Pinterest made me do it: Salsa Verde Chicken Enchiladas

I was browsing Pinterest one day and pinned a recipe for Salsa Verde Chicken Enchiladas. Better yet, it turned out I had pulled chicken in the refrigerator that I had needed to use up. So while at the grocery store I picked up some flour burrito tortillas, salsa verde and some shredded Mexican cheese blend. Yes! This only takes 4 ingredients!

I changed the recipe just a tad by adding in 2 tablespoons of chunky medium salsa to the chicken mixture simply because it was a little too dry. The combination of the chunky salsa and salsa verde was spectacular. It was such a simple, easy dish to put together but it was loaded with flavor, textures and deliciousness. After plating I served this to myself with a small side salad … all together a perfectly delicious meal!

The original recipe can be found here.

I cut the serving down to a single serving using 3 ounces shredded chicken breast, ¼ cup shredded 2% Mexican cheese blend, 3 tbsp salsa verde, 2 low carb flour tortillas, and I opted to use an additional 2 tbsp chunky mild salsa (optional but I used it).

I added a tablespoon of salsa verde to the bottom of a non-stick casserole dish, rolled up my individual enchiladas (I mixed the chicken, ½ the cheese and 1 tbsp salsa verde and 2 tbsp chunky salsa to a bowl, mixed and layered into 2 flour tortillas).  I topped with a tablespoon of salsa verde and the remaining shredded cheese. I baked in a 350 degree oven for roughly 10 minutes (just enough for the cheese to melt). My 2 enchiladas came out to be 10 points plus values.

Stuffed Chicken Breast

Chicken is one of those foods that I’m very picky about. My chicken has to be flavorful, it has to be seasoned and it has to be without skin and bone. Growing up this is actually a quick and easy dish my mother would throw together for dinner. It’s not complex in the least and it’s minimally seasoned (at least for what I consider ‘seasoned’) but the flavors go together so well that it’s perfect every time.

The chicken breast can be assembled in two ways – cutting a large chicken breast down the middle (not all the way but open like a hot dog bun) and stuffing it with the stuffing OR you can go the easier way out topping the stuffing with the chicken breast.  I prefer the second option because each serving is perfectly portioned.

This is one of my boyfriends favorite dishes … and he’s NOT a gravy guy. He doesn’t like it on his food, but he loves it on this dish because it’s not truly recognizable but it keeps the chicken and stuffing moist.

 

To create the dish all you need are a few simple ingredients:

• Stove Top Chicken Stuffing
• ~ 1 ½ pounds chicken breast
• Low fat chicken gravy (I use Heinz jarred gravy)
• McCormick Montreal Chicken Seasoning
• Black pepper
• Oregano

Preheat your oven at 350 degrees.

Clean your chicken breast and set aside.

Mix together your stove-top stuffing per the microwave directions. I simply use water and a few squirts of spray butter and mix and combine.  I made 7 servings of chicken, so I evenly divided the stuffing onto a baking sheet that was sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. (Evenly dividing I got 1/3 cup servings, plus roughly 1 tbsp per 7 servings).

Top your stuffing mounds with quarter pieces of chicken breast. I evenly distributed my chicken over the mounds to make them as visually even as possible.

Sprinkle each chicken breast with oregano, black pepper and montreal chicken seasoning.  Top each chicken breast with 1 ½ tbsp chicken gravy (smooth the gravy over the chicken trying to cover the whole surface of it).

Bake the chicken in a 350 degree oven for roughly 30 minutes (or longer depending on the thickness of your chicken).

My chicken came out to 5 points plus a serving – as long as the chicken was 2.8-3 oz cooked.

Dinner: Sloppy Joe-Tato

For weeks I have been saying I want sloppy joe for dinner and for weeks I didn't have it because dinners are usually one of those things I try to cater to everyone’s taste buds. Finally, after deciding I was going to have my sloppy joe I made it for dinner and it was delicious! I actually whipped this up with some 93% lean ground turkey, diced onion and bell pepper. I seasoned up my turkey with dry hamburger seasoning and when done, I went the easy way out and added some canned sloppy joe sauce.  I've made it homemade in the past and I've gone the canned way from time to time ... but I wanted fast and easy … and fast, easy AND delicious is what I got!

Instead of throwing it on your classic hamburger bun, I decided to have it one of my favorite ways ... over a baked potato!  It's what I call a Sloppy Joe-Tato.  It's such a filling and satisfying meal this way because you're getting a hearty side with the savory sloppy joe over it. Admittedly, I do enjoy this alongside a small garden salad because I like the balance.

