Thursday, August 31, 2017

Chicken Enchiladas - 5 1/2 Smart Points

I was trying to come up with some idea to use a couple of items purchased at a health food store.  I know no one probably has both light tofu and Tofuti Better Than Cream Cheese in their fridge, so just substitute cream cheese or reduced fat cream cheese for them and calculate the change in Smart Points.

The nutritional yeast was added to increase the buttery/cheesy flavor since such a small amount of cheese is used.

This takes about 5 minutes to assemble and 3 minutes to heat in the microwave.  Add a side salad and a few tortilla chips and you'll have a plate full!



CHICKEN ENCHILADAS WITH GREEN SAUCE   Version I
5.5 Smart Points per enchilada
11 Smart Points for entire recipe

1-12.5 Oz. can chicken breast, drained
2 T. canned chopped green chilies
½ tsp. chili powder
½ tsp. ground cumin
½ oz. grated cheddar cheese
½ oz. grated mozzarella cheese
3 oz. light tofu**
2 T. Tofuti Better Than Cream Cheese**
2 tsp. Bragg nutritional yeast
½ cup Herdez Salsa Verde
2 Ole Extreme Wellness wraps

Combine tofu, Tofuti, yeast, spices, green chilies, and cheeses.  Stir in drained chicken.
Spread evenly between the two wraps and roll up enchilada style.  Put folded side down in a glass microwave safe dish.  Spoon the Salsa Verde over top and microwave for 3 minutes, covered, at 80% power.

Smart Points
Chicken                       2
Cheeses                       4
Tofu                            1
Tofuti                          2
Wraps                          2

**You can easily substitute light cream cheese for the tofu and Tofuti products.  See Version II below.  Or try a combination of light sour cream, Greek yogurt and cream cheese.  Add an extra ¼ oz. of cheese and the Smart Points will be 6 per enchilada. 



CHICKEN ENCHILADAS WITH GREEN SAUCE   Version II
6 Smart Points per enchilada
12 Smart Points for entire recipe

1-12.5 Oz. can chicken breast, drained
2 T. canned chopped green chilies
½ tsp. chili powder
½ tsp. ground cumin
½ oz. grated cheddar cheese
½ oz. grated mozzarella cheese
4 oz. fat free cream cheese
2 tsp. Bragg nutritional yeast
½ cup Herdez Salsa Verde
2 Ole Extreme Wellness wraps

Combine cream cheese, yeast, spices, green chilies, and cheeses.  Stir in drained chicken.
Spread evenly between the two wraps and roll up enchilada style.  Put folded side down in a glass microwave safe dish.  Spoon the Salsa Verde over top and microwave for 3 minutes, covered, at 80% power.

Smart Points
Chicken                       2
Cheeses                       4
Cream cheese              4
Wraps                          2

Wednesday, August 30, 2017

Mexican Skillet Supper - 6 to 10 Smart Points

This was one of my quick, go-to meals when my son was at home.  Start to finish, you can have it on the table in less than 30 minutes.  Add a salad or side vegetable and some tortilla chips and you have a hearty meal.

Since there's only two of us now to cook for, I've cut the ingredients down by one half.  I always made it with a full pound of ground beef and used the entire can full of Ranch Style beans and Spanish Rice. Now, when I buy ground beef, I package it in freezer containers and put 10 to 12 oz. in each package.  12 oz. is plenty for this recipe and 8-10 ounces would work just fine too.

Canned Spanish Rice is getting hard to find!  Dollar General store carries it now so that's where I pick it up. I combine the rice and beans in a bowl, use half and freeze the other half to use later. 

This is also good leftover the next day.


The photo was taken before the cheese topping was added.













MEXICAN SKILLET SUPPER
10 Smart Points per serving with ground beef
6 Smart Points per serving with ground chicken
Makes 4 servings

12 oz. lean ground beef
½ cup diced onion
½ can Spanish Rice
½ can Ranch Style beans
Paprika
Garlic powder
Oregano
Chili powder
1 oz. grated cheddar cheese

Brown ground beef and onions.  Add the rice, beans and spices.  Cover and simmer 5-10 minutes.
I've made this for so long that I don't measure the spices used.  Probably 1 1/2 tsp of paprika, 1/2 tsp. of oregano, 2 tsp. chili powder and a dash of garlic powder.  Go lightly on the spices, let it cook a couple of minutes, taste and add more if desired.

You can top it with extra cheese, sour cream, diced tomatoes and cilantro to change it up.  Just add the points!

I've also made this with ground chicken.  Using ground Smart Chicken, you can lower the points for the meat to only 9 Smart Points.

You can mix up a corn bread batter, pour it over the top of the cooked ingredients and bake until the bread topping is nice and brown too.  Just add the points!

Smart Points
Beef                24
Rice                 4.5
Beans              6
Cheese             4

I calculated the points for the ingredients used.  If you use reduced fat cheese you can save a few points.  We just prefer regular cheese. 

Sunday, August 27, 2017

Chicken and Dressing Casserole - 8 Smart Points

 This is a 2 quart casserole dish.  I figured the recipe makes 4 generous servings.  A side dish or two and you have a complete meal.
Years ago I started using 8" plates rather than the larger dinner plates that came with the dishes I bought.  You can see that 1/4 of the recipe makes a generous serving.










CHICKEN AND DRESSING CASSEROLE
8 Smart Points per serving
Makes 4 servings

¾ cup sliced celery
¾ cup diced onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1 ½  cups chicken broth
5 T. light sour cream
2 T. Tofuti cream cheese OR 2 T. light cream cheese
8 oz. cooked chicken
½ can Cream of Chicken soup
1 ½ cups Pepperidge Farms cornbread stuffing**

Place the onion, celery, garlic and 1 cup of chicken broth in a covered saucepan andsimmer until the vegetables are tender.
Stir in sour cream, cream cheese, chicken, undiluted soup, the remaining ½ cup of chicken broth and 1 cup stuffing mix.
Pour into 2 quart casserole dish, sprayed with Pam.  Bake at 350° for 10-15 minutes until hot and bubbly.  Top with remaining ½ cup of stuffing mix and bake another 10-15 minutes until the topping is nicely browned.

Smart Points – calculated on the actual ingredients I used
Sour cream                  5
Cream cheese              2
Soup                            5
Stuffing                     10
Broth                            1.5

Of course you can save a few points if you choose to use fat free sour cream, cream cheese or broth.

**This would be good made with the herb seasoned stuffing mix or by adding some poultry seasoning to the mixture.