Light Potatoes Au Gratin

For the first time this year, Rick and I decided to cook Easter dinner at home, just the two of us. I have been traveling for the past couple of weeks, and we have family coming into town for the next couple of weeks, so we needed a quiet weekend for two. 

We bought a spiral ham for the main event, but it's always a little sad celebrating a holiday without the rest of our family, so I thought of something that might make our holiday at home a little less sad - potatoes au gratin. I mean, how can you feel like you're missing out when there are cheesy potatoes on the table? And since I was in charge of making the meal, I could make a healthier recipe, and still have room for dessert.

As I typically do when I want a healthy recipe that's guaranteed to be delicious, I checked out the Skinnytaste website. And sure enough, there was a recipe for potatoes au gratin! I made a few minor tweaks - primarily, adding additional cheese - and was very happy with the end result. I served the ham and potatoes with a side of cinnamon roasted butternut squash (recipe to come shortly!).

The best part of cooking Easter dinner for two? Plenty of leftovers! I can't wait to reheat the leftover potatoes and we have enough ham to last us for a month - does anyone know of any good leftover ham recipes?

Light Potatoes Au Gratin

(adapted slightly from Skinnytaste) 

Ingredients:

2 lbs all-purpose potatoes (approximately 4-5 potatoes), peeled
2 tbsp Country Crock or other light butter, melted
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 cup reduced fat cheddar cheese
1 1/2 cups reduced fat/skim milk
pinch nutmeg
1 1/2 tsp thyme

Directions:

1. Slice potatoes into thin rounds.
2. Add potatoes, melted butter, salt, pepper, and garlic powder to a large bowl, and mix together well.
3. Add 1/2 of the potato mixture to a greased 9x12 inch pan, distributing the potatoes evenly across the pan. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup of the cheddar cheese. Add the other 1/2 of the potato mixture.
4. In a small saucepan, bring the milk, nutmeg, and thyme to a boil over high heat. Pour boiling mixture evenly over the potatoes.
5. Top with the remaining 3/4 cup of cheese.
6. Bake, uncovered, at 425 degrees for 45-50 minutes. (*I was cooking the ham at 325 degrees, so I baked the potatoes at 325 for 40 minutes, then increased the oven temperature to 425 degrees for another 20 minutes.) Serve hot!

*Makes 6-8 servings

Light Shrimp and Asparagus Orzo with Feta and Tomatoes

My coworkers were discussing orzo recently, and it got me thinking that while I have loved orzo any time it has been served, I have never actually made it myself. Inspired by this conversation, I bought a box of orzo the next time I was at the grocery store. Next, I needed to figure out what to do with it!

I found a recipe for a shrimp, feta, and asparagus orzo on Pinterest, and knew I had found a winner. Shrimp and asparagus is a favorite combination of mine, and cheese is always delicious! Honestly, the feta cheese was a nice bonus, but I think you could easily leave it out if you aren’t a fan of feta or want to lower the calories in the dish. I wanted a bit more flavor and liquid in the dish, so I decided to add in a can of Italian stewed tomatoes - they were the perfect addition!

The one thing I forgot as I was cooking this meal is that if you try to cook garlic and red pepper flakes with vegetable oil in a higher temperature, you run the risk of burning the kitchen down and choking simultaneously. Lesson learned. Luckily Rick was there to help me open some windows and turn on the kitchen fan, so no permanent harm done! Learn from my mistakes, and don’t cook the garlic and red pepper flakes above anything more than low to medium heat.

The finished product was colorful, flavorful, and yummy. Aside from the garlic/red pepper mishap, it was very easy to make and took only 20 minutes or so from start to finish. The orzo is very light but filling, and I think this will be a great dish to add to my rotation this spring!

