Skinny Chinese Pepper Chicken

Yesterday, I shared with you the recipe for Skinny Vegetable Fried Rice, and today I’m sharing one option for topping that rice – Chinese Pepper Chicken.  Pepper Chicken is my favorite Chinese dish (and I really don’t like that many Chinese foods!  I’m wierd like that), but it is breaded and fried.  Not very skinny!  So, I wanted to create a version that was a little better for you. 

The original recipe called for Oyster Sauce, but I didn’t have any on hand (and didn’t have the time or energy to run to the store), so i used a combination of Soy Sauce, Worchestershire Sauce and Spenda brown sugar.    If you have Oyster Sauce, go ahead and use that.

Skinny Chinese Pepper Chicken

• 1 pound chicken breasts (or tenders), boneless, skinless
• 4 tbsp cornstarch
• 4 tbsp canola oil

Sauce:

• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1 tbsp Splenda Brown Sugar
• 1 tbsp Worchestershire Sauce
• 1 tsp Pepper

In small bowl, combine sauce ingredients and set aside.

Cut chicken into bite size pieces.  Dust chicken with cornstarch until well coated.  Heat oil in wok or other non-stick pan.  Cook chicken in oil until golden brown, remove and set aside.  Add sauce mixture to pan and heat until bubbling.  Add chicken back in, stirring to fully coat chicken in the sauce.  Serve over Skinny Fried Rice.

 

Serves:4

Calories Per Serving: 289

 

Skinny Vegetable Fried Rice

I’m back!  I took a hiatus from blogging due to a busy work schedule, but I recently resigned from my financial secretary job and now have more time to blog, so I’m back!!  Woohoo!  I’ve really missed blogging and interacting with my readers!  (I hope there a few still out there after all this time)  🙂

A couple days ago I had a craving for Chinese food.  And that’s actually pretty odd for me because I’m not really a fan of most Chinese dishes.  But, I do LOVE the Pepper Chicken and Fried Rice at the Chinese restuarant here in town. So, I decided to try to make a “skinny” version at home.   My husband and I loved it, and my 12 year old son said it was “ok”.  🙂  Boys.  So uncommital.  Today I’m sharing the Fried Rice recipe and tomorrow I will post the Pepper Chicken recipe.  Ideally, you want to use “leftover” rice that you made at least the day before and chilled overnight.  I didn’t plan that far ahead however, so I just made my rice a few hours before dinner and let it chill until I was ready to prepare the rest of the dish.  It worked out just fine.

 

Skinny Vegetable Fried Rice

• 1/3 cup chicken stock
• 1 cup finely diced vegetables ( I used carrot, asparagus, onion, and red pepper)
• 1/2 tsp garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1-1/2 tsp vinegar
• 1 tbsp oil
• Salt & Pepper, to taste
• 2 cups cooked brown rice (best if rice is made the day before)

 

Heat a wok or other heavy skillet over medium high heat.   Add garlic and cook until tender.  Add vegetables and cook several minutes, or until vegetables are crisp-tender.  Add soy sauce and vinegar; stir well and cook for a couple minutes.  Add rice, mixing well.  Add chicken stock and cook just until rice is heated through.  Season with salt and pepper, to taste. 

Serves: 4

Calories Per Serving: 128

Stevie’s Triple Decker Sammie

One day at work, the subject of sandwiches came up.  I mentioned that I love a good BLT sandwich.  A coworker asked me if I’d ever had one with peanut butter, onion, and a fried egg – the way his mom had always made them.   My response?  “Um, no!  That sounds nasty!!”  He tried his best to convince me that it was the best sandwich you’ll ever eat.  I didn’t believe him.  I went on my merry way and forgot all about that conversation.  Except not really.  Every once in a while I’d think about that nasty sounding sandwich.  Would it really be that gross?  Well, I finally decided about a week ago that I’d give it a shot.  Only I eliminated the onion.  I don’t do raw onion.  Otherwise, I followed his intructions exactly – I mean, you have to put the ingredients together in the right order for it to REALLY be Stevie’s Triple Decker.  So if you make this sandwich, please, for the love of all things holy, put it together in the right order! 

