Too good to be true: A low calorie version of hamburger helper!

  I'm going to be honest with you guys. When I first got married, we both were working 12 hour shifts, opposite of each other, so unfortunately Hamburger Helper became a staple in our lives. As tasty as it can be, it's incredibly bad for you and packs a whopping 320 calories for a one cup serving with most varieties. Low and behold, Hungry Girl came up with an excellent alternative that shaves 141 calories off! Bonus? You can make it in your crockpot. If you don't have a crockpot yet, I suggest you invest in one. This is one of the most versatile kitchen gadgets you can get, and is super for when you are busy.. or like me have the flu and feel awful.

Lean & Tasty Cheeseburger Helper
Slightly adapted from HG's Cheeseburger Mac Attack
Makes eight servings
Each 1 cup serving is only 179 calories!


1 1/4 cups of uncooked elbow macaroni (I use whole wheat with added fiber for extra nutrients)
10 ounces of raw lean ground turkey
1 teaspoon onion powder
2 tablespoons ketchup
24 ounces frozen Green Giant Broccoli and Cheese sauce
3 wedges The Laughing Cow Light Creamy Swiss spreadable cheese
Optional: Salt and pepper.

  Start by bringing a small pot of water to boil. Once the water is boiling, add your elbows. You will only want to cook these for 3 minutes. If you cook them for too long, they will get mushy during the slow cooking process.

  Roll up your sleeves! It's time to get your hands dirty again! In a small bowl, add your onion powder, ketchup and ground turkey. Mix until well combined. Add this directly into your crock pot. When your elbows are done cooking, drain, and add them into the crock pot.

  The last step is adding the 24oz of broccoli with cheese sauce into the crock pot. Break up any large clumps. Stir everything together in the crock pot so it is evenly distributed. You have the option of setting this on high or low. If you cook on high, this will only take 3 hours. Low will take 7 hours. Make sure you can check on this at least once during cooking, to stir and make sure it doesn't burn and stick to the sides. Cook until the turkey is cooked all the way through. When it is nearly done cooking, add the wedges of laughing cow into the crockpot. Recover the crock pot and allow them to melt a little.

  Add a few dashes of pepper to taste, and this dish is done! This is super easy, and a great way to get a few servings of veggies and fiber in. Enjoy!

Cravings

The past couple of days I have been having weird cravings. Mainly in the morning, which makes it even stranger. The past two days i've woken up with a wild craving for a quesadilla. Not just any qusadilla either! It HAD to have salsa, and two kinds of cheese. I am the cheese queen, after all.

LC's Mexi-Quesadilla
Serves 1
120 calories for the entire recipe! Woohoo!


1 taco size low carb high fiber tortilla. (The ones I get are 50 calories per tortilla.)
1 piece of 2% american cheese
1/8 cup of fat free shredded cheddar cheese
2 big spoonfuls of chunky salsa

  This one is pretty easy, so no excuses guys! Start by taking out your tortilla and putting it on a microwave safe plate. Tear up your piece of 2% American cheese, and distribute it evenly on the tortilla so when it melts you get decent coverage. Sprinkle with the shredded cheddar. Add your two big spoonfuls of salsa to the middle. If you want to be fancy, you can add some bacon bits or low fat sour cream. You could also replace the shredded cheddar with a wedge of laughing cow for a different spin. Place in the microwave, and cook for 45 seconds or until the cheese has all melted.

  Once your quesadilla is done cooking, take your plate out of the microwave and fold it in half. It's that easy. Even if it doesn't look pretty, it definitely is delicious. I'll have a second recipe coming up later today featuring crockpot! Enjoy!

Easy, low calorie turkey sliders!

  I've always had a fondness for burgers. Most people used to call me the burger queen, and not just because my working career began at Burger King. I earned this title with hard work. Hard work comprising of eating way too many cheeseburgers, and then I wondered where I gained all that weight from. A few years ago I was diagnosed with a chronic pain disease and discovered that red meat is more or less my mortal enemy. I found that when prepared properly, ground turkey is a pretty fantastic replacement. I introduced my husband to it without really letting him know it wasn't his beloved red meat, because I didn't want to be beheaded for the concept. Now it's a staple on our grocery list. This recipe is a fun, healthier spin on sliders that is easy to prepare and can be fun to make with other people too!

