Taco Soup

Love this meal!! My daughter who won't touch ANY vegetable will even eat the tomatoes in this.

Ingredients:
2-3 chicken breasts cooked and cut into cubes
small onion (I just toss in some dry minced onions)
28 oz. can tomatoes
1 can kidney beans
1 can black beans
1 can of corn
(I only drain the black beans. I leave the juice in the others.)
1 pkg. Taco Seasoning
1 can chicken broth
1 cup water
2 cloves garlic (I just sprinkle in some garlic powder because I never seem to have garlic on hand.)
Simmer on stove until heated through and ready to eat.

(My sister puts this in a crock pot and doesn't cook the chicken first. Depending on your schedule, either way works good.)

Sprinkle cheese on top, put a little bit of sour cream on top and you could serve with tortilla chips too. Granted, all those things will up the calorie and fat value of this meal but dang it.... it makes it taste all the better. (Did I say that out loud?) Okay... if you must... use baked tortilla chips, fat free sour cream and that NASTY, I mean better for you, low fat cheese. Or just skip all those garnishes and you won't know what you're missing out on anyway.

Chicken and Brown Rice

This is one of my favorite, very low-fat meals that I make for my family. My picky daughter will even eat it. I don't normally like brown rice but if you cook it this way it turns out really good and it's super easy too. It does take a few hours though so if you work, it's a good one for the weekend.

Ingredients:
2 cups Brown Rice
4 cups Chicken Broth
1 small can of mushrooms
6 (or less) Chicken Breasts
1 pkg. Dry onion soup mix

Spray a 9x13 pan. Combine rice, broth, and mushrooms. Place chicken on top. Sprinkle onion soup mix on top. Cover with foil. Bake at 350 for 2 - 2 1/2 hours or until rice is done. (You may need to add more liquid if the broth evaporates before the rice is done.)

If you are doing Weight Watchers this comes out to 7 points. That's if you have 1 cup of cooked rice and a chicken breast. From what I could figure I think it's about 350ish calories and about 4 grams of fat.

I hope you like it!!

Shredded BBQ Chicken Sandwich

This has got to be one of the easiest things I make.  But it's always a crowd pleaser and I've gotten a lot of compliments on it.

Shredded Chicken BBQ

I only use 2 chicken breasts for my family of 5, but use however many you want.  Put them in a crock pot, slather your favorite BBQ sauce all over, put the lid on, set on "low heat" and after 3-4 hours, your chicken is done!  You can leave it on longer and it will get even more moist and tender.  When the chicken is done, take them out of the crock pot and use two forks to pull the chicken apart.  Then put it back in the crock pot and make sure to stir it up nicely in the juices and BBQ sauce.  I usually do this about half an hour before serving.  Easy peasy, right?

The meal I've pictured above is about how I usually serve it.  I have the chicken on a "Nature's Own" Honey Wheat Bun (Altogether about 220 calories).  Frozen fries are about 120 calories per serving.  And the cottage cheese is about 100 calories.  (Is it bad that I don't count calories on fruits and veggies?)

*****EDIT:  I should add that I get the chicken directly out of the freezer and plop them in the crock pot.  You don't need to thaw them at all!******

Baked Chicken

So I've never blogged on someone else's blog before, so this is pretty exciting! A dish that I really like is a recipe I found on Weight Watchers.com for baked chicken. Basically all I do is get a boneless skinless chicken breast, season it with salt and pepper and put it in a shallow baking dish. Then you pour just a small amount of olive oil on the top of each one. Next you get some rosemary and parsley and chop them very fine and sprinkle it on top. Finish it off with a little lemon juice, fresh or bottled. I pour a little chicken broth in the bottom of the pan so it doesn't burn. You bake it at 400 degrees for 30-35minutes. The chicken is always very flavorful and juicy! I don't know what the actual calorie count is but for weight watchers users it's 3 points per chicken breast. I like to make a garlic mashed potatoes as a side. I hear that the red potato is a bit healthier and I tend to use less butter/cheese when making garlic potatoes. I hope you like it!

Sweet and Sour Chicken Stir Fry

Simple Ingredients for this concoction.  This isn't so much a recipe, but is a delicious, easy, and diet-friendly meal.

Package of stir-fry vegetables from Costco, 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, bottle of Sweet and Sour sauce, and brown rice.

