The Best Broccoli Salad Ever!

I never thought I could eat raw broccoli until I made this salad. You can use florets, or broccoli slaw mix. Either way, it is amazing! My husband wants me to make it every week and he can eat 2 cups at a time.

8 Servings/ 2 pts. ea (about a cup)

2 bags broccoli slaw or 8 cups chopped broccoli
7 T Sweet Poppy Seed Dressing (I used Trader Joes, but another brand at 2 pts. for 2 T would work too)
1/2 C Dried Cranberries
1 oz. candied pecans, chopped
2 oz. light feta cheese, crumbled

Mix everything together and enjoy!

Warm Zucchini and Corn Salad

Today started off with a great start. I actually got out of bed early, and got my workout in before 8:30. (I am NOT a morning person) This gave me time to shower, eat breakfast, get my daughter ready and leave the house by 9:45 for Mommy and Me Ballet class.

Today was my cooking day, and not only was I cooking for my cooking group (we now have a third member), but I made dinner for 2 other families, one who just had a new baby. I was cooking from 1:30 till 5:15 non-stop. Won't be doing that again for a while... Since I was cooking for a large amount of people, I decided to make my yummy creamy chicken enchiladas. I made a couple of small adjustments to the recipe which made it even better.

As a side, I made this really tasty Warm Zucchini and Corn Salad. It is a great side dish for Mexican food. You could eat it as a dip with chips too, I guess.

Here is the recipe:

4 Servings/1 pt. ea. (about 2/3 C)

1 1/2 cups whole kernel corn, frozen
2 1/2 cups diced zucchini
2 T green onion, chopped
1 t. olive oil
1 T lime juice
1/8 t. freshly ground pepper
1/2 t. salt
2 T fresh cilantro, chopped

Toss corn, zucchini and green onions with olive oil. Pour into large skillet, and cook, stirring frequently, until zucchini is fork-tender. Remove skillet from heat, and mix in lime juice, cilantro, salt and pepper.

I love finding healthy side dishes that go with Mexican food. It seems like rice and beans are your only option, and to eat rice and enchiladas is a bit too many points. Anyone have any other sides that you eat with Mexican food? I would love to hear them...

Fruity Slaw

I really did drop off the planet for a while. I have been so crazy, between the stomach flu, a Hawaii trip, coming back from the Hawaii trip, getting ready for Christmas that I literally have had nothing to say about weight loss. I "vacation ate" while I was gone, but I was ok with that. You have to be flexible. Since I have been back, I've been pretty good, eating wise. It really was easy to get back on track. Like I've said before, lifestyle-not diet. I haven't weighed in in a while, and I need to get to a meeting. I will be happy if I am maintaining this month.

Now I would like to post a yummy recipe. I made Taco Soup for dinner last night and tried to think of a side that would go with it, besides a green salad. I get sick of them. So I came across this recipe and it was really good - light and fruity.

Fruity Slaw (Sorry no picture)

6 Servings/1 Pt. each

Salad:

3 C cabbage, grated
1 C tangerines, sectioned and thinly sliced
1 C grapes, quartered
1/2 C celery, thinly sliced
1 lg. apple, cored and diced

Dressing:

1 C nonfat plain yogurt
1 t freshly grated lemon zest
1 t lemon juice
1 1/2 t honey

Mix together salad ingredients. Mix dressing ingredients. Chill seperately till serving, then mix all together. Makes 6 servings - about 1 C each.

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.