Garlic and Herb Tilapia and Shrimp with Broccli Cheddar Pasta

This is not a recipe..just a suggestion for a healthy, balanced meal. Bi-lo was having buy one get one free the other week on frozen shrimp and Tilapia so I stocked up. Instead of finding a recipe for lunch, I decided to start cleaning out my freezer. And I was craving some pasta. Packaged pasta can be very high in calories so if you want to have a serving of it for your meal...then you will need to pair it with something very low in calories...like fish and shrimp! To create a meal like this just cook your fish/shrimp according to the package. If you have some marinade (like I did - Garlic and Herb) throw some of it on the cooked fish and put it in the grill pan for a minute or two. That's what I did with the Tilapia and I just dipped the shrimp in the marinade. The Broccoli Cheddar Pasta was one of those dry mixes you find in the rice aisle. I had a very filling lunch for 410 calories and 4 grams of fat! If your grocery store has frozen fish fillets...I highly recommend stocking up!

Italian Pizza Patties

OMG...I'm so tired. It's midnight and my boyfriend and I JUST had dinner. Since my lunch today (Grilled Chicken Hawaiian Sliders) was a little time consuming, I wanted to do something easy and quick for dinner. We had frozen lean ground beef in the freezer so I decided on hamburgers...but not just a plain old hamburger...an Italian Style Pizza Burger.

Italian Pizza Burger with Steamed Veggies

 

 

Makes 2 Servings:

1/4 cup pizza sauce
1 egg, beaten or egg substitute
1/4 dry bread crumbs (Italian Style if you have them - I did!)
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried minced onion
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 pound lean ground beef (or turkey)
1/2 cup low fat Mozzarella Cheese

Directions:

Mix all of the ingredients, except for the cheese, and form into patties.

Grill on grill pan or outdoor grill until cooked.

Melt cheese on top of burger.

Serve on a bun or eat alone if you are watching your carbs. Pick whatever side you want to go with it..tonight it was steamed veggies.

Nutritional content will vary, but as long as you use lean ground beef and low fat cheese...this quick burger is low fat and low in calories. Whew...time for bed!

Cappuccino Frost

At the top of my blog I tell people to click on the advertisements because they are there for a reason! A link for Eagle Brand Condensed Milk Recipes appeared one day. I went to the website and found some really simple drink/smoothie/dessert recipes. i also got a coupon...buy one can and get the other free! This Cappuccino Frost was so good. It's summer time, I don't want to drink a cup of HOT coffee when it's 80 degrees outside! And if you go to Starbucks who knows how many calories or fat are in your beverages. This one only has 275 calories and 0 grams of fat! If you don't have a blender, you can't make this recipe...sorry :-(

Makes 4-5 servings depending on what size glass you use. I chose a small one since I'm calorie counting.

1 can Fat Free Sweetened Condensed Milk
1/2 cup cold water
2 Tbsp Instant Coffee (I have a little container of instant coffee mixed with cinnamon, so I used that instead of plain coffee)
7 cubes of ice (or as many as it takes to make the drink chilled)
Fat Free Whipped Cream (optional)

Directions:

Combine water, coffee crystals and sweetened condensed milk in blender until crystals are dissolved. Add ice cubes. Cover and blend until smooth and frothy.

Garnish with whipped cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon.

It can't get much easier than that y'all. I think it knocks Starbucks out of the water.

