Chicken Saute Mediterranean

Are you ready for another recipe...finally! I am. For the first time in a long time, last night I felt like trying something totally new. I was looking at the menu on my fridge and not wanting anything on it. So, I pulled out my Light Cooking Book and looked for a recipe that sounded yummy and that I had the ingredients for. This is what I found. Let me tell you, it smelled heavenly while it was cooking. The Italian herbs and garlic made my mouth water! My kids wouldn't touch it (what else is new) and I didn't get a chance to get my hubby's input. He ate it all though.

It was easy to make and like I said smelled heavenly. The taste was good and bold as well. I liked it, but would not eat it every week. Maybe a special occasion, company night, or once every two months. That kind of thing. :) Does that even make any sense? Well, anyway, here it is!

Chicken Saute Mediterranean

* 1 1/4 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breasts
* 1 1/2 teaspoons dried Italian herb seasoning
* 2 teaspoons olive oil
* 1 to 2 cloves garlic, minced
* 1 1/2 tablespoons chopped sun-dried tomatoes
* 1 can (8 ounces) whole tomatoes, un-drained (I used a 15 ounce can of diced tomatoes)
* 1 can (16 ounces) great Northern or cannellini beans, drained and rinsed (I used left over dried brown beans that I had made for another recipe. I used about 1 1/2 cups)

1. Sprinkle breast halves with salt and pepper. Press herbs into chicken.
2. In a large non-stick skillet over med-high heat, heat oil. Add chicken and brown 2 minutes on each side.
3. Add garlic and sun-dried tomatoes (the one ingredient I didn't have) and cook and stir for 1 minute more.
4. Stir in canned tomatoes, including liquid, and the beans. (I think it would look more "Mediterranean" with the white beans.) Reduce heat to med-low, cover and simmer 15 to 20 minutes until chicken is cooked through.
5. Serve chicken breast with the tomatoes and beans spooned over the top. I also topped them with a little Parmesan cheese.

Serves: 5-6, 208 calories, 4 g fat, 66 mg cholesterol, 301 mg sodium
From Light Cooking pg 204. See sidebar for book link.

NOTE: After posting this I realized there is no link for the cookbook. I tried to search for a link and couldn't find anything to link to. Maybe the book is out of print? It isn't that old, 1994 by Publications International. There are some books for sale on Yahoo and E-bay, but they don't have photos so I don't know if they are the same book. I'd try your local library first.

Apple-Squash soup

Have you wondered what some of my food flops look like? Here is one:

There is this cute little restaurant nearby that has a yummy squash and apple soup. It inspired me to find a recipe to try. The picture of it in the book does not look anything, and I mean ANYTHING like the above. Next time I will just make my favorite Butternut squash soup and just add the apples because I know I like the flavor of that soup.

This one called for 1/2 a cup (HALF a freakin' cup!) of mustard. MUSTARD! Now, I didn't even put that much. I only put 1/4 cup and it was still over powering. It looked and smelled like a baby's diaper. So Laura, you were right! I should have listened and left the mustard completely out. The whole pan went down the garbage disposal.

So, my advice? Unless you really love mustard, don't make the Apple-Squash Soup recipe in the Light Cooking Book on page 117!

Blintzes with Strawberry Sauce

These are easy to make but take a little time. My kids love them. My husband and oldest daughter were joking around and kept saying we were going to eat creeps. It was making the two year old mad so he would bang the table and say, "NO! I want crepes!"

Blintzes with Strawberry Sauce

Strawberry Sauce
In blender or food processor, puree 1 (16 oz) package frozen strawberries, thawed (you can also use raspberries or blueberries). Stir in 2 tablespoons sugar. Set aside.

Filling
* 1 (16 oz) container low-fat cottage cheese
* 3 tablespoons egg beaters
* 1/2 teaspoon sugar

1. Mix until well blended. Spread about 2 tablespoons of the mixture down the middle of a crepe. Fold one side over and then the second side so that it is folded in thirds. Finally fold the top and bottom of each crepe to meet in the center to form the blintze.


