Rustic Breakfast Pizza

 This pizza that I made for breakfast ended up being created somewhat by accident. I was in a rush to throw something together and left the pita in the toaster oven for too long so it got crunchy. But it ended up being the perfect vessel. It is fast and delicious and while it may not be the most inventive dish, the combination of the sage with the cheese and eggs went together beautifully.

Serves 2.
WW = 5 points

Healthy Chicken Salad

 This chicken salad is a healthier version of the classic. It is inspired from a Barefoot Contessa recipe my mother-in-law gave  me (she makes the BEST chicken salad). But I also was influenced by a chicken salad sandwich I used to get at Dos Gringos back in DC. I lightened the recipe up and it is so great without any mayo! You can just serve it as is, with some greens on the side (arugula is a nice contrast), or put it in a roll-up. Eat it guilt free.

Makes 10 - 1/2 cup servings
WW = 3 points

Inappropriate Breakfast: Anchovy, Caper and Egg Toast

I woke up craving something salty. It was bad news bears. I debated on having anchovies on my toast because they were staring me in the face when i opened my refrigerator. I decided against it and then on second thought, just went for it. This is great if you are open to having an adventurous breakfast. It could also be served cut into fours for an appetizer. It is a super simple toast consisting of a soft boiled egg, anchovies, capers, and thinly sliced onion. If you have it on hand some fresh parsley would be a nice addition as well.

Serves 1.
ww = 4 points

Basil, Tomato, Mozzarella Salad

I bought some beautiful tomatoes and purple basil from the farmer's market today.

I was really craving cheese so when I stumbled upon some grass fed mozzarella I bought that too. Keeping up with ww has made my relationship with cheese go through a rough patch...so it was time. But I decided to make a healthy salad for dinner. To make it more hearty I served it over some cooked spelt. This salad was delicious. The only thing I will change next time is that I will not mix all ingredients together at once, instead I will gently toss in the beans and cheese at the end. Because the beans were canned and the cheese was so fresh they started to fall apart with the mixing. I had wanted all the ingredients to marinate together while the spelt took its lovely time cooking (1 hour+!!). But I learned my lesson about this.

This spelt was leftover from my winter csa. Let me tell you, letting it do its' thing is worth it. This was a lesson I learned back in December. You don't want to eat crunchy spelt-- you will end up with a headache.

Serves 6 (1 cup servings)
ww points = salad alone (5 points); salad with arugula and 1/2 cup cooked spelt (7 points)

Cold Cucumber Avocado Soup

As I mentioned in a previous post, I made this soup as an appetizer on a hot summer night. It is refreshing and super fast to make! I know that I have blogged about a few other cucumber soups. What can I say it's hot and nasty out there! This one is by far the creamiest. I adapted it from a Cook's Illustrated Recipe (you may need a membership to view original). Their recipe called for much bigger portions. I also tried to make the process easier and lighten it up a bit for the good ol ww.

Serves 5 (1 cup servings)
ww = 3 points per serving (since this was an appetizer I actually served less of the soup than 1 cup)

Healthy Sloppy Joes and Smokey Collard Greens

These collards are sooo good. You would think there is bacon, or some form of piggy pig in them, as they taste so damn good. It is the fennel, chipotle in adobo, and the smoked paprika which really give them their kick. Marc and I have made these two times and I will continue to go back to this recipe. The sloppy joes paired very well with these collards and are so low in points, that you can even indulge in a carby hamburger bun for dinner. These recipes call for Worcestershire and chicken broth but if you wanted to make this vegetarian you could substitute vegetarian Worcestershire and veggie broth.

The collard recipe serves 5 and was adapted from this site. ww = 1 point per serving
The sloppy joe recipe serves 5 and was adapted from this site. ww = 2 points per serving (no roll)
(The whole dinner with a hamburger bun is 7 points!!!)

Smoked Salmon Spread

This smoked salmon spread was served as part of a four course "mini" dinner. Marc and I had our friends Guez and Azul over. It sounds elaborate but really, I whipped up this meal in a snap. I served smoked salmon spread with cucumbers, cucumber avocado gazpacho soup (next post), swiss chard burgers with sweet potato fries, and then marc's new low-fat chocolate ice cream-- made with skim milk and xanthan gum! This recipe was inspired by the following site.

Swiss Chard Pancakes

This morning I woke up with a REAL craving for pancakes. I would have settled for buckwheat pancakes, but those aren't even all that healthy either because of the carbs. Plus we have another fridge full of greens from our CSA.  This week we got: chioggia beets, lacinato kale, rainbow chard, baby fennel, green basil, red torpedo spring onions, garlic, parsley, tart cherries and blueberries.

What better thing to do with swiss chard and red torpedo spring onions than make pancakes!? This is adapted from an Epicurious recipe.

Serves 3.
ww points = 3 per serving

Low-Fat Pesto

 This is a low-fat version of pesto. It is pretty tasty considering there is no where even close to the normal amount of cheese, oil and pine nuts in it. I used Organic Better than Boullion vegetable base because it has no msg. Since this is not a low-sodium bouillion, I did not add any additional salt to the recipe. I used xanthan gum to thicken it up to produce the same consistency as regular pesto. Xanthan gum is a plant-based bacteria used as a thickener. My husband bought it from our favorite store Brooklyn Kitchen to see if he could make homemade ice cream lower in fat. So I am going to start experimenting with it as I continue on my cooking escapade. I will be serving this pesto tonight over halibut and broiled treviso.