I split my sloppy joe into 7 servings (which ended up being 5 points plus values), cut open a 5.5 oz potato and dinner was an easy, filling 8 points plus values.

Pizza Bites

This delicious recipe is all thanks to a picture I saw on Pinterest. They looked delicious, seemed simple enough and since I saw the post around the same time I made a trip to Aldi I purchased a few things while at the store to have on hand.  The picture I saw used mini muffin tins and flaky biscuits ... but I opted to use your traditional regular size muffin tins and classic style biscuits.

I swapped out the biscuits from the jumbo flaky kind to your traditional classic plain biscuits. Since the biscuits I used allowed for 2 biscuits to be a serving, I just stuck each raw biscuit into the bottom of a greased muffin tin and called it a day.  The end result was a delicious, unique treat which refrigerated well and reheated well too (or was perfect to eat cold).  As a pizza fan ... I quite enjoyed these and will never look at a Bagel Bite the same again. These are great to have as a fun dinner while they’re great to serve as portion sized appetizers.

Here's how I made these Pizza Bites:

  

Serves 10. 2 Points Plus/serving. (2 biscuits = 4 points plus)

Ingredients:

• 1 can classic biscuits (I used a can with 5 servings, 2 biscuits per serving - Aldi brand)
• 10 tbsp marinara sauce (I used Aldi’s Organic Marinara sauce)
• 1/3 cup Kraft fat free shredded mozzarella
• 20 slices Hormel turkey pepperoni
• Italian seasoning (optional)
• Nonstick cooking spray

Spray muffin tins with non-stick cooking spray.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Separate biscuits from one another and press into the bottom of each muffin tin, pushing biscuits out just slightly to go up the edges (enough to hold the sauce without ‘boiling’ over.

Spoon 1 tablespoon of marinara sauce into the center of each dough.

Evenly distribute the 1/3 cup (roughly 1 ½ tsp) of shredded mozzarella over the top of each biscuit with sauce.

Place 2 pepperoni slices over each pizza & sprinkle with a pinch of Italian seasoning.

Place muffin tin into a 400 degree oven and bake for roughly 8-10 minutes until the biscuits are perfectly golden brown.

Serve and enjoy!

Harvestland Chicken Burgers

Harvestland Chicken Burgers are an item I would have probably never stumbled upon if it weren’t for Instagram. My local super Wal-Mart is constantly rearranging their frozen foods section and since then one needs a microscope to find anything that’s not a frozen dinner.  Since I’ve ventured into the frozen chicken/turkey burger realm, I’m always open to trying new burgers.

Harvestland chickens are raised with no antibiotics, have an all vegetarian diet and have no animal by-products. There are no hormones or steroids added and the burgers themselves are made with all natural ingredients.  Each chicken burger patty is ¼ pound. The great part about these burgers is they are uncooked and are seasoned. I like the fact that they are seasoned because chicken tends to be very plain and if it’s not seasoned, I find chicken has a distinct “chicken taste” for the lack of a better description. I did of course add a little burger seasoning to one side before cooking just to add an additional level of seasoning.

There are 6 burgers in each box, which the only downside is they come packaged with 3 burgers in a pouch. I was able to cook my burgers in a hot skillet straight out of the freezer. There was no need to defrost them and they cooked up evenly and perfectly in under 10 minutes. Even cooking them in a frozen state the burgers retained their moisture while cooking and were moist and delicious. I refrigerated the leftover cooked burgers and reheated the following day without the product quality degrading. Overall I was quite pleased with these burgers and will undoubtedly be purchasing them again.

They were perfect served on a light hamburger bun, with lettuce, tomato, ketchup and mustard.  Also thanks to the 22 grams of protein in each burger they are mighty filling. Winner, winner, chicken burger dinner!

Each burger is 150 calories or 3 points plus values.

Rotisserie Turkey Dinner

I had a Shady Brook Farms Rotisserie Turkey Breast Tenderloin in the freezer that I had picked up at the grocery store. While meal planning for the week I decided it’d be a great opportunity to give the turkey tenderloin a try. Granted, I had never tried it before, but since I enjoy the brands turkey sausages I figured this couldn’t be bad. It turned out to be quite delicious!

