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Healthified Slop Sloppy Joes

October 7, 2010 3 Comments

Sloppy joes are a fall food staple in my family, and I have been craving a big fat sloppy joe since the start of football season! This was my first attempt at making a healthified version of the sloptastic treat:

Looks pretty good, eh? To start things off, I sprayed a skillet with cooking spray and tossed in:

1/3 cup chopped white onion

Once the onions started to soften, I added:

8 ounces 99% lean ground turkey
S&P

I cooked the turkey til it was no longer pink. I don’t know about you, but I’m not exactly a fan of rare poultry… bleck!

Nice and brown:

Next I added:

1/4 cup water
1/2 cup Reduced Sugar Ketchup
1 tsp mustard
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder

Once everything was combined, I popped a lid on and let the joes simmer for about 25 minutes on very low heat. Then I spooned half the mix on to a Pepperidge Farm 7 grain deli flat and topped with some chopped raw onion.

A thing of beauty:

Ohhhhh yesssss….

That is one happy joe.

These sloppy joes were super easy to throw together and pretty tasty — I think the only change I’ll make for next time is to use the ORGANIC Heinz Ketchup instead of the reduced sugar version (which oddly has this crazy sweet taste that I am NOT a fan of).

I’m still craving a good old-fashioned Manwich sloppy joe… so I’m sure those will be making an appearance on an upcoming Sunday game day menu 🙂

Stats on the sloppy joseph: 256 calories, 27g carbs, 3g fat, 35g protein, 6g fiber

What I ate

Cheeseless Quesadilla?

October 6, 2010 6 Comments

What do you call a cheeseless quesadilla?

Is it just a dilla? What about a cheeseless quesadilla with beans? A habadilla?

Something to ponder…

Quesadillas are one of my favorite fast-fix dinners. I put a lot of random things in my quesadillas, and I’m convinced that you can sandwich pretty much anything in between a tortilla, throw it on the george foreman grille, and have near instant glory in your mouth.

Take this dinner for example. I started off with 1 Tumaro’s low carb tortilla topped, 1/4 cup fat-free refried beans and 2 ounces grilled chicken:

Plus 1/2 a cup of frozen calabacita mixed veggies that I defrosted in the microwave:

5 minutes of quality time with the george:

Naked quesadilla:

Veggies for toppin’

Add 2 tbsp of fat-free sour cream and you have yourself magnificence on a plate!

Stats on the habadilla: 264 calories, 38g carbs, 3g fat, 33g protein, 12g fiber

Mmmmmm beans…… Love them.

Ramblings, Recipes

Mock mac and cheese

October 5, 2010 4 Comments

One of life’s true pleasures is a big ole plate of macaroni and cheese. I’m talking homemade oven-baked cheesy glory. Once fall rolls around, I start to get some serious cravings for comfort food. I’m sure you know what I’m talking about. Comfort foods. The foods that make you feel warm and cuddly from the inside out. The foods that make you want to hug your belly and sway side to side just because they taste so dang good. The foods that you’d like to pour into a giant tub so you could jump in and swaddle yourself in their heavenly gooey warmth…. What.. that’s just me?!

Anyway, tonight I decided to give healthified mac and cheese a go in an attempt to satisfy my comfort food craving. I remember seeing a recipe a while back on the Hungry Girl email blast, and that was the basis for my dinner (though I couldn’t find the email).

The main components of my mac and cheese were Carba Nada pasta and lightly sauced broccoli:

And 1 light French Onion laughing cow wedge:

Carba nada only takes 5 minutes to cook, so this meal was ready for chowing in no time! While the pasta cooked I also threw together a small salad with romaine lettuce, tomato, onion, and some Ken’s Lite Caesar dressing (LOVE that stuff).

All together:

The flavors were a little mild, so I added some red pepper flakes and black pepper on top:

Cheesy goodness:

Not too shabby! If you could get laughing cow in light cheddar that would take this dinner to a whole new level!

Stats on 1 serving mock mac and cheese: 235 calories, 32g carbs, 5g fat, 16g protein, 8g fiber

On a separate note, I’m debating on whether or not to join a gym for the winter. Twice in my life I had succumbed to signing up for a year-long gym membership, and BOTH times I stopped going after only a couple months… yet still had to pay for the entire year. I’m really not big on gyms… but without a gym, I see myself simply not exercising this winter. Any tips for making the gym FUN?

