Lapband Eating 4 Life

Product Recommendation (low-calorie!!): Trader Joes' ready-made Roast Beef Hash

2010-01-18T13:07:00.000-08:00

Photo borrowed from Michelle-Meals blog. Hers was the best picture that came up when I googled it looking for a photo.

I was at Trader Joe's the other day (surprise, surprise) looking for some new/interesting low-calorie foods to add to my pantry, and they happened to be sampling some of their prepared roast beef hash.

When it's made well, I really do like hash (in limited quantities, anyway), but I would never ever ever buy the stuff in a can - it's just. plain. foul. - and it's not something I would make from scratch cause I just don't want to put that much effort into a simple breakfast.

So, truth be told, if they weren't sampling it, I never would have given this a second glance if I saw it on a shelf. I would have assumed it was disgusting like all the rest and passed right on by. However, when I tasted the sample they had out, I really loved it!

It's not over-salted, the meat has a perfect, real-meat texture, like it was actually cut from a roast (as opposed to the processed mush that comes in normal prepared hash), and the potatoes are cooked perfectly.

One package would be enough to feed one hungry man, but for a bandster with decent restrictions, you get four perfect portions out of it (especially when you add an egg on top). Each portion is only 90 calories!!

It comes in a flat brown box (I wish I had taken a picture, but I forgot before I threw the box in the garbage), with a pouch of hash inside. All you do is heat it in a pan with a little non-stick spray (the instructions say to use oil, but I think the hash turns out great on its own without adding the extra calories) and add a fried egg on top and you have a delicious, and filling breakfast for about 160 calories!

FYI, this is a shelf-stable product in a vacuum-sealed pouch, it's not in the freezer section. Ask for it if you can't find it!

UPDATE: Here's another review with additional pictures. See? They like it too! :)

If you're anywhere near a Trader Joes, I highly recommend you buy it and try it!

Enjoy. :)

A simple, nutritious, and delicious breakfast - Fruity Cottage Cheese and Bananas

2009-12-27T12:24:00.000-08:00

This is a simple breakfast I came up with the other day as I was looking through my fridge for items that could be mixed together. It was delicious, and you can mix in any sort of jam that suits your tastes.

This would also be a great meal or snack for any bandster in their "mushies" phase.

Combine 1/2 a sliced banana with a scoop of cottage cheese and top with dollop of any jam or fruit preserve of your choice.

Enjoy!

Just a couple more photos

2009-12-08T14:08:00.000-08:00

From Saturday's trip to the market.

Seattle Photography

2009-12-06T01:22:00.000-08:00

Taken in and around the Pike Place Market in Seattle yesterday...

A scale and a non-scale victory!

2009-11-20T10:59:00.001-08:00

First of all, since starting my low-carb diet two weeks ago, I’m down 15 pounds!! I realize some of that is water weight, but not all of it, cause my pants are loser, so I’m thrilled! I plan to continue this through thanksgiving, take a few days off, and then go till Christmas. My goal is to start the new year at 225 pounds, which is completely reasonable, I think. That would be only another 17 pounds to go. I definitely think I can do that in a month and a half!

My non scale victory today was amazing to me… I changed my own flat tire on my car this morning!! ALL BY MYSELF!!

I’ve had flat tires before but, quite frankly, at 400 pounds, there was no way I was getting my fat ass down to the ground to raise up my car, lug heavy tires back and forth, and look like a gross, sweaty, grunting beached whale floundering around beside my vehicle. No way.

But today, I didn’t even think twice. I was strong enough to do it all, and I didn’t even sweat! Not even a tiny bit! (granted, it was about 45 degrees out, so that helped, but still!)

So yeah, something that most people can do without a second though because a huge victory for me today. I feel so great about myself today. :)

Almond Mushroom Green Beans

2009-11-18T00:36:00.000-08:00

This is a great side dish for when you find really nice, firm, fresh, whole green beans in the produce section of your grocery store and want a simple recipe that will really let the beans shine through.

If you need to use frozen beans, I recommend a different recipe or sauce, as this one is very minimalistic and won’t cover up any bad beans.

Don’t even consider trying this with canned beans. That’s just kitchen blasphemy.

Ingredients…

1 lb fresh green beans, stem ends removed
¼ cup slivered almonds
6 oz mushrooms, sliced
2 tbsp butter
4 cloves garlic, pressed or finely minced (adjust garlic more or less to your taste is desired)

What to do…

1. Blanch the green beans – drop your green beans into a pot of rapidly boiling water and allow them to cook for only 3-4 minutes.

2. Remove beans from boiling water and IMMEDIATELY drop them into a bowl of ice water to shock the beans (this helps them keep their beautiful bright green color) and stop the cooking process so they don’t turn soft. At this point, your green beans should still be fairly crunchy, but not raw. Now you can drain the beans so they have a chance to dry while you're preparing the sauce.

3. Toast your almonds – lay them out on a piece of foil on a baking sheet in a single layer. Bake at 350 for about 5 minutes until just golden brown. Don’t let it go to long, they go from golden to burnt very quickly!

4. In a nonstick skillet, melt your butter over medium-low heat.

5. Add your garlic, continue cooking over LOW to give the garlic time to permeate the butter without burning. Stir frequently. Cook for up to five minutes ensuring garlic doesn’t start looking too brown (burnt garlic = BITTER!)

6. Stir in your mushrooms and cook until soft and brown.

7. Stir in Almonds and green beans.

8. Mix thoroughly and serve with my delicious mushroom topped, cheese-stuffed chicken!

Nutrition info for 1/6th of the recipe...

Mushroom topped, cheese-stuffed chicken

2009-11-17T23:55:00.000-08:00

The name pretty much says it all! Chicken breasts pounded out flat, topped with cheese, rolled up and baked, and topped with a mushroom cream sauce.

This was served with some really delicious Almond Mushroom Green Beans.

Take note, this chicken is a two-day recipe. Day one is the stuffing and rolling, and then you need to let the chicken rolls sit overnight so that they hold their shape when you cook them on day two.

Hope you enjoy!

Makes six servings… recipe can be easily multiplied or divided depending on your needs.

Ingredients…

Chicken rolls:
6 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 tsp each of salt, pepper, garlic powder
12 oz of your favorite cheese (I used 6oz gouda and 6oz muenster)

Sauce:
3 tbs butter
12 oz mushrooms, sliced
Pinch salt
1 can chicken broth
½ cup heavy cream

What to do…

Day 1: Chicken prep

1. Pound your chicken breasts to about ¼ inch thick. Normally I see instructions to do this between two sheets of plastic wrap, but I don’t think it works well that way – it all kind of moves around, the plastic wrap sticks to itself, it’s just a mess. The easiest way I’ve found to do this is to lay each chicken breast on a cutting board, top with a gallon-size ziplock bag and pound away. No saran wrap sticking to anything when you go to move it!

2. Prepare/portion your cheese – slice up your cheese into finger-size pieces a little smaller than the width of the pounded chicken. Split into six equal portions so you can easily grab each portion as you prepare each chicken breast.

3. Top each chicken breast with a bit of the salt, pepper, and garlic powder, and 2oz of the cheese and roll up. Your chicken breasts may not look perfect or be shaped well, but don’t worry! Just wrap it all up as best as possible and tuck all the ends under.

4. Roll the chicken up tightly in foil. This will help it hold its shape during cooking.

5. Refrigerate overnight.

Day 2:
Part 1 – Cook the chicken

1. Unwrap all the chicken breasts and place in a greased baking dish. Lightly salt and pepper the tops of all breasts.

2. Place under the broiler in the oven for about 10 minutes to brown the tops.

3. Continue baking at 350 degrees until a thermometer inserted in the center of a rollup reads 155 degrees.

4. Remove chicken from the oven and let rest for at least 10 minutes before serving. The temperature will continue to rise as it sits, and can be served after it hits 160 degrees.

Part 2 – Make the sauce

1. In a skillet (either stainless steel or nonstick, it really doesn’t matter), melt butter over medium heat. Add Mushrooms and a pinch of salt, cook until softened, but not fully cooked.

2. Stir in chicken broth, simmer until reduced by half.

3. Stir in heavy cream and continue simmering until again reduced by half.

Part 3 – Serve

1. Top your chicken with your mushroom sauce, serve with my Almond and Mushroom Green Beans, and enjoy!!!

Nutrition info for a full chicken roll with 1/6th of the sauce. Bandsters with good restriction will probably only want half, especially with green beans on the side!

Cookware Cleaning Product Recommendation: Barkeeper’s Friend

2009-11-16T18:47:00.000-08:00

Hey ya’ll!!

I’ve been doing SO MUCH cooking lately and otherwise staying super-busy, that I’m behind on about three or four great low-carb recipes I want to post. I’ll have some yummy cheese-stuffed-chicken for you sometime soon, I promise!!

In the meantime though, with all that cooking comes a lot of dirty dishes...

I was standing at my sink tonight cleaning out a severely burnt stainless steel skillet (Pan-Seared Pork Chops gone wrong!!) and had a deep, sudden urge to post about my favorite cookware-cleaning product EVER: Barkeeper’s Friend!

I bought this stuff from the grocery store a couple years ago on the recommendation of a friend and it’s been the best cleaning-product discovery I think I’ve ever had. Or at least very close! I use the Original BKF – it’s a powder that comes in a can similar to comet. Pour a little on any stained, burnt, or otherwise tortured piece of cookware, add just a tiny touch of water, scrub lightly with a brush, rag, or sponge, and viola!! It comes totally clean and looks brand new.

I use it on my high-shine, special occasion cookware, my stainless steel pots and pans, my Pyrex and Corningware baking dishes, EVERYTHING. It will make any piece of cookware look brand spanking new. No more burnt-on brown spots on baking dishes, perfectly shiny skillets… I love it.

I wish I had thought about it before I did dishes tonight or I would have taken before-and-after shots to show you proof.

Anyway, for any of you that have a hard time keeping your bakeware and cookware as clean and pretty as you would like, I highly recommend you try this product. You can find it in any general grocery store or Walmart-type place in the cleaning aisle, usually on the bottom shelf since it’s unglamorous and cheap (less than $3 for a can).

Try it! I swear on my LIFE you will love it. If you don’t, I’ll give you a $5 check straight out of my own pocket to make it up to you!

:) Cheers!

Pork Chops with Creamy Mushroom Sauce

2009-11-11T21:47:00.000-08:00

Tonight I made a super decadent and delicious, yet very low-carb dinner of pork chops with mushroom cream sauce that I found on recipezaar.com.

The sauce uses heavy cream, which is something I’ve been deathly afraid of ever since middle school when we were taught the concept of calories translating to weight gain. But the joy of a low-carb diet is that you’re actually allowed to eat fats (good fats, anyway), so I decided this was my chance to try something crazy. And let me tell you, I’m SO GLAD I did!

It was SO, so, so delicious. Rich, superbly creamy, and the mushrooms and fond from the pork chop gave it a wonderful meaty taste. It’s hard to describe. It’s a recipe that you absolutely have to make to understand.

The good thing is, once you break this recipe down into a proper bandster-size portion(about a half pork chop plus sauce), it’s really not too calorie-laden – comes in at only around 200 calories!

I hope you try, and love, this recipe!

Ingredients…

4 pork chops, 1 inch or ticker (I used three chops since that was all I had thawed and they were abnormally large)
1 tsp dried thyme, finely ground
1 tsp dried rosemary, finely ground
1 tsp salt
1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 tbsp olive oil
8 oz mushroom, sliced
1/2 tbsp olive oil
Pinch salt
Pinch black pepper, freshly ground
Pinch garlic powder
1/2 c chicken broth
1/2 c heavy cream

What to do…

1. Combine thyme, rosemary, salt, pepper, and garlic powder.

2. Apply to chops on both sides. Make it thick, the entire mixture should be used.

3. Let your chops sit out on the counter for 30 minutes.

4. Heat your olive oil in large skillet (NOT non-stick! You want cast iron or regular stainless so that you build up a fond (the brown bits you get when searing meat) in the bottom of the pan to use for the sauce.) until you see little wisps of smoke.