The packaging listed it could be put onto the grill or baked in the oven. Since I had a few cooking bags on hand, I decided to cook the tenderloins in a cooking bag to keep as much moisture in the turkey as I could. It turned out absolutely perfect. The turkey browned, it was flavorful and it was very moist.

As with most turkeys it was very low in points. A 4 ounce serving was 3 points plus, or a 5 ounce serving for 4 points plus.

Here’s what I had for dinner (which might I add was delicious, filling and a homerun):

5 ounces Rotisserie Turkey Tenderloin (4ppv)

½ cup garlic mashed potatoes (3ppv)

¼ cup Heinz fat free turkey gravy (0ppv)

2 tbsp cranberry sauce (1ppv)

French cut green beans

Steamed Brussels sprouts

Taco Salad

I find myself on “Taco Tuesday’s” reaching for my salad bowl instead of the taco shells. If I’m in the mood for the crunch, I will incorporate something crunchy (a broken up taco shell or tortilla chips) into my salad. This way I’m one in the crowd and I don’t feel I’m missing out on anything.  Other times I simply skip the tortillas and make a “normal” taco salad.

This is one of those bang for your buck type of meals. It’s filled with greens, lean meat and flavorful components (taco seasoning and salsa). For those folks on Weight Watchers you can see there are many power foods in this dish. It’s satisfying, it’s filling and it’s incredibly low in points.

Pictured, I have tossed salad (romaine, baby tomatoes, cucumber and red onion), 3 oz of lean ground beef cooked with taco seasoning, 1 tbsp Trader Joe’s Queso Dip, 1 oz of Trader Joe’s Organic Tortilla Chips, Chi-Chi’s medium salsa and a few jalapenos to balance it all out.  All of this for 6 points plus values!

Dinner: Bangers and Mashed

Having full fat sausage is a treat because I usually eat chicken or turkey sausage just because pork sausage is heavy and can make me have a bit of a stomach ache.  The only exception to that rule is when having English sausage – Bangers.  I have an English market in town where bangers are made in house and are authentic to the bangers sold and served in England.

Last time I picked up some bangers, I opted for the thinner cased pork sausage. They’re also sold in the classic large banger form, but I find these are easier to cook and they can go further because you get more sausages in a pound package than you do with the regular sized sausages.

Growing up we always had bangers with macaroni and cheese – but since my boyfriend is not a fan of mac & cheese I opted to make garlic mashed potatoes to pair with peas. Considering this is the first time I’ve had bangers with mashed I was quite pleased with the dish. Delicious, simple and overall tasty.

The whole meal was 12 points plus. Definitely worth it!

Mexican “Pizza”

I wanted something different for lunch one day. I didn’t really want a salad and I wasn’t really in the mood for a chicken wrap. So I took the things I would have used and transformed them into a whole different meal.  I made myself Mexican “Pizza” (I just omitted the cheese since I only had American cheese on hand). Seeing it in a different form made it more appetizing. Plus, since pizza is my favorite food it made it fun to eat.

I used 2 Joseph’s Flax, Oat Bran, Whole Wheat Tortillas and topped it with chunky salsa as the "sauce". I then topped it with some Oscar Meyer chicken chunks and baked it off in the oven. When it was done I topped it with some sliced lettuce and tomato, topped it with some jarred jalapenos and a dollop of salsa on top.

It was perfect! Delicious and filling … plus for 2 “pizzas” it was only 6 points plus values.

Spaghetti Squash Bake with Turkey Meatballs

I have developed a true love for spaghetti squash, although I will admit having it the same way over and over again can get a little redundant and boring. So with that I ended up switching it up a bit, using the same ingredients but adding some cheese atop. It turned out absolutely perfectly. The spaghetti squash crisped up just slightly on the outside and the cheese was a perfect touch. Considering this was using some of my leftover meat sauce I had made it was also a great way to use up some leftovers in a new and unique way.

My meatballs are actually frozen turkey meatballs from Trader Joe’s.  I pick these up every once in a while at Trader Joe’s because my boyfriend and I just genuinely like these! I’m usually not a frozen meatball fan (I prefer homemade) but these are tasty and perfect for a quick meal. I’ve heard from a few that the sodium level is too high for their liking – but I feel as though these aren’t an item I eat all the time, so a higher sodium level isn’t going to be a damper.

To make my spaghetti squash bake, I layered spaghetti squash into the bottom of a small baking dish. I layered ½ cup of homemade meat sauce over the top, then sprinkled the top with 1/3 cup of fat free mozzarella.  I then baked it in the oven for roughly 15-20 minutes until the cheese was nice and melted.

