Pulled Chicken Sandwiches

These were yummy.

1 medium onion, thinly sliced (I did thin rings cut in half---but my family didn't like the "big" chunks of onion---so next time I will have to dice them to hide them in the sauce)

3 boneless skinless chicken breasts

1/2 C. ketchup

1/2 C. BBQ sauce

2 T. cider vinegar

2 T. molasses

1 T. yellow mustard

1/4 tsp. black pepper

1 tsp onion powder

1/4 tsp cumin (I did scant, because I don't like Cumin)

1/2 tsp garlic pwd.

1/2 tsp. Tobasco (I don't like tobasco, so I did 1/4 tsp cayenne---it was not spicy at all)

1 pinch of salt

Brown the onions (they take longer than the chicken to cook...so they need a little extra cooking time at the beginning). Line the bottom of crock pot with onions.

Trim the chicken breasts and place on bed of onions.

Mix sauce ingredients together in separate bowl. Pour sauce over chicken.

Cook for 5 hours on low, or until chicken is done. When the chicken is falling apart tender, remove chicken from sauce, use two forks to shred the chicken.

Serve on top of split buns or hamburger buns, etc.. I toasted mine first.

It was not spicy at all. I doubled the recipe for my family of eaters and had leftovers, but I don't think 1 recipe would have been enough.

The total weight watchers points plus for the chicken and sauce was 67 point plus. It made (12) half cup servings. Which comes to about 6 points for 1/2 C. Plus the bun. (mine were 5 points for a large hamburger bun, so I only ate the bottom bun and had it open-face with a fork).

ketchup substitution

Taken from

http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1661,134183-249198,00.html

This was really runny (but I was using in a recipe...not on hamburgers...so it was OK). It tasted really good. I bet you could mix some cornstarch with water and add to thicken it up.

Ketchup Substitute: For 1 cup ketchup substitute 1 cup tomato sauce, 1/2 cup sugar, and 2 tablespoons vinegar (and a pinch of ground cloves if you have them).

Apricot chops

These were really yummy and everyone in my family liked them.

4 (1 inch thick) pork chops (I did boneless)

1 C. apricot jam or preserves

1 C. catalina dressing (or see below)

1 pkt. italian dressing mix (the original recipe called for dry onion soup mix...but I substituted italian dressing pkt)

1 garlic clove, crushed (or use bottled)

I did not have catalina dressing...so I looked up a recipe on the internet...this is what I did in place of catalina dressing

3/4 C. brown sugar

1 tsp salt

1 dash paprika

1/4 tsp chili powder

1/4 tsp dry mustard

1/4 tsp onion powder

1/4 C. white vinegar

1/3 C. ketchup

(the original recipe for the catalina dressing also called for 1 C. vegetable oil and 1/4 tsp celery seed...but I didn't add either)

Place pork chops in a small pan (1 layer of pork chops) (I used a rectangle pan smaller than a 8 X 10). Mix all other ingredients together in a separate bowl. Pour sauce over chops. Bake at 400 degrees for 40 minutes.

I served with pears, watermelon, corn on the cob and green beans.

Weight Watchers points plus was 43 points for all of the sauce (as listed with the substitutions above...italian seasoning pkt and the homemade catalina without oil). So for example...I did 3 boneless chops and cut them in half. The chops were 4 points each (before cutting in half), so 2 points after cutting in half. And 1/6 of the sauce was a little over 7 points. But it really didn't need much extra sauce (I didn't use 1/6 of the sauce on my plate). So I only counted 4 or 5 points per 1/2 pork chop.

Cheesy Cauliflower Soup

by Sheryl Punter in the Taste of Home magazine
August and September 2010
Prep:25 min  Cook: 5 1/2 hours
Yield: 9 servings(2-1/4QT)

1 large head cauliflower, broken into florets
2 celery ribs
2 large carrots
1 large green pepper
1 small sweet red pepper
1 medium red onion
4 cups chicken broth
1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
2 cups(8 oz) shredded cheddar cheese
2 cups half and half cream

Place cauliflower in a 4 -qt slow cooker. Chop the celery, carrots, peppers, and onion; add to slow cooker. Stir in the broth, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper. Cover and cook on low for 5-6 hours or until the vegetables are tender.
In a blender, process soup in batches until smooth. Return all to slow cooker; stir in cheese and cream. Cover and cook on high for 30 minutes or until cheese is melted.

This soup was really good and easy to make. My family enjoyed. A few things I did different were, substituting red onion for yellow onion, using almost half the amount of cheese, and using whole milk instead of half and half. I probably would have used the right ingredients if I had them all. Enjoy:)