Candy's Recipes for a Sweet Life

January 27, 2012: Buttermilk Chicken With Mushroom Sauce Recipe

2012-01-27T04:00:00.000-07:00

I bought some low fat buttermilk recently because I swore I’d seen a main dish entrée I wanted to try. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find the recipe so I was on the hunt for a dish I could make to use the buttermilk sitting in my fridge. I found this one online and it wasn’t loaded with calories – at least after I put my own twists on the recipe.

Buttermilk Chicken with Mushroom Sauce served with Skinny Mashed Potatoes and Sugar Snap Peas

Buttermilk Chicken With Mushroom Sauce

1 T. olive oil

8 white mushrooms, thickly sliced

4 pieces bone-in, skinless chicken pieces (breasts and thighs)

2 cups buttermilk, divided

Salt and Freshly ground black pepper

¾ cup flour

½ t. dried sage

1 can cream of mushroom soup

Place chicken pieces in one cup of buttermilk. Let sit in refrigerator for several hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spray a 13 x 9 inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Add olive oil and place in oven to heat. When heated through (about 5 minutes), add sliced mushrooms to bottom of pan.

Remove chicken from buttermilk. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and dredge with flour.

Place chicken pieces on top of mushrooms. Bake for 25 minutes. Remove from oven, turn chicken over and bake 10 more minutes.

Mix together remaining cup of buttermilk, sage and cream of mushroom soup. Pour over chicken. Bake another 10 – 20 minutes, until juices from chicken run clear.

To serve, place a piece of chicken on each plate. Whisk sauce in pan and spoon over the top of each piece of chicken.

Serves 4

January 26, 2012: Lite Chicken Cordon Bleu Rollups Recipe

2012-01-26T09:29:00.000-07:00

Chicken Cordon Bleu is one of my favorite recipes. Of course, it isn’t the best kind of dish to prepare when you’re trying to lose weight, like I am. I ran across this recipe from Rocco DiSpirito in the Arizona Republic recently and in true Candy fashion, tweaked it a bit to make it easier to prepare. It passed the “hubby likes it” test so this is one I’ll be making again.

Lite Chicken Cordon Bleu Rollups

4 slices whole wheat bread

4 t. Dijon mustard

4 slices deli-style roasted chicken breast

4 slices deli-style ham

2 sticks string cheese, cut in half vertically

Olive oil cooking spray

With a rolling pin, flatten slices of bread so they are quite thin. Spread each slice of bread with a teaspoon of mustard. Top each slice with a piece of chicken breast, a piece of ham and one half piece of string cheese. Starting at the end with the piece of cheese, roll up tightly. Place seam side down on a microwaveable bowl; microwave on high for one minute.

Spray a frying pan with olive oil cooking spray and heat to medium low. Add chicken rollups and spray tops of the rollups with cooking spray. Cook, turning one quarter turn every few minutes and spraying tops with cooking spray, until crispy on all outer edges. Watch carefully so they don’t burn.

Serves 2 – 4 depending on appetite (one of these was plenty for me but my husband ate two)

Note: The string cheese never really melts but it should be soft. You can substitute another type of low fat cheese if you want the inside of these rollups to be melty soft.

January 25, 2012: Zucchini Chocolate Chip Bread

2012-01-25T12:57:00.000-07:00

Zucchini bread may sound healthy, but other than the nutritional value of the veggie, it doesn’t have any fewer calories or fat content than any other type of sweet bread. Still, it’s quite yummy – especially with the addition of chocolate chips.

Zucchini Bread

3 cups flour

¼ teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

3 eggs

1 ¾ cups sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups peeled, grated zucchini (about 1 large or 2 small)

1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

½ cup mini chocolate chips (I used regular chocolate chips; you could certainly add about 1 cup more if you’re a chocolate lover)

1 tablespoon freshly grated lemon zest (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and lightly flour two 9 x 5 inch loaf pans.

In medium bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. In another larger bowl, beat eggs until light in color. Gradually add sugar and continue beating. Stir in oil, vanilla, zucchini, nuts, chocolate chips, and lemon zest.*

Fold in dry ingredients until combined and then pour batter into prepared pans.

Bake in preheated oven at 350 degrees 50 to 55 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.

Remove bread from pans to cool on wire rack.

*If you have a stand mixer, just mix all ingredients at once, starting with the wet ingredients and adding the chocolate chips and nuts after combining the rest of the recipe.

