Made-over Mexican

This recipe is a super easy Rachel Ray dish that I read in last month's magazine. Now, I've always been a bit suspicious of her recipes ever since I saw her put butter in a pan to cook bacon on her show. However, since she's just so fun and she does use her celebrity to do some good, I'm now a fan.

I liked this recipe since it's like a healthier take on chiles rellenos, which are deep fried and filled with nothing but cheese. Rachel's recipe uses spanish rice (which is always white- hel-lo blood sugar roller coaster), manchego cheese and chorizo, but you can substitute 1/2 spanish rice and 1/2 brown rice or use a whole grain santa fe- style rice. I also used soy chorizo instead of pork, which is less than 1/2 the calories and fat and still totally spicy and satisfying. Manchego cheese is actually a pretty good choice- it's about 90 calories per ounce, whereas many full-fat cheeses are 110 calories or so per ounce. However, it's EXPENSIVE, so feel free to subsitute queso fresco- it turned out pretty good that way.

Paella-Stuffed Poblanos

2 tsp olive oil

6 ounces soy chorizo

2 cups cooked rice (1/2 spanish, 1/2 brown rice or 2 cups santa fe-style rice)

1/2 cup shredded manchego cheese or 1/2 cup crumbled queso blanco

4 large poblano chiles, seeded

Heat olive oil in large skillet and brown chorizo. Remove from heat and stir in rice and cheese. Stuff peppers with the mixture and bake at 500 degrees until pepper skins are blistered, about 10-15 minutes.

 plus plus plus = YUM-O!!

Tastes Like Summer

I LOVE farmer's markets, and one of my favorite things to do is go early in the morning and eat whatever is cookin' at the market for breakfast. A couple of weeks ago at the Broad Ripple Farmer's market, it was Crepes from 3 days in Paris. I chose the summertime crepe, with strawberries, blueberries and a drizzle of lemon curd- divine!!

That's how I felt about it until I decided to make my own lemon curd to put on pancakes, ice cream and generally whatever I possibly could. I had no idea most recipes call for sticks and sticks of butter and tons of egg yolks. Holy Fat Fest, Batman! I knew I was getting a hefty dose of sugar, mind you, but the amazing amount of fat was an unwelcome surprise. Turns out it tastes just as good in this version from eatingwell.com:

Ingredients:


1 large egg

2 large egg whites

3/4 cup sugar

1 tablespoon freshly grated lemon zest

2/3 cup lemon juice, juice

1 tablespoon butter

Preparation:
Whisk together egg, egg whites, sugar, lemon zest and juice in a medium nonreactive saucepan. Add butter and cook over low heat, whisking constantly, until thickened, 5 to 7 minutes. Do not let sauce come to a simmer. Transfer to a small bowl and let cool slightly; serve warm.


Here's to summer!

Eat this, not potato chips

Apparently, all it takes is some salt and crunch to trick yourself into thinking you are eating potato chips. Amazing! These kale chips nix the starch and most of the calories and fat from potato chips and instead provide a boatload of vitamins K, A and C as well as fiber and flavanoids.

All it takes is a big bunch of kale, washed and cut into bit sized pieces (stems removed). Spread out on a baking sheet, spray with cooking spray and sprinkle on some sea salt and maybe a little garlic or parmesan cheese. Bake at 350 degrees until the edges are browned and crunchy.

Hand in the Cookie Jar

I've been a little cookie crazy lately, I must confess. My weakness has always been those chocolate-peanut butter no bake cookies like the kind you make in middle school home economics class. Remember those? Oats (fiber!), peanut butter (protein! healthy fat!), cocoa (flavanols!) and usually WAY too much butter and sugar. Those things can pack 250-300 calories per cookie the way some make them. This version keeps the sweetness (just toned down a bit) and the shape (just refrigerate to help them stay firm since the butter is reduced) but have only 200 calories for a much bigger piece- 1/16 of the recipe instead of 1/36. Yay!

3 cups old-fashioned oats
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup nonfat milk
1/4 cup butter or soft tub margarine
1 1/3 c granulated sugar or evaporated cane juice crystals
1/2 cup natural creamy peanut butter (try Smuckers- it's fantastic!)

In  saucepan, melt butter or margarine with milk, peanut butter, sugar and cocoa. Bring to boil for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and add oats and vanilla. Drop onto cookie sheet lined with wax paper or press into 8x8 inch pan.


Now for a bonus, I also made this macaroon recipe from Vegetarian Times this week and it was DIVINE and also under 200 calories :)