HUMMUS!!

HUMMUS!!
2.5 points for 1/4 cup of hummus (or 15 points if you eat the whole thing in one sitting... believe me, it can be done!). 1 point for half of a whole wheat pita.

I made hummus and pita chips today. I had not made hummus in forever and I was just so blissed out eating it.

Hummus

Ingredients

• 1 15oz can of garbanzo beans
• 4-6 cloves of garlic (no substituions here!)
• 2 Tbl olive oil
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1 tsp paprika
  
• juice of 1 lemon
• dash of salt
  

Directions

• In small sauce pan, heat olive oil over low heat
• Add garlic, oregano and red pepper flakes and "fry" until garlic is brown (be careful... it's easy to burn garlic. If you burn it, you have to throw it all out, wash the sauce pan and restart. You don't want burned garlic taste!)
• Place garlic in food processor (leave the oil, oregano and red pepper flakes in the pan) and process until minced.
  
• Drain garbanzo beans and reserve liquid
• Add beans to food processor and process for few minutes. Add a little of the bean liquid (maybe 2 Tbs or less) to get a thick paste consistency. Don't add too much liquid because you don't want it runny. Remember that you are still going to add lemon juice and the oil later.
  
• Add the lemon juice and continue running the food processor
• While the processor is running, slowly stream the olive oil, oregano and red pepper flakes in.
• Keeping the food processor running, add paprika and a little salt.
  
• Process until the texture is fairly smooth.
• Taste and add more oregano, red pepper flakes, paprika and salt as needed. (I usually need to add more of each).

Pita Chips

Ingredients

• 1 whole wheat pita (or however many you want to make)
• Garlic powder
• Oregano

Directions

• Preheat oven to 425
• Cut pita into eighths, then separate each wedge to make 16 pieces
• Spread pita wedges onto baking sheet and spray with Pam
• Sprinke with garlic powder and oregano
• Spray again with Pam
• Bake for about 7 minutes. Just like the tortilla chips, these can go from almost done to burnt very fast, so keep an eye on them. You'll notice in my picture below that some of them got a little too done.
  

Enjoy!!

Falafel with tzatziki sauce
2.5 points total (1 point for the falafel patty, 1 point for the 1/2 pita, .5 point for the tzatziki)

I made falafel sandwiches for dinner last night. Boy were they good and filling!!

Tzatziki sauce
Make this as far in advance as possible. I gets better as it sits together!

Ingredients

• 1 8oz container of ff plain yogurt
• 1/2 cucumber, seeded and minced
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1/2 tsp dill
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tsp olive oil
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• salt to taste

Directions

• After mincing cucumber, press between two paper towels to get rid of excess water
• Mix together all ingredients

Falafel

Ingredients

• 1 15oz can garbanzo beans
• 1/2 small onion
• 4 cloves of garlic (or 1 tsp garlic powder)
• 1/4 bunch fresh parsley
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp ground coriander
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp black pepper
• 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 cup dried bread crumbs

Directions

• I used coriander seeds (did you know that is the seed of the cilantro plant??) and ground them up using a mortar and pestle:
• Coarsley chop onion
• Place onion, garlic, parsley, cumin, coriander, salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper and baking soda in food processor and process until finely chopped.
• Add garbanzo beans a little at a time, and process until finely chopped.
• Transfer to a bowl and fold in bread crumbs until fully mixed in.
• Divide mixture into 8 equal patties
• Spray skillet with Pam and heat over medium heat
• Place patties in skillet and spray tops with Pam
• Cook until bottom is brown, then flip over and cook other side

To serve, place one patty, lettuce, onion, tomato* and tzatiki sauce in half a whole wheat pita. I had some baby carrots with more tzatiki sauce with mine.
Or you can go Atkins** style and make a lettuce wrap for only 1.5 points:
*I didn't have any fresh tomatoes last night but I wished I had.
**Note, I have never been on the Atkins diet... I just wanted to try a falafel with a piece of lettuce wrapped around it!!

Quick Tostada Dinner
3.5 WW points for 2 Well, we were running out of groceries, so I whipped up some quick tostadas (I just call them tacos) last night.

Ingredients

• 6 Corn tortillas (if you want to make tortilla chips, use more and cut them into eighths)
• 1 15oz can of pinto beans
• 1 Tbs chili powder
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
  
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp cumin
• dash of cayenne pepper
• 2 Tbs salsa (more if you want to spread salsa onto your tacos)
  
• Shredded cheese
  

Directions

• Preheat oven to 425
• Bake tortillas until brown and crispy, about 10 minutes (note that chips will be done quicker.) Keep an eye on the tortillas because they can go from "almost done" to "totally burnt" REALLY fast.
• Place can of beans into saucepan (don't drain). I mashed up my beans using a wire whisk.*
• Add chili powder, garlic powder, oregano, cumin, cayenne and salsa and stir until well mixed.
• Heat through.

