Monthly Archives: February 2016

Low Calorie Meals, Slow Cooker Meals

Slow Cooker Beans and Ham

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Ingredients:
1 C dry, uncooked lentils
1/3 C dry, uncooked kidney
2/3 C dry, uncooked navy beans
1.5 C thick cut, diced ham
3 C Beef Stock
1 C water
1 tbsp garlic powder
1.5 tsp dried, minced onions
1 tsp parsley
Salt and Pepper to taste (1 tsp of each)

*I used this mix of beans because I had them stored away from a previous dinner; you can use any type of dry bean with the above recipe.

**In a large bowl, soak beans in 5 cups of water overnight.*

After beans have soaked overnight, pour them into a strainer, rinse beans and drain the water. In a large crock pot, pour rinsed beans, diced, thick-cut ham, beef stock, water, garlic powder, dried, minced onions, parsley, and salt & pepper to taste. Stir all ingredients together, set temperature to low, cover and let cook for 8-10 hours.

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247.5 calories per serving; yields 6 servings

Low Calorie Meals, Meat Entrees

Baked Chicken, Topped with Ham, Turkey Bacon, and Provolone Cheese, with Roasted Red Potatoes and Green Peas *Low Calories*

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Baked Chicken, Topped with Ham, Turkey bacon and Provolone Cheese
2 Organic Chicken Breasts (4oz per piece)
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/8 tsp paprika
1/8 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp parsley
salt and pepper to taste
4 pcs, thin sliced honey ham (hillshire brand)
4 pcs, thin sliced provolone cheese
1 tbsp ground, turkey bacon (halved)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Combine extra virgin olive oil, paprika, garlic powder and parsley (salt & pepper if using) in a large, zip-loc bag or medium size bowl. Mix ingredients together and add chicken; coating chicken breasts evenly with spices. (I let mine marinate for about an hour but it’s not necessary.)
Place chicken breasts on a broiler pan and bake for 15 minutes. Flip chicken and bake for an additional 15 minutes. Chicken should be 165 degrees Fahrenheit at the thickest part of the chicken.
If topping chicken with ham, turkey bacon, and cheese, add toppings and broil on high until cheese is fully melted.
***If making the red potatoes in this recipe, you will want to put the potatoes in 10 minutes before the chicken, as it takes the potatoes 10 minutes longer to cook than the potatoes.***

Red Potatoes
2 C peeled and diced red potatoes, raw
1/2 C sweet onion, minced
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp paprika
1/8 tsp parsley
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In a non-stick, medium baking dish, add extra virgin olive oil, diced red potatoes, and minced onion. Mix the potatoes and minced onion, coating them completely with the olive oil. Add the garlic powder, paprika, and parsley. Add salt and pepper if using. Mix the potatoes and onions again to evenly coat with spices. Cover and bake for 40 minutes.

Green Peas
1 C frozen peas
3/4 C water
1 tbsp “Can’t believe it’s not butter”
1 tsp sea salt

In a small pot, add frozen peas, water, butter and salt; bring to a boil over medium high heat. Frozen peas normally cook in about 4 minutes, however, Chris and I like ours a little “more done”. (I cook mine until the water has completely cooked out). Once peas have cooked thoroughly, drain excess water and serve hot.

Calorie Count:

Chicken topped with Sliced Ham, Turkey Bacon and Provolone= 294.5 cal per person
Baked Red Potatoes with minced, Sweet Onion= 255 cal per person
Peas= 88.5 cal
Total= 638 calories per person **If all food is separated evenly and eaten in total.**

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Pasta

Shrimp Pasta topped with Spinach, Button Mushrooms and Roma Tomatoes *Low Calories*

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Servings: 2
Ingredients

Shrimp
16 large, raw shrimp, peeled and deveined
1.5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 half large lemon juice
0.5 tsp minced garlic
0.25 tsp paprika
0.25 tsp parsley
salt and pepper to taste

Sautéed Spinach, Mushrooms, and Roma tomatoes
1 C fresh spinach
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
4 button mushrooms
1 half roma tomato
0.25 tsp garlic
salt and pepper to taste

Pasta
1.5 C dry, penne regatta pasta (Dreamfield’s Healthy Carb Living)
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1.5 tbsp “can’t believe it’s not butter”
garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste

In a ziploc bag, combine the shrimp, .5 tbsp olive oil, lemon juice, .5 tsp minced garlic, .25 tsp paprika, .25 tsp parsley, and salt and pepper to taste. Mix shrimp thoroughly with ingredients in ziploc bag and sit to the side.
If adding mushrooms, spinach and tomatoes to pasta, quarter button mushrooms and dice tomatoes; put to the side.