Stevie’s Triple Decker Sammie

• 3 slices bread, toasted
• mayonnaise
• lettuce
• fried egg
• tomato
• bacon
• onion
• peanut butter

Okay…start with a slice of toast.  Spread on a layer of mayo.  Then add a few pieces of lettuce.  Top with a fried egg.  Spread a layer of mayo on a second piece of toast and place it mayo side down onto the sandwich.  Spread a thin layer of peanut butter on the top of the toast.  Top with tomato slices.  Then add bacon.  Finally, add the onion.  Take your last piece of toast and spread a thin layer of peanut butter on one side, and place it peanut butter side down onto the sandwich.

You’re ready to eat! 

Serves: 1 or 2, depending on how hungry you are!  I could only eat half!

Spinach Bacon Pasta

Last time I posted (which has been a while, I know…and I’m sorry!), I posted a recipe for Spinach Dip.  That dip is super delicious with crackers or chips, but you can also use it as a pasta sauce!  How cool is that?  I threw together this pasta dish with that spinach dip, some bacon, and parmesan cheese.  That’s it.  Super simple, but so full of flavor!

Spinach Bacon Pasta

• 8 oz pasta of your choice
• 8 strips bacon, cooked crisp
• 1/4 cup Spinach Dip
• Fresh parmesan cheese, grated

Cook pasta according to package directions.  Drain and toss with spinach dip.  Chop or crumble the bacon and toss with pasta.  Place into serving dishes and top with fresh parmesan cheese.

Serves: 4

Broiled Salmon

Mondays.  Who needs ’em?  I don’t know about you, but Mondays are super-crazy-busy for us.  I get up, get ready for work, get the kids up and ready for school, take the kids to school, go to work, pick up daughter from school, go back later to pick up son from tutoring, and a couple of hours later, I take daughter to gymnastics, then we come home and get ready for bed.  Yep.  That’s what our Monday’s look like.  Usually, there is only about an hour and a half between the time we get home from tutoring and have to leave for gymnastics.  And on nights like those, I need quick dinners.  And that usually means fish.  It thaws quickly.  It cooks quickly.  So I can take it from the freezer, throw it in a bowl of water to thaw, cook it and be ready to eat in about 45 minutes.  Exactly what I need on a Monday.  Broiled Salmon is one of my go-to dishes for Mondays. 

Broiled Salmon

• salmon fillets (1 per person)
• olive oil
• fresh lemon
• salt
• pepper
• herbs of your choice

Preheat broiler.  Line a baking sheet with foil and place salmon fillets on foil.  Drizzle with olive oil.  Cut lemon in half and slice one very thin slice for each fillet.  Squeeze juice of remaining lemon peices over fillets.  Season with salt, pepper, and herbs of your choice (although, just  olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper is delish!).  Place one lemon slice on each fillet.  Broil until fish is cooked through and flakes easily – about 10-15 minutes, depending on thickness.

Creamy Tomato Soup

Love tomato soup?  You’ll love this delicious version of the classic.  A grilled cheese on the side and you’ll instantly be transported to your childhood.  Or, top with a dollop of whipped cream or sour cream for your grown-up tastes!  This soup starts with canned tomatoes, but if you have some fresh ones you need to use, throw those in too, as well as that little bit of leftover tomato paste you have hanging out in the fridge.  Extra tomato flavor won’t hurt!

Creamy Tomato Soup

• 14 tbsp butter
• 1 onion, finely diced
• 1 small bay leaf
• 1 (28 oz) can diced tomatoes
• 1 (6 oz) can tomato paste
• 6 tbsp flour
• 2 cups half-and-half
• 2 cups milk
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1-1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper

 

Heat a large, heavy stockpot over medium-high heat.  Add 1 tbsp of the butter along with the onions.  Cook until onions are soft – lower heat if needed.

Add bay leaf, tomatoes, and tomato paste.  cook over low heat until the vegetables are very soft, about 15 minutes. 

Meanwhile, in seperate pan, melt remaining butter.  Add the flour, mixing until combined.  Cook over low heat until the mixture starts to turn golden brown and gives off a nutty aroma.  Slowly whish the half-and-half and the milk into the flour mixture.  Bring to a boil over medium heat; reduce heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.   Carefully pour the milk mixture into the pot with the tomatoes and whisk well.  Add 1 cup of heavy cream and simmer another 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Remove bay leaf.

Puree the soup until smooth (use an immersion blender, or blend in batches in a blender or food processor).  Bring soup back to a simmer, and add more milk if soup is too thick.  Serve warm.

