Stuffed Pepper Soup

BFF-M loves stuffed peppers. I have not been able to perfect them (probably due to my inability to trust ground beef baking and meat thermometer, or my irrational fears of food borne illnesses instilled in me by my middle school Home Economics teacher (not Mrs. Morral, the other one which I cannot remember her name...the one that made her own clothes...) you know, or the fact that meatloaf sort of grosses me out)...BUT I came across a recipe for Stuffed Pepper Soup and knew we had to try it...my love for soup combined with her love for stuffed peppers, this bad boy had WIN written all over it. I forgot to ask for her "rating" (since Hubby isn't a huge soup person so I generally don't let him vote on soups) so I'm guessing here...but I think it was most definitely a keeper, I mean, she did take home leftovers ;-)

Stuffed Pepper Soup

Adapted from Gina's Skinny Recipes

Serves 6

Estimated Point Value: 5pts.

1lb lean ground beef

1 small green pepper, chopped

1 small red pepper, chopped

1 medium onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 cans diced tomatoes (with liquid)

1 can tomato sauce

2 cups chicken stock

1/2 tsp dried marjoram

1 tsp Italian seasoning blend

Salt and pepper, to taste

3 cups cooked brown rice

1. In a large soup pot, brown onion, garlic, and ground beef together.
2. Add in peppers and allow to soften for a few minutes.
3. Add the rest of the ingredients (other than the rice) and simmer together for at least a half hour.
4. To serve, place 1/2 cup of the rice in the bottom of a shallow bowl and top with 1 cup to 1 1/2 cup of soup.

Super easy and super tasty!

Chicken Stuffed with Broccoli and Cheese

Let's be honest, I'm terrible at rolling up things inside of chicken. That being said, this was totally worth it and delicious. I did the stuffing before dinner and just popped this in the fridge until I got the call that Hubby was on the way home and they turned out great. I'm sort of in love with browsing Gina's Skinny Recipes and highly recommend it for inspiration for anyone trying to watch their waistline!

Chicken Stuffed with Broccoli and Cheese

Adapted from Gina's Skinny Recipes

Serves 4 (one large and one small chicken cutlet per serving)

Estimated Point Value: 8 pts.

1 tsp + 1 Tbsp EVOO

4 cloves garlic, minced

1-box chopped frozen broccoli, thawed

1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp Parmesan cheese

3 oz reduced fat mozzarella cheese

8 chicken cutlets (~24 oz total)

1/2 cup Italian seasoned wheat breadcrumbs

1 lemon, juiced

Salt and pepper, to taste

1. Preheat oven to 450 and prepare casserole dish with cooking spray.
2. In a large skillet, saute garlic in 1 tsp of EVOO until golden then add broccoli and cook through for a minute or two.
3. Stir in 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese and remove from heat.
4. Once cooled enough to handle, mix in mozzarella cheese.
5. In two rimmed shallow bowls prepare the breading ingredients: one bowl with the breadcrumbs and 2 Tbsp of Parmesan cheese mixed and one bowl with the lemon juice, 1 Tbsp of EVOO, salt and pepper.
6. Lay the chicken out on a cutting board (you can pound thin if you like, but it's not necessary) and put a layer of 3 Tbsp of the broccoli mixture onto the chicken.
7. Roll each chicken cutlet up, dip in the lemon/EVOO and then in the breadcrumbs. Lay in the casserole dish seam down (no need to use toothpicks).
8. Bake at 450 for 25-30 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.

I served ours with some two-point potatoes and some zero-point veggies. Delicious!

Chicken and White Bean Enchiladas with Creamy Salsa Verde

Boy the name of this recipe is long, I shall call it Chicken and White Bean Enchiladas from now on. After getting up the motivation to kick start the new year with some weight-loss goals Hubby and I decided we needed some new recipes to get excited about. I have been wanting to try making a green/white sauce for a while and was excited to see this recipe from Gina's Skinny Recipes pop up on my GoogleReader. These earned good reviews from Hubby and his only real suggestion for next time would be to add some sort of cold chunky salsa when serving, which I must say, isn't the worst idea in the world!

And yes, I forgot to take a picture...

Chicken and White Bean Enchiladas

Adapted from Gina's Skinny Recipes

Makes 8 Enchiladas

Estimated point value: 4 pts per enchilada

1 tsp EVOO

1 softball-sized white onion

2 cloves minced garlic

3 - 4.5 oz cans diced green chiles

15.5 oz can Cannellini beans

8oz (one large) chicken breast, cooked and shredded

1 -1/2 cup chicken stock

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp butter

2 Tbsp flour

2 jalapenos, chopped

1/2 cup lite sour cream

3 oz shredded reduced fat Mexican cheese blend

8 low carb tortillas (medium/soft taco)

Salt and pepper, to taste

• Preheat oven to 375.

Enchilada Filling

• In a large skillet, saute 1/4 cup of the minced onion and garlic in olive oil until tender.
• Add one can of the green chiles, beans (undrained), 1/2 cup chicken stock, and cumin. Mix well and simmer for about 15 minutes.
• Add chicken and cook until mixture thickens and the vast majority of the liquid is gone.
• Set aside to cool.

Green Enchilada Sauce

• In a large pan, saute the rest of the onion in butter until tender.
• Add in flour and cook out a bit before whisking in the remaining 1 cup of chicken stock.
• Whisk sauce until smooth and up to a boil.
• Once the sauce has thickened up a bit add the other cans of chiles, jalapenos, salt and pepper.
• Turn off heat and stir in sour cream.

Enchilada Assembly

• In a greased casserole dish, spread a small amount of enchilada sauce on the bottom (1/4 cup or so).
• Fill each tortilla with the chicken mixture, roll up, and place in the casserole dish seam-side down (I'm a weirdo and I weigh everything to make sure the filling is evenly distributed...no one likes to have that one tiny enchilada that inevitably happens if you eye-ball it and have a poor eye-balling skills...like me.)
• Spread the rest of the enchilada sauce on top and sprinkle on the cheese.
• Bake at 375 for 25-30 minutes or until hot and bubbly.