Not Too Bad Biscuits -- 4 Smart Points

This recipe surprised me.  First, because it's supposed to make six biscuits and second, because the biscuits are really pretty good.

If you roll the dough out and only make six biscuit, they're going to be huge.  I divided the dough in half, cut six small rounds and topped a chicken pot pie with them.

The other half of the dough was rolled out and cut into four biscuits.  I baked them in my counter top convection oven.  They came out nicely browned and fluffy inside.  Since there's no added fat, the outer crust is tougher than a traditional biscuit.

NOT TOO BAD BISCUITS

Makes 6 – 4 Smart Points each

2 cups flour

1 T. baking powder

½ tsp. salt

¼ tsp. baking soda

1 ¼ cups nonfat yogurt

Combine.  Roll out and cut 6 biscuits.

Bake 400° (convection) or 425° traditional 12 minutes.

Flour – 24 Smart Points

To make the chicken pot pie I used one can of Veg-All, one 9.75 oz. can grilled Swanson chicken breast, one .87 oz. package of McCormick chicken gravy mix.  I drained the Veg-All and chicken, reserved the liquid to mix with the gravy mix packet.  Combined the gravy mix, vegetables and chicken, topped with six biscuits and baked until biscuits were browned.  Using only half of the dough (12 points) makes these biscuits only 2 points each.

Green Chili Chicken With Brown Rice -- 4 Smart Points

GREEN CHILE CHICKEN WITH BROWN RICE

1 - 32 oz. carton Swanson chicken broth
2 - 13 oz. cans chicken breast meat, undrained
1 small can salsa verde
1 small can chopped green chilies
1 onion, diced
 1 1/2 cups uncooked brown rice

Put all ingredients into a 3 quart crock pot.  Cook on high until rice is done.

Makes 9 cups for a total of 36 points.  Figure 4 Smart Points per cup.  You can easily lower the points count by reducing the amount of rice and having more of a soup.  Uncooked brown rice has 20 Smart Points per cup.

Smart Points

rice                    30
chicken               6

Veggie Burgers -- 4 Smart Points

I've tried commercially prepared veggie burgers and, to me, they're pretty much edible but "meh!" nothing to write home about.  Since I've been investigating the concept of a whole food plant based diet, I bought Rip Esselstyn's book "The Engine 2 Diet".  He advocated a totally plant based diet for health reasons.  This recipe is from the book.

I used diced onion in place of the green onion, garlic powder and a combination of parsley and cilantro.  You definitely need to add some salt to the mixture.

These are on a large dinner plate.  They make a pattie about the same size as a 4 oz. beef pattie.

NEW YORK TIMES VEGGIE BURGERS

Makes 8 patties - 4 Smart Points per patty

 

1 can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 can mild tomatoes and green chilies

1 garlic clove, minced or 1 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. onion powder

2 green onions, chopped

1 cup parsley or cilantro

2 cups quick rolled oats

Process the first seven ingredients using an immersion blender or food processor.  Stir in oats and form into 8 patties.  Saute burgers on medium heat in a sprayed nonstick skillet for 5 minutes on each side, until both sides are browned.

Lebanese Style Green Beans - 4 Smart Points

We lived in Bristow, OK for several years and attended St. Joseph's parish.  There was an active Altar Society that held an annual food sale as their fund raiser.  Tina Korkamis always made Lebanese green beans as her contribution.  I'd never eaten green beans fixed with allspice added but once I tasted hers I immediately realized what I'd been missing.

This can be made with cubed beef.  I take a shortcut and use ground beef.  

In calculating the Weight Watcher Smart Points for this I went online and found some confusing information about the nutritional value of 80/20 ground beef. 

Ground beef loses approximately 25% of its weight when cooked.  I used 12 ounces of raw 80/20 ground beef which would equate to 9 ounces cooked.  The online Weight Watcher calculator that I use figures 2 Smart Points per ounce, uncooked. 

If you use 85/15 ground beef, the points would drop to 18.  Using 90/10 would be 12.  I just prefer the flavor of the 80/20.

I can make a meal out of these green beans.  The canned green beans are not drained so it has plenty of broth and I eat it like a bowl of soup.  You can simmer it longer and serve as a side dish too.

These were served at a dinner party we hosted several years ago and everyone that had them raved about how good they are.  You may want to adjust the amount of allspice you use.  I'd start out with 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon.  It's not enough to overpower the other flavors, it just enhances them.

The Smart Points were calculated using the ingredients listed.  

*** Edited ***  I used 24 Smart Points for the ground beef but after speaking with some other online Weight Watchers, they think I should be using 18 points and count the cooked weight.  I leave that up to you.

 

LEBANESE GREEN BEANS

Makes 1 ½ quarts (48 fluid ounces)

6-one cup servings =  4 Smart Points per serving

12 oz. 80/20 ground beef

½ onion, diced

2 cans Del Monte green beans, undrained

1- 15 oz. can Hunts tomato sauce

¾ tsp. ground allspice

Salt and pepper

Brown ground beef with onion.  Add undrained green beans,

tomato sauce, allspice, salt and pepper.  Simmer until spice flavor

develops—about 15 minutes.

Smart Points

12 oz. ground beef = 9 oz. cooked                24            

Points based from information found online.  Ground beef

loses 25% of its weight when cooked.    80/20 ground beef

calculates at 2 Smart Points per ounce uncooked.