Rotini Chicken Casserole

Rotini Chicken Casserole, LT03, 7 points

Ingredients

2-3/4 cups uncooked tricolor rotini or spiral pasta
3/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon Crisco® Pure Olive Oil
3 cups cubed cooked chicken breast
1 can (10-3/4 ounces) reduced-fat reduced-sodium condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted
1-1/2 cups fat-free milk
1 package (16 ounces) frozen Italian-blend vegetables
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded reduced-fat cheddar cheese
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
1-1/4 teaspoons dried thyme
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup crushed cornflakes

Directions

Cook pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a nonstick skillet, saute onion, celery and garlic in oil until tender. Drain pasta; place in a bowl, Add the onion mixture, chicken, soup, milk, frozen vegetables, cheese, parsley, thyme and salt.

Pour into a shallow 3-qt. baking dish coated with cooking spray. Cover and bake at 350° for 25 minutes. Sprinkle with cornflakes; spritz with cooking spray. Bake, uncovered, 10-15 minutes longer or until heated through. Yield: 8 servings.

Nutritional Analysis: One serving (1-1/3 cups) equals 341 calories, 7 g fat (3 g saturated fat), 56 mg cholesterol, 698 mg sodium, 40 g carbohydrate, 3 g fiber, 28 g protein.
Diabetic Exchanges: 3 lean meat, 2 starch, 1 vegetable.

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Made on March 5th (kinda). I had planned on serving this on Wed, but dinner changed to pizza for the kids and Houlihan's for us (yay What What Wednesday!). I was being good and had already started preparing dinner when the plans changed. So, I just put it all together and stored it in a bowl until it was time to make it. This worked out really well. The only kink was in which dish to actually prepare it in. My guess is that a 3 qt dish would be about a 9x13 pan, but since mine have all gone MIA that wasn't really an option. My 11x14 or whatever the next size up is would have been fine to use for it, but it was being used to deliver dinner to another family. I tried to use a 7x10? but that was too small. This recipe makes a LOT. I then settled on two 8x8 pans. I filled one 8x8 and realized there was still enough in the 7x10 that I might as well not dirty another pan.

This recipe is pretty simple to prepare. The hardest part was finding Italian blend vegetables. I finally had to google it to figure out what vegetables were in it to find it that way. As it turns out, Italian is no longer the chic word. It's Mediterranean. So, look for Mediterranean blend vegetables instead of Italian blend.

Raspberry Thyme Chicken

Raspberry Thyme Chicken LT03, 129, 7 points

Ingredients

1/2 cup chopped red onion
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1-1/2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (4 ounces each)
1/3 cup seedless raspberry preserves
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1/8 teaspoon pepper

Directions

In a nonstick skillet, saute onion in oil until tender. Meanwhile, sprinkle thyme and 1/4 teaspoon salt over chicken; add to skillet. Cook for 5 minutes on each side or until chicken juices run clear. Remove to a serving plate and keep warm.

In the same skillet, add the preserves, vinegar, pepper and remaining salt. Cook and stir over medium-low heat until preserves are melted and sauce is heated through. Serve with chicken. Yield: 4 servings.


Nutritional Analysis: One serving (1 chicken breast half with 2 tablespoons sauce) equals 227 calories, 4 g fat (1 g saturated fat), 66 mg cholesterol, 383 mg sodium, 21 g carbohydrate, trace fiber, 27 g protein.
Diabetic Exchanges: 3 meat, 1 starch.

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Made today, March 1st. This is another of those WW point discrepencies. According to the nutritional info, it should be 5 points. But, mine came out to 7 points.

I used the flash frozen breast fillets and didn't give them enough time to thaw before I started cooking them, so it took longer than the 5 minutes per side. Since your supposed to cook the chicken and then the sauce, I put the chicken in the oven to keep warm and make sure it was done while the sauce was cooking. After the sauce was finished, I added it to the dish and put it all back in the oven until the rest of dinner was ready. The extra heat caused the rapberries to go brown so it lost some of that color appeal. But, it didn't detract from the taste. I used homemade strawberry jam instead of the seedless raspberry preserves it called for too.

I am curious how well this recipe would do in the crockpot. I make a cranberry chicken that is just chicken breasts and a can of cranberries that turns out really well. I think this would be return a very similar result. Maybe one day I'll be adventurous. If I'd had the 3 hours for the crockpot I would have done it tonight.

