Thai Shrimp Soup

This is a recipe that my old roommate actually used to cook, and when she moved out, I became the new "owner". I love the slightly spicy flavor of the broth, and I usually end up adding some rice noodles to it to make it a little more substantial. This particular night I had a mixture of shrimp and scallops, but to be honest, the scallops did not add anything to this soup, I'll just stick with shrimp next time.

Thai Shrimp Soup

• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 3 tablespoons fresh ginger, minced
• 1 small onion, thinly sliced
• 5-6 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (depending on your spice level desire!)
• 1 head napa cabbage, thinly sliced (about 3 cups)
• 1 1/2 lbs shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 2 tablespoons asian fish sauce
• 2 teaspoons lime zest
• 1/4 cup lime juice
• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped or chopped scallion
• 
  
• Heat oil in a large pot. Add ginger and onion. Cook, stirring frequently for about 3 minutes. Add broth and red pepper flakes and bring to a low boil. Add cabbage and cook for approximately 2 to 3 minutes. Add shrimp, lime zest and lime juice. If you're adding noodles, this is probably the time you would add those to the broth as well. Cook just until shrimp turns pink. Serve hot sprinkled with cilantro or scallions.

Chickpea & Tuna Salad

I've made a goal for myself to pack a lunch at least 4 days during the work week, so this morning I had to throw something together because we had no left overs and I really didn't to eat a frozen meal today. So, here's what I came up with:

Chickpea & Tuna Salad

5 oz. can of tuna in water, drained
1 can of garbanzo beans
1/4 cup red onion, chopped
2 tbsp. tzatziki sauce
1 tsp. dijon mustard
1 tsp. Mrs. Dash (or Salt and Pepper to taste)

Mix all ingredients together. This makes about 2 servings. I plan on eating it in a wrap with spinach leaves.

Summer Squash Pasta Salad

A friend of mine recommended this recipe to me, so, after pilaging someone else's garden today (since mine isn't producing much, or at least not much is ripe yet...) I decided I needed to try this one out. However, me being who I am, I couldn't help but mess with the basic recipe. I think it turned out well, it's a recipe that could be used as a side dish, a vegetarian dinner, or a meat dinner depending on your mood, it can also be served warm or cold...see how versatile it is?! I added cooked chicken and some cheese to make mine a complete meal in one bowl.

Summer Squash Pasta Salad

13-16 oz. Whole wheat pasta, cooked and drained
1 small zucchini, cubed
1 yellow squash, cubed
4 cloves garlic, crushed
3 tbsp. garlic, separated
2 tbsp. red wine vinegar
handful of fresh basil , chopped
handful of fresh parsley, chopped
3 stems of cherry tomatoes, halved
salt and pepper
1/2 lb. cooked chicken, chopped (opt.)
3 tbsp. feta cheese (opt. - could also use parmessan)

While pasta is cooking, saute garlic in 2 tbsp. olive oil, 2 tbsp. red wine vinegar and salt and pepper until garlic is golden. Add cubed zucchini and squash and saute for 2-3 minutes. Add chopped herbs and continuing cooking for 2-3 minutes. Add halved tomatoes and cook until skins start to peel away.

Toss cooked pasta with with 1 tbsp. olive oil, sauteed vegetables and cooked chicken. Sprinkle with cheese and serve.

Margarita Salmon

I picked up a great deal on salmon this week at the grocery store so I had pulled out a couple of fillets to grill up tonight for dinner. When I got into my office this morning, my co-worker had brought in a huge bag of Mexican limes so I started thinking about what I could do with all of those limes...margarita marinated salmon sounded perfect! I served the salmon along side some seasoned grilled baby red potatoes and sauteed snow peas. It was a perfect meal!

Margarita Salmon

1 tsp. lime zest
3-4 tbsp. lime juice
1 tbsp. tequila
2 tsp. sugar (or sugar substitute)
2 tsp. vegetable oil
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. orange juice concentrate
1 garlic clove, crushed
4 salmon fillets

Combine first 8 ingredients in a large zip-lock bag; add fish to bag. Seal and marinate in refrigerator for 20 minutes. Wrap in foil packets and grill over low-medium heat for 4-5 minutes on each side.

Baby Red Potato Salad

Of course we had to grill hamburgers and hot dogs for the 4th of July! I wanted to make a lower-guilt side dish to go along with it, but was craving potato salad...so I searched for something that would work, thinking that maybe a more vinegar based salad would be best, especially since I had a few "pickier" eaters who don't like mayonnaise that much! I found this recipe on a blog I frequent and went with it. I liked it, it has a nice crunch to it with the fresh pepper and onion, and it has just a little bit of mayo so it still had that "potato salad" feel, but much lighter and fresher.

