Colossal Asian Veggie 'N Chicken Pack

Per Serving (1/4th of recipe, about 1 1/2 cups): 5 Points+
222 calories, 1.5g fat, 811mg sodium, 19g carbs, 3.25g fiber, 9.5g sugars, 30.5g protein 

The recipe: "300 under 300", pages 170 - 171
or http://www.hungry-girl.com/newsletters/raw/1587 

As I've said before, I love making Hungry Girl foil packs.  They are quick, easy, and always turn out moist and yummy.  This recipe had TONS of veggies in it, which I love.  You get so much food for so little calories - awesome! 

My main complaint about this recipe was the lack of sauce.  For all those veggies, there was only 3 tablespoons of oyster sauce, along with a little rice vinegar.  I like to be able to taste my sauce!  Plus, when everything is cooked in the foil pack, the veggies release quite a bit of liquid, watering down the already too-small amount of sauce.  In other words, this recipe needs more sauce! 

To compensate, I ended up adding soy sauce to my serving.  Although it adds a lot of sodium, it doesn't really add any calories, and it was worth the added flavor this dish was desperately needing.  If you make this recipe, it might be worth it to add a tablespoon of lower calorie stir-fry sauce to each serving for more flavor.  I have found ones for only 20 calories a tablespoon that taste great.  The portion size alone is a good reason to make this dish, even though it needs a little help!

Pow! Sock! Bam! Jambalaya

PER SERVING (1/4th of recipe, about 1 1/2 cups): 6 Points+
256 calories, 5.5g fat, 688mg sodium, 30.5g carbs, 3.5g fiber, 6.5g sugars, 20g protein 

The recipe: "300 under 300", page 242
or http://www.hungry-girl.com/newsletters/raw/1603

The other night, I actually had some time to cook dinner for my family!  I chose this recipe because I thought it would be something different for a change - not to mention I love jambalaya.  Unfortunately, the recipe didn't turn out.  The photo above is the giving up point of this recipe.  Sadly, it wound up in the garbage after I rescued some of the sausage from the pot.  I was disappointed to say the least, since it was my first Hungry Girl recipe for the blog in quite some time now. 

My problem was the rice.  When I saw that the recipe called for uncooked rice, and that it was supposed to be cooked for 35 minutes, I had a feeling it would actually take much longer to cook the rice.  My rice NEVER got cooked, though, and I'm not sure what the heck I was doing wrong.  I covered it and reduced the heat to medium low, like the recipe said to.  Perhaps the heat wasn't up high enough?  It was hot enough to bubble the entire time, though.  The liquid in the pot got completely soaked up into the still-undercooked-rice, so I added some hot water, thinking that would help.  Nope!  After an hour and a half - yes, an hour and a half! - I gave up on the recipe and called it a day.  Luckily, I never did add the shrimp, so I didn't waste so much food.  But, I really hated having to throw everything away.  The rice was crunchy, though, and it is almost impossible to eat something with undercooked rice in it. 

I am not saying this recipe is hopeless, though.  The flavors were very good, and I could tell it would have turned into a nice and flavorful jambalaya.  It definitely had some heat to it, but I like spicy foods.  My recommendation is to cook the rice separately, and to use that in the recipe instead of uncooked rice.  There shouldn't be a problem with having too much liquid, since there wasn't enough liquid to cook the uncooked rice in the first place.   

Hopefully I will have more success with the next recipe!  I will try to make this again in the future and do a new review for it.  Next time I will be cooking the rice before adding it to the pot!

Spicy Chicken Crunchtastic Supreme

Per Serving (entire recipe): 6 Points +
240 calories, 3.75g fat, 897mg sodium, 33.5g carbs, 7g fiber, 3g sugars, 23.5g protein

The recipe: "300 under 300", pages 340 - 341
or http://www.hungry-girl.com/newsletters/raw/880

This recipe is supposed to be an imitation of a menu item you can find at Taco Bell.  I love Taco Bell, but I usually avoid it since there are very few healthy options to eat there.  I was pretty skeptical that this recipe would actually taste like a fast food dish.  Surprisingly, it did! 