This was really yummy. Jared gave me a big thumbs up for the first couple of bites, but then had a hard time finishing it. Aaron ate a few pieces, but he was more interested in the brown rice I served with it than the actual chicken.

Cheesy Beans and Rice

Cheesy Beans and Rice LT03, 186, 5 points for 8 servings

Ingredients

1 cup uncooked brown rice
1 can (16 ounces) kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 large onion, chopped
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 can (14-1/2 ounces) diced tomatoes and green chilies, undrained
2 teaspoons chili powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1-1/4 cups shredded reduced-fat cheddar cheese, divided

Directions

Cook rice according to package directions. Transfer to a bowl; add the beans. In a nonstick skillet, saute onion in oil for 4-5 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, chili powder and salt. Bring to a boil; remove from the heat.

In a 2-qt. baking dish coated with cooking spray, layer a third of the rice mixture, cheese and tomato mixture. Repeat layers. Top with remaining rice mixture and tomato mixture.

Cover and bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until heated through. Uncover; sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake 5-10 minutes longer or until cheese is melted. Yield: 6 servings.


Nutritional Analysis: One serving (1 cup) equals 306 calories, 7 g fat (3 g saturated fat), 13 mg cholesterol, 470 mg sodium, 47 g carbohydrate, 9 g fiber, 15 g protein.
Diabetic Exchanges: 2-1/2 starch, 2 lean meat, 1 vegetable.

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I made this last night (Feb 26th) for a girl's night with Mexican themed food. This is not a dish that is new to me. I have made it a few times before, and it's usually well received by everyone but my family :)

When I've made it in the past I've always used white rice, but this time I used brown like it calls for in the recipe. It is good either way. The recipe calls for 1 c. of rice, but I cooked 2 cups and used almost all of it. The cheese helps soften the bite of the Ro-tel, and the flavors all blend really well.

The WW points came out to 5 points for 8 servings. I mentally divided the dish into 8 pieces, but one could easily get double that for smaller portions.

Turkey Sausage with Root Vegetables

Turkey Sausage with Root Vegetables LT03, 134, 7 pts

Made Feb 5th. There is a 3 point difference between the published nutritional info and my final product. I used John Morrel's polish sausage for my sausage and well, that's just full of points!

I wasn't too sure about this dish. I chose it because we had the sausage in the freezer. However, Matthew and I ended up really liking it. The boys on the other hand, did not.

Tex-Mex Turkey Tacos

Tex-Mex Turkey Tacos LT03, 151, 6pts for 2 tacos

These were made on Feb 18th (Thurs) and were finally all gone yesterday (Feb 22nd). This made so much taco filler that we were really tired of eating it. That aside, I liked that it is a low point meal. A serving of the taco meat is 1/3 cup which fills the taco half full. The carrots were an interesting twist, but they weren't a bad addition.

I don't think we'll make these again any time soon just because we got tired of eating all the leftovers, but I would make them again.

Spicy French Dip Sandwiches (Crockpot)

Spicy French Dip LT03, 116, 7 pts

Made on Feb 17th. This is one of those rare recipes where the published nutritional info and my final product actually match point values. The meat part is only 3 points, but once you add the bread product it makes 7 points. I used whole wheat bolillos as our breading.

I really liked these. It was so simple to put together and the meat was really juicy and flavorful. I did not add the can of jalepenos because we don't do spicy too well. I had a 24 oz pork roast on hand, so that it was I used even though the recipe calls for beef sirloin tip roast.

Makeover Creamy Broccoli Casserole

Makeover Creamy Broccoli Casserole LT03, 93, 5 pts

Made on Feb 9th and served with the Cream of Cauliflower Soup (LT02, 36, 4 pts). According to the nutritional information, this should have been 3 points but I guess I didn't use enough of the low fat options to keep the points down.

The mayo gives this dish a very distinctive flavor. Matthew and I liked it, but I couldn't eat a lot of it at a time.

Braised Pork Chops

• Braised Pork Chops LT03, 156, 6 pts

Made on Feb 16th. Let me just say, WOW!! I thought these were SO amazingly delicious. Jared really liked them, but Aaron and Matthew could have cared less. Matthew is not a pork fan, so it's no surprise that he was less than impressed. I served these over brown rice which was the perfect pairing for the sauce.

6 points is quite reasonable for this dish because just the pork chop is 4 points. The apple juice in the recipe adds the extra 2 points. Worth every bite though!