Grilled Pork Chops with Orange-Tamarind Glaze

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup chicken broth
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• 4 tsp. tamarind paste
• 1 tsp. honey
• 1/2 tsp. ginger, grated & freshly peeled
• 1 tsp. unsalted butter
• 1 tsp. curry powder
• 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
• 1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
• 4 (5 oz.) lean thin-sliced bone-in center-cut pork loin chops, trimmed

Makes 4 Servings (1 pork chop + 2 teaspoons glaze per serving)

1. To make the glaze, stir together broth, orange juice, tamarind paste, honey, and ginger in a medium skillet until combined well; bring to boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until mixture is slightly thickened, about 8 minutes (you should have 1/4 cup). Remove skillet from heat; swirl in butter until melted. Transfer 1 tablespoon glaze to cup for basting. Set aside remaining 3 tablespoons glaze.
2. Meanwhile, to make rub, stir together curry powder, salt, and pepper in another cup. Rub spice mixture on both sides of pork; lightly spray with olive oil nonstick spray.
3. Heat grill pan over medium-high heat until hot. Add pork to pan and grill 3 minutes per side. Brush pork with 1/2 tablespoon of glaze reserved for basting; turn pork over and grill 1 minute. Brush pork with remaining 1/2 tablespoon glaze; turn pork and grill until cooked through, about 1 minute longer. Serve pork  drizzled with reserved 3 tablespoons glaze.

WW POINTS VALUE: 7 pts.

 

Note: This recipe appears in the WW Family Meals Cookbook. Pork is the other juicy white meat. This pork dish is tasty, succulent and juicy. If you're an adventurous eater, this dish is for you. Don't be intimidated by the ingredients in this meal. The ingredients blend well together for a spicy and succulent dish. This glaze also goes well with chicken or fish. You can also serve this glaze with grilled vegetables too.

Buffalo-Style Stuffed Celery

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup light cream cheese, softened
• 2 tbsp. blue cheese crumbled
• 1 small garlic clove, minced
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 5 celery stalks, cut into 4 pieces each
• 2 1/2 tsp. hot pepper sauce, or to taste
• 1 tbsp. chopped fresh chives

Makes 10 Servings (2 pieces stuffed celery per serving)

1. Stir together cream cheese, blue cheese, garlic, and salt in a small bowl until smooth. Spoon or pipe out about 1/2 tablespoon cheese mixture into each piece of celery.
2. Arrange stuffed celery on serving plate; drizzle each with about 1/4 teaspoon hot sauce and sprinkle with chives.

WW POINTS VALUE: 2 pts.

 

Note: This recipe appears in the WW Family Meals Cookbook. These treats make a lively appetizer at a gathering or a delicious snack during the day. You can also serve the cream cheese filling with sliced carrots alongside the celery. Heck, you can even serve the cream cheese as a dip with other vegetables such as broccoli, tomatoes, cauliflower, baked pita chips or even alongside chicken bites.

Drumsticks Roasted with Garlic

Ingredients:

• 4 celery sticks, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 large Golden delicious apple, cored & chopped
• 2 tsp. finely chopped fish tarragon
• 1 tsp. finely chopped fresh thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
• 8 (5 oz.) chicken drumsticks, skinned
• 1 large head garlic, broken into cloves and peeled

Makes 4 Servings (2 drumsticks with 1 cup vegetables and sauce per serving)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Spray a  9 x 13-inch baking pan with nonstick spray.
2. Combine the onion, celery, apple, tarragon, and thyme in a large bowl; turn into the baking pan and spread out, making a bed for the drumsticks. Tuck the bay leaves into the vegetables, then sprinkle the salt and pepper over the mixture. Lay the drumsticks on top, then tuck in the garlic cloves, pushing them down among the vegetables.
3. Cover the baking pan and bake until the vegetables are soft and an instant-read thermometer inserted in a drumstick registers 165 F, about 1 hour and 15 minutes.
4. Discard the bay leaves. Place 2 drumsticks in each of 4 bowls, then spoon the vegetables and roasted garlic around them, like a stew.