2. In lightly greased nonstick skillet, over med-high heat, place blintze seam side down; cook 4 minutes or until golden brown. Turn over and cook another 4 minutes. Top with Strawberry sauce.

Crepes
* 1 cup all-purpose flour
* 1 cup milk
* 1/2 cup egg beaters (I think that is 2 eggs)
* 1 tablespoon melted butter

1. Mix all together really well until smooth. Heat a lightly greased skillet or crepe pan over med-high heat.

2. Pour in scant 1/4 cup batter, tilting pan to cover the bottom. Cook 1 to 2 minutes, turn over and cook 30 seconds to 1 minute more. Makes about 10 crepes.

10 servings, 161 calories, 2g fat, 2mg, cholesterol, 231mg sodium (Light Cooking page 52)

Sesame Pork with Broccoli...

...without the sesame seeds. :) I thought this recipe turned out very well. Everyone ate it and the girls kept going back for more. They kept saying, "this chicken is really good mom!" When the meal was over I told them it wasn't chicken and they were just fine with that news.

The pork was really soft and tender and that is what made it so yummy. I think we were used to the pork chop texture of pork, but this was soft, juicy and had a really nice flavor to boot!

Sesame Pork with Broccoli

* 1 can (14 oz) chicken broth
* 2 tablespoons cornstarch
* 1 tablespoon soy sauce
* 4 green onions with tops, finely diced (I just used 1/4 cup plain yellow onion)
* 1 pound pork tenderloin, trimmed
* 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
* 1 clove garlic, minced
* 1 1/2 pounds fresh broccoli, cut into bite-sized pieces (about 7 cups) I waited too long and my broccoli looked sad, yellow and wilty, so I just used a bag of frozen out of my freezer. Worked just as good and I didn't have to cut it up!
* 1/2 cup chopped bell peppers
* 2 tablespoons sesame seed, lightly toasted (I skipped)
* Hot cooked rice (I had enough time to make brown rice, mmmm)

1. Combine chicken broth, cornstarch and soy sauce in small bowl; blend well. Stir in green onions and set aside (since I used yellow onion I saved them to stir fry with the bell peppers).

2. Cut pork tenderloin lengthwise into quarters; cut each quarter into bite sized pieces. Heat oil in wok or heavy skillet over med-high heat. Add pork and garlic; stir fry 3 to 4 minutes or until pork is tender. Remove pork and keep warm.

3. Add broccoli, peppers, onion and broth to the pan. Cover and simmer over low heat 8 minutes. Add cooked pork until it is all heated evenly, stirring frequently. Serve over rice and if desired sprinkle with sesame seed.

6 Servings, 185 calories, 79mg cholesterol, 7g fat, 457mg sodium. (Light Cooking page 163)

Walnuts and Chicken and Rice Quiche

This week has been crazy busy, but on Monday I found the time to make this yummy treat.

Spiced Walnuts

* 5 cups walnuts
* 1 1/2 cups sugar
* 1/2 cup water
* 1/4 cup honey
* 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
* dash of cinnamon

In a large saucepan over medium heat, place the walnuts, sugar, water, honey and cinnamon. Bring mixture to a low boil, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and add vanilla, stirring until creamy. Cover counter top with waxed paper. Pour walnut mixture onto waxed paper and using two forks, pull nuts apart. Let harden; break into pieces to serve.

That is what the recipe says. It didn't work for me. For one thing, it doesn't say how long to cook the mixture and when I finally dumped it, it was very thin and nothing was sticking together. So, I figured I must have done something wrong. I fixed it by heating my oven to 250, spreading the mixture on a pan and baking it for 30 minutes. I took them out and stirred the nuts every 30 minutes and finally let them cool on the pan. They were yummy!

Then last night I tried another new recipe. It was supposed to be turkey and rice, but since we didn't have Thanksgiving here at home, I didn't have any left over turkey. Chicken worked really well though. My husband even liked it and he didn't get to eat it fresh out of the oven, so it reheats well.

