Category Archives: Lighter Fare

Crockpot Chicken Cacciatore

Posted on March 5, 2012 by Veronica

It’s Secret Recipe Club time again! I can’t tell you how thankful I am to Amanda for starting this club. The amount of fun I have with it is a little ridiculous. My favorite part is getting my blog assignment and stealthily stalking that blog, hunting down recipes that I want to make and post for reveal day. I always bookmark a million and it takes me an entire week to narrow down my choice to one recipe.

{You can find my past Secret Recipe Club posts here.}

This month I was assigned to A Little Nosh and unlike previous assignments, I knew which recipe I was going to make within a minute of clicking on her blog. I still went through Amy’s archives and bookmarked half her recipes, but did eventually return to the original that caught my eye and knew I couldn’t fight it. I had to make the crockpot chicken cacciatore because:

1) It’s beautiful and I like pretty food.

2) I’d never eaten or made it and thought it would be fun to try something new.

3) It fit perfectly in our diet plan while we were in the 2nd cycle of the 17 Day Diet.

4) I noticed the recipe originally came from one of my blogging buddies, Renee of My Kitchen Adventures, and it tickled me to think that I’d be making Amy’s and Renee’s recipe at the same time.

I changed the recipe to make it on a slightly larger scale with a higher ratio of veggies, and it completely filled my 6-quart crockpot to the brim. The leftovers were enough to last us all week, and what beautiful lunches we were bringing to work! The vegetables and sauce were such a tasty compliment to the tender chicken breast meat, which pretty much fell apart as soon as you touched it with a fork. So delicious.

Thanks, Amy, for sharing this great recipe. I never even saw it on Renee’s blog, so I’m glad to have gotten the opportunity through you and the SRC to try it!

Crockpot Garden Chicken Cacciatore

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6 large skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 yellow or orange bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
2 large ribs of celery, diced
3 large carrots, diced
2 (4 oz) cans sliced mushrooms, drained
2 tablespoons minced garlic
2 (14.5 oz) cans of diced tomatoes with basil, oregano and garlic
1 (6 oz) can tomato paste
½ cup chicken broth
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
¼ cup cornstarch
1-2 tablespoons water or chicken broth
Additional salt and pepper, to taste

Place chicken breasts inside the bottom of a 6-quart crockpot. Add in the bell peppers, onion, celery, carrots, mushrooms, and garlic. Pour the juice from the tomatoes into a medium bowl, then put the tomatoes into the crockpot.

Into the bowl with the tomato juice, add the tomato paste, chicken stock, and balsamic vinegar. Mix well, then pour on top of the tomatoes and vegetables. Cover and cook on low for 7-8 hours, or high for 4 hours, or until the chicken is tender.

Mix the cornstarch and water together until no lumps remain, then pour over the top of the vegetables. Stir, turn the crockpot to high, and allow to cook for another 20 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened. Season with additional salt and pepper to taste.

Serve over brown rice or your choice of starch.

Recipe source: adapted from A Little Nosh, originally from My Kitchen Adventures

To check out the other submissions in Group A for The Secret Recipe Club, click on the Mr. Linky below!

18 Comments

Posted in Italian, Lighter Fare, Meats, Secret Recipe Club, Slow-Cooker/Crockpot and tagged chicken cacciatore, crockpot, diet-friendly, garden vegetables, healthy, low calorie, low carb, slow cooker. Bookmark the permalink.

Creamy Mashed Cauliflower

Posted on February 7, 2012 by Veronica

Someone asked me about the “mashed potatoes” I served with the Steak au Poivre yesterday, and how I kept them so white. Well, the secret is that it wasn’t mashed potatoes! Since the steak itself seemed pretty rich, I decided to keep the sides healthy and low-calorie, and served it with roasted asparagus and this creamy mashed cauliflower.

I have made mashed cauliflower before that has cream cheese, Parmesan cheese, and butter in it, but I wanted to make it a little lighter this time. There is still a bit of butter, but also an equal amount of heart-healthy olive oil, and the cauliflower gets its creaminess and mild tangy-ness from nonfat Greek yogurt, giving it a closer taste to potatoes in that it reminds me of a baked potato with sour cream…minus the potato flavor. This dish definitely won’t fool you into thinking you’re eating potatoes, but it is delicious in its own right. I actually like the taste of it even better than the higher-fat version, not to mention it’s much healthier. To prove it’s not just me and my own weird tastes that finds this dish tasty, my husband heartily approved of the creamy cauliflower, despite being an avid mashed potatoes aficionado, polishing off a generous pile of it just as fast as he did the steak!