January 24, 2012: Homemade Meatball Stew Recipe

2012-01-24T08:00:00.000-07:00

Last year I shared an easy meatball soup recipe that uses convenience food items. I decided there was no excuse for being lazy and remade that recipe using homemade ingredients and keeping the calories as low as possible.

Homemade Meatball Stew

1 cup crushed Saltine crackers

¼ cup fat free half and half

1 egg

¼ cup ketchup

1 T. Worcestershire sauce

1 t. Italian seasoning

1 t. garlic salt

1 t. dried parsley

1 pound 93% lean ground beef

1 cup baby carrots, cut into small pieces

1 cup fresh green beans, cut into thirds

1 large Russet potato, peeled and cut into small chunks

1 celery heart, rib, greens and heart thinly sliced

1 cup canned corn (or fresh)

1 carton beef stock

1 cup water

2 cups dry macaroni or farfalle (bowtie) pasta

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Combine crushed crackers and half and half; let sit for five minutes to soften crackers. Add egg, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce and seasonings. Mix in ground beef with your hands. Shape into small balls.

Spray a Dutch oven with nonstick cooking spray. Place meatballs in the bottom of the Dutch oven and bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until cooked through. Remove from oven and remove meatballs with a slotted spoon.

Add vegetables (with the exception of canned corn) to Dutch oven. Sauté for 2 – 3 minutes, scraping up bits of meatballs from bottom of pan. Add beef stock and water and bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to medium; boil gently for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to low and add reserved meatballs and corn. Cook for an hour, until vegetables are soft.

Meanwhile, cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and add to meatball stew just before serving. Add water, if necessary, to thin stew.

Serves 6

January 23, 2012: Slimmed Down Coq au Vin Recipe

2012-01-23T16:11:00.000-07:00

Coq au Vin is one of my favorite recipes for comfort food during cold months. It has everything I love – bacon, chicken, root vegetables and a yummy sauce. But there’s no reason this French dish has to be so loaded with fat calories and sodium. Here’s a version I created that is great for the calorie conscious diner but just as delicious, hot and filling as the original.

Slimmed Down Coq au Vin

4 pieces bone-in chicken, skin removed (breasts, thighs, drumsticks)

Salt and pepper

1 T. olive oil

1 shallot, sliced horizontally

8 large cloves garlic, thickly sliced

1 cup baby carrots, halved lengthwise

1 rib celery, sliced

1 cup cauliflower florets

1 cup fresh green beans, cut into thirds

1 cup dry white wine

2 cups chicken stock

1 t. dried oregano

1 t. dried sage

½ t. dried parsley

1 T. cornstarch

1 T. water

In a Dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the chicken pieces; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Sauté on both sides for five minutes per side, until golden brown on the outside. Remove from Dutch oven and set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Lower heat and add vegetables to Dutch oven. Sauté for a few minutes, until vegetables begin to soften. Add wine, chicken stock and herbs; place reserved chicken pieces on top of vegetables. Cover Dutch oven and place in preheated oven. Bake for 30 – 45 minutes, until chicken is cooked through and vegetables are soft.

Stir together cornstarch and water. Remove chicken pieces from Dutch oven and stir in cornstarch mixture. Place chicken back in Dutch oven and return to oven for five more minutes to thicken sauce.

Serves 4

Note: This is a complete meal that only needs biscuits or French bread as a side.

January 22, 2012: Thai Style Green Beans Recipe

2012-01-22T04:00:00.000-07:00

At my house we eat a lot of Asian food and I’m always looking for new and creative side dishes. Thai food, in particular, is a favorite of mine so when I across a recipe for a “Wing Bean Salad”, I took the items I had on hand to turn it into this side dish perfect to go with any type of Asian food main dish.

Thai Style Green Beans served with pork stir fry and brown rice cooked in chicken broth.

Thai Style Green Beans

1 cup fresh green beans

1 shallot, minced

½ cup coconut milk

1 T. lime juice

1 T. peanut butter

2 t. fish sauce

2 t. Asian chili sauce

Pinch of brown sugar

1 can water chestnuts, drained

Clean green beans and snap into 2 – 3 pieces each. Place the coconut milk in a saucepan and add green beans and shallots. Cook over medium low until beans are softened, about 15 – 20 minutes (or less time for crisper beans).

Meanwhile, combine lime juice, peanut butter, fish sacue, chile sauce and brown sugar. When beans are done to your preference, add the sauce and the water chestnuts. Heat through.

