Last year I joined Weight Watchers in an attempt to knock off a few pounds. I was not entirely successful at the 1-2-3 Success Plan, but I did discover these great Weight Watchers cookbooks that they marketed at the WW centers. You can also pick them up at any major bookseller near you ($11 or $12 WW price vs. $9.95 at our neighborhood Borders).
They are cookbooks, but in a magazine type format. They are jammed with full-color photographs, and noteboxes provide an appealing artistic format. The design department was on the ball when WW started marketing these. They're slick, and attractively packaged, and I like to cook. Of course I was going to pick up a few.
Recipes are presented in an easy to understand format. Each recipe includes the point value of the dish (and its serving size-- also very important!), its nutritional exchanges, and the per serving measurements of calories, fat, protein, carbohydrates, fiber, cholesterol, iron, sodium, and calcium. Noteboxes provide quick tips, and handy menus of which items go well together for a "Middle Eastern Feast" or "Picnic in the Park."
Quick and Easy Menus was one of the first mags I bought towards the end of last year. And in the successive months, I think I've become pretty qualified to review it since I've prepared quite a few of these recipes! I'm lucky that I have a husband who enjoys acting as my guinea pig. He knows that some of my attempts will be more successful than others, but is usually happy to eat whatever I put in front of him. And he's not even on Weight Watchers! That's a supportive guy I have there.
The cookbook is divided into 6 sections. This one contains Breakfast, Light Lunches, Blue Plate Specials, Special Occasions, Make-Ahead Menus, and Low Point Menus.
Each chapter starts with a large color photograph and a catchy subhead, with a short descriptive paragraph that conjures up something from Better Homes and Gardens or Good Housekeeping. "Sunny Side Up" begins our breakfast chapter.
Here, we find suitable fare for weekends (some could even be squeezed into a weekday morning, like Strawberry Orange Shake). Probably the best advice here would be to prepare many of these items ahead of time and heat them on the weekday morning you want to eat them.
One of my favorites is Brown Sugar-Pecan Baked Citrus. It makes a wonderful weekend brunch item. I use a jar of SunFresh citrus salad for the citrus to save time. You place them on a cookie sheet, brush them with a mix of low-fat margarine & brown sugar, and sprinkle them with pecans. Bake for 8 minutes. All that for 1 point a serving!
Also included in this chapter are: Breakfast Pita Sandwiches (with bell pepper mushrooms, cheddar cheese, onion, and cottage cheese), Oatmeal Date Bars, Granola Pancakes, Fruit Kabobs, Raisin Bread French Toast with Apple Syrup (not bad, but we prefer regular maple here), Spicy Pork Sausage, Crabmeat Crepes (not spectacular, just okay), Lemon Blueberry Muffins, Mint Lover's Tea (NOTE: This requires gunpowder tea, which I am still looking for. Anyone know where I can find some?), Apple Spice Muffins, Citrus Spritzer, Ham and Cheese Strata, Apple-Currant Biscuits, Almond Fruit Medley, Breakfast on a Bagel, Orange Juicy, Vegetable Omelets, Dill Rolls, and Berries with Creamy Peach Topping.
"Let There Be Lunch" introduces the lunch chapter. Here, I enjoyed the Vegetable Couscous Salad. (Mr. miselainis is not big on couscous. I made this for me). Also included are Lemon Snap cookies, Turkey Reubens, Molasses Crackles, Broccoli Cheese Stuffed Potatoes, Crispy Oatmeal Cookies, Terrific Turkey Pockets, Greek Coleslaw, Mediterranean Pitas, Mint-Cream Cheese Brownies, Winter Squash and White Bean Soup, Almond Biscotti, Crabmeat Salad on English Muffins, Gazpacho, Sloppy Joes, and Steak Fries.
"Remembrance of Things Past" opens the Blue Plate Special chapter, which is a celebration of classic American recipes. Some of our favorites were the Lemon-Dill Carrots, Oven Fried Catfish, Chocolate Mocha Pudding, and Chile-Cheese Cornbread. Also included are: Crispy Herbed Chicken, Honeyed Banana Saute, Parsleyed Meat Loaf, Macaroni and Cheese Casserole, Old-Fashioned Banana Pudding, Mushroom Burgers, Creamy Potato Salad, Vegetable Packets (squash, zucchini, broccoli, etc. in foil on the grill. Yum!), Marinated Coleslaw, Baked Hush Puppies, Onion-Topped Pot Roast, Sugar and Spice Baked Apples, Whole-Wheat Yeast Biscuits, Pork Chops With Maple Pecan Sauce, Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Simple Baked Chicken, Basil Mashed Potatoes, Home-Style Gravy, Stewed Tomatoes and Onions, Barbeque Pork Stew, Apple Raisin Crumble, Southwest Hopping John, and Individual Caramel Flans.
"Some Enchanted Evening" kicks off the Special Occasions chapter. Most of the recipes I have prepared have been from this chapter, and I will tell you that we have been VERY impressed! The Chicken Cacciatore is heavenly. It is a wonderfully fragrant and savory main dish, and is flavored with dry red wine, thyme, oregano, garlic, and olive oil. Try it! Some of our other favorites are the Garlic-Sage Cornish Game Hens with Wild Rice, the Fudgy Souffle Cake with Warm Turtle Sauce, Pasta and Red Peppers, Filet Mignon with Mushroom-Wine Sauce, Grand Marnier Souffles, and most of all, the CASSOULET!
