Skinny Penne ala Vodka

Today is my day off so I'm a little bored. Going to try to re-vamp my penne ala vodka recipe with greek yogurt. The first incarnation used heavy cream and was delicious (obviously). Then I tried to replace the heavy cream with skim milk and cornstarch. It was OK, but I haven't made it since then. 

I saw on Pinterest an article about substituting greek yogurt for things into recipes. Then I realized greek yogurt may make a decent replacement. The tomato sauce should take some of the zing out of the yogurt, but the creamy consistency should make the sauce right. Here is what I tried...

Skinny Penne a la Vodka. With my dog Mickey's collar resting on the coffee table. (He had a bath earlier today.)

What You'll Need:

1 pound whole wheat penne pasta

1 (28 oz) can of crushed tomatoes

½ cup greek yogurt

1 tsp olive oil

1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes (more for spicier!)

¾ tablespoon salt

2 tablespoons vodka

¼ chopped fresh parsley (or dried)

2 tablespoons minced garlic

How You'll Do It:

1.     Boil a pot of water, cook penne pasta al dente. Set aside.

2.     In large skillet, heat olive oil over moderate heat. Add garlic and red pepper to skillet and cook until garlic is browned.

3.     Add tomatoes and salt; bring to boil.

4.     Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.

5.    Add vodka to pan and bring to a boil. Then set heat to low, and add greek yogurt. Add pasta and toss. Stir in fresh parsley and serve!

Here are some other great ways to save calories with Greek yogurt!

Final verdict: I miss the full-fat, excess-calories-I-don't-need-and-can't-bring-myself-to-eat-anymore version, but this one passes muster. I added more red pepper than in the recipe, I love things spicy!

"Boring" Baked Chicken

It's a weird time at the townhouse this week. Evan is in Malaysia for work, he is doing a yearly calibration on some equipment over there. So it's just me and the pups this week.

After a less-than-nutritious weekend, I am going to start fresh and cook again this week. It may seem strange, but I hate cooking when no one is here. I just think, what's the point? But I need to remember to stay on track and ordering take-out is not gonna work.

So I'm going to make simple baked chicken tonight. It's a little plain but healthy and can be spiced up with buffalo sauce. The spices I've added to the breading are completely personalized to me, so sub whatever spices you like best.

Man, my pictures aren't great. Apologies, it tasted great. (That is hot buffalo sauce on the side.)

What You'll Need: (For a single serving)

1 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast
1/2 cup Italian breadcrumbs
1 egg
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon parsley
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1/2 tablespoon lemon pepper
salt and pepper

How You'll Do It:

1. Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees and spray Pam on a foil-lined pan.
2. Trim the chicken of any excess fat, rinse off and sprinkle with salt and pepper. In a small bowl, crack the egg and add the minced garlic. Mix vigorously with a fork.
2. In a separate bowl, add remaining ingredients and mix well. Dredge the chicken first in the egg mixture then press into the breadcrumbs.
3. Place chicken in the foil lined pan and cover loosely with another piece of foil. Bake for about 50 minutes or cooked through.
4. Enjoy!

The covering of the pan with tin foil really helps the chicken to remain juicy. Believe me, this recipe is not conducive to dried out chicken.

Better picture. This was my 2nd night this week eating baked chicken, but can't complain! It was good.

Orange Chicken

I love making orange chicken. It's one of my favorite braising dishes.

Once you've seared the chicken, remove it from the skillet and prepare the sauce.

I vary the ingredients sometimes, but these are the general ingredients

What You'll Need:

1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, seared for several minutes to be browned
1 jar of sugar-free orange marmalade (Saves on calories! Only 10 calories a tablespoon rather than 50!)
2 teaspoons of ginger
1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
1/2 cup orange juice
crushed red pepper flakes to taste

How You'll Do It:

1. Once you've removed the chicken, deglaze the pan with water or some of the orange juice.
2. Add all the sauce ingredients and mix well. Bring to a boil.
3. Once it's boiling, lower the heat and bring it to a simmer. Add the chicken back to the pan and continue cooking for 10-15 minutes or until the sauce thickens.
4. Enjoy!

Sorry I don't have a finished picture, this attempt wasn't very photogenic. I served it with brown rice and broccoli, the perfect replacement for fatty take-out!

Cass' Braising Method

I'm going to share a method of cooking chicken that I've become quite fond of - braising.

I like making baked chicken but when we want a little something extra, I always make one of my braising dishes like orange chicken or chicken marsala. It's a good way to keep the calorie count down while making a flavorful sauce.

Full disclosure: I'm not a professional chef and this is just an easy, delicious way to cook for me.

Here is some info from the Wikipedia page on braising: 

"Braising (from the French “braiser”) is a combination cooking method using both moist and dry heat; typically the food is first seared at a high temperature and then finished in a covered pot with a variable amount of liquid, resulting in a particular flavor."

