What in the Yogurt World???

Whew!  Welcome to the inaugural post for my new blog, In da kitchen with Caron.  In this blog, I'll focus on my love of cooking, so I'll share recipes, and cooking products, herbs, spices, etc that I'm particularly fond of.  I'm not professionally trained and I don't have an exotic palette...as a matter of fact, I'm one of THOSE people...you know them...the ones that smell their food first.  It doesn't pass these lips 👄unless it passes my sniff 👃 test.  If I can't recognize or find the smell pleasant, it just ain't happening...ask my BIL about me and his Chitterlings...😱

So let me tell you a little bit about why I decided to start this blog.  I'm a retired Army Veteran (30 years) who, in the last couple of years, can't seem to master the scale ⚖ despite working out. Because of my short stature ( 5' 3"),  I'm technically on the obese end of the scale...not someplace I like to be and I need to get it under control.  I attribute that to my eating habits...some would call it atrocious.  Not a big vegetable eater...matter of fact the only ones I really enjoy are broccoli, carrots, cauliflower (as in pizza crust, riced and mashed only), salads, spinach (of course creamed is my favorite).  There are other vegetables too, but I'll only eat them if they are prepared a certain way...for example tomatoes (technically a fruit...I think) in salsa and it must be annihilated-no pico de gallo for me, thinly sliced for sandwiches, and then in spaghetti sauce and tomato bisque soup...see told you I was picky.  I love sauces and gravy and Ranch Dressing (put it on just about everything) and most of all I LOVE starch...see my problem here?

So I recently joined Weight Watchers...I'm a purple girl...and have become very aware of what I'm eating and needed to find ways to prepare food that I could enjoy.  I'll tell you more about this along the way.

I'm a Pinterest freak...without it and Google, I swear I'd be lost, so this is where some of my finds will come from.  As I have to have a sauce of some kind with my food, the recipes in the WW cookbooks and on the app had me nervous, they didn't have any sauce-at least ones that I'd eat-so I wasn't sure I'd be able to stick to it.  So during a meeting, our coach said you could make sauces with yogurt or sour cream base that could be classified as Zero point foods...halleluiah! 👼 Now on to my first recipe find...Cilantro Lime Sauce!  Y'all ZERO points on WW.

Cilantro Lime Sauce

Ingredients

1 - 2 cups fresh cilantro
2 Tbsp      fresh Lemon or lime juice
1/4 tsp     Kosher Salt (then salt to taste)
1/2 cup    Plain no-fat Greek yogurt

Prep time:  5 minutes

1. Roughly chop the cilantro
2. Combine all ingredients in a blender; blend to desired consistency
3. Pour in a mason jar or container of your choice and refrigerate

I've been eating more salads lately and I'm trying...it's helladifficult y'all...to not reach for ranch dressing so, I searched and found this recipe.  This one is 4 WW points per serving (serving size 2 TBSP), so you have to be mindful.

Avocado Cilantro Lime Salad Dressing

Ingredients:

• 1 Avocado
• 1 clove garlic peeled
• 1/4 cup roughly chopped cilantro
• 1/4 cup low-fat sour cream or greek yogurt
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime or lemon juice or white vinegar
• 3 tablespoons Olive Oil
• 1/4 teaspoon Kosher Salt
• 1/4 teaspoon Ground Black Pepper
• Water

Mix it all together in a blender/food processor; adding water to achieve your desired consistency.

So because I use recipes as a guide, I added more lemon juice, more yogurt about a full cup, and more salt to the recipe.  I used my Pampered Chef measuring cups and my Ninja blender/food processor...it's one I've had for years.