On the Menu This Week

Greek Style Cheeseburgers
Vegetarian Black Bean Chili
Roasted Cornish Hens with Quinoa and Broccoli

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Recipe of the Week 7/12/09

Feta-Chicken Pasta

Serves 6
Points 6 per serving (approximately 1 cup)
Cook time 30 minutes

Ingredients

  • 6 oz uncooked Whole Wheat Penne
  • 14 oz boneless, skinless chicken breasts, thinly sliced
  • 1/8 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp olive oil
  • 2/3 cup vertically sliced red onion
  • 6 oz chopped kalamata olives
  • 1 tsp chopped fresh oregano
  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 cup (4 oz) crumbled feta cheese

Directions

Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat.

Sprinkle chicken with salt. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken; sauté 2 minutes. Add onion; cook 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in cooked pasta, olives, oregano, and pepper; cook 2 minutes, stirring frequently or until thoroughly heated. Remove from heat, and stir in cheese.

Nutrition Facts

Nutritional Analysis per Serving
Serving size: 1 cup

Calories 280
Total fat 5.5g
Saturated fat 2.5g
Protein 22g
Carbohydrates 33 g
Fiber 6g

Ben likes Feta so this recipe came together as a lighter version that still had lots of feta flavour. It turned out really well the salty flavours blended really well with the mild chicken flavour.

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My Plan

I did WeightWatchers once before in 2004-2005. I lost 50 pounds. I gained some back going through my divorce but the good news is I kept off 20 of them until I restarted WeightWatchers in January 2009.

For the first time, I have found a plan that was easy to stick to. Something just felt right this time. Before embarking on WeightWatchers I re-read some books I had found helpful in the middle of my last journey. The books are listed under "Weight Loss" Books on the side bar, and a blog post about them will follow soon. These books helped get me mentally prepared to lose weight and they are the reason I think I am finding losing to be less of a struggle. I am not letting myself get discouraged by small gains and I am seeing far more consistent results.

WeightWatchers gives you a points target based on weight and basic daily activity level. Every food has a points value based on calories, fiber and fat. Then its like a checkbook you start with your daily balance, subtract for foods eaten and add for activity done which can earn you points. Exercise=More Food. Each food point is roughly 50 calories and each activity point is worth roughly 100, I use a heart-rate monitor to calculate my activity points earned.

You also get 35 weekly points to use as you want anytime during the week. For me the most successful both mentally and on the scale is to use most of those points on Saturday night for a splurge and to then stick to my daily points fairly closely the rest of the week. It helps me to know my favourite foods are only a week away if I want them. People can manage the plan however they want but for me this is the most successful. When I'm working out a lot I try to eat some of those activity points as well. Ironically I get much smaller losses the weeks I don't eat those points on Saturday, maybe it shakes up my metabolism, who knows I just know it works

Finally my last key to my plan is attending meetings. It helps keep me accountable and on track.

Weight Loss Slideshow