We made some changes to this to make it a bit more healthful; primarily, cutting back on the cheese and corn chips. (The recipe calls for making your own by frying corn tortillas; we had a package of corn tostadas and just broke some of those up.)

Skillet Beef Enchiladas

Cook's Country June/July 2016 (recipe card)

Ingredients

• 1 lb lean ground beef
• 1 onion, chopped
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1 batch enchilada sauce
• 1-1½ C shredded mild cheddar or jack
• ¼ C sliced olives
• 3 green onions, sliced thin
• 4+2 tostadas, shattered
• sour cream for serving

Directions

1. Add beef, onion, and salt to a medium-hot skillet. Cook until beef is browned, ~6 minutes.
2. Reduce heat to medium. Add enchilada sauce and four of the tostadas.
3. Simmer until thickened, ~5 minutes.
4. Top with remaining tostada fragments, olives, scallion,s and cheese.
5. Reduce heat to low, cover, and cook until cheese is melted.
6. Serve with sour cream.

Made this so we could make deconstructed enchiladas. Not much to say about it.

Enchilada Sauce

Cookie and Kate

Ingredients

• 3 tbsp flour
• 1 tbsp chili powder
• 1 tsp cumin, ground
• ½ tsp garlic powder
• ¼ tsp dried oregano
• ⅛ tsp salt
• pinch of cinnamon
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 2 C broth
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• ½ tsp fresh black pepper, ground

Directions

1. Mix together flour, chili powder, cumin, garlic, oregano, salt, and cinnamon in a small bowl.
2. Heat oil in a small pot over medium-high heat until a pinch of the flour mix sizzles when dropped into it.
3. Whisk in flour mix and cook, whisking constantly, until slightly darkened, ~1 minute.
4. Whisk in tomato paste. It will clump.
5. Add broth and whisk to de-clump it.
6. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer gently, whisking often, until sauce thickens.
7. Remove from heat and stir in vinegar and black pepper.

Lean, cornmeal pancakes without any butter or oil in the batter. They're pretty tasty, but I do feel that they need a little syrup or something on top. I thought about putting more fruit, but I really wanted the syrup.

The original recipe said that you should get four servings of three pancakes each using ~1/4 c. of batter per pancake. I did that, but I only got 10 pancakes from my batch! On the bright side, that did make the math for Points per pancake work out a little nicer.

Oh. I think I just figured out why a) my batter seemed a bit on the thick side and b) I didn't get as many pancakes as the recipe said I should. I forgot the water! It wasn't listed in the ingredients, so, as far as my brain was concerned, it didn't exist. Aargh!

Cornmeal Blueberry Pancakes

Slightly adapted from Weight Watchers

Ingredients

• 1 c. all-purpose flour
• 1/3 c. cornmeal
• 1/8 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 c. buttermilk (or 1 c. milk + 1 Tbsp. lemon juice)
• 2 tsp. lemon zest
• 1 large egg
• 3 Tbsp. water
• 1 c. fresh or frozen blueberries

Directions

1. Combine the flour, cornmeal, and salt.
2. Sift in the baking powder and baking soda and stir to combine.
3. In a measuring cup, whisk together the buttermilk, lemon zest, egg, and WATER.
4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix until just combined.
5. Stir in the blueberries.
6. Set aside for 5-10 minutes.
7. Meanwhile, heat a griddle or tawa over medium-low heat.
8. Very lightly grease it and cook your pancakes, using ~1/4 c. of batter for each one.
9. Serve with fresh fruit and/or maple syrup.

Weight Watchers billed this recipe as a "cake". Looking at it -- and tasting the results -- I would say it's more of a baked oatmeal. Although I will grant them that adding the raspberries does take it up a notch and make it feel a bit more sweet and indulgent. (I mean, it still tastes fairly lean and "wholesome", but it was enough to scratch that dessert itch for me tonight.)