Grilled Chiken Hawaiian Sliders

I found a recipe for "Hula Shots" on Tyson's website. They looked so good in the photos and seemed so flavorful, I had to make them. Plus I lived in Hawaii for 3 years so I really had the urge to try this recipe. The problem was...I had NO CLUE how to make the special "grilled pineapple pico de gallo" topping or the unique "sesame teriyaki mayo". So, I had to improvise. I found this recipe yesterday and went grocery shopping and grabbed a few ingredients to simplify this recipe. If your food market does not carry pre-made pico de gallo, then don't even bother with this recipe. Bi-Lo has pico de gallo in the produce section (it's just a bunch of diced tomatoes, red onion, green onion, cilantro, etc tossed together) and I use it all the time. Especially on taco night - which I haven't had in a while since I've been trying all these new recipes :(

I needed a way to simplify the sesame teriyaki mayo...I'm not going to spend $25 on random ingredients to use once. I already had regular mayo so I just needed something to mix in with it that would hopefully give it the same flavor of ALL the silly ingredients I was supposed to buy...TOASTED SESAME MARINADE...sounded like it could work. And it did! I found it in the ethnic food section of Bi-Lo. It even had sesame seeds in the marinade - which cut out the ridiculous step of me having to A) buy sesame seeds and B) brown them to put on my sliders.

I was cutting A LOT of corners with this recipe ad wasn't sure how it would turn out...but my version of Hula Shots, which are now called "Grilled chicken Hawaiian Sliders are FANTASTIC!!! Technically these Hawaiian Sliders are an appetizer ( at least that's how they were categorized). I had them for lunch, but they really would make a great appetizer/party snack.

Since this was my lunch,  I knew the two slider would not fill me up (all I had for breakfast was a Carnation Instant Breakfast) and I worked up an appetite assembling a not so easy to assemble bathroom cabinet. I was not about to spend any more money on a side dish for my Hawaiian Sliders so I found a packet of 90 second Jasmine Rice in my cabinet and grabbed the peanut sauce, which I had left over from when made Thai Salmon (see post for that recipe). I wasn't really sure what I was going to do with the rice, but I ended up sprinkling left over grilled pineapple pico de gallo  over the Jasmine Rice and then drizzling some Peanut Sauce over it. OMG...it was the perfect combination with the Hawaiian Sliders. Of course the rice is optional. Have these flavorful and healthy sliders as a meal or serve as an appetizer.

All this food - just under 500 calories and 15 grams of fat!!! And I used a paper "tropical" plate to serve it. I think I'm taking this blogging a little too seriously lol.

 

 

 

Serving: 2 Sliders

Ingredients: NOTE: I did not measure ingredients because I was just playing around, trying to make this recipe work. Just eyeball the ingredients to make my version of grilled pineapple pico de gallo based on how many sliders you are making. Hawaiian Rolls are small, so you can't fit a lot of toppings on there...keep that in mind. Sorry I couldn't be more specific.
 
1 boneless, skinless thin chicken breast (I used a frozen, already cooked chicken breast with rib meat (the kind that come with 8 or so in a big bag - so easy to prepare for quick meals). I used 1 breast which had 10 grams of fat...a regular chicken breast would be much healthier and probably be better if serving as an appetizer because you can put a bunch of them on the grill.

2 Hawaiian Bread Rolls (Honey Wheat) - found in the bakery section of most supermarkets

Pineapple (either fresh, in a can, in a cup...just pineapple that you can chop up)

Pre-made/packaged pico de gallo

Diced Red Onion
 
Diced Jalapenos (I used a VERY small amount of these - use more if you like things spicy)

Toasted Sesame Marinade (found either in the marinade section or ethnic food section of supermarket)

Fat Free/Low Fat Mayonnaise (about 1 Tbsp for 2 slider buns)

2 slices bacon (I used the already cooked bacon and zapped it in the microwave)

Lime Juice

Directions:

First, prepare Victoria's easy version of grilled pineapple pico de gallo: Spray a GRILL PAN with cooking spray. If pineapple is not already diced, do so now. Put diced pineapple, red onion, jalapenos, and premade pico de gallo in a grill pan. Toss it all around in the pan for a few minutes. Remove from pan and place in bowl. Squirt just a tad bit of lime juice over mixture. Place bowl in fridge to cool it down just a bit.