5. Set chops in the pan, and leave them alone. Don’t move things around, or you’ll tear the herbs off.

6. Turn the heat down to medium and cook for about 4 minutes on each side.

7. Turn off the heat, cover the pan with a tight fitting lid, and let it sit for 10-12 minutes.

8. While chops are cooking, add olive oil to a non-stick skillet and begin sautéing mushrooms. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and add the garlic powder. When mushrooms start to soften, remove from heat (don’t wait for them to cook through fully, this is just the start of the cooking).

10. Remove chops to serving platter, cover to keep warm.

11. Add mushrooms and chicken broth to the pan the chops were cooking in, turn the heat to medium. Scrape up any brown bits from the bottom of the pan.

12. Continue cooking until Mushrooms are cooked through.

13. Add heavy cream, and simmer until reduced by about half.

14. Return the chops to the pan to reheat briefly.

(^^I only returned two to the pan because I was only serving two. The other went into the fridge for leftovers)

15. Serve!

Nutrition info for 1/4th of the recipe - one full pork chop:

A soon-to-be Thanksgiving side dish tradition in my home: Crustless Spinach Muenster “Quiche”

2009-11-10T13:06:00.001-08:00

I was looking around for a nice, low-carb veggie dish the other day and came across a Spinach Muenster Quiche recipe on allrecipies.com. It uses an entire block of cream cheese, so I was on board instantly!

With a few tiny adjustments (using Neufchatel cheese instead of full-fat cream cheese and a little less spinach, since I only had 1½ packages in my freezer) it turned out absolutely DELICIOUS! I was a little confused by the name at first, since this was named “quiche” but only had two eggs in it. After making it, I don’t think the name “quiche” fits, but that's okay. It wasn’t eggy at all, it was just cheesy spinach, totally yummy!

Spraying the cooking dish with butter spray before assembling ensured that nothing at all stuck to the dish. It came out very, very easily.

Since this is pretty rich, it will easily make 9 to 12 side-dish servings.

I plan on making this dish for Thanksgiving, and starting a new family food tradition. There are certain dishes that we’ve ALWAYS made for Thanksgiving since I was little, and I plan to add this to the roster.

You must try it, and I hope you enjoy as much as I do!!

Ingredients…

8oz sliced Muenster cheese
1½ - 2 10oz packages or frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well drained
2 eggs
1/3 cup grated parmesan
8oz package 1/3rd less fat cream cheese (Neufchatel cheese)
Salt and pepper
Garlic powder
4oz sliced Muenster cheese

Directions...

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Spray a quiche dish, pie pan, or square baking dish with butter-spray.

3. Line your baking dish with the 8 ounces of Muenster cheese slices.

4. combine drained spinach with eggs, parmesan, neufchatel, salt, pepper and garlic powder and mix it really well.

5. Spoon mixture into pan and top with remaining cheese slices.

6. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes (Instructions say to decrease oven temperature by 25 degrees F if using glass pie dish).

7. Once it’s out of the oven, let it sit for 10 minutes before serving to firm up. I recommend slicing nice slices with a knife, rather than digging in with a blunt spoon, so it won’t mess up the cheese on top.

Enjoy!!

Nutrition info for 12 servings...

Highly recommended tool: Recipe Nutrition Analyzer from about.com!

2009-11-10T12:36:00.000-08:00

I just found the COOLEST tool for nutrition planning: the Recipe Nutrition Analyzer from about.com.

Whenever I’ve wanted to know how many calories or other nutrients are in a recipe I make, I’ve always had to add everything up and divide it out by hand or on thedailyplate.com, which always takes a while and ends up being more effort than it’s worth.

So today, in searching around for a better method, I came across the Recipe Nutrition Analyzer and found that it’s SUPER-sweet and easy.

You can just copy and paste an entire recipe into one box, put in your number of servings, click “Analyze” and viola! It understands the entire recipe, no matter how it’s written and gives you an entire breakdown that looks just like a food label you would see on any packaged food:

It takes less than 15 seconds to get nutrition info on an entire homemade recipe!

I love it, and I hope someone else can get some use out of this too! I suspect I’ll be using this for all future blog recipe posts.

Enjoy!

Good news, the start of a new diet, and a fabulous pork loin with mushroom and bacon gravy!

2009-11-09T20:41:00.000-08:00

Hello!

Well, since my last semi-personal post about my weight in early October, I’ve been doing pretty well, and getting a little bit of weight loss in, but I know I can do better. I’ve been trying to eat well for a long time, but it’s not always easy. Looking back on everything I’ve done, my doctors and all advice-givers have always said “eat your protein first” and I just haven’t been doing this like I should. I’ve really been eating far more carbs than I should have, and it doesn’t keep me full long enough, so I’m eating all the time and not losing weight as quickly as I should.

So, I’ve decided to give myself a kick, and get back on a good, strong low-carb diet for a little while. I’m going back to the same low-carb diet I had to do in order to get my band surgery: 30 grams of carbs a day, max, until Christmas (with the exception of a few days around Thanksgiving - I’m planning on having my Thanksgiving stuffing and mashed potatoes, thankyouverymuch, so I prefer to be realistic about what I can really expect from myself).

The good news is I’ve been on my low-carb diet for 4 days now and I’m down 10 pounds! I know the first week or so of weight loss is all water weight, but it still makes me feel great to see the scale dropping, knowing that it’s never going to go back up!!

Yay me!

The even better news is that my boyfriend is doing it with me! And I didn’t even ask him to! I just told him I was going to do it and he would have to be responsible for his own carb-foods and he asked if he could do the low-carb thing with me. I was so happy! It makes it SOOO much easier to take care of myself properly if I don’t have to worry about doing something different for another person.

So that’s the good news on the diet and weight loss front.

On the food front, more good news! My Costco has packages of pork tenderloin for $2.99 a pound right now, and the moment I saw them in the store the other day, I grabbed a big 5-pound package. I didn’t know what the heck I was going to do with it, but I knew I’d come up with something, and I was right!

I originally planned to make tenderloins stuffed with a mushroom-sweet onion-bacon stuffing, but as soon as I started cooking, I realized I didn’t have any kitchen twine or string in the house. Unfortunately, if you cut open a tenderloin to fill it with stuffing, it’s not gonna stay together on its own, so without string, I knew there was no way that was going to happen.

So, of course, I improvised.

I decided to take the same ingredients I was going to use for the stuffing and turn them into a saucy/gravy/topping of sorts instead. I cooked up all my veggies, added in some flour and butter to make a roux, and ten some chicken broth until it reached a consistency I liked, added in my bacon, and at the very last minute decided to toss in a few drops of lemon juice for a tiny touch of sweetness to cut all the richness.

It was uber delish, so I hope you like the recipe below and can use it as inspiration for a dish of your own!!

Enjoy. :)

Ingredients…

2-3 lbs pork tenderloin
2 tbsp butter (I used bacon fat just cause I had it in my fridge)
½ sweet onion, chopped
8-10 oz mushrooms, chopped
2 more tbsp butter
2 tbsp of flour
½ can of chicken broth
4 slices bacon, cooked
A bit of lemon juice, or lemon zest if you have lemons available

What I did… (with Action Shot photos courtesy of my good friend, Valerie!)

1. I chose to bake the loin, so I cut the silverskin off both pieces…

laid them out in a baking dish, covered them with salt, pepper, and garlic powder…

and popped them into the oven at 350 until they hit 140 in the center (when you take them out of the oven, they will continue to cook and rise to a safe temperature without being overdone and dried out). You could sear them off on the stove first, I’m sure it would turn out even better, but it had been a long day and it was just one step too many for me.

2. While the loins were in the oven, I went on to prepare my topping. I chopped my mushrooms…

onions…

and cooked and chopped my bacon.

3. In a saucepan, I melted two tablespoons of bacon fat (can be done with butter instead)...

added my onions...

and cooked over medium heat until they started softening and getting a bit translucent.

4. I added in my mushrooms…

a little bit of salt and pepper…

and continued cooking for about 10 minutes till everything was nice and soft and well cooked.

5. I added in two tablespoons of flour...

and another two tablespoons of butter...

and whisked for about three minutes to cook the flour.

6. I slowly added in about a half can of cold chicken broth and kept whisking to keep any lumps from forming.

It made a nice, thick gravy of sorts.

7. I added in just a little bit of lemon juice…

And the bacon…

And continued to stir.

8. When the loins hit 140, I removed them from the oven and let them sit for another 10 minutes to continue cooking and let the juices redistribute.

9. After 10 minutes, I sliced the loins into rounds…

covered them on the plate with my sauce, and ate!!

Well, this is the start of my low-carb stretch, and I’ve already got a few meals photographed and waiting to be posted, so hopefully I’ll have some more good stuff up for you real soon.

Enjoy :)

Turkey Kielbasa, Mushroom, and Olive Pasta in Garlic Butter Sauce

2009-10-27T22:15:00.000-07:00

Using melted butter as a dressing makes this recipe fairly indulgent, I admit, but it’s delicious, and can be customized by adding more or less garlic as you wish. It may not be something to eat often, but it’s worth trying at least once.

Hope you try and enjoy!

Ingredients

3 cups uncooked penne pasta
2 cans chicken broth

1 “ring” Turkey Polska Keilbasa, chopped into bite-size pieces

½ stick butter
6 cloves garlic, chopped or put through a garlic press

1 can sliced mushrooms
1 can black olives, chopped or sliced

½ cup shredded parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

What to do

1. Boil pasta covered in chicken broth till cooked to your liking. Most of the liquid will be absorbed. Add additional chicken broth or drain excess liquid if needed. Set aside prepared pasta.

2. Melt butter in nonstick pan over low heat. Add chopped/pressed garlic to the butter and allow To warm in butter for about 3-5 minutes. Make sure to do this over low heat and monitor the garlic to ensure it doesn’t start burning (if you burn garlic, it will become super bitter and ruin your dish. Light browning is fine, burning is not).

3. Add in kielbasa, mushrooms, and olives. Cook over low-medium heat until heated through.

4. Mix in cooked pasta and stir to re-warm. Mix in parmesan cheese just before serving. Add pepper to taste and salt if desired.

5. Enjoy!

Seattle in Photos

2009-10-24T21:03:00.000-07:00

Hi all, I've been running around Seattle taking photos for the last few days, so I wanted to share some pics since I haven't been doing much exciting cooking. :)

You can click on any picture for a bigger view.

Hope you enjoy!!

Pear, Apple, and Cranberry stuffing

2009-10-20T19:37:00.000-07:00

This is the same idea as the Chicken Sausage and Apple stuffing I did earlier this year, but slightly different variation on the add-ins.

Instead of onions and apples, I added apple, pear, and cranberries. I loved the apple and cranberry, but I wasn’t thrilled about the pear. I think the taste was great, but the texture of the pear skin was really off. It just never softens the way apple skin does.

Next time I make this, I’ll either skin the pear first or leave it out altogether.

Shopping list…

1 box stuffing mix of your choice
1 sweet apple (like fuji), cubed into ½-inch pieces
1 pear, cubed into ½-inch pieces
2 tbsp butter
½ cup LESS water than described on stuffing box

What to do…

In a medium saucepan, melt butter.

Add in apples and pears, cook for about three minutes.

Add in cranberries and cook for another three to five minutes until apples are soft.

Add in water (use a half cup less than what the instructions on the stuffing box say).

Add stuffing, stir, let sit for five minutes.

Enjoy!

Shameless Self-Promotion

2009-10-15T17:45:00.000-07:00

Check out my photography on RedBubble!

Today's Photoshopped Photography

2009-10-15T01:57:00.001-07:00

I drove up to Oak Harbor, Deception Pass, and Anacortes today with a friend and took pictures all day. Below are just a few of the pics I took and some of the various Photoshopped versions I made. Just wanted to share.

Original pic:

Chopped versions:

(^^my favorite chop of all the ones I did today. I think it looks so cool if you click on it and view the big version)

Original Pic:

Chop:

Original Pic:

Chops:

Original Pic:

Chops:

Hope you like!

Sausage and Bell Pepper Pasta

2009-10-12T20:07:00.000-07:00

I got the idea for this from a recipe on the Kraft Foods site, but I didn’t have any canned tomatoes as they called for, so I ended up using an alfredo sauce that I had in the cupboard. At the last minute I decided to top each serving with a few drops of lemon juice. I think the acid was a perfect topping to cut the creaminess of the dish.