• Spread 2 Tbs of beans onto each tortilla, add salsa and about 1 Tbs cheese**
• Jeff put his in the microwave to make nachos (aka "Jeffchos").
  
• You will probably have beans left over. They would make a great dip! Or you could add more to your tacos for more points.
  

*I guess I could buy refried beans, but I never think of it.
**I wish we would have had lettuce, fresh tomatoes and ff sour cream!

Mexican Black Beans and Rice
5 WW points

I was going to make Cajun Red Beans and Rice, but I only had one can of Kidney Beans and I had no cans of tomatoes left. Since I had black beans and some of my homemade salsa, I decided to make a Mexican Black Beans and Rice dish instead. Hands on time for this meal was only about 10 or 15 minutes. Of course, the rice takes a while to cook. But I think this is one of the fastest (hand-on wise) things I have made and it was REALLY good!

Rice Ingredients

• 1 cup uncooked brown rice
• 2 Tbs Chili Powder
• 1 tsp cumin
• 2 Tbs finely chopped cilantro
• 2 1/2 cups water

Directions

• Up until a few days ago, I didn't know you could cook rice in the microwave! It turns out just as good and there's no chance of burning it, which I normally do when I cook rice on the stove.
• In 2 quart microwave safe dish, mix rice, chili powder, cumin and cilantro
• Add water and cover the dish
  
• Follow cooking instructions on rice package - I used Mahatma brown rice and their microwave instructions were to cook on high power for 5 minutes, then reduce power to 50% and cook for 40 minutes. (Note: White rice takes about half the amount of time to cook, but its not a whole grain). The instructions said to let the rice sit for 5 minutes after cooking, but we didn't and it was just fine.

Black Beans Ingredients

• 1/4 onion, minced
• 2 - 4 garlic cloves, minced (or 1/2 to 1 tsp of garlic powder)
  
• 2 15oz cans of black beans
• 2 tbs cilantro, finely chopped
  
• 1/2 cup salsa (canned tomatoes would work, too)
• 2 Tbs chili powder
• 1 tsp cumin
• 2 tsp oregano
  
• dash of cayenne pepper (if you want it spicy)

Directions

• Spray sauce pan with Pam and heat
• Saute onion and garlic for a few minutes
• Add cans of black beans and stir
• Add cilantro, chili powder, cumin, oregano, cayenne pepper and salsa and stir.
• Heat through

Scoop 1/2 cup of rice and 1/2 cup beans into a bowl for 4 points worth of deliciousness. I added about 1/4 cup of shredded mexican cheese, which added about 1 point. Jeff didn't add cheese, but crumbled crackers on top of his for probably 1 or 2 points.

Other things to top this off with would be salsa, fat free sour cream or plain yogurt, or some fresh cilantro.

My world famous pizza that makes Jeff cry!
WW points value: 3.5 per slicePizza Dough

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups wheat flour (or oatmeal ground in a food processor*)
  
• 2 cups white flour
• 1 pkg yeast (2 1/4 tsp)
• 1 cup very warm water
• 2 Tbs olive oil
• 1 - 2 Tbs Italian seasoning (optional)

Directions

• Use a mixer with a dough hook, a food processor with a dough setting, or a bread machine on dough setting, Or you could go old fashioned and knead by hand. I use a KitchenAid with a dough hook, so my instructions are for that. Don't use a speed higher than 2 when mixing dough.
  
• Mix together wheat flour, yeast and Italian seasoning, if using
• Add water and oil and mix, scraping down with a spatula as needed
• Slowly add the 2 cups of white flour
• Mix until the all of the dough has been on the hook for a minute or two. If it seems dry and it's not getting on the hook, add VERY small amounts of water at a time. If it seems very sticky, add VERY small amounts of flour at a time.
• Pull dough off of hook and spray with Pam. Turn dough over in bowl to cover with Pam.
• Cover bowl with plastic wrap, then with a kitchen towel and place in oven. To warm the oven, you can turn it on the lowest temp for a minute BEFORE putting the bowl in. MAKE SURE you turn it off before putting the bowl in.
• Let rise in the oven for 1.5 - 2 hours.
• Remove from oven... dough is ready to use! I use half of the dough for a very thin, crunchy crust. (Freeze other half for later use). You could use the whole recipe for a thicker, softer crust, but this would obviously increase the points value.

