North African Meatball Stew

I must say right off the bat that this is one of the best main dishes I have ever made and posted on this blog. Although this is Weight Watchers recipe there is nothing diet about it. It has depth of flavor and produced incredibly tender meatballs. Love at first bite!

Baby Cakes give this one an 8 and wanted me to share that anything above a 7 he would gladly eat again but I personally use his score system with the 10 as my score which means love it. And I do, I love it!


North African Meatball Stew
recipe from Weight Watchers Ready, Set, Go! Cookbook, pg. 80

1 pound ground lean beef (5% fat or less)
1 tablespoon dried cilantro
2 teaspoons ground cumin
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 cup diced tomatoes
¾ cup water
3 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Mix together beef, cilantro, 1 teaspoon cumin, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoons of pepper in a large bowl, just until well combined. Shape into 24 (1-inch) meatballs.

Heat the oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and cook stirring until softened, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook, stirring until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in tomatoes, water, tomato paste, and remaining 1 teaspoon cumin, 3/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper. Bring to boil.

Add the meatballs to the skillet. Reduce heat and simmer covered until meatballs are cooked through and sauce is thickened about 30 minutes. Stir in lemon juice.

Serving Size: 6 meatballs and 2/3 cups of sauce
Weight Watchers Points Plus Points: 5

Serve over couscous, quinoa or rice.


I will most assuredly be making this again and again and again.

Bon Appetite,

Crock Pot Cheeseburger

So in regards to blogging I’ve been a bit delayed. There is a fire here in my hometown and I admit that I have been all consumed with that since last Monday. We’ve packed up the important things and are now just waiting for the fire to be put out. For the time being it’s looking better and I have let my guard down enough to have a normal day, I even cooked supper for the first time this week.

I am still on Weight Watchers although I have been naughty for the last 2 days; I’m not looking forward to my weight in tomorrow but I not quitting either. So it’s back on the horse today with a recipe I found in my Betty Crocker Win at Weight Loss Cookbook. I love this book; it is full of easy yummy recipes. I actually went through it with my point’s calculator and marked the point’s value for each recipe in it. It’s just one more way to make staying on plan easier. Enough about weight watchers, didn’t I say I wasn’t going to talk about it?

This dish is wonderful. It tastes great and is so easy to make. And although it came from a weight loss cookbook there is nothing diet about it in regards to taste. I can imagine that this would satisfy everyone in your household, especially children.


Crock Pot Cheeseburger
slightly adapted from Betty Crocker Win at Weight Loss Cookbook, pg. 130

1 lb. 90% lean ground hamburger
1 tablespoon garlic powder
8 ounces pasteurized prepared cheese loaf, diced
2 tablespoons fat free milk
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced

In a large skillet cook the hamburger meat with the garlic powder over medium heat until browned, drain.

Spray the slow cooker with nonstick spray. Mix the cooked beef and remaining ingredients together in the slow cooker.

Cover and cook on low heat for 6 to 7 hours.

Serve on buns or as a salad.

To serve as a salad: Serve on a bed of lettuce using 1/6th of the meat mixture. In lieu of salad dressing although you could use thousand island use a squirt or two of ketchup and mustard.

Serving size: 1/6 (meat mixture only)
Weight Watchers Points Plus Points: 6


As always, I wouldn't share it otherwise, a delish supper. This in salad form really works for me. Occasionally I crave cheeseburgers and this had all the flavors of one. Maybe next time I'll toast a pita for the bread factor.

Yum,

Shredded Brown Sugar Pork Roast

Apparently I am a pork junkie, a crock pot pork junkie to be more specific but it’s just so simple to make. There never seems to be a shortage of flavorful recipes floating around out there on the World Wide Web. I can’t wait for fall and then I’ll be replacing pork roast for beef roast. On a side note my favorite holiday is on its way- Halloween!

I know that when it comes to weight loss one would not think that a recipe with a cup or brown sugar in it would be considered diet food but I truly believe in everything in moderation and so far that seems to be working for me because in 2 weeks I have lost 5 lbs., slow and steady wins the weight loss race.

In regards to the dish itself it was so good. I used it as a salad topper and although I didn’t take a picture of Baby Cakes’ plate he used his as sandwich filling. Oh and I added more to the salad once I took a photo fat free cheese being one of the things.


Crock Pot Brown Sugar Pork Roast

1 lb. pork roast
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 cup worcestershire sauce

Place the roast in the crock pot and pour the sugar and sauce over the roast.

Cook on low for 8 hours. Shred and serve.

Serving Size: 1/6
Weight Watchers Points Plus Points: 7


I really cannot say enough about this recipe. Both Baby Cakes and I loved it. It’s a keeper.

