Low Calorie

Eggs for Dinner — Shakshuka, Try Saying that Three Times Fast

September 24, 2011 By Fran Leave a Comment

How often do you have eggs for dinner? I’ve found myself making eggs for dinner more often in the past 7 months, since I’ve started this Weight Watchers journey than I’ve ever done before.

Eggs are filling. They are full of nutrients. Eggs fit incredibly well into a weight loss program. If you’re on Weight Watchers, one egg will cost you just 2 Weight Watchers Points Plus values. If you’re counting calories, an egg is just 70 calories.

What a bargain! Now, don’t get me wrong, they’re high on the fat scale, so it’s probably not a good idea to eat them everyday, but like all food — moderation is the answer.

I’ve seen recipes for the Israeli dish called Shashuka online and in cookbooks recently and just last night came across the dish twice while catching up on the blog posts that have accumulated in my reader while I’ve been busy driving up and down the East Coast this week. I also ran across it in a fabulous new cookbook I picked up — Plenty,by Yotam Ottolenghi. More on that in a future post.

I went to bed thinking about Shashuka and thought about the dish all day today and although the recipe was right there on page 87 and in a variety of blogs I follow, I decided to make it my own using ingredients I had hanging out in my fridge.

Having been at the beach last weekend and turning right around and heading up to Pennsylvania on business for a few days, there wasn’t much in the produce drawer that was still fresh enough to cook with, but I made it work and it was as delicious as I’d imagined it would be when I was behind my desk putting together reports and wrapping up the week before heading home for the weekend.

As usual, I didn’t stay true to any one recipe. Most of the recipes I ran across called for red and yellow bell peppers which I had in the fridge, but I wasn’t in the mood for that flavor profile, so I used a nice, hot jalapeño instead. It gave the dish a little heat without the power of a bell pepper.

And instead of fresh tomatoes, which I didn’t have, I opened a tin of diced San Marzanos. The result was fabulous and it paired perfectly with a couple of roasted corn tortillas.

You’ve seen this trick here before … many times. It’s the best way to heat a tortilla if you want to reduce the number of points or calories and stay away from added fat. Just be careful — these suckers will go up in flame without warning, so they need your undivided attention.

When you get home from work or school after a busy day and you just don’t feel like futzing around in the kitchen, whip up a pan of Shashuka and tortillas for a satisfying meal that won’t wreck your weight loss progress.

Eggs for Dinner — Shakshuka

15 minutes

30 minutes

45 minutes

Yield: 1 Serving

2 Eggs

Calories per serving: 328

~The Weight Watchers Points Plus value is 9 ~Calories 328 ~Halve the recipe and you've got a hearty brunch ~Add 1 point for each tortilla

Ingredients

1/2 teaspoon Cumin Seeds

2 teaspoons Olive Oil

1 very small Onion, sliced

2 cloves Garlic, smashed

1 Jalapeño Pepper, diced

1 12 ounce tin of plain, diced tomatoes -- preferably fire roasted

1/2 teaspoon ground Cumin

1/2 teaspoon dried Thyme or 1 sprig Thyme Leaves

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground Black Pepper

1/2 teaspoon Sea Salt

2 teaspoons Demerara or Brown sugar

2 Eggs

1/4 cup fresh Cilantro, roughly chopped, divided

Instructions

In a small pan, or casserole, dry fry the cumin seeds for 2 minutes on medium heat

Add oil

Add onion, garlic and jalapeño pepper and cook until translucent (sweat) for 1 - 2 minutes -- take care not to brown the onion or garlic

Add tomatoes, herbs (reserving a sprinkle of cilantro), salt and pepper and stir to combine

Simmer for 15 minutes, stirring and reducing the sauce until the tomatoes break down, adding water to thin the sauce if necessary

Taste for seasoning and adjust as necessary

Making a small indentation in the sauce with the back of a spoon, taking care not to clear the sauce to the bottom of the pan -- you want to cook the egg on top of the sauce, not on the pan

Carefully crack an egg onto the top of the sauce

A few inches apart, crack another egg

Cover and cook for 8 - 10 minutes, or until the egg is set and still shimmies when you move the pan

Remove from the heat, sprinkle the remaining cilantro on top and serve with roasted or steamed corn tortillas

http://thinrecipes.com/2011/09/24/recipe-for-shashuka/

http://thinrecipes.com

Filed Under: All, All Posts, Internationally Inspired Tagged With: Dinner, Eggs, Low Calorie, Tomatoes, Weight Watchers

Simplicity in a Complex World

September 11, 2011 By Fran 8 Comments

Today is a day filled with complex emotions — contemplative reflection, grief, anger, sad memories, wistful thinking of what could have been, wishful thinking of what should have been and confusion, to name a few. Instead of ignoring everything but the tragic past, I decided I needed to get into the kitchen, the place that gives me happiness and while the thoughts of September 11, and a heavy heart are not far away today, simplicity is the order of the day. Nothing to weigh down the emotions more than they already are.