LC's Turkey Sliders
Slight variation from HG's Queen-of-the-Castle sliders.
Makes four servings.


Only 254 calories per 4-piece sandwich! YAY!


Roughly 10 oz of lean ground turkey. (I use about 3/4 of a 1lb package.)
8 slices of light bread. (You can use other bread, but using light bread makes it so the bread only adds 100 calories per sandwich as opposed to the 200 calories most other types will tack on.)
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt.
1 whole onion, white

Optional:
Real Bacon bits.
1 Laughing Cow light swiss spreadable cheese wedge

  Roll up your sleeves and prepare to get your hands dirty. In a medium size bowl, measure and dump all of your dry ingredients. Add the ground turkey into the bowl and mix WELL. I find using your hands works the best to distribute all of the ingredients evenly. Otherwise you might bite into an over-seasoned surprise! 

  Once your meat is well combined, make a small ball slightly smaller than the size of a ping pong ball. Flatten this out and place it on a plate. Repeat for the remaining meat. Remember you will need four patties per sandwich. It's okay to have really tiny patties in order to make enough to accommodate the recipe, it will actually fit better on the bread later. Once you are done assembling the patties, take a knife and poke four holes into each patty. DO NOT pierce all the way through, just enough to create a little slit. This helps the meat absorb the flavor of the onions during cooking. Place the dish with the patties into the freezer for at least five minutes. 

   Multi-tasking time! While your patties are stiffening a bit in the freezer, dice up your onion. I suggest making it relatively thin and cubed since it cooks nicely in the skillet that way. Pre-heat your skillet to medium. Once you are done, you might want to start toasting your bread. 

  When the five minutes are up (or a little longer if you want the patties a little firmer), spread about half of the diced onions around your skillet so it forms a bed. Place your patties, slit side down, on top of the onions. Place a cover over your skillet and allow to cook closed for three minutes. While these are cooking, I suggest cutting your slices of bread into four pieces. These will be your make-shift buns!

  This picture is a testament to how loved these are in my house. My husband was yelling at me how he wanted to eat, so I had to take a speed shot. See? I'm human too! When the patties are done cooking, distribute them evenly between the bread. Make sure you pile some onions on there! What's great about these burgers is there are a large variety of low calorie options to dressing them up a bit. Add a little bacon, or some laughing cow to snazz it up, or eat it plain. Enjoy!

Weekend Gluttony: Chorizo & Eggs.

  My husband would like me to believe he spent an entire week suffering from hunger since I was gone, so I decided as a treat I would make him his favorite breakfast. Just as a little background, my husband is from a town pretty close to the Mexican border, his mother was Mexican and thus he has an affinity for real Mexican food. In Hawaii, real authentic Mexican food is almost nil, so I have taken it upon myself to learn a few of his favorite recipes.

LC's easy chorizo & eggs
Serves two


2 Chorizo links
2 large tortillas (side note: You can shave off a lot of calories by using high fiber, low carb tortillas, but flour tortillas really make this dish shine so it can definitely be worth the extra 100 calories)
4 eggs
1 cup of water
A few dashes of pepper

Optional:
Hot sauce
Fat free shredded cheddar cheese.

  Pre-heat a large skillet on medium. If you like, you can also preheat a second skillet for your tortillas. I set mine on medium. Start by making a slit in the casing of both of your chorizo links. This will make it easier to grind up the meat in the skillet. Remove the casing, and place your chorizo meat into the skillet.

  Using a spatula, dice up your chorizo as if it were ground meat. This is the kind of consistency you are looking for in the recipe. Continue to cook on medium until the chorizo is browned all the way through.

  While your chorizo is browning, it's time to multi-task! Grab a glass (or a bowl if you are classier than me), and break your four eggs into it. Now i'm going to go against your natural instinct, and use water instead of milk. Not only does this cut out some calories, but it also gives you lighter, fluffier eggs. Add a cup of water to your eggs, add a few dashes of pepper and beat well.

  At this point, your chorizo should be cooked all the way through. Pour the beaten eggs into the skillet. You can handle this similar to scrambled eggs, and simply scrape along the pan every few minutes to make sure the egg does not burn. Dice the eggs as well so it has a nice scrambled texture.