*Note: I updated yesterday’s steak recipe because I forgot the first and most important step in cooking them (letting them rest at room temperature prior to cooking to help ensure a tender steak). If you saved the recipe or plan to make it, please revisit it and save the new instructions. Sorry for the inconvenience of my memory lapse!

Creamy Mashed Cauliflower

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1 head cauliflower
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup Greek yogurt
2 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
½ teaspoon salt
Snipped fresh chives or parsley for garnish (optional)

Separate the cauliflower into bite-sized florets. Place in a steamer basket over boiling water, cover, and steam until tender, about 15 minutes. Place in the bowl of a food processor fitted with blade attachment, add remaining ingredients, and process until smooth and creamy. Serve hot with a sprinkling of fresh chives or parsley, if desired.

*Veronica’s Note: using nonfat yogurt and milk is perfectly fine!

Recipe source: adapted from Eating Well

10 Comments

Posted in Lighter Fare, Side Dishes and tagged cauliflower, low carb, mashed potatoes, substitute. Bookmark the permalink.

What I Eat When You’re Not Looking

Posted on November 18, 2011 by Veronica

I started this blog to share my favorite recipes with everyone and to archive them all in one spot for myself, and I refer to it to print out recipes for my binder when I make something for a second time and know there will be a third. But I don’t share everything I eat with you guys on here. Most meals I eat, especially lately, are quick & easy and aren’t really “recipes” or anything impressive enough to share with you.

But, being a food blogger, I often snap pictures of my non-blog-worthy food as a matter of habit and have decided to share some of them here for those like me that enjoy a sneak peek into the dietary lives of others. I hope you find some entertainment value in seeing what it’s really like in my kitchen on the days when I’m not making pizza or cake.

Let’s start with the most important meal of the day: breakfast. The breakfast I eat most often is some form of yogurt (preferably non-fat Greek) with thawed frozen mixed berries, usually mixed with some honey.

Lately I’ve been getting into oat bran and have made three kinds just in the last week:

Apple Cinnamon

Pumpkin Pie

Unchunky Monkey (banana & peanut butter, no chocolate)

I eat one of these chicken salad kits for lunch almost every work day because they are convenient, cheap ($1 each at Aldi), tasty, and low-calorie. I never get sick of them. I either have baby carrots or Italian Green Beans with it.

This is my “happy dinner.” Tilapia fillets seasoned with Tony Chachere’s, cooked in a skillet for 5 minutes and served with whatever veggies I can find. The most delish & nutrish 5-minute dinner ever. It makes me happy.

Here’s another (overcooked) version of it over stir-fry veggies and red rice. Sometimes I eat this fish three times a week. I love it.

I used those same stir-fry veggies (from a frozen bag) to make a 5-minute vegan dinner by adding black rice (I cook rice in batches and use throughout the week), white beans, and bottled peanut sauce. Yum!

Another easy favorite: the BLT. I have to have Miracle Whip on mine (I use light), but I used to think that “BLT” implied you used ONLY bacon, lettuce, and tomato with nothing else so it’s only recently I started adding a condiment. Much better with.

And sometimes I just start with a can of something and add other something’s to it. This was a can of Aldi limited edition jalapeño black beans that I added peppers & kabocha squash to, served over rice and garnished with cheese.

After I realized how good sweet squash can be with spicy beans, I came up with what I’ll call Black Bean Fiesta. I started with a can of Bush’s Black Bean Fiesta Grillin’ Beans and cooked it with some red, green, and yellow peppers, some cubed butternut squash, diced onion, pickled jalapeños, a bit of the jalapeño juice, and added a tablespoon of sugar. I served it over brown rice with cheddar on top and garnished with cilantro. So good.

I love pimiento cheese and one day wanted to eat a lot of it in one sitting so I decided to plop it all over a big plate of broccoli and call it dinner. Kind of a new take on broccoli with cheese sauce?

I share most of the desserts I make with you because, unlike my meals, most of them are blog-worthy. I really am a better baker than cook. But there is the rare dessert that needs some tweaking and I never get around to it. This crazy pound cake tiramisu is totally blog-worthy (i.e. delicious), if I ever make it again the way I would blog it. The way I made it was really weird (for starters, I only had half a pound cake) but I don’t feel right telling you what you should do without trying it first myself.