I think I'd be inclined to add a little vanilla (and maybe a touch more maple syrup) next time, but it was decent overall. Especially considering that it managed to squeak through at only 2 "Points" per serving. (Obviously the Points per serving would increase if you started doing things like bumping up the maple syrup quantities, but at least this gives you a low-cost starting point.)

The recipe calls for plain Greek yogurt, but I only had regular yogurt, so my "batter" came out pretty runny. It still cooked up fine though. I think it might've been nice to add another tablespoon or two of oats to the mix, but maybe I wouldn't have wanted that if I'd been using the thicker, lower moisture Greek yogurt called for.

Microwave Baked Oatmeal

Slightly adapted from Weight Watchers

Ingredients

• 1 very ripe banana, mashed
• 1/4 c. plain (Greek) yogurt, preferably fat-free
• 2 tsp. maple syrup
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 c. uncooked quick oats
• 2/3 c. fresh or frozen raspberries

directions

1. Mash banana and combine it with the yogurt, cinnamon, and vanilla.
2. Mix in the eggs.
3. Stir in the oats.
4. Divide mixture evenly between two mugs.
5. Microwave on high for 1 minute.
6. Stir, then microwave on high for another 1 1/2-2 minutes.
7. Top each portion with half of the raspberries and serve.

This was, in theory, meant to be a butternut squash soup. But I could only get pumpkin in my produce basket this week, so I made it with that instead. And then I was a bit shy on pumpkin, so I tossed in a lonely sweet potato that I had left over from another recipe to make up the difference. So, all-in-all, maybe not quite the same soup that the recipe authors had in mind, but it was tasty nonetheless.

And using the pumpkin worked out nicely because then I had freshly roasted pumpkin seeds to use as garnish. The original recipe called for roasted, salted pepitas (which are just shelled pumpkin seeds anyway). I had some shelled pumpkin seeds in the freezer. But I figured, rather than trying to roast and salt them, it'd probably be easier and more efficient to just use the freshly harvested in-shell seeds. They're a bit different texturally, but they still provide some nice salt and crunch, so I think it worked out well.

The original recipe was mean to be a small batch, "cooking for two" recipe. But since I wanted to use up the whole pumpkin in one go (and have enough soup to serve all three of us + have some leftovers), I just doubled all the quantities.

Pumpkin-Sweet Potato Soup

Adapted from Cook's Country December/January 2021

Ingredients

• 1 pie pumpkin (~900g)
• 2 Tbsp. + 1 tsp. olive oil, divided
• 3/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, divided
• 3/4 tsp. black peppercorns, ground, divided
• 1 sweet potato (~200g), peeled and cubed
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 tsp. dried sage
• 4 c. chicken or vegetable stock
• 1/4 c. heavy (35%) cream
• 1/2 c. crumbled blue cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 220°C (425°F).
2. Halve the pumpkin and scoop out the seeds and "guts". Reserve the seeds.
3. Brush the pumpkin halves with 1 Tbsp. of the olive oil and place cut-side-down on a baking sheet.
4. Roast at 220°C (425°F) for 30-45 minutes.
5. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
6. Meanwhile, reduce oven temperature to 150°C (300°F) and toss pumpkin seeds with 1 tsp. of olive oil, 1/2 tsp. of the salt, and 1/2 tsp. of the pepper.
7. Roast the pumpkin seeds at 150°C (300°F) for half an hour, stirring and turning every 10 minutes.
8. Once the pumpkin has cooled enough to handle, remove the flesh from the skin. Discard the skin and reserve the flesh.
9. While the pumpkin seeds are roasting, heat the remaining 1 Tbsp. of olive oil over medium-low heat.
10. Add the onion and sweet potato and cook, stirring occasionally for 10-15 minutes.
11. Add the garlic and sage and cook for another minute or two.
12. Add the stock, pumpkin, and remaining 1/4 tsp. of salt and 1/4 tsp. of pepper and bring to a boil over medium heat.
13. Reduce heat medium-low and simer, covered, for ~15 minutes.
14. Remove from heat and blend until smooth with an immersion blender.
15. Stir in cream.
16. Serve garnished with blue cheese and pumpkin seeds.

