Healthy Eggplant Parm! - 371 Calories per serving!

Who doesn't love a nice filling Italian meal? Well I know that the scale doesn't! I created a roasted and baked Eggplant Parm recipe that will feed your craving for Italian food, but won’t leave you feeling guilty after! Feel free to add other veggies to make it more filling!

Ingredients:

2 Eggplants

2 cups of sauce (I used Bertoli Olive oil and garlic)

1 cup of panko breadcrumbs

2 eggs

1 cup of low fat shredded mozzarella

2 Tablespoons of EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil)

1 teaspoon of sea salt

Directions:

*Before you begin, first note that the size of the eggplants determines how much egg and panko mix you will need. This is based off of 2 regular sized eggplants. If you use 2 larger eggplants, you may need more egg and breadcrumbs.

Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees. Slice the eggplants horizontally, about ½ inch in thickness (you can either peel off the skin or leave it on, I leave it on for a little crunch.) Once all of your eggplant is sliced, lay them out on a casserole dish that is sprayed with non-stick spray. Drizzle EVOO and sprinkle the sea salt over the eggplant. Place in the oven and flip after 10 minutes. After 20 minutes or until roasted, take them out of the oven and let them cool. Lower the oven to 350. Whisk together your 2 eggs in a bowl and place the 1 cup of panko break crumbs in another bowl. Drench each slice of eggplant in the egg mix, and then coat in the panko breadcrumbs. Do this for all of the slices and place on a non-stick sprayed casserole dish when complete. Sprinkle ½ of your shredded cheese on top. Place in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until crispy. Serve on top of sauce (you can also pour the sauce over the eggplant if you want.) Sprinkle with the remaining cheese and serve. To get fancy, you can use asparagus to garnish like I did!

Nutrition Information for 1 serving (this recipe makes 4 servings)

Calories: 371

Carbs : 53

Fat: 12

Protein: 17

Sodium: 1262

Fiber: 11

Cheeseburger Soup - 194 Calories a serving!

I found a new healthy addiction: Cheeseburger Soup. Cheeseburgers are one of the things that I crave most on this diet... or "lifestyle change." Since they are pretty much terrible for you and so high in calories, I absolutely had to find an alternative. This soup is awesome, and even better the next day! This recipe makes 12 servings and will last all week... if you don't eat it all on the first night that is!

Ingredients: 

- 8oz Block of Kraft Velveta Cheese (cut into cubes)
- 1 lb of ground hamburg
- 1 white onion
- 1 stalk of celery
- 1 cup of carrots
- 1 can of Campbell's cheddar cheese soup
- 1 can of Campbell's 98% fat free cream of chicken soup
- 2 tablespoons of low fat sour cream
- 1.5 cups of skim milk
- 2 tablespoons of light butter (I used smart balance)
- 3 cups of water

Directions:

In a medium sized frying pan, add the hamburg. Cook on medium heat until there is no more red. Put aside. While the meat is cooking, chop up the onion, celery and carrots to desired size. Add the chopped up vegetables and 2 tablespoons of butter to another medium sized frying pan on medium heat. Cook until the onions are transparent. Chop up the Velveta cheese into small cubes.Once the vegetables are cooked, combine in a large sized pot with the cooked hamburg, cubed Velveta, both cans of soup, sour cream, milk and water. Stir well and place on medium heat, stirring occasionally. Continue to let this cook until it starts to bubble. All done :) Yummmm!

Nutrition Facts (for 1 cup. This recipe should make 12 servings.)

Calories - 194
Carbs - 11
Fat - 9
Protein - 17
Sodium - 568
Fiber - 1

Harvestland Pineapple Teriyaki Chicken Meatballs

I literally just finished eating a serving of these and was so impressed that I had to write a blog post about them ASAP. I crave salty / Chinese type food on a daily basis. These are full of flavor and surprisingly filling. I just ate 4 of them as a snack and am full. If you were eating this as a meal, I would suggest stir-frying up some veggies (like in the picture) and maybe adding some white rice. Yum. Be careful about eating more than 1 serving though, because 1 serving has 600 grams of sodium. 

Nutrition Facts (For 1 serving. 1 serving = 4 meatballs)

Calories - 140

Carbs - 7

Fat - 7

Protein - 12

Sodium - 600

Fiber - 0

Vegetable & Shrimp Fried Rice

Trader Joe's helped me out with this dish. It is great if you are in a rush and don't have a lot of time to cook dinner. Warning: the rice is addictive, so just make what you can eat! Left overs can be tempting!