The greatest part was my entire meal was only 9 points plus!

QUESTION:

Have you ever had spaghetti squash bake?

Jamaican Jerk Pork w/ Carrots & Roasted Butternut Squash

Whenever I have a pork roast out to cook … it ultimately means one thing: Jamaican Jerk Pork. I can’t think of making anything else with it (I mean I could, but pork roast and jerk seasoning go together like flour and water in my book) and it’s one of those dishes that I love and enjoy quite a lot.

For my plate, I decided to cut out the carb (rice) so I went with fresh steam carrots and a roasted butternut squash, which I seasoned up with some spray butter and a tablespoon of brown sugar.

The whole dish was perfect. Filling, fresh and packed with flavors.  I’ve learned the trick with jerk pork or chicken is to use a very small amount of seasoning (incase you’re wondering I use the Mild Grace Jamaican Jerk Seasoning). The seasoning itself is packed with flavor and spicy pepper so a small amount will pack on the flavor but not make it too hot to handle.  The sweet squash helped balance out the flavors. Ultimately it was a wonderful dish and a perfect dinner.

The greatest part it was only 7 points plus values (1 for the brown sugar, 6 for 4 oz of pork)!

Dinner: Country style pork ribs, potato and salad

This is a delicious dinner I had this weekend. Yes, that’s a marvelous thing about Weight Watchers – I can eat homemade barbecue without guilt and it’s deliciously fabulous.

Country style pork ribs were on sale at a local grocery store, so I picked up a pack. Since I was going to be gone for the better half of the day, I asked my mother if she wouldn’t mind making some ribs (she makes the best ribs, BTW). She agreed, so she whipped up a batch – typically she boils them with vinegar, water and an onion and then bakes them off in the oven with some barbecue sauce. Usually it’s a homemade sauce, but she decided to use Sweet Baby Ray’s barbecue sauce.

I requested that she leave my ribs aside (after baking for a few minutes) for me to pull the meat off the bone, separate the fat and mix with barbecue sauce. I ended up getting two meals out of it.

What I had for dinner was 3 oz country style pork ribs (off the bone) w/ sweet baby rays bbq sauce (7 ppv), 5 oz potato (3ppv) & side salad w/ 1 tbsp light italian (0 ppv). It was a delicious 10 points plus and worth every point!

QUESTION:

Do you like having barbecue for dinner?

Homemade Chicken Shawarma Sandwiches

Chicken shawarma sandwiches are one of my favorite Lebanese dishes. I enjoy them so much that I purchase the shawarma seasoning at my local Lebanese store and make them at home. Although my shawarma sandwiches are slightly different than a shawarma you’d get at a restaurant.

Incase you’re not familiar with shawarma it’s an Arabic dish that consists of either chicken, lamb, beef, turkey or veal that has been seasoned with spices and grilled or “roasted” on a spit. If cooked on a rotating spit, the meat is trimmed off and added to your sandwich. I’ve had shawarma that way while in NYC, but back at home I’ve always had it grilled or cooked on a hot top. The sandwiches are usually encased in pita bread.

Shawarma can be served up in a number of ways – really depending on where you get the sandwich from.  It can be served with tabbouleh, tomato, lettuce, cucumber, tahini, hummus, pickled turnips, pickle, garlic mayonnaise, hot sauce, etc.

Making the dish at home, I clean and cut up my chicken into small chunks. I then make my shawarma seasoning, which is mixed with water.  The directions call to marinate the meat and grill up after marinating, but I pour the marinade over the chicken, add in tomato, garlic and onion and I bake it off in the oven for roughly 30-40 minutes.  After it’s cooled for about 5 minutes, I add in a few tablespoons of hummus to help thicken the “sauce”.  I serve the chicken, tomato and onion mixture on pita bread, with lettuce, red onion, and tabbouleh.

It’s completely delicious, filling and it’s a nice ode to a classic sandwich.  The whole sandwich pictured is only 9 points plus values. Worth it? You betcha!

QUESTION:

Do you make your own version of a classic sandwich at home?

Lunch: Spaghetti Squash w/ Meatballs, Sauce and Garlic Bread

I was going to my boyfriend’s uncle’s house this weekend, with his mother and him to visit. I knew his mother was making homemade sauce and meatballs and since I didn’t want to tote along a measuring cup (because I visually can’t judge what a cup of pasta looks like), I decided to bring spaghetti squash to share with everyone.  I like bringing healthier alternatives to the table, regardless of where I am, and this was a perfect opportunity.

