Tilapia with Balsamic Butter Sauce for 9 Points

Here is another entirely doable Fish recipe due to the addition of Flavor! I pair this with the Broccoli with Brown Butter and Almonds side dish for 3 additional points and actually feel Full.  You could probably shave off a point by substituting a light butter in place of regular, but what's one point?  Just kidding.  I find that the light butter seems to have a higher water content/consistency, so it might thin out the balsamic butter sauce in this one.

I have no idea why this recipe card I picked up from my local grocery store says approximate in parentheses under nutrtional information, but it does.  It seems to come out correctly points wise for me when I Figure out the points for each individual ingredient.  Maybe it depends on  how much of the sauce you take in with the fish.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 Tbsp. honey
1 Tbsp. minced shallot
1 garlic clove, minced
3 Tbsp. butter
4 (6-oz) tilapia filets
1 Tbsp olive oil

Directions:

For the sauce, combine the vinegar, honey, shallot, and garlic and bring to boiling over medium-high heat in a small sauce pan.  Reduce heat to medium and cook 5 minutes stirring occasionally or until slightly thickened.  Whish in butter 1 tablespoon at a time, stirring each addition until melted.  Remove pan from heat and set aside.

Pat the tilapia fillets dry with a paper towel and season with salt and pepper to taste.  In a large nonstick skillet heat oil over medium heat 1 minute or until hot.  Add the fillets to hot oil in skillet and cook 3 to 4 minutes per side or until fish flakes easily with a fork.

Transfer fillets to a serving platter and drizzle with sauce.  It's ready to serve!

Serves: 4
Points: 9 per serving

Nutritional Information (approximate):  370 calories, 17 g fat, 7 g saturated fat, 120 mg cholesterol, 100 mg sodium, 12 g carbohydrate, 0 g fiber, 45 g protein

Buffalo Turkey Wrap for 9 Weight Watchers Points

This recipe comes from a Better Homes and Gardens grilling recipe magazine I picked up somewhere and is the best wrap recipe I've ever tried so far.  I didn't bother grilling it outside since it's January and Freakin' cold outside, so I used an indoor double-sided grill thing I have.  It clocks in at 416 calories!

I have always avoided Blue Cheese since I was a kid.  I think I had a bad experience with it, but this creamy homemade dressing really makes the wrap. This clocks in at 9 points for me.  Get the recipe right here!

The blue cheese dressing didn't stand up very well.  I left it on the counter for a couple of hours until my eldest got home to see if he wanted one and it was suddenly very, very runny.  I made Mr. F one to take to work the next day for lunch with that.  He said it made it soggy.  I'm thinking the lemon juice breaks it down, so next time I will make the dressing minus the lemon juice, figure out what the individual serving size of the dressing is (because I had a lot left over) and possibly work in the lemon juice individually just before application for individual take-a-home-lunch servings. We'll see, but Mr. F says it still tasted good.


 

Smothered Steak Burgers for 9 Weight Watchers Points

Yum, yum, yum!  The thick slice of tomato might be a turn off to some, but I tried it as recommended in the recipe--thick.  It was good!  This comes together nicely for a satisfying 9-point burger fix.

Again, I got this recipe out of this book:

So, yet again, I will link you to the online recipe here to save myself blogging time.  The book indicates this burger clocks in at 398 calories.  If you add in a serving size of baked oven fries, such as Alexia, you can add another 90 calories for a grand total of 488 calories!  Nutritional Information for the burger is noted below:

Nutritional Information:  Calories 398, Fat 12.9 g (sat 4.4g, mono 5.1g, poly 1.4g), Proein 30.7 g, carb 38.4g, Fiber 1.9 g, Chol 41 mg, Iron 4.9 mg, Sodium 747 mg, Calc 79 mg

BLT Salad for 7 Weight Watchers Points

This was a very satisfying and Filling salad.  It's sort-of a deconstructed BLT.  I have very large salad bowls, and each serving filled 'er right up.  You can also add a bit of chicken to it to make it more of a meal salad. Each 1-ounce serving of chicken breast adds only 1 point. My book, however, says a whole 4-1/2-oz. serving of chicken breast without the skin is 3 points, but that is probably a lot of chicken to add to this salad. Basically, while the salad without chicken included is 7 points, feel free to add some for up to 10 points total (4-1/2 oz. of chicken).