While I could easily find an excuse in the depression of the day and head into the kitchen to graze and snack on all kinds of wonderful food, keeping it simple would help me control my choices until dinner when the plan is to head out to a restaurant with friends.

When I see the word eggplant, I don’t think simplicity. Sure, cooking eggplant is not a difficult task, but the shape, color, and tastes are not simple. In itself, an eggplant — aubergine — is a beautiful orb of purple, black, white, pinkish or even orange hue and when done right, inside is a creamy white middle. Simple does not mean without complexity and as the photos below show, this eggplant was charred, contributing to a smoky, rustic flavor.

There’s a bonus to this dish. Not only did it take just 15 minutes to prepare, but it was fun too! I got to play with fire.

Let me say right here … playing with fire is not a game. This method of “roasting” eggplant is not something you should let your children do. I did not do this because it was faster or easier than the usual way of putting an eggplant on a baking pan in the oven and roasting it unti the skin was blackened and the eggplant was cooked would have been.

No, this was about experimenting with a new method of cooking eggplant that I saw on TV one Saturday morning when the Food Network was running in the background and Elie Krieger was showing us how to easily “roast” an eggplant. There’s no real recipe to it, but I’ve put one together below to help those that are hesitant.

I need to warn you again, playing with fire in the kitchen isn’t something to take lightly. You need to stay on top of the process. And this is definitely not something to do with young children. It’s a good for time alone in the kitchen to watch ad little embers flicker as the skin turns to a charred coat and the vegetable underneath cooks in its wrapper and the bitterness of raw eggplant gives way to a sweetness.

It’s not important to remove every last piece of charred skin. I like the smoky, rustic flavor a few little charred bits give the dish.

The flesh easily comes out with a spoon and the skin stays behind, like a deflated raft.

I didn’t add much of anything — just smoked sea salt and a splash of high quality extra virgin olive oil for this 60 calorie 1 Point snack. I also recommend using Penzey’s Sunny Spain seasoning seasoning mix. The salt-free, tart lemony flavors pair well with eggplant and when I roasted another eggplant, this what I used.

So, as thoughts of that September day whirl around in my head, I’m thinking about how life has moved ahead and will continue to do so, but with less tears and a more positive outlook on what will be — what I can do to make the future look brighter.

Recipe: Roasted Eggplant and Poppadums

Summary: Charring Eggplant over an open flame for a simple spread

Ingredients

1 small Eggplant, whole
Salt and Pepper
1 teaspoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 Indian Poppadums — any flavor, but the speckled pepper poppadums go very well with this spread

Instructions

If you have a gas stove top, place the eggplant on the burner and turn it on, turning the eggplant to allow each part of the skin to blacken
When all of the skin is charred (should take less than 10 minutes for a small eggplant) and the eggplant has collapsed on itself and is difficult to turn any longer, remove to a plate
Cover with aluminum foil and allow to cool
While the eggplant is cooling, place a poppadum in the microwave and heat for 1 minute, or until the “cracker” has puffed up and is fully cooked and crunchy
Repeat with the second poppadum
When cool, cut the eggplant in half, lengthwise and scoop the flesh out and into a bowl
Mix with seasonings, drizzle with oil and serve with crisp poppadums

Cooking time:

Diet tags: Reduced carbohydrate

Number of servings (yield): 1

Culinary tradition: USA (General)

Calories: 60

Fat: 1.4g

Carbohydrate: 11.3g

Protein: 2.4g

Weight Watchers Points Plus: 2

Filed Under: All, All Posts Tagged With: Eggplant, Fire, Lentils, Low Calorie, No Fat, Points Plus, Poppadoms, Roast, Simple, Smoke, Vegan, Weight Watchers

Decadent Single Serve Brownies on a Weight Watchers Plan

September 3, 2011 By Fran 8 Comments

I have a confession to make. I ate the whole thing. It’s not what you think. At first blush, this looks like a decadent home made brownie with a scoop of ice cream made in my kitchen.

