General Tso's Chicken

If I'm not munching on Mexican food it's likely that you'll find me savoring a delicious Asian dish. Last week I tried a new Weight Watchers recipe for one of my favorite Asian dishes--General Tso's Chicken. I had my doubts about how this recipe would turn out, but I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome. It was super simple to prepare and the whole family loved it (well, except for my picky eater, of course). Sometimes when I try a new recipe, even though it turns out delicious, if it was too time-consuming or if it required hard-to-find ingredients, I don't put it on our regular dinner rotation. Neither was the case with this recipe. It was just my style--quick and easy-- and I will gladly add it to our regular dinner rotation!

General Tso's Chicken
 (adapted from weightwatchers.com)

Ingredients:

3/4 cup of chicken broth
1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
2 teaspoon olive oil
2 medium scallions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 pound uncooked boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 2-inch pieces
2 cups cooked white rice

Instructions:

In a bowl, whisk together broth, cornstarch, sugar, soy sauce, vinegar and ginger. 

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add scallions, garlic and red pepper flakes. Cook for about 2 minutes, stirring frequently.

Add chicken to skillet. Cook until chicken pieces are begin to brown, about 5 minutes.

Add sauce to the skillet and simmer until sauce thickens and chicken is cooked through.

Serve chicken and sauce over rice.

This recipe makes 4 serving. Enjoy about 1 cup of chicken with sauce and 1/2 cup of rice for 8 Weight Watchers points plus values. 

Pizza Stuffed Peppers

Although my garden peppers are not ripe for the picking yet, I'm test driving some unconventional ways to use them. The following recipe was adapted from Hungry Girl. 

I ate these delicious pizza stuffed peppers for lunch today and found them to be very satisfying!

Ingredients:

2 Bell Peppers 

(any color will do)

 1 cup of mushrooms, sliced

1/2 cup of onion, chopped

1 cup of lean ground beef, *seasoned*

 (I used leftover seasoned ground beef that I had used to make hamburgers the night before)

3/4 cup of pizza sauce 

(I used store-bought)

 1/2 cup of low fat shredded cheese 

(I used 2% Mexican blend)

Method:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Coat a 9" x 13" baking dish with cooking spray.

Slice bell peppers in half lengthwise and remove seeds and stems.

Place bell peppers cut side up into the baking dish and bake for 20 minutes, or until slightly softened.

In the meantime, spray a skillet with nonstick cooking spray and satuee the onions and mushrooms on medium high heat until the onions are translucent. Set them aside when they're done.

Brown the seasoned ground beef in the same skillet. Drain the fat once the meat is browned.

Add pizza sauce to browned ground beef and combine.

When the peppers are done, remove them from the oven and blot them to remove moisture. Fill each pepper half with 1/4 of the beef & pizza sauce mixture, followed by 1/4 of the mushroom & onion mixture.

Sprinkle shredded cheese over all of the pepper halves and bake for 10 minutes or until cheese is melted.

You can enjoy 2 (TWO!) pizza stuffed pepper halves for a total of 7 points plus values!

Enjoy!