A Mexican Afair

Mexican food is at or near the top of my "favorite kind of foods" list. I usually eat it at least once a week. I have developed a rather picky taste for my Mexican food, and tex-mex and grocery store convenient items just don't cut it anymore. I want authentic, fresh flavors with some serious heat (when heat is appropriate).

The hubs and I have gotten into a nice habit of cooking something new on the weekends. On Saturday morning before our usual shopping trip, we consulted the Healthy Family Cookbook again. Not really knowing what we were in a mood for, we flipped through the Poultry section to see if anything caught our eye. I was nearing the end when I flipped to a page with a nice picture of Chicken Enchiladas. We both paused and at the same time and made the same sound: "Ooooo!" A quick read of the recipe and we had our new weekend recipe to try out. We searched in the same book for some Mexican-Style rice. We found a Basmati Rice Pilaf recipe that had a "With Mexican Flavors" variation. To round out the meal, we cooked a pot of Anasazi Beans to last throughout the week.

What in the world are Anasazi Beans you ask?
A friend of our got us hooked on Anasazi Beans (yes, they really are the best beans in the world!). We had a gathering a few years ago where we made Indian Tacos and everyone brought an item to help with the meal. This particular friend brought beans. I don't recall if he made refried beans, or just simply cooked the beans and we ate them whole. What I do remember is how amazing they were. This was around the time the foodie in me was making a noticeable appearance. I knew what I was eating was not just any ordinary pinto bean. It was creamy, flavorful, and smooth. There was something unique about it, but I didn't know what. I'm forever happy that I questioned the hell out of my poor friend. I found out they are a type of bean specific to Colorado, and sadly, could not be bought here. He told me all about ways to cook them and why they were unique because you didn't have to soak them and they cause less gas than pinto beans (an added bonus!). Not long after this, he and his wife were on a road trip to CO when I called to see if they wanted to hang out. I was so in love with this new discovery that I talked him into bringing us back a 10lb bag! Over the next few months we experimented with the beans and we worked them into a regular part of our diet. We were just about to run out last October, but then he and his wife got us another 10lb bag of Anasazi Beans and a dutch oven to cook them in for our wedding! SCORE! The bag of beans were by far the oddest and funniest wedding gift we received, but completely practical and the perfect gift for this foodie couple!

Chicken Enchiladas:
I started by making their recipe for Green Enchilada Sauce. You first have to roast the poblano chiles and tomatillos.


Once the peppers have been roasted you remove the skin. Then you throw them into a food processor with the roasted tomatillos, chicken broth, a minced onion, garlic, a lot of cilantro, lime juice, extra-virgin olive oil, and a little sugar. We added a little salt to balance out the sugar, and it was perfect with just the right amount of bite with a subtle hotness!


Now it was time to make the Chicken Enchiladas. The chicken was cooked in a pot with the Green Enchilada Sauce and then shredded into bite-sized pieces. It was then mixed with some of the Green Enchilada Sauce, queso fresco cheese (I used reduced fat), green chiles, and cilantro.

Now it was time to assemble everything. The corn tortillas were sprayed with cooking spray and warmed up in the oven to make them more pliable. Then 1/3 cup of the chicken mixture (a generous portion) was spread down the center of the tortillas.


After everything was in the pan, more Green Enchilada Sauce was added on top, and then everything was covered with cheddar cheese (I used sharp, 2%). We baked it with foil over it to keep it from burning until everything was heated through and the cheese was melted, and then removed the foil and allowed the cheese to brown.



Basmati Rice Pilaf With Mexican Flavors:

The base of this recipe is just a little olive oil, a small minced onion, basmati rice, and water. We only eat brown rice now, so we substituted regular basmati rice for brown basmati rice. We forgot that you have to soak brown basmati rice before cooking with it in recipes like this, or that it takes longer to cook. Luckily we started early knowing the enchiladas were going to be involved and require both of us, and thinking the rice was fine to sit since it will stay warm. Instead of letting it sit, we just kept cooking it and it was done by the time we were ready to eat.