WW POINTS VALUE: 5 pts.

 

Note: This recipe appears in the WW Ultimate Chicken Cookbook. Here is another take on comfort food. It's basically chicken and vegetables with roasted garlic. It's different but it has a nice aftertaste to it. Baking the garlic cloves with the chicken and vegetables mellows the garlic's flavor. When the cooking is done, squeeze out the pulp and eat it with the chicken or spread it on toasted slices of French bread for an additional 2 points.

Slow-Cooker Pulled Beef

Ingredients:

• 1 (14.5 oz.) can no-salt-added diced tomatoes, drained, juices reserved
• 3/4 cup red wine
• 1 large red onion
• 1 medium red bell pepper, sliced
• 1 apple, peeled and cut into chunks
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 3/4 tsp. coarse kosher salt
• 1/4 tsp. freshly  ground black pepper
• 1 bottom round rump roast (3 1/2 lbs.)
• 1 tbsp. + 1 tsp. extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp. chipotle chile powder

Makes 12 Servings (3/4 cup per serving)

1. In a 6-quart slow cooker, combine the diced tomatoes (without the juice), wine, onion, bell pepper, apple, garlic, 1/2 teaspoon of the salt, and the black pepper. Set to high and cook while you brown the meat.
2. Pat the meat dry. Untie the meat if it was tied as a roast and cut off any external fat. In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat until it shimmers. Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt over bottom of the pan. Add the meat and lightly brown on all sides, including the ends, 5-7 minutes total.
3. Nestle the meat into the tomato mixture in the slow cooker. Add the reserved juice from the tomatoes to the skillet and stir to get up any browned bits. Pour the liquid over the meat. Sprinkle the meat with chipotle powder. Turn the heat to low and cook for 4 hours. Turn the roast over and cook on low until the beef is tender and you can pull it apart with a fork, 3-4 hours longer (check at 3 hours and if it needs more time, turn the roast over again and cook for another hour).
4. Remove the beef from the cooker and put onto a cutting board. When cool enough to handle, use two forks to pull the beef into shreds.
5. With an immersion blender, puree the sauce in the slow cooker (taste and add more chipotle powder, if desired), then return the beef to the sauce. Serve on its own or spoon over 1/2 cup cooked quinoa, if you like.

WW POINTS VALUE: 5 pts. without quinoa, 8 pts. with quinoa

 

Note: This recipe appears in the South Beach Diet Gluten Solution Cookbook. If you love beef stew, this dish is for you. Beef stew is a wonderful comfort food to enjoy when it's done right. The people at South Beach have done it again with beef and comfort food. You can use any color bell pepper in this dish and it will taste just as good. If you don't want to add an apple in this stew, add diced carrots or parsnips and it will still hearty and delicious. This stew also makes nice leftovers too.  

Orange-Maple Pork Tenderloin

Ingredients:

• 1 navel orange
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tbsp. maple-flavored agave nectar
• 2 tbsp. gluten-free reduced-sodium tamari soy sauce
• 1 1/2 lbs. pork tenderloin
• olive oil cooking spray

Makes 4 Servings

1. Using a vegetable peeler, peel three long strips of orange zest from the orange. Squeeze the juice from the orange.
2. In a small saucepan, combine the juice, zest strips, and garlic. Simmer for 5 minutes to mellow the garlic, infuse the orange juice with flavor, and reduce the liquid a bit.
3. Meanwhile in a small bowl, stir together the agave nectar and tamari.
4. Strain the orange juice mixture into the tamari mixture, pressing on the solids to extract flavors. Let cool slightly, then transfer to a sturdy resealable plastic big bag enough to hold the pork. Add the pork, making sure that it is completely covered by the marinade. Force out the air, seal, and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes or preferably for 2 hours (you could also leave it in overnight).
5. Preheat the oven to 375 F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil (for easier cleanup).
6. Reserving the marinade, place the pork (straight from the refrigerator) on the baking sheet and spray very lightly with olive oil. Roast for 20 minutes.
7. Brush the pork with the reserved marinade (and then discard any unused marinade) and roast until an instant-read thermometer inserted in the thickest part of the pork registers 145 F (the meat will be very slightly pink and still juicy), about 10 minutes. Thinly slice across the grain, divide among 4 plates, and serve.