In reality it’s a decadent brownie with a scoop of, um… I can’t believe I am going to type this … French Vanilla Cool Whip!! Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I said Cool Whip!

And the brownie? Not one of my decadent pound-of-butter brownies here. You’re looking at a treat made from Trader Joe’s Reduced Guilt Brownie mix.

And all this for just 5 Weight Watchers points — approximately. The brownie package says it serves 12 and the nutritional breakdown calculates 4 points per serving, but I have a feeling I can make 24 brownies from this box which means in reality this dessert (with the Cool Whip) comes to just 3 points.

I won’t know until I’ve made the entire box, but I like to estimate high — just to be safe.

I’m not going to stress about the fact that I used a box and a tub for this dessert. I’m working on the next 35lbs. of this weight loss journey and when it comes to dessert, I am just not at the point where I want to be mixing and stirring, melting and chopping the evil temptress — Dark Chocolate.

I’ve been relying on prepared desserts from the freezer aisle these past 6.5 months while making most of the rest of my meals from fresh ingredients, but at a recent Weight Watchers meeting my partner in crime spoke up and mentioned the “No Pudge Fudge” brownie at Trader Joe’s. The name has changed, but the results are the same. A rich chocolate brownie that is fat free. What? She told us that the mix is delicious and a brownie fits well within the plan.

Well, since Trader Joe’s is on our agenda every Sunday after the meeting I was anxious to get there and pick up a box. I’ve held onto it for quite a few weeks not knowing how I was going to make a pan of brownies and resist the urge to have more than one.

And last night, after giving in and pulling the box from the pantry, I learned just how to manage this mix. The total Weight Watchers Points Plus value for one brownie is just 4. It’s the same as a Weight Watchers frozen dessert or a small slice of a fresh fruit tart. But there’s a bonus with this mix, something that makes it so easy to stay on track.

With no more kitchen equipment than a tablespoon, a small ramekin and a microwave oven, you can have a single, warm brownie in less than a minute!!

Yes, you heard that correctly … less than a minute!

It’s simple. Measure 2 tablespoons of mix, 1 tablespoon of vanilla yogurt in a small bowl until fully combined. Scrape every last drop of the chocolaty goodness into a small ramekin and cook it in the microwave on high for 45 seconds.

Be careful. The ramekin will be hot. You can either eat it right out of the ramekin or turn it over, tap it on a plate or a cutting board and it will slide right out. The instructions don’t tell you to spray the ramekin with baking spray, but I did, just for safe measure.

These brownies have a kind of macaroon texture once they begin to cool. They get more chewy and if you wait too long they are downright crunchy so get it out of the oven, garnish as you like and dig in! It’s just the right amount to cure your craving for a hot-out-of-the-microwave chocolate treat.

Pick up a package and enjoy your 4 point, 120 calorie brownie tonight!

Filed Under: All, All Posts, Totally American Tagged With: Brownie, Cool Whip, Dessert, Low Calorie, Mix, Trader Joe's, Weight Watchers

Have You Had a Plumcot?

August 17, 2011 By Fran 1 Comment

Over the course of the past few years I’ve run across a few varieties of fruit that I’ve never heard of before, like the Plumcot. Before I reached into the bin at my the supermarket and picked it up, I had no idea what a Plumcot was. It looked like a golden colored plum which I figured was a hybrid of a plum and an apricot and this made it very intriguing. I put three in my cart and as I strolled around the market finishing my shopping, I thought about what I’d do with it.

That’s when a Plumcot Tart came to mind. This dessert is so quick and easy you can whip one up and have a warm Plumcot Tart for a weeknight dessert.

I was having a friend over for dinner and knew it would be the perfect end to a simple summer dinner. We didn’t need anything complicated to finish the meal. This tart was just right.

I adapted a Weight Watchers Apple Tart recipe by adding a few spoonfuls of my version of Apricot Compote and I used less sugar. I found the recipe in a Weight Watchers cookbook a few months ago, and while I can’t find a copy of it, I was able to recreate the dessert with ease. There are just few ingredients, as you’ll see in the recipe below.

