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Woke up late today and had a craving fro two things. The first was the Grilled Chicken and Baked Brie on Ciabatta sandwich Earls makes. Dottie thankfully has the point value for it. A side salad and some edamame and I had consumed 21 points. Woof. Since I had it at 2 pm and it was my first meal of the day, I think that's alright.
The other thing I wanted was the Cyr family lasagna. Now this is monsterously high in points so I decided to "skinny up" the recipe. That basically means using low-fat ingredients whenever possible.
Here is my experimental, skinnied-up, version:
Trying the recipe out it tasted just like it should, but wasn't nearly as greasy as it normally is with beef. Also, it took a lot less time to prepare because I didn't have to cook and drain the beef.
I love the Yves Veggie Ground Round. The only drawback to using veggie ground round instead of realy ground beef is that it lacks the fat hit (which is kind of the point). Fat tastes good for a reason, it is supremely satisfying. You want to use it in heavily spiced recipes, where the texture of the meat is more important then the taste of the fat. For example, I use it to make what I term "bachelor chow" about every two weeks or so. This is basically Sloppy Joe's with the YVGR instead of beef. The YVGR, tomato paste and Sloppy Joe's mix total up to about 560 calories, negligible fat and a ton of fibre. I figure the whole thing is about eleven WW points, but you'd be insane to eat the whole thing (I have 1/3 to 1/2 depending on my appetite, plus a couple slices of toast to catch it).
Incidentally, the restaurant and the lasagna only put me one point over my daily point total of 30! In two days I've only used 3 of my 35 weekly bonus points. It's going to be another excellent week, only this time I'm not going to clobber myself with a giant dessert.
The other thing I wanted was the Cyr family lasagna. Now this is monsterously high in points so I decided to "skinny up" the recipe. That basically means using low-fat ingredients whenever possible.
Here is my experimental, skinnied-up, version:
- 6 whole wheat lasagna noodles
- 1 330 gram package of Yves Veggie Ground Round
- 1 can tomato paste
- 1 500 gram package 1% cottage cheese, drained (ricotta can be substituted)
- 200 grams low-fat mozzarella, shredded
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1 tsp marjoram
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp cooking oil
- Cook the noodles.
- Put the oil into a pan and heat the veggie ground round (it's pre-cooked, so you don't need to be as thorough as you would with raw meat).
- Mix the veggie ground round, tomato paste, sugar, salt and spices with just enough water to make it easy to work with (you don't want a thick paste and you don't want it soupy).
- In a 12" bread pan, line the bottom with noodles, then add a layer of the veggie ground round mixture, then a layer of cottage cheese, then a layer of mozzarella. You should have enough material for two iterations.
- Bake for 35 minutes at 350°F
Trying the recipe out it tasted just like it should, but wasn't nearly as greasy as it normally is with beef. Also, it took a lot less time to prepare because I didn't have to cook and drain the beef.
I love the Yves Veggie Ground Round. The only drawback to using veggie ground round instead of realy ground beef is that it lacks the fat hit (which is kind of the point). Fat tastes good for a reason, it is supremely satisfying. You want to use it in heavily spiced recipes, where the texture of the meat is more important then the taste of the fat. For example, I use it to make what I term "bachelor chow" about every two weeks or so. This is basically Sloppy Joe's with the YVGR instead of beef. The YVGR, tomato paste and Sloppy Joe's mix total up to about 560 calories, negligible fat and a ton of fibre. I figure the whole thing is about eleven WW points, but you'd be insane to eat the whole thing (I have 1/3 to 1/2 depending on my appetite, plus a couple slices of toast to catch it).
Incidentally, the restaurant and the lasagna only put me one point over my daily point total of 30! In two days I've only used 3 of my 35 weekly bonus points. It's going to be another excellent week, only this time I'm not going to clobber myself with a giant dessert.