And then there’s the meals that I can’t share because they are just not good enough, like these brown sugar beer brats. They were kind of OK, but kind of OK doesn’t cut it! I give you guys only my best stuff. You’re welcome. :)

And this beautiful vegan curried quinoa salad that looks like a plate of jewels! How could it betray me and dare to taste anything less than steller? I should try it again and buck the Healthy Cooking mag’s directions and try adding salt this time! Duh.

And then there’s the meals that I can’t share because they are just plain awful. Have you ever had someone immediately barf up a dinner you made them? Yeah, that happened with this one.

I was trying to find ways to use up my vodka that I bought to make Kahlua (thankfully it finally occurred to me to make vanilla with it) and got a recipe for vodka cream sauce from a friend. I don’t blame her for the results–I didn’t have the ingredients I needed but tried to make it with substitutions and we ate a dinner so gag-worthy that Dennis literally went running for the toilet as he finished (but, bless him, he did finish, even if it didn’t stay down!). I don’t think I’ll dare to attempt vodka cream sauce again for a long, long time.

***

GIVEAWAY WINNER

I loved the feedback I got on my anniversary post and many of you gave me some good ideas for future posts. I especially was encouraged to hear how many of you most look forward to Thankful Thursdays because when I first changed my blog title and started including that feature, along with other more personal posts, my readers started unsubscribing right and left. I was disheartened for a while, but was determined to keep doing what I loved, knowing that the ones that stayed with me were the ones I wanted anyway. Now I feel like I have a group of people here that are not only hungry for recipes, but care about or are interested in me as a person (or at least don’t mind me getting personal once in a while). And I find that I care about my readers more now too, because in return, you are sharing more of yourselves with me in comments and emails and I’m getting to know you! Thank you for supporting me through that transition. And for those of you who really only are here for the recipes, thanks for ignoring all the other stuff and sticking with me in spite of it! :)

OK, I drew for the Amazon gift certificate from the comments on that post, and I’m so totally stoked by the against-all-odds winner: Rani! She was the very first commenter and this has to be the first time in the history of blog giveaways that the first commenter was drawn (I used random.org to generate a number)! I’m also stoked because she’s a cancer survivor and Mom of four, so I’m glad the gift certificate is going to someone who deserves a little gift for herself! Congrats, Rani, I sent the certificate to your inbox.

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Posted in Life, Lighter Fare. Bookmark the permalink.

Easy Iced Pumpkin Spice Latte

Posted on October 5, 2011 by Veronica

Last fall, I posted a recipe for a skinny pumpkin spiced latte that I became addicted to, making it almost every morning. Now that I have a big jug of cold-brewed coffee in my fridge at all times, I realized how easy it would be to make an iced pumpkin spice latte. This is perfect right now because fall is in the air, but isn’t quite here yet, so you can enjoy your fall flavored coffee over ice until the cold really hits, then start heating it. This really couldn’t be faster or more simple (and delicous!).

Easy Iced Pumpkin Spice Latte

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1 cup milk (any kind)
1/4 cup cold-brewed coffee concentrate, or to taste
2 tablespoons pumpkin butter,* or to taste
1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Add ingredients to a wide-mouth glass and blend with an immersion blender until foamy. Add ice and enjoy! If you don’t have a stick blender, put everything in a regular blender blend until smooth and foamy, then pour over ice in a tall glass. Garnish with whipped cream, if desired.

If you want to know what I drizzled on top, here it is:

I bought this last year and I’m not sure if it will return this fall, but it is a great syrup and probably could even be used in place of the pumpkin butter in this latte.

*Veronica’s note: To make your own pumpkin butter, add 1/2 cup of brown sugar and two teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice to every cup of pumpkin puree you use. Cook over medium heat in a saucepan, stirring oven, until very thick. I think I cooked mine half an hour. Be careful, it bubbles and spatters! I like to help it create a steam vent so that it doesn’t bubble as much, and stir every minute or so, so it doesn’t start scorching on the bottom. If you make a large batch, you’ll be set on lattes for a while!

7 Comments

Posted in Beverages, Breakfast, Lighter Fare and tagged cold-brewed coffee concentrate, easy, iced coffee, latte, pumpkin spice. Bookmark the permalink.