  Meanwhile, it's time to start warming those tortillas. You can either prepare them in a skillet, or in a microwave. In my opinion, there is something special about warming them in a skillet. It adds a nice crispness to all varieties of tortillas, even healthy low calorie ones! Warm them on one side until it looks a little translucent, and lightly brown in some spots. Repeat for the other side, and then plate it in preparation for the chorizo mixture.

  Cook your chorizo until the eggs are well done. You will notice a lot of excess fat in the pain. You will want to drain this for two reasons. 1) Unneeded calories. 2) Runny stuff always makes it difficult and messy to eat a tortilla! After the chorizo is drained, distribute it between the two tortillas. You can add a large variety of toppings. My husband likes to add Frank's Red Hot, while I add a light sprinkle of fat free shredded cheddar cheese. In no way is this exactly a "light" breakfast, but it is certainly a treat worth having every once in a while. Enjoy!

Back from vacation!

Hello everyone!

Sorry for just disappearing! I actually went on vacation for a week to see my family and friends in Connecticut. I only get one chance per year, so I was pretty excited this time around I might get to see some autumn. Eternal Summer is wonderful, but after awhile you begin to forget how much you hated driving in snow or chipping your way into your car after a nice freezing rain. I had an excellent time.

  Naturally, I ate my way across the state. We're missing out on a lot of "mainland" goodness, so I had to soak in as much as possible in six days. Needless to say, I was totally okay with the five pounds I gained from my week of gluttony.

 One of the first things I did on my trip was visiting a local orchard and picking fresh apples with my family. There is something magical about picking your own right off the trees, trying a bite to see if it's what you want, and eating an apple warmed by the sun on a crisp autumn day. I was pretty excited with the prospect of finally making an apple pie i've been eyeing for a few months now. I'm not a huge crust person, but I have been CRAVING apple pie for a while now. Weird, huh? Must be my internal clock signaling fall. I was pretty pleased with how it came out, considering this is my first full pie. (By full, I mean my first double crusted pie. I've made dozens of pumpkin and other variations.) Right now i'm looking for volunteers to feed pie to, and then I will happily share the recipe with you.

  I should be back up to speed and sharing recipes with you in a day or two! Half of me is still in EST, so my sleep schedule is super wonky.

A pie for our troops.

  Sometimes I just feel like baking. And by baking, I mean sometimes I feel like making things that are pretty terrible for me, and I need to get rid of the extras I don't want looming in the house, taunting me. Sometimes I also just like to make things for people, especially because I know if I was having a crummy day, a nice big slice of chocolate chip pie would put a smile on my face. On occasion I send things to work with my husband. I don't often hear anything in response to what I send, but the picked clean pie plates that come home are a pretty decent indicator that it was well loved. This weekend we were at a barbecue with one of my husband's co-workers, and he made a special request for that "pie cookie thing." Ask and ye shall receive.

  All joking aside, I do like making things that my husband can bring into work, because I know that these people who aren't necessarily in harms way don't get very many "thank you's" or appreciation for the long shifts they pull and all the hard work they do. Don't get me wrong, I do appreciate the sacrifice ALL of our troops make, but I think it's kind of silly that our troops at home often go unacknowledged or under appreciated. Also a portion of these people are single, or living as geo-bachelors, so they do not have the opportunity to have a nice home cooked meal or treat as often as they would like. I figured even if it doesn't make a huge impact, at least it would mean something to someone or at least make their tummy happy for a little while. Getting off my soap box now!

 This pie is a frequent request from the man in charge himself, and the recipe actually started out as a present for him a couple years ago. For someone who has tried to make their diet better, I still have an unnatural love for Paula Deen. Every once in a while i'll be naughty and sideeye some of her recipes, and this pie is so well loved it's practically family. Let me also stress, this pie is not low calorie. I do sub I Can't Believe It's Not Butter, but that won't save you from the calories of the flour, chocolate and egg.

Chocolate Chip Pie
Courtesy of the Deen Brothers.
Creates two fairly large pies.


2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup unsalted butter (I subbed I can't believe it's not butter, and it works perfectly), softened*
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 cups semisweet chocolate chips

*Tip- If you are anything like me, and either make this at the spur of a moment or are busy on the day you are making this, there is an easy and fast way to soften butter in the microwave. Take your two sticks of butter, place them in the microwave and microwave it for 5 seconds. Open the microwave and rotate your sticks so they are leaning on a different side then they were before. Microwave for another 5 seconds. I usually repeat this process 3 times until the butter is just slightly soft. Doing this too often will result in melted butter, and you do not want that!


 Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

 For this first step, you are going to need a medium sized sifter. Place this over the top of a large bowl. Measure out your flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder, then dump it into the sifter. Work everything through the sifter. If you have a couple of things that don't make it through the sifter, either push down on them until they crumble or toss them out. Set this bowl aside for now!

  I think my Dad knew I was destined to become a better cook. When I first moved away from home, he gifted me a beautiful set of Farberware pots & pans. When I got married, he gave me my favorite kitchen utensil EVER. My beloved Kitchen Aide stand mixer. I can't believe I made it to this many blog posts without it making it's debut.. so here it is in all of it's glory. I hope my Dad knows how much I appreciate this, and how often I use it. Heck, maybe I will tell him for the millionth time next week when I see him! In your mixing bowl, add your softened butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar. Keep the papers from your butter! I like to use these for greasing the pie pans. Cream the butter and sugars together. I like to beat it on the highest speed until it's nice and smooth.

  Add your tablespoon of vanilla extract. Now, add the eggs, one at a time, as in place one in and then mix until well combined.

  Fight that urge to eat it all right now! It's time to slowly add in the dry mixture. Add a little bit at a time, and mix well until it appears combined. Continue this process until all of the dry mixture has been added. Your dough should be nice, fluffy and super tempting. Dump in that mountain of chocolate chips. You can fold them in by hand, but I find mixing them in using the mixer distributes them more evenly in the dough.

  Using those papers I told you to save earlier, grease two nine inch pie plates. My favorite pie plates are Pyrex. The pies seem to cook more evenly using these instead of those disposable types you can buy at the grocery store. Split the dough evenly between the two plates, and spread them flat with a spatula. Place the pies into the oven on the middle rack and cook for 30-35 minutes. I usually opt for 35 minutes since the middle firms up better this way. If the top of your pie is browning too much by the 30 minute mark, feel free to cover it with some foil for the remaining baking time. 

  The end result. A beautiful cookie. Or pie.. which is it?! Whatever it is, it is fantastic. A little tip, it's really fantastic if you heat a slice for 20 seconds in the microwave. This is a pie that is so good people will ask for it again and again. I like how it creates two full pies, which makes it an easy gifting recipe, or easy to gift one and horde an entire pie for yourself, because you are a total glutton and just need an excuse to eat pie. I sent one of these with my husband to work today. I expect a clean pie plate in a few hours! Enjoy!

Oven Baked Bacon Ranch Chicken

  Sometimes you are going to judge me. I am totally fine with that. I also have a confession to make.

  Sometimes I beat my meat with a hammer. You should be proud, because prior to the hammer I was using a maglite like a rogue cop. When you can't find a meat hammer, it's amazing what you find that works! I'd just like to think of myself as creative, with a tinge of crazy. Either way, it makes making dinner a little more fun.

  We love chicken in my house, and I probably know how to prepare it in over a dozen ways. Most of those ways are in the skillet, so when I found a recipe to cook it in the oven I was a little curious of what the outcome would be. I find that cooking in the oven leaves you with a breast that is very tender, and cooked more evenly than in the skillet. (Not to knock the skillet, because it is still great!) One of the big things on my journey to eating better is that I did not want to sacrifice taste in my quest to lower calories and eat better. I'm not the type that can survive eating like a rabbit, or even try to pretend I love it. I still have rare encounters with salad, simply because I know there are better options! And what would life be like without bacon? It would definitely be a much sadder place.

Oven Baked Bacon Ranch Chicken
Slight variation of Hungry Girl's Ranch-o Bacon Chicken.
Serves.. as many as you want! This recipe can be made by the breast.
Calories per breast 186!


1 lean chicken breast cutlet
1/2 teaspoon of dry ranch dressing mix
1 tablespoon crumbled real bacon bits. (The type I use is Oscar Meyer. Don't get the fake ones!)


Switch it up!
  If you feel like mixing this recipe up a bit, you can substitute the 1 tablespoon of bacon bits with 1/2 tablespoon of French's Fried Onions and 1/2 tablespoon of bacon bits. The calorie count will remain about the same and give it an extra boost of flavor.

  Start by preheating your oven to 375. Have a cookie sheet prepared with either aluminum foil, or you can just add a little oil to your pan and coat it evenly.

