Roasted Venison

Mmm venison. I was very excited when my dad passed on a venison shoulder roast from one of his friends. We’d hoped to have friends over to share it with us, but the snow got in the way. They missed out – this was delicious!

I relied on this Gourmet recipe for inspiration with one major change – I threw in a handful of juniper berries. I bought them awhile back and had never used them, and heard they were a natural match for game. I think they really enhanced the taste.

Additionally, the recipe recommends cutting into 6 inch by 3 inch pieces. Since my roast was bone-in, this was easier said than done. As a result, I had some issues with uneven cooking time, and my smaller pieces were a bit overdone.

As for WW, venison is a super lean meat – points-wise, it’s comparable to chicken breast, which is exciting. I’m still though not exactly sure how you tabulate marinades, given how much/little is absorbed. I ended up adding on a point per serving for the marinade. Feel free to share another approach if you know one!

Superbowl Chili

This doesn’t deviate much from my usual chili approach, but I measured and was more careful with oil and such, to make it WW-friendly.

Huevos Rancheros

Mmm, huevos rancheros. I based this dish off of a Gourmet recipe, but used very small portions of condiments, etc., to keep points down. As a result, you’ll end up with leftover black beans when you make this dish, but you definitely can find a place to use them elsewhere.

When measuring WW points here, I did some estimating – instead of figuring out the sauce points, I used “black beans”, and I used “guacamole” for the avocado mash. Feel free to calculate on your own if you want to be more precise, using the ingredients given (but it’s tough when you’re using such small portions of the sauce, etc.

Cajun Chicken Sandwich w/ Avocado Chipotle Spread

This smoky chicken sandwich, paired with white sweet potato fries, was what I’m expecting will be meal #1 of our snowed-in weekend.

1-Point Garlic Bread

So garlic bread is a huge weakness of mine. John’s epic cheesy garlic bread recipe doesn’t exactly lend itself to WW-friendliness. I wanted to find a low point, super easy substitute that would satisfy the craving with just a bite or so.

This is what I came up with. It’s kind of makeshift (no fresh garlic, no cheese, low on butter) but I’ve found it really works for me in terms of fighting temptation; kinda tastes like frozen garlic bread, but there’s sort of a comfort food element to that taste for me.

Sea Scallops with Curry

Success with another WW recipe! This was a delicious treatment of admittedly-expensive scallops.

Recipe notes: I didn’t really measure the lemon juice and probably should have; I’ll include the original recipe measurements here. Also, my sauce kinda broke. I think because I mixed it ahead of time and then got distracted while cooking.

Sweet and Spicy Shrimp Stir Fry

I don’t usually post my stir fry recipes here; I make stir fry almost every Sunday, but it really just depends on what’s left in the fridge, what I have on hand, etc. I’ve posted a few basic techniques but I figure that does it.

That said, after having to measure everything out so precisely for this recipe to get the points right, I figured I might as well include my labors here.

This recipe turned out a bit more soupy than I’d intended – you can definitely get away with less broth. I also might reverse my broth-adding and veggie-adding steps next time.

Recipe Makeover: Sausage, Beans and Greens Pasta

On Saturday, I decided to give this recipe from my sister another try. Thing is, when I calculated the points before making it, the total was disturbingly high. I decided to adapt the recipe to make it more WW-friendly, and to make room for the fact I was using duck sausage rather than chicken sausage, had different greens on hand, etc. Note: my duck sausage point value is estimated – I found some nutritional info for the product in general online, but mine is from a local farmer who doesn’t print calorie content on his packaging, hehe.

Five Spice Broccoli

All right, and so begins the blog’s Weight Watcher focus for the next few months.

When looking for 0 or 1 point snacks, I often turn to broccoli. It’s my favorite vegetable and one of my favorite foods, period. I always am trying to find new ways to jazz it up – this is what I made for myself when we got home from the movie theater and I was a little hungry.

Note: I’ve added a new category: WW-friendly. Those recipes will include estimated point values. I’ll try to go back and mark my WW recipes as such at some point, too.

Beef and Barley Soup

I tried out this recipe a week or two ago (as part of the Clean Out The Pantrty Project), and absolutely loved it.  It’s a riff on an ATK recipe. I don’t have the patience (or the money – it takes so much meat!) to make homemade beef broth, but it could only improve it.

I used much less meat than the recipe called for, and I don’t think it was a loss at all – the mushrooms go a long way on the umami front, and I would have used even more if I had them on hand.