Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers

I’m in the mood for a meat free dish tonight, so what’s better than stuffed peppers? They’re full of fiber and protein which will make you fuller longer, and this recipe has no fat! I wouldn’t exactly call this a recipe, since I just threw together things that I like, so you can modify it with virtually anything.

Ingredients:

- 5 large green peppers

- 1 package of Zataran’s Black Beans and Rice

- 1 cup of broccoli

- I onion

- 1 cup of mushrooms

-3/4 cup fat free shredded cheese (I used kraft fat free cheddar)

-Parmesan cheese grated

- 1 cup of fat free refried beans

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cook the black beans and rice as instructed on the package and set aside. Dice up the broccoli, onion, and mushrooms and stir fry them until the onions are transparent. Mix the black beans and rice, cooked vegetables, cheese, and refried beans in a large mixing bowl and mix well. Take the peppers and cut off the tops and take out all of the seeds. Fill a large pot with water and place on high, adding the peppers to it. Boil the peppers for about 5 minutes to soften them. Take the boiled peppers and place them on a pam sprayed cookie sheet. Fill them with the filling. Top with grated parmesan cheese. Place in the oven for 20-30 minutes, and serve!

Nutrition  facts for 1 stuffed pepper (This recipe makes 5 peppers total.)

Calories – 238

Carbs – 46

Fat – 0

Protein – 15

Sodium – 1165

Fiber - 9

Turkey Sausage and Veggie Quiche To Go!

This is a great quick recipe if you never have enough time in the morning. The best part about it is that you can make a big batch and have them for the whole week. You can also be creative and add different vegetables/meat/cheese. There are endless possibilities! Oh and did I mention, perfect for a grab and go breakfast! I just had this for dinner, and I can't get over how filling they were! I only had 2 and was stuffed!

Ingredients:

- 3 egg whites

- 1 whole egg

- 3 links of Jimmy Dean turkey sausage

- Desired veggies –( I am using onions, mushrooms, and broccoli)

-1/4 cup of skim milk

-1/2 cup of fat free shredded cheese (I use kraft fat free cheddar)

- 7 cupcake liners

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Chop up and stir fry desired veggies until cooked well. Wisk egg whites and egg together with milk. Once the eggs are wisked, add the vegetables. Chop up the turkey sausage in small pieces and combine to the egg mixture, along with 1/2 of the cheese (1/4 cup) and mix.  Pour the mixture into the cupcake liners and place in a cupcake tray and place in the oven. About 25 minutes in, sprinkle the mini quiches with the remaining fat free cheese and place back in the oven to allow the cheese to melt. Once the cheese is melted, they are done!

Nutrition Facts for 1 Quiche (This recipe should make 7 quiches)

Calories-  61

Carbs- 6

Fat- 2

Protien-26

Sodium-347

Fiber- 0

Getting ready for summer barbeque's! Fruit Presentation

So I woke up this morning and realized I had 2 perfectly ripe pineapples, and began to think of summer, pina colada's and family barbeque's. Since I am going for the healthy approach, I decided not to make a pina colada (they're very high in fat because of the coconut, and I have class in 2 hours, so going drunk would not be a good idea) so I instead decided to simply just cut up the pineapple and place it back in the pineapple remains. I figured this way, instead of just plain fruit in a tupperware container, it would look more appetizing. I would also love to add more fruit to it, but I'm working with what I have. I know it's not a recipe, but I thought it looked cute and wanted to share!

Poppy Seed Chicken Bake

This recipe i have from my grandmother who passed 2 years ago. I miss her more and more as time goes on. I especially wish she was still here to teach me how to cook, since she was the queen of comfort food. I haven't had this meal in about 2 years, and I came across it and had to make it as my next meal. I was able to modify all of the ingredients to fit my low cal / low fat diet. Feel free to add brown rice and veggies to it to add some fiber.

Ingredients:

- 1 lb of chicken breast

- 1 can of low fat cream of mushroom soup

- 1 cup of fat free / low fat sour cream

- 15 reduced fat ritz crackers

- 1 tbsp of poppy seeds

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cook the chicken as desired (I cooked the chicken in the George Foreman grill.) Once it is cooked, lay flat so it will cool down. Take the 15 ritz crackers and place them in a mini ziplock bag. Pound them with something heavy to crush them up into little bits. Place the ritz bits in a large mixing bowl and add the cream of mushroom soup, sour cream, and poppy seeds and mix well. Take the chicken and cut it up into cubes and put them into the large mixing bowl and continue to mix. Take a baking casserole dish (I used a 13x9 dish) and spray it with pam. Fill the casserole dish with the mixture and make sure it is evenly distributed. Place in the oven and cook for around 20 minutes, or until it is bubbly.