I did not have a high fiber tortilla to make this with, so mine was probably an extra 50 calories or so.  But, I made another one a day later, and it tasted just as good with the high fiber tortilla.  I'm not sure if it was the fact that the final cooking process made all the ingredients warm, like the fast-food version you can buy, or the fact that the substituted ingredients are similar to the actual thing, but this really did taste like I was eating a fast-food meal.  I even felt a little guilty after eating it, and had to remind myself that it was not the same as eating the real thing. 

Since making this last week, I have made this two more times - both with a high fiber tortilla.  It tasted just as good each time, and I think this is going to now be on my list of favorites.  It definitely satisfied my Taco Bell cravings, so anytime I feel like Taco Bell again, I will make this recipe.  Yum!

Chicky Pad Thai

Per Serving (1/2 of recipe, about 2 1/2 cup): 7 Points+
285 calories, 4g fat, 625mg sodium, 32g carbs, 9g fiber, 13g sugars, 34g protein

The recipe: "300 under 300", pages 222 - 223
or http://www.hungry-girl.com/newsletters/raw/1595

I'd first like to start off by making an early apology for being slightly absent for the next few weeks.  I am currently off work for the next two weeks, so my blogging might be a little sporatic.  I am still cooking Hungry Girl recipes almost every day, but it has been more difficult for me to get to the computer, what with having visitors and being busy with holiday stuff, etc.

As for this recipe, I did not use the Tofu Shirataki noodles, as suggested by HG.  I am well aware that this adds a ton of extra calories to the recipe, but if I plan right, I can usually fit these calories into my food for the day.  This blog on Tofu Shirataki noodles explains why it is well worth it to me to use regular noodles instead.  For this recipe, I actually used Japanese Udon noodles, which have about the same calories as regular pasta noodles do.  Since it is an Asian dish, I didn't think it would work as well using Fettuccine noodles as a substitute for the Shirataki Fettuccine noodles.

Aside from the noodles, I did not like this recipe much.  I thought the sauce was way too tangy, and wasn't thick enough for the noodles.  I ended up with most of the sauce left over at the bottom of my bowl of noodles.  The amount of spice was perfect, but that is the only positive thing I can say about it.  I also thought there were too many bean sprouts, and I love bean sprouts.  Sadly, I will not be making this recipe again.  I was hoping I had found a delicious Pad Thai recipe that I could make again and again, but this is definitely not the case.  I would skip this one and try one of her better stir fry recipes instead.

Glaze-of-Sunshine Apricot Chicken

Per Serving (½ of recipe, 1 cutlet with sauce): 6 Points+
233 calories, 3.5g fat, 274mg sodium, 13g carbs, 0g fiber, <0.5g sugars, 39g protein

The recipe: "Hungry Girl 1-2-3", pages 142 - 143

First of all, I want to say that I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.  I had planned on keeping my blog up and running throughout the week, but it just got way too busy to do so.  We had three sets of visitors over the past week, one right after another.  I had so much fun hanging out with the various friends and family who visited, that I just couldn't find time to write my blog (not to mention that our computer room is also our guest room, so access to the computer was also limited!).

Anyway, I will start my reviews for the week with this citrus chicken dish that came out wonderful.  It was tender and delicious, and I loved the apricot glaze on top.  I wasn't sure how it was going turn out, especially with a combination such as apricot jam, onion soup mix, and cider vinegar.  But, it was a hit.  It was slightly reminiscent of orange chicken from a Chinese restaurant, which is one of my favorite dishes.  I made this along with a brussel sprout recipe, which I will review tomorrow, and a garden salad.  A wonderful dinner, and all very healthy.  This will be a chicken dish that I would definitely make again.

