NYBNY Challenge October (closed group)

SORRY I DIDN'T POST A TIP OR RECIPE LAST WEEK , MY DAUGHTER JUST TOLD ME HOW TO DO IT... DDDUUUHHH!!!!!!

Jess, your star is shining bright. Good job!!!!

YAY!!! My name is Melissa though or missy...lol

I've been called much worse...lol

Good job Team Thin It To Win It! And to Jessica!

Congrats, Thin it to Win it! I hope you enjoy the loan of the trophy. :drinker:

Here's my recipe for today: Crock Pot Turkey White Bean Pumpkin Chili (perfect for Fall!)

from: http://www.skinnytaste.com/2011/10/crockpot-turkey-white-bean-pumpkin.html

Crock Pot Turkey White Bean Pumpkin Chili
Gina's Weight Watcher Recipes
Servings: 9 • Serving Size: 1 cup • Old Points: 3 pts • Points+: 3 pts
Calories: 182.6 • Fat: 2.3 g • Protein: 23.3 g • Carb: 10.9 g • Fiber: 8.8 g • Sugar: 2.1
Sodium: 429.8 (without salt)


Ingredients:

cooking spray (I use my misto)
2 lb 99% lean ground turkey
1/2 tsp olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp chili powder, to taste
2 bay leaves
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp oregano
2 (15 oz cans) of white northern or navy beans, rinsed and drained
15 oz can pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
4.5 oz canned chopped green chile
2 cups low sodium, fat free chicken broth
fat free sour cream for topping (optional)
chopped cilantro and chives for topping (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Heat a large heavy saute pan over high heat and lightly spray with oil. Add meat and cook, breaking it up until white, about 5 minutes. Add to crock pot.
2. Add oil to the saute pan, then onions, garlic, sauté about 3 - 4 minutes; add cumin and sauté another minute.
3. Add to crock pot. Add beans, pumpkin puree, green chilis, broth, chili powder, oregano, and bay leaves. Cover and cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours.
4. Remove bay leaves and adjust seasoning to taste before serving. Enjoy!

HERE ARE SOME BAKING TIPS!!

if you’re counting calories, you can cut them from some of your favorite recipes fairly painlessly! here are a few tips to make any recipe more diet-friendly:

-instead of oil or butter, use applesauce!
-substitute calorie-free sweetener for sugar!
-use whole wheat flour instead of all-purpose
-if you’re in a hurry and all you have is a box of cake mix, forget the eggs, forget the oil and water- ALL YOU NEED IS A CAN OF DIET COKE! mix together, bam. youve just gotten rid of hundreds of calories, and it tastes practically the same.
i will post some calorie-conscious recipes, but seriously, you can cut calories and fat from any recipe just by using those simple substitutions!

Here is my go to breakfast receipe:

Egg and oats pancake

1 cup of egg whites
3/4 cup of oats
cinnamon to taste
1 tbsp ground flax seed
1 tbsp of sweetner of choice (I use agave nectar or honey)

Mix all ingreadients together and pour into small oil sprayed fry pan. Cook as you would a pancake on low-medium heat 2-4 min and flip to cook other side.

Remove from pan when cooked through and serve with 1 tbsp almond butter.

Yummy and oh so filling.

Ok this is probably a bad idea because my memory sucks but I'm going to try and post this recipe I made not too long ago. It's a big recipe, takes some prep time but is TOTALLY worth it! And it's in the MFP system so it's easy to log.

Mediterranean Beef Ragout

2 lbs beef, cut into cubes for stew
2 onions
5 cloves of garlic

olive oil
flour
black pepper
salt

3 bay leaves
1 15oz can of roasted tomatoes (juice too)
1 cup dry red wine

2 red bell peppers
1 cup of chopped parsley

1-2 lb of golden mini potatoes

Ok, chop up the onions roughly and mince the garlic. Put them in a bowl and put it off to the side. Chop up the red bell peppers and cut up the parsley and put them aside for later.

In a big baggie, pour about 1/2 a cup of flour, 2 tbsps of thyme, some pepper and salt and shake it up. Then heat some oil over a medium heat in a pan. Then, little by little, add the beef cubes into the flour mixture, toss them around, shake off the excess. Place the cubes of beef into the oil and brown just a little bit, about 2-3 minutes each batch. If you get low on the flour mixture, just add a bit more in. As you finish browning, place the beef in the crock pot.

When you are done, leave oil in the pan and cook your onion and garlic mix till they are tender. Pour the left over flour mixture into the oil. Then add the tomatoes and their juices, the wine and bay leaves. Let it boil then lower to a simmer. About 10 minutes.

After that, pour everything into a crock pot and set at 4 hours on high or 8 hours on low.

For me, I like to balance carbs and meat so I added the potatoes about 3 hours before it was done cooking in the crock pot. That way the potatoes are tender enough not but not mushy. I use the small 1 lb bags of golden mini potatoes and I used two bags. This lasted me a week and a half of after workout dinners.

About 45 minutes before finishing, add in the parsley and pepper mixture you set aside. Pull out the bay leaves. Add extra salt or pepper for taste while it finishes cooking.

This is a large meal and I served it to my parents and myself one night then had leftovers for more than a week. I think even my sister tried some so it really goes a long way. And I made a serving side only a cup of the ragout and then forked out the potatoes. I logged the potatoes separately because they aren't normally apart of the recipe.

Whew.....this is a BIG prep recipe but in the end it was worth it. And totally tasty the days after I made it.

I may go home and check my recipe to see how wrong I am about certain measurements or ingredients. Hopefully I'm not too off.

Katie

My recipe today I must try ASAP! I adore Taco Dip. I've even had a portion for dinner before!

Skinny Taco Dip
Servings: 24 • Serving Size: 1/24th of dip • Old Points: 1.5 pts • Points+: 2 pts
Calories: 59.2 • Fat: 3.6 g • Protein: 2.2 g • Carb: 4.7 g • Fiber: 0.6 g
8 oz 1/3 less fat Philadelphia cream cheese
8 oz reduced fat sour cream
16 oz jar mild salsa
1 packet taco seasoning
2 cups iceberg lettuce, shredded
2 large tomatoes, diced
1 cup reduced fat shredded cheddar cheese
2.25 oz black olives,
In a large bowl combine cream cheese, sour cream, salsa and taco seasoning and mix well with an electric mixer. Spread on the bottom of a large shallow glass dish. Top with shredded lettuce, tomatoes, shredded cheese and black olives. Serve with baked tortilla chips.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins.

Serving Size : 12

Ingredients;



3/4 cup demerara or turbinado sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 eggs
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place paper liners in muffin pan.

2. Mix sugar, unsweetened applesauce and eggs together in a medium bowl. Add pumpkin and water.
In a separate bowl mix together the flour, baking soda, baking powder,
spices and salt. Add wet mixture to dry ingredients and mix just until
combined. Stir in chocolate chips.

3. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full with batter. Bake in preheated oven for 20
minutes.

Nutritional Information:

Calories: 136
Total Fat: 3.3g
Carbohydrates: 25.6g
Fiber: 2.8g
Sugar: 8.3g
Protein: 3.6g

Cooking Tip: You may replace half of the whole wheat flour in this recipe
with almond flour. You may also use maple sugar instead of demerera or turbinado sugar.

Hey all. I have a question for the fresh meal what is considered a "packaged" food? I am having a tough time with this challenge for sure.

Thanks, Kathy.