Tag Archives: diet-friendly

Easy Lemon Cookies

Posted on January 4, 2010 by Veronica

5 reasons why you need to make these cookies ASAP:

5. They’re insanely easy to make.
4.They’re bright and pretty!
3. They have superb texture–firm on the outside, chewy on the inside.
2. They taste like sunshine.
1. You can have two whole cookies for just 102 calories!

What, you need more reasons? What are you waiting for?!

I like to really douse the cookies with powdered sugar so they take on the "crinkle" look.

Easy Lemon Cookies

Printable recipe
Printable recipe with picture

1 (18.25 oz) package lemon cake mix
2 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
grated zest from 1 lemon
powdered sugar for decoration

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Pour cake mix into a large bowl. Stir in eggs, oil, lemon juice & lemon zest until well blended. Refrigerate at least 15 minutes, and up to overnight to make the dough easier to handle. Roll teaspoonfuls of dough into balls and then drop into a small bowl of powdered sugar. Roll around until lightly or heavily covered, depending on how much you want. Once sugared, place on an ungreased or parchment-lined cookie sheet. Bake for 6-9 minutes in the preheated oven. The bottoms will be light brown, and the insides chewy.

Makes 60 cookies
Per cookie: 51 calories, 2 g fat, 7.8 g carbohydrate

This recipe is linked with GirliChef for BSI: Lemons!

14 Comments

Posted in Cookies, Lighter Fare and tagged cake mix, Cookies, diet-friendly, easy, lemon, low calorie, summer, sunshine. Bookmark the permalink.

Spinach & Black Bean Enchiladas

Posted on November 9, 2009 by Veronica

It seems the older I get, the less meat appeals to me. Thus, Meatless Mondays were born into our household–my sneaky way of making a day without meat sound fun so Dennis plays along. :)

This recipe made both of us happy–the enchiladas are filling, have good flavor, and are figure-friendly. I do realize the picture isn’t too appetizing, but they really are good, I promise!

If you have any favorite vegetarian dishes and are willing to share the recipe, please leave it in a comment or message me!

Spinach & Black Bean Enchiladas
from The New Holly Clegg Trim & Terrific Cookbook

makes 8 enchiladas

1 (10 oz) pkg. frozen chopped spinach, thawed
1 (15 oz) can black beans, rinsed & drained
1 (1 1/4 oz) pkg. taco seasoning mix (or 3 tablespoons homemade)
1 c water
1 c fat-free sour cream, divided
8 (6-8 inch) flour tortillas
1 (10 oz) can enchilada sauce
1 1/2 c shredded reduced-fat Cheddar cheese
2 T sliced green onions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a non-stick skillet, heat the spinach, black beans, taco seasoning mix, and water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and cook for 8-10 minutes, or until the mixture is thickened. Remove from the heat, and stir in 1/2 c sour cream.

In each tortilla, spread 1 T enchilada sauce, about 1/3 c spinach mixture, and 1 heaping tablespoon cheese. Roll up each tortilla placing the seam-side down in an oblong baking dish coated with nonstick cooking spray. Spread the remaining enchilada sauce over the filled enchiladas, cover, and bake for 15-18 minutes.

Uncover and garnish with the remaining cheese. Continue baking for 5 minutes longer, or until the cheese is melted. Serve with the remaining sour cream, and sprinkle with the green onions.

Veronica’s notes: I felt the filling was creamy/liquid enough without putting the enchilada sauce on the inside, so I just poured it over the top.

Nutritional info per serving: 266 cal, 14 g protein, 39 g carbs, 3 g fat, 5 g fiber, 11 mg cholesterol, 1198 mg sodium
Diabetic exchanges: 1.5 very lean meat, 2.5 starch

2 Comments

Posted in Lighter Fare, Mexican, Vegetarian & Vegan and tagged black bean, diet-friendly, enchiladas, spinach, vegetarian. Bookmark the permalink.

Shrimp Tacos

Posted on May 16, 2009 by Veronica

This is a wonderfully light summer meal that has the feel of gourmet without the fuss.

Shrimp Tacos with Spicy Corn on the Cob
Printable recipe

Salsa
1 1/2 cups seeded, chopped tomato
1 cups seeded, chopped cucumber
1/3 cup thinly sliced scallions
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
3 tbsp fresh lime juice
1/4 tsp salt

Filling
8 oz green beans, trimmed
1 tsp fajita seasoning, divided
1 lb medium to large shrimp, peeled & deveined
1 tbsp olive oil

8 6-inch corn tortillas

Corn
4 corn on the cob in the husk
few spritzes of fat-free butter spray
few dashes ancho chile pepper

Directions
1. Combine salsa ingredients & set aside.
2. Heat oil in a large skillet on medium-high. Toss rinsed green beans with 1/2 tsp of the fajita seasoning in a bowl and add to the skillet. Cook, stirring occasionally, for five minutes.
3. Meanwhile, toss the shrimp with the remaining 1/2 tsp seasoning and put the corn on the cob in the microwave with the husks still. Cook them on high for eight minutes.
4. Add to the shrimp to the skillet after the green beans have cooked for 5 minutes and cook another five minutes or until the shrimp are no longer opaque.
5. Shuck the corn, leaving the husk on the end to use as a handle. Spray with butter & sprinkle with a light dusting of ancho chile pepper (adjust to suit your heat preference).
6. Heat the tortillas: Wrap the stack in a fairly damp paper towel and microwave on high for 80 seconds (a good rule of thumb when heating tortillas in the microwave is 10 seconds per tortilla).
7. Assemble the tacos: Divide shrimp-and-bean-mixture between warm tortillas and serve with salsa & an ear of corn on the side.

Serves 4

For those of you without a kitchen scale, this is what 8 ounces of green beans (and me with a hormonal lip zit) looks like.

Raw Swimps

Happy Swimps

I hate cucumbers so I didn’t expect to like this salsa, but it blew me away! I couldn’t believe something so simple could be so good. I plan to use it in many a dish to come!

Recipe source: Adapted from Ladies’ Home Journal May 09

Linked with Life in the Slow Lane for BSI: Salsa.

1 Comment

Posted in Lighter Fare, Main Dishes, Meats, Mexican, Seafood and tagged diet, diet-friendly, green beans, light, shrimp, tacos. Bookmark the permalink.

Impossibly Easy Vegetable Pie

Posted on April 22, 2009 by Veronica

Maybe I’m not the best judge of the quality of meals since I’m on an endless diet and I tend to think anything edible is good, but I really do favor this quiche-type dish and I end up making it a lot b/c it’s satisfying and low in calories (about 200 calories per 1/6th of the whole recipe). Den likes it too and as far as I can remember, he enjoyed it when he wasn’t on a diet (he ate it w/o complaining, anyway), so it’s probably safe for dieters and non-dieters alike.

This is my original version (based on a Betty Crocker recipe off their website), but I came up with this one for our dinner tonight b/c I found some sad looking leeks in the fridge that needed to be used in a jiffy and we didn’t have any milk. Using chicken broth made the meal even more low-cal and worked great!

Broccoli-Leek Vegetable Pie

3 leeks, sliced (white part only)
2 cups brocolli florets
1 cup cauliflower florets
1/4 of a red pepper, chopped (I’d use more for color but this is all I had left)
1-2 cups 2% shredded cheddar cheese
4 whole eggs
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup self-rising flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Spray a 9×13 pan with cooking spray. Mix the vegetables with the cheese and spread in baking dish in an even layer. Whisk the remaining ingredients together in a bowl until smooth and pour over the vegetables. Bake 45-55 minutes, or until egg mixture is set in the middle and a knife comes out clean when inserted near the center.