Roni’s Weight Watchen Page(s) - Take 2 (the rebuild)

This is my take on the traditional 3-bean salad. (shhhh only because only had 2 beans). I’ve been reading a lot about how tomatoes and oil make a good combination health wise and I thought they would be a nice addition to the salad.

• 2-3 cups fresh green beans blanched
• 1 can of kidney beans drained and rinsed
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes
• 2-3 rings of sweet onion
• 3 gloves of garlic
• 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 packet of stevia (or other sweetener)
• Salt & pepper

Bring a large pot of water to a bowl and blanch the green beans for about 2-3 minutes. Immediately remove and run under cold water.

Add the green beans, tomatoes, and onion to a large Tupperware container (you will be shaking so you want a lid)

Using a garlic press, mince the garlic into a small bowl. Whisk in the vinegars, olive oil, stevia, salt and pepper.

Pour dressing over the beans, top with lid and shake! Go ahead, no one's watching, do the shake dance and get a little work out in. ;~)

Refrigerate for about an hour and serve!

I’m estimating about 4 servings but you could easily get 6 if you are serving it as a side dish. For 4 servings I’m getting about 160 calories, 4 g of fat and 10 g of fiber. If you want to reduce the calories and fat a bit you can cut back on the oil to 1 tsp. That will reduce the calories to 140 and the fat to 2g.

Labels: SaladIdeas

Every once in awhile I crave a salad and when I do I love to experiment. I whipped this up with what I had on hand and I have to admit, I was quite surprised. Normally I don't like “creamy dressings” but I was in the mood for something different.

The idea here is really the dressing, have fun experimenting!

The Dressing

• 2 tbsp nonfat plain yogurt
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 tsp honey
• About ½ tsp garlic powder
• About ½ tsp Italian seasoning
• Salt & Pepper

Whisk all ingredients together and let sit while you prepare the salad.

The Salad

• About 2 cups baby spinach leaves
• 1 tomato diced
• 2-3 oz cooked chicken breast (I used leftover Balsamic Dijon Chicken from the night before)
• 1-2 teaspoon real bacon bits
• About ¼ oz fancy shredded Mexican cheese blend

Pile everything on a plate and top with dressing!

I’m calculating about 250 calories, 8 g of fat and 3 g of fiber for the whole salad with all the dressing.

Labels: DinnerIdeas, SaladIdeas

I’ve had a package of frozen cooked shrimp in the freezer forever, it was time to use them. Not having all the fresh ingredients I would have liked didn’t matter, this still came out delish!

• 6 oz Whole Wheat Orzo
• 1-2 cups fresh broccoli florets (used a large head)
• Red bell pepper chopped
• Pint of cherry tomatoes halved
• 1 lb large cooked shrimp shells and tails removed
• 1 tbsp honey
• 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp ground mustard
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp parsley
• Salt and pepper
• About a ¼ cup of water
• About ½ cup baby spinach leaves (could use more this is all I had, makes the dressing a nice green color)

Cook the Orzo according to package.

While the pasta is cooking, clean and prepare all the veggies and place in a large bowl with the cooked shrimp.

Put honey, vinegars, oil, dry spices, salt and pepper, water and baby spinach in the blender to create the dressing.

When the orzo is finished, run the pasta under cold water to stop the cooking. Add the cooked cold pasta to the bowl with the veggies and shrimp. Pour the dressing on top and mix well. Cover and refrigerate for a few hours or overnight.

You could eat this as a meal or a side dish. The site I use for the nutritional info is STILL DOWN! I’ll post it when I can or if someone wants to run it through the recipe builder, I’d appreciate it. The picture shows about ¼ of the recipe so I’d say about 4 large servings for a meal or at least 8 as a side dish.

Labels: DinnerIdeas, SaladIdeas

I can’t remember who mentioned this to me but I had to try it. It seemed like such a neat idea. I've never had grilled cabbage before.

I had some left over cabbage from the Turkey Orzo Cabbage Rolls that I had NO idea what to do with.

