and BAM!!

just like Emeril Lagasse... BAM!! yeah, he put ketchup, mustard, and mayo on my pizza... but it was the most amazing plastic pizza ever!! He was really enjoying telling me the fruits/veggies he was adding!!

ingredients

I got emotionally distracted earlier this week, it's been happening alot lately. I've realized that I've become a sensitive person. Something about the past 3 years of my life has worn me down to realize how very very short this life is, and how simple life should be for what it's worth - too often I sit and grieve about the complexities. During the time I was crying and being sad, I was also cooking a homemade goody - I left out a key ingredient in one of our favorites... Strawberry Bread. I left out the sugar!!! HA!! It doesn't require alot of sugar, but would taste like crap without it all together. So, it went in the garbage disposal and I waved goodbye to it and told everyone I was sorry there'd be no strawberry bread!!


Lesson learned = nothing negative in this life should distract or discourage me so much that I forget about the sweetness in my life...

un-fried chicken...but still crispy and yummy!

A super late post for Fitness Friday - about eating 'fit'. Un-fried chicken??!!?? And it was yummy too!!

We made this crispy chicken recently and plan to make it part of our regular menu choices.... really yummy and low calorie too! Almost fried chicken, and pretty much guilt free!! Yum! We opt out of the 'tarter' and the coleslaw, but the recipe I found gave it as an option, so I thought I'd add it here for anyone interested.


Serves 4

Calories per serving, chicken with coleslaw: 519
Calories per serving, tartar sauce: 27 (optional - we didn't make this)
1 serving of chicken = 3 pieces of chicken

For the chicken:

2 cloves garlic, smashed
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1 bay leaf2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 cup nonfat buttermilk
1 pound chicken tenders (about 12)
1 1/2 cups cornflakes, crushed to medium crumbs (I added 1/3 cup of bread crumbs with this)
1 tsp of Mrs. Dash original (added this myself, I have a thing for Mrs. Dash)
Nonstick cooking spray

For the tartar sauce

1/2 tablespoons low-fat sour cream
1 tablespoon nonfat buttermilk
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1/4 cup fresh parsley leaves, chopped
1 tablespoon drained nonpareil capers
1 tablespoon chopped sweet gherkin
1 tablespoon water

For the coleslaw

1 1/2 (10-ounce) bags cabbage slaw mix
1 red bell pepper, sliced thin
2 tablespoons thin-sliced red onion
1 tablespoon low-fat sour cream
1 tablespoon nonfat buttermilk
1 tablespoon seasoned rice wine vinegar
2–3 dashes hot pepper sauce
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
8 cherry tomatoes, quartered, for garnish


1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray lightly with cooking spray. Set aside.

2. For the chicken: In a medium bowl, combine the garlic, spices and buttermilk. Add the chicken and turn in the marinade. Cover and refrigerate 1 hour.

3. For the coleslaw: In a large bowl, combine the cabbage slaw mix, bell pepper, onion and shredded herbs. In a separate smaller bowl, whisk together the sour cream, buttermilk, vinegar, hot pepper sauce, salt and pepper. Pour the dressing over the vegetables and toss to coat.

4. For the tartar sauce: Whisk together all of the ingredients in a separate small bowl.

5. Place the cornflake crumbs on a plate (add the bread crumbs here, and the Mrs. Dash). Drain the chicken tenders. Pick up a chicken tender with one hand, and turn it in the cornflake coating, using the other hand to gently press additional coating onto the sides. Place on the prepared baking sheet. Continue on in this way to coat all of the chicken pieces, arranging them on the baking sheet in a single layer. Bake at 400 degrees until firm, about 15 minutes.

6. To serve, divide the coleslaw among 4 bowls. Arrange 3 chicken tenders, standing up with wide ends at the bottom and overlapping slightly, at one side of each mound. Drizzle the sauce over the chicken. Garnish bowls with chopped cherry tomatoes and fresh herbs.

good grub

I never really liked the idiom "chewing the fat" because - ewwww - it sounds gross. Just like the idea of clogging my arteries, gross..... genetically I'm greatly predisposed to coronary artery disease, my husband has already had his share of heart events, and so we are to lead our kids down a different path.... one that has less of the yuck that can affect their little bodies negatively - one that puts forth every effort to break this nasty chain of heart disease in BOTH of our families.

We generally only eat fish or chicken as our meats, occasionally turkey, and I'd found myself pretty bored with the same ole same ole in the kitchen. I've even posted on here about how I can make chicken different, because chicken CAN be boring.

We're LOVING the recipes we've tried so far from the new Lifetime show Cook Yourself Thin. So far we've tried the crispy oven baked chicken (we did without the slaw, and tarter sauce), and the penne ala 'not-ka', which was delicious. With the penne ala notka, I added another 1/2 can of crushed tomatoes because we love tomatoes and that's no extra fat, so why not!!

We plan to try several more, I've downloaded every one they have to offer online so far that fits our taste and is heart healthy - and we're excited to have more variety and lots of fresh ingredient options to boot! This weekend I hope to make the peanut butter dream bars.... I'll let you know....