I also had a half box of chicken broth left over from my Pot Pie the other day, so I decided to cook the pasta in broth instead of water to give it extra flavor.

Overall, I thought it turned out great. I didn’t really love the particular brand of sausage that I used, but aside from choosing a different kind next time, there’s nothing else I would change about the recipe.

What to use…

2 c ziti pasta
4 c chicken broth
2 tbsp butter
¾ lb turkey sausage of choice, cooked and sliced
2 c julienned bell peppers (I used baby red, yellow, and orange peppers)

1 c alfredo sauce of choice (I used a Trader Joe's sauce that I happened to buy off-hand one day, but it turned out to be the best jarred alfredo sauce I've ever had, I highly recommend it if you have the chance to buy it.)

¼ c shredded parmesan (optional)
Lemon juice for topping

What to do…

1. Cook the ziti in chicken broth, uncovered at a low boil. If liquid is gone before pasta is fully cooked, just add a little water as needed.

2. Melt butter in a nonstick cooking pan (ignore the dirty look of the pan in the picture, I had just cooked the sausage in it), add peppers and sausages, cook until peppers are half-cooked. Not crunchy but not totally soft.

3. Stir in cooked pasta and alfredo sauce. Top with parmesan.

4. When serving, top with a few drops of lemon juice to taste. Enjoy!

Photography - Photoshop comparisons

2009-10-12T19:25:00.001-07:00

I'm happy with how my final pics in the last post turned out, but I figured I'd post the originals just for fun. I like comparisons. :)

Photography

2009-10-12T16:35:00.000-07:00

This post has nothing to do with food or weight loss, but I suppose it has to do with me. Sortof.

I love photography.

And Photoshop!

Have I ever mentioned that before? Maybe not, but I guess I'm telling you now.

I went with my friend and godson to the zoo this weekend and took some pretty awesome photos. Well, they were okay photos, but byt he time I got done photshopping them, I thought they looked pretty darn good. I'm just feeling proud and wanted to share.

Hope you like!

Biscuit Chicken Pot Pie!

2009-10-08T12:33:00.000-07:00

My mom came over today and below is the delicious chicken pot pie that I made for us for lunch. The filling comes from a classic Pillsbury recipe, but rather than using pie crust as they suggest, I prefer to use Grands! Flaky biscuits as the topping. The only problem with this is that if you follow the Pillsbury recipe precisely, it doesn’t make nearly enough filling to go with all eight biscuits.

Thus, I didn’t quite double the recipe, but I did up the proportions and add a bit of extra chicken flavoring to make up for the extra flour and butter. This makes a lot of food, but, as is typical for me, I don’t mind making a big recipe and sticking half of it in the refrigerator or freezer for another night when I don’t want to cook.

Ingredients…

2/3 cup butter or margarine
1 large chopped sweet onion
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
Salt and pepper
¾ cup cold milk
3 cans chicken broth
Optional: 1 chicken bouillon cube, dissolved in a few tablespoons boiling water
4 cups cooked, cubed chicken or turkey
3 cups frozen mixed veggies (the mix without lima beans – only corn, peas, green beans, and carrots)

What to do…

FYI, I started with raw chicken breasts and cooked them in the oven till they reached about 120° then pulled them out and cubed. I like starting this way because the chicken is somewhat undercooked when you add it to the filling and by the time it’s all finished cooking, it’s not overdone.

1. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and cook for about 10 minutes or so until nice and soft.

2. Stir in the flour and cook for another 5 minutes or so to really cook out the floury taste.

3. Add in the milk little by little while whisking briskly. This will help keep you from having any lumps.

4. Add in the chicken broth slowly, doing the same thing, whisking as you go along.

5. Cook over medium heat and stir till thick and bubbly.

6. After it starts boiling, salt and pepper to taste. At this point, taste the sauce and decide if you want to add in some dissolved chicken bouillon for some extra chicken-y flavor. If so, stir it in now.

7. Stir in chicken and mixed vegetables (still frozen – no need to thaw them first). Continue cooking over low to medium heat until everything is brought back up to temperature.

8. Remove from heat and pour into ungreased baking dish (use two if needed). Bake uncovered at 375° for 15-20 minutes.

9. After the filling has been in the oven for a bit, place raw biscuits on a separate baking sheet and pop into the oven along with the pot pie. Bake for about 15 minutes so biscuits are almost cooked, but not dark.

10. At this point, pull everything out and place the almost-cooked biscuits on top of the pot pie filling. Return the pot pie to the oven for another 5 minutes or so until biscuits are golden brown.

11. Remove from oven, let cool for just a few minutes, serve, and ENJOY!!

YUMMO!!

Chicken, mushroom, broccoli, and rice casserole

2009-10-06T19:17:00.000-07:00

Hello!

First an update - After a period of ups and downs and highs and lows over the last few months, I'm finally back on track with the weight loss and guess what? I finally hit 250 lbs!!! (FYI, that's a big deal for me, I started at almost 400 last year!) The last time I weighed 250 was in about 8th grade. Sad, I know, but this is a new, HUGE, accomplishment for me.

Yay!

Next, the important part - The food...

This is a pretty delicious, and fairly easy recipe that I found on another blog and played with to fit my tastes. (I don’t remember which blog I got this from, so if it’s yours, sorry for not crediting you!)

A lot of this recipe was subjective and I kindof decided how it was going to go as I went along, so below is the finished product and the ingredients I ended up using to get there.

This turned out to be a pretty freaking huge recipe, which for me is fine cause I package it into Tupperware and store in the freezer for easy single-serve frozen dinners. However, if I were going to make this again, I would have started with only half the amount of rice.

I started out with two cups uncooked jasmine rice, thinking it would turn out to be about 3-4 cups when cooked. Nope! Turned out to be almost six!! So again, use less rice (Or at least, use a lot more chicken to compensate)!

Anyway, here’s how it went…

Ingredients

1 lb mushrooms quartered
2 cups uncooked rice
3 cooked chicken breasts, cubed
1 head of broccoli florets
1 10 3/4 oz can of Cream of Chicken soup
1 10 3/4 oz can of Cream of Celery soup
1 10 3/4 oz can of Cheddar cheese soup
1½ cups shredded cheese of choice (I used Colby Jack), 1 cup to mix in, ½ cup for topping
Salt and pepper to taste

What I did...

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Prepare rice as desired. I added it to boiling water, cooked like pasta, and drained.

Using a steamer, steam broccoli until just fork tender, then cool.

In a large bowl, combine all ingredients and mix well.

Top with remaining shredded cheese.

Put into a baking dish and heat uncovered for 30-40 minutes.

Serve and enjoy!

Still insane, but feeling better... :)

2009-05-17T16:41:00.001-07:00

So, I’ve been feeling better the last couple days and I think I figured out where I am now and what I need to do.

I’ve always heard that most Band patients have a small list of foods that they just can’t tolderate, and I’ve heard stories about people being super-tight in the morning and whatnot, and I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m simply in the same boat as most other patients, and I just need to adjust to it.

This is a good thing for me.

I’m now at a point where I am much tighter in the morning – I need a small coffee or tea or some other warm liquid to loosen me up before I can eat breakfast. That’s fine, I’m cool with that.

I definitely can’t eat cold (not room-temperature, but COLD, like refrigerator-cold) foods now. If I have leftovers or something, I need to warm them up.

I also can’t handle super-dry meats. I need a bit of juice to help everything go down easily.

So now that I’m realizing what my restrictions actually are (instead of just panicking cause things hurt), I’m feeling better, knowing that this is typical of what I’ve heard from other bandsters. That said, I’m going back tomorrow for another small fill, just to get me tight enough so I’m not getting hungry again so soon after meals. I’ll just have to remember what my restrictions are and be careful when I eat.

Really, I think the emotional side of this is what makes it hard for me. I want to be skinny, but I want to be able to eat what it seems like a “normal” person eats. I have friends that can chow down on everything in sight and will never weigh more than 120 lbs. It’s DEPRESSING to be one of those people who can simply LOOK at a piece of pizza and gain weight.

For me, it’s been hard adjusting to the new lifestyle and eating habits. I mean, I’m doing it, don’t get me wrong. I’m being careful about how I eat and taking a lot of care not to sabotage myself or hurt my band, but I guess, in my mind, it’s just sad to me that I HAVE to be so careful about things.

There are some days that I just wish to God I could sit down and eat a couple pieces of pizza, or a cup of ice cream, or a bowl of pasta like a “normal” person. But no, every single thing I put in my mouth, I have to think about – making sure I chew well enough, whether it’s going to hurt, whether it’s going to put me over my calorie limit and slow my weight loss, all kinds of things. Some days I’m just deathly afraid to even look at the kitchen cause it seems like every single food in there is a little monster just looking for a way or an opportunity to hurt me or screw me up.

I know that’s completely insane, and usually I don’t think like that, but when I’m having a bad day and I start getting into that funk, it’s just hard to get out of.

But nevertheless, for today at least, my funk is gone. I’ve realized I’m pretty normal for a Bandster, and that another little fill will help get me back on track, and I’m feeling much better about things now.

As I said before… up and down. Up and down…

Up and down...

2009-05-14T22:31:00.000-07:00

I’ve been having an odd time with my band the last couple days and I’m not sure why.

Normally for me, when I’m at good restriction, it takes very little food to feel satisfied, but I’m not so tight that I have a problem getting most foods down. On a normal day, the only food I really can’t eat is white/doughy bread, basically everything else is fine with proper bite sizes and chewing.

Recently though, I was losing restriction and had been CONSTANTLY hungry. I swear, I feel like I ate everything in the house in the last two weeks and still needed more. Wanna hear how bad it was? 9am Monday morning came around and I was starving for breakfast, so I eat a nice size Fuji apple thinking that should do the trick. Nope, still hungry. In fact, not just hungry, STARVING. Like when you’re SO freaking hungry that your stomach hurts so bad you want to cry. Yeah, like that. So then I eat 4 ounces of chicken and veggies I had brought with me to work. And guess what? I was STILL starving. 3 ounces of a store-bought turkey-and-cheese sandwich later, I FINALLY felt satiated, but then I was hungry again two hours later.

And that was just BREAKFAST!

How horrible, right?

So lucky for me, I got in for a fill on Monday afternoon and had a ¼ cc added, which should have been fine for me, but now I’m having this issue where I still feel super-tight - I’m MUCH less tolerant of foods than normal, I have to take teeny-tiny bites of everything to get it to go down without hurting - but at the same time, it’s taking a good 5 to 6 ounces of food to feel full and I’m getting hungry again two hours later.

It’s weird, cause I know it’s not supposed to work this way. Like, if I’m so tight I can barely drink water sometimes, it shouldn’t take so much food to feel full, and I shouldn’t be getting hungry again so often.

I’ve got another follow up in a couple weeks, so I’m just going to put up with it till then and then ask my PA about what could be going on, but it’s just weird to be having an issue like this so far down the road. My fills, restriction, weight loss, everything, have been pretty smooth sailing all year, so I’m just concerned as to why things are so ‘off’ all of a sudden.

Anyway, it’s not really a big deal, and I’m sure I just need some sort of adjustment one way or the other, but things like this just remind me that life with the band is definitely an up-and-down experience.

Nothing’s ever perfect or always easy, but hey, I still wouldn’t give up my bad for anything in the world… :)

Brie-and-Spinach Chicken Rolls

2009-05-14T12:19:00.000-07:00

So I was poking around looking for some new blogs last week and came across the fabulous Tracy’s Culinary Adventures and her super-yummy-looking spinach and brie chicken recipe.

So what’s the first thing I did?

I stole it!

And hey, no apologies here, I’m glad I did cause it was freaking DELICIOUS. I made some changes from her recipe – removing the mustard (this was Mother’s Day lunch and my mom doesn’t like mustard, so it had to be done), and adding panko breading with salt crystals mixed in.

I really liked my idea with the salt crystals.

