The horseshoe sandwich, a Springfield, Ill., original, is adored by the city's visitors and feared by cardiac surgeons everywhere. A recipe from the Leland Hotel claims to be one of the oldest; it tops thick-sliced, toasted bread with a hamburger patty, shaved potatoes and a cheese sauce similar to Welsh rarebit. It's not diet food. Still, you can calculate the Weight Watchers points of your indulgence, but you'll need access to the detailed recipe, something many chefs are unwilling to divulge.
Step 1
Add all the caloric values together. You'll need to know the exact weight of the burger patty, the calories per each slice of bread and the calories from the cheese sauce. For the sauce, ask the chef the ingredients and amounts that go into an entire batch. Determine the calories based on the yield of the entire recipe, then calculate the calories in one portion of sauce. Divide the total calories on the plate by 50.
Step 2
Total up all the fat grams represented by the three main items. The meat and bread will be easy, providing the chef can tell you the weight of the precooked burger and the fat content. For the cheese, add up the fat grams in all the ingredients used to make a fresh batch, then divide those by the number of ounces in the yield. Multiply the fat grams per ounce by the number of ounces on your plate. Divide the grand total of the fat grams on your plate by 12.
Step 3
Determine the total fiber for the dish. There will be a few grams in the bread, and there may be a gram or two in the cheese, depending upon the recipe. Divide the number of grams of fiber or simply "4," whichever is less, by 5. You can only process so much fiber at a time, so Weight Watchers limits the number of fiber grams to 4 per meal. If you have only 3 g of fiber, divide 3 by 4. If you have 5 g of fiber, divide 4 by 4.
Step 4
Add your first two subtotals---calories divided by 5 and fat grams divided by 12. Subtract the result of your fiber gram calculation. For example, if the whole plate is 1,000 calories with 30 g of fat and 4 g of fiber, your formula would be 20 + 2.5 - 1 = 21.5.
Things You'll Need
- Calculator
- Recipe
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