For the Mexican Flavors, jalapenos, garlic, tomato paste, cilantro, and a diced tomato were added. Luckily we bought 3 bunches of cilantro! At this point we had used more than 2 to get 1 1/4 cups of minced cilantro, and our other mexican recipe for later in the week to use up the beans and rice calls for another 1/4 cup. We LOVE cilantro!



The meal was amazing! We didn't like the rice all that much and felt it lacked flavor and didn't have much heat. However, it got better as it sat overnight. When we had the left overs, the flavors were better developed and the jalapeno heat was present where it wasn't the first night. I think it takes longer for brown rice to absorb flavors since it has the hard outer shell. I'm not sure we will be making it again though. A 3/4 cup serving was 5 WW points+ and neither of us felt it was worth the extra points.

The enchiladas were fantastic! They moved to the top of our recipe list and we will be making them often. They are 10 WW points+ for 2 enchiladas. A little heavy for WW, but so worth it, in our opinion. The flavors were authentic, fresh, and the Green Enchilada Sauce added just the right amount of subtle heat to the dish. The chicken was tender and very flavorful. And left overs were just as good. The texture of the corn tortillas was better the first night, but we both agreed that the flavors got better the 2nd night. They were delicious and so filling.

And of course the beans were awesome! :) I cook them in water with a little salt and canola oil. We found nutritional info for 1/4 cup dry beans and have noticed that the beans make about 2.5 times more cooked. Using that ratio, 1 cup of cooked beans is 5 WW points+, which is the same as what we normally do for our starch, 1 cup brown rice or 1 cup whole wheat pasta.

All in all, a VERY good weekend meal. I wouldn't have time to do this during the week, but it was a fun activity for hubby and I and we got 2 more nights of meals out of it. It was so worth the work and we will be doing it again soon!

Fage 2% Honey

My brother told me that he found the 0% Greek Yogurt to have an odd flavor. I have been doing really well on Weight Watchers this week and have some extra points, so I decided to give one of Fage's 2% flavors a try. I got the honey flavor as I hear this is one of the best ways to enjoy Greek Yogurt. The honey flavor was 5 WW points, but most of the 2% flavors are only 4. Since Fage keeps the flavors separate from the yogurt I was able to give the 2% a try.

Oddly enough, I did not like it as well as the 0% Fage. The 2% was creamier, a bit loser, but tasted more like sour cream. While I say I love sour cream, and I do when I'm cooking and eating, I do not like it plain. My husband on the other hand loved it. But he puts sour cream on almost anything and licks the spoon clean after getting some out of the container. There is just something about it plain that I don't like, and I think it's the tang. For whatever reason though the 0% is a tad less tangy and has a slightly thicker texture. It also has more protein I noticed. I'm happy to stick to the healthier 0%!

Adding the little honey well into the yogurt made all the difference though. I figured out that if you hold the honey well part in your hands for a bit, it comes out of the side container a lot easier. I didn't mix the honey in, but instead let is settle on the top. I then dug in and scooped from top to bottom to get an even disbursement of honey and yogurt. Yup, I could tell this one had fat. It was much creamier and tasted richer. Even though I don't like the Fage brand of yogurt as much, it has never disappointed after I mix in the sweet fruit or honey. This one was very good, but had 29g of sugar, most of which comes from the honey, but it still had added sugar. I'll save this one for splurges. They have a 0% honey flavor, and so does Chobani, but I can't seem to find it anywhere.

Discovering All-Natural Lunches

Over the weekend, hubs and I were at the organic grocery store that just opened a couple months ago. I'm a big fan of this new store since we have tried to cut out artificial sweeteners and eat minimally processed foods for the last 2 years or so. It's so much easier to shop already knowing that there are no artificial sweeteners of any kind, in any product which they carry in the store!

While casually browsing the store I found a "Savory Turkey" frozen dinner by Organic Bistro. The description reads:

"Turkey Breast in Rosemary Mushroom Sauce with Green Beans & Lentil-Quinoa Pilaf"

Hubs has been buying a lot of Amy's Kitchen frozen meals for lunches, but they are all vegetarian. They are all impressively delicious and are of the same quality of dishes I would make in my own kitchen and just as flavorful, but with my blood sugar issues, I need more protein than what they can offer. So I decided to give this Organic Bistro meal a try.