I had baked my spaghetti squash (seasoned with salt and pepper) the afternoon prior, shredded it and put it into the refrigerator.  I was quite pleased with how my spaghetti squash turned out because the last few I have made came out very wet. This one was perfect and reminiscent of al dente pasta.  The squash itself tastes like squash, but it does adapt to the flavors it’s paired with and due to it’s spaghetti like characteristics it makes for easy twirling on a fork.

At my boyfriends uncles we ended up having a late lunch. I had a helping of spaghetti squash, a ladle of homemade sauce and one meatball. I also had a small helping of garlic bread. It was a perfect meal – delicious, satisfying and I honestly didn’t miss the pasta.  And to think I was a little afraid of trying spaghetti squash with pasta sauce … now I’m a huge fan. So much of a fan I had spaghetti squash with pasta sauce for lunch the next day!

QUESTION:

Do you like incorporating spaghetti squash into meals?

Pepperoni, Sausage & Green Pepper Pita Pizza

Last week my boyfriend and I were in the mood for pizza … but I particularly wanted a lighter pizza.  Since we had some leftover pita bread from a local Lebanese bakery I decided pita bread pizzas were in order. So that’s exactly what I whipped up for us.  Since the bread is thinner than your average grocery store pita bread, the crust becomes a thin and crispy crust.  The pita is pretty large in size, so it makes the illusion of a small/medium sized pizza.

If you don’t have homemade pita bread available in your area, you can substitute using tortillas, thin crust pizza shells (Biboli or Archer Farms brand – but these will make multiple serving pizzas), or Flat Out thins.

I used a whole pita, ¼ cup Ragu Robusto spaghetti sauce, ¼ cup fat free mozzarella, 3 slices of Hormel turkey pepperoni (diced), ¼ cup Jimmy Dean turkey sausage crumbles, and 4 slices of bell peppers diced.

It was perfect, filling and delicious.  The greatest part is the whole pizza was only 7 points plus values!

QUESTION:

Do you like making lighter versions of pizza at home?

Asian Glazed Chicken

My mother used to make a similar marinade for chicken wings and it was literally the BEST marinade and was truly the only reason I would eat chicken wings. One night I wanted to make an Asian influence dinner but was trying to figure out what to do with the chicken I had out.  I then decided to use the similar marinade on the chicken and bake it off in the oven.  The one difference in the marinade I made was that I cut back on the sugar and reduced the orange juice because I wasn’t making enough chicken for a party.  I also only marinated my chicken for a few hours versus a few days.

I decided to serve the meal up with Trader Joe’s Chicken Egg Rolls, Trader Joe’s Chicken Fried Rice and steamed green beans.

Serves 5 (roughly 3 oz a serving). 4 points plus values (if more than ½ the marinade is discarded after removing the chicken from it)

• 1 ½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast, chunks
• ½ cup low sodium soy sauce
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• ¼ cup brown sugar
• ½ cup orange juice
• 1 tsp sesame oil

In a medium bowl add in soy sauce, garlic, brown sugar, sesame oil and orange juice. Mix to combine.

Add chicken to the bowl, mix and cover then place in the refrigerator for 1-3 hours to marinate.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Add chicken to a foil-lined pan. Discard remaining marinade. Bake for 25-30 minutes until chicken is cooked.

Dinner: Chili topped Potato

The other night I honestly wasn’t in the mood to cook – I had a pretty rough day and throwing together a meal was the last thing I wanted to put the time or even thought into. Because I wanted to make good food decisions I opted for taking some of my homemade beef and bean chili (see the recipe here) out of the freezer.  I plunked it into a large pan with about ¼ cup of water and let it melt down and come to a light boil over medium heat.  When just about done, I opened a 4 ounce can of tomato sauce and added it in, stirred it up and dinner was served.  Very little effort, truly no thinking and it was exactly what I needed.

I washed a potato and put it into the microwave to cook up. 5 minutes later, my potato was done, so I cut it up into pieces, added it into a trivet, sprinkled it with pepper and a dash of salt, then topped it with 1 cup of beef and bean chili. I threw a serving of garden salad alongside the dish, topped it with 1 tablespoon of fat free dressing and dinner was served.  Simple, delicious and overall easy!

