Day 24: A new topping for pancakes and Points-Friendly Appetizers?!?!

I decided to have pancakes for breakfast this morning,  I made them from Bisquick Heart Smart mix, and added cinnamon to them.  I cooked them with a half teaspoon of butter.  I have found that using a small amount of butter is just as good to me as using a lot.  So, what I've done, is take a stick of butter, and cut it into tablespoons.  Then cut each tablespoon into thirds (teaspoons), then cut those in half.  So, for each tablespoon of butter I end up with six little 'chunks' of butter.  I find it a lot easier to know how much I'm cooking with that way, without having to cut it up each time.

I tried something new this morning to put onto my pancakes.  I put some frozen strawberries into a pan, along with a sliced up banana, a teaspoon of sugar and a little bit of water.  Put the burner on low and covered them.

I checked on them in a little while and they were looking mighty good!  The liquid seemed pretty thin in the pan, so I drained a little of it out and mixed it with a little bit of cornstarch.  I then mixed the cornstarch 'slurry' into the pan and let it come back to a boil in order to thicken it up.

 I stacked my pancakes on the plate with the strawberry banana mix I made.  As you can see, they were quite delicious!!!  The pancakes were 7 points, my luscious fruit mix was 0 points, and the two cups of milk I had were 4 points.  That brings breakfast to a total of 11 points.



Like most, I didn't believe there was such a thing as Points-Friendly Appetizers....until I started looking for ideas.  See, I was invited to a New Year's Eve party on Friday, and was told that it's basically going to be appetizers all day and pizza for dinner.  So, I went on a mission to find points-friendly appetizers that I could bring, and something to bring for dinner, rather than the pizza.  I love pizza, but it's high in points, and lately I get horrible heartburn/reflux when I eat pizza (but not pasta sauce - go figure).  I did some searching online and ended up finding this post about Southwestern Egg Rolls, and this one about baking egg rolls in the oven (rather than frying them), and let my brain mull it over for a while.

What I came up with were baked taco bites.  Seemed simple enough to me...I basically used the recipe for the Southwestern Egg Rolls but used ground beef instead of the chicken.  Then, instead of frying the wonton's, I baked them in the oven.

I took a pound of 85% lean ground beef and cooked it up in a frying pan with two teaspoons of taco seasoning and some onion powder.  Once that was done, I drained it in a colander to get some of the fat out of it and let it cool off.

Then I cooked a cup of frozen corn with a half cup of black beans (drained and rinsed) and two teaspoons of taco seasoning also.  I added a little bit of water to the pan, and cooked them for about 5 minutes or so.  Then I drained them and let them cool off.







Once both the meat and the vegetables were cooled off, I mixed them together in a bowl and added 8oz of finely shredded mexican blend cheese.

 

I then opened the package of wonton wrappers.

Placed one on the counter, and put a generous teaspoon of the filling in the center.

Painted the edges of the wrapper with water.

Folded it up like a triangle.






 

I then wet two of the points and folded them together.








There was A LOT of filling!  I ended up having to use two packages of the wonton wrappers.  I never thought I was going to get through all the filling.   Here's the bowl at about the halfway point!

Here is a quarter of them on the pan waiting to go into the oven:

I finished with the first package of wrappers, and noticed there were recipes in the package.  Imagine my surprise when I saw "Tex Mex Won Tons"!  I, however, think mine sounded better, lol!

You have to keep wonton wrappers covered and not let them dry out.  If you do happen to take the dog outside and forget you have a wonton half finished on the counter, this is about how it ends up looking!






I entered the recipe into the Recipe Builder on eTools, and it came out to 1 point per taco bite.  I am also bringing salsa and sour cream for those that wish to have it.



Besides the taco-bites, I also plan to bring a fruit tray.  I looked online for a fruit dip that might be point-friendly.  I found one, then modified it as I saw fit.

I used one 6oz container of Stonyfield Farms Low Fat French Vanilla yogurt, a quarter cup of Polaner All-Fruit, about a quarter cup of canned crushed pineapple, and some cinnamon.

I mixed it all together and it tasted pretty good.  It looked a little thin, so I added two tablespoons of regular sour cream, and am going to add a 6oz container of Stonyfield Farms Whole Milk Vanilla yogurt.






When I entered the recipe into the Recipe Builder on eTools, the entire bowl of dip is 12 points.  Now, I'm not planning to eat the entire bowl, but can judge how much I eat and how many points it is.


Once I was done cooking I was famished!  I had a chicken thigh (2pts), half cup of mushroom rice (3pts) and two cups of milk (4pts), for a total of 9 points.  I then treated myself to a quarter cup of Breyer's mint choc chip ice cream for 2 points.

I was not hungry later at night, so did not have anything else to eat.  I ended up eating only 31 points today, leaving 5 of my daily points uneaten.  That still leaves me with all of my 49 weekly points for the week.