Pumpkin Pie Baked Oatmeal

Posted on October 3, 2011 by Veronica

I’m atoning for my sins of last week: fattening, nitrate-filled chili-cheese dog casserole, decadent red velvet cake with a pound of butter and over a pound of cream cheese in it, and beef roast slathered with high-sodium cream of mushroom soup and onion soup mix. I felt I owed myself, and you, a healthy reprieve.

I usually don’t like labeling my recipes “healthy” or unhealthy” in the title (although I have been known to do so) because that’s not how I want you to think of them. If something is healthy, I want you to think about how delicious it is, not how healthy it is. And if something is unhealthy, I don’t want you to focus on that either, I just want you do enjoy your splurge. So, I’m not labeling this as “healthy” in the title, but I am telling you right now it’s pretty darn healthy.

First of all, it’s naturally sweetened from three sources: apple cider, maple syrup, and honey (because it’s sweeter and because I was running low on maple syrup). Second, it’s packed with fiber from the pumpkin and the oats. It’s even got a little protein from the eggs (and the oats)! I did use a smidgen of butter, but I’m not one who thinks of butter as unhealthy, especially in meager amounts. It could easily be left out if you want to reduce the fat.

Now let’s talk about the important stuff: the taste. It’s all well and good to eat healthy foods, but who wants to eat them if they taste terrible? Not me, and there’s no reason to when healthy food can (and should) be just as delicious as unhealthy food. These baked oats are perfectly sweet, with a great spiced pumpkin taste, very soft and creamy, with a nice nutty crunch from the pecans. Served with a drizzle of maple syrup over the top, it is a breakfast treat that is good enough to make your mouth so happy that you forget that you’re doing your body good as well.

Pumpkin Pie Baked Oatmeal

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1 cup pumpkin puree
1 cup apple cider
2 eggs
½ cup milk (any kind)
¼ cup honey
2 tablespoons maple syrup
2 tablespoons butter, melted
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 ¾ cups rolled oats
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
¼ cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350. Spray a deep-dish pie plate or a casserole dish with oil; set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together pumpkin, apple cider, eggs, milk, honey, maple syrup, butter, pumpkin pie spice, and vanilla until smooth. Stir in the oats, baking powder, salt, and baking soda.

Pour into prepared dish and sprinkle with pecans. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until set. Serve hot with maple syrup or honey.

Recipe source: adapted from The Other Side of Fifty, as seen on Betcha Can’t Eat Just One and Little Bit of Everything (this one’s really making the rounds!)

If you have leftovers, they will slice a lot nicer and will resemble a piece of pie more when served. You can even serve this cold, though I do like it better hot! If you want the oatmeal to be more firm so that you can slice it like pie after removing it from the oven, you’ll have to do some tweaking to reduce the amount of liquid and maybe add another egg.

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Posted in Breakfast, Lighter Fare and tagged baked, baked oatmeal, baking, diet-friendly, healthy, naturally sweetened, pumpkin pie, recipe. Bookmark the permalink.

Healthy Slow Cooker Meat Sauce

Posted on September 21, 2011 by Veronica

Dennis and I have been eating out a lot now that I work through the dinner hour. I finally got fed up with the unhealthy food and the weight gain we’re both experiencing, and decided to cook up enough real homemade food on my days off to last us for the week. This meat sauce was the first thing I threw together, and Dennis was in heaven!

https://i0.wp.com/a4.l3-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/106/e4b697be95db4cacb0b570413a915d69/l.jpg

This is an old picture from 2009 but I had to include it. Dennis eats everything with chopsticks-he's obsessed!

I’m not completely back on the healthy bandwagon, but this meal is a good start. The sauce is hearty, flavorful & robust, and very low in fat. I chose to sweeten the sauce mainly with carrots, and you may find this balances the acidity of the tomatoes enough for your taste, but I decided to add some agave nectar to mine to sweeten it a little more. You could also try upping the carrots to 2 cups.

Serve this over whole wheat pasta along with a salad and you’ve got a nutritious, delicious meal!

Healthy Slow Cooker Meat Sauce

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1 pound bison, venison, or lean ground beef
2 links mild Italian turkey sausage, casings removed
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 (14.5 ounce) cans fire-roasted diced tomatoes
1 ½ cups finely shredded carrots (about 4 medium carrots)
2 (8 ounce) cans tomato paste
2 tablespoons agave nectar or sugar
1 tablespoon oregano
1 tablespoon basil
1 tablespoon garlic salt
3 bay leaves
1 teaspoon garlic powder
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
¼ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
Salt to taste

In a large skillet, cook the meat and onions until the meat is brown and the onions are tender. Add the minced garlic and cook another minute. Do not drain unless you used meat with a higher fat content. If you used the suggested meat, you will have a little broth in the pan with only a tiny amount of fat, which I like to leave for flavor.