I start out by cutting chicken breasts into pieces (usually into bite-sized pieces but I like keeping them chicken cutlet sized to make it feel like I'm eating more) and if you'd like, dredging them in cornstarch or flour. (Once again, diet tip I stopped doing this. It creates a crispier crust on the chicken I'm sure but I've learned to live without it.)

Then, spray a skillet with Pam (or a small bit of coconut oil) and heat over a medium-high heat. Add your chicken breasts and cook on each side for about 3 minutes, or until the outside starts to brown. Don't worry about cooking them all the way through, this searing method helps keep the outsides crispy by allowing the chicken to cook in the sauce.

The chicken being seared - my pictures always look so crummy.

Once you've seared the chicken, remove it from the pan. Deglaze with a little bit of water or whatever liquid you have on hand (soy sauce, chicken broth, whatever you are using for your sauce) to get all the leftover goodness into your sauce. Then add your sauce! It can be as simple as adding marsala wine with chicken broth for chicken marsala.

Bring the sauce to a boil, and then lower to a simmer. Add your chicken back into the skillet and continue cooking (stirring occasionally) for about 10-15 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and your sauce thickens. Then, enjoy!

This method has helped me cut a lot of calories. My go-to chicken dish used to be frying breaded chicken cutlets. While that is delicious, this is just as good and diet-friendlier.

Chicken Quesadillas

Using up that leftover roasted chicken from this weekend to make chicken quesadillas! It's one of my favorite meals, even more so when I spend the time making my own tortillas. But I decided to spare myself some time (and extra kitchen clean-up, I'm terrible with dough) and use lower-cal whole wheat tortillas.

No recipe here really, I just chop up our favorites veggies with a little bit of coconut oil:

Chop the chicken and put some seasoning on it. 

Mix chicken & veggies together in the skillet, then sprinkle a spoonful of this (sodium-heavy I'm sure, but haven't found a better substitute) quesadilla seasoning packet all over it.

And add it to a tortilla, top with cheese and grill on the George Foreman. It's a simple & delicious dinner. I'm serving it with kidney beans and a red-leaf salad. 

Here's the nutritional run-down courtesy of my Up app.

In other news, we started looking at places for the wedding! It all already feels like its happening way too quickly. Also, Evan is headed to Malaysia on Saturday for business so it's going to be interesting to see how I do nutritionally. I usually won't prepare a normal homemade meal when I'm by myself, it seems pointless. But I'm going to try to stay the course while he's gone. I'm sure my Up band will be pleased :). 

Here's the finished product! (Full disclosure, I could only finish 3/4 of it. All that fiber!)

Sweet, Spicy & Sticky Wings

We are still in celebration mode at the townhouse!!

I asked Evan what he wanted for dinner and he went with his go-to favorite food: hot wings! We make them at home more than ordering them for take-out because we bake the wings to make them healthier. And they are just as delicious!

I have a sauce for "sweet, spicy & sticky chicken", which is as delicious as it sounds. I've revised the recipe a bit to our personal tastes. I usually use it with chicken breasts and braise them in the sauce after searing. Tonight I'm going to try dunking the wings in it!

What You'll Need:
2 lbs. chicken wings, tips discarded
1 cup all-purpose flour
salt and pepper

How You'll Do It:
3 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons of honey
1/2 cup low-sodium soy sauce
2 teaspoons ground ginger (more if you like it spicy!)
1 tablespoon minced garlic
3 tablespoons hot sauce (we use Frank's Hot Buffalo wing sauce)
Pam spray

1. Salt & pepper the wings thoroughly. Then dredge the wings into the flour and place on a lined pan. Put the wings uncovered in the fridge for a few hours. (This process dries out the wings so the skin crisps up and doesn't get soggy)
2. Pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees and place wings inside for 45 minutes. (Longer if you like them crispier, we usually do a full hour) Flip wings over halfway through cooking time.
3. In a saucepan, spray with Pam liberally. Add the minced garlic and sauteé for a few minutes, until garlic begins to turn brown. Add remaining ingredients to saucepan and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for about 10 minutes, the sauce should thicken.
4. When the wings are done to your liking, toss them in the sauce.
5. Enjoy!

Our dinner tonight! Served with brown rice & brussel sprouts. As you can tell from the pics, we needed a lot of napkins.

Now, this isn't the MOST healthy recipe I make because of the brown sugar and honey. But it does satisfy any craving Evan & I have for take-out hot wings which are deep fried and awful for you! So, everything in moderation.

Happy News!

Got some really happy news!!

Evan & I are engaged!

We are so, so thrilled and can't wait to celebrate with our families! 

