Best Diets

How To Calculate Points In Recipes

My Plan

That is why I decided to learn how to calculate Weight Watchers points in a whole recipe. I did it. I can have 1/16 slice of the pie for 8 points, if it really means THAT much to me. Guess what? Love that pie but it probably is not worth it. I can have a half cup of delicious Edy’s chocolate ice cream for 3. That is what I will do.

But just how DID I calculate those points? I will show you right now. Please, relax about the math. There is a link below to a free online recipe calculator by The Food Lady that you can use but, what if the lights go out? Or, what if the battery on your laptop runs low just when you need those points! So here’s how to do this manually, just in case.

How To Calculate Weight Watchers Points In a Recipe

1. Get out the ingredients. If you don’t have them all on hand, the nutritional labels can be found online (if you have power, LOL.)

2. Find a blank piece of paper and a pen.

3. Make columns at the top of the page with these titles:

Protein Carbohydrates Fat Fiber Servings

4. Write a list of ingredients down the right side of the page. In this instance, I was calculating my recipe for Lemonade Pie so I wrote:

Graham Cracker Crust
Sweetened Condensed Milk
Frozen Lemonade
Cool Whip

5. Next to each ingredient, write the protein, carbs, fat and fiber for that ingredient PLUS how many servings in the entire pie.* Note: you can find that information on the product’s nutritional label or in a Weight Watchers Points Plus Pocket Guide (pictured below)

So, if the crust says 1/10 servings then I will ultimately have to multiply each value of that ingredient by 10. i.e Fat 6 X10 = 60 grams of fat in the WHOLE crust.

*That is your first goal. To determine the fat, carbs, fiber and protein of each INGREDIENT in the ENTIRE recipe.

6. After you have done that for each ingredient, multiplying all of the factors by how many servings of that ingredient and writing them down, ADD each column up. You will have total fat, carbs, fiber and protein for the entire recipe.

7. Divide the totals of all four by the size serving you want to know about. I started with a slice of pie that was 1/8 of the whole. So I divided them by 8 and THEN used a points calculator. 18 points! Yikes! I settled on 1/16 for 8 points or none at all.

Unofficial Points Plus Recipe Calculator (Note, from time to time WW changes how they calculate points. This unofficial calculator may or may not have been updated.)

“Finally, a weight loss plan I can stick with and even eat pie!”

“Finally, a weight loss plan I can stick with and even eat pie!” #weightwatchers Share on X

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My Favorite Pink Lemonade Pie Recipe

Red Robin Knock Off Bonzai Burgers

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By Sinea Pies

Don’t you love a thick, juicy burger when it first comes off the grill? Can’t wait to get your hands on it! Whether you select a traditional burger with ketchup, mustard and pickles or something more exotic, burgers are the best way to make cooking on a Saturday SIMPLE.

This Simple Saturday post is for those whose Saturday is not going to be a staycation, but a working Saturday. You clean. You shop. You work outside. Maybe take in a ballgame…and you make dinner. Let’s make it fun for the whole family but not too much work for you!

So, let’s spotlight something exotic…

Teriyaki Burgers

Have you ever eaten at Red Robin? One of their most popular menu items is the Bonzai Burger. This is a Bonzai Burger “Knockoff” Recipe.

Teriyaki Burgers on the Grill

Ingredients

Precooked bacon

85 – 90% ground beef

Swiss cheese

Teriyaki sauce in a bottle

1 can pineapple slices

Soy sauce

Salt and Pepper

Hamburger rolls

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. This will be used to melt the cheese on the burgers at the end.

Warm up a skillet on the stove, medium heat, and spray with Pam. Place pineapple rings inside and sprinkle with soy sauce. Simmer till the juices run almost dry. Keep on low heat until time to serve the meal. Start up the grill.

Form hamburger patties by hand, making a ball from the ground beef about the size of a tennis or baseball. Squish each on a plate using a sheet of waxed paper, aluminum foil or even another plate, till they are flat. Lay the formed patties on a plate and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cover them on top with Teriyaki sauce.

Take the patties to the grill and place them on the grid, sauce-side down. Now pour about 2T of Teriyaki sauce on the un-sauced side. (Is “unsauced” a word? It is now!) Leave them on for a while before the first turning. Now, turn them a couple of times, as they cook.

When the juices just start to run, remove the burgers to a foil-covered baking sheet and bring indoors. Top each with a pineapple ring, slices of bacon, slice of Swiss cheese and pop in the oven to melt the cheese. About 3 minutes should do it.

Place on hamburger rolls and garnish with the extras you like. You may want to use: Thousand Island Dressing, Ketchup, Mustard, Mayonnaise, Pickles and/or tomato slices or nothing extra at all.

Serve with chips or macaroni salad on the side. ENJOY!

Photo credit: Hamburgers on a Wooden Board by Grant Cochrane on freedigitalphotos