 

Zuchinni Tart

It’s summer.  And that means that zuchinni is everywhere!  I usually get smaller zuchinni, but when I went to the farmer’s market last week, all I could get was a huge one – I mean, this sucker was 5 inches in diameter and over a foot long!  I had to come up with something to do with all this zuchinni!  I found a recipe for a zuchinni tart/quiche, and decided to give it a try.  It turned out wonderfully.  We had this as a side dish with dinner, but I can totally see this being served for brunch.

Zuchinni Tart

Crust:

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1-1/2 Tbsp plus 2 tsp water
• 1 tsp baking powder

Filling:

• 2 eggs
• 2 egg whites
• 1 cup chopped sweet onion
• 2 cups chopped zuchinni
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup shredded cheese, any type
• 1/4 cu parmesan cheese, grated
• 1/2 cup skim milk

 

Spray a tart pan or springfrom pan with cooking spray.  Set aside.

Prepare crust by combining flour, salt, and baking powder.  Stir in olive oil and water.  Knead to form a dough and roll out into a circle large enough to fit into your pan.  Press into pan and (and 1″ up the sides if using a springfrom pan. 

Beat together eggs and egg whites.  Brush mixture over crust.  Bake crust in  375 degree oven for 8 minutes.  Cool on rack while preparing filling.

For filling, saute onion in a little olive oil until tender.  Add garlic and zuchinni; cook another 10 minutes.  Spread into crust.

Add milk to remaining eggs.  Pour over vegetable mixture.  Pour milk mixture over all and sprinkle with cheeses.  Bake for 45 minutes or until tests done.

 

Serves: 8

Weight Watchers Points + per serving: 5

Skinny Parmesan Crusted Tilapia

Even picky eaters will enjoy this cheesy, parmesan crusted tilapia!  And it only takes about 10 minutes to bake, so it’s a great week night dish for busy families.

Parmesan Crusted Tilapia

• 6 tilapia fillets (about 6 oz. each)
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated
• 1/4 cup reduced fat mayonnaise
• 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 1 tbsp butter, softened
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 tsp minced fresh basil (OR 1/4 tsp dried basil)
• 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs

Combine all ingredients but bread crumbs and spread over fish fillets.  Place in baking pan coating with cooking spray.  Divide bread crumbs evenly over tops of fillets.  Broil 3-4 inches from the heat  for 10-12 minutes, or until fish flakes easily with a fork.

 

Serves: 6

Weight Watchers Point + Per Serving: 5

 

Skinny Mini Meatloaves

These individual meat loaves are a fun way to serve dinner.  My kids love getting their “own” meat loaf.  I made these in a jumbo muffin tin, but you could make them in regular muffin tins or in small loaf pans as well.  To make them a little healthier than the normal meat loaf, I replaced half the ground beef with ground turkey.

Skinny Mini Meatloaves

• 1/2 plain breadcrumbs
• 1/2 onion, finely diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 cup ketchup, divided
• 2 tbsp parmesan cheese, grated
• 3/4 tsp dried oregano
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 3/4 pound lean ground beef (at least 80/20)
• 3/4 pound lean ground turkey
• 2 tbsp egg substitute

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Spray jumbo muffin tins (or desired pans) with cooking spray.

In medium bowl, combine bread crumbs, onion, garlic, 1/4 cup of the ketchup, parmesan cheese, oregano, salt, pepper, ground meats, and egg.   Stir to combine.  Divide mixture into 6 jumbo muffin tin cups, pressing down into the cups.  Top each with 2 tsp ketchup.  Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until cooked through.

 

Serves: 6

Weight Watchers Points + : 7 pts each

 

Skinny Onion-Barbecue Chicken

This recipe combines two things I think most of us love…french fried onions and barbecue sauce.  This dish is very quick and simple to prepare and bakes in the oven so you are free to work on other parts of dinner while it cooks.

Skinny Onion-Barbecue Chicken

• 1/4 cup barbecue sauce
• 1 cup french fried onions
• 1/8 cup parmesan cheese
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Place barbecue sauce in a shallow dish.  Crush french fried onions and place in an other shallow dish.  Add parmesan cheese and pepper to french fried onion crumbs, stirring to combine.  Dredge chicken in barbecue sauce, then press one side into the onion crumb mixture.  Place onion crumb side up on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray.  Bake at 400 degrees for 22-27 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through.

 

Serves: 4

Weight Watchers Points + : 5 per serving