• 1 head of cabbage
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• ½ tsp garlic powder
• ½ tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp dried parsley
• Salt & Pepper

Remove the outer leaves of the cabbage. Cut in half on the core. Cut the halves in half then cut the quarters in half. You should end up with 8 wedges each being held together with a bit of the core.

In a large bowl add the remaining ingredients and wish. Add the cabbage quarters and coat with the mixture.

Grill for about 30 minutes flipping once. I did them right on the stovetop in a non-stick griddle about 10 minutes a side. It was still nice and crunchy.

Each wedge is only about 50 calories, 2 g of fat and 3 g of fiber. It was super filling and bulk up your BBQ dinners. I plan to have some leftovers with supper tonight.

Please share your grilled cabbage ideas, I've never had it before so I'm not sure if my marinade is "normal". Just looking for more ideas.

Update:Even better reheated on the grill!

Labels: SaladIdeas

What a way to use some leftovers! This simple 5 ingredient salad hit the spot for lunch today.

I just love using salsa as a dressing for Mexican inspired salads. It's really all you need.

• Pile of baby spinach leaves
• About ½ cucumber sliced
• Leftover Spiced Vita Corn Breaded Chicken Tender
• 1 oz fancy shredded Mexican cheese blend
• Salsa

Warm the chicken in the microwave, slice it up and pile it on top of this simple salad.

I counted this as 4 points. Not bad considering it took me like 20 minutes to eat because it was so big!

Labels: SaladIdeas

This is my first stab at using the massive amount of tomatoes from my garden. I thought it would be interesting to try a cheesy balsamic dressing instead of a traditional mozzarella and tomato salad. It came out delicious and stuck to the juicy tomatoes perfectly.

Oh! And check out the basil leaves, first ones from my small windowsill herb garden!

• ½ cup balsamic vinegar
• ¼ cup red wine vengar
• About ½ tsp garlic powder
• About ½ tsp onion powder
• About ½ tsp oregano powder
• 1 oz mozzarella cheese
• Tomatoes
• Fresh basil leaves

In a small pot over medium heat add the vinegars and spices. Bring to a boil and let it reduce just a bit. Stir in the cheese until it melts (almost immediately) and drizzle over freshly sliced tomato slices. Top with fresh basil leaves.

The entire batch of drizzle is about 200 calories, 5 g of fat and no fiber. I had enough to make at least 4-5 batches of what you see in the picture. So I counted it as a point for that whole salad.

Labels: SaladIdeas

This cheered me up today. I made it for our small 4th of July party. Well, it’s not really a party it’s the husband, the toddler and my niece (toddler number 2) we are going to hang out, BBQ and go see some fireworks, a very laid-back day.

Do to this what you will. The real idea is in the “bowl”.

• 1 fresh pineapple
• About 5 kiwi fruits
• About ½ - 1 cup blueberries rinsed
• About 1 cup strawberries cut and rinsed
• 1 small can of mandarin oranges drained and rinsed

First clean and cut the pineapple. If you don’t know how to cut a pineapple follow the instruction on how to cut here but stop at step 7. Once you have the clean pineapple cut down on one side right on the outside of the core. This will give you a long piece that you can slice to create the sides of our bowl. Slice the side. Do the same on the other side of the core. You should now have two smaller sides on either side of the core you can cut small squares for the salad. (I hope I explained that good enough- left me know if you have any questions)

Clean the kiwi fruit and cut the skin off similar to the pineapple but this time just slice whole.

Arrange the pineapple on a plate making a pentagon. Use the thin kiwi slices and the corners of the pentagon. Add another layer of pineapple and repeat until you have a pineapple kiwi bowl about 4 layers high. Use toothpicks to add a but more structure.

In a bowl mix the remaining fruit and leftover kiwi and pineapple. Add to the “bowl” and serve! I had a bit leftover to refill the bowl at least once during our “party”.

It’s all fruit so I only count it as a point a serving. Not sure how many servings, I’m a bit lax on my fruit serving counting.