  Now you are going to take your chicken breast and pound it until it is nice, flat and even. I usually do this by placing a sheet of clingwrap on my work surface, placing the chicken in the middle, then draping half of the cling wrap over it so the chicken is completely enfolded. I then beat it with my wonderful hammer until it has spread out a little bit and appears to be even. Unfold the clingwrap and place your chicken breast onto the cookie sheet. Repeat for remaining breasts, if you have any.

  Next you are going to take 1/2 a teaspoon of dry ranch mix and coat the top of the chicken breast with it. I find it spreads better if you almost use a sifting motion with your measuring spoon so it sprinkles onto it, then spread it a bit with your hand so it is evenly coated. Some will collect in the crevices of your chicken, but that is okay!

 
  Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of bacon bits over the chicken. Once you have done this, gently press the bacon bits into the breast so they are sticking to it pretty well. Most of the top of your chicken should be covered in bacon at this point. Yum! If you noticed, the second chicken breast in the photo has less bacon, but that's because I added 1/2 tablespoon of French's to switch it up a little. Repeat this for all of the chicken you are cooking.

  Place the cookie sheet into the oven. Allow to cook for 20-25 minutes. For my oven, I leave it in for the full 25. Your house is going to smell amazing within the first five minutes, and make you wish those 20 minutes were over!

  This dish is an excellent example of how you can have something indulgent, without adding a ridiculous amount of calories. Baking in the oven really makes the flavors combine well with the meat, and also helps drain excess fat. I usually pair this with green beans, but I bet a baked potato would be fantastic too. Enjoy!

I Can't Believe it's Zucchini!

  Who are you and what have you done with Lauren!?

  That's what anyone who has known me for longer than three years would say if they heard I ate an entire meal that consisted entirely of vegetables. The me from three years ago would be scoffing at me. That was the me that was enamored with Doritos after working a 12 hour shift dispatching, and putting away a microwave pizza before bed without thinking twice about the repercussions. I guess maybe hitting my mid-twenties was sort of a wake up call that my body won't love me forever.

  My husband has expressed a fondness for zucchini. We started by slicing it and pan-frying it in a bit of butter, then branched to zucchini fries baked in the oven and now we are taking it to a new dangerous level: zucchini fritters. I was honestly never a huge fan of zucchini, not going to lie. The only way I would ingest it was in the form of zucchini bread, which i'm sure eliminates any of the "good" value of the vegetable. Making these reminded me a bit of when I used to make latkes with my mother growing up, and maybe it made me enjoy them just a little more.

I Can't Believe it's Zucchini Fritters
Slight adaption from the amazing Smitten Kitchen.
Serves two
Calorie estimate for the entire recipe falls at 363, without counting the oil it is cooked in. It's hard to say how much is absorbed, but I would go ahead and just add 40 or so calories, leaving you at roughly 200 calories per serving!


1 pound of zucchini (I used three normal sized zucchini and this worked well.)
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
1 large egg, beaten
A few dashes of ground pepper
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tablespoons olive oil

Optional:
Low fat sour cream

  When I first started to make this recipe, I realized I forgot to buy one of the ingredients from the grocery store. I am convinced I would forget my head someplace if it weren't attached. Regardless, I trudged on, determined that the missing scallions wouldn't be missed too much. Start by chopping the ends of your zucchini off. Next you are going to take out your food processor. If you do not have one, you can just use a normal hand grater and grate your zucchini. If you are using the food processor, you are going to want to use the shredding blade. For my processor, it comes with a disc and one side is shred, the other is slice. Make sure you set it up properly, because this determines the consistency of your fritters.

   After you have pushed all of your zucchini through the food processor, you will have something like this. Add 1 teaspoon of salt to your heap of zucchini, toss and allow it to rest for ten minutes. While you are waiting, you can go ahead and mix your 1/2 cup flour and 1/2 teaspoon baking powder together in a small bowl. Set aside. Once the ten minutes have passed, now you will work on draining the moisture from the zucchini. I suggest using a strainer, then pushing down on the zucchini with a wooden spoon. There is a lot of water trapped in there, so don't skip this! If you don't do this properly, your fritters will get soggy. I found that placing the zucchini into a heavy duty paper towel and wringing it worked really well.

