Sides & Salads
Roasted Potato Salad
Cheesy Bundt Bread
Cole Slaw
Dressing:
3 Tablespoons mayonnaise
3 Tablespoons plain Greek yogurt
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
1 Tablespoon sugar or stevia equivalent
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
5 cups shredded cabbage
1 1/2 cups shredded carrots
Mix first 6 ingredients in a small bowl until smooth. Place cabbage and carrots into large bowl. Stir dressing into the cabbage mixture until well combined. Chill and enjoy!
Chinese Duck Sauce
Today is Super Bowl Sunday! After much discussion over the past few weeks we settled on a slightly less than traditional Super Bowl feast — a Chinese Buffet 🙂 I’ll be making (all as healthy as possible…but this is a special occasion so….):
Chicken Fingers – Steak Teriyaki – Teriyaki Chicken Wings – Veggie Fried Rice – Egg Rolls – Duck Sauce – Chinese Gravy
I’ll be posting more photos and recipes later, but for now here is my Duck Sauce recipe. Eric loves duck sauce, but the store bought varieties are basically nothing but high-fructose corn syrup so he challenged me to make a healthy one. It passed the first taste test as I was preparing it and it’s now cooling in the fridge awaiting kick off.
Chinese Duck Sauce
1 cup apricot jam (I used All Fruit)
1 Tablespoon vinegar
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon ginger powder
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon honey (I used Agave)
1/3 cup water (approximately – add slowly until you get a slightly thinner sauce than you want – it will thicken again when it’s cool)
Whisk the ingredients together well in a medium sauce pan. Bring to a boil on low heat; stirring almost constantly. Cool the sauce and store in the refrigerator.
Potato Salad
My sister, Debbie, makes the best potato salad on the planet…..ask anyone who’s ever tasted it. Since we live about 1,200 miles away right now – I’ve had to adapt and learn to make my own. I won’t even pretend that I can compete with hers…but I think this is pretty tasty…and it even has a “kick”. I like to serve it on a bed of mixed greens to give it some extra goodness, but that’s just me 😉
Potato Salad
4 large eggs, boiled and chopped
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped onion (I used sweet, but red is awesome also)
1 small garlic clove, minced
1/4 cup mayonnaise
3 Tablespoons plain, non-fat Greek yogurt
1 – 1/2 teaspoons Wasabi mayonnaise (more if you dare)
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon salt
Place the potatoes in a large pot of water. Bring the water to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, until the potatoes are tender when pierced with a knife. Drain the potatoes in a colander and rinse with cold water.Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, yogurt, Wasabi mayo, garlic powder, pepper, and salt. Set aside.Place the potatoes in a large bowl, add eggs, celery, onion, and garlic; toss well. Add the dressing and mix very well. Cover, and refrigerate for a few hours to allow the flavors to blend.
Roasted Veggie & Baby Greens Salad – 146
Last weekend I was in Darien, GA with the Rhett Akins band for a concert at the Blessing Of The Fleet. Darien is a beautiful place, I highly recommend a visit if you’re ever in the area. The people were super nice and took great care of us. Our dinner was provided at a local restaurant “Skippers Fish Camp”.
If you read my blog very often, you’ll know that I never eat at restaurants. This was different…it was seafood. Growing up in Kennebunkport, Maine; I took local, fresh seafood for granted. Living in Nashville, I really miss it! The chance to eat some fresh-off-the-boat shrimp was too much too pass up. Still; I had to be careful, I’m just not used to eating “restaurant food”.
I chose the “Sunset Salad” and Eric chose the Sweet Georgia Shrimp Platter – Broiled – Large and a one McIntosh Crab Cake. Since restaurant portions are always too big, we decided we would share. We each had a half crab cake, a half of the salad, and I got about 1/3 of the shrimp ( 🙂 ). It did taste delicious and the salad was a combination of warm roasted veggies and baby greens. The only problem was that it was still restaurant food and about an hour later I had a major belly ache and was regretting not just bringing my own food and buying some fresh shrimp to take home 🙁
The bright spot (aside from the concert – which was awesome – check out Eric’s blog about it) was that I got a great idea for a new recipe – I hope you’ll love it as much as I do!
Roasted Veggie & Baby Greens Salad
1 large red pepper, julienne sliced
3/4 cup sweet onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 Tablespoon olive oil
4 cups mixed baby greens
1/4 cup low-fat feta cheese
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1/4 teaspoon basil
1/4 teaspoon oregano
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
Preheat oven to 375°. Line a baking pan with foil and spray with cooking spray. Place peppers, onion, and garlic into a bowl, add the olive oil and mix well. Place pepper mixture onto baking pan and roast for 20 minutes, turn heat up to 425° and roast for an additional 8 – 10 minutes (watch it so the garlic doesn’t burn).
