Creamy Chicken Salad

PP = 5


I am not really a salad person...unless it's CHICKEN SALAD!!!  This is a very basic recipe and would be easy to adapt to your preferences. 

4 oz boneless/skinless chicken breast, cooked and shredded
2 wedges of Laughing Cow Lite
1 tbs Hellman's Light Mayo
3 tbs Mt. Olive Sweet Pickle Relish, No Sugar Added (w/ Splenda) OR dill relish
1 stalk of celery, chopped
2 tbs finely chopped red onion
dash of garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients until well combined.

**Options**

Would also be great with diced green apple or green grapes and they would not add pts!

Hearty Lasagna

PP = 8.2  per serving, recipe makes 12 servings.

A traditional lasanga that even the pickiest eaters will love.  It also freezes beautifully so eat one/freeze one!

8.6 oz of Great Value Oven Ready lasagna noodles
15 oz Great Value Part Skim Ricotta Cheese
16 oz Great Value Low Moisture Part Skim  Mozzarella Cheese (grated)
House Meat Sauce (recipe to follow)

House Meat Sauce:
(PP = 32)
2lbs lean ground beef (93/7)
2  29oz cans of Hunts tomato sauce
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tbs dried oregano
1 tbs sage
3 large bay leaves
Kosher salt to taste

In a large pot, brown beef and drain well.  Add next 7 ingredients and stir until well combined.  Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce heat to low.  Allow to simmer for at least an hour.

**I use a Pyrex 4.8 quart pan for this lasagna and it takes 4 whole noodles and two 3/4 noodles to make each of the two layers (8.6 oz).  **

1st layer:  In your pan lay 4 whole noodles side by side, this will leave a gap on one end of the pan.  Lay 2 of the shorter noodles across this gap (perpendicular to the other noodles).

2nd layer:  Use a spoon to add 1/3 of the Ricotta in little dollops right on the dry noodles

3rd layer:  Add 1/2 of the meat sauce to the first two layers...use the bottom of your ladle or spoon to smooth out the ricotta dollops as you go. 

4th layer:  Sprinkle 6 ounces of the mozzarella cheese evenly over the top of the sauce.

Repeat layers 1-3 and then repeat the 2nd layer using last 1/3 of Ricotta

Finish by covering the top with the remaining 10oz of shredded mozzarella.
Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes or until the cheese is golden and bubbly.

OPTIONS*
For a tangy sauce add a little balsamic vinegar to the sauce.  Crushed red pepper flakes will give your sauce a little heat.

If you happen to be cooking for non-picky eaters consider adding diced onions to the sauce, layering mushroom and/or tomato slices right in the sauce as you build your lasagna.

The Panic...

was staved off by sheer denial.  It was almost Scarlett O'Haraishy how I managed to put off even finding a single recipe until the day we actually began.

Day one was not pretty.  I was hungry and lack of carbs allowed the panic to break through the thick mac-n-cheese wall of denial.  I seriously doubted my ability to pull this off...how do you change the eating habits of 5 people?  While only 2/5 need to lose weight I really need to re-train all of us on what not to eat.

No easy task when most of them are picky eaters.  It is not easy to bulk up a recipe when they will not eat peppers, onions, mushrooms, tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower or celery. 

A challenge was born...find foods that make this a lifestyle change and not a punishment.  I am trying to come up with recipes that appeal to the picky eaters and still allow us to follow WW.  I will share them here as developelope.

In the mean time...things I wish I knew 6 weeks ago:

• Fat free cheese is a product of the devil-seriously-my dogs won't eat it and I have seen them delight over things too gross to mention here.
• Oscar Meyer 98% fat free hot dogs are yummy.  They do kind of make a "screaming" noise when grilled but they really do taste great. 
• Castleberry Hot Dog Sauce (chili) has 0 pts.  This means that with one of the hot dogs (1 pt) mentioned above and a hot dog bun (2pts) you can have a honking big chili dog for 3 pts!
• 1 ounce of baked chips is a lot more than you think
• 2 wedges of Laughing Cow = 1 pt!!!!!! 
• Trop 50 1pt  per cup....ummy.
• My SIL told me that I should use my handy-dandy calculator to estimate the pts for not just 1 serving but 2.  Do the math for Fat free sour cream - 1 serving 0pts, 2 servings=1pt, 3 servings-1pt...so you can have 6 flipping TBS of fat free sour cream for 1 pt....ohhhhhh mama.
• Making your own pasta sauce is the key to keeping pts in check.

Plan to post a great recipe for a very hearty cheesy lasagna tomorrow...