  After you remove all of the liquid, you should be left with something like this. You might want to add a little more salt to it for taste, since some was lost when you were wringing out the zucchini. 1/4 teaspoon did the trick for my batch. Add a couple dashes of pepper, and your beaten egg. Mix well. Now add your flour and baking powder mixture. Mix until well combined.

  To cook these, I broke out my beautiful cast iron skillet. If you don't have one, you can just use a normal large skillet. Add your olive oil to the pan and heat it to medium high. I kept my skillet at medium simply because for some reason my cast iron heats up more than my other skillets do.  Begin to pre-heat your oven to 200f. Once your oil is hot and bubbly, you can form small patties with either your hands like I did, or drop it down into the pan by the spoonful and flatten them with your spatula. Cook on each side until they are golden brown, or about three minutes. When they are done cooking, place them onto a cookie sheet covered with foil. Go ahead and stick your sheet with the fritters into the oven. You can add the other fritters into the oven as you cook. I set the timer for ten minutes from when I put in the first batch of fritters, and they came out fantastic.

  When you are done, you can add anything your heart desires to the fritters. I topped mine with a teaspoon of low fat sour cream. The me from three years ago is in awe at how great these are. Look at what i've been missing! Enjoy!

Stickless, grilless, delicious steak kabobs.

    I love weekends. They are the only time off my husband gets, which i'm appreciative he gets any considering his occupation. Today we went out on an adventure, and came back home with the appetite to prove it. Let me start by saying that we do indeed own a nice little charcoal grill. It works perfectly fine, but for some reason whenever we actually use it things go awry. Last time we tried to heat the coals in a little chimney we have, the chimney that is supposed to be fire-resistant caught fire. Oops. After that mishap, we did not have enough coals left to cook our kabobs all the way through, so we opted to finish cooking them indoors on a skillet. After trying the lone kabob that cooked on our crippled grill, and one from the skillet we realized the skillet option is surprisingly tasty as well. This gave birth to my own recipe.

LC's Stickless, Grilless, Steak Kabobs
Serves two.


1 green bell pepper
1 white onion
1 large tomato
2 pounds of kabob meat. (If your grocery store doesn't sell pre-packaged beef kabob, I imagine chuck would work well.)
Olive oil, to coat the skillet
A few dashes of ground pepper
Your favorite seasoning. (My must have for steak is Cavender's Greek seasoning.)

   Just so you guys know, my husband is excited about my blog too. So excited, he in fact wanted to take some action shots of me chopping the day away. Start by pre-heating your skillet on medium with a small amount of olive oil. Now it's time to chop our veggies! You can leave them in bigger chunks like you normally would for kabobs, or deviate from the course and cut them smaller. I like deviating. I also like flying off on tangents. I like to leave my tomato chunks large, but I prefer to cut my onion in the same fashion I do for my Philly's. Same goes for the bell pepper.

  

   When you are done, you should have a beautiful pile like this. I really love the color that green pepper gives, but you can also use red if you want (or if you forget things at the grocery store like I do.) Now you can add your nicely chopped veggies into your heated skillet. Add a few dashes of ground pepper. Cook these for 3 minutes until they start to soften a bit. 

  Now let's focus on the meat. Usually I do not eat red meat, so don't expect too many recipes containing it. Red meat is known to heighten your pain receptors, so for people with chronic pain issues it is usually a big no-no... but i'm totally okay with love-hate relationships. Sometimes I spoil myself. That and my husband would surely divorce me if I banned red meat entirely. While your veggies are cooking, go ahead and sprinkle some of your seasoning of choice onto your meat. Don't smother it, but don't skimp either! 

   Once your three minutes are up, your veggies should look something like this! Go ahead and add your meat into the skillet at this point. Turn the heat up to medium high. (My stove uses numbers instead of words, so it sits smack in the middle of five and six.) Allow this to cook for eight minutes covered, stirring a few times to make sure your meat cooks evenly. You will want to drain this a few times. I had to drain mine twice. This eliminates a lot of the fat from the meat and allows things to cook more efficiently. Your real gauge for time is if your meat is well browned. If you still need more time, don't feel bad for bending the rules a little bit!

     And now the best part of every meal. Consumption! You can easily serve this over a bed of rice. We prefer to eat it with beans, because that's just how we roll. This will leave you with a little bit of leftovers! I hope everyone has a happy and safe Labor day! Enjoy!