I used a salt grinder that I got from Trader Joes (if I was smart, I would have taken a picture, I’ll have to do that soon), and mixed salt into the panko breading before I breaded the chicken. When it baked, it made a completely delicious crust that was just right without the chicken being too salty. It’s kindof hard to describe, but if you try it, you’ll totally get what I’m talking about!

Also, I served this with a package of Idahoan Butter and Herb mashed potatoes. They’re very flavorful and talking a bite of herby potatoes with a bite of the more mellow chicken made a totally delicious mix in my mouth. My mom and boyfriend both said the same.

So anywhoo… here’s what I did and how I did it. If you have the chance to try it, I so highly recommend it!

Ingredients:

4 chicken breasts, pounded to ¼ inch thickness
1 cup frozen spinach, thawed and drained
4 oz brie cheese
Panko bread crumbs
1 egg
Salt and pepper

What I did

Day 1…

1. I laid out each piece of chicken one at a time on a piece of Saran wrap, top side down and lightly salt and peppered the inside. I then placed a ¼ cup of the spinach and 1 oz of the brie in a little mound and rolled the chicken up around it, then rolled the whole breast in Saran wrap, twisting the ends to hold it tight.

2. I left the rolls sitting overnight in the fridge so they’d firm up and hold their shape when breaded and baked.

Day 2…

1. I preheated my over to 375°F.

2. I prepared a bowl with one beaten egg, ready for dipping, and a bowl of panko breadcrumbs with salt ground in. A good mix for me was about 1 cup of breadcrumbs to ½ tablespoon of salt, but your ratio would depend on the type of salt used.

3. Unrolling each chicken breast, I dipped it in egg, rolled it in breadcrumbs, and placed it on a baking sheet.

4. I baked the chicken breasts in the oven, but I don’t really rely on timers, I just use a thermometer and take my food out when the temperature is right. Personally, I started out at 375°F, but then decided the chicken wasn’t cooking fast enough and turned the stove up to 400°. I couldn’t tell you exactly how long the chicken really took in the oven, but I took it out when it hit 165°, and then I let it sit for a few minutes while the temperature rose another few degrees. This provided perfectly cooked, juicy meat.

All said, it turned out to be delicious meal. I’m not sure why my breadcrumbs never seem to brown like other people’s, but it didn’t affect the taste or texture, so I’m okay.

Anyway, I hope you try and enjoy this stolen recipe! 

I’ve been a bad blogger.

2009-05-08T12:34:00.000-07:00

I started this site one day after a period of boredom that I later realized came from not being able (or wanting!) to spend all my time eating any more. After I was banded, I didn’t really know what to do with myself. Eventually I realized that before the band, my entire life had revolved around food, and now that that wasn’t possible anymore, I’d need to find something else to do with myself.

I was looking for a hobby that really interested me, so of course, I went back to food. I love cooking and coming up with new recipes and sharing ideas. I thought this blog would be the perfect thing to keep me occupied and interested and it did. Eventually though, I started running out of ideas and then I felt guilty that I wasn’t keeping up, then I just started falling back on old recipes that were tried, true, and already posted, leaving me nothing new to add.

Now I’m back to being bored again.

Don’t you just love how everything goes in cycles? Heh.

I want to keep this blog going, because I do enjoy it, but relying on nothing but recipes just isn’t feasible for me. I’m not creative enough with food to count on having something new forever, and plus, in this economy, I can’t afford the expense of buying special ingredients for any new recipe I find.

So what to do?

How about tell you a little about me? Oh, and to make it even better, want to see some pictures?

I'll take some new pictures tonight or tomorrow and post them soon, my stomach has since disappeared and no longer sticks out past my chest! YAY! :)

So, about me... when I went to my first seminar in Feb 2008, I was almost 400 pounds. Not quite, but getting there. My highest weight was 373. It was horrible, as I’m sure everyone here knows. I couldn’t go out to eat cause I would never fit in a booth. When I went shopping, I had to park at the back of the lot next to an empty spot so that I had enough room to fling the car door all the way open and sort of roll out. I was embarrassed to hang out with friends and be the fat one in the group. I was just freaking miserable.

Now? Now I’m doing a lot better. I had my lapband put in on June 23rd last year and I now weigh in at 260 lbs. Down about 115 lbs from last summer. Not too shabby!

I’m doing well now, but it wasn’t always that good. I went through some real rough times with this surgery and in the follow-up and it took a lot of work to get past it.

I have always been fat. Always. As a child, I was never taught portion control or self-restraint with eating. I was raised in a household where you didn’t leave the table at night until you finished your dinner. I never really understood why, but I did understand that I needed to eat everything on my plate. And I did. And then I’d go back for more, and I’d eat that too.

As an adult, I failed every single diet I ever tried. I did Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers, the cookie diet, the soup diet, this diet where you drank nothing but juice for two weeks to clean your system, everything. And every single time I lost a little bit of weight, it piled right back on plus some the moment I lost willpower and stopped dieting.

Given that history, when I decided to do LapBand surgery, I was hopeful that I would lose weight. I really wanted to. But in my heart I was kindof convinced that I was going to fail at this like I had failed at every other single thing I tried. Nevertheless, I went to a seminar and signed up. I did all my pre-op testing, got my insurance approval no problem, and was scheduled for surgery on May 5th, just a couple months later.

At some point in there when things started going really easy, I got complacent. Everything was just working out so smoothly, and I thought that at that no matter what I did, nothing was going to go wrong.

So, two weeks before surgery, my doctor put me on the same low-carb diet that all his patients have to do. The purpose is that eating carbs creates glycogen, which is stored in the liver, which is right in front of the stomach, so it needs to be as small as possible for surgery so the doctor can get around it and put a band in. So they put you on a low-carb diet to use up all the glycogen that’s being stored, it shrinks your liver, and you’re good to go.

Well, let me just say right now, I’m a carb junkie. There is nothing I love more than a bagel or a sandwich or a bowl of pasta. Except maybe chocolate (But that has a ton of carbs too).

So anyway, my doctor tells me, the carb junkie, that I need to go two weeks on a very low-carb diet. And you know, I had good intentions, it’s not that I didn’t want to do it, but somehow pasta just kept calling my name, and I didn’t cut down like I was supposed to.

So I went into surgery May 5th, I was a little worried, but I was just kindof hoping to float by on some miracle of God, assuming that I’d change my eating habits later down the road when it was more convenient for me.

When I came out of surgery a few hours later, I found out that my liver was so inflamed there was just no way they could safely put in a band. During the surgery, my doctor went out and sat down with my mom, who was the one there with me, and told her what had happened and that he would do the surgery if she absolutely demanded it, but otherwise, he didn’t feel that it was in my best interest to do it at that time.

He said that he wanted to put me back on the low-carb diet for six weeks, and that I actually had to stick to it, and then they’d do the surgery again in six weeks when my liver had shrunk down.

When I woke up and found out, I was so disappointed, I was angry at myself, upset that I was once again, such a failure, and in general, just miserable. But it turned out that not doing the surgery the first time around was the absolute best thing he could have possibly done for me. That was what really kicked my butt into gear and made me realize that I had to make changes, and I couldn’t just rely on a band to do it for me. I guarantee you that if he had not made that decision that he felt was in my best interest, I would not have learned my lesson, I would never have worked so hard to change my behavior, and I would not be so successful toda.

So, I did the horrible horrible, horrible diet. And I will tell you, I hated every minute. I was restricted to 30 grams of carbs a day, which is basically a half a piece of bread and maybe a tiny cup of milk. It sucked, let me tell you. At one point I called my doctor crying on the phone telling him he needed to hurry up and schedule my surgery because if I had to eat one more can of tuna fish, I was going to hurt someone.

So we scheduled my next surgery, and I went back in on June 23rd, about six weeks later and woke up to find out that all my hard work had paid off and I had a band! It was funny, my mom actually told me afterward, my doctor was so happy with how much my liver had shrunk, he actually showed her pictures he’d taken of it with one of the little cameras they use. He was like sticking instruments under it, flipping the side up and over and turning it around like “Check this out! Look how small it is!”.

After that, I did really well for a while. If you stick to the recovery diet, like you absolutely should (and I did), you tend to lose a fair amount of weight just because you’re on a lot of liquids, and eventually low-calorie foods. So all was well and good for a while, I was getting re-motivated, I was feeling good, but then the weight loss started dropping off for a while.

Most people only take a few fills to get to a point of good restriction where they don’t have to eat much, but for me, it took about 5 fills, which I did every three weeks to get to where I needed to be. In the meantime though, I was losing the willpower for portion control, which led to slower weight loss and then depression at the thought that I was starting to fail again, which led to more eating, and it was just a vicious cycle.

Patti, the girl who does the fills was doing her best for me, she was giving me the largest fills she felt comfortable doing, but for me, I just needed more fluid than most people do to start off.

Finally, when I went in for my fifth fill, I think, I weighed in and found out that I was eating so much that I had actually gained two pounds. I sat in the room with Patti and just cried. I just didn’t know what to do. I was becoming that failure again that I had expected to be.

She sat and talked with me for a good half hour. We discussed everything that she could think of. Foods I was eating, schedule and meal times, emotions, she referred me to a psychiatrist for emotional support, told me to start writing down everything I ate so she could review and help me fine-tune it, and when we were done, she gave me the biggest fill she ever had to try and get me to where I was feeling restriction.

And you know, it worked. She was so supportive and understanding I left there feeling way better about myself and just by chance, the fill she gave me started to kick in as well, so I was actually starting to feel like I could do it again.

Since that point, things have gotten much easier. Within two fills after that, I was at GREAT restriction. I was able to control my eating, I rarely felt hungry, and things were great.

Since then, I’ve lost more weight and now I’m in need of another fill. In the last couple weeks my weight loss has dropped off somewhat, so I’m just biding my time until my appointment on Tuesday.

The hard part about this for me hasn’t really been the eating, it’s been the emotions. Every time I start needing another fill and I see my weight loss slow down, I start to get really discouraged. In my mind, I know it’s only temporary and that another fill will get me back on track, but something deep down inside just doesn’t believe it. I start feeling like I’m failing again, and I’ll always be fat. It’s just hard.

I’m doing well, I’m smaller now than I have been since 9th grade, and I know I’m already a success. Sometimes I just have some rough days.

So, I’m going to start using my blog again for being the great tool it can be to me. Maybe no one will read it, and if they don’t, that’s okay. But it helps to have somewhere to go to get things out.

If I do have any readers out there, I hope you don’t mind if I tell you how I’m doing sometimes? But don’t worry, I love recipes, and I promise I’ll keep posting them too!

By the way, I’m making FABULOUS brie-and-spinach-stuffed chicken breasts this weekend for Mother’s Day – pictures coming soon!

Cheesy Chicken Potatoes

2009-04-08T13:31:00.001-07:00

As I’m sure you’ve realized by now, I like easy recipes. Like, more than 5 ingredients is pretty much a stretch for me. I’m sure cheesy chicken potatoes would be delicious with homemade heavy cream-based sauce, freshly grated cheese, and real from-the-produce-department-potatoes.

But that’s way too much effort for me.

Luckily, I loved boxed scalloped potatoes as well! :)

This recipe makes a good 6-8 Lapband-sized servings.

Shopping List:

I box Scalloped potato mix

Milk and butter according to potato box instructions

2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 can green beans

1 can sweet corn

Shredded cheese for topping (optional)

Parmesan cheese (optional, but what food isn’t better with parmesan??)

What to do:

1. Preheat oven to 375°F

2. Slice your chicken breasts into more tenderloin-sized pieces. This makes it much easier to serve once cooked.

3. Prepare your potatoes in a large baking dish according to package directions. Mix in corn and green beans.

4. Place chicken pieces on top of mixture. Sneak a little parmesan in underneath if you’re feeling frisky.

5. More parmesan!

6. Bake chicken until all liquid is just about absorbed. This will probably take about an hour, though times can vary greatly depending on the amount of extra juice your chicken produces as it’s cooking.

7. Once juices are ALMOST all absorbed and the sauce is looking thick, add shredded cheese on top, if you like, and place back in the oven for another few minutes to melt. Don’t let it go too long though. The sauce will thicken up more as it cools, and you don’t want the dish all dried out.

