Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Grilled Tri-Tip and Squash & Onions

One of my neighbors and good friends told me I had to try tri-tip because it was the best steak she ever had!  It is a little difficult to find near me, but I think it is pretty much available at health food grocery stores.  It actually was pretty reasonably priced also.  Since I had never even heard of it before, I obviously didn't know how to cook it, so I found this site:

http://www.tipsycook.com/how-to-cook-a-tri-tip-without-ruining-it/

I didn't have the choice of trimmed or untrimmed, so I did trim a little bit of the fat off the bottom.  I didn't leave it out for their suggested time, but I did leave it out for about an hour before I cooked it.  I seasoned both sides with grill seasoning and Cavender's all purpose greek seasoning, a seasoning that a good friend and excellent steak griller turned me onto.  Mostly, because that is what I already had on hand.  I did do exactly what they suggested with the grill temp and the burners.  I did not use any oil, as they suggested, but I did spray the grill with PAM for grilling.  I cooked it for about 15 minutes on each side, but next time I may try about 10 minutes on each side.  I did let it rest for a few minutes and cut it against the grain.  It was very tasty and juicy!  I was very pleased with the outcome!  Just weigh out how much you eat, and search for a steak on WW since Tri-tip is not listed.  I ate about 6 oz., and it was 7pp.

As a side I made an old summertime staple in my family growing up, squash and onions.  I just cut up a couple of good sized squash into discs, cut up the onions into thin strips, put them in a pan with a tight fitting lid, sprinkled them with salt and pepper, sprayed a little spray butter, put enough water to come up about halfway in the pan, cover and let it cook for about 15-20 minutes, occasionally stirring.  It is 0pp for as much as you want to eat of it, and it is so good!  You could also do the same with zucchini. 

Monday, July 18, 2011

Orange-Chicken Rice Bowl

http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/orange-chicken-rice-bowl-111153.aspx

I used this recipe to make our dinner for tonight, and we really liked it!  I used light dressing, Bird's Eye Asian Medley frozen steam in the bag veggies, and I left off the peanuts just to keep the pp as low as possible.  It is 5pp for the chicken mixture.  Just add the pp for the amount of brown rice you eat.  I added crushed red pepper to add a little heat and salt and pepper.

This morning I took an Absolute Abs class and did some cardio after at the Y.

Friday, July 15, 2011

Grilled Flat Iron Steak & Grilled Fruits & Veggies

It is a little convoluted how I got to the dinner that I made tonight, but it turned out really well!  My mom brought me some vegetables that a friend had brought to her right out of their garden.  She had so many that she shared with me and I shared with some neighbors!  I wanted to use them before they went bad, so I had to get creative.  What I was wanting to use for tonight was eggplant, which I love, but I wanted to do something different, so I decided to go to the grocery store to get inspired.  Today was a beautiful day here, so I wanted to grill.  I went to the meat counter and they had some beef that I had never seen or heard of before, so I asked the butcher to help me and he told me about the flat iron steak.  It was inexpensive and he said it was the best steak he had ever had.  So I came home with it, did a google search to find out how to cook it, and I found this:

http://www.grillingcompanion.com/flat-iron-steak/

I didn't let the meat rest out of the fridge for as long as the site said, I just left it on the counter while the grill was heating up.  I just sprinkled grill seasoning on both sides.  I didn't get all fancy with the grill lines, I just cooked it for 7 minutes on each side and it was cooked perfectly!  It was very tender & juicy.  It is 5pp for 3 oz., 9pp for 6 oz.

For my eggplant, I found this article:

http://www.recipetips.com/kitchen-tips/t--857/grilling-fruits-and-vegetables.asp

Wow was it helpful!  Anytime you want to grill a fruit or veggie, you're all set!  I just sprayed each piece of eggplant with PAM for grilling.  I didn't do this, but I would suggest sprinkling the pieces with some grill seasoning or salt & pepper because they were a little bland.  You can eat all the eggplant you want for 0pp!

Monday, July 11, 2011

Chicken Stir-Fry

http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/chicken-stir-fry-50935.aspx

No offense to Kraft, because I LOVE their recipes, but I did make a lot of changes to this recipe, only for my personal preferences and to make it a little more WW friendly.

I got a bag of the frozen steam in the bag in the microwave veggies that was called Asian Medley.  The one I got had broccoli, carrots, baby cob corn and sugar snap peas, and the whole bag was right at 3 cups.  I didn't use the chicken strips, I just used regular chicken and cut it up.  I only used 1/4 cup of fat free dressing instead of adding the other 2 Tbsp.  I used lower sodium soy sauce.  Instead of garlic powder I used garlic cloves.  I added salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper flakes to give it just a little kick.

I cooked the chicken on medium high heat with salt, pepper and crushed red pepper until it was done in a skillet.  I steamed the veggies like it said on the package.  I added the garlic with the chicken and cooked for a minute.  Then I added the veggies, the dressing and the soy sauce.

I changed it to 4 servings from 2.  It is 4pp for about a cup of the mixture.  I just added the amount of rice I was going to eat to that.  On some nights if I'm not really hungry or I don't have a lot of pp left for dinner, I may only use a half bag of brown rice (4pp).  Tonight I'm using a full bag of brown rice (8pp).

This dinner was really good, really easy to make and very filling!  It honestly tasted just like the Pei Wei Spicy Chicken that I got stock velveted on Saturday, except it was a lot less pp!

This morning I did an hour of cardio at the Y.

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Cheesy Chicken & Salsa Skillet

http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/cheesy-chicken-salsa-skillet-111246.aspx

This is what I made for dinner tonight and it was really good, really easy and very filling!

I used the WW Mexican Shredded Cheese instead of the Kraft, and it lowered the pp from 11 to 10.