Meanwhile, add the undrained tomatoes and carrots to a 4-quart (or larger) slow-cooker and puree using an immersion blender (if you don’t have an immersion blender, do this with your regular blender). Stir in the tomato paste, agave nectar, oregano, basil, garlic salt, bay leaves, garlic powder, red pepper flakes, and pepper. Stir in the meat mixture and cover.

Cook on high for 5-6 hours, or low for 10-12 hours, stirring caramelized sides back into the sauce. When complete, stir well, fishing out the bay leaves, and add salt to taste. Serve on top of your favorite pasta.

Recipe source: inspired by The Cooking Photographer

13 Comments

Posted in Italian, Lighter Fare, Meats, Pasta, Slow-Cooker/Crockpot and tagged bison, crokpot, diet-friendly, healthy, low-fat, meat sauce, recipe, slow cooker, sweeted with carrots, venson. Bookmark the permalink.

Romaine Salad with Chicken, Cheddar, Apples, Spiced Pecans and Cranberry Vinaigrette

Posted on September 20, 2011 by Veronica

This is another recipe I made earlier in the spring and waited to post until the transition from summer to fall because, while salads are typical summer fare, this one incorporates fall flavors like cranberries, apples, and spiced pecans.

If you want to know how this salad tastes, just read the title. And imagine all those things together on a plate. There is a lot going on here and you get such a wonderful symphony of flavors and textures with each bite–salty from the nuts & cheese, sweet & tart from the apples & vinaigrette, crisp lettuce & onions, savory & tender chicken, crunchy spiced pecans. It’s a glorious thing!

Romaine Salad with Chicken, Cheddar, Apples, Spiced Pecans and Cranberry Vinaigrette

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1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 3-4 medium)
Salt and black pepper
1 tablespoon vegetable or canola oil
1/2 cup water
1 large head romaine lettuce, torn into bite-size pieces (about 8-10 cups)
8 ounces sharp or extra-sharp cheddar cheese, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 Granny Smith apple, cored and chopped or sliced thin
1/2 red onion, sliced thin
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1 cup spiced pecans, store-bought or following the simple recipe below

Dried Cranberry Vinaigrette (recipe below)

Pat the chicken dry with paper towels and season both sides with the salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a large 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat until the oil is shimmering and hot. Add the chicken and cook until it is nicely browned on one side, about 3 minutes. Flip the chicken over, add the water, and cover the skillet. Cook the chicken, letting it poach, until it is cooked through, about 5-7 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a cutting board and let it cool slightly before carving.

Toss the lettuce, cheese, apple, pecans, onion and dried cranberries together. Divide the salad among the serving plates. Slice the chicken on a diagonal and arrange over the salad. Serve with the vinaigrette.

Quick Spiced Pecans:
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
2 cups pecan halves
1 tablespoon sugar

Melt the butter in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-low heat. Stir in the spices and then the pecans. Toast the nuts, stirring often, until the color deepens slightly and they are lightly toasted, about 5-7 minutes. Transfer the nuts to a bowl and toss with the sugar. Let them cool completely before tossing with the salad.

Dried Cranberry Vinaigrette:
*Makes about 1 1/2 cups dressing

1/4 cup cranberry juice or water
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup red wine or raspberry vinegar
1 shallot, peeled and quartered
1 small garlic clove, peeled
2 teaspoons fresh thyme (or 1/2 teaspoon dried)
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Combine the cranberry juice (or water) and cranberries in a small microwave-safe bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and microwave on high for one minute until hot. Process the hot cranberry mixture, vinegar, shallot, garlic, thyme, mustard, salt and pepper in a blender until the shallot and garlic are finely chopped. With the blender running, add the oil and continue to blend until the dressing is smooth and well-combined. Thin the dressing, if needed, with additional cranberry juice. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Recipe source: Mel’s Kitchen Cafe

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Posted in Lighter Fare, Meats, Salads. Bookmark the permalink.