Nutrition information for 1/5 of the meal. (It makes around 5 servings)

Calories- 274

Carbs - 16

Fat - 36
Protein - 36

Sodium- 966

Fiber - 0

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cupcakes

I found a similar recipe to this one on a website called spark recipes and was curious and had to try it. The best part about it is that there are endless combinations, and to be honest, I want to try all of them! I was originally going to make Strawberry Banana Cupcakes with a slice of banana and strawberry on top, but since I live in a household with chocolate lovers, the Chocolate Covered Strawberry ones won. One thing that I did read is if you are going to use a darker cake mix such as chocolate, to use diet cola instead of the diet sierra mist. Since we are using a cool whip mixture for the frosting, you need to keep the cupcakes in the refrigerator at all times, unless you will be icing the cupcakes as you eat them. In that case, just keep the frosting in the refrigerator. These things are so darn cute, that I had to put up 2 pictures! Stay tuned, tomorrow I will be posting a poppyseed chicken casserole family recipe!

Ingredients:

- 1 box of Pilsbury Moist Supreme cake mix (as I said, you can use any flavor topped with any flavor icing.)
- 1 12oz can of diet sierra mist soda
- 1 8 oz tub of fat free cool whip
- 1 box of Jell-o fat free/sugar free pudding mix powder (I used the chocolate kind.)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl, combine the diet soda and cake mix. Mix for about 2 minutes, or until it is smooth. This will be your cupcake mix. Once it is well blended, spoon the mix into cupcake liners and only fill about 2/3. Place in the oven for about 18-22 minutes. It only took 18 minutes in my oven, since my oven heats quickly. For the icing, take the tub of cool whip and place into a mixing bowl. Add the powdered Jello-o mix into the cool whip. Mix for about 3 minutes until the frosting is smooth (make sure that it is not clumpy). Place the frosting in the refrigerator for about an hour. Once the cupcakes are done, let them cool for about an hour. Like I said before, since we are using a cool whip mixture for the frosting, you need to keep the cupcakes in the refrigerator at all times, unless you will be icing the cupcakes as you eat them. In that case, just keep the frosting in the refrigerator. I topped mine with halved strawberries. I also suggest that if you are going to top with any sort of fruit, to wait until the last possible minute to put the fruit on, since the enzymes in the fruit may break down the frosting. Enjoy, and be creative!

Nutrition Facts for 1 cupcake (The recipe makes about 24 cupcakes, so be sure to share!)

Calories- 138
Carbs- 21
Fat- 2
Protein- 1
Sodium- 165
Fiber - 1

Frozen Peanut Butter Cups

Are you getting sick off all of these meals with no dessert to top them off with? Well I've got one that's around 100 calories and tastes delicious! The best part is that depending on how long you freeze them for, depends on which kind of dessert you are in the mood for. If you put them in the freezer for an hour and a half, it comes out as a peanut butter mousse that you can eat with a spoon. If you freeze it for 3 hours, it comes out as a frozen peanut butter cup ice cream. Either way, it will be sure to please your sweet tooth! The best part is that it only takes about 1 minute to make!

Ingredients:

- 1 8oz tub of fat free cool whip
- 2-3 table spoons of reduced fat natural peanut butter
- Light chocolate syrup
- 6 cupcake foil wrappers

Directions:

- Spoon in 2-3 tbsp of peanut butter into the tub of cool whip. Microwave the whole thing for about 30 seconds. Stir well until it is all the same consistency. Once it is consistent, spoon into the 6 cupcake foils until they all have the same amount. Top them off with a drizzle of chocolate syrup. You can cover the whole thing if you want.  If you put them in the freezer for an hour and a half, it comes out as a peanut butter mousse that you can eat with a spoon. If you freeze it for 3 hours, it comes out as a frozen peanut butter cup ice cream. Easy huh?

