Banana caramel pudding cake

Banana Caramel Pudding Cake
Mmmmmm......  This recipe is from weightwatchers.com.  It makes 10 very small servings  You can find the original recipe here.


2/3 c. brown sugar, packed
2 tsp flour
1 1/3 c.  flour
3/4 c. sugar
1/3 c. chopped pecans
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1 c. mashed banana (about 2 bananas)
1/2 c. low fat milk
2 TB vegetable oil
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 c. water, boiling
2 1/4 c. fat free vanilla ice cream

Preheat oven to 350.  Combine brown sugar and 2 tsp flour.  Set aside.
Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife.

Combine 1 1/3 c. flour and next seven ingredients in a medium bowl.  Stir with a wire wisk.  Make a well in the center of the mixture.  Combine banana and next three ingredients.  Add to the flour mixture, stirring just until moist. 

Spoon batter into an 8 inch square baking pan.  Spri kle with brown sugar mixture. 
Pour 1 1/2 c. boiling water over batter.  (Do not stir).  Bake at 350 for 40 minutes or until pudding is bubbly and cake springs back when touched.  Serve warm.  Divide into individual dishes and top with :-) 2 TB ice cream.

NUTRITION
8 points plus per serving

Quinoa tabbouleh

This is actually my bowl of this recipe.  Yum!

Quinoa Tabbouleh

If you haven't read my other blog about what I think about Quinoa, you can find it here.  This is a great recipe and super healthy!  (Only some of my kids liked this.  Too many veggies for some of them.)  :)  This recipe is from allrecipes.com and can be found here.  As a side, this serves 8 - about 1 cup each.

2 cups water  (I actually recommend chicken broth instead of water for additional flavor)
1 cup quinoa
1 pinch salt
1/4 c. olive oil
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 c. lemon juice
3 tomatoes, diced
1 cucumber, diced
2 bunches green onions, diced
2 carrots, grated
1 cup fresh parsley, chopped

In a saucepan, bring water (chicken broth) to a boil.  Add quinoa and a pinch of salt.  Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 15 minutes.  Allow to cool to room temperature; fluff with a fork.

Meanwhile, in a large green bowl, combine olive oil, sea salt, lemon juice, tomatoes, cucumber, green onion, carrots, and parsley.  Stir in cooled quinoa.

NUTRITION:
Plain quinoa is 5 points plus per cup.  This recipe is also aprox. 5 points plus per cup.

Whole wheat banana waffles

Whole Wheat Banana Waffles
I tried these the other morning.  They are very good and filling.  My family loved them too.  I don't think they realized that there was bananas in it since it was blended up.  I had to quadruple it though.  :)


1/2 c. whole wheat flour
1/2 c. all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 medium banana, peeled and cut into chunks
1/2 c. fat free milk
1 TB sugar
1 TB canola oil
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla

Spray a waffle iron with nonstick spray and heat.   Place all ingredients in a blender or food processor.  Blend and scrape the sides.  Blend again until smooth.

Place 1/2 c. of the batter in the heated waffle iron;  Cook until brown, about 2 minutes.  Makes about 4 waffles. Yields 1 waffle per serving.

NUTRITION:
6 points plus per waffle

Marinated pork tenderloin

Marinated Pork Tenderloin

One of my favorite cuts of meat.  It's super lean and really tender if you don't overcook it.  This recipe is slightly sweet.  It's adapted from allrecipes.com.  Here's the original link.  

1/4 c. soy sauce

1/4 c. brown sugar

2 TB red wine vinegar or balsamic vinegar

1 1/2 tsp dried  minced onion

1 tsp cinnamon

2 TB olive oil

1 pinch of garlic powder

2 pork tenderloins, 3/4 pound each.  

Combine all ingredients in a large ziploc bag.  Mush together to mix.  Add pork, seal and refrigerate for 6 - 12 hours.  

You can grill this over high heat outside until the temp measures 160.  I also grill inside with my broiler.  I turn on the broiler and place  on top rack of my oven and turn every few minutes.  Either way, it turns out great!

The marinade you can baste your meat, toss it, or heat it up to a boil and use it as a sauce on the side.  

NUTRITION:

Cooked pork tenderloin is about 1 point plus per ounce.  If you cook and use all the marinade with the pork, your points per serving (based on 4 servings) is 7.  One serving of meat would be about 4 ounces.  

If you're tossing the marinade and just eating the meat, add 1 point per 4 ounces of meat.

Heart healthy pancakes topped with cherries and bananas

My breakfast was so yummy this morning!  Anytime I can find a good breakfast for reasonable points I am happy.  :)

Here's what I ate.  I made Lehi Roller Mills heart healthy pancake mix pancakes (basically just add water).  If you haven't ever tried this mix before, you'll really like it.  So much better than a regular white pancake mix.  It has great flavor and is a lot lot healthier. My kids love it.  One serving is 4 points.  But it's really small.  So I weighed two pancakes at 94 grams total, and then sliced a half a banana and rough chopped some frozen sweet dark cherries I just bought from Costco. (New item there and they are so so good!)  I chopped the cherries with my food chopper thing and then microwaved them for about 1 minute.  One cup of cherries is a lot.  I ate the extra after finishing the pancakes.


I topped one pancake with the banana and put another pancake on top and covered it with about 1/3 of the cherries.  Chopping and the microwaving them created some juice that I spooned on top for extra sweetness.  Yummy!  And I feel satisfied after eating the get of the cherries and my 1 cup of skim milk.
Mmmmm....

NUTRITION
One small pancake (47 grams) is 4 points plus.
Two small pancakes (94 grams) is 8 points plus.
Unsweetened fruit - 0 if it's one of your first 5 servings of the day.
Skim milk - 2 points plus
Total - 10 points plus

Maple salmon

Maple Salmon
Salmon is such a healthy fish and this is one of my favorite recipes.  The recipe comes from allrecipes.com.  It serves four - 1/4 lb salmon per serving.  Original recipe is here.

1/4 c. maple syrup
2 TB soy sauce
1 clove garlic
1/4 tsp garlic salt
1/8 tsp ground black pepper
1 pound salmon
In a small bowl, mix everything except salmon together.  Place salmon in a glass dish or plastic bag and add marinade.  Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes, turning once. 
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Bake salmon and marinade uncovered for 20 minutes until easily flaked with a fork. 

NUTRITION

7 points plus per serving if you serve with all the marinade.  The points per serving will go down if you toss the marinade or don't use it all.  Cooked salmon, unseasoned, is 6 points per 4 ounces (1/4 of a pound).

Introduction

This is a blog posted for me more than everyone else.  I need a place to keep a record of links and recipes that are family friendly and weight watcher friendly at the same time.  I hope to get a good collection that I can look back to and easily find. 
Another step towards getting organized....  :)