World's Easiest Chicken Empanadas

Per Serving (1/6th of recipe, 1 empanada): 4 Points+
157 calories, 6.5g fat, 465mg sodium, 16.5g carbs, 0.5g fiber, 3g sugars, 9.5g protein

The recipe: "300 under 300", pages 444 - 445

I mainly made this recipe the other day because I had some Pillsbury Seamless Dough that needed to be used up - and the recipe sounded fairly good and easy.  My mom had just been up to visit the other weekend as well, and had brought with her some really good salsa.  I thought it would be really tasty in this recipe.  Mmmm!  Salsa!

These turned out pretty good, and I ended up eating two of them.  My husband ate three - guess he liked them, too!  I did think that the chicken in the empanadas could have used more salsa, though.  I ended up just dipping the empanadas in additional salsa as I ate them.  Yum!  I love salsa, especially since it doesn't really add any calories to the dish. 

These empanadas were good, but not anything mind-blowing.  I would consider making them again just because of how simple they were and how few ingredients they required (three! - just salsa, chicken, and dough).  They were nice to snack on, but next time I would eat them with a salad to make it more of a meal.

Wowowow! Kung Pao

Per Serving (1/2 of recipe, about 1 1/2 cups): 6 Points+
245 calories, 4g fat, 720mg sodium, 21g carbs, 3g fiber, 11g sugars, 30g protein 

The recipe: "300 under 300", page 224 - 225
or http://www.hungry-girl.com/newsletters/raw/1335

I love Chinese food, and one of my favorite go-to low-calorie dinners is a chicken stir-fry full of veggies.  I generally just use soy sauce and a little bit of bottled stir-fry sauce for flavor, but it does get tiring eating the same dish all the time.  Since I also love Kung Pao chicken, this recipe called out to me.


I was happy with the fact that there were still quite a bit of veggies in this meal.  It also had a nice amount of chicken, making it pretty filling.  In a recent Hungry Girl email, I learned that by adding the sauce at the end of the cooking process, it prevents the sauce from reducing too much.  As a result, your sauce goes farther, saving you calories while adding flavor.  Good to know!


I loved the flavor of this sauce.  It had a nice kick to it, but wasn't overly spicy.  The dish came out nice and saucy, and actually reminded me of a restaurant-style kung pao chicken.  Yeah!  I made some rice to serve it over, and was nice and full after eating it.  This dish did a nice job of satisfying my cravings for a fatty, restaurant-style serving of kung pao chicken.  If you like kung pao chicken, you should definitely give this a try.

Ranch-O Bacon Chicken

Per Serving (entire recipe): 4 Points+

186 calories, 3g fat, 429mg sodium, 1g carbs, 0g fiber, 0.5g sugars, 35g protein

The recipe: http://www.hungry-girl.com/weighin/show/1950

In an effort to make something quick and easy for dinner, I picked this recipe to make last night.  I have seen it a couple of times in HG emails, and usually when she mentions something more than once, it means it is a good recipe. 

You really can't get any easier than this for a chicken recipe.  Just sprinkle a 5oz chicken cutlet with a little pepper on both sides, then sprinkle 1/2 teaspoon of ranch dressing mix on the top, and then a tablespoon of real bacon bits.  Bake in the oven and enjoy!  So easy!

This chicken turned out pretty decent.  It was well-seasoned, and I liked the combination of the ranch and bacon on the chicken.  I made some broccoli to go with it for dinner, as well as a side of mac and cheese for my 3-year-old (which I didn't eat).  I actually didn't think my son would even touch the chicken and broccoli, but I still put some on his plate with the mac and cheese.  Surprisingly, he ate all of his chicken and broccoli, and didn't even touch the mac and cheese.  For that reason alone, I would definitely call this a successful dinner. 

