Recipes for Non-Veggie eaters

I have a real problem with veggies.

All my adult/college-ish life I have wanted so badly to like salads. They are decorative and appealing, but the taste is just so bland. Now, I know it's the toppings that make the difference, but you can end up adding the same amount of calories and fat to a salad as you would buying Mc D's burger...so why put myself through the torture :) I admit, they really are pretty. I keep waiting for my taste buds to catch up with my desire to like veggies...but in 25 years, the taste buds are stubborn and haven't changed, atleast in this aspect.

So, anytime I want to start a diet or work to become healthier this issue makes it much harder! I really like Weight Watchers because it is a "lifestyle" like they like to say. I have always succeeded on Weight Watchers (I am currently back on the plan and it's hard but slowly working).

So, for any of you who are like me out there and don't like veggies but don't want to just give in to eating only carbs, here are some good recipes my WW instructor sent me. She sent me over 500 pages of recipes all with the WW point value. If you want the recipes, I can email you. I printed them out and had them bound for convenience. It's the best recipe book that fits what I enjoy that I have found. Maybe now I might actually start cooking!

Last night I made "Parmesan Chicken Cutlets". Grant seemed to like this recipe as well. What is hard about trying to diet is when you have a husband (or kids for those of you that do) who aren't dieting and you need to make good food choices for them as well. But, this book of recipes has some great choices!

Parmesan Chicken Cutlets (I served with corn which was 1 point per 1/2 cup and Grant had a salad on top of that)

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

2 Tbsp Italian-style dried bread crumbs

1/8 tsp paprika

4 (4 oz) boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Preheat oven to 400. In a ziplock bag, combine cheese, bread crumbs and paprika. Shake well. Pour crumb mixture onto a plate. Dip each chicken piece into the crumb mixture, turning to coat all sides. (I thawed out the chicken for about 5 minutes in the microwave before doing this...mine were frozen.) Arrange chicken on a non-stick baking sheet (or spray the pan with cooking spray). Bake until chicken is cooked, about 20-25 minutes.

4 servings, 4 points each

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Light Chex Mix (I also made this last night as a snack for the week or however long it lasts...since it calls for a lot of different cereals, I got the generic brands of them all)

3 cups Rice Chex

3 cups Corn Chex

3 cups cherrios

3 cups pretzels

Butter cooking spray

2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

2 tsp butter flavored sprinkles

1/2 tsp garlic powder (or more)

1/2 tsp seasoned salt

1/2 tsp onion powder (or more)

In 15"x 10" x 1" baking pan, combine cereals & pretzels (I actually combined all of these in a large bowl first to mix up b/c it's hard to mix on a pan then I poured on baking pan). Lightly coat with a butter cooking spray (0 WW points, btw), drizzle with Worcestershire sauce. Combine remaining ingredients & sprinkle over cereal mix. Bake at 200 degrees for 1 1/2 hours, stirring every 30 minutes. Cool. Store in airtight containers.

12 1-cup servings, 2 points each (and I have just been scooping 1/2 cup into baggies and writing a 2 for 2 points on the bag in permanent marker). A good amount of snack for only 2 points.

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Here is what I have planned for the next two weeks:

Honey Mustard Chicken- 7 points with rice (ranges from 3-4 points for the rice I picked up)

3/4 cup light honey mustard dressing

1/8 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

2 tsp dill weed, freshly chopped (I just bought it in the seasoning)

1 medium scallion, finely sliced (or finely chopped onion or chopped green onion...I will be leaving this option out of my recipe, see above note on hating veggies, ha!)

1 cup corn flake crumbs

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts (four 4 oz halves)

Preheat over to 425. Coat a baking pan with cooking spray. In a small bowl, combine honey mustard dressing, salt, pepper, dill and scallions. Remove 1/3 cup of the mixture and set it aside. Put corn flake crumbs into a shallow bowl. Dip the chicken breasts into the honey mustard mixtures and then into the corn flake crumbs. Place each breast into the baking pan. Bake uncovered until the chicken is golden and no longer pink inside, about 15 minutes. Drizzle remaining honey mustard dressing mixture over the chicken breasts and serve.

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For the remaining recipes, let me know and I will post the directions. I just didn't want this post to be forever long...considering I don't know if this even gets read by people!

Sweet & Spicy Dump Chicken- 6.5 points per serving (thought about cooking with rice: 3-4 points and corn-1 pt)

Grilled chicken on George Foreman with Tony's seasoning (3 points) with Easy Mac & Cheese (a recipe-not from a box)=4 points per serving for Mac & Cheese

Cheesy Chicken Stuffed Shells: 2 shells=8 points; a salad for Grant would go good with this recipe...I may do skinny breadsticks (not sure about the point value at this time).

Deluxe Meatloaf: 6 points per serving; salad for Grant and skinny breadsticks for both of us.

Teriyaki Chicken: 5 points per serving, will probably serve with rice for 3-4 additional points

Pimento Cheese: 3 points for whole batch (may use this for lunches); Bread is additional points. I have whole wheat bread for 1 point per slice and another option is honey whole wheat bread for 2 points a slice.

Potato Brunch Casserole: 3 points per serving

French Toast Casserole: 2 points per serving. Grant will LOVE this! You have to do night before b/c it requires bread to soak in pan. I will probably serve with fruit.

Hope this encourages the non-veggie eaters like me that we DO have hope out there!