I mentioned the blog What’s Cookin’ Chicago? the other day & hope you all checked it out. She has some great recipes! I saw these on there & knew I wanted to make them immediately & finally got to it last night. One pound of ground chicken made 12 sliders so I froze more than half of them to have for quick lunches & dinners. Total win in my book.
Mine look nothing like the original recipe, but they were good. Not mind blowing, but good enough to eat over & over & post about. I opted for fresh herbs since I had some leftover from Thanksgiving & think you should to. The fresh sage really pops in these & they have all the flavors of fall. I served them on wheat potato dough slider buns (2 PP each) with honey mustard. Yum!
Chicken, Cheddar, & Roasted Apple Sliders
Adapted from What’s Cookin’ Chicago?
Servings: 12 ● Points Plus: 3 (without bun)
Ingredients:
- 1 lb lean ground chicken
- 1 cup low fat shredded cheddar cheese
- 3 small red delicious apples, peeled, cored, and cut into quarters
- 1 tsp each fresh rosemary, sage, & thyme
- 1 cup bread crumbs
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1/4 cup milk
Directions:
1) Pre-heat oven to 400. Place apple quarters on a baking sheet, spray with non-stick olive oil spray & roast for 30 minutes, flipping halfway through. Once done, process in your food processor until chopped, or mash with a fork.
2) In a large bowl, combine the apples with all other ingredients. Press into 12 small patties.
3) Either: fry them in oil (will add points), or bake for 20 minutes at 375 degrees, flipping halfway through. I pan-fried them with some non-stick spray to get the outsides crispy, then finished them in the oven for 10 minutes.
4) Serve on slider buns with your favorite toppings.
I’ve been dreaming about this sandwich all week & decided this morning that it was time to finally have it. This is one of those sandwiches that I love during the summer. It can be packed up for a trip to the beach, eaten for breakfast (which I did this morning) or lunch, or it can become part of a fancy poolside brunch with your best girlfriends. I love using fresh figs in this sandwich, but I’m not stopping by the farmer’s market until tomorrow morning & they aren’t completely in season yet. Fig preserves had to do this morning, and they certainly did.
This serving is for one since I was eating breakfast on my own. Prosciutto is one of my absolute favorite foods, but it has a lot of sodium in it so I save it for a special treat. A little goes a long way & for this sandwich I use two slices. When you’re indulging in a sandwich like this just be sure to watch your sodium for the rest of the day (it’s worth it). Enjoy!
Prosciutto & Fig Paninis with Balsamic Caramelized Onions
Servings: 1 Points Plus: 8
Ingredients:
- Wheat Italian bread (dough removed, 1 3/4 oz)
- 2 slices thin prosciutto
- 1 oz light brie
- 1/8th large vidalia onion, sliced thin
- 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
- 1 tsp olive oil
- Handful of romaine lettuce
- 1 TB fig preserves (or 1 chopped fresh fig)
- 1 TB butter substitute spread (I use Brummel & Brown yogurt butter)
- Dash of salt
Directions:
1) Place the sliced onions & the 1 tsp of olive oil in a small pan & turn heat up to high. As soon as onions start cooking turn heat down to medium & stir. Cook about 5 minutes, stirring once in a while. Add the dash of salt & balsamic vinegar. Scrape the pan & let the onions cook down.They’ll cook down quick so keep an eye on them.
2) Microwave the brie for 10 seconds & spread on the bread. Spread the fig preserves on the other side. Then layer the prosciutto, onions, and romaine. Close the sandwich & spread 1/2 TB of the butter substitute on each side. Heat the same pan that you cooked the onions in press the sandwich by placing one side down pressing with the spatula, then flip & press the other side. Eat the sandwich as soon as it comes off the heat.
This is one of those recipes that I’ll be revisiting over & over again. Frank raved about them while we were eating & is planning on having the leftovers for dinner again tonight. They tasted exactly like the French dip sandwiches you would order in a restaurant except that the meat comes out more shredded. I love it this way. Everything is done when you walk in the door from work & the juice that’s created is the perfect au jus for dipping.
Note on the points of this recipe: I calculated the points based on using kaiser rolls (dough removed, 3 oz each) & regular shredded mozzarella for the sandwiches. You can use whatever rolls & cheese you like, but it will change the total points.
The points for just the meat & au jus is 6 PP per serving.
Slow Cooker French Dip Sandwiches
Servings: 6 ★ Points Plus: 11 per sandwich
Ingredients for the meat:
- 2 lb flat iron steak (I bought two 1 lb steaks)
- 2 TB sugar
- 2 TB butter
- 3 cups fat free & low sodium beef broth
- 1 TB black pepper
- 1/4 cup cooking sherry
- 1/2 vidalia onion, sliced thin
- 4 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 tsp kosher salt
Ingredients for the sandwiches
- 6 kaiser rolls, dough removed
- 12 oz shredded mozzarella (2 oz per sandwich)
- 6 TB butter substitute (I use Smart Balance)
- Garlic powder
- 1 garlic clove
- 3 oz cooked meat per sandwich
Directions:
1) Add the butter to the bottom of the crock pot. Layer the onions & steak so that there are onions on the bottom & in between the steaks. Add the garlic, sugar, beef broth, sherry, pepper & salt.Toss everything around.
2) Cook on low for 8 hours.
3) Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Spread 1 TB of butter substitute on each kaiser roll. Rub garlic clove on one side of the roll & sprinkle garlic powder on the other. Toast for a few minutes in the oven.
4) Remove rolls from oven & top each with 3 oz cooked meat, some onions, & a spoonful of au jus. Top with mozzarella & broil on high until cheese is melted (2-3 minutes).
5) Serve each sandwich with a small bowl of au jus on the side for dipping.
I had been thinking about making this recipe for a long time, and finally gave it a shot one night when I was having a major falafel craving. The results were amazing & they came together very fast. Normally falafel is deep fried, but these are lightly pan fried & finished in the oven. Serve them in a pita with lettuce, tomato, cucumber, and tzatziki sauce for a major comfort food dinner.
*The points listed are for the falafel patties only.
Falafel Patties
Servings: 4 ● Points Plus: 3
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cup canned chickpeas (1 can), completely drained
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 small onion, coarsely chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1/2 Tbsp cumin
- 1 TB ground coriander
- 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
- 1/2 cup parsley leaves, coarsely chopped
- 1/4 cup cilantro leaves, coarsely chopped
- 1/8 tsp kosher salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
Directions:
1. Place chickpeas in a food processor & pulse until roughly chopped. Add all other ingredients and pulse until blended. Refrigerate the “dough” for 15 minutes.
2. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.
3. Heat a non-stick pan & spray with olive oil spray. Form the dough into 12 patties and cook each one in the pan until the outside is crispy.
4. Transfer cooked patties to a baking sheet. Bake for 6 minutes then flip patties and cook another 6 minutes. Remove & let cool a bit.
5. Serve patties in pita with lettuce, tomato & any sauce you like (I like tzatziki or tahini sauce).
*Pita & sauce will add points!