Methi Lobhia (Black-Eyed Peas with Fenugreek)

TF has been having some digestive issues lately, so we're trying to eliminated a few things from her diet to see if we can find the culprit. Right now, she's trying to eliminate soy and gluten to see if that helps. It does seem to be working. (Either that, or she's getting better on her own.) So, in a couple weeks, we can try adding one or the other back in to see what effect that has.

The upshot of all of this is that I had to do a bit of last-minute re-working of the meal plan for this week. So, instead of pumpkin soup (which would've involved a commerical soup stock concentrate with soy in it), I opted for this black-eyed pea dal.

It looked quick and easy to make. We had all the bits readily to hand. And it even used up a half tin of tomatoes I had sitting in the fridge. So, winner-winner-dried-legume-dinner!

Photo goes here.

Methi Lobhia

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 1 c. dried black-eyed peas
• 3 c. water
• 2 Tbsp. ghee
• 1 onion, minced
• 6-7 cloves garlic, minced
• 2-4 fresh green Thai or finger chilies
• 425mL diced tomatoes
• 1 c. chopped fresh or frozen fenugreek leaves
• 2 tsp. sugar
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 tsp. ground turmeric

Directions

1. Rinse the peas well and place in pressure cooker with the water.
2. Pressure cook on high for 20 minutes with a 15-minute natural release.
3. Meanwhile, melt ghee over medium-low heat.
4. Add onion, garlic, and chilies and cook, stirring occasionally, until nicely browned (10-15 minutes).
5. Add tomato, fenugreek, sugar, salt, and turmeric and cook, stirring occasionally, for ~5 minutes.
6. Once the peas are ready, release the residual pressure and add the sauce.
7. Simmer over medium heat for ~5 minutes.
8. Serve with rice and/or flatbreads.

A nice quick, easy, meal that produces very satisfying results. There's not much to it, but I found the sweetness of the onions and bell peppers really came through.

I didn't have quite as much sausage as the recipe called for, but I think it was still okay with the lesser amount. I also opted to toss a bouillon cube into the polenta in place of the salt called for in the original recipe. And, as usual, I cooked my polenta with a little more water than Cook's Country recommends. They advise a 4:1 ratio of water:polenta, but I usually do 5:1.

The only other change I made was to reduce the quantity of butter called for. I've been trying to eat a little healthier and I know just eating the same things with slightly less butter/fat won't make much difference, but hopefully it'll help a little.

Oh, and I was using Beyond Meat sausages, so this was actually a vegetarian meal for us as well.

Polenta with Sausage, Peppers, and Olives

Slightly adapted from Cook's Country February/March 2017

Ingredients

• 5 c. water + 1 bouillon cube (or 2 c. water + 3 c. stock of your choice)
• 1 c. cornmeal
• 450g Italian sausages
• 1 red bell pepper, sliced thin
• 1 onion, halved and sliced thin
• 425mL crushed tomatoes
• 1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
• 3/4 tsp. black peppercorns, ground, divided
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 c. pitted kalamata olives, halved
• 1 Tbsp. unsalted butter

Directions

1. Combine the water and cornmeal and bring to a boil over medium heat, whisking occasionally.
2. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook until very thick.
3. Meanwhile, cook the sausages over medium heat until browned on all sides (5-6 minutes).
4. Increase heat to medium-high and add the bell pepper and onion.
5. Cook until vegetables are softened (4-5 minutes).
6. Add the tomato, red pepper flakes, salt, and 1/4 tsp. of the butter and cook until slightly thickened (3-4 minutes). Break the sausages up a bit if you'd like.
7. Remove from heat and stir in olives.
8. When the polenta is done, remove from heat and stir in butter and remaining 1/2 tsp. of pepper.
9. Serve polenta topped with sauce.