Recent Recipe Trials

Lots of good stuff this week!
Below is a pic of Chicken and Coconut Curry (from WW in 20 Minutes p.134), Brown Rice and Sauteed Green Beans and Red Peppers.
This was so delicious!!! The sauce was a little thin but I think it's because I used my own frozen cauliflower for the dish. I don't think that using fresh cauliflower would increase the cook time much at all and it would probably result in thicker sauce. I'll try that next time. And there will be a next time. The flavor of this dish reminded me very much of one of my favorite dishes from Thaifoon in Gateway Mall, called Evil Jungle Princess Chicken. YUM! It could have been a little spicier but that might be solved with the fresh cauliflower/thicker sauce thing next time. This time we just stirred in a little chili oil on our plates. Definitely try this one! Even Emily declared it a keeper.
Below is a pic of Pork Chops with Cranberry Pan Sauce and Butternut Squash (WW in 20 Minutes p.110) and Baby Lima Beans.
Another winner! Similar in flavor to a high calorie version that I've been making for years. Again the sauce was a little thin. I'm not sure why. Or why I'm obsessed with thick sauces. LOL But the fix was as easy as a little corn starch and water paste added at the last minute.
Everyone enjoyed this one too. Jaxon was especially fond of the squash.
"Mmmmm...Me LOVE it! Delicious!"

Some of the other recipes we tried this week were
~Moroccan Spiced Pork Chops with Apricot Couscous (from the WW website) and Roasted Asparagus. This one was pretty good but not fantastic. It would be improved by a little pan sauce from the skillet that the chops were cooked in. A little white wine and chicken broth would have made a nice sauce for the meat and couscous. Again, I have a thing for sauces I guess.
~The baked Oatmeal with Peaches was not so good. I tried too hard to reduce the calories and therefore the points per serving. It ended up just being very bland. I'd prefer to have a smaller portion of the higher calorie version with more fresh fruit. Today I made the original version using 2% milk, Splenda instead of brown sugar, and butter flavoring instead of butter. Cut into 9 servings this is only 3 points per serving. With a half cup of 2% milk on top and lots of fresh fruit this was very satisfying and about the same number of points as my usual peanut butter on toast and banana breakfast.

Now this one! This one I have changed enough to call it my own so I'll post it here.
Pre WW I was soooo not into pizza. Blech! The grease! The soggy crust! Ugh!
But I tried the Basic Cheese Pizza recipe from the WW New Complete Cookbook and we enjoyed it pretty well. My changes this week brought it to a whole new level!
Although Kenzie still won't say it's better than delivery. LOL
I disagree. It's better! And healthier!
The original recipe was pretty good but I found a way to pump up the flavor A LOT without adding points.
And except for the time to let the dough rise, it comes together pretty fast.

Basic Pizza Dough
Makes 2 (12 inch) pizza crusts
1/12 of dough (1/6 of each pizza) is 3 points

1 1/2 cups warm water
1 teaspoon sugar
1 package active dry yeast
1 Tablespoon olive oil
4 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1. In a 2 cup container, combine the water and sugar. Sprinkle in the yeast and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. Stir in the oil.

2. In Kitchenaid mixer bowl (using dough hook), combine the flour and salt. With the machine running on Speed 2, slowly pour the yeast mixture into the flour mixture. Knead for 1-2 minutes or until well mixed and dough has formed a ball.
I have to stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl after adding the yeast mixture. Then I let it knead for a couple of minutes.
Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead briefly until smooth and elastic.

3. Spray a large bowl with non stick spray; put the dough in the bowl. Cover the bowl lightly with plastic wrap (I also spray the plastic wrap with non stick spray) and let the dough rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
I put the bowl in the oven with the oven light on for warmth.

4. Punch down the dough, then cut in half. Refrigerate or freeze in floured Ziploc bags at this point or use as directed in recipe.

Fire Roasted Tomato Sauce
Makes approx. 5 cups
1 point per 1/2 cup

1 Tablespoon olive oil
2 onions, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
4 (14.5 oz.) cans fire roasted tomatoes, drained
(I used Muir Glen Organic)
1/4 cup dry red wine
2 Tablespoons tomato paste
2 Tablespoons dried Italian Seasoning blend
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)

1. Heat the oil in a large dutch oven over medium heat; add the onions and garlic. Cook, stirring frequently, until golden and softened, about 10 minutes.

2. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, Italian seasoning, salt, ground pepper and crushed red pepper; bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, until the flavors are blended and the sauce is slightly thickened, about 25 minutes.

Use the sauce, as is, if you like chunky sauce. I prefer it to be a little less chunky so I put it in the food processor and pulsed to a finer consistency.

At this point I usually use 2 cups to make pizza and then freeze 2 cups for later use. (Because I make two pizzas at a time for our family. Freezing in 1 cup portions would be more convenient for one pizza at a time.)
This week I used the remaining 1 cup of sauce for pasta for lunches and it was excellent for that purpose as well.

Pizza
1 (12 inch) pizza
Entire pizza has 27 points

1/2 recipe pizza dough, at room temperature
1 cup fire roasted tomato sauce
3/4 cup (or 3 oz.) shredded part skim mozzarella cheese
2 Tablespoons grated parmesan cheese

1)Arrange one rack on the bottom rung of the oven. Preheat oven to 500 degrees.

2)Combine the two cheeses in a small bowl.

2) Sprinkle a work surface lightly with flour. Turn dough onto the surface; knead lightly. With a lightly floured rolling pin, roll into a 12 inch circle. Transfer the circle of dough to a nonstick pizza pan or baking sheet, gently pulling the dough back to a 12 inch circle.

3) Spread the tomato sauce over the dough, then sprinkle with the cheeses. Bake on bottom rack of oven until the crust is golden and the cheeses melt, 12-15 minutes.

When I made the pizza this week I had some mushrooms I needed to use up so I sauteed them and added them after the sauce and before the cheese. Any zero point veggies would be delicious added to this pizza.