WW POINTS VALUE: 4 pts.

Note: This recipe appears in the South Beach Diet Gluten Solutions Cookbook.  This is what I call a new, elegant take on pork. This pork is better than barbeque or anything you would order at a Chinese or ethnic restaurant. The combination of orange and maple is heavenly tasty. The maple and orange mixed in with the garlic and tamari soy sauce makes the pork so succulently juicy. You can also grill the pork tenderloin or pork chops with the marinade and they will still be delicious.

Ultimate Onion Rings

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup low-fat buttermilk
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup plain dried bread crumbs
• 1/2 tsp. Old Bay Seasoning
• 1 large Sweet Onions, cut into 1/2-inch rounds and separated into 32 rings

Makes 4 Servings (8 onion rings per serving)

1. Preheat oven to 450 F. Spray two large baking sheets with nonstick spray.
2. Put flour in large zip-close plastic bag. Whisk together buttermilk, salt, and pepper in shallow bowl. Combine bread crumbs and Old Bay Seasoning in large shallow bowl.
3. Add onion rings, a few at a time, to flour; shake until coated. Dip rings, one at  time, into buttermilk mixture, then lightly coat with bread crumbs, transferring rings as they are coated to prepared baking sheets. Spray onion rings with nonstick spray. Bake, turning once, until golden and crispy, about 20 minutes.

WW POINTS VALUE: 4 pts.

 

Note: This recipe appears in the WW Family Meals Cookbook. When you think of onion rings, you think of greasy guilty pleasures that are crunchy. These onion rings are just as delicious as fried onion rings and I think they taste better than fried. These onion rings go great with any protein, especially grilled steak. I do highly recommend putting the bread crumbs and seasoning in a brown paper bag because it will be easier to coat the onion rings when your shake them all around. If you don't have Old Bay seasoning in your pantry, paprika will work just as well. You will need a knife and a fork to enjoy these onion rings they are that tasty.

Grilled Chicken Salad with Green Goddess Dressing

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup fat-free sour cream
• 1/4 cup fat -free mayonnaise
• 1 bunch fresh chives, chopped
• 2 tbsp. coarsely  chopped fresh tarragon
• 1 tbsp. tarragon vinegar
• 1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 4 (1/4 lb.) boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
• 1 (16 oz.) bag ice berg salad mix

Makes 4 Servings (1 chicken breast half with 1/2 tablespoon dressing & about 1 3/4 cups salad per serving)

1. Puree the sour cream, mayonnaise, chives, tarragon, vinegar, and Worcestershire sauce in a blender.
2. Spray a grill rack with extra-virgin olive oil nonstick spray; prepare the grill for a medium-hit fire. Lightly spray the chicken with nonstick spray; sprinkle with salt and pepper.
3. Place the chicken on the grill until cooked through, about 6 minutes on each side. Transfer to a cutting board.
4. Transfer 2 tablespoons of the dressing to a small bowl; set aside. Combine the salad mix and the remaining dressing in a large bowl; mix well. Divide the salad among 4 plates. Cut each chicken breast on the diagonal into 1/4-inch -thick slices; arrange 1 breast half on top of each salad. Drizzle the chicken evenly with the reserved 2 tablespoons dressing.

WW POINTS VALUE: 4 pts.

 

Note: This recipe appears in the WW Ultimate Chicken Cookbook. This is a great salad to enjoy any day of the week. This salad is very filling and satisfying. I highly recommend adding sliced cucumber, carrot, cherry tomatoes or grapes for a more filling salad. The chicken is nicely seasoned and goes very well with the dressing.