Nutrition Fact for 1 Frozen PB cup:

Calories- 114
Carbs- 18
Fat-3
Protein- 2
Sodium-44
Fiber - 1

Chinese Style Pot Stickers and Vegetable Lo Mein

Whenever I go out to eat at a chain restaurant, I always look at the nutrition facts before I go. They usually scare me away because of the high calories or high fat. T.G.I. Friday's is a somewhat new chain restaurant in my hometown, and I somehow always end up there. The only thing I get there is the Asian Zen pot stickers at 500 calories and 10 grams of fat per order, which isn't too bad seeing as I make it my meal. The only issue I have is that at around $10 with tip every time I go there is a little steep for an appetizer, I mean come on, I'm a broke college student! Top the night off with a few coors lights and we're already at around $20. So I began researching how to make lower calorie pot stickers that were affordable. I was able to put T.G.I Fridays to shame by cutting their calories and fat in half, along with making 5 batches for the same price as one order there. Another great thing about this recipe is that it actually calls for you to freeze them before eating, so it's a quick meal from the freezer to boiling water. Dinner in about 5 minutes, once you've done all of the prep work. The main recipe I'm focusing on here is the Pot stickers, since the Lo Mein is so easy - Whole wheat pasta, sliced scallions, cooked diced carrots and onions, throw it all together with some sesame seeds, soy sauce and teriyaki sauce and there ya go!

Ingredients:

- 1 pack of wonton wrappers (I buy the nasoya brand which is located in the tofu section of the grocery store.)
- 8 oz of ground turkey
- 1 cup of small diced carrots
- 1 cup of small diced onion
- 1 cup of small diced celery
- 1 tbsp of light sodium reduced soy sauce for recipe and additional if you want to use it as a dipping sauce.

Directions: 

For filling- heat up the ground turkey in one frying pan and cook until there is no pink left. Add the tbsp of soy sauce and set aside. In another frying pan, heat up the diced carrots, onion, and celery until the onions are transparent looking, or until the veggies are fully cooked. Once those are done, combine it with the ground turkey mixture. Mix all of the ingredients well, and you have your filling! Now to make the pot stickers. Take one wonton wrapper and lay on a flat surface. Spoon in about 1/2 tbsp of the mixture into the center of the wonton. Wet the edges of the wonton wrapper with water by using your finger tip. Seal the edges together in an accordion fashion for design. If this part is too tricky, just crease them in half. They'll taste the same, just won't have the design look to them. Repeat for all 40 wontons. Once you are done, place them on a cookie sheet with wax paper sprayed lightly with pam. Place entire cookie sheet in the freezer. Wait about an hour or until they are completely frozen. Take out only what you want to eat since the rest need to stay in the freezer until boiled. Take a large cooking pot and put a steamer inside (like you're boiling broccoli.) Fill up with water just under the edge of the steamer. Make sure to spray the metal part of the steamer with pam. Place on high and wait until the water is boiling. Once the water is boiling, place your desired amount of pot stickers in the steamer and cover with a lid. It only takes around 3 minutes or so for them to fully cook. You will know when they are done when the wontons look clear and the centers are mushy. Thats all! I usually also use soy sauce as a dipping sauce for them.

Nutrition facts for 4 pot stickers (This recipe should make around 40)

Calories- 132
Carbs- 18
Fat - 2
Protein- 9
Sodium-  335 (without dipping soy sauce)
Fiber- 2

Sweet and Sour Chicken and "No-Crab - Rangoons"

Looks good right??? It tastes even better!

When people think of a traditional Chinese food meal, the first thing that may come to mind is high fat, MSG, tons of calories, deep fried goodness, etc. Chinese food is by far my favorite type of junk food, the only problem is that when ever I eat it, I somehow wake up the next morning 3 pounds heaver. In my case, I want to lose weight, but there's no way that I am willing to give up my favorite food. So I moved to the next possibility :  making Chinese food healthy. A traditional meal of sweet and sour chicken paired with crab rangoons is well over 1,000 calories and 40 grams of fat. I don't know about you, but if I ate that, I wouldn't have enough calories to eat for the rest of my day! I'm going to break down the two recipes in-case you want to make them separately. In this picture, I heated up some brown  rice to pair it with, I hope I don't need to give you instructions for the 90 second uncle ben's brown rice!


Sweet and Sour Chicken


Ingredients:

- 1 lb of raw chicken cut up to desired size
- 12 oz sweet and sour sauce
- 14 oz of fat free chicken broth
- 1 onion diced up
- 1 yellow pepper diced up
- 1/2 cup of shelled frozen edamane (soy beans)
- 2 table spoons on brown sugar
- 8 oz can of pineapple chunks

Directions:

Combine everything in the crockpot and place on high for about 2-3 hours, or until the chicken and vegetables look cooked through. That's it!


Nutrition Information for 1 serving (1 cup) - This recipe should make 8 servings


Calories- 164 
Carbs- 24 
Fat- 1
Protein - 14
Sodium - 532
Fiber - 2


No-Crab Rangoons - (I got this recipe from hungry girl except I took out the crab because imitation crab just creeps me out for some reason... but feel free to use it if you're daring enough!)

