My new 2 week menu.

My hungry monsters are ready for a new menu.  Most recipes did pretty good.  Some of my kids liked the recipes more than others, but I came out with a couple winners.  My very favorite was the coconut lime chicken and the mango chicken lettuce wraps.  Oh yummy!  They both made me very happy.  :)

My most exciting thing right now is that I refilled the propane on my grill and I'm ready to barbecue!  I find that grilling food is a great healthy way to prepare my meals.  I especially love grilled veggies.  Lots of yummy options for both main dishes and sides.  You'll see several recipes this time that uses the grill.

Ethnic:
Hamburgers.  I keep a pack of turkey burgers out for me.  The 4 p+ that the small hamburger buns are are very not worth it to me.  So I like my turkey burger wrapped in lettuce or on a sandwich thin.  I have a low sugar ketcup that I use too to keep the points low.  My turkey burger is 4 -5 p+ plain. (read the labels to get the nutrition info.  Some very lean hamburgers will be the same p+)  So add the extra points for your condiments and buns.  I load up my burger with veggies.  Yummy!

Hawaiian Chicken Kebabs (from WW)

1 pound(s) uncooked boneless skinless chicken breast(s)  
1/2 medium pineapple  
1 medium green pepper(s)  
1 medium sweet red pepper(s)  
1 large uncooked onion(s), spanish  
1/4 cup(s) pineapple juice, or orange juice  
3 clove(s) (medium) garlic clove(s), minced  
2 Tbsp low-sodium soy sauce  
1 tsp olive oil  
2 spray(s) cooking spray  
2 cup(s) cooked white rice, kept hot  
Instructions
Cut each chicken breast, pineapple, pepper and onion into approximately twenty-four 1-inch-thick pieces. Combine chicken, pineapple juice, garlic, soy sauce and oil in a large nonmetallic bowl; marinate in refrigerator for at least 1 hour and up to 24 hours.

Preheat grill. Lightly coat vegetables with cooking spray. Thread 2 pieces of pepper, pineapple, chicken and onion onto each of 8 skewers. Brush with marinade. (Note: If using wooden skewers, soak in water to prevent charring.)

Grill over medium-hot coals until chicken is completely cooked, about 8 to 10 minutes, turning kebabs every 2 minutes so they're cooked evenly on all sides. Yields 2 kebabs and 1/2 cup rice per serving.


8 p+ per serving.



Chicken/crockpot:
I'm trying this recipe here - Grilled Orange Chicken.  It does have to marinade overnight  But it sounds really good.

I'm also going to do this one - Honey Mustard Grilled Chicken.  We've done it before - usually in the oven.  But this time I'll probably try the grill and see how it turns out.




Meatless/breakfast:
The old breakfast standby will be one of the meals.  I like this recipe a lot.

Oatmeal -Buttermilk Pancakes topped with Cherries  (WW)

Ingredients
1 1/4 cup(s) buttermilk  
1/2 cup(s) uncooked quick oats  
1/2 tsp vanilla extract  
1 tsp canola oil  
2 large egg white(s)  
1 1/4 cup(s) all-purpose flour  
2 Tbsp unpacked brown sugar  
1/2 tsp baking soda  
1/2 tsp table salt  
2 cup(s) unsweetened frozen sour red cherries  
4 Tbsp reduced-calorie pancake syrup  

Instructions
Combine buttermilk, oats and vanilla; let stand, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes. Stir in oil and egg whites.

In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. Add oat mixture to flour mixture and stir until smooth.

Spoon about 1/3 cup batter onto a hot, nonstick griddle. Flip pancakes when tops are covered with bubbles and edges start to curl up.

Top pancakes with cherries and syrup. Yields 2 pancakes, 1/2 cup cherries and 1 tablespoon syrup per serving.  (8 p+)




For our second meal, we'll either do baked potatoes or a big taco salad.  (Depends on the leftovers I have at the time.)


Chicken/pork:
Skinnytaste.com has a new Slow Cooker Pulled Pork recipe here that looks really good.  She uses a Homemade Kansas City Style BBQ Sauce in it that I love the idea of.  I like that I can choose the ingredients for it and that it is so low in points.  I'm not sure the difference between Kansas style and other types of BBQ sauce but hopefully we'll love it.  :)


I'm planning on Country Style Boneless BBQ Ribs.  It's not really worth the points to me so I probably will eat something different.  I usually cook the pork with some dried onions for a couple hours on low or in my crock pot, drain the juices and then add BBQ sauce to it and finish cooking it for the remainder of the time.  3 oz is 6 p+ of the meat alone.  Add at least 2 p+ for the sauce and then whatever you're serving it with.   I work that night so I"ll probably just make myself a sandwich or a couple eggs instead.


Ground meat:
My two ground meat meals will be:
Beef Stroganoff - Slow Cooker (McCormick) from the WW site.  It's 10 p+ which includes the egg noodles.  


Ingredients
8 oz fresh mushroom(s), sliced  
1/2 cup(s) (chopped) uncooked onion(s), Chopped  
1 serving(s) McCormick Beef Stroganoff Seasoning  
1 cup(s) water  
20 oz cooked trimmed beef eye round steak or roast  
6 cup(s) cooked egg noodles  
1 cup(s) fat-free sour cream  

Instructions
Mix Seasoning packet with 1 cup of water, stir until dissolved. Pour mixture into slow cooker and mix until all ingredients are coated. cover. Let cook in slow cooker on LOW for 8 hours or HIGH for 4 hours. Stir in sour cream until well blended. Cover. Cook 10 minutes longer on LOW. Serve over cooked egg noodles, if desired.

Stuffed Pepper Soup will be my other ground meat meal.  We've had this before and it was really good.  I did add a bit of brown sugar to the soup.  It would increase the p+.

 Homestyle:

Our homestyle meals will be our very favorite family meal - Rosemary Ranch Chicken.  If you were to cook and serve it with the marinade, it would be 10 p+ per serving.  But I usually don't use much of the cooked marinade.  I think for me it would be more like 8 p+ per serving.

I have some pork tenderloin left over from last time we had it so I froze it in this marinade so that when we'll eat it, I'll just defrost the meat and it should be marinaded really good.  The recipe is titled Marinated Pork Tenderloin from Allrecipes.com.  It's a family favorite for sure!  Pork tenderloin is super low in points - 3 oz for 3 p+.  I would add another point for the marinade and serve it with brown rice/quinoa.  If you include all the marinade - cook it while you grill the tenderloin - it is 7 p+ per serving for just the meat.  Without the marinade, you're more like 5 p+ for a 4 - 5 oz piece.