Serves 3 – 4

January 21, 2012: Skinny Fruit Salad Recipe

2012-01-21T10:13:00.000-07:00

This recipe is courtesy of my friend, Kathy. Together she and I try to walk each day and watch what we eat in order to lose a few pounds and/or maintain our weight. We’ve been doing this almost as long as we’ve known each other and we frequently share recipes we’ve found to be successful in helping us eat right. This is one that Kathy makes often because of its simplicity and its taste. It’s a bit too sour for me, but if you agree you can add a packet of artificial sweetener or Stevia.

This makes a great side dish for a light meal or could even be breakfast, along with a cup of yogurt topped with granola.

Skinny Fruit Salad

1 large grapefruit

2 oranges

1 sweet apple

Peel the citrus fruit. Cut each segment into 2 – 3 pieces. Grate the apple. Combine all the fruit in a bowl and let sit for a couple hours or overnight to extract the juices.

Tip: You can also turn this into a savory salad by adding thing rings of red onion, chopped avocado and some herbs. A drizzle of balsamic vinegar would top off these flavors nicely.

January 20, 2012: Semi-Homemade Meatloaf Pizza Recipe

2012-01-20T04:00:00.000-07:00

It’ difficult to make a whole meatloaf for two people and not have tons of leftovers. That doesn’t stop me from making it when I’m craving this comfort food, however. What it does mean is that I have to be creative about using up those leftovers. While I love meatloaf sandwiches slathered with mayo, those aren’t too diet friendly. This recipe is surprisingly not high in calories, if you can limit yourself to one sixth of the total recipe.

Semi-Homemade Meatloaf Pizza

1 canister refrigerated Pillsbury French bread

1 cup canned tomato pasta sauce (I used Bertolli’s healthy variety)

1 t. dehydrated garlic

6 white mushrooms, thinly sliced

¼ cup chopped red bell pepper

4 thin slices leftover healthy meatloaf

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a rimmed cookie sheet with nonstick cooking spray. Unroll the French bread dough and pat it into place on the cooking sheet. Spray surface with nonstick cooking spray. Place bread in preheated oven and bake for 7 minutes. Remove from oven.

While bread is cooking, place pasta sauce in a saucepan and add garlic. Heat over low and cook until reduced by half, about 15 minutes.

Spray a small skillet with nonstick cooking spray and heat to medium. Add mushrooms and peppers, spray with nonstick cooking spray. Sauté for 5 minutes, or until veggies start to soften.

Spread pasta sauce on bread dough. Top with veggies, crumbled meatloaf and cheese. Return to oven and cook an additional 15 minutes, until cheese is melted and edges of crust are browned.

Serves 6 with approximately 325 calories per serving.

January 19, 2012: Skinny Fries Recipe

2012-01-19T04:00:00.000-07:00

Just because you’re watching your weight doesn’t mean you have to avoid potatoes. The potatoes themselves are not a bad food; it’s only when you add things like butter and sour cream or fry them in oil that they become less than healthy. This recipe will alleviate your craving for French fries with just a fraction of the calories and none of the guilt.

Skinny Fries served as a side to Roasted New York Strip steak and cooked carrots.

Skinny Fries

1 large Russet potato

1 clove garlic, minced

2 teaspoons canola oil, divided

½ t. Kosher salt

1 t. dried parsley (or 2 teaspoons chopped fresh parsley)

Scrub the potato and cut lengthwise into about 20 skinny sticks. Soak in cold water for half an hour. Remove from water and pat dry with paper towels.

Meanwhile, in small skillet add garlic to one teaspoon oil. Heat to low and cook for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and strain garlic from oil.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Toss potato sticks with garlic-infused oil and salt. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. Place potatoes in a single layer on sheet. Bake for 25 – 30 minutes, until crispy and golden, turning once. Add reserved garlic and parsley to potatoes.

Serves 2.

January 18, 2012: Healthy Meatloaf Recipe

2012-01-18T04:00:00.000-07:00

Here’s another of my favorite meals that I’ve slimmed down for the calorie conscious diner (me!). Although my husband groaned with he saw me using ground turkey, he enjoyed the finished product. If you want fewer calories, omit the ground beef (I added it so this meatloaf would taste more like the traditional recipe I usually prepare).

