salad – Page 3 – Fervent Foodie

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

What I ate

Back to the normal routine

September 22, 2010 3 Comments

Even with the big tax deadline behind me, my schedule is crazy hectic. What’s up with that??? Wednesday for instance is a VERY busy day for me because I go straight from the office to the university for the class I teach. This requires ample food-planning on Tuesday nights because I have to pack 6 meals. 6 meals?!? Yes 6. Take today for instance, here’s what I packed last night for the day ahead:

B#1: Scrambled eggs & roasted broccoli
B#2: Overnight oats + chopped strawberries + blueberries
Lunch: Big ole Salad + Jennie O’ Turkey Sausage
Snack: Granny smith apple
Dinner: Chicken & hummus wrap + cucumber salad
Snack: 1/2 of an 18 Rabbits granola bar

I like to travel with food apparently 🙂

One thing I’ve been craving the past few weeks is getting back to my normal foods routine!

You know what that means:

EGGS for breakfast #1!

Last night, I cooked up a batch of my scrambled eggs:

I also roasted up some broccoli which I enjoyed at 8am at my desk with a dollop o’ heaven Ketchup:

Of course, this was followed up 2 hours later by none other than my overnight oats for B#2:

Yesssssssss.

My lunch salad consisted of romaine lettuce, 1/2 a large cucumber, 1 baby roma tomato, some red onion, banana pepper and Ken’s steakhouse Lite Italian Romano dressing:

I also had a Jennie O’ turkey sausage on the side…

Is it just me, or does that sausage look really sad?! … A sausage with no bun is like a bird with no wings eggs with no ketchup! Luckily I had a monster Italian sausage sandwich over the weekend 😀

After the 2PM doldrums pass, it’s time for a snack! My usual afternoon snack is a granny smith apple:

Usually my snacks go unpictured. But today, I’m snapping everything that goes into my mouth 🙂 Uh oh.

Fun fact about me and apples: I REFUSE to buy an apple unless the stem is still attached. An apple sans stem is a clear indicator that a worm has crawled inside…. I’m pretty sure my sister told me that as a child, and it has stuck with me through the years. I may look funny in the produce aisle as I pick up one apple after another to find one that still has the stem attached, but guess who WON’T be looking funny when they bite into a worm? It won’t be me, that’s for darn sure! 😉

For dinner, I packed some cucumber salad:

And also a La Tortilla low-carb wrap consisting of 2 ounces grilled chicken, onion, and 1 tbsp Trader Joe’s original hummus:

Come to think of it, I probably should have avoided so many onions right before class… Oh well, they don’t call me the Onion Lady for nothin’.

Last my not least, I packed 1/2 of an 18 Rabbits granola bar (thanks Dorry!) for my late-night snack:

Whew! That’s a lot of food!

Happy Eating and Happy Hump Day!

Recipes

Chicken and Barley Salad

August 31, 2010 3 Comments

School is back in session – which means it is officially the end of summer in my book. In honor of this self-declared change in seasons, I decided to make one last summer salad for dinner Monday night.

The January 2010 issue of Cooking Light featured a recipe for Greek Chicken and Barley salad which was my inspiration and starting point to my dinner.

First up, I seasoned a few chicken breasts with McCormick’s Montreal Chicken Seasoning and tossed them on to the George Foreman grill. I only used 4 ounces of chicken in this recipe, but grill once eat thrice I always say.

When the chicken was done grilling, I roughly shred four ounces of it:

Meanwhile I brought 1 cup of Nature’s Basket Free Range Chicken Broth (fat-free and low sodium) to a boil, then tossed in 1/2 cup Quaker’s Quick Barley and cooked according to the package instructions.

Next I got to choppin the veggies. For this salad I used:

1 roma tomato
1 large cucumber, seeded
1/2 a yellow bell pepper
1/4 cup of reduced fat Atheno’s feta cheese

In a small bowl, I mixed together a yummy dressing for the salad:

1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp water
1/8 tsp each salt, black pepper, ground thyme
1 clove minced garlic
1/4 tsp dried basil

Once the chicken and barley were cooled off, I added them to my veggies and feta, added the dressing, and tossed to combine.

I put the salad in the fridge to let the flavors merry while I cleaned up the inevitable disaster I created in my kitchen.

Dinner time!

This salad was light and the veggies were so crisp. I really REALLY like the dressing, and I had forgotten how yummy barley is. I will miss you summer salads… but I won’t lie. I’m looking forward to some dinner SOUPS!!

