Dynamite Shrimp

Based on the dish from Applebee's.

Fried popcorn shrimp
A bed of coleslaw mix (no dressing)
A sweet/spicy sauce made from honey mustard,
mayonnaise and cayenne pepper

Coq au Vin

(Chicken) Coq au Vin made by my dad

Mozzarella-basil-tomato tart

Fresh Tomato Tart at Ezra Pound Cake
from The Completely Italian Vegetarian Cookbook

Creamy chicken caliente

Creamy Chicken Caliente

Ok so I couldn't think of a good name for this. Haha... I made this for dinner the other night, and I was basically just grabbing random things and throwing them on the stove. It turned out decently tasty. So here it is.

Quite frankly, I can't remember the exact quantities of everything I put in, so I'm not going to risk listing a recipe here. However I will describe it generally, so if it strikes your fancy, it should be very easy to replicate it according to your taste.

I took frozen chicken fajita strips and put them in a pan on low-medium heat. After a few minutes I added about 3/4 c low-fat sour cream, and about 1/2 c Pace picante sauce. I chopped up a jalapeño and threw that in there, along with a small can of shoepeg corn. I just warmed it enough so the chicken got hot...can't overheat it or the sour cream mixture will get too soupy.

In the meantime, I toasted whole-wheat tortillas in a skillet on high-heat. No oil needed....just toast each side for a few minutes, and they should get browned and crispy. I also used some corn tortillas. To serve, I spooned the chicken mixture over the tortilla, and added some chopped tomatoes, onions, and more jalapeños.

As for how to eat it, it's up to you. You can spoon the sauce over the tortilla and roll it up, or you can break up the tortilla, mix it all up and eat it with a fork.

Chicken burgers by Jill

Apparently my sister Jill is now obsessed with chicken and turkey burgers. So here are some that she made for lunch today. Chicken patty with avocado, tomato, and red onion. Side of potato salad.

Frozen yogurt and chile relleno casserole

Vanilla Frozen Yogurt from David Lebovitz
1/2 c for 127 calories

Chile Relleno Casserole from Peertrainer.com
6 servings for 288 calories each

I first tasted Pinkberry frozen yogurt when my family visited Hollywood two summers ago. Since then we have tried to find a frozen yogurt that is comparable. The frozen yogurt with berries at Central Market comes pretty close. Well then I found this recipe, and this is the closest thing yet.

I will definitely make this again, and double it, because there was not enough to go around with 7 people. I will use a little less sugar next time. We topped ours with white chocolate chips, but pretty much any fruit, nut, or chocolate topping will taste good with this yogurt.

The chile relleno casserole was a recipe that I found randomly, when I was looking for tips on how to make a low-calorie chile relleno. (Although it's made from a very large chile, at Mexican restaurants it's usually stuffed brimming, overflowing with cheese....and usually has at least 600 calories.) I've never heard of peertrainer.com but this recipe was good, so I might look to see if they have other tantalizing recipes.

Enchiladas

Here's some enchiladas based on this recipe from Hungry Girl.

I basically stuck to the recipe, but changed a few ingredients. I changed the refried beans to mashed up black beans, and added soy meat crumbles. Plus, I straight up used Mexican blend shredded cheese instead of the fat-free kind.

I do not condone using fat-free shredded cheese, because you know what? It tastes like plastic. It looks like plastic. I don't want plastic on my enchiladas. That's just my personal preference. Take a look at the Hungry Girl photo. That enchilada looks like it's covered with yellow hot glue. But by all means, use it if you're desperate to chop off some calories. EDIT: Or of course you could use reduced fat. Nothing wrong with that. Usually.

In total, I estimate there's about 260 calories per enchilada after the changes. But they're very filling. I say have yourself a bit of guacamole, a little salad, and you've got a meal.

Surf Club salad

Maranui Surf Club Salad

This is a squash and chickpea salad, with coconut milk, lime, and curry. I estimate this salad has 200 calories per 3/4 c serving.

My fresh acorn squash was too hard to cut, so I meant to soften it a bit in the microwave....but I absentmindedly cooked it for almost 6 minutes. Consequently, my squash was much softer than the recipe calls for. It's supposed to be toasted cubes of squash. Because it was more creamy, the result tasted like a coconut-y, exotic potato salad! It's actually really good, it's just a different texture than the original recipe.

Chickpea Veggie burgers

Ultimate Veggie Burger

This is the most ingenious idea. Instead of putting a veggie burger on dry bread, you make the veggie patties the bun! I stuffed mine with dijon mustard, red onion, green olives, grape tomatoes, gruyere cheese, and some kale. It was so good! I can't wait to try it with avocado. Mm...

Prepping....

Some lime zest...

Whole-wheat crumbs to thicken it up a little...

Little bit o' olive oil...

It's so pretty too!

Homemade Squash Gnocchi and Baked Peas

Baked Peas with Tarragon, Yogurt, and Pistachios

I found this recipe last night and it sounded intriguing. The yogurt dressing smells SOOOO GOOD. I should've doubled the dressing to make it a little creamier, but it was good anyway. However, I could have done without the pistachios on top...next time I'll probably just use another nut or leave them off all together.




Acorn Squash Gnocchi
I've been trying to make this squash gnocchi for a week. But things kept coming up and I didn't have time to make a complicated dinner. I finally had some time last night, and it took a LOT longer than I thought it would. The squash was really hard to scoop out, and by the time I had the dough made, I didn't even care what the gnocchi looked like - I just cut them as fast as I could, so they're all different shapes. Haha..

I didn't use the sauce listed in the recipe, I just cooked together a couple TBs of butter, a little olive oil, black pepper, sage, and parmesan. The gnocchi was sweet and salty - overall, very good.

Chicken Coconut Stew

This is very tasty. I love it. It's a healthy chicken stew with coconut milk, curry, and vegetables in it. Kind of like an Indian pot roast. I found it here.


I also found a recipe for Lemony Lentils in the newspaper the other day. There's a similar recipe on Recipezaar here. They were good and very lemony, but they're actually too filling to go with the stew. I imagined they would be lighter. They should be served with something light or be used as a main dish. The newspaper article suggested serving them with a falafel wrap, which I'm sure would be good, I love falafel. Since we have a lot left over I might make a lentil soup this week. (Tada: I just found a recipe for lemony lentil soup here.

Couscous soup and Cornmeal Crunch

This was a pleasant surprise. I'm tellin you, it's good.

I just came across this blog - 101 Cookbooks - and she has tons of healthy vegetarian recipes. I bookmarked a bunch of them. Anyway, this recipe for Ten-Minute Couscous Soup sounded fast and simple, so I went for it. I wasn't expecting much from it, honestly. But it is SO GOOD. It's got tons of flavors swirling around in it - red pepper flakes, green onion, couscous, and we added some chopped mushroom. I added some extra broth and couscous to make 8 servings, and based on my calculations on SparkPeople, the total is 187 calories for a whopping bowl of soup.


Also from 101 Cookbooks, I was intrigued by a recipe called Cornmeal Crunch. It's like a very crunchy, very onion-y cornbread. Also very good. The recipe makes 16 pieces, 76 calories each.


MMM!

Zucchini Potato Bake

Here's a recipe I tried last night from Allrecipes - Zucchini Potato Bake.
Potatoes, zucchini, red bell pepper, and I threw in some spinach too: 245 calories.
I also made some "lean pockets" from scratch...spinach and turkey pepperoni. I'll get to postin those soon.

It's so pretty...




Right out of the oven...