Skillet Chicken and Asparagus

Every once in a while I will see a picture of a recipe that looks good to me and I decide to make it but when I describe it to J I am not able to sell it quite as well as the picture sold me.  This was another one of those recipes.  After I bought the groceries to make this and I told him what we were having he was far from excited.  Normally whenever I get home from work so late that I can’t get dinner started before 6:30 I tend to give up and we go out. Even though me starting dinner late and having it ready by 8:00 is no different than us going to a restaurant and eating at 8:00, but for some reason this makes sense in my head. The day that I was planning on making this I got home really late, like after 7:00, which is very abnormal for me, but luckily (for me, not my dog), Jason hadn't even left his office yet by the time I got home, so I just started dinner anyway without any input from him.  By the time he got home I was nearly finished with dinner and he was much more interested in what I was cooking than when I described it.  This turned into one of those dishes that will become a go-to. It was not the speediest dish but I really enjoyed the flavors and I will definitely be going back to it, even though just looking at this you wouldn't think it would be loaded with flavor when the only seasonings are salt and pepper, but this was just very flavorful to me, I think the bacon really added a lot, don't skip the bacon.

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 lb asparagus

2 medium yellow squash

1 ½ cup chicken broth

2 tbs flour

4 pieces turkey bacon, chopped

1 tbs lemon juice

Olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

In a large skillet or dutch oven, heat one turn of olive oil over medium high heat.  Add the asparagus and enough water just to cover the bottom of the skillet to steam the asparagus.  Cook for about 5 minutes, until crisp tender, then remove from the skillet and set aside. Drain out any water remaining in skillet.  Add bacon and cook until crisped, remove from skillet and set aside.  Season the chicken with salt and pepper and place in the skillet and cook for 10-15 mins, browning both sides but not cooking through.  Remove the chicken and set aside.  Add the squash to the skillet and cook until tender, about 3 minutes.  In a small bowl whisk the chicken broth, lemon juice, and flour then add to the skillet.  Stir frequently and cook until the gravy is thick and bubbly.  Return the chicken to the skillet and cook about another 15 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.  1 minute before serving return the asparagus to the skillet to reheat it.  Serve the chicken and vegetables topped with bacon.

Serves 4, 240 calories, 6 g fat

For essentially being chicken with vegetables this was a very flavorful dish.  I tend to not like recipes that require you to remove from the pan and set aside and cook something new over and over again but this was definitely worth the effort, I will be keeping this one.

Fried Egg Sandwich with Cheese and Tomatoes

During the week I am not able to make a real breakfast because we try to work out in the mornings then go straight to work from the gym, so for one of my first breakfasts at home I tried a fried egg sandwich.  This was easy and filling.  Food doesn’t have to be loaded with ingredients, or fats, to taste good.  The more I cook the more I realize that simple meals can often be the most appealing, satisfying, sophisticated, and healthy.

4 slices rye bread
4 eggs
1 oz Jarlsberg light cheese
3 grape tomatoes
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tsp butter

Break 2 eggs in a skillet set to medium.  Gently pierce the yolk to let some of it run out over the whites.  Once the egg is no longer runny, fold it over so you basically have the two eggs stacked on top of each other and flip.  Finish cooking until the egg is cooked through.  Slide the egg on to one slice of bread, top with a slice of cheese and 1 ½ sliced grape tomatoes.  Season with salt and pepper and top with another slice of bread.
Repeat for the second sandwich.  After both sandwiches have been assembled, add ½ tsp butter to the skillet.  Once it’s melted put one of the sandwiches in the butter.  Cook for about 1 minute to toast and warm up the bread.   Repeat for the other side of the bread and for the other sandwich.  I think this is a good idea because once your egg has been sitting on the bread for a couple minutes it gets a little soggy, this will crisp your bread up so it won’t fall apart or feel mushy at all.

Serves 2, 410 calories, 17 g fat

This was quick and easy but a good start to the day with the protein from the eggs and carbohydrates from the bread and was satisfying with the richness from the cheese without being too high in fat or calories.