Chicken & Barley Salad Ingredient List (makes two servings):

4 ounces grilled chicken
1 cup Nature’s Basket Free Range Chicken Broth
1/2 cup Quaker’s Quick Barley
1 roma tomato
1 large cucumber, seeded (or 1 seedless cucumeber)
1/2 a yellow bell pepper
1/4 cup Athenos reduced fat feta
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp water
1/8 tsp each salt, black pepper, ground thyme
1 clove minced garlic
1/4 tsp dried basil

Myfitnesspal stats on one serving: 309 calories, 37g carbs, 5g fat, 26g protein, 6g fiber

What I ate

The great salad extraction…

August 2, 2010 3 Comments

Before we get into my salad debacle, let’s recap breakfast!

Breakfast #1

While getting ready for work this morning, I realized I wanted NEEDED eggs for breakfast. I was already crunched for time, and considered passing on my fav B#1, but then it dawned on me. EGGINS.

“Eggins” are baked eggs that I cook up in a muffin tin. Get it? Egg + Muffin = Eggin 😉 (bear with me… it is Monday after all).

I had 9 eggs in the fridge, so I decided to go with 2 whole eggs and 7 egg whites. I mixed these up with S&P, Frank’s Red Hot, and a splash of water, and then evenly distributed them into 6 regular size muffin tins. I also threw 2 cups of broccoli into a pan that I had sprayed down with cooking spray. I seasoned the broccoli with some S&P, then threw everything into the oven at 350 degrees for 25 minutes while I continued getting ready for work.

2 breakfasts in < 5 minutes prep. Bada bing, bada boom 🙂

I had 1/2 of the above ingredients at work today with some ketchup, of course:

Stats: 171 calories, 12g carbs, 5g fat, 21g protein, 2g fiber

Breakfast #2

Blueberry Chobani + Strawberries:

Mixed into a fruity frenzy:

Tasty!

Stats: 163 calories, 26 g carbs, 0g fat, 14g protein, 2g fiber

Lunch

Now we get to the salad debacle. Yesterday, I went to my sister’s for a cookout and brought a huge salad. There was a ton leftover, which meant lunch for today 😀

Sad story: the lettuce in the salad was EXTREMELY wilty and soggy this morning. If there’s one thing I can’t stand, it’s soggy lettuce (and olives–not that there were any olives involved in this story but I just want to make sure we are clear 👿 ).

Wilty and yucky:

I’m not one to waste food, so I decided to perform a salad extraction. In preparation for this procedure, I brought a bag of lettuce from the fridge at home.

My saviour:

Piece by piece I sifted through the salad pulling out any of the soggy pieces.

Icky bits:

Icky on the left, crispy on the right:

So fresh and so crisp, crisp:

I also had a Jennie O Turkey Sausage on the side with some mustard:

I may or may not have spent some time playing in the paint program over lunch…

Recipes

Zucchini Pancakes

July 26, 2010 6 Comments

Sometimes life is just about compromises. Tonight, I had a serious craving for some french fries… a big ole mound of french fries and some ketchup.. mmmmm….

In lieu of this, I opted for a big ole salad… hmm big ole salad vs. big ole mound of french fries? That’s not exactly a fair fight…

My salad consisted of:

1/2 bag fresh express romaine
2.5 ounces grilled chicken breast
1 roma tomato
1/4 cup red onion
1/4 cup white mushrooms
2 tbsp Ken’s Steakhouse Lite Italian Romano dressing

Not exactly a french-fry-craving cure… but darn tasty in its own right.

Stats on the salad: 204 calories, 18g carbs, 6g fat, 17g protein, 5g fiber

To help curb my desire for some grease, I decided to try out this recipe I found for Zucchini Pancakes on Gina’s Skinny Taste blog.

Here’s what went in to my zucchini pancakes:

1 medium zucchini, shredded
1 shallot, chopped
2 tbsp chopped chives (holler at you, backyard garden 😉 )
2 tbsp chopped parsley
1 clove garlic, minced
1 large egg white
2 tsp DiGiorno Grated Parmesan Cheese
1 tbsp all purpose flour
1/4 tsp each S&P
Sprinkling of red pepper flakes

I combined everything up, then heated up a skillet I had sprayed with some cooking spray. Using a small cookie dough scooper, I dropped 3 pancakes into the pan.

One by one:

Batch #1 Finished Products:

These tasted AWESOME. They really spoke to the onion-lover in me. Only problem was they didn’t get crispy like a traditional potato pancake. I tried several different methods, including flattening them out til they were very thin–but they just wouldn’t crisp up! Maybe it’s the whole egg that helps to get them crispy–but regardless of the texture issues the taste was yum-o.

I tried one bite with some ketchup of course:

And I tried one bite with some Frank’s red hot:

(I preferred the ketchup in this case)

The zucchini pancake “batter” made 9 of these little fritters. I ate 7 of them (I had to try one for each cooking method…. haha), and I saved two of them for breakfast tomorrow so I can see how well they heat up in the microwave.

Stats on 9 Zucchini Fritters (entire batter): 159 calories, 27g carbs, 2g fat, 11g protein, 2g fiber

« Previous 1 2 3 4 Next »