Zucchini Marinara

Simply delicious!  I'm a huge pasta-lover, and this truly takes care of my cravings!  

It's super easy to make, too!  The cook time depends on the texture you want to get out of the zucchini.  Some people like it raw, I prefer mine soft but not completely mushy.

I have a lot of kitchen gadgets, the latest is the Spirooli! 

It's very easy to use and clean, and can create veggie noodles, ribbons, shreds, and chips.

It's not expensive at about $25, so if this is something you plan to make regularly, you should go get one!

Ingredients

1 zucchini, turned into noodles using the larger attachment on the Spirooli

Sprinkle of salt

1 tsp olive oil

1/2 cup marinara sauce (I love Mamma Lombardi's- nice and garlicy!)

2 oz. shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

Heat the oil in a large pan over medium heat.  Add zucchini, sprinkle lightly with salt, and sauté until it reaches your desired texture.  Add marinara sauce and cook one minute.  Plate and sprinkle with cheese.

Enjoy!

Spicy Shrimp and Cabbage Soup

I love soup.  Doesn't matter whether it's summer or winter, I just enjoy a big, hot bowl of soup!  I was craving soup the other day, so I took a look through my always well stocked kitchen, and created this delicious soup!

I make it a point to keep my kitchen stocked with the basics, and then some.  That way, I always have something healthy to make, and can resist ordering out or grabbing fast food.  The only thing in this recipe that I don't usually have was the cabbage, but luckily I picked up a head at the store yesterday!  I make sure to always keep a bag of frozen, cleaned raw shrimp in my freezer.  They thaw out in minutes and cook quickly, and are such a great protein!

This recipe makes 2 servings.  

Each serving has 204 calories, 31.5g carbs, .5 g fat, and 15g protein.

Ingredients

• 4 cups chicken broth
• 75g buckwheat noodles (I use Sau Tao noodles, they are pre-portioned into 75g bunches.  Each bunch has 264 calories, so depending on your noodles, you might have a higher/lower calorie count)
• 2 cups napa cabbage, roughly chopped
• 12 shrimp, raw and cleaned (if frozen, thaw before using)
• 1 tbsp sriracha sauce

Bring broth to a boil in a medium pot.  Add noodles, stirring to avoid clumping.  After about a minute, add the cabbage and sriracha.  When noodles are almost done, add shrimp. Cook until shrimp are just cooked through, about 2 minutes.

Enjoy!

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Seared Scallops over Greens with an Orange Muscat Champagne Vinaigrette

Long name, lots of ingredients, but easy to make and DELICIOUS!!!  

Much like Elaine from Seinfeld, I love BIG salads.  If I'm eating veggies, 

I want lots of them!  I also had this delicious vinegar from Trader Joe's 

lying around, and it made a perfect dressing.

The whole recipe makes one BIG salad and is 6 Points+.  

This salad is a meal, not a starter! If you want to serve this at the beginning 

of the meal, consider the recipe to serve at least 2. 

Don't let scallops scare you, despite what you hear from Gordon Ramsey, I find them easy to cook.  If you don't enjoy scallops, shrimp would taste great as well.

Ingredients

1/2 lb scallops (I use dry sea scallops, but they are pricey.  There are 6 in a 1/2 lb)

2 cups spring mix (baby spinach would be delicious as well)

1 beefsteak tomato, sliced

1/2 red onion, sliced

1/2 cup sugar snap peas, vein removed

1/4 cup alfalfa sprouts

2 scallions, thinly sliced

3 tbsp orange muscat champagne vinegar (I use one from Trader Joe's, you can substitute another flavored vinegar if you can't find this one)

1 tsp olive oil

1/2 tbsp ginger paste

salt

black pepper

cayenne pepper

Spray a pan with non-stick spray and set over medium-high heat.  Pat the scallops dry and season with salt, black pepper and a touch of cayenne pepper.  Once the pan is nice and hot, add the scallops.  Make sure to use a pan large enough so the scallops are not crowded or else they will just steam, not sear.  After about 2 minutes, turn scallops over and cook for another two minutes.  Scallops should NOT be cooked until they are firm, that means they are overcooked and will taste like rubber.  You want them to have a lot of give when you touch them.  As soon as they are done and have nice color on each side, remove onto a plate and put on the side.

Combine spring mix, tomato, onion, snap peas and alfalfa sprouts in a large bowl, toss to mix.

In a smaller bowl, combine the vinegar, oil, scallions and ginger paste.  Whisk, add salt and black pepper to taste.  