Sweet 'n Sassy Boneless Hot Wings

Per Serving (entire recipe - 4 oz of chicken): 6 Points+
267 calories, 1.5g fat, 775mg sodium, 30g carbs, 2g fiber, 15g sugars, 31g protein

The recipe: "Hungry Girl 1-2-3", pages 126 - 127

or http://www.hungry-girl.com/newsletters/raw/1322

For this recipe, I actually quadrupled it, so what you see above is four servings.  I figured for all the work I put into making these, I wasn't about to make just one serving.  Not that they are difficult to make or anything, but when I get into the mode of coating stuff with egg and then flour, I like to do a larger batch.  I cut mine a little larger than the nugget-size she recommends - mine were each about an ounce instead of just half an ounce.  So, instead of 8 small nuggets, I had 4 larger ones for a serving.

These turned out great!  A nice amount of spiciness, but not so much to where they were unbearable.  I have discovered that I love the flavor of sweet chili sauce, and am looking forward to making a stirfry that features the sauce.  It gives it a really nice, slightly sweet flavor, but still provides a good amount of spiciness as well.

I made these with a salad for dinner, but they are definitely more of an appetizer.  My husband loved these, as well, and took the leftovers to work for lunch the next day.  When he does that, I know the recipe was a success!  These are definitely worth making, but just make sure you stop eating them at one serving.  They aren't exactly calorie friendly if you eat too much!

Chicken-With-A-Kick Pack

Per Serving (entire recipe): 6 Points+
245 calories, 2g fat, 923mg sodium, 24.5g carbs, 5g fiber, 4.5g sugars, 31.5g protein

The recipe: "Hungry Girl 1-2-3", pages 148 - 149
or http://www.hungry-girl.com/newsletters/raw/1274

In the email version of this recipe, Hungry Girl recommends using Tabasco Chipotle Pepper Sauce, which I do not have at home.  The cookbook says you can also use whatever your favorite hot sauce is.  Because this recipe allowed for a little bit of flexibility with what type of hot sauce you use, I tried out three different versions.  In the first foil pack, I used Frank's Original Red Hot Sauce, which is one of my favorite go-to hot sauces that works well with almost anything.  In the second foil pack, I used an Asian Hot Chili Sauce, since that is my husband's go-to hot sauce.  I, personally, think the chili sauce only works well with stirfry and other Asian dishes, but he uses it on Mexican food, American food - you name it.  In the third foil pack I used salsa.

Surprisingly, the one that turned out the best was the one made with the Asian Chili Sauce.  It had a nice amount of kick to it, and was definitely the most spicy of the three.  The flavor was very good, and the hot sauce didn't taste at all out of place.  The second best one was the Frank's Red Hot one.  I love the flavor of Frank's Red Hot sauce, but I could have used more than just a teaspoon in the foil pack.  The chicken still tasted great, but there just wasn't as much heat as I would have liked to have.  My least favorite was the one made with salsa.  It definitely came out too bland.  I ended up adding a teaspoon of taco seasoning to it, though, and that made it taste great. 

If you have the type of Tabasco sauce Hungry Girl recommends using, by all means, use that.  Otherwise, go ahead and experiment with what you like best.  The combination of chicken and veggies in this recipe makes it work well with almost anything.

With all three, we ate it over a half cup of brown rice.  The rice did a good job of soaking up the extra juice, which there was plenty of.  I think this recipe is a little too saucy to eat in a tortilla, or even just by itself.  I would recommend serving it over a small serving of brown rice.

Fiesta-Time Chicken Flautas

Per Serving (1/2 of recipe, 2 flautas): 4 Points+
188 calories, 2g fat, 556mg sodium, 24.5g carbs, 3g fiber, 4g sugars, 17g protein

The recipe: http://www.hungry-girl.com/biteout/show/2033

One of my favorite recipes is Hungry Girl's Exploding Taquitos, and since I enjoyed those so much, I figured this recipe might be even better.  Instead of canned chicken, it uses chopped up grilled chicken breast.  It also uses spices such as cayenne pepper and cumin, instead of pre-packaged taco seasoning.  I usually prefer to use fresh items instead of canned.

