Classic Beef Stew

I made this in my crockpot and just left it all day, but you can follow this recipe and have it ready in like a couple hours. 

Points Plus value:  5
Servings:  4

Ingredients:
12 oz. lean sirloin beef, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1/8 tsp  table salt, to taste
1/8 tsp black pepper, to taste
1 1/2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp vegetable oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup canned crushed tomatoes
1 cup fat-free beef broth
1 bay leaf
1 tsp dried thyme
3 large carrots, sliced into 1/4 inch thick rounds
1 cup frozen green peas, thawed
4 oz. light beer
2 Tbsp parsley, minced

Preheat oven to 200.  Season beef and dredge in 1 1/2 tsp of the flour seasoned with 1/4 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper.  Heat oil in oven-proof skillet and brown beef over high heat 2 to 4 minutes.  Remove meat from pan.
Reduce heat to medium.  Add onions to pan and saute until just softened, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, and cook until golden.  Stir in remaining flour and cook until it just begins to color, about 1 minute.  (At this point I added everything to my crockpot and cooked it all day long, or u can continue with the recipe).
Pour in beer, tomatoes and 1 cup beef broth; add bay leaf, thyme and carrots.  Return beef to pot. Bring to a simmer, cover and place in oven.  Cook until meat is tender, about 1 to 1/2 hours.  Check on stew occasionally.  Add remaining 1/2 cup beef broth is liquid is running low.  Ten minutes before serving, add peas to stew.  Cover and let stand serve in 1 cup servings.  Sprinkle on parsley.
 

New England Clam Chowder

I love Fall and all the yummy soup recipes that come with it!!! My husband loves Clam Chowder so I went on WW and searched for it and found this recipe.  It was really really good, but could use some thickening up, so keep that in mind when u make it!  Enjoy!!
Points plus value: 7
Servings: 4
Serving size: about 1 1/2 cups
Ingredients
1tsp vegetable oil (I used olive oil and it worked great)
2 slices turkey bacon, diced
1 small onion, finely diced
3 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1 cup ff milk
3 1/2 cup canned clam juice (I used 1 can ff chicken broth and a cup of water instead of this)
2 medium uncooked potatoes, peeled and diced ( i used canned potatoes to make it easier)
10 1/2 oz canned clams, and juice
1 tsp thyme
2 tsp parsley, chopped
1/8 tsp table salt, or to taste
1/8 tsp black pepper, or to taste

Instructions
Heat oil in a nonstick pan over medium heat.  Saute bacon and onion until onion is very soft.  Stir in flour and cook 1 minute.  Very gradually whisk in milk and clam juice(or broth).  Bring to a simmer, add potatoes.  Cover and cook until potatoes are tender.
Stir in clams, their juice, thyme and parsley. Bring to a simmer.  Season with salt and pepper; serve. 

Pumpkin cupcakes with Pumpkin Spiced Cream cheese Frosting

Pumpkin Cupcakes (no frosting)
Skinnytaste.com
Servings: 24 • Serving Size: 1 cupcake • Old Points: 2 pts • Points+: 2 pts
Calories: 84.2 • Fat: 0.8 g • Protein: 0.6 g • Carb: 18.5 g • Fiber: 0.3 g • Sugar: 9.9 g
Sodium: 140.9 mg 
Pumpkin Cupcakes with Frosting
Servings: 24 • Serving Size: 1 cupcake • Old Points: 3 pts • Points+: 3 pts
Calories: 121.1 • Fat: 2.8 g • Protein: 1.4 g • Carb: 23.2 g • Fiber: 0.5 g • Sugar: 13.9 g
Sodium: 142.3 mg 
Ingredients:

• 18.25 oz Betty Crocker Golden Vanilla Super Moist Cake Mix
• 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1 cup canned 100% pure pumpkin
• 1 cup water

For the Pumpkin Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 8 oz Philadelphia 1/3 fat cream cheese
• 1/2 cup pureed pumpkin (canned is fine)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 5 tbsp packed brown sugar
• Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°. Line a cupcake tin with cupcake wrappers. Combine cake mix and pumpkin spice in a large bowl. Add pumpkin puree and water, mix about 2 minutes. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full and bake about 20 - 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

 For the frosting, combine the cream cheese, pumpkin, vanilla, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice and brown sugar until smooth. You can use a spatula to ice the cupcakes or pipe them which may require making more frosting.
Makes 24. 

Grilled Chicken sandwich with avocado and tomato

Serving size:1
Points+per serving: 6

2 oz ciabatta bread
2 Tbsp mash avocado
3 slices ripe tomato
salt and pepper to taste

Slice bread open and smear mashed avocado on the bread.  Season with salt and pepper.  Top with tomatoes, chicken and tomato.  add additional pepper to taste.

Super yummy!!!

Aioli(s) sauce

Fancy way of saying flavored mayonanaise, these can be made by simply mixing any or all of these flavors with basic mayo.  The ones with the * are the ones i put together

* roasted red pepper
   honey and lime
* White wine
   lemon garlic
* roasted tomato
* lemon basil
   chili garlic
*  pesto (i use the sundried tomato kind)

Turkey-Thyme burgers

K so this recipe says it makes 4, but it can easily make 8 or more. They are super good, especially with the  Aiolli sauce! I will do that recipe too!