Healthy "Reuben" with Coleslaw

The other day we were having coffee at our coffee shop and I picked up one of the magazines and actually found a good idea.  I try pretty hard to plan out my week’s meals so that I can go to the grocery store just once a week, but I’m not always good about it and I’m not always good about pairing the right meals together during the day to make sure we get the total calories and nutrients we need.  So in this magazine, Clean Eating, they have 14 day plans of meals that include breakfast, lunch, dinner, and 2 snacks with the total the calories, fats, etc for each day.  I thought this was a good idea to give us a specific plan on what we should eat throughout the day every day to help stay on track.  We’ve made it through the first 4 days and so far it has worked really well for us.

They have a website,  www.cleaneatingmag.com , where you can download all of their meal plans, it even comes with a shopping list.

I went through one of the Winter meal plans and picked out the meals and snacks that I thought looked good and then substituted in some of my own low fat/low cal recipes as well.  The biggest problem with this is it is a meal plan for one person, and they have you make one serving of everything just about, so there is a lot more cooking involved than even I normally do.

The first recipe I tried, and modified for my needs, was the clean Reuben.  I don’t think I can say this is anything like a Reuben but it was still good and surprisingly filling.  J loves Reuben’s so he was on board with trying this, but once he saw it he was a little scared he would still be starving after dinner, but we were both stuffed and satisfied.

Sandwich
½ lb pastrami seasoned turkey
2 oz Jarlesberg light, sliced
4 slices rye bread

Coleslaw
2 cups shredded red cabbage
2 cups shredded green cabbage
1/2 cup shredded carrots
¼ cup red wine vinegar
¾ cup plain Greek yogurt
¼ tsp black pepper
¼ tsp salt

Dressing
¼ cup plain Greek yogurt
5 grape tomatoes, diced
Dash of salt to taste



Prepare the coleslaw: In a medium bowl combine cabbages and carrots, stir in vinegar, yogurt, salt and pepper.  Let sit for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare the dressing: In a small bowl, stir together the yogurt, tomatoes and salt until well mixed.  While stirring, mash the tomatoes to release their juices.  Set aside.

Assemble the sandwiches by dividing the dressing among the slices of bread.  Place 1 oz slice of cheese on each sandwich.  Top with the turkey then pile about ¼ cup coleslaw on top of the meat.  Finish with the second slice of bread and press firmly.  Broil the sandwiches either in toaster oven or oven for 2 minutes, flip and broil for 2 more minutes.  Serve with ¾ cup coleslaw on the side.

Serves 2, 525 calories, 12 g fat

You pretty much have to get it out of your head that this is a Reuben, because it’s not, but it is a pretty good turkey sandwich.

Thanksgiving Inspired Baked Sweet Potatoes

We are finally in the new house and I’m exhausted.  We have had people at the house working which has made it very difficult for me to finish putting the house together and making time to cook has been near impossible.  I am struggling to get back into a routine but now that all the contractors are gone I’m hoping I can get back to normal.  I have only cooked a couple times and nothing ground breaking but I did make this recipe and thought it was decent, a simple meal for a week night.

2 sweet potatoes
0.75 lbs ground turkey (99/1)
½ tsp dried rosemary
½ tsp dried thyme
1 carrot, diced
¼ cup frozen green peas
1 tbs butter, divided
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Pierce the sweet potatoes all over then microwave for about 10 minutes or until just beginning to soften.  Remove the potatoes from the microwave and wrap in foil then cook in the oven for another ~20 minutes or until completely softened.  If I’m in a hurry I will start the potatoes in the microwave as it goes much quicker, but I try to minimize the amount of microwave time as it dries them out.  The microwave will boil the water in the potatoes which gets steamed out, but when in the oven wrapped in foil, you won’t lose as much water.

Meanwhile, season the ground turkey with rosemary and thyme and brown until no longer pink.  Cook the peas and carrots in a pot with a little water until the carrots are softened.

Once everything is cooked, cut open your potatoes, add ½ tbs butter to each potato (if desired) and top with turkey, peas and carrots.  Season with salt and pepper.

I am very intrigued by the Paleo diet and this was one of my attempts.  I made this with a boat load of steamed vegetables and as a result of being stuffed with broccoli this recipe turned into 4 servings at 300 calories and 4 g fat each.  If you didn’t have a side that was as much volume as what I did and made this into 2 servings it would still have only been 600 calories and 8 g fat, still not bad at all.