The definition of a compote is fruit stewed with sugar or in a syrup and sometimes with a splash of alcohol, but mine had none of that. I had a container of perfectly ripe apricots and needed to do something with them so I put them in a small saucepan, unpeeled and let them simmer until they broke down.

Once they began to slump in the pan I scooped out the pits and threw them away. After tasting the fruit I decided it needed just a bit of sugar so I added 1/2 packet of Truvia. I’d never used it in baking before and didn’t want to ruin the fresh fruit flavor. It was that perfect sweet-tart flavor. If you don’t want to use a sugar substitute or real sugar, a 1/4 cup of fresh orange juice will give you the sweet lift you’re looking for. Cook until you can mash the fruit and you’re done. And a bonus for those of you with babies — stewing fruit in this manner (without the sugar substitute) makes quick baby food. Buzz it in a food processor or with a stick blender and you have a treat your child is not likely to turn their nose up at.

So, as the tart was finishing up in the oven I got a wild hair and decided a few spoonfuls of that sweet-tart Apricot Compote needed to become part of this tart. I guess I was just a little off my game. It tasted incredible, but the apricots would have been just as delicious and more visually appealing on the bottom of the tart shell, and as I was spreading the compote on the plumcots I realized my mistake. I have one more shell left in the freezer, and more stone fruit on the counter, so I’ll make another and share it with neighbors! Oh yes, I know my limits.

The rest of dinner was delicious as well. We feasted on Mexican flavored Chicken Burgers using my friend Stephanie of Copycat Recipes’ Taco Seasoning recipe, Corn on the Cob with Queso Fresco and Cilantro and a Stacked Caprese Salad inspired by David Leite’s Tomato and Basil Tower post. I wasn’t true to that recipe either, but loved how it looked in his post and made it my own by slicing an heirloom tomato into thick “steaks” and layering with fresh mozzarella and basil. A little good quality extra virgin olive oil, a drizzle of quality balsamico (tradizionale, if you can spring for it), freshly cracked black pepper ground Himalayan salt and we had a summer vegetable to round out the meal. Next time, I’ll try it the way the recipe intended — blanching and peeling the tomato and no cheese, but this version worked well. Truth be told, I just plain forgot that step! Ah people … don’t let your brain turn to mush, ok?

Ok, you caught me! I decided to make it my way one more time this week to have with dinner and I have to be honest, I like the resistance and the slightly tart zing that lies just beneath the skin. Next week I’ll hit up the farmers market and find a beautifully round specimen to blanch. Promise. Oh, and I’ll plate it more beautifully. My poor tomatoes are a little sad.

Plumcot and Apricot Tart

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: 40 mins

Total time: 55 mins

Serves: 6

A stone fruit tart like this is the perfect ending to a refreshing summer meal.

Ingredients

1 frozen Puff Pastry sheet, thawed
3 tablespoons Apricot compote (optional)
4 tablespoons granulated sugar, divided
zest of 1 Lemon
2 Fresh Plmucots, cut into wedges

Instructions

Separate 1 tablespoon of sugar and place in a bowl.
Spray the bottom of the tart pan with baking spray.
Carefully unfold the pastry sheet and roll it to fit your tart pan. A removable bottom tart pan that is 9″ square or a rectangular pan like I have will work with one pastry sheet.
Lightly flour your work surface and a rolling pin and roll the pastry to overhang the rim of the pan slightly.
Using your rolling pin, roll off the extra dough.
If using apricot compote, brush the fruit on top of the dough.
Sprinkle with1 tablespoon of sugar.
Place plum slices in the pan, lining them up, evenly.
Set aside.
Mix the remaining sugar with lemon zest and sprinkle on top of the plumcots. The sugar will clump, but once it begins cooking, will melt into the tart.
Bake at 400º for 40 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and the plums are cooked through and bubbling.
The plum cots will likely give off a lot of liquid, but will “gel” during the end of the cooking time.
Allow to cool before serving.

Serving size: 1/6th Calories: 102.3 Fat: 0.8g Carbohydrates: 18.1g Fiber: 0.1g Protein: 0.7g

Notes

One slice of this tart will cost you just 3 Weight Watchers points 102.3 calories

Filed Under: All Posts, Chicken, From Mexico, Totally American Tagged With: Apricot, Baby Food, Chicken Burger, Compote, Diet, Dinner, Fruit, Low Calorie, Tart, Tomato Stack, Tomato Tower, Weight Watchers

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