Turkey Picadillo

Turkey Picadillo is a lighter alternative to traditional Cuban beef picadillo. It's great with rice and plantains, or as a filling for empanadas, tacos, stuffed peppers and more.

Turkey Picadillo
Gina's Weight Watcher Recipes
Servings: 4 • Serving Size: 1/4 • Points: 4 pts
Calories: 178.5 • Fat: 7.8 g • Protein: 20.5 g • Carb: 7.8 g • Fiber: 1.5 g   

• 1.25 lb 93% lean ground turkey
• 4 oz (1/2 can) tomato sauce
• kosher salt
• fresh ground pepper
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 tbsp alcaparrado (capers or green olives would work too)

Sofrito:

• 1/2 large onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• 1 tomato, chopped
• 1/2 bell pepper, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp cilantro

Brown the ground turkey on medium heat in large sauté pan and season with salt and pepper. Use a wooden spoon to break the meat up into small pieces.

Meanwhile, while turkey is cooking, make the sofrito by chopping onion, garlic, pepper, tomato and cilantro. (I quickly do it in my mini chopper)

Add sofrito to the meat and continue cooking on a low heat. Add alcaparrado (or olives and capers) and about 2 tbsp of the brine (this adds great flavor) cumin, bay leaves, and more salt if needed. Add tomato sauce and 1/4 cup of water and mix well. Reduce heat to low and simmer covered about 15 minutes.

Spinach Lasagna Rolls

Perfectly portioned individual lasagnas. This is one of those family friendly recipes everyone in your home will love. A great way to get your kids to eat spinach too. I personally find one to be filling for me, served with a garden salad on the side. My husband can easily eat three.

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Corn Salsa with Lime

I love the corn salsa from Chipotle's. It's a perfect combination of sweet, spicy and tangy. This was a recipe request from Desiree and where the inspiration to make this came from. You can use this as a dip for nachos, as a side dish or in a burrito bowl. I like to make my own burrito bowl with some cilantro lime rice, guacamole, chicken ropa vieja topped with lettuce. You can adjust the heat according to your taste. My girlfriend gobbled this all up with tortilla chips. (Hi Raquel!) She gave it two thumbs up!!

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Penne alla Vodka

Who doesn't love Vodka Sauce!! It is said that the vodka is used to release the acids and flavor in the sauce and enhance the sweetness of the cream. To lower the points I use half and half in place of heavy cream. Eat this with a low carb or high fiber pasta like Ronzoni Smart Taste to keep the points low and top with fresh grated cheese.

Penne alla Vodka
Gina's Weight Watcher Recipes
Servings: 6 • Serving Size: 1 cup pasta, 7.25 fl oz sauce • Calories: 356 • Points: 6.25 pts

• 2 tsp butter
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 shallots, minced
• 3 oz prosciutto, chopped
• 1/8 tsp red pepper flakes
• 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
• 14 oz can diced tomatoes
• 1/2 cup vodka
• salt and pepper
• 1/2 cup half and half
• 1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped

• 12 oz uncooked (6 cups cooked) whole wheat or high fiber penne

In a large sauté pan heat butter on a low flame. Add garlic and shallots and sauté until soft, about 2 minutes. Add prosciutto and red pepper flakes and cook another minute. Add tomatoes, vodka, salt and pepper and cook on low, covered about 20 minutes. Add basil and half and half, mix well and cook another 5 minutes. Serve this over pasta and top with grated cheese.

Skinny Red Velvet Cupcakes

Red Velvet Cake is my weakness and I can't think of a better cake to eat on Valentine's Day. My 16 year old daughter started a baking blog called Pastries of a Chocoholic a few weeks ago (she's the baker in my house) and her red velvet cupcakes are amazing! I made it my mission this week to make a skinnier version of them for this week's post. It's always a challenge to lower the fat in baking so when these came out of the oven (fingers were crossed the whole time) I was so happy to see perfectly baked cupcakes. Topped with low fat cream cheese frosting you wouldn't even know these are light.