Healthy Meatloaf

1 slice whole wheat bread, torn into small pieces

1 T. dehydrated onions

1 T. dried parsley

2 T. fat free half and half

2 T. beef broth

1 egg

1 T. Worcestershire sauce

¼ cup ketchup

1 chile in adobo sauce, minced

1 t. each: oregano, sage, garlic salt

½ t. freshly ground black pepper

1 lb. 4 ounces ground turkey

12 ounces 80% lean ground beef

Spray a loaf pan with cooking spray. In a large mixing bowl, combine bread pieces, onions and parsley. Stir in half and half and beef broth; let sit for five minutes. Add egg, Worcestershire, ketchup, chile and seasonings; mix well. Add in ground meat and mix with your hands. Pat mixture into prepared loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 90 minutes, or until completely cooked through the middle.

Serves 6 (per serving: 615 calories, 30 grams fat, 882 sodium)

January 17, 2012: Healthy Stuffed Bell Peppers Recipe

2012-01-17T04:00:00.000-07:00

Last year I shared a Spicy Stuffed Bell Pepper recipe with you. This year, when I’m concerned with calories, I decided to redo that recipe and make it healthier. Here’s what I came up with which, by the way, my husband loved (and he’s not counting calories!).

Healthy Stuffed Bell Peppers

½ cup brown rice

4 medium-sized green bell peppers

1 pound ground chicken breast

1 T. red bell pepper, minced

1 clove garlic, minced (divided)

2 green onions, minced (divided)

1 ½ T. green chile, minced (divided)

1/3 cup canned corn, drained

½ t. each: oregano, garlic salt, paprika, dried parsley, black pepper, dried cilantro and cumin powder

1 can condensed cheese soup (divided)

¼ cup fat free half and half

In a saucepan, bring 1 ½ cups water to boil. Add half cup brown rice. Cover and simmer on low for 45 minutes. Remove from heat.

Remove the cap of the green peppers and clean out seeds and membranes inside. Cut a thin slice off the bottom of each, if necessary, to make them stand up straight (good posture for peppers, ha!). Spray a baking pan with cooking spray and stand peppers within.

In a skillet sprayed with cooking spray, cook ground chicken over medium heat. Add red bell pepper, half of the minced garlic, the white parts of the green onion, and half of the green chile. Sauté for another two minutes, until veggies are soft. Add corn, rice, seasonings and ¼ cup of the cheese soup. The rice should have a small amount of unabsorbed water in the bottom of the pan; if not add a tablespoon of water to mixture to chicken mixture to thin it a bit.

Stuff each pepper with one quarter of the chicken/rice mixture. Cover the baking pan tightly with aluminum foil. Bake at 350 degrees for about one hour, until bell peppers are soft.

While the peppers are cooking, mix together remaining cheese soup, reserved vegetables and half and half. Microwave on high for 1 to 2 minutes, until heated through.

To serve, place one pepper on a plate and spoon a quarter of the warm cheese sauce over the top. Goes great with a hot bowl of soup or a crisp, fresh green salad.

Serves 4 with 349 calories, 11 grams of fat and 761.5 mg of sodium each serving.

January 16, 2012: Roasted New York Strip Steak with Wine Mushroom Sauce Recipe

2012-01-16T14:24:00.001-07:00

Just because it’s winter doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy a good steak. Yes, I know, steak is best when it’s grilled but it’s also good when you roast it like this recipe. Give it a try and see what you can think.

Roasted New York Strip Steak with Red Wine Mushroom Sauce

2 (4) ounce, thick cut New York strip steaks

Montreal Steak Seasoning

2 t. olive oil, divided

1 T. minced shallot

4 mushrooms, quartered

¼ cup dry red wine

¼ cup beef stock

2 t. Dijon mustard

¼ cup fat free half and half

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Sprinkle both sides of steak with Montreal Steak Seasoning. Heat an oven-proof skillet (cast iron is ideal) to medium heat. Add one teaspoon of the olive oil. Sear the steak on both sides in the skillet, about one minute per side. Transfer skillet to oven and roast for about 20 minutes. Remove from oven and transfer steak to cutting board; tent with foil.

While steak is resting, add remaining teaspoon of olive oil to skillet and heat on top of stove to medium. Add shallots and mushrooms to pan and sauté for about one minute, until veggies are slightly softened. Add wine and beef stock. Cook, stirring frequently, until reduced by half. Add Dijon mustard and half and half. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serves 2 with calories of about 294 per serving

January 15, 2012: Asian Sauced Pork Tenderloin Medallions Recipe

2012-01-15T04:00:00.000-07:00

Here’s another recipe I devised based loosely on one I found in the current issue of Cooking Light magazine. My recipe makes it just a bit more diet-friendly and the best part? My husband absolutely loved this dish! He said it tasted as if I’d fried up sausage in the pan and then added the pork, which made him believe there were plenty of fat calories when it reality, it is quite healthy and low cal.