Baby Red Potato Salad

4 cups baby red potatoes, cut into quarters (or small pieces)
1/2 cup green pepper, finely diced
1/4 cup red onion, finely diced
3 scallions, chopped
1 tsp. dijon mustard
1 tbsp. mayonnaise
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 tbsp. red wine vinegar

Boil potatoes in salted water until soft, approx 10 minutes. Drain and let cool.

While the potatoes are boiling, combine red onion, green pepper, mustard, olive oil, vinegar and mayonnaise and season with salt and pepper. Mix well and let the flavors marinade while the potatoes cook. Once the potatoes are done and cool, mix into the bowl and add scallions and additional salt and pepper to taste. Serve room temperature or refrigerate until ready to serve.
salt and pepper to taste.

Mango Salsa

I was planning a movie night with a small group of my friends and since I've been hearing a lot of grumbling about when I was going to make my famous Bitchin' BBQ Shrimp again I decided I might as well do it for movie night. For some reason I really wanted to make Mango Salsa to go with it. I don't usually serve this salsa with my shrimp, but mango's have been on sale a lot lately and I happened to have two of them that were ready to be eaten, and I figured it would probably go well with the shrimp especially if we made them into tacos. I will of course follow this post up with a post for the shrimp...they deserve their own post after all, they are that good!

Mango Salsa

2 ripe mangos chopped (small chunks are best)
1 lg. cerano chili (seeded & chopped)*
6 green onions, chopped
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
juice of 3 limes
juice of 3 oranges, or 3 tbsp. orange juice concentrate
1/4 bunch of cilantro
salt and pepper to taste

Mix and serve.

*1 chili will make it just have a slight spicy bite to it, still pretty mild, you can adjust the heat of your salsa by adding another 1/2 or 1 whole chili.

PB Nana Poppers

I've had a few requests for some particular recipes on the blog, including a few more "low-calorie" desserts. As I've mentioned in my previous post, I'm going through the Hungry Girl cookbook I received this month, so you may be seeing a few of my experiments posted up here, including this one. This book has an entire chapter devoted to Cool Whip Free, and for some reason my book kept falling open to one recipe in particular. It was nothing fancy, but every time I flipped through the book, it caught my eye. It's easy, tastes great and obviously low in calories (only 108 per serving!)!

PB Nana Poppers
Hungry Girl 200 under 200

1 banana (sliced into 20 slices)
2 tbsp. Cool Whip Free
1 tbsp. reduced-fat peanut butter

In a small bowl, combine Cool Whip and peanut butter. Spread mixture on 10 of the banana slices and top with additional 10 slices. Place in freezer for at least 1 hour. (mine took more like 1.5 hours) or until frozen.

Serves 2 (5 poppers per serving)

I really did love this recipe, I've thought of other ways to change it up, and the one that's floating through my mind right now is to roll the poppers (along the sides) in some of those mini chocolate chips. This would obviously change the calorie count, but probably only by about 50-70 calories per serving. Let me know if you try these and any adaptations you make!

Redhot Chick'n Salad

I love buffalo chicken wings. They are one of my favorite "bar" foods and I can hardly resist ordering them when I do go out to a place that has good wings, but they're not really that good for you. I know, you're shocked! Deep fried chicken, buttery hot sauce, tastes great, but not good for the diet! For my birthday I got the Hungry Girl 200 under 200 cookbook and one of the first recipes I tagged as a "must try" was the redhot chick'n salad. Because I like spicy food, I of course added more of the hot sauce, almost double in fact, and I think when I make it next time, I'll probably add even more. I like it hot!

Redhot Chick'n Salad
from Hungry Girl

6 ounces cooked skinless lean chicken breast, cubed
3 tbsp. fat-free mayonnaise
3 tbsp. chopped celery
3 tbsp. chopped carrots
2 tsp. reduced-fat Parmesan-stype grated topping
1 1/2 tsp. Frank's RedHot Original Cayenne Pepper Sauce (I used 2 1/2 tsp...and would probably go up to 3 next time)
1/2 tsp. dry ranch dressing mix

In medium bowl, combine mayo, Frank's, and ranch mix and stir well. Add chicken, celery and carrot to the mayo mixture and stir. Sprinkle parmessan topping and stir again.

This makes two servings and I scooped it into whole wheat tortillas for a wrap which worked great for lunch!