As you can see, the main name of the product is the smallest portion and looks like nothing on the front of the box (see the link above)! I opened up the box, and like Amy's freezer meals, this one came in a paper tray all wrapped in a cellophane bag. You cook the meal in the bag which I think helps steam the veggies. Although the portion of meat was much smaller than I was expecting, it had plenty of protein to keep my blood sugar in check. I was disappointed, however, with the lack of gravy. I thought it had settled to the bottom, but there was nothing but a watery mess on the bottom when I tried to stir it up. The veggie portion was excellent, and that is a lot coming from someone who doesn't like veggies. They tasted fresh and were steamed perfectly, for my tastes anyway. The Lentil-Quinoa... I'm not so sure about. It looks sorta like couscous, but was much mushier, and dry. It looked very moist, but with each bite it sucked every ounce of moisture out of my mouth. The lentils added a pleasant texture to chew. I was very impressed with the lack of sodium, until I got to the turkey chunks. It was quite a shock. By the time I finished the dish, I had gotten used to the sodium. It may have been the complete lack of sodium in the veggies and Lentil-Quinoa that just threw me off with the first few bites of turkey. I thought the turkey could use more of the gravy. There was hardly any there, or maybe it was the watery stuff that had pooled at the bottom. I used the "juices" to moisten up the Quinoa. This was my first experience with Quinoa, and I don't really even know what it is, so I'm not sure if that is a natural characteristic of it or not. It wasn't bad... just different.

Overall I would give it 3.5 stars. It was only 8 WW points+, and was by far the most filling 8 point meal I have ever eaten. It was a considerably larger than the Lean Cuisine meals I usually eat. I found the flavor to be lacking, but that didn't make it bad. I would certainly not characterize this meal as bad. It just wasn't as good as I was hoping for, but was certainly much healthier than what I normally eat for lunch. I don't think I would buy another one unless I was looking for the most filling meal possible for only 8 points.

Are You Sick of Greek Yogurt Yet? I'm not!

I will be the first to admit it... I'm obsessed. It's a little sad really... but something so delicious, only 3 WW points, and so much protein... do you blame me?

I'm making my way through the Chobani 0% flavors. So far Lemon is my favorite followed by Peach. I wasn't a huge fan of the Vanilla, but am going to give it another try now that I'm fully immersed in this whole Greek Yogurt thing.

So today after lunch I tired the Cherry. I was really surprised how good this one was since I'm not a huge cherry fan. It had just the right amount of sweetness and tart and ranks 3rd for me now, knocking Vanilla down another notch. This flavor had nice cherry chunks and was wonderful when all mixed together. I would buy it again.

And then later after dinner I finally got a chance to try to Chobani Blueberry! I had been anticipating this one for a while. While on an impromptu trip to Sam's Club Friday night, I found a 12-pack of Chobani Greek Yogurt (Blueberry, Peach, and Strawberry). I was quite excited as I cannot contain myself with this stuff. I had previously tried the Fage Blueberry flavor and really liked it. So I was anxious to see how this one compared. As I have stated before, I like the Chobani Greek Yogurt plain better than the Fage. So I expected to like the Chobani Blueberry better than the Fage Blueberry.

Not the case though. While the Chobani Blueberry was delicious, the Fage Blueberry was a bit sweeter, which I think made it taste a bit better. As I have mentioned before, Fage uses sugar though, while Chobani only uses evaporated cane juice. What I find interesting is that Fage only has 16g of sugar while the Chobani Blueberry has 20g of sugar. Fage's website has an asterisk next to the listing of how many grams of sugar and then state: "Naturally occuring lactose sugars, no added sugar." (yes, that is their misspelling of the word occurring). But on the product, under ingredients, it lists sugar. That's a bit puzzling.

Since I'm able to get Chobani in bulk at Sam's Club, and because it doesn't have sugar added, I will stick to the Chobani Blueberry. It's still really good! This flavor is currently tied at number two with Peach.

I have a few more flavors to try, so I'll be posting about those later this week. Then I think I will be done talking about yogurt for a while.