Garlic Chicken & Bacon Spaghetti Squash Alfredo

Posted on September 16, 2011 by Veronica

I made this recipe in the spring and thought it would be nice to share in the fall when it was starting to get chilly. Not so chilly that you are ready to dig into the really heavy foods, but are just starting to think about it. That day has come a lot sooner than I expected! Does it seem like an early fall is coming on in your neck of the woods as well?

If so, here’s a fantastic meal that seems pretty hearty and is totally comforting while still managing to be quite healthy and diet-friendly. Debbi, the creator of this recipe, calculated it as only about 200 calories per serving (1/8th of the recipe) so even if you ate half of the whole casserole (which would be quite a feat!), you’d probably still be eating less calories than a restaurant alfredo dish would have, and it’s so much healthier!

I thought this dish was absolutely positively scrumptious and although it takes some time to prepare because you have to pre-roast the spaghetti squash, it’s very simple. I eat a lot of spaghetti squash, but this is only one of two dishes I’ve ever eaten it in with such gusto. I don’t even like alfredo sauce, especially jarred, and I L-O-V-E-D this meal. I really felt like I was indulging because meals this delicious usually have a ton of fat and calories. Not true in this case–it really is like having your cake and eating it too!

Garlic Chicken and Bacon Spaghetti Squash Alfredo

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1 large spaghetti squash, about 2 1/2 lbs.
1 (15 oz.) jar Classico Garlic Alfredo Sauce
8 oz. mozzarella cheese, shredded
9 oz. chicken, cooked & chopped
6 slices turkey bacon
1 onion, sliced
Salt and pepper

Split spaghetti squash in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds. Line a baking sheet with foil and spray with cooking oil. Place the squash face-down on the sheet and roast in oven at 375 for about 45 min – 1 hour or until tender when poked with a fork on the underside. Let cool until you can handle the squash without burning your hands, and scrape the squash out with a fork into a 9 x 13 pan sprayed with cooking spray. Leave the oven on.

While the squash is cooling enough to handle, cook bacon until crispy and remove to a plate to cool. Grill onions in the small amount of bacon grease in pan, using additional oil or cooking spray if needed. If you want your onions to get crispy dark edges, let them sit for a minute or two before stirring each time. Season with salt and pepper and set aside. Crumble the cooled bacon.

Spread alfredo sauce over the spaghetti squash in the pan, sprinkle on half the cheese, top with chopped chicken, bacon and sauteed onions, then top with remaining cheese. Bake, uncovered, for about 25 minutes until heated through and cheese is melted.

Recipe source: Debbi Does Dinner Healthy

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Posted in Italian, Lighter Fare, Main Dishes, My Favorites and tagged alfredo, bacon, chicken, diet, diet-friendly, grilled onions, hearty, indulgent, recipe, spaghetti squash, Weight Watchers. Bookmark the permalink.

Chicken Shawarma Pita Sandwiches

Posted on August 23, 2011 by Veronica

I don’t know what to tell you except that these are great and if you like Mediterranean foods, you need to make them! :) I’ve discovered that no two chicken shawarma recipes are the same, and this one seems very different from all the others I’ve seen. So I don’t know how typical or traditional this particular recipe is, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

The chicken has a unique and potent marinade that includes plenty of acids to tenderize the meat. I love the combination of the flavorful meat with fresh vegetables and the tahini sauce wrapped in pita bread. I’ve been making these sandwiches for several months now and only had to tweak the recipe a little to suit my preference. I hope you enjoy!

Chicken Shawarma Pita Sandwiches

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Chicken
2 teaspoons fenugreek
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon cardamom
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons lemon juice
2 Tbsp White Vinegar
2 Tbsp Minced Garlic
2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Tahini Sauce
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cup tahini
1/4 cup lemon juice
5 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons sugar

Sandwiches
Pita bread
Shredded lettuce
Tomato slices
Cucumber slices
Red onion slices

The night before, combine spices for chicken in a gallon-size Ziploc bag and shake to combine. Add the lemon juice, vinegar, and garlic, and massage the bag to combine. Add chicken, seal, and massage the marinade around (will be thick like a paste) until all the chicken pieces are coated. Refrigerate overnight. You can also prepare the tahini sauce the night before by whisking all the ingredients together and storing in the refrigerator until it’s time to serve the sandwiches.

Grill the chicken breasts until no longer pink in the center. To serve sandwiches, fill pita bread with lettuce, chicken, tomato, cucumber, and onion, and top with tahini sauce.