Roasted Chicken

Here I am again :)

On tonight's menu is a roasted chicken. Buying a whole roaster is great for a lot of reasons: it is less expensive than just buying chicken breasts, you get a ton of meat for the price, roasted chicken is about as low calorie as you can make chicken, and the leftovers are great for during the week when things get crazy!

Sometimes I buy the "ready-to-roast" chickens, those are great. They come with their own little roasting bag all ready to go and you just pop them in the oven. If anyone is turned off by this recipe that I'm outlining, try that instead!

The essential step to this recipe is to brine the chicken. You've probably heard of this technique, it's mostly used for Thanksgiving day turkeys to infuse moisture and flavor into the bird. The good news is, it also works amazingly with chicken! (Or any other poultry for that matter.) I looked online to find some more technical info on brining and here's what I found:

Have you ever wondered how restaurants make chicken taste so much better than it does at home? The answer is by using a chicken brine. Brining a chicken or brining a turkey is so simple and it makes the biggest difference of anything you can do to make your chicken or turkey taste better. A turkey brine or chicken brine makes chicken taste so good because it improves the two most important things, the meat becomes juicier and it has more flavor.

The magical ingredient in a brine is salt. When a chicken or turkey is placed in the denser salty water brine, the water density of the chicken will want to increase to the same level as the water it's sitting in. The brine water forces it's way into the meat bringing along all the flavors you added to it. Marinating a chicken or turkey doesn't do this. A marinade only flavors the skin of the meat, it doesn't flavor or moisten all the way through the meat like a brine.

I'm not very exact with this recipe, (as with a lot of my cooking) I just "wing" it. (Double-reference to the chicken wings? Sure!)

What You'll Need:

1 whole chicken roaster (mine are usually around 6 lbs.)
2 large roasting bags (you can usually find them with the ziploc bags and plastic wrap!)
1 gallon water
5 chicken bouillon cubes
tons of kosher sea salt (You'd want the water to be as salty as the ocean!)
4 tablespoons parsley
4 tablespoons garlic powder

How You'll Do It:

1. Rinse chicken and remove giblets if necessary. Bring water and all other ingredients to a boil in a saucepan.
2. Continue boiling brine until all the salt has dissolved into the water. Turn off heat and allow mixture to cool.
3. Place chicken in one of the roasting bags and fill with the saltwater mixture.
4. Place the bagged chicken into the fridge for atleast 4 hours. (Overnight is preferable) Periodically turn the bag over to make sure the brine is getting to all parts of the chicken.
5. When you are ready to cook, pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees and pull the chicken out of the bag. Rinse and pat the chicken dry and place into the 2nd roasting bag. Dress the chicken however you'd prefer. (I know people like to put pats of butter under the skin, or season it with different spices. I usually stick some garlic powder and parsley underneatth the skin)
6. Cook for 20 minutes per pound, plus 15-20 minutes. (So with the chicken I'm cooking tonight, I've got it in for 135 minutes. I've read that brined meat cooks faster, but I usually stick to the recommended times just to make sure nothing is undercooked.)
7. Once cooked, pull the chicken out and allow to rest for atleast 20 minutes. (I know it's hard, but don't skip this step! It helps the chicken retain all the awesome juiciness you brined into it.)
8. Enjoy!

I'm not great with taking pictures, but this is definitely going to be a photographic meal tonight! I'm serving it with sweet potatos and carrots for the perfect healthy & satisfying meal. I know Evan can't wait to come home and eat his favorite part - the legs! I'm looking forward to eating one of the breasts, I'm a white meat gal myself. :)

PLUS, we always have tons of leftovers to incorporate into other dishes. For instance, we love making chicken quesadillas! Chicken salad and cold sandwiches are also great uses for the leftovers.

Good luck brining!

Living Up!

In the beginning of 2013, I was trying to find ways to increase my fitness, lower my weight and maximize my energy. I stumbled upon the Up Band by Jawbone online and was intrigued by it. I asked Evan if it could be my Valentine's Day present and on February 14th, 2013 (along with flowers and the contradicting chocolates) I got my Up Band.

My Up Band! (Evan got it in black hoping it would go with everything. Retrospectively, I'd prefer white or mint but I didn't get this for fashion!)

The Up Band is a water-proof bracelet that you wear 24/7 and it can log your food, sleep and activity levels. It's best used if you do step-based workouts like the treadmill however it is possible to log other exercise. The app probably isn't as accurate on calculating the calorie burn. It connects to your phone via the headphone jack and uploads your data everytime it syncs using the free downloadable app. 

A sample day where I was on target with my nutritional goals, but not my calories. (I try to eat 1200 calories a day.) I added some fruit at the end of the night for dessert to bring my calorie count up.

For me, this was a turning point nutritionally. I used to judge foods basely solely on their calorie content, but this app helped (almost forced) me to think deeper about my nutrition. For instance, if I'm starved at 3PM I was able to correllate it to not eating enough fiber at breakfast & lunch. When I stay on target with these goals, I feel better and more satisfied with food. It's really been a help and I can see myself sticking with this eating plan long-term.