While dough is rising, make the sauce

Ingredients:

• 1 tsp olive oil (or spray pot with Pam)
• 1/4 onion, minced
• 4 garlic cloves (or 1 tsp garlic powder)
• 1 Tbl Italian seasoning
• 1 - 2 tsp red pepper flakes
• 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
  

Directions:

• Heat pan with oil or Pam
• Add onion and garlic and saute for a few minutes
• Add Italian seasoning and red pepper flakes, stir and heat for a minute
• Add tomatoes, stir and heat through. Add more Italian seasoning and red pepper flakes to taste
• This makes about 3.5 cups, which you could stretch over 4 pizzas. Freeze what you don't use.

PIZZA TIME!

Ingredients:

• Pizza dough
• Sauce
• 4 oz mozzarella cheese**
• Any toppings you want to add
  

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 425
• Spread dough over pizza pan
• Bake in oven for 12 minutes
• After dough is baked, spread about 3/4 to 1 cup of sauce over dough
• Sprinkle cheese evenly over pizza
• Add toppings. I've been known to add fresh tomatoes, onions, olives, and bell peppers. Jeff just likes cheese on his half. Sometimes he wants tomatoes.
• Bake in oven for 10 - 12 minutes
• Remove and let sit for about 5 minutes (this makes it easier to cut)
• Cut into 8 slices, serve and enjoy!

*I suspect that the wheat flour that you buy at the supermarket is NOT whole grain. A cheaper alternative is to buy oatmeal and grind it. Oatmeal is definitely whole grain and therefore healthier.

**Mozzarella is usually shredded very thick. I chop it up in the food processor so that 4 oz spreads much further.

Good bye, old friend!

I used the last of my 3 liter jug of Extra Virgin Olive Oil that I bought over 2 years ago from World Market. It lived in 3 houses with me and never went bad. I'm just so thankful that the last thing I made with it was the dough for the crust of my world famous pizza.

R.I.P.

Vegetarian Black Bean Enchiladas
About 4.5 weight watchers points for 2 enchiladas

Last night, I made vegetarian black bean enchiladas. They were so yummy... Jeff said that they were ALMOST better than my pizza!!

Before you start, you have to make a batch of salsa. (Skip this step if you are using my Easier Enchilada Sauce.)


Ingredients for salsa:

• 1 28oz can of crushed tomatoes
• 1-2 jalapenos
• 1 small onion
• 4 cloves garlic (or 1tsp garlic powder)
• 1 bunch of cilantro
  

Directions for salsa:

• Coarsely chop jalapenos, onion, garlic and cilantro and place into blender or food processor. Process until finely chopped.
• Open can of tomatoes and put into large bowl
• Fold onion mixture into tomatoes until completely mixed

Now, for the enchiladas!!

Ingredients for sauce: (Or you can try making my Easier Enchilada Sauce!)

• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1/4 onion, minced
• 4 garlic cloves or 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp oregano
• 2 or 3 Tbs chili powder
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 2 cups salsa
• 1 cup water

Directions for sauce:

• Heat olive oil and saute the onion and garlic for a few minutes - add the next 4 ingredients and stir. It will become a little dry and thick, so you can add a little of the water
• Add salsa and stir through
• Add water and stir through
• Heat through

Ingredients for enchiladas:

• 1 recipe of Enchilada Sauce (or you can make my Easier Enchilada Sauce!)
• 12 corn tortillas
• 1 can of black beans
• 1 cup of shredded cheese

Directions for enchiladas. (You might want to try my Variation of Black Bean Enchiladas for an easier prep!)

• Soak the tortillas in the enchilada sauce for a few minutes (you may want to let the sauce cool a little). Soaking isn't totally necessary but it helps keep the tortillas from cracking when you roll them up. It does sort of make them soggy, so you have to be careful and not break them when you handle them. But even if your tortillas are cracked or broken, its OK because everything gets covered w/ sauce and cheese and you can't even see the tortillas! If you don't soak, then just dip them into the sauce before rolling them up!
• Spray 9x13 casserole dish w/ Pam, then add about 1/2 cu of sauce to bottom of the pan
• Place 1.5 Tbl of black beans inside each tortilla and roll up into casserole dish. You may have some beans left over. Just put them anywhere you can once the tortillas are all rolled up.
• Scoop rest of enchilada sauce over the top
• Cover with cheese
• Cook for about 25-30 minutes in 350 degree oven

Welcome to my food/cooking blog. As I make things in my kitchen, I'll post recipes and pictures here!! If I know the Weight Watchers points values, I'll include that, too.