Mediterranean Eggplant Dip

Makes 2 1/2 cups

Ingredients
2 tbsp olive oil
1 large eggplant
1 medium red onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 small tomatoes, diced
20 pitted Kalamata olives, sliced
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp Greek seasoning

Directions
1- Peel and chop eggplant. (smaller pieces will cook faster).
2- Heat oil in a large pan and add onions and garlic and saute for about 3-4 minutes.
3- Add eggplant and cook until soft, about 15 minutes.
4- Add tomatoes and Greek seasoning and cook until tomato is completely mushy.
5- Stir in olives and balsamic vinegar.
6- Remove from heat and mash either with a handmixer or potato masher, until desired consistency.
7- Refrigerate until completely chilled and serve with pita chips or other similar type cracker.

* Tastes much better if chilled overnight, flavors really come through!


Nutritional Values
10 servings
(1/4 cup serving)
1 point
49 cal
3.5 g fat
0.5 g sat.fat
4.6 g carbs
1.5 g fiber
0 g sugar

5 servings
(1/2 cup serving)
2 points
99 cal
7.1 g fat
1 g sat.fat
9.2 g carbs
2.9 g fiber
0 g sugar
1.5 g protein

entire recipe
495.5 cal
35.5 g fat
14.6 g fiber

Dijon Scallopped Potatoes

No cheese, no milk, no way... you say!! I'm telling you, these scallopped potatoes are creamy and delicious without the milk and cheese!! I used a food processor to slice my potatoes paper thin... I think it helps get the ultimate creaminess possible!

(paper-thin potatoes)

Ingredients
1 kg potato, with skin, sliced paper thin
1 small onion, sliced
3 tbsp vegetable shortening
3 tsbp all purpose flour
2 cups fat free chicken broth
2 tbsp Old-Fashioned Dijon mustard (grainy) *
1/2 tsp salt
pepper to taste


Directions
1- Spray a 3 liter dish with some non-stick spray.
2 - Preheat oven to 170 C.
3 - In a saucepan, melt shortnening over low medium heat.
4 - Remove from heat and stir in flour.
5- Stir in broth and other ingredients and return to low heat and simmer for 5 minutes.
6 - If sauce is too thick, add some water to thin it out.
7 - Arrange half of the potatoes in the bottom on the greased dish.
8 - Add all the sliced onions.
9 - Add half of the sauce.
10 - Add remaining potatoes and top with the rest of the sauce.
11 - Bake for 2 hours or until soft.
* if you arent a dijon fan, use 2 tsp instead. It will taste strong in the sauce at first, but will be barely noticeable when the finished dish comes out of the oven!

before heading to the oven

Delicious Yummy Greatness!

Nutritional Data
4 servings
per serving
6 points
293 calories
9.5 g fat (2.3 g sat)
45.8 g carbs
4.7 g fiber
2.6 g sugars
5.9g protein

6 servings
per serving
4 points
195.3 calories
6.4 g fat (1.6g sat)
30.5 g carbs
3.2 g fiber
1.7 g sugars
3.9 g protein

Shepherd's Pie a la Moussaka

I while back I was in the mood for some moussaka. Then I thought to myself, why not make the meat mixture for moussaka but make it into a shepherd's pie instead. I started googling and came upon another foodie who had the same idea! I was psyched to discover that this foodie was a chef... did this mean that I thought like a Fusion chef?
Probably not, but I like to think so, so don't burst my bubble!

Seeing as I had never made moussaka, I based my recipe on his, altering it to make it more 'hips & thighs' friendly , or 'gut' friendly or 'heart' friendly... or whatever part of your body you are trying to make peace with!

Here is my version of Chef John's Shepherd's Pie "Moussaka".

We all enjoyed this recipe, I toned my down when it came to spices so that my little critics would eat it... and yeah, mama is a sissy who can't handle the heat! You can handle the heat, then go check out Chef John's spice mix and use it instead of mine. (keep in mind that I halved the recipe).
Ingredients
(4 servings)

1 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion
1 lb ground turkey

SPICE MIX
1 bay leaf
1 tbsp cumin
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp greek seasoning

2 garlic cloves
1/3 cup tomato paste
1 eggplant (350 gr), peeled and diced

1 1/2 lb potatoes, peeled and quartered
2 tbsp light margarine
1/4 cup fat free milk
1/4 cup fresh parmesan, shredded

Directions
1- In a large pan, heat olive oil.
2- Saute onions until soft.
3 - Add turkey, breaking it up with a wooden spoon as it cooks.
4 - Add spice mix and garlic.
5- Turn heat to medium low.
6 - Add tomato paste and diced eggplant, and mix.
7 - Cover and simmer for 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
8- In a pot, boil some water and add potatoes.
9- drain potatoes and mash with milk, margarine and parmesan cheese.
8- Remove cover from meat near the end to let liquid evaporate a little.
9- Fill a casserole with meat mixture and top with mashed potatoes.
10- Bake in a preheated oven (medium-high heat) for approx. 20 minutes or until top is golden.

Nutritional Data
1 serving
9 WW points
413 calories
15.8 g fat
83.9 mg chol
40 g carbs
6.6 g fiber
4.3 g sugars
29.8 g protein

Kid-Proof Asian Turkey Noodles

My husband and I often like to eat late, once the kids have gone to bed. We enjoy the quiet, relax environment that allows us to have an uninterrupted conversation. On night's like that, I often whip out some quick child favorites for the kids. My little critics love this concoction! It might not look so appealing to adults, it looks kind of "blah" an colorless... but I've learned that with my kids the less different colors the better. They seem to prefer a uniform dish (like mac n cheese). Might not be the case with you children, but this sweet dish should please them either way!