Makes about 3/4 cup sauce.
ww points = 2 pts per 3 T

Skinny Salmon Sandwich

This sandwich is delicious and so light! Let me show you another pic so you can see how simple it is:

Part of the trick is these new light wraps I found called Roll-ups.

WOW it has been months since I have posted anything to my site! I have a ton of old posts that were started that I have been meaning to upload. My body has been out of commission like this blog. Recovering from surgery is allowing me some quality time with my couch, computer and most importantly my husband. So here are some old posts...

I made this very flavorful, straightforward dish. It consists of chicken breast, dipped in egg and panko, sauteed until brown and then baked. It is served with orzo (stirred with parmesan and olive oil) and arugula salad (with salt, pepper, lemon, and parmesan). Usually I change recipes to fit my liking but I didn't change this one much. What I did change about this was that I added less capers, used thinly pounded chicken breasts, and left out the olive oil from the salad.

Check out the original recipe here from The Tasteful Life.

Red quinoa and kale pilaf

This recipe kicks ass! It has such texture and flavor. I was inspired by Food 52 to cook it but ended up substituting almost all the ingredients. It is pretty easy, super healthy for you, and very filling without feeling like a piglet. The quinoa is a great source of protein, iron and fiber. Plus it is gluten free so it is easy to digest. I gobbled it up after I went swimming, which is my latest obsession. The dish has more kale than grain in terms of the proportion. I highly recommend making it as a main dish or you can leave out the beans and serve it as a side.

Beet Corn Summer Salad

This salad is very high in fiber, filling and super quick to make. I served it as an appetizer but it would make a nice side served with plain fish or meat. Then I ate the leftovers with a hard boiled egg.

Serves 6.

Cannellini Bean, Sage, and Garlic Dip

We routinely make hummus at home. Or I should say Marc has been making it ever since he learned how to. He is the snack master in this house. But we have all this sage from the CSA that I have been trying to use up. I made sage honey muffins, turkish eggs with fried sage, and now this dip. This dip has a very powerful flavor but it is super healthy and goes great with pita chips.

Stir-Fried Steak with Lotus Root & Peas

Orange Salmon with Chili-Bok Choy

After my gluttonous breakfast, I needed something simple and healthy for dinner, so I decided to prepare fish. This is one of my favorite ways to prepare salmon. There is hardly any prep to this dish and it is delicious. Plus I got to use my new wok! This was another amazing wedding present from marc's family. He spent four hours the other day properly seasoning it! But if you don't have a wok you can certainly just prepare the bok choy in a saute pan.

Mustard-Pretzle Crusted Chicken

KALE
2 heads kale, cleaned, rough stems removed, and chopped
2 T extra virgin olive oil
1 shallot, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
pinch sea salt, red pepper flakes, black pepper
1 t red wine vinegar

1. Boil water in a large pot. Add kale and simmer until just wilted. Rinse in cold water in a colander.
2. Heat olive oil in a pan. Add shallot and cook for a few minutes until clear. Add garlic and red pepper flakes and saute for another minute.
3. Return kale to the pan and heat up. Once hot, toss in red wine vinegar, sea salt and black pepper to taste.

CHICKEN
1 cup pretzels
1/8 c whole grain mustard
1 T brown spicy mustard
1 t red wine vinegar
1/8 cup water
1/8 c olive oil
pinch salt and pepper
4 thin chicken breasts or 2 whole breasts cut in half

1. In a food processor chop the pretzels until they are fine crumbs.
2. Place pretzel crumbs in a bowl and put aside.
3. Add mustards, oil, water and vinegar to the food processor and pulse until combined.
4. Pour half sauce into bowl and reserve rest.
5. Dip chicken in the sauce and then dredge in the pretzel crumbs.
6. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Bake the chicken for 20+ minutes until no longer pink in the center.

Broiled Miso Tofu with Chili-Garlic Sesame Kale

This dish is very easy to make and is also delicious and light. It is similar to another post I did on broiled miso salmon. The recipe is adapted from Epicurious.

Serves 4-6.

Prosciutto-Sage Wrapped Pork Chops

This meal is super easy, yet very gourmet. I adapted the recipe from one of Jamie Oliver's. I served it with a side of sauteed kale and no starch since the pork is rich and filling enough already.

Goat Cheese Lamb Bolonese

I made this sauce tonight because I wanted something fast for dinner. This is definitely a good dish for the cold, wintery weather, even we aren't quite there yet! Can you tell I can't wait for the cold? The goat cheese is just enough to make the sauce creamy but not overpowering. As well as the lamb and the goat cheese complement each other nicely.

The sauce is inspired by Heidi Swanson's 101 Cookbook's 5 minute tomato sauce but I kicked it up to a new level with the meat and the cheese.

I served my sauce over pasta with a side of sauteed rapini. For the rapini, I cooked in a splash of olive oil, salt, pepper, and 4 cloves of minced garlic. This was the perfect side. The entire meal took 30 minutes to cook start to finish.