The greatest part was the whole meal was only 7 points plus. Worth it!

QUESTION:

Do you rely on frozen leftovers when you’re in a bind?

Pot Roast Dinner

I had some beef eye round steaks in the freezer, so I decided to use them in a pot roast bag to make dinner a lot simpler.  I’d been in the mood for pot roast so this was going to be a perfect dinner. I trimmed the edge of fat off the steaks and I have to say, I was a little surprised to see how lean they were. I’ve never had or cooked eye round steaks.

I opened up a McCormick Pot Roast bag, layered in the steaks, added in one cut up onion, some baby carrots and potatoes. I mixed up the seasoning mix with water, poured it over the mixture and found it wasn’t quite enough liquid. So I used half a pack of onion soup mix, mixed it up with water and poured that in. closed up the bag and baked it for 1 hr and 20 minutes.

It came out perfect. There wasn’t a lot of “gravy” in the bag but I think it’s due to my choice in using a leaner cut of beef and it not releasing a lot of water during the cooking process. It was a great dinner that provided leftovers for the next day!

The whole plate pictured was only 8 points plus!

Roast Chicken Dinner

I typically don’t make whole chickens, but once in a blue moon I do.  I’m more of a white meat kind of girl – but since my boyfriend likes legs and wings the bird doesn’t go to waste.  We happened to be given a whole chicken, so I decided to whip together a dinner that could have been straight out of a Martha Steward magazine.

I cleaned out the chicken carcass, rinsed it down with water, and then put it into a basket which I had set inside of a casserole pan. This way the grease could drip from the meat and the air could evenly circulate around the bird crisping it all up … instead of crisping the top and leaving the rest a greasy, soggy mess.  I went into the cabinet and concocted a dry rub mixture, adding salt, black pepper, garlic powder, Mrs. Dash Garlic & Herb seasoning, McCormick chicken seasoning, Trader Joe’s 21 seasoning salute, and oregano into a bowl. I mixed it together then evenly rubbed it over the skin (top and bottom), then separated the skin from the meat and rubbed the seasoning over the meat as well.  I stuffed a medium quartered onion into the cavity and popped it all into a 350 degree oven and baked it for roughly 1 ½ hours.

I cut some washed yellow skinned potatoes into chunks and put them into a pot of salted water.  When the chicken had 30 minutes left to cook I put my potatoes onto boil. I didn’t peel my potatoes because the skin is about as thick as red skinned potatoes. Plus I like my mashed potatoes with skin on them. I mashed them up with a teaspoon of margarine, some skim milk, salt and pepper.

I had some French style frozen green beans from Trader Joe’s.  I took half the bag and defrosted them in the microwave, drained the water from them, then tossed them with minced garlic. I then popped the green beans onto a non-stick baking sheet, which was coated with non-stick cooking spray and roasted them off in the oven for about 10 minutes.

Since I had some fresh tomatoes and cucumbers from the garden, I decided to chop them up and make a childhood favorite – tomato, onion and cucumber salad. It’s simply pickling cucumbers, sliced, tomatoes sliced or quartered and scallions that are chopped. Before serving I simply toss it with 1 tablespoon of the dressing of my or my guests’ choice.

At dinner time I heated up some canned chicken gravy and opened a small can of jellied cranberry sauce. It was literally like Thanksgiving dinner … and what’s even better was it was delicious WITHOUT my beloved stuffing.

My whole plate for dinner was 10 points plus!

QUESTION:

Do you like Thanksgiving-esque dinners?

Dinner: Eggplant Parm w/ Salad

This is a dinner I had whipped together because I had made a boatload of breaded eggplant cutlets (see here) and homemade meat sauce (see here). Wanting something different (even though it’s using the same ingredients) I opted to make myself a single serving of eggplant parmesan. It looked different because I served it up in a single serve baking dish; it tasted different (due to the cheese) and I opted for a salad on the side instead of pasta.

My entire plate is only 6 points plus values!  My eggplant parm was 6 points plus and the salad with 1 tbsp dressing was 0 points plus. Not bad – it was delicious, filling and it looked more “guilty” than it actually was.

I spooned a tablespoon of sauce into the bottom of the dish, added 1 1/2 slices of eggplant cutlet, some sauce, 2 eggplant slices, topped it with the remaining sauce and sprinkles 1/4cup of fat free mozzarella over the top.  I then popped it into the oven for roughly 10 minutes to heat through and melt the cheese.

Delicious!