Pour dressing over vegetables and toss to coat.  Place on a plate and serve the scallops over top.

Enjoy!

BLT

I love bacon, as most people do.  It's perfect at any time of the day.  I once thought that I would have to go without bacon if I wanted to lose weight.  WRONG!  Bacon and weight loss can happen at the same time!  It's all about the kind of bacon and the portion.  Mega-greasy heaps of bacon at the diner- not so much.  Crisp center-cut bacon?  Heck yes!  One of my favorite ways to enjoy bacon is in a BLT.  So here's a simple, non-diet killing recipe.  The sandwich only has a Points+ value of 6!  I know BLT's are pretty self-explanatory, but you're getting a recipe anyway!

Ingredients:
4 slices center-cut bacon, cooked crispy
1 Arnold Select 100% Whole Wheat Sandwich Thin
1 tbsp light mayo (I really like Hellman's Light- the one with the blue cover)
1/2 tomato, sliced
Iceberg lettuce


Lightly toast the sandwich thin, and spread both halves with mayo.  Layer remaining ingredients in the order you like, I prefer tomato on the bottom, then bacon, then lettuce.  Put together, and eat.  


I had this for breakfast over the weekend, and it was great!  It's very filling and satisfies the need for bacon.  Since I usually have about 6 points for breakfast, this was an even swap for anything else I would have.  If you're having this for lunch or dinner, or if you're just really hungry, pair it with a salad or some cut up fruit.  I may just have to have another one for lunch!

Black Beans with Rice

This blog really helps me with my recipes.  I'm infamous for not measuring anything, and then I can never re-create anything!  

I've been eating way too much meat the past few days.  We had to cook up all of the meat from our freezer in the garage since it tripped during the flooding from the hurricane.  I need at least a few days without consuming any meat, so I always turn to beans as a filling protein source.  This recipe came out so good, it's going to be perfect to bring to school for lunch.  You could also use it to fill a burrito.  It's also great since it takes about 15 minutes to make, and most of the ingredients are already in your pantry (well, at least in my pantry!).

The recipe below makes 4 servings with 8 Points+ each.

Ingredients:

1 Batch Cilantro Lime Rice (www.skinnytaste.com)- I left out the cilantro because I can't stand the taste

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 cup frozen corn kernels

1 can diced tomatoes and chiles, slightly drained

1/2 cup chicken broth

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tbsp lime juice

1/2 tbsp Wondra Flour

Instructions:

Get the rice cooking.

In another pot, combine all remaining ingredients except the Wondra.  Cook over high heat until it is bubbling, reduce heat to low and continue to simmer.  Sprinkle Wondra over mixture and stir in, simmering for another 5 minutes or until it thickens to desired consistency.

Serve 1/4 of the bean mixture over 1/4 of the rice (about a 1/2 cup of each).

I can't wait to make more of this to keep on hand for meals during the week!

Egg Drop Soup

Greatest discovery ever.  Egg Drop soup is 1 WW Point+ per cup according to their website data base!  Now, I know that egg drop soup varies throughout the country, but this is amazing!  Broth-based soup is usually a safe bet depending what else is in it, but this is so fantastic.  What a great thing to pick up on the way home to curb your hunger or to compliment a meal.  I love egg drop soup, even more so now!!!

Pasta Salad

I really like pasta salad, but I haven't been eating much pasta lately.  I had a craving, and I was able to pick up some fresh whole wheat linguine at the farmers market this past weekend.  Here's what I put together for 13 Points+!  This is a huge serving, I ate it as a meal.  If you're using it as a side, it would serve 2 people.


Two ingredients of note: turkey pepperoni and the dressing.  The pepperoni is so good, and it's so few points!  The dressing is AMAZING!!!  You can have a cup for 1 Point+, and it's great for dipping veggies in!


Ingredients:
3 ounces fresh whole wheat pasta (7 Points+, will vary if using dried/fresh)
1 ounce extra sharp provolone cheese, diced (3 Points+)
18 pieces turkey pepperoni, chopped (2 Points+)
2 bell peppers (any color), diced (0 Points+)
1/2 cup Kraft Free Zesty Italian Dressing (1 Point+)


Cook pasta in salted, boiling water.  Combine other ingredients in bowl and toss.  Drain cooked pasta, rinse with cool water, drain very well.  Add pasta to bowl and toss to coat.

New Fav Meal & New Page!

Have you ever been hungry and find yourself pacing back and forth, blankly staring into your pantry, refrigerator and freezer, trying to come up with something to eat that will taste good and satisfy your hunger?