Skinny Philly

   Today my husband had a date. A date with his friend, to play Nintendo 64. Goldeneye more exactly. If you were wondering, no, they don't ever grow up. I had to come up with something we could eat within a 30 minute window from prep to consumption so we could be done and cleaned up in time for him to play. We opted for one of my new favorite's, a variation of Hungry Girl's Philly Burger.

   Before I get to the recipe, let me give you all a little background. My husband is active duty in the Navy, and when we first met one of the things he obsessed over was the Philly Cheesesteaks they made in the galley at his base in West Virginia. Undeniably, they were incredible. A perfect marriage of flavors! However, the combo of meat, cheese and a giant piece of bread doesn't calculate to a low calorie option. With HG's help, I was able to get what my husband called "as close as possible" to that legendary sandwich he loves so much all while landing well below 400 calories per sandwich.

LC's Skinny Philly
Slight variation of Hungry Girl's Philly burger swap.
Serves 2 adults


1 white onion, diced
1 green pepper
2 slices of fat free American cheese (I use Kraft.)
4 teaspoons light sour cream
2 Boca burgers. (Keep in mind the different varieties have different amounts of calories, the one I use has 70.)
Olive oil, for skillet
A few dashes of pepper
4 slices of 50 calorie bread, or sandwich thins.

This meal is super easy and filling. We'll start by pre-heating our skillet on medium heat with just enough olive oil added to coat the pan. Continue by taking our onion and removing the outer layer. I usually cut the onion in two, then cut the halves into two and slice them thinly. (Not paper thin, but thick enough that they will soften nicely in the skillet) Take your green pepper, slice it in half. Remove the seeds, and then slice the remaining pepper. Cut these in half so they aren't quite so long. (You'll appreciate this when you are actually eating it later! Otherwise it can be difficult to eat!) You should now have something like the picture above! I love the way freshly cut veggies look. Now we are ready to add these into our pre-heated skillet.

Allow your veggies to cook on medium for three minutes. Add a few dashes of pepper just to season lightly. Stir occasionally to make sure they don't burn completely on the bottom, and just soften slightly.

Meanwhile, we can practice multi-tasking.. which doesn't always pan out well for me, but hey, we can try! Start tearing up your sliced cheese into little bits, and add them into the bowl. Please ignore that I have more then I wrote. I was making more because my husband wanted extra! Add 4 teaspoons of light sour cream to the bowl, and stir until the sour cream has coated the cheese. Set aside for right now, I bet your timer is screaming at you.

Using a spatula, shift your veggies over to one side of the skillet. This will be the area where you will cook your burgers. Don't worry if you don't have much space to work with, since you won't really need to stir your veggies anymore after this point.  Cook your burgers for 4 minutes on each side, so eight minutes collectively. If you want to toast your bread, I suggest you do that before your burgers are done cooking so you are ready to build your awesome creation as soon as you can.

Now that your burgers are nearing completion, let's get back to what is really important. Cheese. I love cheese, don't you? Cheese will be the death of me, and my waistline. Not today! Take your bowl and place it into the microwave. Nuke it for 15 seconds. Take your bowl out and stir the mixture so it is well combined. Place it back into the microwave again, and nuke it for another 10 seconds. Stir once more so it is well combined, and your end result will be the above. Perfectly smooth, cheesy deliciousness.

Finally you are ready to assemble! You can make this however you wish. Heck, you can even eat it without bread if you want to cut even more calories. Don't feel bad if you have just a little extra veggies. I use a lot because I like to pile them high! The way I prepared mine, it falls at 270 calories per burger. Enjoy!

Snack Attack: Numero uno.

Snacks are awesome. We all know this. What isn't awesome? Sometimes they add a large amount of calories to your daily total if you aren't careful. There are plenty of great options if you feel a little nibbly between meals. Here are some of my current favorites!

Chocolate-fix
-Fiber one 90 calorie brownie-


I'm a woman. That isn't a secret. I also have the stereotypical, head over heels kind of love for chocolate. Chocolate usually means bad news bears unless you are excellent with self control, which I can sometimes lack with my rabid sweet tooth. One day, the clouds parted and behold:

These guys entered my life. The name says it all, 90 calories of delicious brownie. They are so good, even my husband was stunned that it was low calorie. The portion size is a little on the small side, but if you nibble it slowly it is definitely filling and satisfies that nagging drive to eat chocolate. They also come in a peanut butter version, which is great, but not AS good as the fudge.

