Thankful Thursday- Happy Cinco de Mayo Hungry Girl!

One of the people that I am most thankful for on this beautiful Cinco de Mayo is Lisa Lillien, aka Hungry Girl. For those of you that are unfamiliar with her, she is the Goddess of Low Cal eats! She's written multiple cookbooks, has a tv show on the Cooking Channel and her super-famous website Hungry-Girl.com where you can sign up for a free daily e-mail! Not to mention she is super cute! I just love her!

While looking for a Crock-Pot recipe tonight, I decided to take a look through Hungry Girl's newest cookbook (I've practically been living out of it lately)-- 300 Under 300: 300 Breakfast, Lunch, & Dinner Dishes Under 300 Calories.

I flipped to the Crock-Pot section and it was like angels descended from heaven. I stumbled upon the recipe for "Outside-In Turkey Tamale Pie" on pg 312. Not only is it a set and forget recipe, it's festive for Cinco de Mayo! So I rushed into the kitchen to get it cookin', before I had to head off to work.

The Recipe
1 1/4lbs raw lean turkey
3/4 c yellow cornmeal
1 c ff chicken or veggie broth
1 14.5oz can of diced tomatos with chilies
1 small onion-chopped
3/4 c sweet corn
1/2 c canned red kidney beans, drained and rinsed (I used Northern White Beans)
1/2 c sliced black olives, drained (I left these out, since I'm not the biggest olive fan)
2 t chilli powder
1 t cumin
optional toppings: ff shredded cheddar, ff sour cream

Step One - Brown the ground turkey.

Step Two- Combine all of the other ingredients except for the cornmeal and broth in the Crock-Pot.

Step Three- While the turkey is finishing up, mix the cornmeal and broth together and let sit for 5 minutes.

Before you fire up the crock (7-8 hrs on low), mix in the cooked ground turkey and the cornmeal/broth mixture. It will look like this.

I meant to take a pretty "done" picture of the dish in the crock-pot. But the hubby was hungry and dug in before I could. So here's a pic of it in the bowl, note the tiny bowl to the left, I added some more corn, and due to the dish's mild spiciness, decided that my 1 yr old son would be sharing in mommy and daddy's dinner as well.

As you can see I also opted not to use any of the optional toppings-the recipe was so good that I ate two servings, at six points+ per serving it's pretty weight watchers friendly as well, even if you end up eating 12 points+ worth. :)
Lil P also really liked this dish.

My family gives this recipe 6 thumbs up--or two thumbs up per person, if you're not math savvy. Thanks for a great dinner Hungry Girl!

Don't forget to pick up a copy of 300 Under 300 for this awesome recipe and many others! (Shoppers secret-Amazon has it for the cheapest price--click here to pick up a copy)

Will You Be My #DinnerDate?

On my twitter feed, I try very hard to tweet out a new or different dinner recipe for everyone to try on a daily basis. It so important when you are trying to lose weight to keep your meals fresh. If you don't, chances are you are going to fall off the wagon for one simple reason; YOU'RE BORED! So I thought I would share some of the different ways I keep my meals exciting.

Meat- Let's face it. Chicken every night is boring. Fish every night is boring too, as well as beef, pork, or whatever other protien source you are using. To switch it up, I focus on the marinade. I use Lawry's 30 Minute Marinades a lot. They have a HUGE variety of flavors, and they aren't too bad for you either. I can now eat chicken 7 days a week (if I want to) and not get bored. One night I'll have Lemon Pepper, the next Hawaiian, the night after that Szechuan BBQ, the list goes on!

Produce- Spice it up. I keep fruits and veggies tasting new by changing the way I prepare them. I steam, grill, boil, and bake most of the time. But I also season the fruits and veggies, I prefer to get spices freshly ground whenever I can (I have a local place that I like to buy from). Fruit I mainly use cinnamon or nutmeg, but for veggies, anything goes pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, chilli powder, cumin, they are all good! But I do try to go light on the salt.

Whole Grains- I buy a couple different kinds of high fiber cereal and cycle through those. And for bread, to switch it up, I top it with different things. Low sugar or sugar free jam and PB2 peanut butter are two of my favs. But I also have been known to use spray butter on my toast.

Water- Water is one of the things I get most bored with. So I change it up by adding a lemon, lime, or orange slice or two for a citrus kick, A slice or two of cucumber to give a fresh cool taste, Green tea for some added antioxidants, or if I'm really craving some juice, I'll use some Crystal Light.

I hope these ideas help prevent you from becoming bored with eating healthy. Also if you would like to join in the dinner conversation, just use the hashtag #dinnerdate on Twitter to share what you are having for dinner! The hope is that it will encourage healthy eating and help us avoid dinner sabotage! Because for most people, dinner is often the largest meal of the day, let's make it healthy!

PB2 Peanut Butter--a Multitasking Miracle Worker

Last night I recived my first ever jars of PB2 Dried Peanut Butter. I've been wanting to try it forever, and I'm elated that I finally get to try it!

What it is:
PB2 is peanut butter powder. It's made by Bell Plantation. Basically, it's peanut butter with the oil wrung out of it, so it has 85% less fat than normal peanut butter, and only 45 calories in a 2 tablespoon serving! That equates to 1 Weight Watchers Points Plus value for all of my weight watchers friends! Awesome!

However, if you prefer "classic" peanut butter flavor and texture, Bell Plantation also sells oil to reconsitute the powder with as well. Then you can have "classic" peanut butter, but also be able to use the powder in different ways! 2 ways to use one product, is 2 thumbs up from me!

What to do with it:
On the package, it says to reconsistute 2T of the powder with 1T of water to turn it into a low fat peanut butter. And you do get peanut butter. It's not greasy like normal peanut butter, and tastes pretty good for 45 calories.
However, I've used it in several different ways already. I've put it in my oatmeal with some apple slices, making peanut butter apple oatmeal.
You can also put it in smoothies, I put it in my chocolate Weight Watchers smoothie to make it chocolate peanut butter flavored. You could also put it in your daily Shakeology (I recommened Chocolate), to make a Chocolate Peanut Butter flavor, it's a favorite of Coaches and Beachbody customers alike.
I also think it would be excellent to use as part of a breading for chicken, making a lower fat, lower cal, version of peanut chicken.
There are so many ways to use this product, I can't even count. So I must say, this product is definately worth the money.

My Homemade Asian-Style "Lean Cuisine" Dinner!

Here's your healthy recipe for the day! I made this the other night and I must say, it's delicious!

Ingredients:
2 6 oz Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
2 cups rice, you can use either white or brown
5 green onions
2T Sesame Seeds
Lawry's Sweet and Sour BBQ marinade

Prep:
Cut chicken into 1 inch cubes
Once cut up, marinade in the Lawry's Sweet and Sour BBQ marinade for 30 mins.
Chop up green onions, I just cut mine with kitchen shears, and set aside.

Cook:
Cook rice according to package directions, or in your rice cooker.
While rice is cooking, cook chicken until cooked through, or 165 degrees farenheit for food safety.
When rice is done cooking, add in the chopped green onions and sesame seeds, and mix throughout. Let sit about 10 mins for flavors to infuse.

This recipe makes approximately four servings, 3 oz of chicken and 1 cup of rice per person. You may end up with more than enough rice though. I had about one serving extra. I haven't quite figured out the calories, but it is 9 Weight Watchers Points Plus. I usually eat mine with a little fresh fruit, tonight is cantaloupe, so the meal is extra filling and satisfies my sweet tooth (so I'm not running for chocolate and hour later) and the BEST part is the the fruit is FREE on WWP+

Enjoy!