The finished product

This is a very simple, thrown together meal that I LOVE!  I am not a vegetable person at all but for some reason I just love the stir fry vegetables from Costco.  It contains broccoli, baby corn, water chestnuts, green beans, soy beans, onions, carrots.  I normally don't care for onions, but you really can't tell they're there.  I manage to eat the green beans, but they're still not my favorite.

Step 1 - Rice - I chose to make brown rice since it's supposed to be healthier.  Brown rice takes quite a bit longer to make than white rice, so I always get it started about an hour before dinner time.

Step 2 - Chicken - I boiled the chicken in water.  The chicken comes out nice and moist.  It usually takes about 20 minutes to fully cook.  Cut up the chicken into bite sized pieces and set aside.

Step 3 - Vegetables - In a frying pan or wok, pour a couple tablespoons of cooking oil.  To feed my family I generally fill the pan with vegetables.  Remember that after the vegetables cook they are quite a bit smaller.  Let the vegetables simmer, covered, for about 10 minutes.  Add the chicken and sweet and sour sauce, mix together, and let simmer for another 5 minutes or so.

Serve over rice and enjoy!

1 cup rice, 2 cups vegetables with chicken and sauce comes out to about 380 calories.   Not bad for a full meal and it's a pretty filling portion.

Note:  You can sub the meat for pork or go vegetarian and forget the meat all together.  You could also use whatever sauce you'd like. (Teriyaki, etc)

Is this a family friendly meal?  My kids aren't vegetable eaters.  (Wonder where they get that from?!?)  My 3 year old daughter ate her whole meal!  My 8 year old, after forcing him to take a bite, admitted that "It's not so bad."  My 6 year?  Well, we're working on him!  I don't imagine your kids could be as picky as mine!

***Submitted by my sis-in-law, Merilee***

Chicken Posole

Serves 4 Hands-On Time: 10m Total Time: 30m

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• kosher salt and black pepper
• 1 32-ounce container low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes, drained
• 1 dried ancho chili, thinly sliced, or 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 2 cups shredded rotisserie chicken meat
• 1 15-ounce can hominy, rinsed
• 1 lime, cut into wedges

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and 1⁄4 teaspoon each salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and beginning to brown, 10 to 12 minutes.
2. Add the broth, tomatoes, and chili and bring to a boil. Stir in the chicken and hominy and simmer until heated through, 3 to 4 minutes. Serve with the lime.

Nutritional Information

• Per Serving
• Calories 271

• Fat  10g
• Sat Fat  2g
• Cholesterol  66mg
• Sodium  788mg
• Protein  26g
• Carbohydrate  21g
• Fiber  4g

Orange Glazed Chops

Pork Chops in the Marinade

The finished product!

Orange Glazed Chops

3/4 Cup Light Italian Dressing

1/2 Cup Orange Juice

3 Green Onions, chopped

4 Tbsp firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 tsp grated orange peel (optional)

4 boneless pork chops (about a pound)

Marinade:

Combine dressing, orange juice, chopped green onions, brown sugar, and grated orange peel together.

Lay pork chops in an 8x8 baking dish.  Pour marinade over pork chops and refrigerate for at least half an hour.  The longer the better.

Heat oven to 350.  Bake for 20 minutes, flip the pork chops, and bake for an additional 20 minutes.

220 Calories/7 grams of fat

I got this recipe on the Slim Fast website and made some changes to it to make into something my family would like.  The biggest change was the baking.  They have you grill or broil the pork chops.  I personally prefer baked pork/poultry over grilled...I believe it comes out more juicy and tender.

I thought the flavor of this marinade was yummy!  I loved the light citrus flavor and the green onions added a nice "kick" to it.  The pork chops did indeed come out juicy and tender.   My oldest son (who is a VERY picky eater) had seconds and then thirds, so that is successful in my book!

I've been fighting in the "battle of the bulge" my entire married life. Today I've begun my next battle, along with my hubby. Dieting together sure makes it a bit easier!

When it comes to preparing meals, I'm absolutely clueless about what to make and not very creative. I figured if I could get a group of friends to post their meal ideas, recipes, etc, maybe just maybe I could eat more than just cottage cheese with fruit for dinner. :) So please, post away!

I'm trying a new recipe tonight and will make first post about it...whether it was a success or not!