Light Shrimp and Asparagus Orzo with Feta and Tomatoes (adapted from Serious Eats)

Ingredients:

4 ounces orzo
1 tablespoon vegetable or canola oil, and a little more for the pasta
2 medium cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (more or less to taste)
1/2 bunch asparagus, ends trimmed and chopped into 2-inch pieces 
salt and pepper
3/4 - 1 pound peeled and deveined shrimp
1 can Italian stewed tomatoes
1/3 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
2 tablespoons lemon juice (or more to taste)
1/2 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup crumbled reduced fat feta cheese (optional)

Directions:

1. Cook orzo according to package instructions until cooked al dente. Drain and return to the pot, and toss with a little vegetable oil to keep from clumping.
2. Add oil to a skillet on low-medium heat. Once hot, add garlic and red pepper flakes and cook about 1 minute until fragrant. Add the asparagus and season with salt and pepper. Cook about 3-4 minutes, until the asparagus is tender but crisp. Move the asparagus to the sides of the skillet and add the shrimp. Cook approximately 2 minutes per side, until pink and opaque. Add the tomatoes (including most of the juice in the can) to the skillet and cook for an additional 2 minutes.
3. Add the orzo to the skillet, along with the basil, lemon juice, extra-virgin olive oil and feta. Stir to combine, allow orzo to heat through, then remove from heat and serve immediately.

*Serves 3-4

Light Chicken Parmesan Casserole

Is anyone else sick of the cold weather? We finally got a joyous reprieve from the cold in DC yesterday, but I know not to trust that it's here to stay - especially since we still have snow piles from Monday's snowstorm! I decided to take advantage of the cold weather and a snow day last week, though, and try out a casserole recipe that I've had my eye on for awhile.

This chicken parmesan casserole met my basic requirements for a good recipe - few steps, little preparation time, one dish, and lots of cheese! I also knew that I have a busy couple of weeks coming up, so I wanted to load up my freezer with some easy-to-reheat dishes, and I love casseroles for that purpose.

The original recipe seemed a little weak on the flavor front, so I thought it would be good to add some additional Italian spices to the dish. I was suspicious about how the croutons would taste, but they added a nice, buttery crunch to complement the dish! I served the casserole with a side salad, which made for a delicious meal. I look forward to having these leftovers soon!

Light Chicken Parmesan Casserole
adapted from Emily Bites

Ingredients:

2 lbs raw chicken breasts, cubed
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (or more to taste)
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1/4 cup fresh basil, finely chopped
2 cups marinara sauce 
1 1/2 cups 2% reduced fat shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
2 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
3 1/2 oz garlic croutons (such as New York Texas Toast brand Garlic & Butter), roughly crushed

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Lay the cubed chicken pieces on a lightly sprayed 13x9 inch pan, so that they fully cover the bottom of the pan in one, even layer.
3. Spread the minced garlic, red pepper flakes, Italian seasoning, and basil evenly over top the chicken. Pour the marinara sauce evenly across the chicken and seasonings. Then add half of the mozzarella cheese and half of the Parmesan cheese over the casserole. Top with an even coating of croutons, and finish the casserole with the rest of the mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses.
4. Cover the casserole with aluminum foil and bake in the oven for 30 minutes. Take the casserole out of the oven, remove the foil, and bake for another 10-15 minutes.
5. Let cool for 5 minutes, and enjoy!

*Serves 8

(Healthier) Cake Mix Cookies

My mom is quite an excellent baker, but one of my favorite of her recipes is one of her simplest - cake mix cookies. 3 ingredients and less than half an hour is all you need to make this delicious dessert!

The initial recipe called for 1/2 cup of vegetable oil, but I wanted to make them a bit healthier so I swapped out the oil for unsweetened applesauce. In my opinion, the swap doesn't change the taste at all, although it does make the cookies slightly chewier. My taste testers certainly didn't complain!

I was making these for Valentine's Day, so I made a few of the cookies much larger than the others, baked them, and after letting them cool for 2 minutes I used a heart-shaped cutout to turn these into a fun Valentine's-themed dessert. I topped the cookies with powdered sugar and they were ready to serve!

One thing I love about cake mix cookies -besides how easy they are to make- is that you can make an endless number of variations. You can use any type of cake mix to bake cake mix cookies. This time I used devil's food cake, but I also love using yellow cake mix, and I'm guessing that red velvet cake mix would turn out equally delicious. You can also mix in any toppings that suit your fancy - I love to use M&Ms and chocolate or peanut butter chips, but nuts or dried fruits (such as Craisins) would also be good. 

(Healthier) Cake Mix Cookies

Ingredients:

1 box of your favorite kind of cake mix (I used Devil's Food Cake)
1/2 cup applesauce
2 eggs
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips (or other toppings of choice, including nuts, candy pieces, or dried fruit)
Powdered sugar for topping (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Mix ingredients together in a large bowl until well blended.
3. Drop rounded tablespoons of cookie dough onto ungreased cookie sheets.
4. Bake cookies for approximately 8 minutes, until the edges start to brown.
5. Let cool, and enjoy!