Meanwhile, place the baby greens and feta cheese into your salad or mixing bowl. In a small container blend the 2 Tablespoons of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, basil oregano, garlic powder and black pepper. Mix the dressing into the greens. Divide into two plates or bowls. When the peppers are finished roasting, place them on top of the salad. You’re done!! Yum, yum 😉
Cocktail Sauce – 175
Eric and I go to Whole Foods a few times a month to see what’s on sale and get produce. I always check their seafood and, this past weekend, was excited to see cocktail shrimp on sale (actually some fresh caught tuna was also on sale, but that recipe will have to wait until tomorrow 🙂 ). I’ve always loved shrimp cocktail, but the sauce is almost always too full of salt and sugar – and who knows what else! This is a super quick and easy cocktail sauce. The only trouble you’ll have is waiting for it to chill, I always want to start dipping those shrimp as soon as it’s mixed…actually it’s still good then, it’s just better if you let it chill for a couple of hours.
Cocktail Sauce
1 cup low sugar ketchup
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 – 1/2 teaspoons prepared horseradish
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/8 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
Combine all ingredients in a small bow and stir to blend well. Cover and chill in refrigerator until ready to serve.
Caesar Dressing / Chicken Caesar Salad – 178
Eric and I have been making this dressing for years. We generally double these amounts which gives us enough for months! This is certainly not a low-calorie dressing, but it is full of heart-healthy ingredients and it is completely void of the most popular store-bought dressing ingredient – High Fructose Corn Syrup.
Eating healthy is not just about counting calories or carbs (don’t get me started on the ridiculous obsession of counting every carb), it’s about putting nutritious, real food in your body in sensible amounts. If you’ve looked over much of this website, you probably already know that I am a huge P90X and Beachbody fan. I am about to begin week 3 of my second round. If you’ve ever tried these workouts, or even seen one of their infomercials, you know that they are extremely intense and they burn a boatload of calories. If you are on a quest to be healthy you are, hopefully, getting some real exercise every day. To have the energy to “Bring It” (the P90X mantra), then you have to have enough fuel in your tank. Think of this, if you are going to drive across the country you wouldn’t expect to be able to make it with a 1/2 full tank of crappy gas. Your body works in a similar way. The more you work out, the better fuel your body needs. A muscle car requires a lot more than a VW bug. I want to be a muscle car and I deserve premium fuel.
Caesar Dressing
2 oz. anchovies
1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 – 1/2 Tablespoons fresh garlic, minced
1 – 1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 – 1/2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
16 0z. extra virgin olive oil
Combine all ingredients, except olive oil into a blender or food processor. Blend very well. Transfer to a large bowl and whisk in the olive oil. Store, tightly covered, in the refrigerator.
Allow to come to room temperature before serving. This dressing will slightly solidify once it’s been refrigerated, this is normal. To get a serving ready quickly, place the dressing in a small amount of warm water for a few minutes and then stir well before serving.
Chicken Caesar Salad
2 Tablespoons Caesar Dressing
1/2- lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into small strips4 – 6 cups Romaine lettuce, torn into pieces
4 Tablespoons Caesar DressingHeat a skillet over medium-high heat, add dressing and chicken to the pan. Saute for 5 – 6 minutes or until chicken is lightly browned and cooked through. Toss Romaine with 4 Tablespoons of the dressing. Top with the cooked chicken.
Garlic Balls – 185 more
These tasty little morsels go great with any pasta dish, soup or stew. At about 50 calories and less than 1 gram of fat each, you can enjoy a couple without guilt. Compare that to one breadstick from Olive garden at 150 calories and 2.5 grams of fat each and you could actually eat 3 of these to one of those!
Garlic Balls
2 cups whole wheat baking mix (click here to see my favorite one from Hodgson Mills)
2 Tablespoons Smart Balance Butter Spread, cold
1 cup skim milk
whole wheat flour
fat-free butter spray
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/3 cup low-fat Parmesan cheese
Preheat oven to 425°. Coat a 9″ x 9″ baking pan with non-fat cooking spray.
Place garlic powder and Parmesan cheese into a small bowl and mix.
Put baking mix into a large bowl, add Smart Balance. Use a pastry blender (or two knives) and cut Smart Balance into the baking mix. Pour in about 2/3 of the skim milk and mix (adding the rest of the milk slowly) until a soft dough forms. You may need to add a little whole wheat flour to get a dough consistency that you can work with using your hands. Place dough on a lightly floured board and form into a large square (about 9″ x 9″). Cut dough into 18 equal pieces, roll each into a ball. Spray each ball lightly with fat-free butter spray, then roll ball into garlic/cheese mix. Place, sides touching, into baking pan. Bake 20 – 25 minutes until golden brown.
Corn Bread – only 196 more to go…
My last post was my chili recipe and you can’t really, fully enjoy a bowl of chili without (in my opinion) a cold beer and a piece or two of warm, fresh from the oven, corn bread!
Corn Bread
1 cup whole grain cornmeal
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup skim milk
1/2 cup egg substitute (equal to one egg)
1/2 cup canola oil
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
Preheat oven to 425°
Combine all ingredients; pour batter into a 9″ square baking pan that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown.
Variations:
- add a 1/2 cup of shredded low-fat jack cheese and 2 Tablespoons of finely minced jalapeno peppers
- this same recipe (with or without the cheese and peppers) works great as muffins; spray 6 muffin tins with cooking spray, fill them 3/4 full with the batter, and bake at 425° for 25 to 30 minutes.