Mini-Apple Pie in a Jar, 3 Weight Watchers Points/Plus

My youngest daughter is a busy stay-at-home mom who always finds time to get together with me on Fridays for lunch.  I try to make meals that are tasty, quick and easy, and reduced in fat and calories.  Here is what we enjoyed this week.

My youngest daughter and I watch our food counts all the time – I do mine on DietPower software and she’s a member of Weight Watchers.  We’re great pie-lovers and pie just wrecks any diet, so I thought about making a small portion without the temptation of cutting a larger slice or having anything left over.  There is a lot of talk among food bloggers about using Mason jars and in my case, I didn’t want to store or mail the contents – I just wanted something small to bake the pie and it was nice having a lid for transporting to my daughter.

Note that I’m using the small ½-cup/4 oz.  jars – usually reserved for samples or gifts.

This little pie is just four or five bites of old-fashioned apple pie goodness – and absolute heaven for someone who has been dieting all week.

MINI-APPLE PIE IN A JAR

• Servings: 1-4
• Print

For one pie:

• 1 Tblsp. pie pastry*
• ½ cup thinly sliced tart apple
• 2 tsp. granulated sugar
• ½ tsp. all-purpose flour
• Dash of salt
• Sprinkle of cinnamon and nutmeg

*Use your favorite pastry – here’s mine.  I keep small amounts in the freezer for quick desserts.

One ½-cup/4 oz.  Mason jar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F

Roll pastry dough on a lightly floured board.

Use the jar to cut out one round of pastry…

…and a small cookie cutter to make cut-outs for the top (a child’s cookie cutter works nicely for this).

Place the round of pastry in the bottom of the Mason jar.

In a small bowl, mix together the apple slices,

…sugar, flour, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.

Spoon the apple mixture into the jar.  Place the cutouts on top of the apple mixture.  Place the jar on a pie plate …

…and bake @ 375 degrees F for 35-40 minutes until apples are done and crust is golden brown.  Remove to a rack to cool.

Nutritional count for one pie per my Diet Power software is: 111 calories, 3.98 g fat, 21.2 g carbohydrate, 2.75 g fiber, 0.98 g protein

Weight Watchers Points/Plus:  3

The count is for one pie but I’ve included ingredients for 2, 3 and 4 pies in case there is more than one dieter to feed.  I made three pies for supper for my two daughters and myself.  The two dieters especially enjoyed them.

For two pies:

• 2 Tblsp. pie pastry
• 1 cup thinly sliced tart apple
• 1 Tblsp. plus 1 tsp. granulated sugar
• 1 tsp. all-purpose flour
• Dash of salt
• Sprinkle of cinnamon/nutmeg

For three pies:

• 3 Tblsp. pie pastry
• 1-1/2 cup thinly sliced tart apple
• 2 Tblsp. granulated sugar
• 1-1/2 tsp. all-purpose flour
• Dash of salt
• Sprinkle of cinnamon/nutmeg

For four pies:

• ¼ cup pie pastry
• 2 cups thinly sliced tart apple
• 2 Tblsp. plus  2 tsp. granulated sugar
• 2 tsp. all-purpose flour
• Dash of salt
• Sprinkle of cinnamon/nutmeg 

For our entree, we had a favorite from the 1970s – Beef Stroganoff.

Balsamic Chicken Melt and Plum Clafouti

My youngest daughter is a busy stay-at-home mom who always finds time to get together with me on Fridays for lunch.  I try to make meals that are tasty, quick and easy, and reduced in fat and calories.  Here is the meal we had this week.

When I first made the Balsamic Chicken Melt, I started out to make my supper using a recipe I saw online.  As I progressed, I realized I had less than half of the ingredients the recipe called for.  By the time I substituted and improvised, the dish was not at all like the original recipe.  On top of that, I had over-salted the pasta and decided to just pile the mixture on a split homemade roll, add a little bit of cheese and put it under the broiler.  I think this made it a much better dish than it would have been with pasta.

BALSAMIC CHICKEN MELT

• Servings: 4
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• 1 tsp. olive oil
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1/4 cup chopped red Bell pepper
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• 1/4 cup Wishbone Balsamic Vinaigrette*
• 8 oz. cooked chicken breast, cubed
• 1 cup halved cherry tomatoes
• 2 Tblsp. halved Kalamata olives
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 4 slices hearty bread or 4 rolls, halved
• 2 oz. Fontina cheese, sliced thinly

*A homemade version of Balsamic Vinaigrette:

• 1 Tblsp. Balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 tsp. dark brown sugar
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• Grating of black pepper
• 3 Tblsp. olive oil

Place above ingredients in a small covered jar and shake.  Makes 1/4 cup of vinaigrette.

In a medium non-stick skillet, drizzle the olive oil and saute the onion, red pepper and garlic over medium heat until vegetables have softened.  Add vinaigrette, chicken and tomato and cook until tomato is cooked through.  Add olives.

Put a slice of good bread or split roll on an ovenproof plate for each serving.

Spoon chicken mixture over the top of the bread and place slices of cheese on top.  Place under broiler until cheese is melted.  Serve immediately.

Makes 4 servings

Nutrition per DietPower software per serving:  282 calories, 9.87 g fat, 45.3 mg cholesterol, 390 mg sodium, 205 mg potassium, 4.04 g carbohydrate, 0.641 dietary fiber, 1.5 g sugars, 17.9 g protein.

Weight Watchers = 6 points

For dessert, I wanted to use up 4 purple plums I had in the refrigerator and found a recipe for Plum Clafouti on allrecipes.com. I reduced the recipe to accommodate the 4 plums and it made 3 servings.

PLUM CLAFOUTI

• Servings: 3
• Print

• 2 Tblsp. granulated sugar, divided
• 4 purple plums, halved and pitted
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup plus 3 Tblsp. 2% milk
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. grated lemon peel
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• pinch salt
• 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 2 tsp. confectioners’ sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Spray an 8″ skillet.  Sprinkle 1 tsp. sugar over the bottom of the pan.  Arrange the plum halves, cut side down, so they cover the entire bottom of the pan.  Sprinkle 2 tsp. of sugar over the top of the plums.

In a blender or medium bowl, combine the remaining 1 Tblsp. of sugar, egg, milk, flour, lemon zest, cinnamon, vanilla and salt.  Process or whisk until smooth.

Pour over the fruit in the pan.

Bake for 50-60 minutes in the preheated oven, or until firm and lightly browned.  Let stand 5 minutes before slicing.  Best served warm.

Dust with confectioners’ sugar before serving.

Makes 3 servings 

Nutrition per DietPower software per serving:  175 calories, 3.05 g fat, 81.9 mg cholesterol, 34 mg sodium, 252 mg potassium, 33.2 g carbohydrate, 1.91 g dietary fiber, 0 g sugars, 4.95 g protein.

Weight Watchers = 3 points