This happens to me all of the time.  I know I have food in my house, it's just a matter of putting things together so that I'm happy with the results.  Well, I've come up with a meal using foods I keep in stock all of the time.  I call it...

Shrimp Enchilada Stew

I didn't get a good picture, I was too hungry!!!

Ingredients:

12 large frozen shrimp, thawed, cut into thirds

1/2 cup frozen roasted corn

1 can enchilada sauce

1 can diced tomatoes and chilies, drained

1/8 cup mexican blend shredded cheese

Instructions:

Pre-heat the oven to 450.  Using a large oven-safe dish (I used a quart sized Pyrex bowl), mix all ingredients except cheese.  Place in oven, stir every once in a while, and cook until shrimp is 95% done.  Sprinkle cheese on top and cook until melted.   Serve with tortilla chips, it's soupy!

This was so good.  The recipe above clocks in at 7 Points+, and it's so much food!  If you don't like shrimp, it tastes just as great with diced chicken (Points+ value would be a little higher).  I paired this with 4 corn tortillas made into chips for a total value of 10 Points+.  

In other news...

I've created a new page on here where I'm going to track my workouts.  It's nothing overly interesting, but I've had a lot of people ask me what I do when I go to the gym, so I decided that I'll keep a basic log of exactly what I do each day.  Check it out in the tabs towards the top of this site!

Frozen Dinners

I'm counting down the days (1) until my life begins to become normal again in terms of hours spent at work versus hours spent on me!  These past few weeks have been full of stress and exhaustion, and not full enough of exercise and cooking.

This weekend I made it to Trader Joe's, and decided to try some of their frozen fish entrees.  Last night, I decided to make their Misoyaki Turbot.  The whole thing could serve 2 if you make additional sides, but at 8pm, no cooking was going to take place.  I decided to enjoy the whole thing myself for a total of 10 Points+ (420 cals, 12g fat, 820g sodium, 12g carbs, 62g protein, and 2g fiber).

It doesn't look as good as it tasted!

I really enjoyed this!  I've never had Turbot before, so I can't really speak about how the freezing altered the taste or texture.  It was a bit dense and fishy, but I'm assuming that's the kind of fish it was.  Ready in 8 minutes, it tasted great!  The fish was perfectly done, and the veggies and sauce were delicious.  There was so much fish, too!  I'm going to keep this in my freezer for those nights when a quick yet filling dinner is needed.

Wait- that sounds gross!

One of the things I've been trying to do during these busy weeks is keep cooked chicken in the fridge so I can pull together a quick dinner without having to first cook the meat itself.  I don't always have a specific recipe in mind, so I keep the chicken plain.  And I boil it.


Yes, you read that right.  I boil up a batch of trimmed chicken breasts.  I know it sounds gross, I thought so too at first, but it's really quick and works well!  The chicken works well in anything after that- chicken salad, enchiladas, wraps, you name it!  Just add seasoning when you use it, and enjoy.


Last night I took some, cubed it up, mixed it with taco sauce and topped it with a corn tortilla and some cheese.  Pop that in the oven until it's nice and hot, and viola!  Delicious enchilada-type dinner ready to go!

Must...stay...away...from.......

TAKEOUT!!!  


My busy schedule is catching up to me, and I've been coming home between 8 and 9 at night.  Eating dinner at that time sucks enough, but cooking then eating dinner makes it even worse.  I'm allowing myself to pick up dinner somewhere on the way home just once a week.  It's never as healthy as I would eat at home, and it's expensive!


Monday was a very rough day, so takeout it was!  Enter Tuesday.  A better day overall, but still very long.  Takeout was calling my name!  My wallet and my stomach didn't really want it though, so I decided to go home and figure out something fast!  I also had 20 points left for the day (I didn't eat much because I was busy), so that was another issue.  I don't want to eat anything heavy or mass quantities that late at night.


So, off I go to scour the pantry and the fridge for a satisfying lower quantity-higher points dinner that would be ready quickly with little effort.  Enter soup and salad.  Now, when most people hear soup and salad, they don't exactly think of filling or dinner.  If you have the right soup and salad, it can seem just as hearty as a full meal.


I started boiling some water, put in 2 oz. of whole wheat rotini.  As that's cooking away, I start getting together my gorgonzola salad.  It's my favorite, but it's high in points as far as salads are concerned, so I rarely make it.  It's made up of spring mix, 1 oz. gorgonzola cheese (never buy the pre-crumbled!  Not only is it more expensive, it has no flavor compared to buying a good wedge and crumbling it yourself!), 1/8 cup Craisins, and your favorite light raspberry vinaigrette.  Deliciousness in a bowl, and it adds up to 6 Points+ (depending on your dressing).  If you want to add more points to it, throw in some almonds!