Chicken and Rice Quiche

* 3 cups cooked rice, cooled to room temperature

* 1 1/2 cups chopped cooked turkey (or chicken)
* 1 medium tomato, seeded and finely diced
* 1/4 cup sliced green onion (I used a yellow onion because that is what I had)
* 1/4 cup finely diced green bell pepper
* 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil or 1 teaspoon dried basil leaves, crushed

* 1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt

* 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
* 1/2 cup skim milk
* 3 eggs, beaten
* 1/2 cup shredded cheddar
* 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella

1. Combine everything but the cheese in a bowl and then poor into a 13x9 inch pan that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Top with the cheeses.

2. Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean.

Makes 8 servings, 231 calories, 7g fat, 111mg cholesterol, and 527mg sodium. (From Light Cooking, pg 201.)

Menu and a Meal/Fiesta meatloaf

I planned my menu yesterday and even typed up the grocery list. I just didn't get around to posting it, so here it is. The list is in my file box marked Dec 1. Nothing too fancy this time other than the pork loin roulade, and I think that just sounds fancy. :) We are on Christmas budget this month, so most things are as cheap as they get. I am sad that I forgot to bring home some left over turkey from my travels because now I won't be able to make my favorite left over dish--Turkey Tettrazini. Mmmm. What is your favorite turkey leftover meal? Please email me at forloveoffood@hotmail.com and share your recipe with us.

Menu

*Fiesta Meatloaf
*Pork Loin Roulade with roasted potatoes
*Chili and cornbread
*Turkey and Rice Quiche
*Caesar Pita Pockets
*Homemade Chicken nuggets
*Turkey Wraps
*French toast (yes, I keep adding it and eventually I'll actually make it again.)*Baked potato bar *Chili dogs and chips

Last night I finally tried the Fiesta meatloaf. My family is not a big ground beef eating family and I generally only use half the amount of ground beef called for in recipes. So, you can imagine my family's face when I told them we were having meatloaf. A whole pound of meat?! It was surprisingly good. The green pepper and onion added texture and my husband gave it the ok. Not quite a thumbs up, but an "it's ok to make this again just not every week". That's a success in my book!

Fiesta Meat Loaf

* 1 pound extra lean ground beef
* 3/4 cup quick oats, uncooked
* 1/2 cup cholesterol free egg product
* 1/2 cup salsa, divided
* 1/2 cup diced green bell pepper
* 1/4 cup diced onion
* 1 tablespoon chili powder
* 1/2 teaspoon salt

1. In a medium bowl, combine all of the ingredients, reserving 1/4 cup of salsa for the topping.

2. Form meat into a loaf and place in a 8x4x3 loaf pan sprayed with cooking spray. Top with the remaining salsa.

3. Bake in a preheated 350 oven for 55 minutes. Easy!

This is from Light Cooking, pg. 155. It makes 6 servings at 150 calories, 4 g fat, 35 mg cholesterol, and 400mg sodium.

Tropical Glazed Chicken

Mmm, this chicken is really yummy and fairly quick. Especially if you make the glaze earlier and just pull it out when ready to cook. The pineapple juice, mustard and red pepper flakes give it a sweet and spicy flavor. I use my grill all year long, so don't be surprised that this is on the grill. When I'm in the mood for it, I'll even sweep away snow to get to the grill. Yummy!

My husband really likes this one, but my kids have not been very good at eating lately. You will all be proud of me though for only cooking one meal. I don't know if they are hungry or not because they have finally learned that complaining about it will not get me to make them something else.

Tropical Glazed Chicken with Stir fry Veggies

* 1 cup chicken broth

* 3 tablespoons pineapple juice concentrate, thawed

* 1 tablespoon coarse-grain Dijon mustard (I just used yellow mustard and left out the mustard powder below)

* 1 clove garlic, minced

* 1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh sage

* 1/2 teaspoon mustard powder

* Dash of ground red pepper (I used a pinch or two of red pepper flakes)
* 1 tablespoon honey

* 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast

1. Make the glaze by bringing the chicken broth to a boil in a small saucepan over med-high heat until it is reduced to 1/4 cup. (Just guess, it's ok!). Add the juice, mustard, garlic, sage, mustard powder, red pepper, and honey. Bring back to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and use immediately or refrigerate.