Cook the Chicken Breast. You can do this however you want...in a grill pan, on an outside grill, bake the chicken, use a skillet...just make sure the chicken gets COOKED! While cooking chicken by your preferred method (mine was in a skillet and it took about 10 minutes) coat the chicken on both sides with the Toasted Sesame Marinade. If you want the dish to be flavorful...make sure the chicken has some kind of Sesame/Teriayki Marinade.

While the chicken is cooking take 1 Tbsp of fat free mayo (for 2 sliders) and mix in maybe 1/2 Tbsp of the same marinade you used on the chicken. I didn't measure how much marinade I actually added to the mayonnaise so the 1/2 Tbsp is just a ball park guess. You want the mayo to be creamy, not watery so don't overdo it with the marinade.

Also while chicken is cooking, make your bacon. In my case, it only took 25 seconds. And DON'T FORGET ABOUT THE CHICKEN.

When the chicken is done cooking it is time to assemble your sliders. The original recipe called for the Hawaiian Rolls to be toasted...but I thought it tasted better without toasting them. It's your call. If you want to toast the rolls - do so now.

Cut the chicken breast in half. Place one half of the breast on bottom of each Hawaiian Roll. Place one strip (in halves) on top of chicken. Sprinkle your pineapple pico de gallo over bacon. Spread Toasted Sesame Mayo on the top of each roll. Place top of roll on bottom and you have your sliders.

If serving these as an appetizer...get decorative toothpicks and put them through the sliders to keep them together and make them look more...appetizing lol.

If having the sliders for lunch or dinner...cook the 90 second rice, use any left over grilled pineapple pico de gallo and sprinkle it over the rice. Then drizzle some peanut sauce over the rice and you got yourself a meal!

Pictured below is the "easy to assemble" bathroom storage cabinet. It took me almost 2 hours. And my boyfriend said that it would not fit in the bathroom. He was wrong! Not only am I learning to cook, I'm also learning to assemble furniture! I'm a woman of many talents :-)

My bathroom is so small! The cabinet is pushed up against the wall, I just had to angle it and then crawl in my shower to get a full length photo of it lol. Got it at Wal-Mart for $20...can't beat that!

White Wine Chicken/Zucchini/Tomato Pasta

I found this super low fat/low cal recipe on http://cookeatshare.com. It was called Chicken and Eggplant Pasta. Although my recipe does have eggplant in it, as I started following the directions I decided to add in LOTS of Zucchini because there was not enough eggplant. You can kind of make this dish your own by adding/subtracting vegetables or spices to it. It is a light dish. A lot of vegetables with some chicken over a little pasta. I served mine with my own recipe for low fat/calorie cheesy garlic bread (if you want the recipe I will post it...but it was kind of bland, so you may want to search for a different one online). Like I say in almost every blog...get vegetables that are already sliced and diced. This recipe has a lot of ingredients. I laid out all the dry ingredients on the counter for easy access and then I measured serving sizes of vegetables, put them in Ziploc bags, and threw them in the fridge so they would be readily available.  Since the dish was light I also had dessert with it...Tiramisu. You can find the recipe for this delicious healthy dessert  on my blog.

2 servings:

1 1/2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil 3/4 cup 2 tablespoons diced onions 2 1/4 teaspoons minced garlic 1 cup cubed eggplant, un-peeled (about 3 oz) 1/2 Zucchini (cut and cubed  2 oz dry whole wheat spaghetti 1/3 cup 2 teaspoons white wine 1/2 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth

1 tablespoon 3/4 teaspoon tomato paste 3 cups baby spinach (1 1/2 oz) 1/2 cup 2 tablespoons halved grape or cherry tomatoes 1 cup cooked and chopped chicken breast (skinless) NOTE: I used frozen chopped cooked chicken. Time saver! 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar 1/8 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper 1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions

The ingredients have been scaled to 2 servings. These directions are for 4 servings.