Cream of Zucchini Soup

I was on my own for dinner last night, and we had a large pack of zucchini that needed to be used, so, I decided to try my hand at a new soup. I have to say that although I liked it, the flavors could be stronger. I think I'd add more garlic and maybe I didn't use enough zucchini...other than that, it was simple, it was easy and it tasted fresh. I'd make it again!

Cream of Zucchini Soup

1/2 small onion, quartered
2 cloves garlic
3 small zucchini skin on cut in large chunks
32 oz fat free chicken stock
2 tbsp lite sour cream
salt
pepper

Combine chicken broth, onion, garlic and zucchini in a medium pot and cook on medium heat. Bring to a boil, lower heat, cover, and simmer until tender, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat. Add the sour cream. Using an immersion blender, purée until smooth. Stir in remaining ingredients, and adjust seasonings to taste. Serve hot.

Optional: Top with 2 tsp parmesan cheese

Chili Rubbed Pork Chops

It's grilling season around here, well, let's be honest, in California it's almost always grilling season! We don't have many months where we can't get out to the yard to fire up the grill, but around our house we still tend to follow the basic grilling season timeline. Anyway, almost every recipe I make during the summer months, I think through if I can grill it. Here, there was no thinking, grilling was a must with the chili rub I put on these pork chops! I served these up with some baked zucchini fries which were a great compliment!

Chili Rubbed Pork Chops

20 oz. lean pork loin, or chops
2 tsp. chili powder
1 1/2 tsp. packed brown sugar
1 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. table salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper

In a small bowl, combine spices. Lay pork chops out on a plate and rub with spice mixture on both sides. Place pork chops in fridge for 1-24 hours. Coat grill with cooking spray and heat to medium. Grill pork chops until done (internal temperature reads 160 degrees)

Pasta Salad with Baby Spinach

This recipe was conceived over IM. It was my night to cook dinner and I had thawed out a whole chicken and had it seasoned up and in the crockpot before I left for work. The only problem was that I was feeling very "uncreative" with a side dish or vegetable. So, I IM'd my sister and asked her what I should make with my chicken for that night. What followed was a back and forth conversation that eventually turned into this recipe.

Pasta Salad with Baby Spinach & Mixed Greens
5 oz. Baby spinach
8 oz. Whole wheat pasta (i.e. penne, bowtie, etc.)
12-15 cherry tomatoes, halved
4 tbsp. sliced black olives
2-3 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1.5 tbsp. olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
2 tbsp. shaved parmigiano reggiano cheese

Cook pasta in salted water, drain and rinse under cold water. In a large bowl, combine pasta, spinach, mixed greens, oil, vinegar, salt and pepper. Toss well. Top with shaved parmigiano reggiano.

Italian Sausage and Pepper Pasta

Here's another one of my pasta creation dishes. I like being able to just throw things together and have them come out as a tasty meal! I had taken out some Italian Sausage to make a casserole and realized that it was more of a brunch-type casserole so I had to adjust my dinner for tonight. But, I think it turned out quite well, and everyone in the house, and my boyfriend, cleaned their bowls so I take that as a sign of a good recipe!

Italian Sausage and Pepper Pasta

1/2 lb. Italian Sausage
2 cups pepper strips (I used the frozen kind)
1/2 red onion, chopped
2 tsp. olive oil
1 1/2 tbsp. garlic, crushed
1/2 red wine
1-1 1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
28 oz. diced tomatoes
1/3 cup fresh basil
8 oz. whole wheat pasta (I used the corkscrew pasta, or fuseli)

Cook Italian Sausage over medium heat, using a wooden spoon to break apart, for 3-5 minutes. Remove from pan and set aside. Heat olive oil in same pan, cook onion and pepper strips for 5 minutes, add in garlic and red wine, cooking until most of the liquid has evaporated. Add the cooked Italian Sausage, diced tomatoes and crushed red pepper. Lower heat and let simmer for 10 minutes. While the sausage sauce is simmering, cook whole wheat pasta, drain and put back into pot. Add chopped basil to sausage sauce and then pour sauce over the pasta and combine.

Veggie Tortilla Pizza

I guess this would really fall more under a food "idea" than a recipe, but I thought I'd share it anyway! This is a quick lunch idea, I actually ate it with the beet salad I posted yesterday, although it doesn't really need a side dish as it has enough veggies on it already. If you need a quick pizza fix with little guilt, try this out.