Making the croutons is pretty easy.  I used to make croutons in a restaurant back in high school, but there was a lot of oil and seasoning involved.  This method recommends spraying the bread pieces with an oven spray oil in between tossing the croutons on the baking sheet.  I also added a bit of garlic powder to mine.  Keep in mind that croutons go quickly at a certain point so you need to keep a close eye on them toward the end.  I remember it being the kitchen staff joke back in the restaurant...all of a sudden you'd hear someone yell out "The croutons!" and see them running back toward the pizza oven where they were baking, including myself.  We'd walk away thinking I'll just do this real quick and that was that--time to start over.  

Again, I found this recipe online, although it was in a book I have, so I'm sharing a link to the details for both of us.  Mostly, to save me time to Focus on my weight loss more.

Tex-Mex Calzones for 9 Weight Watchers Points

I made these calzones last night, and they were a hit.  Mr. F loved, loved, loved them so he had two.  I received the below book for Christmas (bought by myself for myself while holiday shopping).  As you can see, you can choose meals for the entire day from it, including snacks, and the whole day adds up to under 1500 calories total. 

This particular calzone recipe comes out to 416 calories, and the rest of the nutritional information can be found here, as can the recipe.  I won't type it all up here, as I'm trying to save time these days for better weight-loss success meaning less time spent online.

The black bean salad, also pictured, is included on this recipe link as well clocking in at only 85 calories per serving.

This meal, as pictured (both the calzone and black bean salad), comes out to 10 points for me.  Nutritional Information for the calzone is detailed below!

Nutritional Information: Calories 416, Fat 14.1 g (sat 6.1, mono 4.9 g, poly 1.6 g), Protein 25.7 g, Carb 46.2 g, Fiber 2.5 g, Cholesterol 44 mg, Iron 2.5 mg, Sodium 771 mg, Calcium 195 mg

Mixed Berries and Maple Cream Dessert Recipe for 7 to 9 Weight Watchers Points

This Fruit-based dessert is a Family-Favorite in our household.  The points can vary as little or as much as you would like by the number of total servings you divide it into.  The original recipe indicates it serves Four, but since there are Five of us in our house, it serves Five.  The entire recipe came out to 36 points, so when divided into Four servings you get 9 points per serving, but when divided into Five servings, you get 7 points per serving. You can probably lessen the powdered sugar in the whipping cream and and leave out the nuts to trim it out a little Further as well.

Because it makes me Feel like I have come a long way in my domestic diva journey, I want to brag a little. The blueberries come from a Friend's Farm, and the maple syrup and raspberries from my own back yard. I Freeze the raspberries each Fall and use throughout the remainder of the year and make Freezer jam with them as well. This is my second year making homemade maple syrup from my own maple tree, and it is delicious! Toot toot! ;) 


Fruit Layer Ingredients:

1 (6 oz.) container fresh blackberries (about 1-1/2 cups) (I frequently used raspberries instead)
1-1/3 cups fresh blueberries
1-1/3 cups sliced fresh strawberries
2 Tbsp. sugar
1-1/2 tsp. grated orange peel

Maple Cream Layer Ingredients:

1/2 cup fat-free sour cream
2 Tbsp. pure maple syrup or honey (I use maple syrup)
1 cup whipping cream
2 Tbsp. powdered sugar
1/2 cup chopped walnuts, whole shelled pistachios, toasted sliced almonds (I use almonds)

Directions:

In a medium bowl combine all the berries, sugar, and orange peel and stir to coat. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

In a small bowl stir together sour cream and maple syrup and set aside.  In a mixing bowl using an electric mixer beat the whipping cream just until slightly thickened and add in the powdered sugar and continue mixing until stiff peaks form.  Then fold in the sour cream/maple syrup mixture.

In each dessert cup layer even amounts of the berry mixture, the maple cream, and if desired 1 Tbs. nuts. Come back in with the berry mixture, the nuts, and top off with some more cream. Serve immediately.

Servings: 4 or 5
Points: 9 for each of 4 servings or 7 for each of 5 servings

Per Serving: 375 calories, 23 g fat, 14 g saturated fat, 85 mg cholesterol, 50 mg sodium, 42 g carbohydrate, 5 g fiber, and 4 g protein.