Moving has been pretty stressful and I have been trying to cook and eat healthy even though I have had no time to plan anything and it has been a real struggle.  Since Thanksgiving is approaching I was in the mood for a simple and quick Thanksgiving inspired meal, and this is what I came up with.  I am not going to tell you it was spectacular, but it was really easy and I did enjoy it, so there you go.

Turkey Chili

This is one of those meals that I throw together when I don’t have a lot of time.  I think chili is one of those dishes that everyone has a very specific flavor they have in mind, and none are wrong.  You can easily change the meat, the types of beans, and adjust the seasonings to get a variety of different flavors.  This is a real good dish to find a base recipe then experiment and season to taste to get the flavor you want.

1 small onion
3 cloves garlic
1 lb ground turkey, 99/1
1 tbs olive oil
2 tbs chili powder
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp salt
½ tsp black pepper
6 oz amber beer
1 tbs hot sauce
1 tbs cocoa powder
15 oz can black beans
15 oz can butter beans
15 oz can kidney beans
14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
1 avocado
5 tbs shredded cheddar cheese
3 tbs cilantro

Heat the olive oil over medium high heat.  Add the onions and garlic and cook until the onions are beginning to brown.  Add the meat and break up into small chunks as it browns.  Add the salt, pepper, paprika, and chili powder and finish browning the meat.  Once the meat is cooked through pour in the beer and let it cook down and boil off the alcohol.  Add the cocoa powder, hot sauce, beans and tomatoes.  Reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for as long as you can wait to eat, preferably about an hour, but you can eat it right away if you are in a hurry.  Ladle chili into bowls and top with shredded cheese, cilantro, and avocado.

5 Servings, 470 calories, 12 g fatIf you don’t normally buy beer you could cut it out.  I think it changes the flavor a little but not so much that you would really miss it if it was gone and it would save you about 15 calories.  The cocoa is the dominant flavor for me in this recipe.

Homemade Spaghetti, Pasta and Sauce

Last week we went on vacation to see the MIL.  It was a much needed break from work but it is good to get home and back into our routine.  J had to work on Sunday so I decided to make a somewhat time consuming dinner to occupy myself during the day.  I find if I just sit at home with no pressing work to do I just end up watching TV, and if there is food in the house, eating.  Since we don’t have cable, watching TV for a good part of the day is actually pretty boring, but I somehow turn super lazy when I am home alone, not really sure why.  So I decided to make homemade pasta, spaghetti sauce, and rolls, which all turned out fantastic.  I also got quite a bit of housework done, and also watched some TV, so this didn’t take quite as long as I had thought it would.  I still wouldn't recommend this much work for a weeknight though.

Fresh Pasta Dough
2 cups all purpose flour
3 eggs
1 tsp salt
½ tsp garlic powder
Corn meal for dusting

Make a well with the flour on a clean work surface (optimally a warm countertop or cutting board, not stainless steel).  Crack the eggs in the well, add the salt and garlic powder, and gently whisk the eggs.  With your hands bring up the flour on the outside of the well into the egg, trying not to break the wall and letting the eggs spill everywhere.  Continue to incorporate all of the flour until it forms a ball.  Knead the dough until it becomes elastic and smooth.  If it doesn’t seem to be holding together well, add water to it, 1 tsp at a time, and continue to knead.  It should take about 10 minutes to knead it to the desired texture.  Flatten the dough into a disc, dust with corn meal and wrap in plastic wrap to rest for 30 minutes.  

Cut off the desired amount and wrap the rest up and store in a Ziploc bag, trying to evacuate as much air out as possible, and store in the freezer.  Work with about 2 oz at a time; flatten a piece out with your hands or rolling pin so the pasta will fit through the roller.  On the largest setting, roll the pasta.  Fold the pasta in thirds then roll again, repeat one more time.  Begin lowering the setting by one and rolling the pasta until desired thickness (for spaghetti roll to 2).  Set the rolled pasta sheet aside and continue to roll out the desired number of sheets for your recipe (1 oz of pasta is 1 serving).  Do not put the pasta sheets on top of each other or they will stick together.  When you have all your sheets rolled out, roll them through the cutter to make your noodles.  Set the noodles aside in mounds while you cut the remaining sheets and dust each mound with flour to keep the noodles from sticking together.
When ready to cook, put in boiling water and cook until the pasta is al dente, 3-5 minutes.

