Chicken and Dumplings, from Mel

For the stock:

1 TBSP cooking oil
1 whole, cut up chicken
2 medium carrots
2 celery stalks
1 onion
1/2 red bell pepper or 3 mini bell peppers
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 TBSP peppercorns
salt
pepper


Put a large stock pot with 1TBSP oil on the stove over medium high heat. Season chicken pieces with salt and pepper and add to hot stock pot, skin down. Leave it alone for about 5 minutes. Chop veggies into large pieces. Add all ingredients to chicken in pot, cover with water, and simmer for about an hour. Skim fat and crud off the top as needed. (I removed about a cup of pure fat from the top of mine while cooking it.)

Pull chicken pieces out of pot and let cool enough to handle. Pour everything left in the pot through a collander into another pot or bowl. Wipe out stock pot. Pour stock through a fine mesh strainer back into stock pot. When chicken is cool enough to handle, remove meat from bones and shred a bit. Discard bones and skin. Discard veggie chunks.

For the final product:

Reserved stock
Reserved chicken
2 medium carrots
2 celery stalks
1 onion
frozen peas, if you wish

Chop carrots, celery, and onion into small pieces. Add to reserved stock in stock pot over medium high heat. Add shredded chicken to pot. Cook for a while. (An hour or so?) While that cooks, prepare dumplings.

Rolled Dumplings

2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
herbs or something, if you like
1/3 cup of shortening/butter. I like to use half and half - you can use all of one or the other or whatever you feel like
1/2 cup milk, maybe more if needed

1 carton chicken stock, or about 4 cups if using homemade (what is in the pot with chicken and veggies won't be enough.)

Combine flour, baking powder, salt, pepper, herbs... whatever you feel like adding in a large bowl. Cut in the shortening/butter until it resembles coarse crumbs. Add milk to form a soft dough. Roll out chunks of dough to be about 1/4 inch (or less) thick. These really puff up when cooking, so it's a matter of taste. Once they're rolled, cut into small squares/diamonds/rectangles/strips/whatever floats your boat with a pizza cutter. I make mine into about 1 inch diamonds/squares.

At some point, put the carton/4 cups chicken stock into a sauce pan over medium high heat and bring to a boil.

Once your dumplings are cut, add them to the boiling stock in batches and cook, covered, for about 8-10 minutes. They may boil over, so reduce heat and/or vent lid as needed. After each batch is cooked, add it to the pot with the chicken and veggies. (Just the dumplings, keep the stock in the pot.) Ladle more stock into the dumpling-cooking pot (from the pot with the veggies) as needed to have enough stock for cooking the dumplings. When the final batch of dumplings is done cooking, add them along with the (now thickened) stock to the pot with the veggies. Stir it around. Cook for a while longer if you feel like it, or serve it right away.

I hope that's pretty much right. That's what I did. It was tasty. You can certainly add whatever veggies/seasonings you'd like. If I'd happened to have herbs, I would have added them (in a bundle) to the stock.

Veggie and Shrimp Fajitas, from Shelli

Veggie & Shrimp fajitas

Two zucchini
Two squash
One red pepper
One onion (I used a white onion)
1 pkg McCormick Citrus Lime Marinade mix (need oil & vinegar)
One pound 31-40ct shrimp

I used my mandolin to julienne the squashes and pepper. Then I sliced the onion thinly. I peeled/deveined the shrimp and put them in a separate bowl. Then I mixed up the marinade and divided it between the veggies and the shrimp. I let them hang out in fridge for a few hours.

Spring Veggie Carbonara, suggested from Cara

From Cooking Light: http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=10000001981771

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup frozen green peas, thawed
• 12 ounces asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
• 8 ounces uncooked cavatappi pasta
• 1/2 cup (2 ounces) grated pecorino Romano cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 3 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 4 slices center-cut bacon, chopped
• 1 cup chopped seeded red bell pepper

Preparation

1. Cook peas and asparagus in boiling water for 3 minutes or until asparagus is crisp-tender; drain. Plunge into ice water; drain. Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain pasta in a colander over a bowl, reserving 1/4 cup cooking liquid. Combine pasta and vegetables.

2. Combine cheese and the next 3 ingredients (through eggs) in a bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Gradually add hot cooking liquid to egg mixture, stirring constantly with a whisk. Cook bacon in a large skillet over medium heat until crisp, stirring occasionally. Remove bacon from pan, reserving 1 tablespoon drippings in pan. Add bacon to pasta mixture. Cook bell pepper in drippings for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add pasta mixture; cook 1 minute or until thoroughly heated. Remove pan from heat, and stir in egg mixture. Return pan to low heat; cook for 2 minutes or until sauce thickens slightly, stirring constantly.