Recipe source: adapted from Food o’ del Mundo

11 Comments

Posted in Burgers & Sandwiches, Lighter Fare, Meats, Mediterranean and tagged chicken, Lebanese, shawarma, shoarma, shwarma. Bookmark the permalink.

Raw Double Chocolate Brownie Bites

Posted on July 18, 2011 by Veronica

I joined The Secret Recipe Club at the end of May, which was too late to participate in June, so I was super eager to finally get my assignment for July. In this club, each month the participating bloggers make a recipe from another participant’s blog. The blog is assigned secretly and at random, so no one else knows who’s making something from their blog that month. I found the whole idea really fun and exciting! (Don’t judge me.)

I was assigned to make a recipe from Ginger Lemon Girl’s blog, and my first reaction was a mixture of both trepidation and anticipation. Carrie follows a gluten-free diet, and since I don’t have any dietary restrictions, I wasn’t sure if the recipes would appeal to me, but I knew I could adapt them if necessary and was ready for the challenge. Once I started browsing her archives, I quickly realized that her recipes were good, wholesome foods that anyone could enjoy, and some of them were naturally gluten-free because no flour was involved. Like this one!

When I came across Carrie’s recipe for Raw Chocolate Brownie Bites, I immediately thought of my love for Fudge Babies, and knew it was the one I’d have to make.

I made the recipe as it was written the first time (pictured above) and really liked it (maybe that’s an understatement, seeing as how I ate half the batch the first day!), though adding as much agave nectar to sweeten them as I liked (2 T) made them too soft for me. I wanted them chewier and a little sweeter (i.e. more dates!). I also wanted more of the chocolate dough so that it would completely cover the bottom of a loaf pan. The first batch, spreading it to the thickness I wanted, filled only 2/3 of the bottom of the pan. So I took Carrie’s rockin’ recipe and tweaked it a bit, and couldn’t help adding some mini chocolate chips to make them doubly chocolatey! The chocolate chips only add 16 calories per Brownie Bite and don’t change the points, so I really recommend you put them over the top to make these bites, well, over the top. :)

For those unfamiliar with raw desserts, they are a lot like Larabars, but better (at least I think these are). If you’ve never had those either, now’s your chance to see what all the fuss is about. This isn’t like eating a candy bar or any sort of processed sweet, because it’s all-natural, raw, and much healthier (not to mention allergy-friendly), but they are very good! I bet even your kids will love them. Give them a try and see if you don’t agree.

Raw Double Chocolate Brownie Bites

Printable recipe
Printable recipe with picture

1 cup pitted dates
1 1/3 cups raw nuts (I used 2/3 cups each almonds & pecans)
¼ cup cocoa powder
½ teaspoon Fleur de Sel or kosher salt
~or ¼ teaspoon table salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips

Soak the dates in a bowl of hot tap water for five minutes; drain well. (Skip the soaking step if you are using Medjool dates.) In a food processor fitted with the blade attachment, grind the nuts until very fine. Add the drained dates, cocoa powder, and salt. Process for a minute or two, until nuts are very fine and the mixture sticks together quite easily, if it’s not already coming together in the bowl. With the food processor running, add the vanilla through the feed tube and continue processing until the mixture starts to form a ball. Just run it for another 10-30 seconds and if it doesn’t form a ball, check the consistency and see if it will stick together when pinched. If not, add a teaspoon of water and continue processing, adding more water if necessary (it shouldn’t be) until the mixture is sticky. Pat the chocolate dough into a loaf pan. It is OK if oil separates a little and forms a layer on top; it will soak back down into the brownie dough while it sits in the refrigerator. Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the top and pat them down into the surface so that they will stick. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2-3 hours. Cut into 18 squares (6 rows x 3 rows) and enjoy cold.

Makes 18 Brownie Bites

Per Brownie Bite: 107 calories; 7 g fat; 1.1 g saturated fat; 1.6 g polyunsaturated fat; 3.8 g monounsaturated fat; 0 g cholesterol; 33.2 mg sodium; 151 mg potassium; 12 g carbohydrates; 2.4 g fiber; 2.1 g protein; Vitamin B-6 2%; Vitamin E 8%; Calcium 2.2%; Copper 10%; Iron 4%; Magnesium 8.4%; Manganese 21.3%; Phosphorous 5.6%; Riboflavin 3.6%; Thiamin 3.3%; Zinc 3.6% 3 Points Plus

Recipe source: adapted from Ginger Lemon Girl