Yields about 15 oz (15 servings), 75 calories, 1 g fat


Spaghetti Sauce

6 lbs tomatoes, chopped
1 cup onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
½ tsp crushed red pepper (if desired)
1 tbs olive oil
1 tsp dried oregano
2 tbs fresh basil
1 lb ground turkey, 99/1
1 cup mushrooms, sliced

Preheat oven to 400 F.
Put the tomatoes, onion, garlic, salt, and peppers in a baking dish and drizzle with olive oil.  Cover the dish and bake for 45 minutes.  Remove the dish from the oven and mash the tomatoes to break them down.  Return the sauce to the oven uncovered and cook for another 45 minutes.  Remove the sauce from the oven, season with oregano, basil, and salt and pepper to taste.

Brown the turkey and mushrooms in a large skillet over medium heat.  Once the turkey is no longer pink, add the sauce and heat through.  Make sure both the turkey and mushrooms are cooked before adding the sauce, you don’t want to boil them.  Season with oregano, basil, salt, and pepper to taste if needed.

6 Servings, 200 calories, 5 g fat

I sort of forgot about pictures while I was making all this, so I failed you on that one, but I was very pleased with the meal.  It may be more time consuming than Ragu and store bought pasta, but there us a significant difference, well worth the effort.

Vegetable Risotto

Last night was one of my favorites, vegetable risotto.  Watching Gordon Ramsay yell at people all the time over risotto had me a little intimidated by it initially, but one day I just tried it and it’s really not that hard.  Granted he would probably throw me out of my own kitchen if he saw my risotto but it tastes good to me.  So the way it works is you coat the rice in fat then slowly add hot stock to the rice and that releases the starch.  This creates a rich, thick creamy sauce.  You have to stir the rice constantly so you are kind of stuck in front of the stove for like 20 minutes, but I think it’s completely worth it.  You can use lots of different combinations of vegetables but this time I actually went with what was in season and did a summer squash risotto.

3 tbs butter, divided

1 clove garlic, minced

2 zucchini squash

1 yellow squash

3 cups mushrooms

½ cup peas

1 ½ cup Arborio rice

Dry white wine

Chicken stock

¼ cup parmesan cheese

Salt and pepper to taste

You will need a total of 4 ½ to 5 ½ cups of liquid and you can divide that between the wine and stock however you like.  I usually do about 2 cups wine and 3 cups stock.  There are a lot more calories in the wine than the stock so you can cut it back or out if need be.

In a large saucepan melt 1 tbs butter.  Add the mushrooms and cook until browned.  Dice or cut the squash into bite-sized strips and add to the mushrooms.  Season the vegetables with salt and pepper after each addition.  Cook until the squash is crisp tender.  The squash doesn’t take as long to cook as the mushrooms so that’s why you want to start cooking the mushrooms first. Remove from heat and set aside.  The sauce pan that I use is big enough for either the vegetables or the rice so I put the vegetables in a large bowl and use the same pan to cook the rice.

Bring the chicken stock to a simmer in another pot.  Melt 2 tbs butter over medium high heat in your rice sauce pan.  Add the rice and stir to coat well with a wooden spoon.  Cook until the rice is translucent, 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly.  Add ½ cup of the chicken stock and stir constantly.  Continue stirring the rice until all of the liquid is gone then add ½ cup wine.  Since the wine is cold or room temperature I add it slowly so it heats up quickly in the pan.  Stir the rice constantly until the liquid is absorbed.  Continue the process with the rest of the chicken stock and wine until the rice is thick and creamy and softened. Once the rice is fully cooked add it to the vegetables, stir in the cheese and peas and additional salt and pepper to taste if necessary. 

Serves 4, 525 calories, 12 g fat

A typical risotto is much creamier than this because you usually add more butter and cheese but this is one of the few times where I actually don’t think all that extra cheese is needed.  The rice makes the dish creamy and a little bit of cheese adds to it and makes it just a little bit richer.  It of course would be nice if it had more cheese, but I actually don’t think it’s necessary.  This also makes a good lunch the next day.

Don’t be intimidated by Chef Ramsay, just try it.

Pasta Primavera

I like to try to make one vegetarian meal a week and this one is my go to.  It’s super simple and very filling.  I use mushrooms and then pretty much whatever vegetables I happen to have.  Today the only vegetable I had with color was carrots so the nearly monochromaticness of the dish didn’t look too pretty, but was still good. 

6 oz whole wheat penne pasta

1 tbs olive oil

½ cup red pepper, diced

1 clove garlic

2 cups cauliflower, chopped

2 large carrots, chopped

2 cups baby bella mushrooms, sliced

1/3 cup parmesan cheese

½ tsp basil

½ tsp oregano

½ tsp crushed red pepper

Salt and pepper to taste

In a large skillet with a lid, heat the olive oil over medium heat then cook the onion and garlic until tender, do not brown.  Add the mushrooms and cook until soft.  Add the vegetables and cover.  The water in the vegetables will cook out and steam them, but stir periodically to make sure they don’t stick.  I have a Teflon skillet so my vegetables don’t ever stick, but I am not sure what would happen in a non non-stick pan.  If they do start to stick you could add a little chicken stock or water to generate some steam and lubrication between the vegetables and the pan, but don’t add too much because you don’t want to boil your mushrooms. 

Cook until crisp tender then add the basil, oregano, crushed red pepper, salt and pepper.  Stir in the cooked pasta and parmesan cheese. Easy Schmeesy.

Serves 2, 500 calories, 14 g fat

This is also good to double and have for lunch.  Of course the highest contributor to the calories in this is the pasta (280 calories/serving), so if you want to have this with some bread or a salad and 500 calories is close to your meal limit you can always cut back on how much pasta you add.  Some other vegetable combinations that I might do are carrots, spinach, broccoli or red/orange bell pepper, asparagus, cauliflower and I usually add green peas no matter what I do but I forgot to buy some this week.  Feel free to experiment with this, you can’t screw it up.

Balsamic Glazed Meatloaf and Smashed Cauliflower

Last night turned out to be a Food Network inspired meal, even though I make both of these so frequently I feel like they are my own, but honestly I stole them.  There really are few recipes that after making a few times I don’t change at all, but Bobby Flay’s balsamic meatloaf needs no alterations from me.  Ok I take that back, he uses meats that I can’t eat so I have changed it to turkey and chicken, but other than that it’s the same.  This is one of our big meals that will be lunch for a few days, but you could cut this in half pretty easily for 4 servings.

1 zucchini, diced

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 yellow squash, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

¾  tsp red pepper flakes

Salt and pepper to taste

1 tbs olive oil

2 eggs, beaten

1 tbs thyme

¼ cup flat leaf parsley, chopped

1 lb ground turkey

1 lb ground chicken

1 cup bread crumbs

½ cup parmesan

1 cup ketchup, divided

¼ cup plus 2 tbs balsamic vinegar

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Heat olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium high heat.  Add the zucchini, squash, bell pepper, garlic, ½ tsp red pepper flakes,  and salt and pepper, to taste, and cook until almost soft, about 5 minutes.  Set aside to cool.

Whisk together the eggs and herbs in a large bowl.  Add the meat, bread crumbs, cheese, ½ cup ketchup, 2 tbs balsamic vinegar, and the cooled vegetables and mix until just combined. 

Mold the meatloaf on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  Whisk together the remaining ketchup, balsamic vinegar and ¼ tsp red pepper flakes in a small bowl.  Brush the mixture over the entire loaf.  Bake the meatloaf for 1-1 ¼ hours.  Remove from the oven and let rest for 10 minutes before slicing.

Serves 8, 400 calories, 14 g fat 

I used 99/1 turkey and chicken breast that I ground myself to keep it lower in fat. 

With this I made a smashed cauliflower inspired by Rachael Ray.  This is a delicious way to trick your husband/kids into eating vegetables.  Really I guess that’s kind of the theme of this whole meal, cauliflower covered in cheese and meatloaf stuffed with vegetables, sneaky.

½ head cauliflower

3 tbs boursin garlic and herb cheese

Salt and pepper to taste

Steam the cauliflower until it is tender. Mash the cauliflower with a fork or a hand mixer and stir in the cheese, salt and pepper.

Serves 2, 100 calories, 10 g fat

Falafel and Tzatziki

Last night I had another interesting request, falafel.  I do realize how lucky I am to have a husband who wants to try things other than meat and potatoes and will eat pretty much anything I put in front of him.  This was super easy but how I made it turned out to not be as low cal as I normally like. There were two things I did that I probably should have thought about before eating. Sometimes I forget to count calories until after I've already eaten, not quite as effective that way.  First, I pan fried the patties the whole time, I probably could have seared the outside to get a good crisp then baked them on a rack to heat them through.  Second, those pita pockets were deceptively high in calories, each one was 160 calories so even though we needed 2 pockets worth of falafel, we didn’t really need to pita pockets.

Falafel

1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed

1 tbs flat leaf parsley

1 small onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 tsp ground cumin

Salt and pepper to taste

Olive oil

4 whole wheat pita pockets

Add everything but the oil to a food processor and pulse until the beans and onions are a course meal.  Form the mixture into 10 patties.  If it’s not sticking add a little water.  Heat enough olive oil to coat the bottom of a skillet to medium heat.  Pan fry the patties and turn so both sides are browned and crispy.  Remove the patties from the skillet to drain on a plate with paper towels. 

Tzatziki

¾ cup Greek yogurt

½ cucumber, diced

1 tsp lemon juice

1 clove garlic, minced

Salt to taste

You need your food processor again.  Add everything to the food processor and pulse until the cucumber is no longer chunky.

And that’s it, super simple.  I was a little rushed last night so this was all I did, but if you have a little bit of extra time, to make the tzatziki better you can put the yogurt in a cheese cloth or non-terry cloth kitchen towel and drain out the water.  There is most likely a few different things in your kitchen you could use to do this.  You could use a colander over a bowl or one of those big strainers set over a bowl. 

Serves 2, for the falafel, pita pockets and tzatziki it was 750 calories and 21 g fat.  One pita pocket and less olive oil would have helped a lot.

With this I had a salad with mixed greens, artichoke hearts, sun-dried tomatoes, feta cheese, and a balsamic vinegar/olive oil dressing.

Baked Ziti with Turkey Meatballs

Last night was the big meal to get us through lunches for the rest of the week, but you could easily cut this recipe in half for just 4 servings.  This is pretty simple but for me it’s good comfort food, I can’t turn down anything with pasta and cheese.  

2 lbs 99/1 ground turkey

1 cup pine nuts

1 cup bread crumbs

2 eggs, beaten

olive oil

1 cup parmesan cheese

4 oz mozzarella cheese

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1 tsp oregano

1/4 tsp garlic powder

28 oz canned diced tomatoes with basil and oregano

16 oz whole wheat penne pasta

Mix turkey, nuts, bread crumbs, eggs, and the seasonings and form the meat into 1" balls. Heat 2-3 turns of olive oil over medium-high heat and brown the meatballs.  Be sure not to crowd the pan, I did this in 4 batches and had to add additional olive oil for the third batch.  Turn the meatballs a few times so they are browned all the way around.

Cook the pasta to al dente. Puree the tomatoes and season the sauce to taste with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and oregano.  Mix the sauce and ½ cup of parmesan cheese in with the pasta.  For me, tubular pasta I always break down and buy, even though I know it would taste better if I made it myself, but there is no way I have the time to roll up a ton of little tubes of pasta, I do have a day job.

Spread the pasta into a 9x13 baking dish and top with the browned meatballs.  Top the meatballs with thinly sliced mozzarella cheese and the rest of the parmesan cheese. 

Bake at 350 to melt the cheese and finish cooking the meatballs, about 15 minutes.

Serves 8, 650 calories, 27 g fat

This is pretty high in fat but I love cheese, so every once in a while I do splurge.  You could cut back on the cheese or use low fat mozzarella, which would also save some calories too, but cheese is not something I like to buy cheap or fat free/low fat.  There is a popular concept in healthy cooking that suggests using less or low fat cheese because you won’t notice the difference.  I think if the cheese doesn’t add enough to your meal such that you won’t notice if there is less or you won’t be able to taste the difference between an amazing fresh mozzarella ball versus fat free, plasticy like shredded cheese, why waste the calories and add it at all? If it adds to your dish, go for the gold, if not, leave it out, and this dish with its gooey awesomeness definitely calls for cheese.

Caesar Salad

So last night’s meal was a little different.  This weekend I think my husband had a Caesar salad for the first time, and actually liked it quite a bit.  So that is what he requested for dinner, odd I know.  So I made a Caesar salad using some of the roast chicken I had left over from last week and also made a soup from the roast chicken carcass.  I will admit I am not a very good soup maker; they never have as much flavor as I am anticipating.  “It tastes like soup” is what my insightful husband had to say about it.  But since I had the chicken bones, plus extra carrots, celery, and potatoes that I bought last week, soup seemed to make the most sense to go with the salad.

Caesar Salad

2 big handfuls of greens, I used sweet baby spring mix which has romaines, spinach, arugula and some other greens

2 tbs parmesan cheese

1 tbs pumpkin seeds, or sunflower seeds

½ hard-boiled egg

½ cup croutons

¼ cup diced chicken

Dressing

2 tbs Greek yogurt

2 tsp olive oil

½ tsp malt vinegar

1 tsp mustard, something spicy like whole grain or Dijon

Salt and pepper to taste

You can make this a meal on its own or as a side, depending upon how much protein you add to it.  I didn’t want this to be the whole meal so I only used ¼ cup chicken so we could have something to go with it.  

As I prepared the recipe, 124 calories undressed, 200 calories and 11 g fat dressed.  If you use 2 8-oz chicken breasts that would get you up to 600 calories

So I think there are 3 really quick ways to ruin a salad.  1. Dirty greens.  Be sure to wash your greens well, grit isn’t a texture that adds much to a meal.  2.  Wet greens.  Make sure you dry the greens really well before assembling the salad, sogginess also doesn’t add much.  If you don’t have a salad spinner, which I don’t, I usually wash them, dry them and let them set aside well before I actually start cooking.  3. Dressing the salad prematurely.  You don’t want all of your dressing to sink to the bottom.  Especially if you are using an oil/vinegar mix be careful of this because the oil and vinegar will start to separate.

For the dressing I used Oikos Greek yogurt.  I usually use the yogurt of the Gods or whatever that one is called, but I succumbed to advertisements and thought I would try it and let me tell you that John Stamos was right.  This yogurt is really good, my husband didn’t turn into John Stamos, but he’s close enough for me to begin with so that's ok, I will definitely be switching to this yogurt anyway.  I also used this unbelievable mustard that my in-laws brought us back from Germany.  So I apologize you have no chance of making your dressing as good as mine because this is quite possibly the best mustard in the world.  Every time I open the jar I have to refrain from just eating it with a spoon, sounds crazy to do with mustard I know, but it is so good.

So I feel like this is already getting kind of long and I still have the soup to tell you about.  It really wasn’t that good so I will just tell you what I did briefly and you can experiment to improve upon it.

I cut up the chicken carcass, added salt, pepper, thyme, rosemary, bay leaves and simmered for 30 minutes, the timing may have been where I went wrong in the first place but the hubs was “starving”.   Then I removed the bones and added potatoes, carrots, and celery and cooked until tender.  I took off all of the chicken that was still left on the bones and added back to the stock, seasoned again and served.  The more I ate the more used to it I got, but it was a little bland, “just tasted like soup”.

Roast Chicken with Pistachios, Peppers and Corn

I love a good roast chicken. I rarely make them because I have it in my head that they are some big to-do, but what could be easier than putting some seasoning on a chicken and throwing it in the oven for an hour, pretty much nothing. I found some interesting sides to go with this chicken that turned out pretty well.

1 2-lb chicken
2 tbs lemon juice
2 tbs olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbs chopped fresh thyme
2 tbs chopped fresh rosemary
1 tbs chopped fresh sage
1 lemon
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Whisk lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, thyme, rosemary, and sage in a small bowl and set aside. Rinse the chicken and pat dry. A dry chicken going into the oven will make the skin crispy. Season the chicken all over with salt and pepper and place in a resealable plastic bag. Pour the marinade into the bag and spread over the chicken. Seal and chill for 4-24 hours.

Preheat the oven to 450. Place the chicken in a roasting pan and gently pat off some of the excess marinade, leaving the herbs. Stuff the sliced lemon and a few sprigs of thyme into the chicken cavity.