Asian Sauced Pork Tenderloin served with Whole Wheat Linguine with Vegetables and Slow Cooker Sesame Green Beans

Asian Sauced Pork Tenderloin Medallions

1 t. minced ginger

1 t. honey

1 T. soy sauce

1 t. rice wine vinegar

½ t. Asian red chili sauce

3/4 lb. pork tenderloin, sliced horizontally into 3 thick pieces

1 t. olive oil

Combine marinade ingredients in a glass dish and add pork loin pieces. Marinate, refrigerated, a minimum of two hours.

Heat a heavy skillet to medium high. Add olive oil. Remove pork tenderloin from marinade and carefully add to hot skillet, being careful not to splatter yourself with the hot oil. Reduce heat to medium. Cook medallions for about 3 – 5 minutes each side (depending on thickness) until cooked through. Add remaining marinade and about 1/3 cup of water to deglaze the hot pan and make a sauce. To serve, place one medallion on each plate and spoon about a tablespoon of sauce over each.

3 servings, 312 calories each

January 14, 2012: Low Fat Asian Linguine With Vegetables Recipe

2012-01-14T04:00:00.000-07:00

I know I’ve shared other recipes for Asian style pasta but with this one I took care to make it as low calorie as possible and I believe I succeeded nicely. The portion sizes aren’t big, but pasta is filling and it doesn’t take a large quantity to serve this as a side dish.

Note: The Oriental salad dressing I used was left over from the Oriental Chicken Salad recipe I prepared on January 5^th.

Low Fat Asian Linguine served with Asian Pork Tenderloin and Slow Cooker Sesame Green Beans

Low Fat Asian Linguine With Vegetables

2 ounces whole wheat linguine

1/4 cup chopped broccoli

1 t. sesame oil

1/4 cup Red bell pepper, cut into strips

1 Green onion, cut on the bias
2 fresh basil leaves, chiffonade

1/3 cup Oriental salad dressing

Cook linguine in boiling water as directed on package with broccoli; drain and set aside. In the same pot, heat the sesame oil over medium heat. Add the pepper and white parts of the onion (reserve the green parts) and stir fry for 2 – 3 minutes, until veggies start to soften. Mix in reserved linguine and broccoli and add salad dressing. To serve, top with slices of reserved green onion and basil leaves.

Serves 2 with about 90 calories each serving

January 13, 2012: Slow Cooker Low Cal Sesame Green Beans Recipe

2012-01-13T04:00:00.000-07:00

Looking for a diet-friendly side dish to go with an Asian-style main dish? These green beans fit the bill nicely. Not only are they flavorful, they are low in fat and can cook away in your Crock pot throughout the day or afternoon.

Slow Cooker Low Cal Sesame Green Beans

1 pound fresh green beans

½ t. sesame oil

½ t. olive oil

2 cloves garlic, sliced on the diagonal

1 shallot, chopped (about ¼ cup)

½ t. garlic salt

2/3 t. sesame seeds, toasted*
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Remove the ends of the green beans and snap each into two or three bite-size pieces.

Place the oils in a slow cooker set on low. Add the garlic and shallots, topped by the green beans. Sprinkle all with garlic salt and sesame seeds. Cover and cook on low for about 4 hours (or high for 2 hours), until tender. Season with salt and pepper to taste just before serving.

Serves 2 large servings with 71.4 calories in each serving.

*To easily toast sesame seeds, heat a small, heavy pan to medium heat on the stove; add sesame seeds and cook for five minutes, stirring occasionally.

Note: The longer you cook these green beans, the softer they will become. If you want them semi-crisp, don't cook longer than 2 hours.

January 12, 2012: Low Cal Potato Cheese Soup Recipe

2012-01-12T04:00:00.000-07:00

Although cheese isn’t the most diet-friendly food, it is packed with protein and you can’t deny yourself (myself) all the time. This recipe is very filling; a little cheese goes a long way.

Low Cal Potato Cheese Soup

1 t. butter

¼ cup chopped white onion

2 cloves garlic, minced

3 green onions, chopped

1 stalk celery, thinly sliced

1 small Roma tomato, peeled and diced

1 roasted green chile, peeled and diced

3 red potatoes, cut into 1 ½” chunks

1 cup water

1 t. chicken bouillon

2 ounces Velveeta cheese, cubed

½ t. garlic salt

½ t. black pepper

1 cup 1% milk

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Add white onion, garlic, white parts of green onions, and celery. Sauté for five minutes, until vegetables begin to soften. Stir in tomato, green chile, and potatoes. Add water and chicken bouillon; bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to medium low, gently boiling potatoes for about 15 minutes or until soft.