Runner up...
-Deep Chocolate Vitatops-

I cannot tell you enough how fantastic these vitatops are. (Though honestly i've only found one flavor I don't like) These muffins are only 100 calories a pop, and are filling enough to be an entire breakfast. You can microwave them, toast them in your toaster or eat them straight. You can top them with a little fat free cool-whip or even fruit. More grocery stores are beginning to carry them in their freezer sections, but you can also order them online here. The site also has a store locator so you can find out if they are carried locally.

That's it for this edition of Snack Attack. Stay tuned for more in the future! Also feel free to shoot me questions or suggestions!

The best way to start a weekend.

Here I am, the new girl in town.

A few days ago my darling husband made the suggestion that I should start a food blog. After musing about it for a moment, I decided it would be fun. The funny thing about this is when I first started dating him I didn't know how to cook much else besides grilled cheese, macaroni & cheese and tacos. Long story short, I branched out a little. At one point I realized that there has to be a way to eat better, lose weight, and not cut out all of the "good stuff." After doing a fair share of research, experiments and searching, I indeed found the magical path to eating things that are still delicious and lost fifty pounds along the way. Here I will share with you my favorites, some recipes will be the "skinny" version, others will be smaller portion size so you can be naughty every once in a while. (Which is important!)

Weekends for my husband and I are special. They are the one time we allow ourselves to be bad. And by bad, I mean we allow ourselves to be complete fat kids. One of our favorites is breakfast, and to start out my healthy blog I am going to share a pancake recipe just to prove the point that I am indeed human too and still have a place in my heart for breakfast food. (Don't get me started on bacon!) These pancakes have changed my concept of how breakfast should be. If you asked me a few years ago how i'd prepare my pancakes, i'd usually answer Bisquick. This recipe changed my world, and my picky husband's. They are wonderful and fluffy. Crisp on the outside, soft on the inside. Perfection.


LC's Buttermilk Pancakes
Slightly adapted from The Food network
Serves two pretty hungry adults.


Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/8 cup sugar (splenda works really well too if you want to sub that in)
1 1/8 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 cup buttermilk* (see note below on how to make this with 2% milk)
2 tablespoons melted margarine, and a bit extra to melt in the skillet (I use I Can't Believe It's Not Butter)


*If you do not have buttermilk, there is an easy way to prepare it while you make the dry mix for your batter. I skinny down the recipe by creating buttermilk by using 2% milk. For every cup of milk you are using, you need to add 1 tablespoon of white vinegar. Combine these two in a glass and allow to sit for five minutes prior to use. I find this is a lot healthier, and more efficient then just buying buttermilk at the store.

      Start by pre-heating your skillet on the stove. I find the sweet spot for the heat is right between 4 and 5, but every stove is different! Put a small amount of butter into the skillet and leave it to do it's thing. Continue by getting out a larger bowl, and placing a sifter on top of it. Measure out your flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and sugar into the sifter, then shake until all of it has passed through. Set aside the dry mixture and take out a smaller bowl and a glass you can heat in the microwave. Place your two tablespoons of butter into your glass and microwave it for about 30 seconds. Let it sit for a minute or two. While it is sitting you can combine your egg with your buttermilk in the small bowl. Make sure they are well combined. Once they are combined, add the butter you melted in the microwave. Mix well. Now you are ready to mix your wet and dry ingredients!

Your batter should look like this. Do not stir it too much, or your pancakes will be flatter then they are supposed to be. Your batter will be a bit lumpy, but that is totally okay. If you find it is a little thick for some reason, add a small splash of milk to thin it out.  Now it's time to cook these bad boys. Add a large spoonful into the center of your pre-heated skillet. Allow the pancake to rest until it has visibly risen and you see numerous bubbles coming up in the center. Once the edges look a little puffed, and there are bubbles in the center, flip! I use a long metal spatula, but you can toss it like a pro if you feel like it! Allow it to cook on the opposite side for a minute or two, then transfer to a plate. Repeat with the remaining batter. This should create four fairly good size pancakes.

Yum, yum, yum. Now you can add all manner of things as toppings. I add a small amount of syrup, but I imagine fruit would be fantastic too! I figured i'd invite you guys over for breakfast to start things off! I promise to have "skinnier" items, I just happen to be a glutton too. Enjoy, and thank you for joining me!

-Lauren