Weight Watchers - Week 19

Sloppy Joes - 7 points (1/4 recipe). Serve over a slice of bread (2 points) or in a hamburger bun (4 points). You can bring the points down to 4 points per serving by using ground turkey breast, but I think the flavor takes a hit if you do.  Serve with a raw fruit & veggie tray, salad, or roasted veggies. Add-ons for family could be potato salad, chips, dip for veggies, and/or dessert.

Pork & Sauerkraut - 6 points (4 oz of meat).  This is one of my favorite meals, serving the sauerkraut over 1 small boiled potato.  Don't be afraid to try this, even if you think you don't like sauerkraut.  During the extended time of cooking the kraut with the meat, the flavor is much mellower and the meat takes on a great taste.  A great side dish would be applesauce or sliced apples, or you could even ad the sliced apples in before cooking. Add-ons for family could be bread, additional potatoes, and/or dessert.

Grilled Garlic Lime Chicken Kabobs - 7 points (1/4 recipe using 1 lb chicken breast and 1/2 cup of oil).  Just about everyone loves kabobs, especially kids.  Use lots of veggies and let your imagination be your guide. I like to do separate kabobs for the meat and the veggies since often the veggies take a little longer to grill. Forgo the dressing on your lettuce if you use it.  Serve with salad with a squeeze of lemon instead of dressing, 1/2 cup rice (3 points), or coleslaw with 2 tablespoons regular dressing (5 points).  Add-ons for family could be potato salad, bread, and/or dessert.

Maple Soy Salmon - 7 points. (1/4 recipe) Very easy and only 4 ingredients.  Serve with roasted veggies, a salad with reduced fat dressing (2 tablespoons are 3 points), or 1/2 cup rice (3 points). Add-ons for family could be baked potato, bread, potato salad, and/or dessert.

Greek Zucchini Noodles - 7 points (1/4 recipe, no added meat).  These sound delicious.  All the points are in the olives and feta, so feel free to adjust there if you want.  Rachael is our Zoodles expert, so she can weigh in with any adjustments if she tries this recipe.  Add-ons for family could be added meat, bread, and/or dessert.

Easy Salsa Chicken Salad (Slow Cooker) - 5 points (1/8 chicken, 1/4 cup of each corn and black beans per serving). This is really simple and quick, cooks in about 4 hours in a slow cooker.  The leftover chicken (if there is any) would also be great in a sandwich or as taco filling in a corn tortilla. Add-ons for family could be chips, rice, bread and/or dessert.

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Honey Siracha Zoodle Bowl

One of the first things most people seem to do when they start a diet is to cut carbs. This is inherently problematic for me - I LOVE pasta. I could eat pasta every day. It's a fairly regular part of our diet. Sure, you can buy whole wheat, protein packed, or even pasta made with veggies - but it's still not the greatest food choice. As far as Weight Watchers points go, it is most certainly a bad choice. I purchased a spiralizer over a year ago, but I've only recently started making zoodle bowls. If you haven't heard of them already - zoodles are noodles made out of zucchini. You can actually use a spiralizer to make a ton of veggies into noodles. I have lots of these recipes saved. My first few zoodle recipes weren't a hit and I really didn't get what all the fuss was about, but the bowls I've been making lately have been superb. The last veggie noodle bowl I posted was actually a cold cucumber salad, topped with honey siracha salmon.

What I've learned is that there is two tricks to zoodle bowls. First, I prefer to peel my veggies. You can totally make zuchinni noodles with the skin on, but I don't think it really hits the spot as far as a noodle replacement goes. Again, personal preference. The second trick is to drain your zoodles. Generously salt them, and place them in a strainer for a good 20 minutes. This will get a lot of the excess fluid out. You'll be shocked by how much water is left behind.

I've been looking recipes that allow us to branch out some. I'm usually willing to eat all sorts of food when I am out to eat, but rarely try to make anything even remotely exotic at home. This Honey Sriracha Chicken Zoodle Bowl from Almost Super Mom most definitely fit the bill.

I followed the recipe, but I cheated a bit: I used already cooked chicken... Using already cooked chicken, specifically Costco rotisserie chicken makes every recipe cook a tad bit faster. I cut out marinating, and cooking the chicken. I did cook it in the marinade sauce. I suppose it would have a more intense flavor, if I had marinated and cooked raw chicken, but it tasted delicious, and ease of cooking really matters in my world. Click here for the recipe and give this one a try.

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