I cheated a little again and used the precooked packaged chicken breast from the deli section at Costco.  Not exactly freshly cooked chicken, but still much better than canned.  I am becoming a little obsessed with that chicken, by the way.  It makes it so easy to make a huge salad and add 3 ounces of chicken breast for protein (and only 110 calories!).

These flautas turned out very yummy.  And they didn't explode like the Exploding Taquitos did!  I'm not sure why they are called flautas, though, since I always thought flautas were made with flour tortillas, and taquitos were made with corn tortillas.  Whatever.  These were good nonetheless.  They had a nice amount of spiciness to them from the cayenne pepper, but not so much where it was overpowering.  I really liked the spices on the chicken, and everything tasted great together.  I dipped mine in salsa for even more flavor.  Yum!

Since I am now getting used to counting calories instead of tracking points, I couldn't eat very many of these for dinner to stay within my alloted calories.  I had three flautas and also made a salad.  Later, I went running for 30 minutes on the treadmill (I only have time to run at 9pm at night), and I woke up VERY hungry in the morning.  Perhaps not enough food for dinner!  These make a perfect appetizer, but for a meal, you would definitely have to eat more than just two.  My husband ate 5, with sour cream and salsa as a dip, plus a salad, and said he was plenty full. 

Totally Thai Chicken Lettuce Cups

Per Serving (entire recipe - 3 lettuce cups): 5 Points+
227 calories, 4.5g fat, 875mg sodium, 21g carbs, 3g fiber, 12.5g sugars, 23g protein

The recipe: "Hungry Girl 1-2-3", pages 20 - 21
or http://www.hungry-girl.com/newsletters/raw/1232

It is a good thing that I didn't listen to my husband's protests over me making this dish.  After claiming that he doesn't like most Thai food, nor does he like peanut sauce, I still made this anyway since I love both of those things.  Sorry, dear!  After I tried the first lettuce cup and said how good it was, my husband decided that maybe he would try one after all.  Three lettuce cups later (a whole serving, in other words), and I was glad I had doubled the recipe.  He said they were actually pretty good - can I say I told you so?

One of my favorite appetizers at the Cheesecake Factory (one of my favorite restaurants that I now avoid like the plague!) is their Thai lettuce wraps.  I have been craving those recently, so when I saw this recipe I knew I had to try them.  These were delicious!  And as far as I can remember, they taste just about as good as any thai lettuce wraps that I have had at a restaurant.  These definitely did the job of satisfying my cravings for this appetizer. 

I do have to admit that I cheated a little bit with the chicken.  I had just picked up a large package of precooked grilled chicken strips from Costco, so I measured out 6 ounces (I doubled the recipe) of those instead of cooking the chicken myself.  I sprinkled the chicken with the garlic powder, heated it in the microwave for 30 seconds, and added the peanut sauce.  Super quick and easy, and I think it still tasted great.  This is not something I usually do, but I was really not in the mood to cook and make a mess last night.

I loved the flavors of the rice vinegar, cilantro, green onion, and Thai peanut sauce together in this dish.  So good!  I was actually so happy with the way the recipe turned out, that I made a salad with the same ingredients for dinner.  I just added more lettuce and a little more rice vinegar for flavor, and topped everything with a little chicken and peanut sauce.  The only unfortunate thing was that I was unable to find a low-fat Thai peanut sauce or dressing at the grocery store.  I looked in both the salad dressing aisle as well as the Asian section, and could only find the higher fat versions.  The best I could find had 80 calories and 3.5g fat for two tablespoons - not the best stats, but worth the extra point for this recipe. 

If you like Thai lettuce wraps as much as I do, then this is a good recipe for you.  Just keep in mind that it is five points for just an appetizer, and this is not enough food to fill you up for an entire meal.