In a medium sized pot, bring water for pasta to a boil (you can add extra virgin olive oil and touch of salt to water if desired). Once the water is boiling, add 1.5 C dry, penne regatta pasta and cook pasta until it is al dente (approximately 8 minutes).

In a medium sauté pan, add 1 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil and heat on medium high heat. Once the oil has warmed and coated the pan, add the button mushrooms and .25 tsp of garlic powder (and salt and pepper if desired). Let mushrooms cook for about two minutes, then add the shrimp that has been marinating in the seasoning. Continue to cook the mushrooms and shrimp on medium high heat for approximately 5 minutes. I cooked the shrimp longer, as Chris likes his shrimp well done. **Determining whether or not shrimp is cooked thoroughly is pretty easy; the shrimp will turn from a grey, translucent color to a pink, opaque color. You will need to stir the shrimp frequently while it is cooking in order for all shrimp to cook evenly.** Once the shrimp is cooked thoroughly, add the diced tomatoes, spinach, and drizzle about .5 tbsp of olive oil on top. Stir the spinach and tomatoes in with the shrimp and mushrooms, cooking for about a minute (spinach cooks extremely fast and I don’t like “mushy” tomatoes, so you can cook it a little longer if you desire).

Once the pasta is al dente, drain water and place pasta in a medium size bowl. Add 1 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil, 1 tbsp of “can’t believe it’s not butter” and salt and pepper to taste. Mix the pasta so it is completely coated.

Plate pasta for two and top with the cooked shrimp, mushrooms, spinach and tomatoes. *I added a touch of shredded parmesan cheese because there is something in my head that says “Pasta cannot be eaten without some type of cheese :-)”.

Calorie Count

Sautéed Shrimp
16 Large, Raw Shrimp= 220 cal
1.5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil= 100 cal
1 tbsp “can’t believe it’s not butter”= 60 cal
1 half large lemon juice= 8 cal
.50 tsp minced garlic= 2.5 cal
.25 tsp paprika= 1.5 cal
.25 tsp parsley= 0 cal

Mushroom, Spinach, Tomato Mix
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 C fresh spinach= 7 cal
4 button mushrooms= 28 cal
.50 roma tomato= 8 cal
.25 tsp garlic= 1 cal
*salt
*pepper

Pasta
1.5 C dry, penne regatta pasta= 380 cal
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil= 100 cal
1 tbsp “can’t believe it’s not butter”= 60 cal
salt
pepper

Total Calories=1,041 Calories

Per Person=520.5

Appetizers

I’m Back in Action!

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So, it has been a little over a year since I have posted any new recipes, and I have to say, I have definitely missed it.

The past year of my life has been a series of changes, some of them good, some of them bad; I became the child of a split family at age 29, found out my role-model, my granny, has Alzheimer’s disease, moved three times, found out a life-long friend/old roommate got engaged via facebook :-(, started a new career, got a German Shepard puppy, and the list goes on. At times, I allowed myself to wallow in self-pity or sadness and drift to a place that was not conducive to my health and happiness or the health and happiness of anyone that was around me. Sometimes, we have to hit that proverbial “rock-bottom” before we can see all of the blessings and good things that surround us everyday. I am not sure which point was my “rock-bottom” (there were multiple times that could be up for consideration) but I hit it. Luckily, I was humbled by each negative or positive experience I encountered and found a way to grow as a person. Fast-forward to a year later, I am a stronger, happier and mentally healthier person than I have been in years.

I know what you are thinking, “I thought this is supposed to be a blog about Tara creating new recipes…not a blog about Tara and her trials and tribulations??” And you are 100% correct…this IS a blog about me creating new recipes. However, we all go through circumstances that may change the course of our lives, it is just how we choose to handle those circumstances that makes the difference. That is why I felt compelled to share a bit of private information about myself. We all need an outlet, whether it is working out, reading a book, or having a glass of wine after a long day of work…We. All. Need. An. Outlet. For me, my outlet is cooking. Cooking allows my brain to breathe and de-stress in a way that nothing else does. So without further ado, what you all have been waiting for is on the way…New Recipes!

“We are all visitors with a set plan and once that plan is complete, we become complete.”
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