8. Serve and enjoy gooey, cheesy deliciousness!

Nutrition info is for 1/8th of the recipe...

Fabulous 4-ingredient meatloaf

2009-04-08T12:44:00.000-07:00

I stole this recipe directly from the Barefoot Foodie. I was a little skeptical of the Rice Krispies cereal, but I’m so glad I tried it – it was absolutely DELICIOUS! With this recipe you can use super lean ground beef (93/7% or even 97/3%), and it still stays super moist and juicy from the cereal absorbing the sauce and mixing in. It wasn’t dry in the least, and the Heinz chili sauce is the perfect flavoring for meatloaf. If you’ve never had Heinz chili sauce, it’s not spicy at all. It kindof makes me think of super flavorful ketchup.

Seriously, you’ve got to try this recipe at least once!

I made a super-large recipe and used just a little too much liquid, so my meatloaf didn’t hold together quite as well as normal, so I’ve adjusted the recipe here to what I think should work just perfectly. Adjust as you like, though, to get your desired consistency…

Makes 8 Lapband-size servings

Ingredients:

1 ½ lbs lean ground beef

½ bottle Heinz chili sauce

2 ½ cups Rice Krispies cereal

2 eggs

Preferred meatloaf topping - ketchup, more chili sauce, etc...

What to do:

1. In a large bowl, mix all ingredients together well.

2. Place in a lightly greased baking dish and form into a loaf shape.

3. Bake at 350°F for about an hour, or until the center of the loaf reaches 165°F. In the last 20 minutes of baking, remove the loaf and top with ketchup, additional chili sauce, or any other meatloaf topping of your choice. I used ketchup and thought it was great, but I put it on way at the beginning and it burned a little. Do what I say, not what I do!

Nutrition info is for 1/8th of the recipe...

Chicken, Spinach, Mushroom and Pasta bake

2009-03-17T10:22:00.000-07:00

Since I first made my Three Cheese Chicken, Spinach, and Penne pasta bake, hubby and I have really fallen in love with this casserole. For me, it’s pretty easy to make, and for him, it’s filling and delicious. The best of both worlds!

I’ve made it a number of times now and improved/changed it a bit with some extra ingredients and recommended product brands, so I thought this would be a good time to update the recipe for everyone else.

I’m not sure if I should really call this a reinterpretation of an old recipe, or just a new recipe altogether, but whichever it is, I hope you try it and enjoy!

This recipe makes a LOT of food – I filled up 4 quarts worth of casserole dishes, as you can see from my pictures below. You can feed your family on this for a week! Plus, with using a lot of vegetables, low-cal spaghetti sauce and yummy Barilla Plus pasta, this casserole is actually really healthy, it falls under 200 calories for a 1-cup serving. Delicious AND nutritious!

Shopping List:

3 cups boneless skinless chicken breast, cooked and cubed
2 cups uncooked small elbow/macaroni pasta (I recommend the Barilla Plus brand)
1 bag baby spinach
2 cups sliced mushrooms
1 ½ jars (4 ½ cups) of your favorite low-cal spaghetti sauce - I used an organic brand today that’s only 50 calories for a half cup
1 cup shredded Cheddar or Colby Jack cheese
¼ cup parmesan cheese

What to do:

1. Heat oven to 400ºF.

2. Cook pasta to desired tenderness as directed on package.

3. Cook and stir mushrooms in a large nonstick skillet with a little bit of olive oil on medium-high heat until browned.

4. Drain your pasta, return to the pot. Add in your cooked mushrooms, chicken, raw spinach, cheddar cheese, and spaghetti sauce. Mix until everything is thoroughly coated.

5. Spoon into baking dish(es) and top with parmesan cheese.

6. Bake 40 minutes at 400ºF. I like baking it for a longer period of time because the spinach cooks down nicely, and the chicken absorbs more of the spaghetti sauce.

7. Serve!

This recipe makes 16 1-cup servings:

My love affair with asparagus continues!

2009-03-17T09:24:00.001-07:00

I'm so in love with asparagus right now!

It's got all sort of wonderful nutrients (Vitamins A, C, K, Iron, Potassium, and even protein!), practically no fat, and less than 40 calories for a full cup. You can munch on this stuff all you want with no concern for your waistline.

Recommended preparation:

> Hold your asparagus from each end and bend until it breaks. Throw away the bottom half, this is the tough part that you don't want to eat (asparagus will naturally break at the correct point).

> Toss your prepared asparagus in a saute pan (nonstick is great) with a few drops of olive oil and some salt and pepper - don't be stingy, the salt adds a FABULOUS flavor to the asparagus.

> Turn and mix frequently until asparagus has reached the tenderness you prefer - just try a piece every so often until it's at a texture you like - some people prefer some crunch, others like it super soft and tender. Just keep trying until you find out what you like.

> Put on a plate and (trust me!) add a tiny bit of parmesan on top. Try this at least one time, I really think you'll love it!

YUM!!

Asparagus and sausage pasta bake

2009-03-16T13:45:00.000-07:00

I never liked asparagus growing up. Absolutely couldn’t stand it. I thought it was bitter and disgusting.

Recently, I saw some first-of-the-season asparagus on sale for $1/lb at my local grocery store, and it just seemed to call out to me… “try me! TRY ME!” it was crying. So I did...

I bought a pound, blanched it briefly, and then grilled in a sauté pan with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and when it was finished, it came out completely delicious. Not at all how I remember it! The bitterness is still there, but cooking with salt and pepper adds something to it that I can’t really describe. It’s just… good.

I put some on a plate and actually tossed a couple teaspoons of parmesan cheese on top, and I swear, I devoured the whole plate in probably 30 seconds. Oh my goodness, it was so delicious.

Since then, I’ve been buying asparagus by the pound every chance I get. My poor boyfriend is starting to hate me now cause I feed it to him all the time. But I just can’t help it. I’m craving it CONSTANTLY. It’s probably just my body getting back at me for neglecting to offer it asparagus in my earlier years, but whatever it is, I just can’t get enough.

Now that I’ve decided I like asparagus, I decided I wanted to try a casserole/pasta dish of some sort with it. I found a pasta/sausage/asparagus/butter recipe that looked really good, but I just couldn’t get into the idea of putting a ½ cup of butter into a pasta recipe. I chose instead to use an alfredo sauce (not that that was any healthier!), and turkey sausage, and it turned out pretty good.

Personally, I think the turkey sausage I bought was too heavily herbed and WAAAAY too salty, and I just didn’t think the flavor went that well with the rest of the dish, but I think this dish would have been great with a more mellow meat, so I still consider it a success.

I’ll definitely make it at home again and post all about it when I find a sausage that works. Also, keep in mind, you can adjust calories depending on what type of sauce you use, and how much. I used a pretty horrible (but delicious) jarred parmesan sauce, but using homemade, or the little powder-packet mixes that you add to nonfat milk will help make this dish a little easier on the waistline.

Shopping list:

2 cups uncooked penne pasta (I recommend Barilla Plus)
1 lb asparagus
2-3 sausage links (uncooked, casings removed) of your choice, choose chicken or turkey for healthiest option
1 ½ cups alfredo or other sauce
¼ cup Parmesan cheese

What to do:

1. Preheat your oven to 400°, place pot of salted water on to boil for pasta.

2. Prepare your asparagus by holding a stalk at each end, and bending until the stalk breaks. It will naturally break in the “right” place, so you don’t have any chewy, stringy, or touch parts. Cut the prepared pieces into 1-inch chunks.

3. Add your pasta to the boiling water and cook to your preferred tenderness, about 10-12 minutes. Don’t undercook the pasta if you’re using Barilla Plus, as leaving it to soak up sauce in the casserole dish doesn’t soften the texture. Other pastas, undercook by about a minute so it doesn’t get to mushy as it cooks in the oven.

4. In a non-stick frying pan, pre-heat a tablespoon of olive oil. Add your asparagus, and salt and pepper lightly. Grill until asparagus is just… JUST barely tender, turning and mixing frequently, about 5 minutes, depending on thickness.

5. Set asparagus aside and use the same pan to cook your sausage, breaking into small pieces as it cooks. Don’t overcook, as this is going to sit in a hot oven for a while also.

6. Drain your pasta and add it back to your pasta pot (do not rinse).

7. Mix in your asparagus, cooked sausage, sauce, and parmesan cheese. Add ground black pepper to taste. Top with another few tablespoons of parmesan. I love the way parmesan tastes when it bakes and browns.

8. Pour contents of the pot into an oven-safe baking dish and cook at 400° until hot through and asparagus is completely tender, about 30 minutes.

9. Serve and enjoy!

FYI, I’m providing no nutritional info for this recipe because it will vary greatly depending on the type and amount of sausage and sauce used. Don’t want to lead anyone astray here!

Product Recommendation: Barilla Plus pasta

2009-03-16T13:20:00.000-07:00

I’ll try to keep this somewhat short and sweet, but I just wanted to tell you all about my latest and greatest product discovery: Barilla Plus pasta.

I’ve heard about this pasta for a while now, but as you know by now, I’m generally scared of anything labeled as “healthy” because, honestly, “Healthy” usually equals “gross”. Barilla Plus is a multigrain pasta with lots of protein, fiber, and omega-3 fats (the good ones!), so it’s a HUGE step up from the standard nutrition-less pasta most of us are used to eating.

While at the grocery store last week, the Barilla Plus brand pasta was on sale for $1/box and buy-one-get-one-free, so I decided for 50 cents a box, I’d try it and either find a new product I loved, or just throw it away.

Well, I’m glad I took a leap and bought a couple boxes, cause it turns out this pasta is really great. When it’s freshly cooked, it tastes EXACTLY like standard pasta. There’s no funny texture or weird taste. If I didn’t know from the box, I never would have been able to tell any difference.

However, in terms of longer-term holdup (I couldn’t think of a better phrase for it, sorry, lol), I think this pasta is far superior than regular pasta. I used the Barilla Plus penne in an asparagus-sausage-pasta casserole and we had a bunch left over, so I refrigerated overnight. When I went to reheat and serve the next day, this pasta had retained its texture really nicely, and not gotten mushy like most pastas tend to do when they sit overnight in sauce. It still had that firm bite to it that I love about freshly cooked pasta.

All in all, I couldn’t find anything about it that I didn’t like. Even the price was great, as it was the same as what I pay for any normal box of pasta (depending on the brand and the sale, I never pay more than $1.25 for a box or bag of pasta).

So if you haven’t tried this brand of pasta yet, please take my advice and buy a box to test. I really think you’ll love it, and anything that can be substituted to make our normal foods a little healthier is a definite plus in my book!

Apple-peach chicken breasts

2009-03-05T11:17:00.000-08:00

These apple-peach chicken breasts pair perfectly with my chicken-sausage apple stuffing. Make sure to marinate them overnight for maximum flavor!

Shopping List:

2 large chicken breasts (about 6oz each)
1 cup 100% apple juice
½ cup peach preserves
3 cloves garlic, lightly squished
Fresh rosemary and thyme
1 sweet apple, such as Fuji or Gala, sliced thinly

What to do:

1. In a large Ziplock bag, combine everything EXCEPT the sliced apples. Squish it around a bit and then leave in the refrigerator overnight to marinate.

2. The next day, in a non-stick pan, combine the contents of the Ziplock bag and your thinly-sliced apple.

3. Cook, uncovered, on medium heat until your chicken breast has reached 165° and the sauce has reduced and thickened.

(sorry, what a horrible-quality photo!)

4. Remove garlic cloves and herbs, and serve!

Nutrition info is for 3 oz (about ½) a chicken breast and ¼ of the sauce:

Chicken-sausage and apple stuffing

2009-03-05T10:31:00.000-08:00

I love stuffing. Love, love, LOVE, it. Unfortunately, it’s not exactly the healthiest thing in the entire world. My version here breaks up all the carbs and dense calories with some apple and chicken-sausage, and tastes positively gourmet! Try it and adjust with any ingredients you like.