When I saw that Weight Watchers had managed to devise a slimmed down version of this high fat country French dish, I whooped with joy! I prepare this whenever I can, as we both really enjoy it, and it makes the whole house smell like a French farmhouse. I recommend the book for this one recipe alone!
Also in this chapter are: Chilled Asparagus with Feta Vinaigrette, Lemon Cream Tart, Pesto Lamb Chops (not as good, regretfully), Raspberry Champagne Sorbet (still on my list of things to try!), Orange Kissed Brussels Sprouts (Read my profile. I'm not going near this one.), Shrimp Kedgeree, Cornmeal Raisin Scones, Marbled Cheesecake, Mini Clambake, Red and Green Coleslaw, Beer Bread, Four Cheese Manicotti, Herbed Breadsticks, Banana Split Ice Cream (also a "have to try"), Curly Endive and Grape Salad, and Ginger Brulee.
"When Time is Of the Essence" begins the Make Ahead chapter. It is full of ideas for simplifying meals when you return home from work at night. They recommend a little forethought for assembling your ingredients ahead of time, marinating during the day while you're gone, and the like.
Some of our favorites here are: Spinach Lasagna (filling and very cheesy), Lemon Basil Carrot Bundles, Ground Beef and Noodle Bake (another of my dependables that I make a lot), and the Dijon Dressing for the Mixed Green Salad.
Also included here are: Strawberry Frozen Yogurt (you need an ice cream freezer for this one- I'm still working on getting one of those), Caesar Salad, Greek Shrimp Salad, Ruby Red Grapefruit Sorbet, Mushroom Stuffed Beef Tenderloin, Charlotte Russe Parfaits (a classic dessert featuring ladyfingers, cream, and black cherry preserves with Chambord that has been slimmed considerably!), Hot Fudge Sundaes, Black Bean and Smoked Turkey Soup (I'll probably try this one after Thanksgiving with leftover white meat), Marinated Cucumber Mushroom and Onion Salad, Herb Cheese Bread (lowfat Monterey Jack, if you were wondering), Tropical Chicken Salad (with pineapple, orange rind, madarin oranges and grapes providing the "tropical" flavor), Miniature Mango Muffins, Chocolate Malted Coffee (giving this one a try this winter!), Chicken Corn Soup, Frozen Fruit Salad, Green Onion Drop Biscuits, Mexican Turkey Sandwiches, Vegetable Pasta Salad, Sparkling Fruit Soda, Beef, Bean and Cornbread Casserole, Orange and Avocado Salad, Spiced Cranberry Sipper (this looks yummy!), Mediterranean Lentil Salad, and Almond Cakes.
"Make the Most of It" opens the Low-Point Menus chapter. These are good recipes to know when you're having serious munchies and are close to your point capacity for the day. Our favorites here are: Colorful Corn Muffins, Orange Butterscotch Cookies, Grouper with Fruit and Pepper Salsa (cool and exotic!), Pear Lemon sorbet (only 1 point per serving when you're having an ice cream/sorbet type craving), Strawberries a l'Orange (a wonderfully simple piquant dessert-- fresh strawberries mixed with a sauce of orange juice, orange liqueur, and sugar), and ESPECIALLY the Honey-Dijon Grilled Pork Tenderloin.
It is amazing. Succulent and juicy, the pork is marinated in light beer, sesame seeds, honey, dijon mustard, pepper, and garlic cloves for several hours, then cooked. We have grilled it outside, and also tried it on our broiler inside. Both work equally well. However, we are convinced that the cooking time in the cookbook is a misprint. They say cook for 25 minutes, but your pork loin will be a charred mess if you do this. We usually alternate 5 minutes on each side, and watch it constantly to make sure it does not burn. You will not be disappointed. We have served this to dinner guests who are completely impressed and have no idea I'm serving them Weight Watchers recipes!
Other recipes in this chapter include: Hearty Three-Bean Chili, Marinated Vegetable Salad, Inside-Out Pizzas, Saffron Rice, Chicken Fiesta Salad, Mexican Corn Sticks (mine did not turn out well), Bean and Hominy Soup, Mocha Chip Cookies, Snow Peas Red Pepper and Pineapple, Summer Squash Casserole, Lemon Green Beans, Country Corncakes, Three-Bran Muffins, Banana Split Smoothie, Tenderloin Steaks with Pepper Jelly Sauce, and Lemon Pepper Veggies.
Like all the other magazine style WW cookbook magazines, Quick and Easy Menus provides handy substitutions for recipes, weight and measurement equivalents, a small glossary, temperature equivalents (helpful for our neighbors who use Celsius!), and a recipe index in the back.
After I bought this cookbook, I noticed an improvement in the future cookbooks I bought. Newer magazines have TWO indices-- one grouped by type of dish (Main Dish, Sides, etc.) and the other grouped by point value. A novel thing for cravings that dictate how many points you can consume and what you feel like eating.
I recommend the WW cookbook on the basis of most of the recipes that I have tried. Several of the cookbooks I have purchased recently DO have some better recipes, though.
Recommended:
