Sweet Potato with Cuban Turkey Picadillo

I have really been in a rut lately. I either cook the same old things (lots of tacos) or we go out to eat.  I am trying to start the New Year off better, I’m two weeks in and it hasn’t gone stupendously, but I’m making at least some effort.  My first attempt at something new was this baked sweet potato that got such a big thumbs up that it will be added into my list of go-tos.

4 medium sweet potatoes

2 tsp olive oil

½ cup finely chopped onion

2 tsp minced garlic

2 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 lb 99/1 ground turkey

¼ cup dry sherry

¾ cup canned crushed tomatoes

¼ cup dried cherries, roughly chopped

¼ cup pimento-stuffed green olives, sliced into rounds

1 tbs capers

¼ tsp salt

2 tbs chopped cilantro

Heat oven to 425 F.  Pierce potatoes all over with a fork and heat in the microwave for about 12 minutes to start softening them.  Place them on an aluminum foil-lined baking sheet and finish baking them until tender, another 10-20 minutes. 

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Cook onion until soft, add garlic, cumin and cinnamon and cook 1 minute.  Add turkey and cook through, about 5 minutes.  Add sherry and cook for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add tomatoes, cherries, olives, capers and salt.  Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.  Mix in the chopped cilantro. 

When the potatoes are soft, remove them from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes so they aren’t steaming when you try to eat them.  Slice them open and mash the insides with a fork.  Divide the chili mixture among the potatoes and serve.

Serves 4, 400 calories per serving

I could not have been more pleased with this. I think it was flavorful and filling and was really good for lunch the next day. I will definitely be making this again.

Chicken Stuffed Bell Peppers

I know I haven’t posted anything in quite a while and I have two reasons why. I am glad you are still here even though there hasn’t been anything new in some time.  So one of my girl friends did the 21-day sugar detox not too long ago and first I need to point out that she and her husband are paleo and in good shape but by the end of the 21 days her husband lost 10 lbs and she only lost a couple lbs but lost 2 inches in her waist.  There were other positive results that came from the experiment as well but I was more impressed with two whole inches in a skinny girl’s waist.
So we thought we’d try it.  While on this detox you can’t eat dairy, wheat, white rice, any potatoes except for sweet, refined sugar of course, honey, maple syrup, or fruit.  So basically you can eat meat, vegetables, sweet potatoes, brown rice, and other uncommon grains like couscous or quinoa. This was mainly hard for us because I absolutely hate eggs and J (thinks he) doesn’t like the uncommon grains and gets tired of sweet potatoes quick.  So by the end of the week I could not even force myself to eat breakfast anymore and J felt the same way about all of the dang sweet potatoes we were having every night. In that first week J did lose a couple lbs, but I of course saw no change in my weight or how I felt, so it was pretty easy to give it up.
So my point in explaining all of this was that during this time I really didn’t cook anything note worthy.  The food I was making was edible but not really that exciting.  Since then I have been trying to sort of modify the diet to something more reasonable, so we aren’t eating near as much pasta and very little cheese or dairy.  I have started eating cereal again for breakfast; I don’t think I can eat another egg for quite a while.
So this lasted a week, and the modification attempt has been going on for a couple weeks, but the other reason why I haven’t had a lot to write about is because I keep ending up finding recipes that I am not really all that excited about but fit the criteria and it is really easy to say I don’t feel like cooking and just go out.  So this diet actually really backfired for us.
After all of this I do have one recipe that I think is worth sharing.  It wasn’t overly complicated and I liked it quite a bit.

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, diced small
1 tbs olive oil
¼ tsp black pepper
¼ tsp thyme
1 tsp basil
1 clove garlic, minced
2 large red bell peppers
2 large green bell peppers
1/2 bunch green onions, diced
3 cups fresh spinach
14 ounces fire roasted tomatoes
Salt to taste

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Heat the olive oil in a large skillet to medium-high heat.  Add the chicken and seasonings and cook until no longer pink. Stir in the remaining ingredients except for the bell peppers, reduce heat to medium-low, cover and allow the spinach to wilt and everything else to heat through.

Meanwhile, cut the tops of the bell peppers and remove the seeds and white membrane.   Once the spinach is wilted and chicken is cooked through fill each bell pepper with the stuffing.  Arrange the bell peppers upright in a baking dish and bake until the bell peppers are softened, about 50 minutes.

This was pretty simple and tasty, what made this for me was the roasted tomatoes, it added a nice flavor.

Broccoli and Cauliflower Au Gratin

This was another one of those dishes where the first thing to mind after a bite of this is “holy cow”.  This was surprisingly rich, simple, and low cal.  This was so good there is no reason why you shouldn’t be making this right now so I will just get right to it.

2 cups cauliflower
2 cups broccoli
1 small yellow onion, sliced in rings
2 tsp olive oil
1 carrot, peeled and finely chopped
1 ½ cup milk, non-fat
2 tbs flour
½ cup shredded gouda cheese
½ cup shredded havarti cheese
1 tbs dry mustard powder
½ tsp black pepper
Salt to taste
2 tbs bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Place cauliflower, broccoli, and carrot in a steamer basket over water and steam until tender.  Remove from burner and set aside.
In a large saucepan over medium-high heat, sauté onion in olive oil for 1 to 2 minutes, or until translucent.  Add milk and flour and heat for 3 minutes, stirring constantly.  Stir in cheese and mix until melted.  Season with mustard, pepper and salt.

In an 8x8 glass dish, add cauliflower and broccoli in an evenly distributed layer.  Pour cheese-carrot mixture over top then sprinkle with bread crumbs.  Bake for 25 minutes to brown the bread crumbs.  Let cool for 5 minutes before serving.

As a side, 4 generous servings, 230 calories, 13 g fat

This was easy to throw together and was oh so good.  It obviously adds a lot more calories than just eating the cauliflower and broccoli alone, but it’s just so good and every once in a while you need a change.  Make this change, you won’t be sorry.  The key of course is the cheese, you must use high quality cheese or this isn’t worth it.

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.

Almond Butter Cookies

After dinner the other night J decided he wanted dessert.  I didn’t really have a lot in the pantry for baking so I was pretty limited on what I could make.  Peanut butter cookies is usually his first suggestion, and I have recently stopped buying peanut butter because too frequently was I just eating it straight out of the jar for no reason.  I did in fact have a rather large bag of almonds because I am never a good judge of volume when I buy things from the bulk section, so I thought I would try to make almond butter cookies, and I was really quite pleased with the result.

1 cup almonds
½ cup butter, softened
½ cup sugar
½ cup brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 ¼ cup flour
½ tsp baking powder
¾ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
In a food processer blend the almonds until a creamy paste forms, about 6-8 minutes, scraping down the sides periodically.
In a large bowl, blend almond butter and butter together, then add the sugars and blend well.  Add egg and vanilla and blend well.

In a separate medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Add the dry ingredients to the almond butter mixture in 3 additions until just mixed.

Roll the dough into 1” balls and place a few inches apart on a greased cookie sheet.  Bake for 10-12 minutes, until set but not hard.
Remove the cookies immediately from the hot cookie sheet to a wire rack to cool, they will dry out if they continue to cook on the cookie sheet.

Makes 24 cookies, 100 calories each

These cookies had crispy edges and chewy centers and had more the flavor of a rich, buttery sugar cookie than a peanut butter cookie.  I enjoyed them quite a bit, I will definitely be making them again.
I didn’t take any pictures because I was too busy eating them.

Swiss and Avocado Lamb Burger

J picks me up from work on his way home, and every once in a while he will stay later than expected, and later than I want to stay.  So yesterday I knew he was going to be late but I was ready to go so I just left at my quitting time and started walking around downtown and I decided I would go to the specialty grocery store downtown and go ahead and get groceries to make dinner.  As I walked past the meat counter it was very evident that it was all way over priced, except for the lamb, which was expensive but not any more so than the supermarket.  So I thought, lamb it is.

¾ lb ground lamb
¼ tsp ground thyme
Salt and pepper to taste
A few dashes of hot sauce
½ avocado
2 slices swiss cheese
2 tbs mustard
2 hamburger buns

Mix the lamb, seasonings and hot sauce in a bowl until well mixed.  Divide the meat and make two patties.

Lamb is very greasy so I use one of those cast iron skillets with the ridges in it so the burger doesn’t sit in the grease and fry.

Heat the skillet to medium heat then put the burgers on.  Cook for 8 minutes on each side for a medium burger.  A couple times while the burgers were cooking I soaked up some of the excess oil with a paper towel to keep from frying the meat.
With about 1 minute left to cook, add the slices of cheese to the burgers so that it melts a little.

Slather the mustard on each bun and assemble the burger with sliced avocados.

Serves 2, 675 calories, 33 g fat

The lamb was front and center here, so if you don’t like the strong flavor of lamb, I recommend using beef or turkey because you probably won’t like this.

Lamb isn’t really the best meat for you, it’s pretty high in calories and fat, but if you plan your day accordingly there is no reason to splurge every once in a while on a dinner that is a little bit higher in calories than normal.

Pumpkin Creme Brulee

I bought myself a few pie pumpkins before Thanksgiving, so inspired to make a fresh pumpkin pie, and I just never got around to it.  I actually cooked the pumpkins and scooped out all the meat, put it in the refrigerator and still didn’t make the dang pie. I did the hard part and then never followed through.  So for a week or so I had this fresh pumpkin puree that I knew I had to use up quick and pumpkin pie just never sounded good again.  So one day I made pumpkin pancakes, which were a little more boring than I was anticipating so I haven’t even bothered writing it up, but a few days after that I made pumpkin creme brulee which I thoroughly enjoyed.  They actually tasted more like mini crustless pumpkin pies than they did creme brulee, but were very easy to make.  Actually it may have been easier than making the pie, which is why I was ok with making it, because I didn’t have to make a crust.  I don’t want to hear it about frozen crusts, it’s not the same I’m sorry.

8 oz pumpkin puree, or can pumpkin (not pie filling)
¼ cup sugar
¼ cup packed golden brown sugar
3 large egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground allspice
¼ tsp ground cloves
1/8 tsp salt
1 ½ cups heavy whipping cream
4 tbs golden brown sugar


Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Whisk pumpkin, ¼ cup sugar and ¼ cup brown sugar in a bowl.  Whisk in egg yolks and vanilla, then spices and salt, set aside.  Bring cream just to a boil in a saucepan.  Gradually whisk hot cream into pumpkin mixture.
Divide mixture between 4 ramekins.  Place ramekins in a roasting pan and add enough hot water to pans to come halfway up sides of ramekins.  Bake until custards are just set in center, about 35 minutes for 5x1 inch ramekins or 50 minutes for 3x1 ¼ inch ramekins.

You can make this 2 hours ahead of time and stop here, cover them and keep in refrigerator.   When you are ready to eat, sprinkle 1 tbs brown sugar on each one and melt with a kitchen torch or put in the oven under the broiler until the sugar is a deep amber.

Some people like their creme brulee cold, and if you do, put it back in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes to chill and let the sugar harden, but I like it hot, so I just try to let it sit for a few minutes to allow the sugar to harden and keep it from scalding my tongue because I have a hard time controlling myself.

This was super simple, well if you already had the pumpkin puree or if you used a can, but was very flavorful and had a nice thick and creamy consistency.  I made 4 and we had 2 one night and then the other 2 the next, but you could easily double this recipe for a dinner party and use 1 15-oz can pumpkin puree and I think I would use 5 egg yolks but double everything else.  That would be really easy to throw together without much time or effort, and you could do it ahead of time before you even start cooking so you don’t occupy the oven.

Chicken Tacos with Peppers and Onions

J’s favorite meal is tacos.  Any time I can’t come up with something to make or when all my ideas get vetoed, I default to tacos.  After lots of meals of ground turkey with rice and beans where the closest I might get to a vegetable was the occasional avocado, I decided to change it up and add something that is a little more vegetablish.

2 ½ lbs chicken breast, cut into thin slices
2 yellow onions, sliced
2 green bell peppers, sliced
1 tsp chicken fajita seasoning
8 corn tortillas
1 tsp olive oil
Salt to taste

In a large skillet add the olive oil and heat to medium-low heat.  Once hot add the onions and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Once the onions have softened and started to turn a golden color, add the bell peppers and cook for another 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally.  The onions should be a golden brown color, not fried.  The key here is low heat for a long time to get the onions caramelizing instead of frying. Season to taste with salt.

Meanwhile, season the chicken with the fajita seasoning and cook in a skillet over medium-high heat until no longer pink.

Serve the chicken, peppers, and onions in a warmed corn tortilla. Super simple, but more interesting than ground turkey.



4 Servings, 620 calories, 12 g fat
75% of the calories come from the chicken, so if you need to you cut back on the chicken in favor of another pepper, feel free to try other colors.

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.

German Pancakes

My husband, J, usually works on Saturdays so when I happen to have eggs in the refrigerator I like to make breakfast before he leaves.  This morning he requested German pancakes.  I have no idea if they are actually German or what it is that makes them German, I just know that they are super easy and really good.  I actually like these more than regular American cake for breakfast type pancakes, sorry mom; those are one of her specialties. 

3 tbs unsalted butter

2 eggs, beaten

½ cup flour

½ cup milk

1 tbs sugar

¼ tsp salt

Pinch of seasoning like nutmeg or cinnamon if you like

Preheat the oven to 425.  Put the butter in a 9 or 10 inch pie plate or cast iron skillet and put in the oven while it’s preheating.  Meanwhile, whisk the remainder of the ingredients in a medium bowl until all of the flour is evenly distributed and there are no clumps.

Once the butter is melted remove the skillet from the oven.  Once the oven has reached temperature pour the batter into the hot skillet and immediately return it to the oven and bake for 18-20 minutes till it is puffy and browned on the outside.

Remove the pancake from the skillet and sprinkle with lemon juice and/or powdered sugar (both are optional).  Slice and serve.

Serves 2, 384 calories, 23 g fat

No-Rise Bread

I have discovered the absolute most dangerous recipe ever.  I absolutely love bread, so I have to limit myself because it is just so calorie dense.  Since I found this recipe a few weeks ago I will admit I have made it quite a few times.  It is just so easy to make and you can cut it back to make just a few rolls so you don’t actually have to have a ton of bread lying around the house all week.  That is a big reason why I usually don’t buy bread.  I usually just want one piece of bread to go with one meal for the week, but when I have to buy a whole loaf I end up eating a piece of bread every night until it’s gone.  But with this recipe you can really easily scale it back so you don’t have that problem.  I have cut it down to 4 rolls but I haven’t tried 2 yet so I cannot verify if they will still turn out the same for that small of a batch, I don't really think it would work but I could be wrong, let me know if you try it.

2 ½ cup warm water (105-115 degrees)

6 Tbs sugar

3 Tbs yeast

2 Tbs oil

6 cup flour

2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Stir together water, sugar, yeast, and oil.  Allow to sit for about 5 minutes or until it is frothy on the top  Add flour, salt and baking powder and mix well.  Once you stir in the dry ingredients and they are pretty well incorporated, turn it out onto a clean work surface and start to knead.  Knead the dough, it should still be a little sticky but well mixed.  This can be made into rolls, a bread loaf, or even a pizza crust, so roll out or drop onto a baking sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes. 

Serves 16, 210 calories, 2 g fat

I have cut this in half for 8 rolls and by 4 for 4 rolls and both turned out fine.  This bread is super simple, very fluffy and has a nice yeasty flavor.  How can you beat homemade bread that you can have mixed and baked in under 30 minutes?

Green Pea Basil Pesto

Pesto is such a nice alternative pasta sauce when you are tired  of tomato based sauces.  I tend to stay away from Alfredo sauce, not only because it's more fattening  but its not really one of my favorites.  This pesto uses green peas to thicken the consistency a little and to add some volume with out spending a fortune on basil, but feel free to leave it out if you are totally anti pea. Just be sure you cut way back on the olive oil and garlic.

1/2 cup fresh basil
3 cloves garlic
1 tbs pine nuts
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup green peas
1 tbs parmesan cheese
salt to taste

In a blender pulse the basil, garlic, and pine nuts until coarsely chopped.  Add  the olive oil and peas and puree into a thick paste. Add  the cheese and salt and pulse to mix.

Yields about 1cup. The entire cup is 590 calories and 58 g fat. I recommend about 1 tbs per serving which would be about 40 calories and 4 g fat.

You could put this on pasta or for a new chicken recipe you could bake some chicken breasts then spoon a little of this on top and trick your family onto thinking you made something totally new that was super complicated, even though it took less than 5 minutes to mix all this in the blender. What you have left over can go right into the freezer in an air tight bag/container. Another cool trick I learned is to spoon the pesto into an ice cube tray and freeze it then once the cubes are frozen pop them out and store  them in a Ziploc bag. Then when you need a couple tbs worth you can get what you need easily and just stir them into your dish.

Pesto Chicken Pasta

Every once in a while I actually impress myself and this dish did just that.  Since we are moving this weekend I am trying to use all the food that I have and buy as little as possible.  Last week I had bought some basil  to make the Thai basil  stir fry and never did so I thought I would make a pesto to use the basil  and the last of my pasta in the freezer. That turned out to be a really good decision because this turned out really well.

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
3 oz asparagus, chopped to bite sized pieces
3 oz mushrooms, sliced
1 tbs olive oil
1 tsp cavenders Greek seasoning
5 oz spaghetti
3 tbs pesto
2 tbs sun dried tomatoes
1 tbs parmesan cheese
1 tbs pine nuts

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the mushrooms and asparagus and cook until the mushrooms are browned.  Slice the chicken into strips and season with the Greek  seasoning then add to the vegetables and cook until the chicken is no longer pink.  Stir in the cheese, nuts, tomatoes, and pesto.

Cook the pasta to al dente and serve with the chicken.

Serves 3, 500 calories, 24 g fat

I felt like a pretty good wife making this meal, especially on a week day.  Homemade pasta that I pulled out of the freezer, homemade pesto that took less than 10 minutes and awesome homemade rolls that took so little time it is very tempting not to make these every day.  I know home life is crazier when you have kids so I do have some extra time but I don't get home until 5-5:30 every day and rarely have trouble getting dinner on the table by 7:30, so just stop being intimidated and make a nice meal.

Sweet Cornbread

This cornbread is more like corncake.  O will admit the day after I made this we actually ate it for dessert.  It has a really light and fluffy crumb and is very sweet.  This was probably the best cornbread I have ever had, definitely the best I’ve ever made.  It’s very quick and easy to make and for a low cal main dish like chili you can easily include these calories, especially if you make this 12 servings.  Just be careful, it’s so good you will have a hard time not eating a second piece!

1 cup corn meal
1 cup milk
1 cup flour
2/3 cup white sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tbs and ½ tsp baking powder
1 egg, beaten
1/3 cup melted butter

Preheat oven to 400 F.
Soak the cornmeal in the milk for 10 minutes.  Mix in the remaining ingredients then pour into a cast iron skillet or a greased muffin tin.  Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

If you bake this in a muffin tin you can easily make it 12 servings, but if it’s baked in a cake pan or cast iron skillet I have a much easier time cutting 8 servings than I do 12 and calorie wise you really should strive for 12.

12 Servings, 182 calories, 6 g fat
8 Servings, 272 calories, 10 g fat

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.

Spanish Rice

I have discovered a simple way to make Spanish rice a little healthier.  Now this is definitely not as good as the real thing, but it doesn’t take too much effort and there is no lard involved so that's a plus.

½ green bell pepper, diced

½ small yellow onion, diced

1 clove garlic

1 cup brown rice (or white if you prefer)

2 cups water or chicken broth

1 tsp cumin, ground

1 can rotel tomatoes with chilies

Salt to taste

1 tsp olive oil

Heat the olive oil in a medium pot to medium-high heat.  Add the onion and cook until softened, then add the bell pepper and garlic and cook until the pepper is softened.  Pour in the water/broth and bring to a boil.  Add the rice and return to a boil.  Cover the pot and reduce the temperature to medium.  Cook for 15 minutes then remove the pot from the heat but leave the lid on.  Allow the rice to sit, with the lid on, for another 15 minutes.  All of the water should be absorbed by then and you should have fluffy rice.  Add the cumin, rotel and salt to taste.  The seasoning is kind of what makes this dish, so if it’s under seasoned it won’t be good.  Add more cumin if you think it needs it and don’t be afraid with the salt, add a little at a time and taste, I think I used about ½ tsp.  You can return the rice to the burner on medium for a couple minutes to cook out some of the tomato juice if it looks soupy.

Serves 4, 200 calories, 3 g fat

Fish Tacos with Jicama Slaw

I don’t really eat much fish but I know I should.  So every once in a while I buy some and then end up having to put it in the freezer because it never actually sounds good.  I am going to tell on my husband right now.  Yesterday he went out for lunch and ate oh probably 2000 calories in one meal.  So needless to say, he didn’t need much for dinner last night.  Since he is the one that usually vetoes the fish, I went ahead and cooked it last night since he wasn’t eating much.  

2 tilapia filets

Garlic powder

Onion powder

Salt and pepper

Olive oil

1/3 cup jicama, julienned

1/3 cup carrots, julienned

¼ cup red onion, thinly diced

2 tbs cilantro, chopped

Juice from 1 lime

Small handful of shredded cheese (I am still using that dang Manchego cheese, it is like never ending)

4 corn tortillas

Heat olive oil in a skillet to medium-high heat.  I like to use a cast-iron skillet that has ridges in it, that way I can get char marks on the fish.  So depending on what type of pan you use will determine how much oil to add.  For this type of pan I add enough oil so that the ridges are able to get oiled by tilting the pan a bunch first, but the fish won’t be sitting in oil while it’s cooking.  Season both sides of the fish with garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper then cook in the pan until flaky.

For the jicama slaw, I prefer to cook the red onion for a couple minutes to take the bite off, but if you like raw onion then that isn’t necessary.  I do it in the same pan I will cook/cooked the fish in.  Mix the julienned vegetables, red onion, cilantro and lime juice.  Season with salt to taste.

Slice the fish and assemble in 4 warmed tortillas with the slaw and cheese. 

Serves 2, 335 calories, 8 g fat

This turned out pretty decent, but I think I overstuffed the tortillas.  This may have been more lady like to eat it in 3 tortillas each and the tortillas I got were only 35 calories each so no biggie.  I have noticed sometimes diets make you forget to eat like a lady, good thing I am already married, sorry J.