2. Coat a grill rack with cooking spray. Preheat the grill for 10 minutes on med-high. (I did this while making the glaze)

3. Grill the chicken for 4 minutes. Turn and grill for 1 minute longer. Brush with the pineapple-mustard glaze and grill for 4 more minutes, brushing with the glaze every once in a while. Cook until no longer pink, and the juices run clear, or it registers 170 degrees on a meat thermometer inserted in the thickest portion. (Since the glaze never touches raw chicken you can save the left overs for another day.)

4. I made a bag of Broccoli stir-fry while the chicken was cooking. I just put a little oil in the pan and then salted the veggies. You could make rice as well if you wanted.

Chicken--4 servings, 161 calories, 2 g fat, 66mg cholesterol and 419 mg sodium.

Veggies (16 oz bag)--6 servings, 30 calories, 0 g fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 15 mg sodium.

Sweet and Spicy Pork Tenderloin

Ok, first of all I want to apologize for the picture. The plate that I used does not make the food look appetizing at all. And that is really too bad, because I really liked this recipe. Even better, my husband liked it. The kids thought it was too spicy, but at least it had flavor! I hate when I spend time making something and then it taste bland. So, ignore the fact that the plate and pork chop look almost the same color and try it anyway.

Of course the second thing I have to mention is that I did something different than the recipe called for. Surely you are not still surprised by this fact. I hope you are catching on to the fact that if you don't have something that is called for you can make substitutions. This recipe calls for tarragon leaves, which I've never needed before and so have never bought. It also calls for ground red pepper. I spent a lot of time looking for ground white pepper once for a recipe and couldn't find it, so I didn't bother to look for red pepper. I do have red pepper flakes which I use a lot! Anyway, since I didn't have those two items I decided to use a grill dry rub mix--Cracked black pepper and herb. It already has the black and red pepper called for and a little garlic. mmm, love my garlic too. So, I will post the recipe as it from the Light Cooking book, page 157, and then in italics what I actually did.

The best thing about this recipe is that (not counting the sides you decide to make) it goes from the store package to plate in 15 minutes!Sweet and Spicy Pork Tenderloin

• 2 teaspoons dried tarragon leaves, crushed
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves, crushed
• 1/8 to 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
• dash salt
• 1 pound pork tenderloin, trimmed of excess fat and cut crosswise into 1/2 inch thick pieces.
• 2 tablespoons margarine or butter, melted
• 1 1/2 tablespoons honey

In a small bowl, combine tarragon, thyme, peppers and salt: blend well. (I skipped entirely).

Melt the butter and brush both sides of each pork chop. Sprinkle both sides with the seasoning mix. Arrange the pieces on a broiler pan. (I dipped the chops in the butter and then sprinkled salt and then the grill rub, then placed on the broiler pan).

Broil, 5 to 6 inches from heat source, for 2 minutes, turn over and broil another 2 minutes. Remove from the broiler and brush the tops with honey and then broil one minute more. (If your oven has a low and high broil setting, use the high one. I tried with the low and it wasn't getting cooked all the way through. This would also be good out on the grill).

See, easy! 219 calories, 10g fat, 79mg cholesterol, 158mg sodium

Chicken Capri

I tried another new recipe on Monday night. I just haven't had a chance to post it yet. So, I'm getting to it today. I'm not 100% sure what I thought of the recipe. I liked it enough to try it again, but will probably play with it a little bit. The meal looked pretty and smelled good, but I didn't think it had enough flavor. I got this recipe from the South Beach Diet Cookbook, page 214. You can see in the photo that I made bread to go with it. French bread really is my favorite bread to make next to Cinnamon rolls.