Skinny Red Velvet Cupcakes
Gina's Weight Watcher Recipes
Servings: 26 • Serving Size: 1 cupcake • Calories: 141 • Points: 3 pts • Points+: 4 pts

• 1 1/2 cups cake flour
• 1 cup white whole wheat flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp unsweetened dutch-process cocoa
• 1 tsp salt
  
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp white vinegar
• 1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 egg
• 2 egg whites
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/3 cup light buttermilk
• 1 tbsp red food coloring

Preheat oven to 350. Line cupcake tins with liners. In a large mixing bowl, stir together flours, salt, cocoa, and baking powder. In another large bowl beat sugar, applesauce and butter. Beat in eggs and vanilla. In a separate bowl mix baking soda and vinegar. Add half of the dry ingredients into the egg mixture, mix well. Add buttermilk, red food coloring and mix well. Add the remaining dry ingredients and fold in vinegar and baking soda. Pour in prepared cupcake liners 3/4 of the way. Bake 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool, then frost with low fat cream cheese frosting. Makes 26 cupcakes.

Low Fat Cream Cheese Frosting

• 8 oz 1/3 fat Philadelphia Cream Cheese
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Beat together cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla until smooth.

Chocolate Crepes with Strawberries

Satisfy your chocolate craving with these delicious crepes filled with strawberries and cream. So easy to make and they make a gorgeous breakfast or dessert for Valentine's Day! You can make the batter ahead of time and refrigerate what you don't use.

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Chicken and Avocado Soup

Avocados, chicken, scallions and cilantro in a light broth with a touch of lime. If you are an avocado lover like me, you'll love this soup. This is easy to prepare, just have all your ingredients diced and chopped before you start. If you don't have shredded chicken, you can cook 2 chicken breast halves in the broth for 15-20 minutes, then shred with a fork (don't overcook). If you prefer dark meat, thighs work great too. Serve tortilla chips or white rice on the side.

Chicken and Avocado Soup
Gina's Weight Watcher Recipes 
Servings: 4 • Serving Size: 1 bowl • Old Points: 5 pts • Points+: 7 pts
Calories: 285.8 • Fat: 16.8 g • Carb: 14.4 g • Fiber: 7.5 g • Protein: 22.1 g  

Ingredients:

• 5 cups reduced sodium chicken broth
• 2 cups shredded chicken breast
• 1 tomato, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1-1/2 cups scallions, chopped fine
• 2 small ripe hass avocados, diced
• 1/3 cup cilantro, chopped fine
• 4 lime wedges
• 2 tsp olive oil
• salt + fresh pepper to taste
• pinch cumin
• pinch chipotle chile powder (optional)

Directions:

In a large pot, heat oil over medium heat. Add 1 cup of scallions and garlic. Sauté about 2 minutes then add tomatoes and sauté another minute, until soft. Add chicken stock, cumin and chile powder and bring to a boil. Simmer, covered on low for about 15-20 minutes.

In four bowls, fill each with 1/2 cup chicken, 1/2 avocado, remainder of the scallions, and cilantro. Ladle 1 cup chicken broth over the chicken and serve with a lime wedge.

Chicken Quesadillas

These chicken quesadillas are a meal in one! Loaded with chicken and veggies and very filling (I couldn't finish mine). I made these for dinner with my leftover avocado mango salsa but these are also great for lunch or you can even serve them as appetizers.

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Avocado and Mango Salsa

A light and colorful party dish with chips. The combination of flavors, sweet and salty with tangy hint of lime makes this a winner. This is also great over grilled fish or chicken!

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Skinny Buffalo Chicken Dip

All the flavor of buffalo wings without messy hands! Perfect for your Superbowl Party. I lightened this using low fat and fat free ingredients. Adjust the heat to your liking and serve this with celery, chips or crackers.

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Homemade Chicken Broth From Your Crock Pot

What's better than coming home to homemade chicken stock and cleaning out your refrigerator at the same time. Simply throw all the ingredients into the crock pot the night before, turn it on in the morning and come home to a splendid stock. Save the chicken for recipes where shredded chicken is needed or use it in your soup. Lot's of people ask me for my chicken soup recipe but honestly, that depends on what's in my fridge. Here's an easy recipe for chicken stock. You can also use giblets, leftover chicken bones, wing tips or chicken backs.

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Roast Chicken with Rosemary and Lemon

Roasting a whole chicken is pretty simple to do, just season it, put it in the oven and walk away. As long as you have a thermometer you can't go wrong. The combination of rosemary and lemon has a wonderful Mediterranean flavor. Serve this with roasted vegetables. You can use the leftover chicken bones to make a wonderful stock.

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