You Don't Have to Think Before You Eat This...

Thai Chicken and Vegetable Curry

4 Servings/5 pts. ea.
1 1/4C per serving

2 t. canola oil
1 med. red bell pepper, cut into 1-2 in. thin strips
1 med. onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 T. minced fresh ginger
1-2 t. red curry paste, to taste (can be very spicy, so start out small and add more later if needed)
1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1 in. cubes
1 C reduced sodium chicken broth
1 C lite coconut milk
1 T fish sauce or soy sauce
1 t. light brown sugar
1 1/2 C cauliflower florets
1 zucchini, chopped
1 T lime juice
Lime wedges

Heat oil in a large skillet over med/high heat. Add pepper and onion, and cook until it begins to soften. Next, add garlic, ginger and curry paste. Stir. Add chicken, cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 2 min. Add broth, coconut milk, fish(soy) sauce, and brown sugar and bring to a boil. Add cauliflower and reduce heat to med-low, simmer, stirring occasionally until chicken is cooked through and cauliflower is tender. (about 10 min) Halfway through (at 5 min left), add chopped zucchini and lime juice. Cook until chicken and veggies are done. Serve over rice and garnish with lime wedges.

THIS TURNED OUT AMAZING! Of course I forgot to take a picture, but I will definitely be making this again and will post one later...

Trader Joes Fast and Easy Meals (Part 1): Trader Ming's Mandarin Orange Chicken

I don't know about everyone else, but it is really hard for me to want to cook on the weekends. I think if I wasn't careful, I would eat out every day!

As I am trying to save money(and eating out doesn't help the budget), I decided to browse Trader Joe's frozen aisle for some inexpensive, quick and easy weekend meal ideas. Last night, we tried the first one.

Trader Joe's Mandarin Orange Chicken


For one cup, it is 5 WW points, 230 calories, 8 g. fat, 0 g. fiber. It tastes just like a Chinese restaurant's orange chicken, with much less calories and fat. It is frozen, and comes with sauce packets. You just bake the chicken in the oven for 18 minutes, and heat up the sauce, mix and serve.

We mixed in some steamed broccoli and served it over brown rice (again, frozen from Trader Joes to save time) for a delicious weekend dinner, saved some money and stayed on plan.

Chinese Chicken Salad

I went to a baby shower a couple of months ago and they had the best Chinese Chicken Salad there. I asked my friend for the recipe, and saw that it had 2/3 C oil in it, which is like 40 points. So I took the challenge to lighten it up. First, I had to find an oil substitute. The baking substitutes like apple sauce and yogurt obviously wouldn't work in a salad dressing, so I did a little research. It was trickier than I thought it would be to find. Finally I read an article about pectin. You know, the stuff you use when making jam. It is made from fruit and has 0 calories. You mix 1 T pectin with 1/4 C of water to substitute for 1/4 C oil. So I tried it in this recipe. It worked like a champ! I also substituted Splenda for sugar, but you might try a natural substitute if you are not a Splenda fan. I'm sure honey or Stevia would work too, you just need to add the points.


Salad Ingredients (Makes 4 very large dinner-size servings)
Whole Salad is 30 pts.
Each Serving is 7 1/2 pts.

1 head green cabbage, shredded
10 oz cooked chicken breast - chopped into 1/2" pieces
2 green onions, chopped
1 1/2 C shelled edamame
4 T sliced almonds
2 sm. cans mandarin oranges, drained

Dressing:

Seasoning Packet from Ichibon Japanese Noodles (Japanese Top Ramen in Asian aisle)
1/2 C splenda
2 T + 2 t. canola oil
2 T pectin mixed into 1/2 C water
6 T seasoned rice vinegar
1/4 t. pepper
1 t. sesame oil

Shake or mix dressing ingredients together. Dressing is enough to toss 6 main dish salads. For this recipe size (4 main dish salads) use 6-7 oz. of dressing. (Whole recipe makes about 10 oz. dressing) Toss with all salad ingredients until oranges start to break up.

Sweet and Sour Pork

I made this for dinner tonight, and I thought it was really yummy! My husband liked it too.

4 Servings/3 Pts ea.

12 oz pork tenderloin, cut into thin strips
1 C pineapple chunks
(if using canned, reserve juice for sauce)
1 bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 sm. white onion, thinly sliced or chopped
1 zucchini, sliced thinly
2 roma tomatoes, seeds removed, coarsely chopped

Marinade
2 T rice vinegar
2 T soy sauce
2 T minced or finely grated fresh ginger

Sauce
1/2 C pineapple juice (use reserves from can of pineapple)
1 T soy sauce
1 T rice vinegar
2 t cornstarch

Combine the marinade ingredients in a bowl or gallon size ziplock bag. Add the pork strips, toss to coat, and marinate in the refrigerator for 30 mins. Meanwhile, combine and mix the sauce ingredients in another small bowl and set aside. Chop vegetables. Lightly coat a nonstick frying pan or wok with cooking spray, and place over med high heat. Add the pork and stir-fry until it is no longer pink. (3-4 mins) Transfer the pork to another container and set aside. Recoat the pan with cooking spray and reduce the heat to med. Add the onion, pepper and zucchini. Saute until they begin to soften. (2-3 mins) Return the cooked pork to the pan along with the tomatoes, pineapple and sauce. Bring the ingredients to a boil, then remove the pan from the heat. Serve over rice. (additional points for rice)