Ingredients:


- 1/4 cup of fat free cream cheese
- 2 wedges of laughing cow cheese (I used the French Onion kind)
- 1 garlic clove diced small
- Pinch of garlic powder and onion powder
- Scallions sliced
- 1 tsp of low sodium soy sauce 
- 16 nasoya wonton wrappers per batch (you can find them in the tofu section of the grocery store)


 Directions:


Combine all of the ingredients except the wontons in a bowl and let it sit out until soft (about an hour). Mix well. Preheat oven to 375. Lay out a wonton wrapper and fill it with 1/2 tbsp of the mix. Wet the edges and seal them together to make a triangle. Continue for the rest of the wrappers. Spray a cookie sheet with pam and lay down the wontons. Spray the tops with pam so they can get crispy. Place in the oven for about 12 minutes or until crispy. Be sure to flip them 1/2 way through so they can evenly get crispy. Enjoy


Nutrition facts for 4 Rangoons:
Calories- 152
Carbs-20
Fat-1
Protein- 11
Sodium - 659
Fiber - 1

Southwestern Crockpot Chili

Do you love Chili, but think it takes to long to make? Well I have a great fast recipe that will save you time and money, all while pleasing your appetite.

Ingredients:
- 1 onion diced
- 1 lb of ground hamburg or ground turkey
- 1 can of white kidney beans
- 1 can of black beans
- 1 can of whole corn
- 4 cups of crushed tomatoes
-1/2 of a packet of chili seasoning

Directions:

Stir fry the ground beef and chopped onions in a frying pan on medium. While that is cooking, turn the crockpot on high and place in 4 cups of crushed tomatoes, 1/2 of a packet of chili seasoning, both cans of beans and the can of  corn(be sure to rinse them first.) Once the ground beef and onion mixture is cooked through, combine to the crockpot. Cook on high for about 2-3 hours (if your crockpot cooks quickly, place it on low. If it is bubbling, it is on too high.) That's it!

Nutrition Information for 1 cup. (There should be around 8 servings per batch.)

Calories - 269
Carbs - 33
Fat - 5
Protein - 19
Sodium - 679
Fiber - 10

Tortellini and Turkey Sausage Soup

Is it just me or could you too eat a whole container of Tortellini in one sitting? Tortellini is one of my favorite types of pasta, probably because it's filled with cheese. I was able to create a soup that would help cut my intake of pasta while adding spinach, onions, and turkey sausage to make it a more filling meal. From experience, I would say this meal is best if you eat it right away. It is still good if you have it as a left over, but it begins to lose it's flavors as the days go on.

Ingredients:

-Fresh Spinach (1/2 of package, but you can add more if you like a lot of spinach)
-4 cups of crushed tomatoes (I use tuttorosso crushed tomatoes with basil.)
-4 cups of light and fat free chicken broth
-9 Jimmy dean turkey sausage links sliced
-1 onion diced
-2.5 cups of whole wheat tortellini
-1/2 cup of reduced fat Parmesan cheese
-A pinch of salt and pepper
- A sprinkle of Italian seasoning

Directions:

In a large saucepan, combine crushed tomatoes, chicken broth, parmesan cheese, Italian seasoning, and a pinch of salt and pepper and place it on medium, being sure to stir often. In a frying pan, fry up the onions. Once the onions are done cooking and are transparent, add in the sliced sausage for less than a minute (just enough time for it to brown.) Combine the sausage and onions into the large pot with crushed tomatoes, etc. Take two medium sized pots. In one, fill half way with water and bring to a boil. Once the water is boiling, add the tortellini and cook until they are puffy and float to the top. Strain and combine in large pot with crushed tomatoes, etc. In the other pot, place a boiling strainer in and fill with water just below the strainer. Fill with spinach and place on high. Once the spinach is cooked, strain and place in the large pot. Let all of the flavors blend in the large pot for about 20 minutes, then serve!

Nutrition facts per 1 cup serving size. (This recipe should make about 10 servings.)

Calories - 156
Carbs - 21
Fat - 4
Protein - 8
Sodium - 621
Fiber - 4

Chicken Cordon Bleu, Stuffed Mushrooms, and Asparagus (All under 315 calories!)

Are you sick of eating the same plain stuff for dinner? Plain chicken, a vegetable, and a starch? Well, I decided to put a little twist on the every day balanced meal. Chicken Cordon Bleu, Stuffed Mushrooms, and Asparagus... how yummy does that sound? I'm going to break it down by item, incase you want to make them at different times.