Dreamy Butternut Chicken Foil Pack

Per Serving (1/2 of recipe, about 2 cups): 7 Points+
292 calories, 3.25g fat, 575mg sodium, 35.5g carbs, 6g fiber, 10g sugars, 32g protein 

The recipe: "300 under 300", pages 156 - 157

Let me start by saying I have never cooked with butternut squash before.  Partly because I was intimidated by a hard squash that is potentially difficult to work with and partly because my husband is always reminding me of how much he hates squash and I didn't want to make something he wouldn't like.  I decided to ignore both of my trepidations and finally try one of HG's butternut squash recipes.

As I expected, the squash was a little difficult to work with.  I picked one with a long neck and a small round bottom part as HG suggests in the cookbook.  It was fairly difficult to peel, and when I went to hollow out the seeds from the bottom round part, it reminded me of a pumpkin.  Cutting it up was also quite difficult, as it was a pretty hard squash.  I ended up cutting it in bite-size pieces instead of the slices the recipe calls for.  I figured it would cook better the more cut up it was, and would be more appetizing to eat in small bites than in large slices.  I turned out to be right.  The squash ended up being cooked just enough when I took it out of the oven.  I have a feeling if I had left it as slices, the squash would have been slightly undercooked while everything else would have been done.

The flavor of this dish was great.  It was very creamy and savory, and did not taste low-fat at all.  I enjoyed the fact that there were lots of veggies in it - the dish consisted mostly of cauliflower and butternut squash with some onions and a little bit of chicken.  Because of the veggies, the portion size was huge.  I ate a nice, large bowl of this and was satisfied for the whole evening without getting hungry and craving snacks before bed.

The butternut squash was a firm but smooth squash when cooked.  It still reminded me of pumpkin, but with not as strong of a flavor.  I thought it was a pretty good squash, and since I still have the whole long neck part of the squash left, I will probably attempt Hungry Girl's butternut squash fries she is known for.  I would definitely recommend this dish if you are looking for something creamy and flavorful.  You should probably cut up the squash into bite-size pieces when making this dish, though. 

Sweet & Sour Chicken 1-2-3

Per Serving (1/3rd of recipe, 2 cups): 7 Points+
295 calories, 2g fat, 730mg sodium, 37g carbs, 5.25g fiber, 27g sugars, 30g protein

The recipe: "300 under 300", pages 220 - 221
or http://www.hungry-girl.com/chew/show/2056

I have again been in the mood for Asian food, and since I have been trying to eat more veggies, this recipe sounded good to me.  Broccoli, red bell peppers, bean sprouts, and chicken - yum!  The sauce was super-easy to make and was so delicious!  The most clever part of it was using the juice in the can of pineapple as a base for the sweet & sour sauce.  This was a great substitution for the normally fattening sweet & sour chicken you would get at a Chinese restaurant.  

The portion size was nice and large as well.  I made some rice to go with it, since I know my husband's idea of a good portion size is a little different from mine.  He enjoyed the meal, too, and even had enough left over to take some to work for his lunch.  This was a good recipe that I would make again if I was not in the mood for an ordinary stir fry.  Yum!

Rockin' Chicken Ratatouille

Per Serving (1/2 of recipe, about 2 1/4 cups): 7 Points+
299 calories, 2g fat, 660mg sodium, 32.5g carbs, 9.75g fiber, 18g sugars, 37.5g protein

The recipe: "300 under 300", pages 154 - 155

I was just realizing the other day that I haven't exactly been making the healthiest meals recently.  Looking back at my last 10 posts, none of the recipes have much in the way of vegetables, and many of them can't even be considered remotely healthy.  Yes, they are lower in fat and calories than the alternatives, but I need to get back to eating more veggies and healthier foods in general.  I have been adding the occasional salad to my dinners, but that is about the extent of my vegetables recently. 