Veggie Tortilla Pizza

1 whole wheat tortilla
3 tsp. pizza sauce (or you could just use tomato paste if that's what you have.)
sprinkle of onion powder
sprinkle of Italian seasoning
1 oz. mozzarella cheese, shredded
zucchini, sliced thin
green pepper, chopped
red onion, sliced thin
grape tomatoes, quartered

Preheat oven to 400. Place tortilla on a foil lined cooking sheet, or a pre-heated pizza stone if you have one, for 3-4 minutes, just enough to get it a little crispier. Remove from oven and spread pizza sauce on tortilla, sprinkle half the cheese and the onion powder and Italian seasoning. Top with all the veggies. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top and place back in oven for about 5-7 minutes, until veggies are cooked and cheese is melted.

You can use any veggies you want, this is just what we had in the refrigerator. You could also throw on some turkey pepperoni, or canadian bacon if you wanted to do a meat version. This is one of those great recipes to help you clean out your fridge!

Potato Nachos

Here's another recipe I found in the Weight Watchers cookbook. I had the day off on Friday so I had a little more time to relax and experiment with some new recipes in the kitchen. I decided to make this one as a snack right before lunch. I highly enjoyed it and would definitely recommend it as a lower calorie Mexican fix.

Potato Nachos

1 large baking potato, scrubbed
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1 tomato, seeded and chopped
1/2 cup canned pinto beans, rinsed and drained
1/3 cup shredded reduced-fat pepper Jack cheese
1 scallion, thinly sliced
Fat-free sour cream (optional)

Cut the potato crosswise into 3/8 " slices; arrange in a single layer in a microwavable dish. Sprinkle with the salt and pepper. Cover with plastic wrap, then prick a few holes in the plastic to vent. Microwave on High until tender, about 6 minutes.

Sprinkle the tomato evenly over the potato slices and top with the beans, pepper Jack, and scallion. Microwave, uncovered, on Medium until the cheese melts, 1 1/2 - 2 minutes. Serve with sour cream, if using. This makes 2 servings.

The only thing I changed about this recipe is that I used black bean instead of pinto, because that's what I had in the cupboard.

Lebanese Chicken and Pita Salad

I borrowed a couple of Weight Watchers cookbooks from a friend a few weeks ago and have tagged a bunch of the recipes to try out. This was one of those recipes, although, true to my cooking style, I made a few tweaks and additions. I brought this in to the ladies I work with for lunch and I believe they all enjoyed it and it made a nice, fresh tasting lunch!

Lebanese Chicken and Pita Salad

1 lb. thin-sliced chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
6 mini whole wheat pita breads, toasted
24 grape tomatoes, halved
1 medium cucumber, peeled, halved, seeded and chopped
2 green onions
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
1/4 cup mint, chopped
3 tbsp. lemon juice
2 tsp. olive oil
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 - 8.45 oz. can garbanzo beans (my addition)

Season the chicken with 1/4 tsp. of the salt and 1/8 tsp. of the pepper. Spray a large pan with non-stick spray. Add the chicken and cook, stirring, until cooked through, about 5 minutes; transfer to a serving bowl. Set aside.

Tear the pitas into 1" pieces and add to the bowl along with the tomatoes, cucumber, green onions, mint, cilantro, lemon juice, oil, cumin, and the remaining 1/4 tsp. salt and 1/8 tsp. pepper. Toss to mix well.

Here's what I changed about the recipe: I omitted the mint (I'm just not a fan), and added some chopped parsley in its place and upped the amount of cilantro. To save time, I also used pre-cooked chicken from Trader Joe's which worked out pretty well. I had a small can of garbanzo beans in the cabinet, so I decided to add that in at the end just to bulk up the salad a little more. I also added about another 1/2 tsp. ground cumin and a splash more of lemon juice.

Asparagus & Canadian Bacon Frittata

We had bought a large bunch of asparagus last week, but never ended up using it, so in trying to find a way to use up the asparagus, I decided to treat myself to a "nice" weekend breakfast on Sunday and made up this frittata. This happens to be my first attempt at a frittata and therefore, there are a few things I'd do differently, but for a frittata beginner I think I did alright.

Asparagus & Canadian Bacon Frittata

3 large eggs
3 egg whites
8-12 slices of canadian bacon, roughly chopped
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/8 tsp. salt
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/2 cup asparagus, cut into 1/2" pieces
1/2 medium onion, finely diced
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
2 small red potatoes, sliced thin
1 tsp. Mrs. Dash Table Blend Seasoning

Combine the first 6 ingredients, whisk together and set aside. Saute onion, garlic and asparagus for 3 minutes in a 9" pan, or until tender, remove from pan and set aside. Arrange potato slices in a circle pattern around bottom of pan to form a crust. Let potato cook in pan for about 15 minutes per side until potatoes are cooked through and crisp. Layer asparagus and onion mixture over potato crust. Pour egg mixture on top and cover with lid and cook for 3 minutes, until almost set, sprinkle with Mrs. Dash seasoning. Remove lid and cover handle (or use oven safe pan) and broil in oven for 3 minutes, or until egg has set. Cut into 4 large pieces, or 8 small pieces.