Strawberries I think I love you

**Edit to this post 06.18.09 - I decided to post this recipe and THIS RECIPE I posted recently for Strawberry Bread in FishMama's summer dessert recipe swap!!!

Head over to her blog for more yummy recipes HERE!

Tonight I made a dessert that everyone LOVED and it was almost guilt free! Each serving was originally at 300 calories, and with my substitutions I calculated appx 180 calories for each serving... and we lost NO flavor! IT WAS YUMMY!! You can make it three ways, as waffle bowl icecream scoops, as a "pie" with oreo crust, OR how I made it - mini pies (no crust). Our oldest called it "heaven pie".

After having made this tonight, in the future I plan to chop the "mix in" strawberries up a little more because they do freeze and a big chunk of frozen berry is hard to work through after eating that soft creamy filling. Saving a few slices to lay on top of each mini pie makes for a pretty finish - but I didn't even think to do that part! I did cut the recipe in half for us, because let's face it with this yummy stuff I'd be tempted to over indulge!

INGREDIENTS

1 (8 ounce) package PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened {substituted this for reduced fat}
1 cup cold milk {I used skim}
1 (3.4 ounce) package JELL-O Vanilla Flavor Instant Pudding {I used French Vanilla - next time will be Sugar Free Vanilla to cut more of the yuck out}
1 1/2 cups thawed COOL WHIP Whipped Topping {I used FAT FREE}
20 NILLA Wafers, coarsely broken {I used reduced fat}
1 cup sliced fresh strawberries
1/2 cup strawberry ice cream topping

DIRECTIONS
Beat cream cheese in large bowl with mixer until creamy. Gradually beat in milk. Add dry pudding mix; beat 2 min. Stir in COOL WHIP, wafers and berries. Swirl in ice cream topping.
Serve it your way!

PIE: Spread filling into 6-oz. OREO Pie Crust. Freeze 6 hours or until firm. Garnish with additional berries, if desired. Makes 8 servings.

MINI PIES: Spoon filling into 12 cupcake liners. Freeze 4 hours. Remove paper linings. Garnish desserts with additional berries, if desired. Makes 12 servings.

WAFFLE BOWLS: Freeze filling 6 hours or until firm. Let stand 15 min. before scooping into waffle bowls. Makes 8 servings.

mmmmm yum

The Strawberry bread was YUMMY.... I posted the recipe HERE. I just wanted to add that instead of just 'mashing' my berries, I put them in the mini-chopper for a quick chop, only very lightly chopped.

Cooking time for my oven at 350 degrees was 45 minutes.

The yummy bread was a hit with the entire family, we're going to finish it off today! One friend suggested that softspread cream cheese would be a good idea.... hmmmmm.... I'll have to try that - I have some fat free... so that makes me feel less guilty. HA.

I like the way this bread baked, so the hubby and I came up with the plan to use our jumbo muffin trays next time and make the 'bread' into muffins. MAYBE when we do that, I'll spread a tiny bit of that fat free creamcheese on top and call it a special dessert for the boys!!

recipe sharing

I frequent a few blogs of friends and/or family and it's always exciting when I read a new recipe posted on one of their blogs; so I wanted to take their cue and share recipes from time to time. (Amy - I'm going to try to make your latest recipe this weekend!)

This one is for the veggie lovers:
Ratatouille (just like the movie!)
This recipe originates from the southern Provencal region of France, and contains a healthy spread of mixed vegetables – eggplant, zucchini, tomatoes and green peppers – that are sautéed and then roasted with herbs. The sautéing and consequent browning brings out the sweetness in the vegetables, and so may appeal to the taste buds of your children. If you’re thinking, “Not for my kids!” go with the extra incentive of showing them the Pixar movie before serving.
Throw it together with some grilled chicken. It is just as good served cold the next day.

Ingredients (Serves 5)

4 oz Zucchini
4 oz Eggplant
4 oz Onions
1 Green Pepper
1 Clove Garlic
8 oz Tomatoes (canned may be used if necessary)
1 ½ oz Olive oil (more if needed)
¼ cup Parsley, chopped
1 Bay leaf
Good Pinch Thyme
To taste Salt
To taste Pepper

Prepare the vegetables: Cut the zucchini into ½-inch slices. Peel the eggplant and cut into large dice (3/4 inch square). Slice the onions. Remove the cores and the seeds of the peppers and cut into 1-inch dice. Chop the garlic. Peel and seed the tomatoes and cut into large dice. Leave canned tomatoes whole; they will break up during cooking.
Sauté the zucchini in a little of the olive oil until it is about half cooked. Remove from pan. Sauté the eggplant in olive oil until half cooked. Remove from pan. Sauté the onions and peppers until half cooked. Add the garlic and sauté another minute.
Combine all vegetables and seasonings in a heavy saucepan. Cover and cook in a slow oven (325 degrees) for about 25-30 minutes until vegetables are tender but still firm. If the vegetables are too juicy, cook uncovered on a range top for a few minutes to reduce. Be careful not to scorch the vegetables on the bottom. Adjust seasonings. Serve hot or cold.