Shopping List:

1 box stuffing mix (I personally like the Safeway store brand. On it’s own, it’s way too salty for my tastes, but in this mix, it mellows out nicely and you don’t have to add additional salt to your recipe)

4 small, sweet apples (like fuji), cubed into ½-inch pieces

2 sausage links of your choice (uncooked) – I chose a chicken, apple, and jack cheese sausage

½ an onion, chopped
Margarine as described on stuffing box
1/4 cup LESS water than described on stuffing box

What to do:

1. Preheat your oven to 425°.

2. Remove your sausage from the casings, and cook in a non-stick frying pan, breaking it up into small chunks as you go.

3. In a large saucepan (mine was 3-quarts), sweat your onions In a small dab of margarine or olive oil until they just starting turning a tiny bit brown around the edges.

4. At that point, add your chopped up apples to the onion, and cook, covered, until they are slightly tender, about 5 minutes.

5. Add your cooked sausage to the apples and onions.

6. Add the same amount of margarine and ¼ cup LESS water than the stuffing box specifies to the pot.

7. Heat to boiling and add the boxed stuffing mix. Stir and let sit for 5 minutes to absorb.

8. Pour the entire pan of contents into a lightly-greased 3-quart baking dish.

9. Bake at 425° until apples are tender, stuffing is heated through, and you smell wonderful things from your oven (about 20 minutes).

10. Remove and serve with my soon-coming apple-peach chicken breasts!

Enjoy!

Nutrition info is for 1/3 -1/2 cup stuffing (about 1/16th of the recipe):

Sweet-baked carrot bites

2009-03-05T09:41:00.000-08:00

I’m doing my best to start incorporating more veggies into my diet, and something I’ve found that I just love are sugar-baked baby carrots. They taste delicious and they’re perfect for dipping in a low-calorie dressing or eating plain, hot or cold.

Carrots are naturally sweet, so you don't need to add a lot of sugar, which means you can eat a bunch of these carrots for very few calories!

This recipe is made super-simple by starting with a bag of baby carrots. No washing, peeling, or cutting involved. Just open a bag, dump them in a bowl, and add some spices, and bake! Couldn’t be easier!

Shopping list:

1 lb bag of baby carrots

1 tbsp olive oil

¼ cup sugar

Salt, pepper, and dried parsley to taste

What to do:

1. Preheat your oven to 425°.

2. In a large mixing bowl, stir together your carrots and olive oil. It may not seem like much oil, but trust me, there will be enough to coat everything.

3. Mix in sugar, salt, pepper, parsley, and any other spices you may like (I threw a little cinnamon in once and thought it was great).

4. Spread the carrots in a single layer on a foil-lined baking sheet and bake uncovered at 425° until the carrots are tender, about 15-20 minutes.

5. Serve hot, cold, with sauce, or without. Yummy no matter how you eat them!

Enjoy!

Nutrition information for 4oz - A full quarter of the recipe:

Coming back soon!

2009-03-03T21:15:00.000-08:00

Hello dear (probably former by now) readers! My work has been SO INSANE for the last two months, that I just haven't been able to bear the idea of coming home to sit in front of a computer, thus, you have all been neglected.

I'm sorry. :(

Even though I've not been posting, I have been cooking and taking pictures. I promise, promise, PROMISE I will get some new posts up soon!

The easiest chicken salad EVER! (and it's healthy)

2009-01-16T16:31:00.000-08:00

There are only two… count’em… TWO ingredients in this “recipe”, and let me tell you, it is still fabulous!

Tostitos brand makes a really good jarred spinach dip that’s not too bad for you – only 50 calories for two full tablespoons of dip. Mix that with some cooked chicken and you’ve got yourself a delicious chicken salad.

UPDATE: I -just- found out that if you want to get super-fancy and make this a three-ingredient recipe instead, cranberries are an awesome addition to make the salad really pop! Toss some in with your salad, and refrigerate for an hour or two so the berries can soak up a bit of the sauce and soften up a little.

Oh... and adding some thyme would probably give it a really nice undertone. If I had any here, I would try it.

Really, this is a great 2-ingredient base for a chicken salad. Start with spinach dip and chicken and add anything else that strikes your fancy.

The sauce is pretty flavorful, so for me two tablespoons is definitely enough sauce for a large, diced chicken breast. I took a few spoonfuls of the chicken-dip mixture, placed it on a fabulous 50-calorie low carb wrap, I ended up with a delicious lunch for under 150 calories!

I mixed up my chicken and dip...

Laid it out in a line on my low-carb wrap... (I nuked my wrap for about 10 seconds in the microwave first, just to make it extra soft and pliable)

Folded the wrap in at both ends of the line...

Then wrapped one side over...

And rolled...

(by the way, I'm using the small wrap size here. You can buy the large burrito-sized wraps for only 100 calories each, but for me, it's too much food...)

Ta-da!

I wrapped 'em up...

And took them to work for lunch three days in a row.

They're really delicious and for me, very filling.

Product Recommendation - LaTortilla Factory Smart & Delicious Low Carb High Fiber Wraps

2009-01-08T17:46:00.000-08:00

I found a really great product today and I'm excited to share!

I was at the grocery store tonight bumbling around trying to think of what to make for dinner. Some sort of burrito or taco or wrap kept coming to mind, so I went to the tortilla section of the store hoping to find some semi-healthy tortillas that I could use.

Normally when I see products labeled "low-carb", "no sugar added", "98% fat free" and whatnot, I squeamishly pass right on by, assuming that if they're trying to make it a little healthier, it must taste pretty bad.

Tonight though, I was really craving a wrap, so I put my fears aside and tried a bag of LaTortilla Factory Smart & Delicious Low Carb High Fiber Wraps (mainly because they were on sale...), and I'm so glad I did cause it turns out they're great!

They come in two different sizes - a huge burrito size (way too big for any average bandster) and a smaller taco size, which to me seems just great. The large wraps all have 90 or 100 calories each (depending on flavor) and the small wraps are only 50.

(50! 5-0! Really, I never would have imagined being able to have a good wrap for only 50 calories.)

The store I was at had a bunch of different flavors of the large size wrap (things like Rosemary, Tomato and Basil, Whole Wheat, White, and one or two others I think, but they were out of stock of everything in the small size except for the whole wheat flavor, so that's what I got.

The wraps look and feel very much like a traditional flour taco wrap in terms of texture, but they felt fresher than an average flour wrap. By that, I mean if you've ever handled a package of relatively fresh shells versus the ones that have been sitting on the shelf for far to long, you can feel a big difference in how soft and pliable they are. These ones I got were very soft and pliable. I'm not sure if that's an indicator of how fresh they were, or just of how they were prepared or what they're made with, but either way, I took it as a good sign.

In terms of taste, I don't know how life-changing a plain tortilla shell can really be, but these are actually on the better end of various ones I've had. They're very moist, definitely didn't have any sort of dry, grainy texture as some shells can, and besides having the flavor of whole wheat (imagine that!), they really taste just like a normal tortilla shell. For a low carb wrap with only 50 calories, I was really impressed.

So yeah, to sum it all up, if you ever happen to see these on sale, or if you just get a craving to put some kind of bread in your mouth, I highly recommend you snatch up a package of these. I think you'll really enjoy them.

See? Look! I filled my wrap with a really delicious low-fat cranberry and green onion chicken salad I bought at the deli counter. It was great, I'm taking another wrap and the leftover salad for lunch tomorrow, yay me! :)

Action shots!

Stuffed Peppers - one of my childhood comfort foods

2009-01-06T19:13:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite comfort foods growing up was stuffed peppers. I never liked peppers - bell or otherwise - on their own, I couldn’t stand them at all. I really have no idea how I came to like this recipe. Somehow though, my mother’s stuffed bell peppers always made me happy. As a kid they were one of my favorite things. Maybe she drugged them to make them addictive? ;-)

These are really simple to make, only use a few ingredients and if you make too big a batch of filling, it freezes well for future use.

So here it is – my mother’s wonderful stuffed peppers...

This filling recipe makes enough to stuff 8 peppers, but you could just do 4 and freeze the remaining filling.

Shopping List:

> Bell peppers of your preferred color – I like the red, orange or yellow better than green, they seem to get sweeter

> 1 box Spanish or Jambalaya rice mix

> 1½ lbs ground meat (I used pork this time because it was on sale, but ground turkey is much healthier and just as tasty with the rice)

> Shredded colby jack or cheddar cheese

> Salt and pepper to taste

> Optional – chopped onion, green onion, mushrooms, or chopped bell pepper can all be added to the rice filling.

What to do:

1. Prepare rice according to package directions.

2. Brown your meat till the pink is just about gone. You don’t want it well-done though because it’s going to bake in the oven for a half hour and you don’t want the meat to dry out too much. When you’re browning, break the meat up into the smallest crumbles you can manage.

3. Mix together the rice, ground meat, salt, pepper, and any optional additions, like onion, green onion, mushroom, chopped bell peppers, or anything else you like.

4. While the filling is cooking, separate the top and seeds of the peppers from the shell. The easiest way to do this is to use a small knife and cut straight down into the pepper from the top in a circle around the stem. Most all the innards are attached to the stem and will pull out in one large piece. If you want, you can go back in with a spoon and just scoop out any excess white pith if there’s a lot in there.

5. Put a spoon or two of filling in the bottom of each pepper...

Top with a spoonful of cheese...

Add more filling...

Another spoon of cheese... (altogether, you will be using only about 1/4 cup of cheese in each pepper)

And top with more filling...

Don’t fill it too full, you want just a tiny recess in the top of the pepper because you’re going to put more cheese in there just before you serve, and you want it to melt into the pepper, not down over the sides.

6. Stand your filled peppers up in a baking dish and add about ¼ cup of water to the bottom. Cover and bake at 350ºF for 40-50 minutes, or until the center of the pepper reaches 165ºF.

7. Once your peppers are heated through, remove the dish from the oven and cover each pepper with one more small spoon of cheese. Put back in the oven for just a couple moments until the cheese has melted.

8. You can serve plain, or with a dollop of sour cream, either way, they’re delicious!

Helpful Hint:

If you would like to freeze some of your filling for later use, it saves really well in a simple Ziploc freezer bag. When you scoop it in, flatten it out across the whole bag, as shown here. This will make it easier and faster to defrost when the time comes that you want to use it:

Once the filling is thawed out, just start from step 4 and you're good to go!

Hope you try this and love it as much as I do!

Nutrition information is for one pepper with ground turkey.

Back soon...

2009-01-04T16:30:00.000-08:00

With the craziness and stress of the holidays, I've been cooking some of our favorite dishes lately (more ribs with fruit sauce and Three Cheese Chicken, Spinach, and Penne Pasta Bake, especially) rather than fussing with new recipes. Well now that the holidays are over, I can go back to obsessing over new food.

Coming soon - stuffed peppers!

Stay tuned...

As promised - pork ribs with fruit sauce

2008-12-29T12:44:00.000-08:00

Well, as I promised, I did my soon-to-be-famous-I'm-sure pork ribs again, this time with an awesome fruit sauce.

I made it using Chef John's technique except I used chicken broth instead of wine. My fruit preserves were just store-brand, but I loved it. I used half Safeway seedless blackberry preserves and half Safeway red raspberry preserves.

I thought it was great with the ribs - it basically tasted just like jam, except it was the perfect consistency for dipping. It added a really great flavor to the meat that hubby agreed was way better than normal gravy. This was a "You have to make this again!" Christmas meal, definitely.

Forgot to even take a picture before we dove in...

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and All the best wishes for the new year!

Three Cheese Chicken, Spinach, and Penne Pasta Bake

2008-12-21T12:11:00.000-08:00

I originally found this recipe on the Kraft Foods website and adjusted it just slightly (less pasta and less cheese) to fit a bandster a little better. While it’s fairly similar to a few other tomato sause/pasta dishes I’ve done, I liked the idea of adding creaminess with cream cheese, and some extra nutrients with the spinach.

This time around I cubed up raw chicken and cooked it on the stovetop, which for me, isn’t too common. I normally like working with chicken that I’ve pre-cooked in a crockpot, but this turned out to be great, and the chicken was just as juicy, so overall, I think it worked well.

For me, this recipe filled a 3-quart baking dish to the very top, so this made a good six to seven cups once prepared.