Chicken Cordon Bleu


Ingredients:

-4 pieces of 4 oz. chicken breasts pounded out (about 1/4 inch in thickness)
- 4 wedges of the laughing cow cheese (you can use any flavor you want to, I used the garlic and herb one for this)
-8 slices of low sodium ham deli meat
- low fat or fat free cream of mushroom soup (If desired)
(This recipe makes enough for a family of 4. If you are cooking for 2 people, divide the recipe in two.)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lay out the pounded chicken on a flat surface and spread 1 wedge of laughing cow cheese evenly over it. Then take 2 slices of deli ham and lay on top of the laughing cow cheese. Begin to roll the chicken breast tightly. If the chicken does not stay, place toothpicks in it to keep it up. Repeat these steps for the rest of the 3 pieces of chicken. Top the chicken with a spoonful of the cream of mushroom soup. Place the chicken on a baking tray sprayed with pam. Place in oven for roughly 20 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through.

Stuffed Mushrooms


Ingredients:

- 1 3oz container of full mushrooms not sliced
- 1/2 of an onion diced
- 1 garlic clove diced small
- 2 tbsp of light butter (I use smart balance light)
- 1/4 cup of original bread crumbs
- 1/2 cup of fat free mozzarella cheese (I used the Kraft fat free cheese)
- A small drop of EVOO to stir fry onion and garlic
-Salt and pepper

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a small frying pan, combine the onion, garlic, and olive oil. Fry until the onions are transparent and place in a mixing bowl. Take the butter and melt in the microwave. Pour the melted butter into the mixing bowl with onions and garlic. Also add the bread crumbs and mozzarella cheese, along with a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Mix well. Take the mushrooms and pull out the stems. Spoon mixture into the mushrooms (enough so that it sits about 1/4 inch above the base of the mushroom.) Place the filled mushrooms on a sprayed baking sheet and place in the oven for roughly 15 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the mushrooms look crispy.

Asparagus


Ingredients:

-1 Stalk of asparagus
- A few drops of EVOO


Directions:

Cut asparagus about 1/2 way to cut off the stems. Place the asparagus and the EVOO in a frying pan and place on medium-high. Cook until the asparagus is crispy on the edges.

Nutrition Facts for 1 serving (1 piece of chicken, 3 stuffed mushrooms, and 12 spears of asparagus)

Calories - 315
Carbs- 15
Fat - 10
Protein - 40
Sodium - 600
Fiber - 6

Baked Potato and Chicken Soup for a rainy cold day!

On this cold rainy night, I've been craving a nice big bowl of some creamy soup, but there's a catch : I'm on a diet. Or shall we say a "lifestyle change?" To be quite honest, I was craving a bowl of Panera Breads baked potato soup, but at 350 calories and 21 grams of fat for just one bowl (not including the bread), I would have to be crazy! Not to mention, it's not even that filling, which means I would end up splurging for a big brownie or baked good of some sort. So I decided to be good and headed to the grocery store to buy low calorie ingredients (we're not going to mention that I'm a 22 year old single female and spent my Saturday night cooking and watching lifetime movie network.) Now you might be thinking "How can you make a soup creamy and still taste good?" Just take my word for it and you will not be disappointed. Did I also mention that this recipe is a crockpot recipe which means practically no work? So here goes...

Ingredients:


- 8-16 oz of chicken uncooked and diced (you can use either chicken breast meat or thigh. Thigh will give it more flavor)
-4 Potatoes (I used Idaho)
-1 medium sized onion diced
- 2-3 carrots sliced thin
- 2 stalks of celery diced small
- 3 chicken bullion cubes
- 1 can of 98% fat free cream of chicken soup
- 4 cups of water
- 1 8oz block of fat free cream cheese
- 1/4 cup of low fat or fat free sour cream
- 1 tsp of garlic powder
- 1 tsp of salt
-1/2 tsp of pepper
- A sprinkle of fat free shredded cheese if desired for topping (I used Kraft fat free cheddar)
Directions: 


Take all of the ingredients and place them in the crockpot and put it on high for about 5 hours, stirring in-between. Once you portion out, you can top with fat free shredded cheese. That's about it! Easy right? This recipe makes about 10 servings per batch at 1 cup per serving.

Nutrition Facts: (Per 1 serving or 1 cup)

Calories - 139
Carbs - 17
Fat - 5
Protein - 7
Sodium - 600
Fiber - 1