Labels: DessertIdeas, SaladIdeas

Originally Posted on June 13th, 2007 10:11 pm

I was home for lunch today and craving a salad.  Not just a plain old salad but a spicy buffalo chicken salad! Why? I have no idea!  Well let me warn you this was spicy! I downed about 50oz of water while eating it.

• Breaded chicken breast (I used Baked Breaded Chicken Breast Cutlets by purdue - link to come)
• 2 tbsp Tabasco sauce
• 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
• Mound of baby Spinach Leaves
• 3-4 shredded baby carrots
• ½ of Cucumber sliced
• 1 medium tomatoes slices
• ½ oz fancy shredded Mexican cheese blend

Warm the chicken breast in the microwave.  In a small bowl mix the Tabasco and vinegar.  Cut the chicken into chunks and mix into the Tabasco mixture. Let it sit while you prepare the rest of the salad, the chicken should soak up the mixture.

Pile all the veggies on a plate.  Top with the chicken and cheese. Pour a big class of water and enjoy!

I counted 3 points for the chicken breast and 1 for the cheese.  This may have been the most filling 4 point salad EVER!

Labels: SaladIdeas

Posted on March 28th, 2007 8:17 pm

It’s been warm so I thought I’d give a cold salad a try.  Honestly, it came out better then I expected! I can definitely see serving it at summer BBQ this season!

• 4 oz whole wheat pasta
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• About ¾ cup ff chicken broth (sperated in ¼ cups)
• ½ cup spinach leaves (I packed leaves into the measuring cup)
• 1 tbsp dried basil leaves
• 1 tbsp garlic powder
• ½ each of a red, yellow and red pepper chopped
• Handful broccoli florets raw (forgot to measure)
• 1 medium zucchini chopped
• (I wish I had some cherry tomatoes) :)

Cook the pasta according to the package. Waiting for the pasta, add the olive oil, spinach leaves, garlic, basil and ¼ cup of the chicken broth to a blender or small food processor.  Blend for a few minutes until you get a nice green sauce.

Add the sauce to the 4 oz of cooked drained pasta.  You may have to use a spatula to get the sauce from the sides of the blender/processor.

In a large bowl add all the veggies, pesto pasta mixture and ¼ of the chicken broth to help coat the veggies. Chill in the fridge for a few hours until ready to serve.

If the salad is a bit dry after the chill, add the remaining broth.

Pasta and oil are the only points I worried about and they total 10. It’s a HUGE salad and can easily serve 4-6 as a side dish. 

Labels: SaladIdeas

Posted on December 2nd, 2006 1:19 pm

• 1 tsp Olive Oil
• Vidalia Onion chopped (I only use one thick slice but I’m not an onion person)
• Garlic Cloves diced (I use at least 3)
• 1 Large Tomatoes or a Handful of Cherry/Grape tomatoes cut in chuncks
• 1 small-medium Zucchini sliced
• 1 small-medium Yellow Squash sliced
• 1 Pepper any color chopped
• Salt
• Black Pepper
• Garlic Powder
• Onion Powder
• Oregano, Basil, Parsley (or Italian seasoning would work)

In a non-stick large skillet add the oil, diced onion and garlic over medium heat. While that is cooking slice up the Zucchini, Squash and Pepper and cut up the tomatoes in chunks. If you are using Cherry tomatoes half them, you want the juice to help cook the other veggies.

Once the onion starts to turn a little opaque add all the veggies and sprinkle with all the spices. Cover. The "juices" from the tomatoes and other veggies will start to steam everything. Stir a few times and cook until the veggies are tender.

The whole skillet is only 1 point because of the oil. You can eat this as a meal, a side dish or a filling for anything! I put it on a large 1 point tortilla with some mozzarella cheese and a little green chile sauce, MMmmm MMMmmm so good. I’ve also piled in on home made pizza.

Labels: DinnerIdeas, SaladIdeas, SandwichIdeas, SnackIdeas