Shopping List:
3 cups boneless skinless chicken breast, cubed
1 cup uncooked penne pasta
6 cups baby spinach (I only used about 3 cups when I made my meal, and I really think it could have used more)
2 cups of your favorite pasta sauce
3 oz 1/3rd less fat cream cheese (Neufchatel cheese)
½ cup shredded mozzarella cheese
¼ cup parmesan cheese

What to do:
1. Heat oven to 375ºF.

2. Cook pasta as directed on package, adding spinach to the boiling water for the last minute or two.

3. Cook and stir chicken in a large nonstick skillet on medium-high heat until browned. Add spaghetti sauce and bring to boil. Simmer 3 minutes more or until chicken is done.

4. Stir in Neufchatel cheese.

5. Drain pasta mixture; return to pan.

6. Stir in chicken mixture and mozzarella.

6. Spoon into 1½ or 2-qt baking dish, top with parmesan cheese.

6. Bake 20 minutes at 375ºF.

7. Serve!

One serving is 1/7th of the recipe – about ¾ to 1 cup:

The juiciest pork ribs ever!

2008-12-17T18:38:00.000-08:00

Oh my GOODNESS! I just made what might be one of my favorite meat dishes ever. I don’t know how that will be perceived, given the absolute simplicity of this dish, but I don’t care. There is something to be said for a big chunk of perfectly cooked, succulent, juicy meat.

(And by the way, I deeply apologize, but because of the method of cooking, I don’t have the faintest idea how many calories there are in a serving of this. If anyone can give me an idea, I’d be much appreciative!)

I started with a couple pounds of pork rib. Some pieces had a bone, some didn’t. I coated them with olive oil, salt, and pepper and cooked them using the slow-roasting method Chef John of Foodwishes.com recommended for lamb shanks:

Click here for Chef John’s video.

This method turned out to be absolutely superb for pork as well as lamb. Unfortunately, I didn’t have fresh herbs or garlic in my house, as Chef recommends in the video, and due to the inclement weather (did you guys see my snow pictures from the last post? Guess what, we got three more inches tonight and it's still going strong!) I was not about to venture out, so I made due with simple salt and pepper. It still turned out great though. If you have the opportunity to make a dish such as this, experiment! This could be wonderful with all kinds of different seasonings and herbs.

Also, the gravy I made went surprisingly well with the dish. I used the juice and fat from the pork to make a gravy, and ended up not really loving the taste. However, I added in about a 3rd of a cube of chicken bouillon, and it turned out to be just great.

Next time I make this - and I guarantee I’ll make it again - I plan to try making a fruit sauce, mixing maybe some blackberry or raspberry preserves with a nice bit of wine, Similar to this idea from Chef John – http://foodwishes.blogspot.com/2008/07/braswells-tart-cherry-cabernet-sauce.html – I think the sweet of the sauce and the salty of the meat would be an amazing combination.

So anyway, here’s the details…

Shopping list:
2 lbs pork rib, boneless or not
Olive oil, salt, pepper

For the sauce:
1-2 tbsp flour
Fat drippings from the meat pan
½ c milk
1/3 cube chicken boullion

What I did:

1. Pre-heated the oven to 450ºF.

2. Following the method outlined in Chef John’s video, I placed my pork ribs in a baking dish, coated all sides with a bit of olive oil and salt and peppered well.

3. I cooked placed the ribs uncovered in the oven to cook at 450º for 20 minutes.

4. I then took the ribs out of the oven and wrapped the whole dish tightly in three layers of heavy-duty aluminum foil (see Chef John’s video for a demonstration) so that steam wouldn’t leak out.

5. I placed the ribs back in the oven at a low 325ºF for two hours to cook.

6. At the end of the two hours, I pulled the ribs out of the oven, uncovered the whole dish, spooned all the juices out of the baking pan into a heat-proof bowl, and put the ribs back in the oven uncovered for another 20 minutes to just help caramelize a little more.

7. While the ribs were making their final appearance in the oven, I followed along with instructions in Chef John’s video for how to let the juices sit for a few minutes, and then used a ladle to spoon off the fat that floated to the top. I did not throw away the fat!

8. In a small saucepan I combined about three tablespoons of the fat, and about 1½ tablespoons of flour over medium heat and whisked for a few minutes to create a roux. I heated it for an additional three minutes or so to cook out the starch, and then whisked in about a half cup of COLD milk (another tip from Chef John – hot roux + cold milk = lump-free sauce).

9. Once the milk was wisked in and the sauce was well-mixed and lump-free, I added all of the remaining juices I had scooped from the pan (about ¾ of a cup, I think), a little less than a half cube of chicken bouillon, and stirred over medium heat until the sauce thickened up.

10. When the ribs were done with their 20-minute uncovered cook, I took them from the oven, plated them up, covered with sauce, and devoured.

And can you blame me? …

Oh, heaven on a plate!

As I said before, I’m going to try a fruit sauce next time and see how that turns out, but in the mean time, I highly recommend you try this. You’ll swoon when you put the first bite in your mouth!

Enjoy. :)

Chicken Parmesan

2008-12-14T19:27:00.000-08:00

So one food that I definitely love, but don’t love making at home, is chicken parmesan. I don’t really like making recipes where I have to “dredge” things. For one, it’s messy, and for two, I always end up wasting a lot of food – flour, eggs, breadcrumbs, etc.

However, over on Foodwishes, there’s a video on homemade chicken parmesan, where Chef John has a good technique and a simple way to keep from wasting a lot of dry dredging ingredients, and he points out the very good idea (obvious to everyone but me, I’m sure) that you can simply use tongs to keep your hands dry. Given those two things, I decided it was time to try something new.

Check out the video here!

And oh my goodness, was it worth it. The chicken came out SOOO JUICY, it was just unreal. I watched the time pretty close and took the chicken out just when it hit 165ºF, and it turned out just perfect. It turned out to be easier than I expected, and without having to get my fingers all gross and eggy, it was pretty easy as well. I would absolutely make this entrée again.

Chef John has a great instructional video (again, posted here), so I’m not going to re-type all the instructions, I’ll just note a few minor changes I made.

First, I coated the chicken with breadcrumbs the same way Chef John shows to do with the flour - sprinkling them over top, rather than dunking in a bowlful that will need to be thrown away afterward. It was just a lot easier, and saved me from wasting a lot. I did the mix he showed – breadcrumbs and parmesan – and went to town.

Second, for calorie reasons, I didn’t fry in oil, I actually just sprayed a nonstick skillet with a little cooking spray, and it still turned out great. The coating cooked to a crunchy texture, and held its place nicely on this chicken. I also lightly sprayed the baking pan to go in the oven.

Third, I was stuck using shredded mozzarella cheese. I put a hefty tablespoon or so on each breast, and dusted with about ½ tablespoon of parmesan. The one change I would make if I had it to do again, is I would cook the chicken most of the way in the oven first, then add the cheese on top in the last five to ten minutes. For me, adding shredded mozzarella at the beginning of the oven cooking was a mistake. It still tasted fabulous, but it got super-brown, so I had to add more on top for looks after it was all done.

Fourth, not really a change, but just a note, the sauce I used was Ragu Chunky Gardenstyle Super Chunky Mushroom Sauce. It’s my absolute favorite of all time. Anytime a spaghetti sauce is needed, that’s the first one I turn to. When it goes on sale for $1.50/jar at Safeway, I start stocking up BIGtime.

After all was said and done, here is my estimated nutritional info for one 5-oz breast, for me though, about 2/3rds of this was a good sized serving:

Oh, oh, OH!!! I almost forgot... on a completely unrelated sidenote here, IT SNOWED!!!!!!!! And it stayed freezing cold all day long. Non of that wimpy overnight snow that melts by 10am the next morning. No-sir-eee, this snow stuck around all day long and was just BEAUTIFUL! Oh, how I love winter... :)

Chicken tetrazzini the healthy way

2008-12-12T17:56:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite meals to make in the fall and winter season is tetrazzini. It’s gooey, flavorful, comforting, and it gives me a good holiday feeling, since tetrazzini is something my family traditionally makes with our leftover holiday turkey. However, traditional tetrazzini tends to be super high in calories and carbs due to the mixture of lots of pasta, lots of milk, and lots of butter. Not good for those of us trying to still lose weight during the holiday season. However, you do have options…

In my slimmed down version, I use chicken broth, a little bit of powdered milk to add some creaminess without hundreds of extra calories, and a large amount of chicken to a small amount of pasta. No, tetrazzini will never be the same to us carb-addicts when it’s made with less pasta, but the flavors and gooeyness are still spot-on, so it’s a small price to pay for a delicious meal that won’t cause us to break the scale.

Start in the morning by tossing a few boneless skinless chicken breasts in your crockpot (come on now, if you’re a lapband patient, how do you not have a crockpot yet? Go out and get one!) with a can of chicken broth, and let it cook till you’re ready to prepare dinner in the evening.

When you are ready to make dinner, it’s a fairly simple process, and you’ll come out with a low-cal, high-flavor meal.

This recipe makes about 5 cups prepared.

Shopping list:

3 tbsp cornstarch
1 1/2 cans (3 cups) chicken broth
¼ cup powdered nonfat milk
6 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese (divided)
1 can (6.5 ounces) of drained mushrooms
2 oz of spaghetti
3 cups of cooked shredded or cubed chicken
¾ cup frozen mixed vegetables
Salt and pepper to taste

What to do:

1. Preheat the oven to 375ºF.

2. Cook spaghetti according to package directions to desired tenderness. Drain.

2. In a 3-quart saucepan, over medium heat, combine cornstarch with milk, broth, salt, and pepper. Bring to a low boil, stirring regularly.

3. Remove the mix from heat and stir in half the grated Parmesan cheese, mushrooms, mixed veggies (you can add them frozen), cooked chicken, and spaghetti,

5. Pour this mixture into a lightly greased casserole or baking dish.

6. Top with the rest of the parmesan cheese and bake at 375ºF oven for 25-30 minutes or until mixture bubbles and top is browned.

8. Let it sit for about 5 minutes to thicken up before serving.

This is a great recipe that you can make anytime. It’s a perfect go-to meal when you’ve got waaaay too much holiday turkey left over, or you just want to do something special without too much effort.

Hope you enjoy!

Nutrition info is for 1 cup prepared.

Apple Chicken

2008-12-08T21:10:00.000-08:00

Here’s another 4-ingredient recipe using a technique you’ll see me repeat often – rolling something up in chicken. :) This may also be one of the lowest calorie recipes I’ve posted so far, weighing in at less than 200 (estimated, of course) for one banster serving (half a prepared breast).

This is really just such an easy thing to do. Anything you can think of that would taste good with chicken will also taste good in chicken. Ham and cheese, fruit, stuffing, etc (If anyone thinks of a new combo they’d like me to try, let me know, I’ll be happy to!). It’s kindof a pain flatting the chicken, but if you can get past that the rest is simple.

I’ve sized this recipe to be perfect for two “average” people, but feel free to double as need to feed a full family. For me, a half of one breast was more than enough, so I now have leftovers for lunch tomorrow! Mmm-mmmmmm…

Shopping list:
1 medium, sweet apple (I used Fuji’s)
2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts, flattened to about ¼ inch thickness
2 slices favorite cheese (I used white American)
½ tbsp butter

What to do:

1. Start by slicing the apples thinly and evenly.

2. Melt your butter in a nonstick frying pan, add the apples. Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring regularly, until half-way soft.

3. Lay out your chicken breasts each on a piece of saran or plastic wrap. Pile half the apples in the middle of the breat, cover with one slice of cheese, wrap up your chicken in a tight roll with the plastic wrap (as shown in my chicken cordon bleu post) and refrigerate overnight.

5. The next day, unwrap and bake at 375ºF until the chicken reaches 160ºF all the way through (about 25 minutes for me).

6. Serve and enjoy. This would go well with a nice fancy salad on the side. assorted greens with maybe some goat cheese, cranberries, some candied walnuts or pecans and a little raspberry vinaigrette dressing. A nice, light and fresh salad to go with a nice light and fruity chicken. Delish!

In this picture, I had too many apples, so the seam of the chicken kindof popped open while cooking. Fortunately though, I kindof expected it, and so had placed it to back upside down (seam side up). When it popped open, it cooked like a perfect little chicken boat holding the cheese and apples. Delicious!

