New favorite recipes

So ... in the course of trying to get back on course as far as eating healthy and taking care of myself, I've gone exploring and discovered at least three new recipes that I'm in love with (and one of them has at least three variations that I can think of, so it's really more like five new recipes ... oh, joy!)

New Fave #1 -- Veggie Spaghetti (1 serving)

Unless you just hate mushrooms and/or spinach, there's really not a "yuck" factor here. You can add as many (or as few) veggies as you like; I like to really aim for a few servings' worth in this one ...

Bring a small pot of water to boil, add 2 oz. spaghetti noodles; cook until tender. Drain the spaghetti, turn the heat down to about low or medium-low, then place the spaghetti back into the pot. Add 1/2 cup spaghetti sauce (any variety you like); mix well. Add spinach (add a lot; it wilts down a lot), mushrooms, tomatoes, dried basil and salt to taste (unless you salted the water while it was boiling; you probably don't need more salt now, then). Let it all warm up 'til the spinach and mushrooms have wilted down. Serve immediately. If you like, you can sprinkle some Paremsan or mozerella cheese on top; I choose to go without.

(I forgot to mention earlier that you should cover the pot of goodness while it's warming up so the steam and heat get trapped and help the spinach and mushrooms to wilt down ... I think the result sans lid might be a crusty, not-so-tasty mess ...)

In Weight Watcher-ese, this is a 4-point meal (without the cheese).

New Fave #2 -- Crock pot chicken and salsa (or turkey and salsa, or pork and salsa)
Note: I haven't tried the pork part yet, but in my imagination, it sounds divine; I'll let you know).

I love this one because it's really simple and makes about 4-5 meals' worth of food.

For any of the recipes, I use the really big jar of salsa (I think it's 24 ounces) and 1½ pounds of meat.

Chicken and Salsa:
1 jar chipotle salsa (I've only found this kind at Safeway so far ... I don't think I'd recommend a chipotle variety that includes fruit) or medium-heat salsa
1½ pounds chicken breast meat

Combine ingredients in a crockpot; cook on high for about 4 hours. Remove each chicken breast and shred the meat (I use two forks to do this on a cutting board); after all meat has been shredded, return it to the salsa in the crockpot, cook on low for about 2 more hours.

You can roll up the meat in a tortilla, like a burrito; I just dish it into a bowl and eat it with a side piece of bread.

Turkey and Salsa:
1 jar medium-heat salsa
1½ pounds turkey breast meat

Follow the instructions for the chicken. Turkey shreds a bit differently and chunkier than chicken, but it does shred.

Pork and Salsa
I haven't tried this yet, but I plan to over the weekend.
1 jar peach and mango salsa (my brother said he saw pineapple and mango salsa)
1½ pounds lean pork meat

Follow the instructions for the chicken. I'm not sure how easily pork meat shreds, but if the Fat Burrito can do it, so can I, dangit!

With the chicken and turkey, dividing it up into five servings, it's about 6 points per serving. Bread, tortilla, etc., are extra points.

New Fave #3 -- Roasted red pepper and corn curry soup

This sounded a bit odd when I read it at first, but I've fallen in love with it. I got it out of USA Weekend magazine, which comes in my Sunday paper, and I've just copied the recipe from their Web site. The only problem I had was that I couldn't find a 24-ounce jar of roasted red peppers; just a 16-ounce jar. So I made a 2/3 recipe, which wound up being just about perfect; my little blender doesn't hold very much. So -- a 16-ounce jar of red peppers, 1 cup buttermilk; 2/3 cup fat-free sour cream, 1 1/3 cups corn kernels, etc. It makes 4 (instead of 6) servings. I also found that my green onions were VERY potent, and I overdid the cayenne pepper, so I cried through my first bowl. I left out the onion the next time around. I also opted to not use the addition ¼ cup of sour cream.

24-ounce jar of roasted red peppers, drained

1 cup 99% fat-free, reduced-sodium chicken broth

1 1/4 cups fat-free sour cream (reserve 1/4 cup for optional garnish)

1 1/2 cups low-fat buttermilk

1 Tb. curry powder

1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper or to taste

Salt to taste 1 tsp.

Splenda or sugar (or to taste)

2 cups cooked yellow corn kernels

6 green onions (with greens), thinly sliced for garnish

In a blender or food processor, place the first 8 ingredients and process until smooth.

Pour soup into a medium pan; add corn. Cover and simmer about 5 minutes.

Ladle into bowls. Top each with green onions and optional sour cream.

Serves 6 Per serving: 175 calories, 35g carbohydrates, 8g protein, 1g fat (0.4g saturated), 11mg cholesterol, 3g fiber, 406mg sodium

(Weight Watchers translation: 3 points per serving)