I think I'm a Yogurt Snob

In my curiosity of Greek Yogurt that started a couple weeks ago, I picked up 3 brands for the first purchase. The Chobani rocked my world so much that I bought more of it before I tired all 3 brands. Seems as though I tried the best one first.



The last in my Greek Yogurt sampling was the Strawberry from Yoplait. I should have tired this one first because It's not good compared to the others. It's somewhere between their regular yogurt and good Greek-Style yogurt. Upon opening it, I instantly noticed a consistency difference where this one was more runny. When I tasted it plain, it was much sweeter than the others. Yogurt alone, Chobani is still my favorite, and I had already made up my mind I didn't like this brand. It also has sugar added which was a negative mark for me as well. I prefer the natural sugar of evaporated cane juice. So I dug into the bottom to mix in the fruit... repulsion! The "strawberries" at the bottom were this dark, reddish-brown color and it was the consistency of a loose jelly... Is this even in date? yes... wow... No chunks of fruit, only a few sporadic seeds. I fully mixed in all the fruit, and now my "Greek-Style Yogurt" was not much different than their regular yogurt: super smooth and loose yogurt that almost seemed watery and was very sweet. Only difference I could detect was that it had a bit more tang. That and it didn't seem to fill me up as much. If you're wanting good Greek-Style yogurt, do not buy this brand.

No, thank you, Yoplait. Stick to what you're good at... regular yogurt. I will be sticking to Chobani and Fage, unless I find something better.

More on Greek Yogurt

So I'm making my way through the flavors of my favorite brand (so far) of Greek Style Yogurt. Tonight I had the Lemon. ...Hang on while I finish licking the carton...



So far I think this is my favorite flavor of yogurt. I didn't expect it to be so good. Instead of the fruit being at the bottom, it has lemon pulp mixed in. When I opened it, I thought it had gone bad and had to do a recheck on the date because it wasn't smooth like I'm used to seeing. I stirred it up, and with the grainy, almost lumpy texture I reluctantly took a bite... heaven! The pulp gives it an unexpected look, but it's still the same creamy, smooth yogurt as the base with bits of flavor mixed in. Not too tart, not too sweet, the tangy-ness of the yogurt comes through but is muted a bit with a wonderful lemony overtone. Simply delicious!

yes... I'm obsessed...

My Husband Found Stir-Fry That I Like!

Apparently my weekend of cooking was not enough and I needed more. After work tonight my husband and I decided to try a new recipe. Actually, we had intended to do it last night but in a moment of weakness went out for dinner instead. This broke my streak of 7 days of not eating out. I will attempt this again next week as this week I have a birthday dinner celebration for a friend at one of my favorite Italian places, and agreed to eat at a favorite Asian restaurant for lunch later in the week. At least my eating out splurges are now on favorites and are not a regular part of my eating habits anymore. So back to dinner tonight...

I received the Healthy Family Cookbook by America's Test Kitchen for Christmas last year. I have had very little time since then, and what time I did have was spent making delicious meals that where anything but healthy. While I very much enjoyed my splurge of cooking and eating for 5 months, my weight did not. Now it's back to Weight Watchers for my husband and I and back to getting creative in the kitchen while not sacrificing flavor.

My husband loves veggies and stir-fries, while I'm not a fan of either. I have warmed up to asparagus and carrots lately (if cooked to my picky tastes), so he thought I might like this recipe.

Stir-Fried Shrimp and Asparagus with Lemon Sauce:
This recipe uses fresh asparagus, carrots, ginger, garlic, scallions, lemon juice, and pepper to create a full flavored, fresh tasting dish.

The shrimp quickly marinated in a mixture of low-sodium soy sauce and Chinese rice cooking wine. We could not find Chinese rice cooking wine so we used their substitution suggestion of dry sherry. We let them marinate while we prepped everything else.

Less than 2 tablespoons of canola oil were used in this dish, and was used to help cook the shrimp and veggies. The shrimp were partially cooked first, then the asparagus and carrots were cooked until crisp-tender. The center of the skillet was cleared and the other seasonings were added to bloom and then were mixed in to the veggies. The lemon sauce which contained chicken broth, lemon juice, Chinese cooking wine (I used dry sherry again), low-sodium soy sauce, sugar, cornstarch and pepper was then added to the skillet. Everything was cooked a few more minutes to finish cooking the shrimp and thicken the sauce.