Serving size is for half a prepared breast (about 4 oz chicken, ¼ of the apple, and ½ slice of cheese, and ¼ tbsp of the butter):

Cranberry Crockpot Ribs

2008-12-08T20:28:00.000-08:00

This is a really simple 4-ingredient recipe (I’m not counting the water here!) that I’ve actually seen on a few recipe sites. I decided to try it, and it turned out to be really good. Watering down the cranberry jelly with some chicken broth really mellows out the flavors, and as always, the meat comes out fall-apart tender.

Makes four servings.

Shopping List:
1 ½ lbs boneless pork ribs (keep in mind, ribs tend to cook down a LOT, you end up with about half as much meat as you start with)
1 can cranberry jelly
½ can chicken broth
1 tsp cornstarch
Water

What I did:

1. In my crockpot, I combined the ribs (I put them in frozen), cranberry jelly, and chicken broth, and then set to cook on low for 8 hours:

2. Eight hours later I removed he rib meat from the crockpot, leaveing just the juices.

3. I combined the cornstarch with just a couple tablespoons water and stirred to dissolve. I then stirred that mixture into the leftover juices in the crockpot. It thickened up instantly, and I left it to cook for about 5 minutes.

4. To serve, I plated the rib meat and covered with sauce.

Absolutely delicious, and it so easy that there’s really no excuse not to try it.

By the way, the little lumps on my ribs are dried cranberries I threw in near the end of the meat cooking time. You can add these if you want, but I didn't really find it made much difference.

One serving is about 3-4 oz cooked meat and ¼ cup of sauce.

Almost homemade Macaroni and Cheese with Ham

2008-12-05T21:32:00.000-08:00

Comfort-food goes (fairly) healthy in my version of mac ‘n cheese; I load it up with lots of lean ham to even out the carbs.

The recipe below may not sound like it would make much, but by the time you add in the ham and the pasta expands while cooking, it makes about a good seven to eight cups. Definitely enough to feed your family for a couple days. In the picture above, the baking dish I used was a deep 9x13 and was filled a good three inches high.

Normally real, true, home made macaroni and cheese can turn into a bit of an ordeal, mainly because homemade cheese sauce can go very wrong very easily (Though for a GREAT tutorial video on how to make a perfect, super-easy, fool-proof sauce, check out this post from Chef John over at FoodWishes), but in my recipe I go the even easier route and use Campbell’s cheddar cheese condensed soup. While I really like this soup, it’s a bit too mild for my taste in mac. So in addition, I mix in about a half cup of real shredded cheese (either Sharp Cheddar or Colby Jack) and it adds just enough sharpness and tang to the dish to make it taste perfect to me. You can add more or less, depending on how mild you prefer your sauce.

Recipe makes about nine ¾-cup servings.

Shopping List:

1 ½ lbs lean cooked ham
2 cups uncooked elbow/macaroni pasta (I used the small macaroni for my dish)
2 cans Campbell’s cheddar cheese condensed soup
½ cup of your favorite shredded cheese
½ cup milk
Bread crumbs (optional)

What to do:

1. Heat your oven to 375ºF.

2. In a large pot of salted boiling water, cook pasta as directed on package to desired tenderness.

3. While the pasta’s cooking, chop your ham into bite size pieces, about a half-inch or so.

4. When the pasta is at your chosen tenderness, drain, do not rinse.

5. Mix together in your pasta pot the cooked pasta, cheese soup, milk, shredded cheese and ham. Mix well until the milk is blended in, the sauce is slightly thinned, and everything is evenly coated.

6. Pour the mixture into a lightly greased baking dish. A deep 9x13 would work, or for a shallow dish, you may want a 10x15. Or if needed, split into two smaller dishes. Whatever you happen to have.

7. Pour a light dusting of breadcrumbs over the top of the macaroni if you wish. Some people like them, some people don’t.

8. Bake at 375 ºF until heated through, about 20 minutes.

9. Serve and enjoy!

Nutrition info is for one serving, about ¾ of a cup:

Chicken Cordon Bleu - make and freeze in advance for easy dinners later

2008-12-02T18:32:00.000-08:00

Here’s an easy chicken recipe for those of us that like to feel “gourmet” without a lot of effort.

The preparation is split into two parts: 1) creating the rolls and 2) breading and baking. For delicious meals in the future without a lot of work, you can double, triple, or even quadruple this recipe, making a large number of rolls all at once, and freeze them for up to 6 months. When you’re ready for cordon bleu, simply thaw the rolls out overnight in the fridge, and then egg and bread them right before you bake.

Serve with salad or vegetables and maybe some mashed or scalloped potatoes on the side.

Shopping List:

4 medium boneless, skinless chicken breasts
8 slices (4 oz) thin-sliced deli-style ham
4 slices (4 oz) of your favorite cheese (I used White American – not as sharp as cheddar, but still a nice tangy taste, it’s one of my favorites)
1 egg
½ cup dry bread crumbs

What to do:

Part 1 - at least one day in advance:

1. Pound chicken breasts to about ¼ thickness.

2. Place two slices of ham and one slice of cheese on each piece of chicken. Roll chicken around ham and cheese slices. Place each roll on a small piece of plastic wrap and roll tightly (as shown below).

3. Refrigerate chicken rolls overnight. This helps them hold their shape when you bake the next day. (Optional, place plastic-wrapped rolls in Ziplock Freezer Bags and store in the freezer for up to six months.)

(This picture is from a different type of chicken I made, but I added it here to show you what I mean about how to wrap properly)

Part 2 - on day of serving:

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF.

2. Beat the egg in a medium bowl. Place breadcrumbs in a second bowl nearby.

3. Gently unroll each piece of chicken from the plastic wrap, while keeping it formed in it’s roll-shape.

4. Dip each chicken roll first in the egg (making sure to turn to coat all sides), then in the breadcrumbs. Place on greased baking sheet.

5. Bake at 350ºF about 15 minutes or until internal temperature measures 165ºF.

6. Serve and enjoy!

Nutrition information for one chicken breast:

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-27T09:18:00.001-08:00

Chicken, Apple and Brie - a sandwich worthy of a queen!

2008-11-22T17:47:00.000-08:00

I just made the most delicious sandwich and just HAD to share!

What I used:

Cooked chicken - I threw a couple boneless skinless breasts in the crockpot with some broth this morning and then sliced them into chunks after it was all cooked, but you could also use the sandwich style from your local deli if you prefer.

Apple - I used a beautiful Fuji, but I would imagine any nice sweet apple would work (i.e., don't try this with a red delicious). I can imagine this would be absolutely killer with a Pink Lady apple.

Brie - Actually, light brie. I buy my Brie and other 'fancy' cheeses at... you guessed it... Trader Joes. Their normal store-brand brie is just fantastic (so creamy, Im practically drooling just thinking about it!) but today they were out so I bought their store-brand light brie on a whim, and it turns out it's just as delicious, and tastes just the same as the regular. And with a few less calories and haf the fat. That's always a good thing.

Sourdough bread - I bought a lovely loaf of sourdough and each large slice is only 80 calories. I used one slice cut in half, and it turned out that half a sandwich was just the perfect size for me.

A little butter to cook the apples and butter the outside of the sandwich.

What I did:

1. I sliced the apple super thin and then put the slices in a nonstick cooking pan with about half a tablespoon of butter. I cooked them on medium/medium low for about 10 minutes until they were softened to my liking (about 1/2 way between uncooked and completely melted down - soft and wiggly but still with just a tiny bite).

2. While my apples were cooking, I assembled the rest of my sandwich. I buttered the outside of my first half-piece of bread very lightly and then placed it buttered-side-down on a plate and started stacking it with big chunks of chicken, and then covering with thin slices of my light brie, I used about an ounce.

3. Once my apples were cooked to my liking, I took them out of the pan and put a big spoonful on top of my brie (I probably used about 1/3 of the cooked apple for my half sandwich), and then topped the whole thing with the other half piece of bread and buttered the outside of that slice lightly as well.

4. I put the whole thing right back into the same nonstick frying pan. I didn't even wipe it out since the leftover-apple flavored butter remains just made my sandwich that much tastier.

5. I cooked it on each side for about 3-4 minutes on medium low to ensure the cheese melted before the bread burnt.

It turned out just delicious. The apples were very sweet and reminiscent of apple pie, but the texture with just a slight bit of crunch was great. The light brie tasted exactly like normal brie and added a nice mild creaminess to the whole thing. This is something I highly recommend you try nextime you need a light afternoon lunch.

I estimated my sandwich to be about 300 calories (bread - 80, cheese - 70, and butter - 100, chicken and apple - 50), but your mileage will vary depending on the bread you use.

Hope you try it and enjoy it as much as I did!

Delicious nutritious chicken strips - straight from your freezer!

2008-11-22T13:34:00.000-08:00

If you're anything like me, you love a good chicken strip... that crunchy breading, that juicy meat...YUM! The problem, though, with your average store-bought frozen chicken strips is that just a few small-as-your-pinky pieces usually runs hundreds of calories and double-digits in fat grams. Now really, who in the world, even if they aren't a LapBand patient, should be eating that?!

However, while shopping a couple months ago at my favorite store, Trader Joes (check www.traderjoes.com to find a location near you - they're all over the country), I came across a much healthier alternative:

Yes, Trader Joes brand chicken tenderloins. Now, don't fear! If you've ever shopped at a Trader Joes before, then you know that practically everything that's sold under their "Trader Joes" name is absolutely delicious, and these chicken tenders are no exception. They are actually wonderful, restaurant quality in my opinion. The breading is well-seasoned and stays nice and crunchy when I bake them on a tray in my toaster oven, the chicken is super-super-juicy, and there are never any little bits of gristle or fat, it's just good-quality meat all the way through. They fare healthier because the breading isn't as horribly heavy as most brands, and to my understanding, I believe they're baked instead of fried before being frozen and packaged.

These chicken tenders aren't tiny either, one serving is two tenders, and just one tender is practically half the size of my hand (And trust me... my hand ain't small!). These weigh in at about 1½ ounces a piece, making two pieces a perfect size for a bandster.

As far as nutrition goes, two tenders weigh in at only 150 calories, 13g carbs, and less than five grams of fat, making them a great choice for a family dinner:

So hopefully next time you're in the mood for an easy-to-prepare dinner that will make the whole family happy, I hope you keep these chicken tenders in mind. Served with a side of steamed veggies, and maybe some mashed-potatoes for the rest of the family, these chicken tenders are sure to please!

A side note... a 1½+ lb bag of tenders sells for about $6 at the TJ's in my neighborhood. Actually a pretty good price-per-pound for prepared chicken.

Chicken and Pasta Salad with Pesto Yogurt Dressing

2008-11-17T19:56:00.000-08:00

A very easy, and surprisingly delicious, lunch or dinner item. The key is to have at least as much chicken, if not more, than you have pasta. For a bandster with good restriction, about 1 cup or less of this should be a good sized meal. But for the family, dress it up with a nice big salad on the side, and everyone is sure to enjoy.

When I’m making this for myself, I portion it off into a bunch of little 1-cup tupperware-type Glad cups and I’ve got individual lunches prepared for myself for a week. Just divine.

Makes about 4 cups prepared.

Shopping List:
2 cups cubed or shredded chicken
1 cup uncooked penne pasta
1½ cup lowfat plain yogurt
¼ cup store-bought or homemade pesto

What to do:
1. Put a medium pot of salted water on the stove and bring to a boil. Add your pasta and cooked to desired tenderness. (about 12-15 minutes, depending on your brand)
2. Drain and rinse the pasta under cold water.
3. Mix together pasta, chicken, yogurt, and pesto. Add salt and pepper to taste
4. Let sit for a half hour, or even overnight before serving.

Plain yogurt may not be too great on its own, but I promise you, add it to some pasta and chicken, and it’s darn near gourmet. Trust me on this! Try a bite of the pasta, chicken, and yogurt mixture before you add the pesto. You’ll be amazed at how the creamy yogurt makes the chicken and pasta taste delicious.

Serving size is 1/4 recipe, about 1 cup prepared.