Ingredients:

- Trader Joe's vegetable fried rice (1 cup per serving - pictured below)
- 4 oz shrimp (I used shrimp cocktail since it cooks faster)
- .5 tablespoon of EVOO

Directions:

In a medium frying pan, add the EVOO and 1 cup of rice and place on medium heat. Cook until the rice is fully cooked (about 5 minutes). Push the rice to the side of the frying pan. Chop up the shrimp into bite sized pieces. Add the shrimp the the frying pan and cook for about 1 minute. Since I used shrimp cocktail, it is already pre-cooked and doesn't take long to warm up. Mix the shrimp and rice together and serve!

Nutrition Facts (for 1 cup of rice and 4 oz of shrimp)

Calories - 255
Carbs - 35
Fat - 9
Protein - 6
Sodium - 688
Fiber - 1

Caprese Salad

As simple as it is, there are probably over 100 different ways to make and present a caprese salad. I figured I'd make a blog post for one of my never forgotten favorite Low Calorie Italian foods. Made as a lower calorie version with all natural ingredients, you can't go wrong!


Ingredients

- 8 Cherry tomatoes
- 1 oz fresh mozzarella cheese
- 1 basil leaf
- 1 tablespoon of balsamic dressing (I used Newman's Own Light Roasted Garlic Balsamic)

Directions

Slice up the tomatoes into quarters. Dice up the mozzarella into even small cubes. Shred the basil leaf into small pieces. Add the 1 tablespoon of dressing. Mix all of the ingredients together and serve! What an easy lunch!

Nutrition Facts (For 1 serving - This recipe makes 1 serving)

Calories - 160
Carbs - 8
Fat - 7
Protein - 6
Sodium - 255
Fiber - 2

Lean Cuisine - Garlic Chicken Spring Rolls

Holy yum. These things are addictive so be careful! I eat 1 serving, (3 rolls - each box comes with 2 servings) along with a salad and some fruit - it makes for a great lunch! They even smell good when they're cooking! I would suggest these for when you're craving some good Chinese food, but don't want to spend the calories on them.

Nutrition Facts (for 1 serving - 3 rolls)

Calories - 200
Carbs - 24
Fat - 8
Protein - 10
Sodium - 420
Fiber - 2

Easy Pumpkin Muffins - 74 Calories Each!

This recipe is a great treat for a snack, dessert, or even breakfast! They come out really moist and stay fresh for at least 5 days. I made a huge batch, so i froze some (I wasn't able to eat 24 muffins in 5 days!) They taste just as good reheated from the freezer.

Ingredients

1 can of canned pumpkin (15 oz)
3/4 cup of water
1 box of moist carrot cake mix
24 cupcake tins
PAM spray

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350. In a mixing bowl, combine all of the ingredients. Mix well for about 2 minutes. Place the cupcake tins into a muffin baking dish. Spray the insides of them lightly with PAM or any other baking spray. Once they are all sprayed, fill each cupcake liner about half way with the mix. Once the oven is preheated, place inside. Cook for about 20-25 minutes. Serve! :)

Nutrition Facts - (For 1 muffin - this recipe makes 24 servings)

Calories - 74
Carbs - 16
Fat - 1
Protein - 1
Sodium - 131
Fiber - 1

Parmesan Dill French Fries

I've got to admit - they're as good as they sound! Easy too! I was in the mood for something different as a side to my grilled chicken sandwich for tonight, and let's be honest...what is better than french fries? They're a little heavy in the carb range, so I decided to have my chicken sandwich without the bread tonight. 

Ingredients

Red Potatoes (1 serving = 1 potato)

Pinch of sea salt

Dill weed

1/2 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil

Parmesan Herb seasoning by McCormick (pictured below)

Directions

Heat a medium sized frying pan to medium on the stove top and add half of a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil. Wash the potato(es) and slice width wise. The thinner you slice, the crispier the fries will get. Make sure you slice them all the same with. Slice them again length wise to get a "french fry shape." Place the potato slices in the hot frying pan. Sprinkle dill weed and sea salt and mix well. With the dill weed, use to your discretion. I love the taste of dill, so I used a lot. Flip the french fries so that they brown on both sides. Cook until the french fries are brown on both sides. Once they are finished, (go ahead, try one first :0P ) sprinkle on a few pinches of the parmesan and herb spice. Serve with which ever dipping sauce your prefer... or just plain!

Nutrition Facts (for 1 serving = 1 potato)

Calories - 120

Carbs - 14

Fat - 7

Protein - 2

Sodium - 466

Fiber - 2