By this time, the pasta was done cooking.  I drained it, and added 2 cups of Trader Joe's creamy tomato soup.  Heat that up, and viola!  The soup with the pasta comes to 10 Points+, and it's so satisfying!  The soup and salad did the job, but didn't leave me feeling overly full (as takeout usually does!).  


What is your favorite soup/salad to make?

Easy Chicken Enchiladas

Lately, we've been keeping chicken breast in the refrigerator all trimmed up (thanks Chris).  I like to marinade mine in salsa and grill it up.

Here's a very quick dinner idea, and you probably have most of the ingredients in your pantry!

Ingredients:


1 grilled marinaded chicken breast, diced
1 can red enchilada sauce, divided
1/2 cup black beans, drained and rinsed
1/4 cup shredded cheddar and jack cheese
3 corn tortillas

1.  Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

2.  Place chicken, half of the enchilada sauce and black beans in a small saucepan over medium-low heat.  Stir every few minutes to ensure even heating.

3.  Heat up a nonstick pan over medium-high heat.  Heat the tortillas one at a time, flipping after 2 minutes. This will soften them.

4.  Spray a baking pan with cooking spray.  Fill each tortilla with the chicken mixture and roll up.  Place in the pan, seam side down.

5.  Cover with remaining sauce and sprinkle with the cheese.  Bake until it gets nice and bubbly.

Total WW Points+ Value= 14

You really need to make this whether you are dieting or not!!!

Tempeh

So, during our travels to Trader Joe's, I came across 3 grain tempeh.  I had heard of it before, but never seen or tasted it.  I'm always looking for other ways to get protein into my diet, so I picked some up.

Last night, I threw together a stir fry using the veggies I had in my house, whole wheat pasta, some ginger stir fry sauce and sriracha (OMG hot but awesome).  What I was missing was protein!  I didn't have any chicken or enough shrimp or anything.  Enter tempeh...

I wasn't too sure what to do with it, so I cubed it up and tossed it in with the veggies so it could brown up.

I ended up really enjoying it!  It had a texture that reminded me of really dense barley.  Like tofu, it really tastes like whatever you cook it with.

So, if you see a pack, pick it up and give it a whirl!

Easy Catalina Chicken Dinner

One of my favorite dinners growing up was catalina chicken.  My parents would take chicken wings and legs, coat them in catalina dressing, and bake until the chicken was cooked and the dressing was nice and thick.

My version uses chicken breasts and fat-free dressing to improve the stats.  The recipe below is for one person, multiply accordingly.  It has a WW Points+ value of about 10.

Ingredients:

8oz.  raw chicken breast, cubed
1/2 cup fat-free catalina (or french, just make sure it's not creamy) dressing

Directions:

1.  Pre-heat oven to 400.

2.  Place chicken in a small oven safe dish.  Cover with dressing and toss.

3.  Put dish in the oven and cook until chicken is no longer pink in the center (about 15 minutes).

4.  Remove chicken pieces to a plate, and put remaining sauce into a small saucepan  (you can always add more at this point if you want it to be more saucy!).  Cook over medium heat until it has reduced to a nice, thick texture.

5.  Pour sauce over chicken and enjoy!  Serve with rice or barley.

Looks strange, tastes great!

Sooooo easy, sooooo delicious!!!

Veggie Pepperoni Pizza

I usually have all of the ingredients in my house to make veggie pepperoni pizza, and it's so quick that it's always one of my standby meals.  It comes in with a WW Points+ value of 7.

The more vegetables you add, the more filling it is!  I vary the veggies based on what's in the fridge, but the recipe below is my favorite combination!

Ingredients:
1 tsp olive oil
1/4 white onion, diced
1/2 bell pepper, diced
1/4 lb Broccoli Rabe, chopped into bite sized pieces (not in the picture )
1 can of sliced mushrooms, drained
1 oz.  Hormel Turkey Pepperoni
Salt
Black Pepper
Dried Oregano
1 Mission Carb Control Flour Tortilla
2 wedges Laughing Cow Mozzarella-Sundried Tomato-Basil cheese
2 sticks Weight Watchers Mozzarella String Cheese, shredded
1/4 cup tomato sauce

1.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees

2.  Heat olive oil in a pan over medium heat.  Add veggies.  Season with salt, black pepper and oregano to taste.

3.  When the oven reaches 400, put in the tortilla on a tray covered in foil.

4.  When the veggies are soft and starting to brown, add the turkey pepperoni.  Turn off heat after 5 more minutes.

5.  The tortilla will curl and begin to brown, when it does, flip it over.  When the other side gets color, remove tortilla from the oven but don't shut it off.