1. In a large pot, add water and bring to a boil to cook the spaghetti.
2. In a large nonstick pan, heat the olive oil over medium-high. Add the garlic and saute for about 1 minute. Stir in the eggplant and zucchini . Cook about 3-5 minutes until eggplant/zucchini begins to soften.
3. In the meantime, add the spaghetti to the pot of boiling water. Cook according to package directions. Drain when cooked.
4. Add white wine to zucchini/eggplant mixture and simmer until liquid is almost evaporated. Stir in chicken broth and tomato paste. Simmer sauce until it begins to thicken, about 2-3 minutes.
5. Add spinach in handfuls, stirring until wilted. Stir in tomatoes and cooked chicken. Continue to cook until heated through. Season with vinegar, pepper and salt.
6. Divide cooked spaghetti among 2 bowls or dishes. Top each with sauce.    

NUTRITION: 300 calories, 6 grams of fat

Tiramisu

I have not tasted this yet as it is currently in the fridge. I don't have to taste it to know just how good it will be. If for some reason it comes out horribly, I will remove the post. I took some photos of the Tiramisu just before I put it in the fridge. It has to refrigerate for 4 hours before served. I can't wait to have it for dessert!!!

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp Instant Coffee
1 Tbsp Sugar
1 Cup boiling Water
2 Packages Lady Fingers, split, divided
2 Packages (8oz each) Fat Free Cream Cheese, softened
1/2 cup Sugar
2 cups thawed Lite Cool Whip
Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
Ground Cinnamon

Directions:

Boil 1 cup water and disolve 1 tbsp sugar and 2 tbsp coffee.

Arrage landy fingers on the bottom of a 13 x 9 inch dish and brush with 1/2 coffee. 

Beat cream cheese in a large bowl with mixer until creamy. NOTE: I do not have a mixer so I used my hands to "mix" the cream cheese.

Add in 1/2 cup sugar and mix well. ( I used my hands for this until the cream cheese got to a "stirable" consistancy and then I used a baking spatula to continue mixing. If I had a mixer it would've been a lot less messy!

Whish in cool whip.

Spread half of the cream cheese mixture over ladyfingers in dish and then cover the top with more lady fingers.

Brush on the new layer of lady fingers with the remaining coffee and cover with the rest of the cream cheese mixture.

Sprinkle cocoa powder and cinnamon on top. Refrigerate for 4 hours and then serve.

As long as you only have 1 serving (it makes 12)...then you can enjoy this yummy dessert for only 150 calories and 3 grams of fat! Good luck on only having one serving...I know I will need it <3

Tuna Melt Pita Pizza

This recipe is my own creation. I'm starting to spend way to much money on groceries making all of these recipes so now I'm only going to make things that I have on hand . This is a super simple and really good recipe for a quick lunch.

1 Chicken of the Sea Tuna Cup (if you don't already have these handy tuna cups then use 1/4 cup and 2 Tbsp of any kind of tuna you like)

1 Whole Wheat Pita

1 Tbsp light or fat free mayo (I used light mayo...to reduce fat and calories of my recipe use fat free mayo)

1/4 cup diced onions (yellow)

1/4 cup diced tomatoes OR 1 large slice of Tomato

1 thin slice FRESH Mozzarella Cheese (this is optional and where most of the fat came from. I had a little bit of Fresh Mozzarella left over from a salad I made so I used it. I would recommend putting it on your pita pizza. One slice is not  bad for you and gives the dish a lot of flavor.

1/4 cup low fat shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:

Spray Pita on both sides with Olive Oil or Cooking Spray and Bake in toaster oven @ 350 until golden brown. If you don't have a toaster oven, a regular oven is fine, but the toaster oven makes things so much easier!

In a bowl mix tuna, onion, and mayonnaise. Then spread mixture over baked Pita Bread.

Sprinkle diced tomato over tuna mixture.

Put your thin slice of FRESH Mozzarella Cheese in the center of the "pizza". Then evenly distribute/sprinkle the shredded mozzarella cheese.

Put back in toaster oven (or regular over) until cheese has melted.

And that's it folks. A very filling lunch with 420 calories and 15 grams of fat :-)