So, I am making several meals this week that have tons of veggies in them.  This recipe has zucchini, eggplant, bell peppers, tomatoes, onion, garlic, and some chicken.  Wow!  The best part about making something with a bunch of veggies in it is usually the portion size.  This meal was no different.  The photo below is of a very full bowl (it is hard to tell in the photo, but there is a whole lot of food there).  Since veggies are so low in calories, you can add a ton of them without costing you many points.  I was actually surprised that this recipe was 7 points+ and not lower.  You do get a very large portion for the amount of points, but I still thought it would be much lower. 

That being said, the flavor of this ratatouille was pretty good.  I added a little bit of parmesan cheese to mine for extra flavor.  However, I always feel as though ratatouille tastes like chunky spaghetti sauce without the spaghetti noodles.  I actually feel weird eating it, since to me it always seems like I am just eating sauce.  This would have been much better over noodles, but then the points would have been too high for the meal (in my opinion).  So, although the flavor was good, I think I have decided that I officially am not a fan of ratatouille.  If you are, then by all means make this recipe.  You will definitely get a lot of food for a reasonable amount of points.

Three-Cheese Chicken Cannelloni

Per Serving (1/2 of recipe, 1 stuffed cutlet): 6 Points+
274 calories, 3.5g fat, 776mg sodium, 12g carbs, 2g fiber, 6g sugars, 43g protein

The recipe: "300 under 300", pages 236 - 237
or http://www.hungry-girl.com/newsletters/raw/1506

After checking out this recipe, I thought it was such a great idea to make something that is usually a stuffed pasta calorie nightmare into something fairly healthy just by swapping the pasta for chicken.  So smart!  I am always looking for tasty Italian recipes that are healthy as well, and this one fits both of those criteria.  These were delicious, low points, and filling.  I also made some asparagus to complete the meal, and both my husband and I were pleasantly satisfied afterward.

I did have a hard time pounding the chicken into thin cutlets that were a good shape for stuffing and then rolling.  It turned out not to matter all that much, though.  Since you secure the chicken roll with toothpicks, they really don't have to be stuffed and rolled to perfection.  After cooking, if you let them sit just a bit before taking the toothpicks out, they hold their shape very nicely. 

Other than the assembly, these were pretty simple to make.  Just mix some ingredients together for the filling, spread the filling on the chicken, roll, make the sauce, and bake.  Not the quickest recipe in the world, but also not the most challenging.  Plus, you make the sauce while the chicken is baking, so it feels as though you are accomplishing two things at once.

I doubled the recipe and made four of these, since I am never sure how much my husband is going to eat.  We ended up having one each for lunch the next day, which is always nice when the meal was yummy and low points.  If you are an Italian food fan, then I would definitely recommend this recipe.

Open-Faced Chicken Salad Melt

Per Serving (entire recipe): 7 Points+
299 calories, 7.75g fat, 1,224mg sodium, 26g carbs, 5.75g fiber, 4.5g sugars, 31g protein

The recipe: "300 under 300", page 295

For lunch on Sunday, I made this yummy sandwich for my Mom and I, who was visiting for the weekend.  We both love chicken salad sandwiches, which of course, are usually loaded with mayo and other fattening ingredients.  I made this healthy version, which both of us thought tasted decent, but wasn't anything super-exciting. 

I loved the fact that the sandwich was open-faced and that there were two halves to eat separately.  It made us feel as though we were eating more than just a small sandwich on light bread.  The flavor of the chicken salad was pretty good - it was just a little dry since there was not much in it to moisten it up.  I am used to using much more than just a half tablespoon of mayo in my chicken salad! 

I also loved the fact that the recipe called for broccoli slaw in the chicken salad.  The extra veggies really bulked up the sandwich without adding hardly any calories.  It also added a nice crunch to it that I really loved.

A pretty good lunch, and one that I might make again if I am in the mood for chicken salad again.  If I was in maintenance mode instead of weight-loss mode, I might add a tablespoon of mayo to add a little more moisture to the chicken salad.

