8 Point Mexican Brown Rice Casserole

Servings: 6

Ingredients:

Cooking spray   

4 cups cooked brown rice   

1-1/4 cups fat free / fresh salsa (I prefer the fresh salsa you can find in the deli and then it's not processed)

2 tsp ground cumin   

Small can of black beans (liquid drained)

5 oz frozen corn kernels, thawed   

2 oz fresh diced jalapeños (WARNING: if you don't like spicy foods you may want to used bell peppers instead or half and half)

1.5 Tbsp chili powder   

Handful of fresh spinach (you can use frozen but it would have lot of excess liquid)   

1 cup partly skimmed mozzarella cheese

2 Tbsp cilantro, fresh, chopped 

6 tbsp of light sourcream (optional garnish)

Directions:

1) Cook brown rice as per package instructions (takes roughy 30 mins).

2) Preheat oven to 375C and spray a medium sized rectangle or square casserole dish with cooking spray (I use olive oil spray) on the sides and bottom. 

3) Mix the 4 cups of rice with salsa and cumin then evenly spoon 2 cups of mixture into the bottom of the casserole.

4) Mix black beans with an immersion blender. If you do not own a hand blender use a fork or masher, the beans just won't be as mushy but they will still taste as good! Mix in corn with beans as well as jalapeños and chilli powder. Spread evenly over rice mixture. 

5) Generously lay spinach on top of bean mixture and top the spinach with 1/2 cup cheese then spoon rest of rice mixture evenly on top and at last, the remaining 1/2 cup of cheese.

6) Place casserole uncovered in oven and cook for 20 - 25 mins or until cheese is lighty browned on top. Removed casserole from oven and let cool. 

7) Mix chopped cilantro and sourcream then cut casserole into 6 portions and serve with sourcream mixture on top, if desired. 

I found this recipe, although vegetarian, to be very filling and super tasty. If you have leftovers, freeze for a quick healthy meal on the go. 

Enjoy and bonne apétit!

- Kiki xox 5 weeks in and 10.5 pounds lighter!

Recipe adapted / photo borrowed from: 

http://www.weightwatchers.com/food/rcp/RecipePage.aspx?recipeid=126221

7 Point Chicken Sausage and Peppers over Whole Wheat Noodles

Servings: 4

Vegetation:

4 large cremini (brown) mushrooms, sliced
1-1/2 peppers, largely diced  (I used red and orange peppers)
1/2 red onion, sliced
1 small zucchini, cubed

Sauce:

2 tbsp tomato paste
2-3 garlic cloves
2 tsp fresh (or dried oregano)
1/2 to 1 tsp to taste ginger powder
1 tsp tumeric
salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp sugar
28oz can of low salt tomatoes (liquid drained)

300g Chicken sausage (I used basil and chicken sausages)

4 cups, cooked, whole wheat pasta

Directions:

1) Cut all vegetables and set them aside in two separate dishes; one dish for the mushrooms and zucchini and another for the peppers and onion. Mince garlic and set aside in another bowl or ramekin.

2) Place a large pot of water on the stove and bring to a rolling boil and also heat up barbecue.

3) Spray a very light spray of cooking spray (I use olive oil spray) on a non stick frying pan and sauté the peppers and onions till they are a little soft then add mushrooms and zucchini and fry till all are still a little hard but mostly soft. Remove vegetables from skillet and set aside.

4) In warm skillet add canned diced tomatoes (with all liquid drained out) then also add all your spices including garlic. Mix well then mash tomatoes with a potato masher till they are much smaller then add tomato paste. Once it is all mixed well, add the vegetables back in to the pan and mix in with sauce. Turn element to low.

5) Add noodles to pot of boiling water and follow package instructions until cooked. Once cooked, remove from heat and measure out the correct amount of pasta and add to sauce, toss to coat.

6) While pasta is cooking, place chicken sausages on barbecue and cook till all sides are browned and it is cooked through the centre (internal temperature should be 165 degrees fahrenheit). Remove from barbecue and let rest. Should take roughly 10-15 mins)

7) Once pasta, sauce and sausages are cooked, slice sausage and measure out equal portions. Serve up pasta and top with chicken sausage.

8) Serve with salad and enjoy!


I found this recipe to be filling and very tasty. By using only fresh ingredients (except the pasta) I was able to keep the points per serving relatively low. You can adjust the spices in your sauce to suit your tastes and always start with a little less as it is always easier to add than to take away. I have not used salt in the recipe as I am trying not to use much salt, but by all means, salt at your discretion.

Thank you and bonne appetit!

- Kiki xox

Adapted from: http://m.allrecipes.com/recipe/238603/italian-style-sausage-and-peppers 

2-3 Point Mexican Flavoured Weight Watchers Veggie Soup

This soup is so tasty, freezes well and goes great alongside a salad for lunch at work or at home on the weekends (which I often sometimes forget to eat). The serving size varies based on the type of stock you use, amount of black beans you put in and how much corn you use. Everything else, other than those three items, are point free and can be used as liberally or as conservitively as suits you.

Servings: 8

3 small tomatillos
1 red pepper, diced
1 jalapeno, diced small
1/2 pablano pepper, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 red onion, diced
1-2 carrots, diced
1 medium zuchinni, cubed
1-2 cups green beans
1/2 cup frozen corn
28 oz canned tomatoes, 'no salt added' (if possible)
6 cups vegetable broth
3-5 cloves of garlic, minced
1-1/2 tbsp italian seasoning (I use more but it's always easier to add than to take away)
1 tbsp of cumin (I use more)
2-3 tbsp chili powder (I am sure I use more!)
2 tsp olive oil
1 tsp of margarine or butter (as low fat as possible)


Directions:

1) Pre-chop all vegetables and garlic into a bowl.
hardest longest
2) Once all vegetables and garlic are chopped, heat oil and melt margarine together in a dutch oven / soup pot. Add all vegetables and sauté / sweat till there are almost soft. 

3) Drain and rinse black beans then add beans, frozen corn, canned tomatoes and broth to pot and bring to a boil. While soup is coming up to a boil, add all spices except for lime juice and cilantro. Once soup comes to a boil, turn down to simmer and cook until veggies are the texture you enjoy (I always test the carrots and the celery because they tend to stay the hardest longest).

4) Once soup is finished, lay out containers and ladle in veggies one scoop into each container at a time (this way you have an even amount in each container). Once all the veggies are ladled in, evenly ladle in broth.

5) Let containers stand without lids and cool. Cover and move to freezer. I prefer to freeze my soups because that way they don't go off and it makes it easy for transport from home to work, once at work I always leave out so that it has defrosted as much as possible by lunchtime.

This soup is very filling because of the beans and I always have a nice green salad with it and get my 2 tsps of oil (flavoured flax or hemp) go nice on the salad.


Bon appétit!

- Kiki xo

Kiki is Changing Some Things

Dear Friends, Family and Pinners,

Recently I have made the decision to do Weight Watchers so I have had to change the way I eat and be a lot more conscious of what and how I prepare my food. It has been a hugely wonderful experience and I have adapted some  of my favourite recipes to suit weight watchers and have also found some new ones.

I will do my best to have accurate points plus values but it is ultimately the reader's responsibility to make sure that they are tracking their own points just in case they are having different portions or change my recipe a bit.

Thank you to all who read this and I hope that you enjoy some of my favourite recipes!

- Kiki (Lost 8.5lbs in 3 weeks!)