Sample calorie burn for a day. The big orange lines are my workouts. My goal is to be active for 1 hour and 15 minutes everyday with atleast 7,500 steps. 

My sleep data for last night. Not too shabby.

The band also tracks my sleep when I set it to "night mode". I like this feature, but it could be more sensitive. Sometimes I don't think it tracks when I wake up earlier than my alarm in the morning. However, I love the alarm feature on the band. You can set a time in the app - say I need to wake up at 8:00AM. The Up Band claims to track your light and deep sleep phases and wake you up at the correct time during your light sleep phase. The light sleep phases are represented by the light blue bars, the deep sleep by the darker blue. Orange is the awake time. I have a window of 30 minutes open before 8AM and the band tries to wake me up at the optimal time and the optimal way by having the bracelet vibrate. As a person who hates the grating noise of a audible alarm, it's a much more pleasant way to wake up. So although the sleep tracking could be better (sometimes when I'm very still but unable to fall asleep, it thinks I have) I love this feature as well. 

So all in all, if you are looking to get a handle on your nutrition and calorie burn, I would highly recommend the Up Band by Jawbone. I'd suggest buying this product in person instead of online (it is available at Best Buy) so you can determine which size band you need. It comes in different ones since the bracelet is meant to fit snugly on each person. 

If you want to try the app first without making the financial commitment, download the Up app on your iPhone or Android. You can use the nutritional tracking to start off. 

Hope this information helped you! Have an awesome Sunday!

Basics of a Pizza Stone

As mentioned in my other post on pizza, using a pizza stone is a great way to increase your satisfaction with a homemade pizza. A pizza stone allows the crust to cook more evenly and to crisp the bottom of the pie. Here are some important tips to get the most out of your pizza stone:

• ALWAYS put your pizza stone in the oven while it is pre-heating. It allows the stone to get hot to maximize the pizza cooking and if a cold stone is put in a hot oven, it could shatter. 
• If you haven't used your pizza stone a lot, make sure to flour the surface! Once you have made a few pizzas, this won't be necessary because the stone soaks up any oil that comes off your pizza. But believe me, it's a buzz kill when you have a beautiful pizza ready to eat and you have to cannibalize it to get it off the pizza stone and it winds up being a pizza-flavored mess!
• Only wash your stone with WARM WATER. As mentioned above, the stone soaks things up including soap. Washing with just water doesn't always get it "clean" but once again, as mentioned above, the efficacy of your pizza stone actually increases as it soaks up all the pizza goodness. (So also goes without saying, no dishwasher as well)

This inexpensive Oneida pizza stone at Bed Bath & Beyond has been great for us. At $14.99, it's a bargain. 

Good luck with your future pizza endeavors!

Homemade Pizza

I've always liked making my own pizza because its inexpensive and I know everything that goes into it (additives and calorie-wise). But it was a challenge finding a pizza crust recipe that Evan & I liked. I'm a New Yorker, so I can be pretty brutal when it comes to judging pizza.

I came across this simple recipe for a crust on AllRecipes.com and tweaked it to fit our tastes perfectly. I think when it comes to pizza sauce it's more "to each their own" but I included the basic sauce I use when I'm not using left-over slow cooker sauce.

Important notes:

• the bread flour is crucial!! All Purpose flour will make the crust much more "pastry" and light. You want a denser, crunchier crust that crisps up nicely in the oven
• I'd recommend investing in a pizza stone if you want great homemade pizza. They aren't too expensive. Our pizza stone was only $14.99 and it works great. I've got a lot of tips and thoughts on using a pizza stone, so check this post on pizza stones out before you start cookin'. 

Homemade Pizza

You'll Need:
For the crust -

• 1 packet (or 2 1/4 teaspoons) of active dry yeast
• 1 cup warm water
• 2 cups bread flour 
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1/2 tablespoon parsley
• 1/2 tablespoon basil
• 1/2 tablespoon oregano

For the sauce - 

• 2 cups tomato puree 
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons oregano
• 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• crushed red pepper flakes (to taste, we like things spicy around here!)
• salt, to taste

How To Do It:

1. Dissolve yeast in warm water, stir and let stand for 10 minutes. Mixture should become creamy. 
2. Combine all ingredients, stir to make dough. Let stand loosely covered for atleast an hour. 
3. In saucepan, mix all ingredients and bring to a boil. Then simmer on low heat for atleast 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Place pizza stone in cold oven and pre-heat to 350 degrees.
5. Turn dough on well-floured surface and work into circular shape. Top with your sauce and mozzerella cheese. 
6. Bake for 20 minutes on pre-heated stone.
7. Enjoy!

Going to try to get some pictures for you tonight, this pizza is on the menu!