6.  Spread both wedges of cheese over tortilla.  Cover with tomato sauce and shredded mozzarella.  Return to oven until cheese gets nice and melty.

7.  Put veggie mix on top and leave in oven for 5 minutes.  Serve while it's nice and hot!    Enjoy!

Frozen Dinners

Now, I really don't like frozen dinners, but sometimes it's better than ordering a huge beef burrito or grabbing some fast-food burgers in my opinion.

After a 14.5 hour day, the last thing I want to do when getting home after 8pm is start cooking dinner.  All of my pre-made food was being eaten for lunch, so I don't want the same thing for dinner.  I would have loved to get some chicken and broccoli, but my favorite Chinese restaurant is closed for repairs, and I'm too picky to try a new place.  If it sucks, I'll be pissed for wasting food and money!  Not to mention I tend to always overeat when I have Chinese.

I was at the grocery store getting some fresh veggies, and wandered over to the frozen food aisle.  Off to the "healthy meal" section I go!  Now, I don't do frozen cooked seafood.  Never reheats well.  Also not a fan of turkey, or anything trying to be italian.  Despite high sodium, I tend to lean towards Asian food when it comes to frozen meals.

My choice for the evening was a Lean Cuisine Lemongrass Chicken meal.  Looked somewhat appealing, 6 WW Points+, and I was HUNGRY.

Honestly, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.  Considering that it was late, I didn't want a large meal, so it was a good size (I would have supplemented it with soup or a salad if I were eating at a normal dinner hour).  The chicken actually tasted like chicken in both taste and texture.  The sauce was enjoyable.  It was a bit salty, but I expected that.  Overall, my least favorite part of this meal were the noodles.  I can't pinpoint what about them, but something about them wasn't living up to my expectations.  They weren't bad, just not great.

I hope to not have to resort to meals like this too often (not just for nutritional reasons, but almost $5 for about $1.50 worth of food?  Meh).

At least now I have something that I can grab and know I will enjoy it.

It tasted better than it looks!

Tilapia with Broccoli Mac and Cheese

I still need to work on neatly getting my fish out of the pan.

I'm lucky to have a great fish store right by the house on my way home, so I have access to fresh products. One of my favorite fish is tilapia.  It has a clean, light taste that goes well with so many different flavors that it never gets boring.

This dinner can be made in about 15-20 minutes total, which is all I'm ever willing to spend when I get home at 7:30 and want to eat dinner without resorting to fast-food or take-out.  It's all about getting everything going at the right time!

Most of my recipes are for a single person, so keep that in mind if you are feeding more than one.

Ingredients:

1 tilapia fillet, about 8oz.

Spices of choice- I love blackened seasoning

2oz. uncooked whole wheat rotini

Large (12oz.) bag Green Giant Broccoli and Cheese Steamers

2 wedges Laughing Cow Lite Original Swiss Cheese

Now, when I first measured out the pasta, I was underwhelmed to say the least:

That's it?!?!

Do not fear!  You will be completely satisfied!

Boil salted water in a small pot for the pasta.

While the water is heating, take the tilapia out of the fridge to bring up the temperature.

As soon as the water boils, put in the pasta.  Place the bag of veggies in the microwave for 6-7 minutes.

Heat a pan sprayed with non-stick spray over medium-high heat.  Season tilapia and place in the pan once it's nice and hot.

Flip tilapia after 3-4 minutes.  Also check the pasta for doneness.  If timed right, the pasta will be done when the veggies are done and the fish needs to be flipped.

Drain pasta and return to pot.  Add contents of steamer bag and the 2 wedges of cheese.  Cook over low heat, stirring, until the cheese wedges melt.

Mmmmm

Fish will flake when done, it might need one or two more flips if it's on the thick side.

Serve pasta and fish immediately.

I love this dinner!  Enjoy!


As a side note, the steamer bags and cheese wedges are always stocked in my house.

The veggies are great without the pasta, and you'll find so many uses for the cheese.  I am also fond of the Mozzarella, Sun-dried Tomato Basil flavor as well as the Queso Fresco Chipolte.  Recipes using those to come.