bottle at Wegmans.  It will last me a while though, unless I get an Indian cooking cookbook and do a challenge with it.  Hmmm.  Nope, can't see that happening.

The recipe also suggests that the drink would be tasty over ice.  Maybe next time...

1 serving = 1 cup = 1 point
PointsPlus:  still 1 point

Spinach-Feta Scramble (pg. 15)

A Saturday morning breakfast calls for another recipe.  Since I had spinach left over from the wraps, this one seemed like the next logical move.

When I put the ingredients together, I was a little worried.  The spinach overwhelmed the bowl.  The eggs barely coated the other ingredients.  Want some eggs with your spinach?  However, when in the pan, the eggs bulked up and the spinach shrank down.  Tasty.  I was also afraid that the feta would be too strong, but it wasn't.  It melted into the mixture nicely.

When I asked my sisters and husband how it went over, they liked it.  Meg and Erin put the egg on their toast for a sandwich.  They suggested that it would be good as a breakfast wrap with salsa.  Great idea!  Future breakfast - yum!

This recipe is only meant to make one serving, but it has one egg and three egg whites.  Instead of eating all of that by myself, I doubled the recipe, split it four ways (Aileen declined), and served it with toast.

1 serving = 1 plate = 5 points
PointsPlus:  6 points

Gingered Beef and Broccoli (pg. 140)

I was originally thinking of re-making the orange beef and broccoli for my sisters because it was so good.  As I was preparing it, I had extra ginger, so I looked for a recipe that would use my remaining ginger.  Lo and behold, there is a recipe for gingered beef and broccoli.  It is prepared similar to the orange version, and I had the alternate ingredients, so another recipe gets checked off the list. 

Instead of frozen broccoli, I used the fresh broccoli that I purchased earlier.  When it came time to stir fry the broccoli, I was afraid that there was not enough liquid to cook it (frozen broccoli might have more liquid), so I added a smidge of water.  Worked like a dream.

The dish went over well, and everyone - including Anna - ate it.  Erin said that adding carrots would make it look snazzy.  A good comment.  Cooking with ginger makes the house smell sooo good.  Joe prefers the orange beef and broccoli, and I would agree.  When presented with the choice of the gingered or the orange varieties, the orange beef and broccoli would win every time.

1 serving = 1 1/2 cups = 5 points
PointsPlus:  6 points

Avocado, Spinach, and Feta Wraps (pg. 45)

My sisters are visiting, which means that I have concentrated cooking time... and a captive audience.  For lunch today, we opted for the avocado wrap.  Not something that I would typically try - not very experienced with avocado or feta cheese - but it is a recipe, so I must try it.

The recipe calls for spinach tortillas, avocado, salt & pepper, baby spinach, small shredded zucchini, fat-free feta cheese, balsamic vinegar and olive oil.  The avocado, salt and pepper get mashed together and spread on the tortillas.  The rest of the ingredients get piled on, and the whole kit and kaboodle get wrapped up.  A serving is 1/2 of a tortilla.

I was a little worried that this green concoction would not be satisfying with only 1/2 of a wrap.  Also, I thought that I would not like the taste of green.  Surprisingly, it was satisfying.  It tasted like green velvet, if velvet was edible.  The balsamic vinegar gave it a bite, and I enjoyed the feta cheese flavor. 

My sister, Aileen, took a bite and said, "I don't think that this is for me."  On clarifying, she said that if her tastebuds were more attuned to healthy food, it wouldn't have been an issue.  Green is not for everyone.  My sister, Erin, liked it - it was very green.  She thinks that the balsamic vinegar could become overwhelming if applied too liberally, but today's amount was good.

I did not even try to get Anna's opinion on this.  She had meatballs and a roll.

1 serving = 1/2 wrap = 5 points.
PointsPlus:  6 points