This was an excellent dish that was very complex. I served mine over a bed of brown basmati rice while my husband has his over whole wheat thin spaghetti. I'm now has me on an Asian kick. We used to eat Thai food once a week and I have tried creating it at home with no luck. Maybe this will start teaching me how to build Asian flavors so I can start creating my own dishes.

UPDATE: This keeps surprisingly well in the fridge!




Fage Yogurt:
For dessert, I again went to my Greek Style Yogurt. I tired a new brand: Fage. While I didn't like the yogurt by itself as well as the Chobani, it was extremely good when I mixed in the blueberry acai segment. I will be buying it again!

Instead of fruit on the bottom like the other Greek Yogurts I have seen with fruit, this brand keeps it in a separate compartment. It did however, allow me to try the yogurt plain. This brand's yogurt is much stronger, tangier, and thicker. I really liked the thickness of it, but it was a bit too tangy for me. I think I might appreciate this yogurt funk flavor more when I get a little more used to it. I hear it takes a little time. The only real thing I didn't like was that this brand uses sugar, where Chobani only uses evaporated cane juice to supplement the sweetness of the fruit. I will have to try the Chobani blueberry flavor to see which one I like best.

I think I have a new Greek Yogurt obsession starting. I guess it makes a better dessert than what I used to eat!

Cloudy and Lazy Sunday Morning

I have been in a serious cooking mood all weekend. So this morning I decided to dig out an old recipe to see how I could make it better now that my cooking skills have greatly evolved and my tastes had changed.

Applesauce Oatmeal Muffins:
Back a few years ago I needed whole wheat flour for something, but then had a ton left over. In search of what to do with whole wheat flour, I ran across a recipe for Applesauce Oatmeal Muffins on Cooks.com.

It's definitely a recipe you can play with. Taking a tip from a pumpkin break recipe my mom makes, I used fresh OJ instead of milk. For the other ingredients I used natural applesauce without any sugar added, unsalted butter (because it was less Weight Watchers (WW) points than the oil), probably 1 1/4 tsp cinnamon, and 2 1/2 Tbs sugar. I played with the points on WW before settling on the sugar amount, and it's a little less than half of the optional amount.

The OJ gave them a unique flavor that in my opinion just didn't work with the other warm flavors, so I think I will try the milk next time. They are not out of this world or anything, but was a nice change from my bowl of oatmeal I eat every day.

It's definitely not enough for a breakfast, but at 3 WW points these make a great snack. I did one of these, a hard boiled egg, and a new flavor of Greek Yogurt and was very satisfied all for 8 points. It was a nice brunch.

Chobani Greek Yogurt: My new love!

I recently picked up 3 brands of fat-free Greek Yogurt to see what I thought of it, and to find a brand I liked. I figured I would start with fat-free before I feel in love with a full-fat or reduced-fat version. I got Fage Blueberry acai, Chobani Peach, and Yoplait Strawberry. The Chobani Peach was so good that I bought more in the Black Chery, Vanilla, Lemon, and the 2% low-fat Pineapple flavors. The next one on my list was this vanilla one (3 points).

Normally I like the "fruit at the bottoms" ones for some extra natural sweetener, but I decided to give this Vanilla one a try. It was a bit too tangy for my tastes, so I took a tip from my brother and added some honey. I just happened to have some fresh honey from a former co-worker and his wife. Great stuff! Just a small drizzle sweetened the yogurt just enough.

I don't think I will be buying this particular flavor again until I get a little more used to the extra tang in Greek Yogurt. I never did like just plain American Yogurt before, but the Greek Yogurt is so much more complex I think I might really get into it.

This weekend definitely focused on food for me and I very much enjoyed it. I hope now that life is not so hectic right now and we are finally settling down into a routine that weekends will once again be used for food creation time!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Why, Hello Greek-Style Yogurt!

I have recently discovered Greek-Style Yogurt, and the fact that it's not really 'Greek Yogurt' unless it is made with cream and sheep's milk! :) YUM!