Add cubes of cheese, salt, pepper and milk. Reduce heat to low and stir together just until cheese melts. To serve, top bowls of soup with green onions.

Serves 2 – 4 (two as a main dish, four as a side dish or appetizer) with calories of approximately 265 in a one-cup serving.

Tip: For a thicker soup, let it cool, then reheat slowly over low heat.

January 11, 2012: Pomegranate Mustard Glazed Chicken Recipe

2012-01-11T04:00:00.000-07:00

I bought the latest issue of Cooking Light magazine because I was intrigued by the front cover, which promised dozens of new chicken recipes. We eat a lot of chicken and finding new ways to make it in a calorie-conscious manner is always appealing to me. I ended up combining a couple different recipes to come up with this delicious combination. Be forewarned, however, the cooked chicken turns a deep purple color (from the pomegranate juice) which some might find off-putting.

Pomegranate Mustard Glazed Chicken

2 t. olive oil, divided

4 pieces boneless, skinless chicken (breasts and/or thighs)

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

¼ t. salt

2 T. minced shallots

2 garlic cloves, minced

½ cup pomegranate juice

1 t. Truvia or other sugar substitute

½ t. dried sage

1 t. cider vinegar

1 t. Dijon mustard

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Sprinkle both sides of chicken pieces with salt and pepper. In a heavy, oven-proof skillet, heat one teaspoon of olive oil to medium. Quickly sear the chicken pieces on both sides (about 1 – 2 minutes per side). Transfer to a plate to rest.

Reduce heat to medium low. Add remaining olive oil, shallots, and garlic. Sauté for about one minutes, until softened. Add pomegranate juice and cook, stirring frequently, until reduced by half. Add Truvia, sage, vinegar and mustard and heat through.

Place chicken pieces in pan and turn over to coat both sides with sauce. Place in oven and cook for an additional 10 – 15 minutes, until chicken is no longer pink in the middle. Serve with sauce spooned over the top.

Serves 4 with approximately 287 calories per serving.

January 10, 2012: Slow Cooked Potatoes and Mushrooms Recipe

2012-01-10T04:00:00.000-07:00

Most slow cooker recipes combine meat and vegetables but this can muddy the flavors and be detrimental to texture. Next time you’re in a time pinch, consider putting the night’s dinner veggies in a crock pot before you leave for work and then simply broil or sauté a protein to go with it when you get home. This recipe is also great to make a nutritious side dish for a party or buffet.

Slow Cooked Potatoes and Mushrooms

3 medium-sized red potatoes, cut into eights

4 large brown mushrooms, quartered

1 small white onion, cut into lengthwise chunks

4 cloves garlic, minced

½ t. Seasoned salt

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 t. lemon juice

1 t. olive oil

Place potatoes in bottom of crock pot; sprinkle with seasoned salt and kosher salt and black pepper to taste. Layer vegetables on top. Sprinkle lemon juice and olive oil over the top. Turn slow cooker to low and cook for 4 to 6 hours, until potatoes are soft.

Serves 2 with 272 calories per serving

January 9, 2012: Honey Nut Cereal Bars Recipe

2012-01-09T04:00:00.000-07:00

Here’s a recipe I devised use several others as a base. I wanted something somewhat nutritious to serve to my women’s Bible study group as well as have a bit left over that I could contribute to the kids in the Good News Club (an after school program to teach kids about the Bible and Christianity), for which my pastor and his wife are teachers. I used what I had on hand to come up with this yummy recipe.

Honey Nut Cereal Bars fresh out of the oven and waiting to be cut.

Honey Nut Cereal Bars

¼ cup peanut butter

1/3 cup honey

2 T. vegetable oil

2 T. vanilla extract

2 T. plain Greek yogurt

½ cup brown sugar

½ cup sweetened coconut

¼ cup roasted sunflower seeds

½ cup pomegranate flavored craisins (or any flavor of your choice)

½ cup blueberry flavored craisins (or any flavor of your choice)

2 cups rolled oats

2 cups honey nut Cheerios

In a large mixing bowl, combine peanut butter, honey, and vegetable oil. Microwave on high for 30 seconds, or until the peanut butter is softened enough to easily blend with the other ingredients. Add vanilla and yogurt and mix well. Add remaining ingredients and stir together just until combined. Press into bottom of greased 13 x 9 inch baking pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Let cool completely and stand for several hours before cutting into bars and serving.