Points: 14 (that is if u make 4, but they are huge if u do just 4)

2lbs. ground turkey
3  whole eggs
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
1 tsp. granulated onion
1 tsp dry thyme leaves
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper

Combine all ingredients into a food processor
Pulse mixture until thoroughly combined and mixture looks consistent throughout
Remove a small handful of mix from food processor and form into a ball
Flatten the ball into patty shape and place onto a baking sheet
Repeat process until all of the mix is formed and shaped into patties
Place pan into the freezer and chill for approximately 10 min.
Remove patties from freezer and place onto heated grill
Cook until internal temperature reaches 165 degrees
Remove from grill and serve on a bun or by itself.

Peanut Butter Chocolate chunk cookie

Serving size: 1 cookie
Points per serving: 2

I made these, but without the chocolate, only because I didn't have any in the house.  They are the same points either way, so do what you want to.  

2 spray(s) cooking spray
1 cup sugar, granulated
1/4 cup regular butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup chunky peanut butter
2 large eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp table salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup whole grain wheat flour
1 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips (made with butter)

Preheat oven to 375.  Coat 2 cookie sheets with cooking spray or cover with parchment paper.  Place sugar, butter and peanut butter in a large bowl; beat with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.  Add eggs and vanilla; blend well with mixer.  Add salt, baking soda and flour to sugar mixture; beat until completely incorporated.  Drop batter by heaping teaspoons onto prepared cookie sheets and flatten with the back of a wooden spoon.  Make sure to leave about 2 inches between each cookie. (Bake in several batches to prevent over-crowding if necessary.)  Place a chocolate chip in center of each cookie.   Bake cookies until edges brown, about 10 to 11 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cool on cookie sheet for 1 or 2 minutes; remove cookies to a wire rack and cool completely.  Yields 1 cookie per serving.

Low Fat Chewy Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

I got these off of the Skinny Girls website and decided I had to try them.  They are super yummy and 2 is totally enough to take care of your sweet tooth!!!

Serving size: 2 cookies

Points per serving: 5 points plus points

Servings per batch:15

Calories: 190, Fat: 6.3, Protein: 2.6, Carbs: 34.2, Fiber: 2.0, Sugar 19.3

1 cup all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

2 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup unpacked brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

1 large egg
1/4 cup unsweetened apple sauce
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups quick oats
3/4 cup dark chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350; line two baking sheets with parchment paper or use a silpat.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.
In a large bowl, with a mixer, cream together the butter and sugars on medium speed.
Add the egg, followed by the applesauce and vanilla extract.
Working by hand, stir in the flour mixture and the oats until just combined and no streaks of flour remain; stir in the chocolate chips.
Drop tablespoonfuls of the dough onto prepared baking sheets, flattening each cookie slightly.  Bake for about 10-12 minutes, or until cookies become light brown at the edges.
Let cool on baking sheet for 3 or 4 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Store in an airtight container so you don't eat them all in one sitting!!!!

Chocolate Crepes with strawberries!

Servings: 12 • Serving Size: 1 crepe • Calories: 135 • Points: 2.5 pts

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 2 tbsp unsweetened dutch cocoa powder
• 1 tbsp powdered sugar
• 1 1/2 cups 1% milk
• 2 large egg whites
• 1 whole egg
• 1 tsp oil
• butter flavored spray
• 24 strawberries, sliced (2 in each crepe)
• fat free cool whip
• chocolate syrup to serve

Blend flour, milk, cocoa powder, powdered sugar, eggs and oil until smooth in the blender. Heat a large nonstick pan on medium-low flame. When hot, spray with buttered flavored spray to coat bottom of pan. Pour 1/4 cup crepe mixture into pan, swirling pan slightly to make crepe thin and smooth. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes or until bottom of crepe is light golden brown. Flip; cook 30 seconds to 1 minute or until light golden brown. Repeat with remaining buttered flavored spray and crepe mixture.

To serve, spoon 2 tbsp whipped cream into center of each crepe. Top with strawberries and fold each edge of crepe over filling. Sprinkle lightly with powdered sugar and top with 1 tbsp chocolate syrup on each. Serve warm.

Batter can be refrigerated for up to 2 days

Chocolate-Fudge Cookie Bites!!!

 Super yummy cookies!! Really small, but they work for a quick sweet fix!!!

PointsPlus™ Value:    1
Servings:  48
Preparation Time:  12 min
Cooking Time:  8 min
Level of Difficulty:  Easy

Ingredients

	1 spray(s) cooking spray, or more if needed
	1/3 cup(s) unsweetened cocoa
	1/4 cup(s) margarine, softened
	3/4 cup(s) sugar
	4 oz unsweetened applesauce
	1 tsp vanilla extract
	1 1/2 cup(s) all-purpose flour
	1 tsp baking powder
	1/4 tsp table salt
	2 Tbsp powdered sugar

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 375ºF. Coat two nonstick cookie sheets with cooking spray.
  
• Place cocoa, margarine and sugar in a medium bowl; beat with an electric mixer. Add applesauce and vanilla; beat to blend. In another small bowl, stir together flour, baking powder and salt. Stir flour mixture into cocoa batter with a wooden spoon.
  
• Shape batter into 48 marble-sized balls. Arrange balls 1 inch apart on cookie sheets. Bake until set, about 8 minutes. Remove from oven and allow cookies to stand for 1 minute. Remove to wire rack and cool; sprinkle with powdered sugar. (Note: Store extra cookies in freezer-safe containers or plastic bags to maintain their freshness.) Yields 1 cookie per serving.