Veggie Tortilla Soup, from Michelle

1 large onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
3 tablespoons minced garlic
1 4-oz can chopped green chilies
1 28-oz can plum tomatoes, drained and chopped (I get the no-salt-added variety)
1 14.5-oz can crushed tomatoes
4 teaspoons cumin
2 teaspoons chili powder
Dashes of cayenne, salt, and black pepper <--you can leave out any of these 2 14.5-oz cans fat-free chicken broth 2 14-oz cans veggie broth 2 bay leaves <--can totally be left out 1 zucchini, sliced into half-moons 1 squash, sliced into half-moons 2 carrots, chopped into rounds 1 large or 2 smallish baking potatoes, cubed Toss the onion, bell pepp, garlic, and green chilies into some EVOO over low/med heat until tender. Add the liquids and spices. Add the veggies. Bring to a boil. Turn down heat and let it simmer (I enjoy a "violent simmer" here) until the veggies are at desired tenderness. ETA: about 15-20 minutes. **I like to add shredded chicken. Sometimes I poach and shred. Sometimes I buy rotisserie and shred. But it's good vegetarian too.

Shepherd's Pie, suggested by Shelli

From the Weight Watcher's website...

1/4 cup(s) fat-free sour cream

1 Tbsp reduced-calorie margarine

1/8 tsp table salt, or to taste

2 tsp olive oil

1 cup(s) onion(s), chopped

2 medium carrot(s), diced

2 medium stalk(s) celery, diced

1 pound(s) uncooked ground turkey breast

3 Tbsp all-purpose flour

1 Tbsp rosemary, fresh, chopped (or 1 tsp dried)

1 tsp dried thyme

1/2 tsp table salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

2 cup(s) canned chicken broth, or beef broth

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 400ºF.
  
  
• Place potatoes in a large saucepan and pour in enough water to cover potatoes. Set pan over high heat and bring to a boil; reduce heat to medium and simmer 10 minutes, until potatoes are fork-tender. Drain potatoes, transfer to a large bowl and add sour cream and margarine; mash until smooth, season to taste with salt and set aside.
  
  
• Meanwhile, heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion, carrots and celery; cook until soft, about 3 minutes. Add turkey and cook until browned, breaking up the meat as it cooks, about 5 minutes. Add flour, rosemary, thyme, salt and pepper; stir to coat. Add broth and bring to a simmer; simmer until mixture thickens, about 3 minutes.
  
  
• Transfer turkey mixture to a 9-inch, deep-dish pie plate. Spread mashed potatoes over top and using the back of a spoon, make decorative swirls over the top. Bake until potatoes are golden, about 30 minutes. Slice into 6 pieces and serve.

Notes from Shelli--Except I only used 8oz ground beef and added peas instead of celery. I also don't ever, ever use light margarine, so I used butter. Still works out to 4 pts per serving.

Stuffed Turkey Burgers, from Kris

Use ground turkey breast and jazzed it up with some steak sauce and Worcestershire sauce.
I also finely minced an onion and mixed it in, then added about 1/4 cup bread crumbs.
I portioned the meat out so that each burger had 2 patties.

On the bottom patty I put some shredded pepper-jack cheese and a spoonful of the stuffing mixture I made (carmelized red onions with red peppers and fresh garlic that I did in a saute pan before putting the burgers together).

The burgers were grilled and then topped with a very thin slice of pepper-jack cheese.

Our veggies were new potatoes with mushrooms and red onions that had been marinated in olive oil, szechuan sauce, garlic, fresh black pepper and red wine.

Veggie and Black Eyed Pea Salad, from Dara

The second is this salad that I made the other night to use some of our garden produce and some black eyed peas I had frozen. I am giving approximate amounts I used, but really, I just added everything until the proportions looked good to me.

1 1/2 c. cooked black eyed peas (equivalent to 1 can, drained and rinsed)
1/2 red pepper, diced
1 lg carrot, diced
approx. 1/5 of a 1 lb bag of acini de pepe. I think this would work with any small pasta or grain.

(I am going to try with quinoa next time; I think orzo, brown rice, Israeli couscous, or wild rice blend would work too. I had acini de pepe to use up, but I made too much and so I just put some in the salad and saved the rest.)

1/4 cup fresh cilantro
4 tiny green onions from the garden (maybe 1 - 2 regular size)
salt
olive oil
balsamic vinegar
apple cider vinegar

Cook and drain the pasta or grain. Saute the red pepper and carrot in a pan with some oil for 5 - 10 minutes until softened; I like to get some of it browned. Mix the pasta or grain, black eyed peas, red pepper, and carrot. Add salt, olive oil, and both vinegars to taste. (I add a bit, taste, adjust, etc. I used more balsamic than apple cider vinegar, and used some salt since I cooked the beans without). Then add the cilantro and green onions and mix once more.