What's For Dinner?

This another Weight Watchers inspired meal.  Haven't made it in a while but it was very tasty--and has a healthier spin on it than regular Shrimp Scampi. 

Ingredients:
2 tsp olive oil
6 medium garlic clove(s), minced
1 tsp dried oregano
1 pound(s) shrimp, medium, peeled and deveined
1/4 cup(s) wine, dry white or vermouth
2 tsp cornstarch
3/4 cup(s) reduced-sodium chicken broth
3/4 tsp table salt, or to taste
1/8 tsp black pepper, or to taste
8 oz uncooked whole grain pasta cooked and kept hot
1/4 cup(s) parsley, fresh, chopped
2 Tbsp basil, fresh, thinly sliced


Instructions

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat; add garlic and sauté 1 minute. Add oregano and stir to coat. Add shrimp and sauté until bright pink, stirring frequently, about 3 minutes. Add wine and simmer about 1 minute.

Dissolve cornstarch in chicken broth in a small cup and whisk until blended; add mixture to skillet and simmer 2 minutes, until sauce thickens. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Transfer cooked pasta to four individual shallow bowls and spoon shrimp and sauce over top; sprinkle with parsley and basil. Yields about 1 1/3 cups of pasta, 1/4 cup of sauce and 3 ounces of shrimp per serving.

This one is from my Cooking Light Cookbook, but I have made some changes to it based on what I have in the house. 

Ingredients


Cakes:
2 (1 1/2-ounce) slices whole wheat bread
1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast
2 chopped green onions
3 tablespoons low-fat mayonnaise
1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large egg whites
2 teaspoons canola oil

Cajun Seasoning:

If you're like me and you don't have "Cajun Seasoning" or don't want to buy another spice to fill your spice rack, here is a great recipe that I used to make Cajun Seasoning. It will be more than you need for this recipe but that just means you can make this dish over and over!

1/4 tsp table salt
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp thyme

Aioli:
2 tablespoons low-fat mayonnaise
2 teaspoons prepared horseradish
1 teaspoon bottled minced garlic
1/8 teaspoon salt

Preparation

To prepare cakes, place bread in a food processor; pulse 10 times or until coarse crumbs measure 1 cup (discard remaining breadcrumbs). Set breadcrumbs aside.

Place chicken in food processor; pulse until ground. Combine chicken, chives, 3 tablespoons mayonnaise, seasoning, 1/4 teaspoon salt, egg whites, and breadcrumbs in a medium bowl; mix well (mixture will be wet). Divide mixture into 8 equal portions, shaping each into a 1/2-inch-thick patty.

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add patties; cook 7 minutes on each side or until done.

To prepare aioli, combine 2 tablespoons mayonnaise and remaining ingredients in a small bowl. Serve with cakes.

This one is a Weight Watcher's dinner:

Serves 4

2 spray(s) cooking spray
2 tsp olive oil
1 Tbsp red curry powder (if you like spicy) or regular curry for a milder taste
1/2 tsp table salt (I used 1/4tsp)
3 medium scallion(s), thinly sliced, green and white parts separated
1/2 cup(s) light coconut milk (I can usually find this at Shop Rite)
1 pound(s) shrimp, large, shelled and deveined
3 cup(s) cooked brown rice


1.  Coat a medium to large skillet with cooking spray; add oil and set over medium heat. When heated, add curry powder and salt; cook, stirring constantly, until curry is fragrant, about 1 minute.

2.  Add white parts of scallions; cook, stirring occasionally, about 2 minutes more.  Add coconut milk; stir to blend. Add shrimp; cook, stirring occasionally, until shrimp turn pink, about 4 to 5 minutes. Sprinkle with green parts of scallions; serve. Yields about 5 to 6 shrimp, 3/4 cup rice and 1 to 2 tablespoons sauce per serving.

I don't have a picture for this one.  Imagine spaghetti with fresh spinach and tomatoes and garlic and feta cheese all tossed together...this is a favorite in our house--and it's super quick.