Roast until well browned, 30-35 minutes, then lower the temperature to 375 and continue roasting for 30-40 minutes or until a thermometer registers 165 in the thickest part of the thigh. Transfer the chicken to a carving board and let rest 20-30 minutes.

It is very important to let the chicken rest before slicing it to keep the juices inside. This will deliver an absurdly juicy chicken with beautiful golden skin.

For the sides I made a chopped pistachio concoction to eat with the chicken, simulating a pistachio crust on the chicken. I was really quite impressed with this, the flavors really complimented each other well and it gave the chicken a completely different flavor if you ate it alone or with the pistachios. I also made a side of peppers and corn that was pretty tasty, not quite as flavorful as I was anticipating, but still good.


For the pistachios, this is enough for 2 servings of chicken

3/4 cup coarsely chopped unsalted shelled pistachios
¼ cup thinly sliced chives
1 tbs lemon juice
1 tbs olive oil
Salt to taste


Peppers and corn

2 bell peppers, cut into thin strips (I used 1 orange and 1 yellow, but I think I should have done red and orange, the yellow just didn’t add much flavor)
1 cup red onion, diced
1 tbs olive oil
1 jalepeno, diced
1 can corn
1 tbs flat leaf parsley
2 tbs red wine vinegar

Saute the onions in the olive oil over medium heat until tender, not quite browned. Add the bell
peppers and jalepeno and season to taste with salt and pepper and cook until soft, about 10-12 minutes. Add the corn, parsley and vinegar just before serving. One tip that I learned in a cooking class is you should be seasoning your vegetables every time you add something new to the skillet. This way the seasoning cooks into the vegetables as they are cooking, rather than coating the surface of something that is already cooked. So salt and pepper your onions, then when you add the peppers, salt and pepper again.

A few times a week I like to make something kind of large so we have a couple days worth of leftovers to eat for lunch, and this works well for that.

The entire dinner is about 800 calories. If you ditch the pistachios (or just use less than I made) you’ll save about 330 calories. The amount of calories in those pistachios took me by surprise.

Chickpea Cauliflower Curry

Today is my first day of this endeavor.  I have been cooking nearly every day for a few years, bur never really thought about sharing any of my experiences with other people. I like to experiment and try new recipes and hopefully I can inspire someone else to also.

Last night I made a chickpea cauliflower curry with an Asian carrot salad. I think my curries taste pretty good and they are really pretty easy, but they never turn out looking very pretty, so I could not bring myself to have my unattractive looking curry as my first post, but I will go ahead and give you the recipe anyway.

1 small yellow onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tbs vegetable oil

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp coriander seeds

6 whole cloves

1 tsp cinnamom

3/4 tsp cayenne pepper

salt to taste

1 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 head cauliflower, chopped to bite-size pieces
1 can garbanzo beans
1 cup basmati rice
¼ cup green peas

2 servings, 800 calories, 10 g fat

In a large skillet, heat the vegetable oil over medium heat, fry the onions and garlic until tender and lightly brown, about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, heat the whole spices in a medium-high heated skillet just until they become fragrant, about 30 seconds. Do not let the spices burn, if they do, start over.  Grind the spices in a spice mill or coffee grinder to a powder. Once the onions are cooked, add all of the spices and mix well.  Add the drained garbanzo beans and cauliflower and toss well to coat the spices on the vegetables. Cover the skillet and let cook until the cauliflower is tender, about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally to keep vegetables from sticking. Before serving I like to taste this to see if I need any more salt. The curry can taste a little bitter if there isn’t enough salt. I think salt brings out the flavors of the spices and you can have a completely different flavor depending on how much salt you add.
Serve over basmati rice. I like green peas in my rice with Indian food.

You could use any meats or vegetables with this, just use the spices as your  base and add what you like.  You could even add coconut milk if you like your curry saucy and sweeter.

Asian Carrot Salad

1 small carrot, julienned
½ small zucchini, julienned
Small handful sugar snap peas, julienned
¼ orange or red bell pepper, julienned
1 tbs rice wine vinegar
Salt to taste

2 servings, 55 calories, 0 g fat

This is a really easy way to get my husband to eat more vegetables, and I think it’s pretty. Just remember to cut all of the pieces so they are bite-sized, I always hate when my vegetables are too long to put in my mouth, you don’t look very graceful fumbling to get a long piece of carrot in your mouth.