Quick Turkey Casserole

Quick Turkey Casserole

Ingredients

2 cups sliced onions
1/2 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoons butter
2 teaspoons canola oil
3 ounces reduced-fat cream cheese
1 can (10-3/4 ounces) condensed reduced-fat reduced-sodium cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
2 cups cooked long grain rice
1-1/2 cups cubed cooked turkey
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup fine cornflake crumbs
1/8 teaspoon paprika

Directions

In a nonstick skillet, cook onions and sugar in butter and oil over low heat for 15-20 minutes or until onions are golden brown, stirring frequently.

Meanwhile, place cream cheese in a shallow microwave-safe bowl; cover and microwave on high for 20-30 seconds or until softened. Add soup; stir until blended. Add the rice, turkey, parsley, salt and pepper. Cover and microwave on high for 3-4 minutes or until heated through.

Toss onions with cornflake crumbs; arrange over turkey mixture. Sprinkle with paprika. Microwave, uncovered, on high for 1-2 minutes or until topping is heated through. Yield: 4 servings.

Nutritional Analysis: One serving (3/4 cup) equals 375 calories, 13 g fat (5 g saturated fat), 63 mg cholesterol, 625 mg sodium, 42 g carbohydrate, 2 g fiber, 22 g protein.
Diabetic Exchanges: 3 lean meat, 2-1/2 starch, 1 vegetable.

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Made May 12th. This recipe really is quick to put together! The longest part was carmelizing the onions. I cooked the rice up in the afternoon so that I wouldn't have to wait for it before putting the dish together which worked out really well. I had just enough crumbs left of a box of cornflakes for this recipe, so it was a good way to use them up!

I used jasmine rice because it was what I had on hand, otherwise I would have substituted brown rice. Instead of turkey I used the Tyson teriyaki chicken breast filets - which I am loving because I don't have to worry about cooking the chicken. I'm down to one last filet and then I'll have to start cooking my own chicken again! lol I also used 1 TB of margarine instead of half oil and half margarine. I realized as I was inputing this recipe into WW that I forgot to add the paprika. oops.

The dish was really good and creamy, but high in points. I did use neufchatel cream cheese so that helps. As written it is 8 points for 4 servings with 3/4 c. = serving. I dished myself 3/4 c and I think there were more than 4 servings left. I need to remeasure for myself. It's possible it made more like 6 or 8 servings.

I would definitely be interested in making this again. It would make a good standby recipe if I have rice or meat that needed used up.

Asparagus Cashew Stir Fry

Asparagus Cashew Stir Fry LT02, 190, 8 pts (includes rice)

Ingredients

1 pound fresh asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1/2 cup chopped sweet red pepper
1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon canola oil
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1-1/2 cups vegetable broth
3 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 cup cashews
1 teaspoon sesame oil
4 cups hot cooked brown rice

Directions

In a large nonstick skillet, saute the asparagus, onions, red pepper and garlic in oil until tender. Combine the cornstarch, broth, soy sauce and ginger until blended; gradually stir into the skillet. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened.

Reduce heat; add cashews and sesame oil. Cook 2 minutes longer or until heated through. Serve with rice. Yield: 4 servings.

Nutritional Analysis: One serving (about 2/3 cup asparagus mixture with 1 cup rice) equals 406 calories, 13 g fat (2 g saturated fat), 0 cholesterol, 847 mg sodium, 64 g carbohydrate, 8 g fiber, 12 g protein.
Diabetic Exchanges: 3 starch, 2 vegetable, 2 fat, 1/2 lean meat.

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Made on March 17th. I added 7 diced baby carrots with the asparagus and 1 medium chopped zucchini when I added the broth to the stir fry.

I bought a bunch of asparagus when they were on sale a few weeks ago, but I've never cooked with it before so I'm not sure if I did it right or not. When it said trimmed, I just cut off the bottoms about an inch up, then proceeded to cut the stalks into the 1-inch pieces as directed in the recipe. I used the thin stalks instead of the thicker stalks too. Most of the asparagus were fine, but we'd get one here and there that tasted more like a stick.

Everyone but Aaron seemed to like this. Jared REALLY liked it. I served with what I call Peanut Asian salad: greens (we used baby spinach), mandarin oranges, peanuts, coconut, and Toasted Sesame dressing.