Makes 32 bars with about 100 calories in each bar, 3.3 grams total fat and 29.6 mg sodium (as calculated on SparkRecipes.com).

January 8, 2012: Potato Chip Crusted Cod Recipe

2012-01-08T06:00:00.000-07:00

Although this recipe uses potato chips as a crust for the cod, it’s really quite light in calories and has enough flavor that you shouldn’t need to use any kind of dressing or tartar sauce.

Cod fillets encrusted and ready to go into the oven.

Potato Chip Crusted Cod Recipe

2 6-ounce cod fillets

1 t. prepared remoulade (Cajun seafood) sauce

¼ cup crushed kettle potato chips

Rinse and dry cod fillets. Spray a baking dish with olive oil cooking spray. Place cod fillets in prepared pan; spread with the reomoulade sauce and top with crushed potato chips.

Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes.

Serves 2 with about 250 calories per piece.

January 7, 2012: Roasted Cauliflower and Broccoli With Balsamic Vinaigrette Recipe

2012-01-07T09:00:00.000-07:00

Part of getting healthy and losing weight is incorporating more vegetables into your diet. I can do this easily as there are very few things I won’t eat but my husband has a harder time (to his credit, he hasn’t complained about our new eating habits and happily munches on salads and soups along with me).

While just about anyone will eat broccoli or cauliflower smothered in a rich cheese sauce, it’s harder to allow these vegetables to stand on their own merit. Roasting root vegetables at a high temperature, however, caramelizes them and gives them a different flavor profile that meshes perfectly with this vinaigrette.

Roasted Cauliflower and Broccoli With Balsamic Vinaigrette

2 cups cauliflower florets

2 t. olive oil

1 cup broccoli florets

Balsamic Vinaigrette

1/8 cup olive oil

1 ½ t. capers

1 T. finely minced shallot

1 garlic clove, finely minced

1/8 cup balsamic vinegar

½ t. Dijon mustard

¼ t. sea salt

¼ t. freshly ground black pepper

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Toss cauliflower with olive oil. Place cauliflower on a rimmed baking sheet and roast for 20 minutes.

While cauliflower is roasting, make vinaigrette. In a small, heavy saucepan, heat olive oil to medium low. Add capers, shallots and garlic; fry for about 2 minutes, until vegetables are softened. Remove from heat and add remaining ingredients.

Toss broccoli with vinaigrette. Add to cauliflower and return to oven to roast for an additional 20 minutes.

Makes about 3 servings with 130 calories per serving.

January 6, 2012: Hot and Spicy Pumpkin Dip Recipe

2012-01-06T04:00:00.000-07:00

The Wednesday edition of the Arizona Republic newspaper contains the weekly food section and I always eagerly await it to see what kind of new recipes it might contain. Usually I’m not impressed but this week I took notice of a recipe for a sweet potato dip I wanted to try. I only had pumpkin so I did a bit of my own makeover magic in the way of substitutions and less fat to come up with this very tasty recipe.

Hot and Spicy Pumpkin Dip

1 cup cooked pumpkin (or canned pureed)

1 T. roasted pumpkin seeds

½ chipotle pepper in adobo sauce + about ½ teaspoon sauce

2 cloves garlic

½ t. paprika

½ t. cumin

½ t. sesame oil

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Place all ingredients in a small food processor and process until smooth. (I just got a stick blender with attachments, which worked wonderfully for this application!)

Serves 2 with calories of approximately112 (1/2 cup serving size)

Serve this Hot and Spicy Pumpkin Dip with a 10” flour tortilla torn into strips and sprayed on both sides with nonstick cooking spray. Sprinkle them with kosher salt. Bake the strips in a 450 degree oven for about 10 minutes, turning them over once, for guilt-less chips (total calories about 220).

January 5, 2012: Low Fat Oriental Chicken Salad

2012-01-05T08:54:00.000-07:00

I wanted to use a bit of leftover chicken I had in the freezer for dinner. My first thought was to make this chicken casserole that my husband so loves but, unfortunately, it’s filled with tons of calories. I decided, instead, to turn it into a lovely Oriental Chicken Salad. I used several different recipes to come up with this combination; the salad dressing is fat free and virtually calorie free so feel free to use as much as necessary to flavor your salad.