Ingredients
(3 servings)
350 g ground turkey
100 g dry wok noodles (straight to wok noodles) *
1 onion, diced
2 tsp hoisin sauce
2 tsp garlic-ginger paste
salt to taste
Pam spray
water

Directions
1- Spray deep pan, or wok with Pam and heat.
2- Add onions and cook on medium heat until soft.
3- Add ground turkey, breaking it up with a wooden spoon as it cooks.
4 - When turkey is cooked, add hoisin sauce, ginger-garlic paste and fast cooking wok noodles.
5 - Add a few tablespoons of water, not too much, just enough so that the pasta gets cooked and that it evaporates when pasta is ready (about 2-3 tbsp, and 4-5 minutes of cooking)

* Wok noodles; I use noodles that are to be added directly to the wok unboiled. You can also use ramen noodles, they cook quickly. Or if you don't have straight to wok noodles, then some precooked egg noodles should please the little critics ;)

Nutritional Data
1 serving
6 WW points
278 cal
14.1 g fat
37.4 g chol
22.8 g carbs
2.2 g fiber
0.3 g sugars
13.4 g protein

Onion & Carrot Foil Packs

Sorry I've been M.I.A for a month...

We are having summer weather here in Budapest and so we've been doing lots of barbecuing.
Here's a nice little recipe we like to have along side whatever meats we are grillin'. My little critics usually pick out the onions, which I don't mind, since it leaves more for me ;)

It's a nice change from potatoes!


Ingredients
(5 servings)
1 kg garden carrots, peeled and chopped *
2 medium onions (~ 300 gr), chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp Herbes de Provences **

Directions
1- Add all ingredients in a large bowl and toss.
2 - Dump the ingredients in the center of a large sheet of aluminum foil (or 2 smaller sheets).
3 - Close up the foil in a way that nothing will drip or fall out when the foil pack is flipped on the grill.
4 - Grill on BBQ until carrots are soft (approx 15-20 mins, but time will depend on the size of the carrot pieces.)

* Garden carrots (the carrots that still have the greens attached) are sweeter then regular carrots) and the sweetness blends really well with the Herbes de Provences.

** If you don't have Herbes de Provences (French herb mix) you can make your own.
Enjoy!

Nutritional Data
1 serving
2 WW points
cal 129.4
fat 3.3 g
carbs 24.5 g
fiber 6.8 g
sugars 9.1 g
protein 2.6 g

Asian Meatball Stir-Fry

If you made the Asian Meatballs and are wondering how to use them... here's my concoction. The whole family enjoyed this and I will be making it again. I think it would be really good with chicken or pork pieces as well... if you're not into beef or meatballs! This recipe uses hoisin sauce, which gives the recipe a niice sweet flavor.


Ingredients
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion
1/2 large red or orange sweet pepper
1 cup green beans
1 tsp ginger-garlic paste
2 cups fat-free chicken broth
2 tbsp hoisin sauce
1 tbsp cornstarch
2-3 tbsp water
20 Asian Meatballs

Directions
- Heat oil in a large skillet or wok.
- Cook onions, peppers and green beans until softened
- Add ginger-garlic paste, chicken broth, and hoisin sauce and bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat to low and add meatballs.
- In a small bowl, mix cornstarch with water and add to skillet.
- Simmer on low until sauce has thickened.

Nutritional Data
excluding meatballs!
(4 servings sauce)
2 WW points
87.5 cal
3.8 g fat
0.3 mg cholesterol
11.1 g carbs
1.3 g fiber
0.6 g sugar

with 5 meatballs = 8 WW points
1.6 g protein

Asian Meatballs

I had thawed some ground beef and was in the mood for some stir fry and didn't feel like throwing the ground meat in as it was, so I decided to make some meatballs. I took some ingredients that I thought would give it a good flavor and mix in well with any stir-fry or other chinese dish. All 3 of my picky critics loved the meatballs.... sadly, I wasn't a huge fan. I ate them, I was hungry... but I didn't enjoy them that much. However, I will make them again, since my picky kids gobbled them up in record time! I just couldn't taste much flavor in the meatballs. I think when I will make them next time, I will mix all the ingredients and refrigerate for a few hours for the meat to really soak up the flavors before making the meatballs. I mixed and formed the meatballs and cooked them right away... maybe that's why I thought they were a little bland.


Ingredients
1 lb lean ground beef
1 egg
3 scallions, diced
3 tbsp soya sauce
1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
1 tbsp sugar

Directions
- In a large bowl, mix all ingredients.
- Refrigerate for 30 mins or more.
- Form meat mixture into 30 meatballs (about the size of a ping pong ball!).
- Cook in a preheated oven at 175 C for 20 minutes. I cooked mine on a cookie sheet to ease cleanup ;)


Nutritional Data
1 Meatball
1 WW point
46 cal
3.3 g fat
18.3 mg cholesterol
0.7 g carbs
0.1 g fiber
0.5 g sugars
3 g protein

1 serving of 5 meatballs
6 WW points
230 cal
16.4 g fat
91.7 mg cholesterol
3.4 g carbs
0.4 g fiber
2.4 g sugars
14.9 g protein