Grilled Mango Glazed Ham

Grilled Mango Glazed Ham, Lt04, 5 points for steak & 2 pts for glaze or 8 points total

Ingredients

1-1/2 cups red wine vinegar or cider vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon finely chopped jalapeno pepper
1 teaspoon minced fresh gingerroot
1 medium ripe mango or 2 medium ripe peaches, peeled and cut into wedges
1 bone-in fully cooked lean ham steak (about 2 pounds)
1/8 teaspoon pepper

Directions

In a small saucepan, combine the vinegar, sugar, jalapeno and ginger. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 25-30 minutes or until glaze is thick and caramelized. Strain and cool. Place mango in a food processor or blender; cover and process until smooth. Stir into glaze; set aside.

Coat grill rack with cooking spray before starting the grill. Sprinkle both sides of ham steak with pepper. Grill, covered, over medium heat for 10 minutes on each side or until heated through. Brush both sides of ham with mango glaze; grill 5 minutes longer. Serve ham with remaining glaze. Yield: 8 servings.


Nutritional Analysis: One serving (4 ounces cooked ham with 2 tablespoons glaze) equals 251 calories, 10 g fat (3 g saturated fat), 60 mg cholesterol, 1,454 mg sodium, 20 g carbohydrate, trace fiber, 21 g protein.
Diabetic Exchanges: 3 lean meat, 1 starch, 1/2 fruit.

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Made March 6th. Points were a little tricky to calculate for this. If I entered the recipe as written (with my ham substituted), the points equaled 8. I opted not to do it that way though because we had 1 cups of glaze left that didn't come anywhere near the steak. So, I calculated points for the glaze (2 pts based on the 8 servings in the recipe) and then points for the ham steak (4). The recipe includes 2 TB of glaze, so I figured I had 1/4 serving = .5 points. So, this entree cost me 4.5 points. I rounded up for the purpose of this post to be on the safer side. With all that noted, I've tagged this recipe at 8 points for the entire recipe as given. Clear as mud?

Now onto the recipe.... I had bought peaches to use instead of mangos, but when I decided to make the Creamed Spinach as a side dish I needed to make a run to the store for the cream cheese. In the process, I found a "quick sale' bag of 3 mangos for 99 cents. Score! So, I ended up with mangos after all. There was one medium and two smaller ones, so I used the big one and the smallest one. The third one I threw in for a fruit salad with the peaches I'd originally purchased - yum!

I did not add the jalepenos, and I think soaking the flavor out of them is part of the point of simmering for 30 minutes because simmering the vinegar, sugar and ginger didn't seem to do much except make the liquid content go down. Maybe I didn't simmer them correctly because I never really saw a carmelizing - and it was on the heat for almost 45 minutes.

This is another grill recipe that never went to the grill. The ham steak I had had microwave directions, and since it was still frozen, that was the route I took. The steak came from angel food and was only 1 pound. I had some ham filets from a spiral ham I bought, so I added those to the dish too. So, to cook this I put the steak in the microwave for 5 minutes, took it out and put it in a baking dish, added the pepper (because I forgot I was supposed to do that before cooking it) and the glaze, then stuck it in the oven until the rest of dinner was ready.

Grilled certainly would have changed the flavor a little bit, but I enjoyed this anyway. The jalepenos probably would have added a fun spice to the flavor, but I don't think the boys would have appreciated it too much.

I served the steak with corn on the cob, creamed spinach and chips/crackers, and fruit salad (1 mango, 2 peaches, 1 apple, 1/4 fresh pineapple). It ended up being a very high point meal. Oops. But it was a delicious one!

Ham and Cheese Strudel

Ham and Cheese Strudel LT02, 102, 8 pts

After being intimidated by the phyllo dough for 7 years, I finally made these on Feb 14th. It turns out that it really isn't so hard to work with phyllo after all! These were pretty easy to put together and quite tasty. Our oven doesn't heat very well, so they didn't turn out as brown as the picture, but oh well. We ate these along with the Lemon Blueberry Pancakes (LT04, 98, 7 pts)

The first strudel I rolled ripped at the seams and was quite messy, so I used two sheets for the next few rolls after that. The last two I decided to try the one sheet again and had success. I think the problem was that I coated the parchment paper I was rolling them on with nonstick spray. The spray sopped the dough and made it stick to the paper.

In the cookbook, it says these make 6 servings but the website says 12. I think they cut the strudels in half to create the 12. Cutting them in half helps buffer the high points of a full strudel. Using the nutritional information given in the cookbook, the strudels should have been 5 points, but I used eggs instead of egg substitute and regular swiss cheese instead of low fat.