The only thing I'd really change about this recipe is I'd use at least one more egg white, maybe two as the egg mixture was a little flat and barely covered the potato crust. I think adding 1-2 more egg whites would make it a little fluffier and cover more and wouldn't add that many more calories to the dish. I'd also try adding in another vegetable like red or green pepper. I think this recipe could be one of those one's that is easy to mix and match depending on what you have in the refrigerator.

Chicken Salad

I make a pretty good chicken salad. I'm not going to lie, it's often requested, especially on wine tasting trips or Hollywood Bowl nights. It's one of the easiest things I've ever learned how to make and lasts for a while in the fridge so you can make it a day or two ahead of whenever you want to serve it.

Chicken Salad

1 whole store bought roasted chicken (or you can cook your own chicken breasts)
1 1/5 cups red grapes, halved
3/4 - 1 cup celery, chopped
1 cup mayonnaise
1-2 tbsp. Mrs. Dash Table Blend, use to taste
1/2 - 3/4 cup slivered almonds (optional)

Remove skin from chicken, chop chicken into small bite sized pieces and place in large bowl. Add halved grapes, celery, mayonnaise and Mrs. Dash and mix together. Right before serving stir in slivered almonds. Serve on crusty bread, crackers, a bed of lettuce or inside a cantaloupe ring!

Slow Cooker Lentil Soup

It's Sunday morning and I'm already thinking about lunch tomorrow! I picked up a bag of dried lentils at the store yesterday. I've been wanting to try out a crock pot soup with lentils in it since I saw a recipe for one on a friends blog a month or more ago. I also know that I'm pretty much the only one in my house that will eat lentils, so I decided to throw together the soup today to have for quick lunches this week.

Slow Cooker Lentil Soup

2 carrots, peeled and chopped into lg. chunks
2 celery stalks, chopped into lg. chunks
1 medium onion, chopped into lg. chunks
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups lentils, picked over
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
2 bay leaves
8 cups chicken stock (use vegetable broth or water if making vegetarian)
4 oz. Canadian bacon, cut into small chunks(omit if making vegetarian)
1 can diced tomatoes

Place ingredients in a 4-5 quart crock pot in the following order: carrots, celery, onion, lentils, bay leaves, thyme, salt, pepper and broth. Cook on low for 6 hours. Uncover and add Canadian bacon and diced tomatoes. Continue cooking for 30 minutes. Remove bay leaves and serve.

Tri-Color Tuna Salad

I was in the mood for a tunafish sandwich tonight, but wanted to shake it up a little bit and try something new at the same time. Again, I looked through the veggie crisper to see what we had and decided to go with a tri-color tuna salad. I think it tasted pretty good and was definitely not your average tuna salad. The mixture of the chopped vegetables makes the mixture spread a little further than usual and I loved the crunch of the carrots and spicy bits of the red onion were a nice touch.

Tri-Color Tuna Salad

1 can tuna in water, drained
1/4 cup red onion, chopped
1/4 cup carrots, chopped or shredded
1/4 cup celery, chopped
1 small dill pickle, chopped
2-3 Tbsp. mayonnaise
1-2 tsp. yellow mustard
1/2-1 tsp. Mrs. Dash original blend

Mix it all together, adjust seasoning to taste. Spread 1/4 - 1/2 of the mixture on a slice of bread, top with lettuce and slices of tomato and top with another slice of bread.

Turkey Burger

I've pretty much replaced ground beef with ground turkey in all of my recipes. It's much leaner and I've been trying to reduce my consumption of red meat...I save it for a really good steak! So, after a rough workout tonight, I felt like eating a really good burger and I had about a pound of ground turkey left over from my Sloppy Tom's that I had made the night before. I rounded out my meal with steamed brussel sprouts and my favorite roasted potatoes.

Turkey Burger
1 - 1 1/2 lbs. ground turkey
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. Jamaican jerk seasoning
salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients in a small bowl, form into patties and cook over med/low heat on the stove. I have found that turkey burgers are harder to grill as the meat is softer and doesn't hold together as well as ground beef, so I tend to cook them up in a cast iron/saute pan with a small amount of olive oil.

Spread mayonnaise mixed with sweet pickle relish on a whole wheat bun, top with a lettuce leaf and place cooked turkey patty on top.