Low Fat Oriental Chicken Salad

Dressing

2 cups water

2 T. Truvia

3 t. dry pectin

1 T. rice wine vinegar

1 t. soy sauce

1 t. minced garlic

1 t. kosher salt

¼ t. black pepper

¼ t. paprika

1 package ramen noodles

1 cup water

½ t. chicken bouillon

3 cups torn green leaf lettuce

1 cup shredded Napa cabbage

2 green onions, white and green parts sliced on the diagonal

2 mushrooms, thinly sliced

1 rib celery, thinly sliced

½ cup cooked, shredded chicken

3 baby carrots, cut into matchsticks

1 T. roasted sunflower seeds

Combine dressing ingredients in a small saucepan. Heat over medium heat to boiling, whisking frequently. Cook at a low boil for about 10 minutes, until slightly reduced. Remove from heat, cool, and refrigerate.

Bring cup of water to boiling in saucepot. Add ramen noodles and boillon. Boil for 3 minutes then turn off heat and allow to cool (noodles will absorb excess liquid).

Combine lettuce, cabbage, onions, mushrooms and celery. Toss with 1/3 to ½ cup of dressing. Place in serving bowl and top with chicken, ramen noodles, carrots and sunflower seeds.

Serves one with approximately 525 calories – but this is a BIG salad and has enough protein to satisfy.

January 4, 2012: Shrimp, Potato and Pea Salad Recipe

2012-01-04T11:10:00.002-07:00

I know I’ve talked about the need to lose weight on and off over the past year but now it’s time to get serious about it. I attended a Weight Watchers meeting last night as the guest of my friend Kathy. I was NOT impressed by the organization – I wasn’t allowed to use the scale (really? I snuck up there anyway) and at the end of the regular part of the meeting I wanted more information but was told by the gals manning the tables in back that they were “closed”. They gave me a flyer advertising a special deal and sent me on my way. This was not the way to get me to sign up and spend my money with Weight Watchers!

So…when I got on the scale I wasn’t too surprised to see that my weight was even worse than I’d thought. So my goal is to lose 36 pounds over the upcoming year. I did some sleuthing online and found out that to lose one pound with light activity (I walk about 3 – 4 miles in the park as often as possible but I guess walking isn’t considered even moderate exercise) I can only take in 1,214 calories per day. Okay, that’s difficult but not impossible. My usual breakfast of yogurt, string cheese and a few crackers along with two cups of coffee and creamer came out to 433 calories. That leaves me roughly 800 calories for the rest of the day. I’m doing my best to stick to that.

Here’s a recipe my Aunt Jean wrote out for me some years ago. She found it in a book from the library but I have no idea which one so I can’t give credit where it’s due. Anyway, by changing the regular mayonnaise to low fat or non fat or even substituting Greek yogurt, this recipe is very healthy and a great lunch or brunch dish.

Shrimp, Potato and Pea Salad

1 ½ lbs. cooked shrimp

5 medium-sized red potatoes, cooked, cooled and diced

1 10-ounce package frozen peas, cooked and cooled

3 medium dill pickles, chopped

4 green onions, chopped

Dressing:

1 cup mayonnaise (low fat or non fat or substitute Greek yogurt)

3 T. freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 T. minced fresh dill weed

¼ t. black pepper

In a large bowl, combine shrimp, potatoes, peas, pickles and onions. Cover and refrigerate.

In a small bowl mix dressing ingredients. Add to salad and mix thoroughly. Refrigerate a couple hours or overnight to allow flavors to blend.

Serving suggestions: serve with fresh sliced tomatoes and cucumber sticks along with a bread thin spritzed with spray margarine and garlic powder. Or serve with bran muffin and fresh fruit.

January 3, 2012: Acorn Squash Crescents Recipe

2012-01-03T04:00:00.000-07:00

Here’s a side dish loaded with flavor but slim on calories. It makes a beautiful accompaniment to a piece of chicken or fish, rice and a fresh, green salad.

Acorn Squash Crescents

1 acorn squash

1 T. butter

¼ t. curry powder

¼ t. kosher salt

1 T. apple juice or apple cider

Cut squash in half lengthwise; scoop out seeds and tough fibers. Place each half cut side down on a cutting board and cut into ½ inch thick slices. Arrange in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet.

In a small saucepan, melt the butter and add seasonings; brush over squash.

Cover squash and bake in a 375 degree oven for about 20 minutes, until tender. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with apple juice, turning each slice to coat. Bake uncovered for another five minutes until tender and glazed.

Serves 6