*Makes approximately 2 dozen cookies

Mango Turkey Burgers

I know what you're probably thinking - "Mango? In a turkey burger?" I was thinking the same thing when I first stumbled across this recipe. I decided to give it a try, though, and I was very glad that I did! 

I am not a huge fan of red meat, but I do love burgers. Typically I'll choose a turkey burger over a regular hamburger, but turkey burgers often taste very plain and sometimes dry. I was drawn to this recipe because I figured that the mango preserves would add some flavor and moistness to the burgers - and mozzarella cheese makes everything taste better!

Finding mango chutney wasn't as easy as I thought it would be, but I found mango preserves in the second grocery store I tried and it was worth the hunt. The mango adds a perfect amount of sweetness to the ground turkey. I'm not sure whether any other flavor of chutney or preserves would work as well, but you can certainly try.

It took less than 10 minutes of prep work to mix the ingredients and form the patties, then I had an excuse to use my new grill pan for the first time (there was no way we were grilling outside during the polar vortex!).  I charred the outside of the burgers a bit more than I would have liked, but that's more a symptom of not knowing how to use the grill pan settings properly.

The end result was exactly as I hoped it would be - the burger was juicy, and flavorful enough that we didn't need to add any condiments. Homemade sweet potato fries were a perfect compliment to the burger, and I think it was a much tastier meal than your standard burger and french fries (and healthier, as well!).

Mango Turkey Burgers

(Recipe Credit: The Dinner Mom) 

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup Panko breadcrumbs
• 1/2 cup shredded reduced-fat mozzarella 
• 1/4 cup green onion, thinly sliced
• 1/3 cup mango chutney/preserves 
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1 lb. ground turkey breast
• Hamburger buns

Directions:

1. Add the first 6 ingredients to a large bowl and mix well.
2. Add the ground turkey to the bowl and fold in the other ingredients so that they are evenly distributed. Don't overmix.
3. Shape patties into 4 equally sized burgers. 
4. Grill over medium heat until cooked through.
5. Serve in a hamburger bun.

*Makes 4 patties

Chicken Lo Mein

In my daily search of Pinterest recipes a few months ago, I came across a few "one pot" recipes for various pasta dishes. Because I hate having to use more than one pot or pan when I'm cooking (and Rick hates it more so, since he has to wash said dishes!), I was intrigued but skeptical. I pinned the recipes and moved on.

This weekend, I found myself with some defrosted, uncooked chicken and no planned menu for dinner. I went to my trusty "Favorite Recipes" page on Pinterest and came across the "One Pot Wonder Chicken Lo Mein" recipe in my pins. After a quick trip to the grocery store for green onions, I had all the necessary ingredients and was good to go.

True to its name, it only required one pot, and was pretty tasty! I had read in the comments that there tended to be too much liquid still in the pot after the meal cooked, so I made some adjustments, but it was still a little more liquid-y that I would have preferred. I also added more chicken than the initial recipe called for. Rick enjoyed it, but we both agreed that it could have used some additional vegetables. The next time I make this, I will add snow peas and possibly broccoli.

All in all, I was happy with the recipe. It was extremely easy and fast to make, the sauce was delicious, and it seemed much healthier than if we ordered it from a Chinese restaurant. I served it with a bowl of steamed edamame (a microwave-ready bag from the frozen vegetable section of the grocery store) and it made for a pretty well-balanced meal!

Chicken Lo Mein

(Adapted from The Wholesome Dish)

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs. uncooked chicken breast, cut into small chunks
10 oz. uncooked whole wheat linguine, broken in half
12 baby carrots, cut lengthwise into quarters
1 bunch green onions, white portion removed and green portion chopped into 3 inch strips
Additional vegetables, as desired (suggested: snow peas, broccoli, baby corn)
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp corn starch
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
3 1/2 cups chicken broth
2 tsp extra virgin olive oil

Directions:

1. Add the uncooked chicken, then the linguine, then the rest of the ingredients to a large pot and cover.
2. Bring to a boil over high heat, then stir and reduce to a simmer. Cook for approximately 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the chicken is cooked and the liquid is mostly gone. Enjoy!

*Makes 5-6 servings