Recipes

Hummus + Spaghetti Squash

September 28, 2010 6 Comments

Sometimes I have foodie visions. This is my term for the moment when a random collaboration of ingredients convene in my brain and its seems as though there is nothing I can do to regain control of my thoughts… except of course, try out the random concoction … all the while hoping it doesn’t make me ralph.

My most recent foodie vision consisted of some of this:

plus

What’s that, you ask? Good question! This lovely dinner concoction consisted of:

2 tbsp Trader Joe’s Original Hummus
2 ounces chopped grilled chicken
1 diced roma tomato
1 baby spaghetti squash
Some red pepper flakes

Repulsed? Don’t go all eggplant on me yet!

First, I baked the spaghetti squash in a 425 degree oven for 25 minutes (since this was just a lil guy). Then I used a fork to scrape out the squash noodles.

Meanwhile, I sprayed a skillet with some cooking spray and tossed in the hummus to get it heating up:

Then I added the tomatoes and chicken:

Once everything was warmed through, I added the spaghetti squash and some red pepper flakes.

Presto!

This was really tasty and simultaneously really weird 😯

Several times during the meal I got a faint reminder of macaroni and cheese which I found even weirder–but that gave me ANOTHER foodie vision I must try sometime soon…. Cheesy spaghetti squash! Stay tuned, folks!

Overall, I like this idea and I’m definitely going to play with it some more. I think wilted spinach would be a really nice addition and maybe a different flavor of hummus….. we shall see… we shall see.

Stats on the spaghetti squash/hummus concoction: 199 calories, 20g carbs, 6g fat, 14g protein, 5g fiber

CALL TO ACTION! Now that the weather is changing, I’ve been craving WARM lunches…. I am bored & I need inspiration for yummy/healthy WARM lunches to bring to work….. Any ideas?

Recipes

Sausage & Caramelized Onion Pita Pizza

September 25, 2010 4 Comments

Last weekend, I caught 5 minutes or so of Giada’s cooking show on the Food Network on which she made a sausage and caramelized onion calzone. Are you drooling yet? Ever since then, I’ve had this image of sausage and caramelized onions floating around in my head, beckoning to me. I just so happened to have a leftover sausage from last Sunday’s cookfest, so I decided to put it to use today:

YUMMMMM….. I haven’t made a pita pizza in AGES! Jennie O’s mom and pop would be so darn proud! 😀

First up, I cranked the heat on the oven to 350 degrees, sprayed a small skillet with cooking spray, and placed it over medium high heat. Once the skillet was hot, I added:

1/4 cup sliced white onion
1 clove garlic, minced

Onions & garlic. Anytime you start a recipe off with these two ingredients, there’s an unwritten guarantee it’s going to be delicious. Didn’t you know??

I reduced the heat slightly at this point just to make sure I didn’t burn the garlic or onion. Then I just let the onions do their thing, stirring them occasionally.

Meanwhile, I topped a Joseph’s low-carb pita with 1/4 cup Classico Fire Roasted Tomato & Garlic Sauce and a sprinkling of red pepper flakes.

Once the onions were soft and a nice light brown color, I added them on top of the pita along with 1/2 a link of pre-cooked & chopped up Jennie O’ Hot Turkey Sausage.

I cut up a light Sargento Mozzarella string cheese into small sticks and tossed those on top then seasoned with a sprinkle of dried oregano and some black pepper:

Then I popped this beauty into the oven for 10 minutes, until everything was heated through and the cheese was melty:

I also fixed up a small side salad, which consisted of romaine lettuce, 1/2 a roma tomato, some chopped red onion, and 2 tbsp Ken’s Steakhouse lite Caesar dressing:

I REALLY like Ken’s Lite Caeser by the way.

Nom nom nom!

Sometimes the simplest of ingredients combine to make the most amazing meals. It is the best of both worlds!

Ingredients List: Sausage & Caramelized Onion Pita Pizza

1/4 cup sliced white onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1 Joseph’s low-carb pita with flax
1/4 cup Classico Fire Roasted Tomato & Garlic Sauce
Red Pepper Flakes
1/2 link Jennie O’ Hot Turkey Sausage
1 light Sargento Mozzarella string cheese
Dried Oregano
Black Pepper

Stats on my pita pizza: 236 calories, 17g carbs, 11g fat, 22g protein, 6g fiber

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