Bye Bye Wienerschnitzel!

Hot Diggity Chili Dog - (Hungry Girl, Pg. 111, 109 calories) Going on a diet usually means you have to give up your favorite fast food places.  Last summer, as a broke teacher, I frequented Wienerschnitzel where they have their three for $3.00--two chili cheese dogs and chili cheese fries.  They also have $.79 corndogs and $.99 root beer floats.  It was a fast easy meal I could afford but when I discovered how many calories I was eating, I was shocked.  Let's just say it was more than one person should eat in a day let alone one meal.  Thankfully, Hungry Girl came up with a solution--the Hot Diggity Chili Dog (I add weight watchers shredded cheddar cheese as a topping).  It's just like putting together a regular chili cheese dog and satisfies the fast food craving.  I highly recommend this recipe if you like chili cheese anything.

Hungry Girl Weekend #3

Tonight, we decided to make it a Manwich night--Hungry Girl style.  We picked three recipes - Sloppy Janes, Zesty Italian Pita Chips, and Freezy-cool whoopie pie. 

We made our grocery list and set out to get everything we needed.  We specifically went to Vons because we needed VitaTops (Muffin Tops) and their website said they carried them.  No one there had ever heard of them.  So then we went off to Whole Foods--they had never heard of them either.  So it looks like we are going to have to order these from the VitaTops website and save the recipe for another time.  Thankfully we found everything else that we needed for the other two recipes.

Sloppy Janes (Hungry Girl, Pg. 130, 271 calories) - Diana and I both agreed that we highly recommend this recipe.  It is very easy to make.  We do suggest that you use the whole can of the no-salt-added tomato sauce.  It's weird to just leave a small amount in the can.  We didn't want to let it go to waste.  We also suggest adding a little chili powder to give it a little more flavor.  Overall, it's a great recipe that serves five so you can freeze if you are single like me, or get the whole family to eat it if you share a home with someone besides your cat.

Zesty Italian Pita Chips (Hungry Girl 200 under 200, Pg. 125, 163 calories, 3 weight watchers points) - This was the perfect subsitute for Potato Chips to go with our Sloppy Janes.  Our suggestion would be to make a little more of the spread or dip the pitas in salsa.  We dipped them in our leftover tomato sauce and that just didn't do the trick.  We agreed, along with Diana's husband, that we should try these with some salsa.  This is definitely something that is easy to make and would be good to have at a gathering of sorts.

All on My Own

During the week, I decided to try out some of the Hungry Girl Recipes on my own.  Since I was determined to perfect the Butternut Squash fries, I bought another Butternut Squash.  I made the fries in my toaster oven this time, broiling them for 20 minutes.  They were perfect.  But since I am one person, I didn't make the entire recipe.  I cut up the entire Butternut Squash and searched the original Hungry Girl book for more Butternut Squash recipes.

Maplelicious Butternut Squash Mash: (Hungry Girl, Pg. 277)  This is a way of making something similar to sweet potatoes for 109 calories.  I also tried the recipe without the maple syrup and it tasted like regular mashed potatoes--one of my comfort foods.  It was so simple since I already had the squash cut up.  You just microwave it for 6 minutes then mash--amazing!!

HG's Famous Bowl: (Hungry Girl, Pg. 98)  If any of you love KFC's Mashed Potato bowl like I do, this is a must make.  You make the Butternut Squash Mashed Potatoes, Shake and Bake style chicken with the FiberOne Cereal (Italian seasoning to flavor), Green Giant Steamed corn and Fat Free Chicken Gravy.  The Chicken takes the longest time to prepare but I made 2 Chicken Breasts so I could cut up some of the Chicken and eat the rest the following day.  For 288 calories, this is a very filling meal.  I love it, all my comfort foods combined in a bowl without all of the calories.  (The world's best PMS food, in my humble opinion).

Rockin' Tuna Melt: (Hungry Girl, Pg. 68)  I made this to go with my Butternut Squash Fries.  This is a 212 calorie treat.  Of course you have to like Tuna to enjoy it.  And if you have a cat like I do, they will stay by your side while you prepare and eat your meal.  I left out the tomatoes and carrots when I made this and substituted them with chopped celery.

I would highly recommend all of these recipes.