Apple & Nectarine Oatmeal

I picked up a flat of nectarines the other day at Trader Joe's.  They looked delicious and lately we have been devouring fruit in my house.  Thrown together in a bowl, they make a practical center piece on the table, and overall I haven't gone into nectarine-overload yet.  That said, now that they are ripe, I need to use up those nectarines and I can't snack on six nectarines a day! So, I made this oatmeal for breakfast.  This is an easy, sweet breakfast that bursts with fruit flavor.
 

Apple & Nectarine Oatmeal  (7 PointsPlus)

Ingredients:
2 cups fat-free milk
1 cup unsweetened apple sauce
1 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats
1/3 cup raisins
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 nectarine, chopped

Directions:

1. Combine everything except the nectarine in a saucepan.  Bring to boil, reduce heat and cook, stirring occasionally for about 3 minutes.
2. Stir in the nectarine pieces and cook about 2 minutes longer.  Eat!

Servings:

4 servings.  7 PointsPlus per serving.

Pork Chops in Fig-Balsamic Reduction

  

I came across fresh figs at the grocery store the other day and I immediately wanted to buy them.  I am most familiar with fig in newton form, but I also enjoy a nice fig jam (on good, crusty bread with warm brie and apple slices-- delicious!), and I was excited to see fresh figs.  The figs I purchased were called Brown Turkey, but Mission would also work (dried figs too, I'm sure).  Anyway, this is the surprisingly flavorful, moist, and delicious pork dish that I produced.

Pork Chops in Fig-Balsamic Reduction
Ingredients:

1 1/3 pounds boneless pork chops (I cooked 4 1/2-inch thick chops)
salt and pepper for chops
8 figs (more or less), coarsely chopped
1 small yellow onion, chopped
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon soy sauce
olive oil cooking spray

Steps:

1. Heat a large nonstick pan over medium-high heat.  Coat pan with olive oil spray and add seasoned pork chops (salt and pepper to taste).  Cook about 4 minutes per side.  Remove from pan and keep warm.
2. Using the same pan (the pork juices will add to the flavor), coat with olive oil spray and saute onions for about 3 minutes.  Add everything else: balsamic, water, soy sauce, and figs.  Reduce temperature, allow to simmer for several minutes until the flavor concentrates. 
3. Add the pork back into the fig mixture and you're done.

Serving Size:

This makes 4 servings, 1 chop a piece with 1/4 fig reduction. 8 PointsPlus value.

Barley!

I have just discovered barley.  I mean, yes,  I knew it existed... vaguely... but I certainly didn't know what to do with it, or, if I'm to be completely honest, where exactly to find it in the grocery store.  It was just something I never thought about.  And now I know.  Barely is great!  It's filling, cheap, easy to cook, and healthy.  It is a resistant starch [see the tale end of my granola post] and has three times the dietary fiber as oatmeal.  Oh, and did I mention, it's tasty, too.

So... in an effort to cook more whole grains, lentils and the like, I set about adding barley to this evening's dinner (we were having rosemary chicken and there was spinach that needed to be cooked before it wilted away).  I found a base recipe and then made some adjustments that I deemed reasonable.  For instance, the recipe called for 1/2 cup of dry vermouth, an ingredient that I didn't have on hand, so I decided to substitute white wine.  Only when I fished around in the fridge for the bottle of white that I had opened the other day with friends, I discovered that we had done a better job on it then I had recalled; there was only a quarter cup of dregs to shake into my measuring cup.  Here is where I may not have made the best choice.  The recipe also called for 3 1/2 cups of chicken broth leaving my container with just a swish of broth left to refrigerator or chuck, so I topped off the quarter cup of wine with chicken broth and called it a fair measurement.  [The resultant barley was delicious, but also a bit more liquidy than desired.]

Enough about my imprecise methods, here's the recipe:

Barley with Spinach and Asparagus  (6 PointsPlus)

Ingredients:
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 red onion, sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup pearl barley
3 1/2 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup dry vermouth or white wine
1/2 teaspoon salt (or less, I used somewhat less)
1/2 pound asparagus, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
2 cups baby spinach
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon lemon zest

Steps:

1. Heat oil in a fairly large skillet over medium heat.  Add onion and garlic; cook, stirring, for about 5 minutes.
2. Add barley, cook, stir, for about 1 minute.
3. Add broth, vermouth, and salt.  Bring to a boil.  Cover, reduce heat and simmer for about 25 minutes.
4. Add spinach and asparagus to skillet, cooking, uncovered, for about 3 minutes.
5. Add zest and cheese.  Stir.  Serve.

Serving Size:

This makes a bit more than 4 servings.  Each serving is 1 cup and worth 6 PointsPlus.

Notes:

The barley is delicious, moist and risotto-like.  The overall dish, however, is very vegetable-y.  My boyfriend, who usually eats around the green things on his plate, felt that this was a good way to get in his daily veggies.  On the other hand, I felt that I might rather enjoy the barley with the spinach, but the asparagus separate, or vice verse.  I will further experiment with this.  The barley cooked just in the chicken broth, sans vegetables, would also be delicious.