Chicken Capri

• 1 cup reduced-fat ricotta cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 cup crushed tomatoes
• 4 slices reduced-fat mozzarella cheese

1. In a blender or food processor, combine the ricotta with the oregano, salt and pepper. Process to blend.
2. Rub the chicken with the garlic powder (maybe this is where I missed out on flavor. I didn't have garlic powder--surprise! so I just chopped up some fresh garlic and added it to the skillet in the next step.) Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook for 12 minutes per side.
3. Place the chicken breasts, side by side, in a large baking dish and allow to cool.
4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
5. Spoon 1/4 cup of the cheese mixture and 1/4 cup tomatoes onto each chicken breast. Top each with 1 slice mozzarella. Bake for 20 minutes, or until a thermometer inserted in the thickest portion of a breast registers 170 degrees F and the juices run clear.

340 calories, 15g fat, 44g protein, 6g carbs, 115mg cholesterol, 470mg sodium

Welcome/Beef and Broccoli

*sighs* I've been keeping up with a personal family blog for almost a year now and love to do it, but I feel like I need to contribute something useful. Here is my attempt to do that while sharing my love of cooking, learning, and my quest for a healthier lifestyle.

I am a 30-something stay at home mom who loves food. I get great pleasure in cooking for my family, although my kids are young and often don't appreciate the time I put into it. Many of my neighbors have made comments over the last few months about my cooking in comparison to theirs. Many times that boils down too, "Whatever you are making will be better than our meal, cause mine is coming out of a box." Well, I want to use this blog to share some of my favorite, easy, often quick recipes. I will also share my adventures as I try new recipes for my family.

Currently my favorite cookbook is "Low fat, low calorie, low cholesterol:Light Cooking." The reason being that over my years of cooking I've put on a few unwanted pounds. Did I mention that I LOVE food? Now, for the first recipe (oh, sorry for the funny dishware, I'll get something better for showcasing meals soon):

Beef'n'Broccoli

1. 1/2 cup A.1. Steak Sauce
2. 1/4 cup soy sauce
3. 2 cloves garlic, crushed
4. 1 pound top round steak, thinly sliced (I bought it pre-sliced at the deli to save time)
5. 1 (16-ounce) bag frozen broccoli stir fry (has onions, bell peppers, carrots, etc in it)
6. Hot cooked rice

In a small bowl, combine the first three ingredients. Pour this marinade over the steak in a nonmetal dish. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. (ok, I mixed it all up and it only took 5 minutes. Then I left it out of the fridge and only marinated for about 20 minutes, and I forgot to stir it and it still tasted great. While it was sitting there I started the rice cooking. You can use white or brown rice, whichever your family prefers.)

Remove steak from the marinade and save the marinade. In a lightly oiled skillet (about 1-2 tablespoons oil) on med-high heat, stir fry (cook) the steak 3 to 4 minutes or until the steak is no longer pink. Remove the steak with a slotted spoon; keep warm.

In the same skillet (without cleaning it), heat the bag of vegetables and the left over marinade. Bring it to a boil to kill any germs from the uncooked meat that was in the marinade. Once it comes to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover it and let it simmer for 2 to 3 minutes. (Simmer simply means that it has little tiny bubbles that occasionally come to the surface, so it is still cooking, just more slowly). Oh, I almost forgot. The best thing about cooking is that you can change recipes to meet your families personal tastes. I added cut button mushrooms during this stage because I really like them. You can also use fresh vegetables if you want to take the time to cut them up. They will take a little longer to cook, but they taste a lot better as well.

Stir in the steak. Serve it over the rice. Makes 4 servings. Time--5 min. prep, 20 min marinade time, 20 min cook time (cook the meat and veggies while the rice is cooking)

209 Calories, 4 g Fat, 65mg Cholesterol, 1669mg Sodium

I didn't make anything else for this meal since it had everything in it. My family always drinks water with our meals, so what you see is what we got. I have a family of 6 and we actually had left overs that I have been eating for lunches. Portion control has been my big push the last month or two. Learning to eat only what your body needs and not what your taste buds want is really hard! Luckily this meal warms up well, so you needed feel you have to eat it all in one sitting. I hope you enjoy!