Cookbook Review

WeightWatchers New Complete Cookbook (2006).
There are many of these cookbooks, about one per each year. The books are laid out in notebook format in a ring binder and have 16 categories of foods. Foods range from easy and every day to complex and impressive. The recipes are marked in WeightWatchers style, with the number of pts per recipe. Also more complicated recipes are marked, as are spicier ones and so on. All recipes come with caloric information. These are two of there recipes.

Stuffed Peppers (the author notes that this dish is actually French in origin. S/he suggests using various colors of peppers for eye appeal)

Makes 4 servings

1/2 lb lean ground beef (10 % or less fat)
1 cup cooked white rice
1 onion, finely chopped
1/4 cup thawed frozen green peas
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 tbsptomato paste
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp minced fresh thyme
1 tsp minced fresh basil
1/2 tsp minced fresh sage
4 green, red, or yellow bell peppers, topped and seeded
1/2 cup tomato puree or tomato sauce

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine all the first ten ingredients in a large bowl and mix it. Loosely stuff the peppers with this mix and stand them in a baking dish. Pour the tomato puree over the peppers and add enough water to the dish to cup 1/4th the way up the peppers. Cover with foil and bake, bastingoccasionally with the juices for 30 min. Uncover and bake until the pepper and rice are tender and the filling is completely cooked, about 20 min longer. Let stand 5 min and serve.
1 pepper has 224 ccals, 6 g. fat, 3 g sat fat, o g trans fat, 19 mg chol, 268 mg sodium,29 g carb, 4 g fiber, 15 g. prot and 107 mg calc. points = 4

Banana Cream Pie (yoghurt here replaces the cream)

Makes 8 servings

12 low-fat honey graham crackers (3 full sheets) made into crumbs
1 tbsp butter
1tsp water
4 bananas, thinly sliced on the diagonal
2 tbsp fresh lime juic
1 env unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups plain fat-free yoghurt
1 tsp vanilla extract
Grated Lime Zest

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a nine inch pan with nonstick spray.
Combine the crumb, butter and water in a medium bowl with a fork. Press this into the bottom and up the sides of the pie plate. Bake until firm, 3-5 min, cool.
In another medium bowl toss the bananas with the lime juice and reserve one cup. Arrange the remaining bananas over the crust.
In a small saucepan sprinkle the gelatin over the cold water and let stand 2 min. Add the sugar and cook on medium high heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture boils and the gelatin and sugar dissolves (2-3 min). Remove from the heat and whisk in the yoghurt and vanilla. Pour into the pie plate. Arrange the remaining bananas over the pie and sprinkle with the lime zest. Refrigerate, covered with plastic wrap, till chilled, 2-3 hours.
A serving = 1/8 of a pie. 146 cals, 2 g. fat, 1 g sat fat, 0 g trans fat, 5 mg sod, 32 g carb, 2 g fib, 4 prot, 86 mg calc. Points=3