XOXO,

Blueberry Squares

Happy Birthday to Me, Happy Birthday to Me, Happy Birthday Dear Megan, Happy Birthday to Me! I want cake and luckily I found this recipe in my Weight Watchers points tracker.

I love this cake, it is light and sticky and sweet. You can’t beat it.


Blueberry Squares

1 package angel food cake mix
22 ounce light blueberry pie filling

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Combine cake mix with blueberry filling (do not add any other ingredients). Pour batter into an ungreased 9 x 13 inch baking dish, bake for 30 minutes.

Cool and cut into 24 pieces.

Serving size: 1 piece
Weight Watchers Points Plus Points: 2


I ate 3 of them. Bad girl.

XOXO,

Crock Pot Apple Pork Loin

I know that this in not really the time of year for roast, or for apples even. Yes, this would make a great fall recipe but I am getting an ache for the fall season and decided that I don’t want to wait any longer. I want what I want and it’s my birthday so na-na-nana-na.

This was super easy to pull together and all day I have been looking forward to eating it tonight…


Crock Pot Apple Pork Loin

1 lb. pork loin, mesquite flavor
¼ cup apple juice
¼ sugar
4 apples, cored and sliced

Place the pork tenderloin in the crock pot.

In a small saucepan stir to combine the sugar and juice, stir over low heat until the sugar dissolves. You do not want to cook the juice, just dissolve the sugar.

Pour the mixture over the pork loin.

Cover and cook on High heat for 1 hour.

Add the apples and continue cooking on Low heat for 3 more hours.

Serving size: ½ cup apples and 1/8 of the pork loin
Weight Watchers Points Plus Points: 4


I am going to be completely honest with you, the pork loin is fantastic the apples however not so much. I will make this again but leave out the apples. The juice and sugar mixture made for a super moist roast. I dig it. Yum.

XOXO,

Pineapple and Barbeque Shredded Chicken

I cheated last night; I did a very bad but very good thing. I spent money on a rotisserie chicken. I did. It was worth every penny though! It kept the house cool yesterday and will manage to do the same tonight as well. We intentionally kept half of the chicken to use for tonight’s supper.

Yesterday I ran a search for chicken sandwich recipes and came across this recipe, only not exactly this recipe, the one I found was for the crockpot, which will one day be making its way onto this very blog. But the idea is the same. I wanted to try it and knew I was going to pick up a chicken on my way home from work so while I was at the store I picked up a jar of pineapple preserves as well.

If or should I say when you make this you will be so happy. It was great! Baby Cakes had his on a hawaiian bun and I had mine on a 100 calorie bun. Guess who’s tasted better? Lol.


Pineapple and Barbeque Shredded Chicken

3-4 cups boneless, skinless roasted chicken breast, warmed and shredded
1/3 cup brown sugar barbeque sauce
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/8 cup pineapple preserves

In a large bowl mix all the ingredients until well combined.

Serve on buns or use as a salad topper.

Serving size: 1 cup
Weight Watchers Points Plus Points: 7 (not including bread or bun)


Now I will admit that I didn't think of this recipe all on my own, the problem is that I held on to it so long before posting that I somehow lost the link and researching it has proved unfruitful.

XOXO,

Greek Yogurt Ranch Dip

We all know it’s hot outside, how many times am I going to point that out you ask? Well, until it’s no longer in the 100’s. I once again want cool and creamy for lunch. I found cool and creamy.

Have you ever had Greek Yogurt? From what I can tell a lot of people don’t care for it but I have always liked it. It’s tart like sour cream and thicker than normal yogurt. In the past I’ve always bought the full fat version and with fruit mixed in but for this recipe I bought the low fat plain version. After tasting it I realize that it could easy sub in for sour cream.


Greek Yogurt Ranch Dip
courtesy of my MIL's WW Coach

½ cup low fat greek yogurt
1 tbs. dry ranch dressing mix
pinch of pepper

In a small bowl mix the above ingredients until well combined.

Serve cold with fresh vegetables or chips.

Serving Size: 1/4 cup
Weight Watchers Points Plus Points: 2


Cool and creamy with a ton of kick to it. I plan on playing around with this to see what else I can create in the near future. Yum.

XOXO,

Weight Watchers

I want to apologize for my shortness of posts lately and although I have every intention of cooking more henceforth posting more I wanted to let you, my reader or readers, know that the blog is changing a bit. You see I have some personal things going on in my life that merit a change and that change is my weight and although I won’t be making this a weight loss blog per say I will be posting recipes with their Weight Watchers points value. I will continue cooking regular foods only with some healthy stuff tucked in there too, because Baby Cakes doesn’t need a diet. I have just found it too hard to separate my blog life from my personal life especially since they both concern food. This is probably the first and last thing I will say about Weight Watchers as I am not being paid to advertise, no it's more like I’m paying them to advertise.

See you soon, real soon,