Chicken Enchilada Casserole

Per Serving (¼ of casserole): 6 Points+
260 calories, 4g fat, 1,166mg sodium, 27g carbs, 4g fiber, 3g sugars, 27.5g protein

The recipe: "Hungry Girl 1-2-3", pages 66 - 67

I usually make at least one Mexican dish every week, so I am always looking for something different from the usual taco or burrito.  This recipe sounded easy and delicious - and it was!  It had a nice blend of chicken, cheese, veggies, salsa, corn tortillas, and the surprising ingredient - cream of celery soup.  I did not think cream of celery soup would work in a Mexican dish at all, but I was proven wrong with this recipe.  Usually I think of cream of anything as an ingredient for a comfort food dish.  It worked really well in this enchilada dish, however. 

The best part of this recipe was the portion size.  You get 1/4 of the casserole!  Nice!  I made mine in an 8x8 pan, and was very happy with the large dinner I got to eat for only 6 points+.  I added a salad for a complete meal.

What made this even better was that I was able to put the casserole together quickly and throw it in the oven to bake, making my two-year-old happy that I didn't have to spend much time in the kitchen.  It is made with canned chicken, which is what makes it so quick to put together.  I'm sure you could always use fresh shredded chicken if you wanted to, but it tastes great with the canned chicken, so I was perfectly happy to use that.  Everyone in the family liked this dish - I only wish I had doubled the recipe so we would have had leftovers for lunch the next day.  Next time I will definitely make more.  Yum!

Mom-Style Creamy Chicken 'n Veggies

Per Serving (entire recipe): 7 Points+
307 calories, 4g fat, 881mg sodium, 26g carbs, 5.25g fiber, 10.5g sugars, 40g protein

The recipe: "Hungry Girl 1-2-3", pages 146 - 147

I've been eyeballing this recipe for a while, but was hesitant to make it after the disaster I had with the Hungry Chick Shepherd's Pie.  Mainly because the veggies used are frozen, and I still have nightmares about the frozen veggies used in that gross shepherd's pie (rereading the post, I was way nicer about the recipe than I should have been!).  Finally, I made this recipe, and I was glad I did.  It was so creamy and delicious!

Because the chicken and veggies were baked in a foil pack, it made the veggies come out soft and tender - even the cauliflower.  Often when I use frozen veggies they turn out kind of gross and you can tell they were previously frozen, but these didn't taste frozen at all.

Everything was very creamy, and definitely reminded me of comfort food.  And the serving size was HUGE!  Believe it or not, there is a nice-size chicken cutlet underneath all of those veggies in the photo.  I was very happy with the meal, and was glad I had made four of these foil-packs.  My husband and I both had the extra servings for lunch the next day.  For the points, this was a very filling and delicious meal. 

Pizza-fied Chicken

Per Serving (entire recipe): 6 Points+
282 calories, 5.75g fat, 868mg sodium, 10g carbs, 2g fiber, 4.5g sugars, 44g protein

The recipe: "Hungry Girl 1-2-3", pages 30 - 31
or http://www.hungry-girl.com/show/you-wanna-pizza-me-pizza-fied-chicken-recipe

An interesting concept - chicken topped like a pizza.  I figured it would just taste like chicken with sauce and veggies, but it actually did remind me of pizza.  Before I even told my husband what it was, he said, "It tastes like the chicken is topped with pizza.  Cool!".  

I really liked how the chicken was seasoned in this recipe.  Just a little garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper - simple, but very delicious.  The same seasonings were added to the crushed tomatoes for the sauce, so they went well together. 

I also liked how the veggies really bulked up the chicken and made it into a nice, filling meal.  And for only six points+ this meal was a calorie bargain.  Pair it with a salad and you will definitely be nice and full.  If you like pizza and you like chicken, you will definitely like this recipe.