Here's what you need:
Serves 2

3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 box of Barilla Whole Grain Spaghetti (it is in a blue box--there is one in a yellow box that I don't like as much) use as much as you need--for the two of us we use half the box
1 bag of fresh Baby Spinach leaves (I think it's 9oz)
Feta Cheese or Parm Cheese, depending on what you like better
1 can Diced Tomatoes with Jalepenos (or zesty, depending on how hot you like things)
2 tbsp olive oil
shrimp (a nice option to add a little more protein and substance)

While you gather your ingredients and chop the garlic, bring your pasta water to a boil.  Just before you add the pasta to the water, start the spinach:

1.  In a large/deep frying pan, heat the olive oil on medium heat. 
2.  Add the garlic and spinach and toss together with the olive oil
3.  Allow the spinach to cook down, stirring every so often to move the uncooked pieces to the bottom of the pan 
4.  Add the entire can of diced tomatoes to the pan and stir ingedients together.
5.  If you're adding shrimp, add it now, stirring together with the spinach and tomatoes until the shrimp is fully cooked.
6.  If you're not adding shrimp, let the ingredients simmer for a few minutes to heat the tomatoes

When your pasta is complete, serve it onto the plates.  Divide the spinach/tomato "sauce" and spoon/pour it on top of the spaghetti.  Top with Feta or Parm cheese and lightly toss the pasta to mix everything together on the plate. 

I don't add any salt or pepper to this dish unless it's needed.

This has become one of my favorite dishes lately.  Because I am cooking the fish and veggies at the same time, the whole cooking time takes about 20 minutes with about 10 minutes of prep time, depending on how quickly you cut your vegetables. 

The Veggies - serves 4
1 zucchini (sliced thin)
1 yellow squash (sliced thin)
2 garlic cloves (chopped)
3 tbsp olive oil
1 onion (sliced)
1 green pepper (sliced) set aside 2 or 3 slices for tilapia
1 red pepper (sliced) set aside 2 or 3 slices for tilapia
salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste

Tilapia - serves 2
2 4oz thawed tilapia filets
1/2c Italian Bread Crumbs (I like Progresso)
1 Tbsp McCormicks' Montreal Steak Seasoning
1 onion (chopped)
1 clove garlic
2 or 3 slices of green pepper slices diced
2 or 3 slices of red pepper slices diced
1 tbsp olive oil
1/4c white wine
salt & pepper to taste

Brown Rice - I use Instant Brown Rice because well...it's instant.  And I follow the directions on the box for this one. 


Veggies - 20 minutes
1.  Prepare the zucchini, squash, onions, peppers and garlic.  Heat olive oil in a saute pan and add the veggies. 
2.  Add salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste and saute the veggies on medium heat until they are tender.  The onions, zucchini and squash will be soft and translucent. 

Tilapia - 10 minutes
1.  Prepare the tilapia.  In a small dish, mix the bread crumbs and seasoning.  Place a tilapia filet in the dish and press into the bread crumbs.  Turn over and press the other side.  Repeat for all tilapia filets.
2.  Heat the olive oil on medium heat and add the onions and peppers.  Saute until tender.  Remove the peppers and onions from the pan.
3.  Place the tilapia filets in the same pan and cook for 4 minutes on each side (depending on thickness of the filet) 
4.  When the tilapia is finished, remove it from the pan and add the peppers and onions back to the pan.  Add the wine and simmer for a few minutes, stirring the peppers and onions with the wine. 
5.  Top the tilapia with the peppers/onions wine sauce.

Serve with brown rice and a glass of white wine, if you'd like!

Where to start...5 years ago, if you told me that I would be posting my favorite recipes on Facebook and people would actually be trying them...I would have laughed at you and said "Doesn't everyone already know how to make peanut butter and jelly?", because I didn't cook.  If it wasn't frozen, canned or available for pickup, I wasn't making/eating it. 

Then one day something clicked.  To impress a guy, I decided I would search the internet for some recipes and make him dinner.  Well, he was a great critic and said everything I made was fabulous--so I decided he was a keeper and I continued to experiment in the kitchen--learning that not only did I like cooking but I was becoming pretty good at it.

Now I am by no means a gourmet chef.  I work full time, I try to cook almost all of our dinners, so most of the time I make things that are readily available from a regular grocery store and can be prepared in a relatively short amount of time.  Meaning, you shouldn't have to go to a specialty store to buy ingredients and you won't be slaving away in the kitchen for hours if you try these recipes.

My goal for this blog is to post what I've made recently, how long it took to make, the difficulty level and if available, the nutritional info.

Most of the recipes I post have come from other sources, which I will note. However, I use recipes as suggestions...a starting point...with ingredients added/deleted/combined to make it the way I think it should taste.

Mangia!