My first attempt at truffle fries

If you've never had truffle fries, you need to get yourself down to Josie or a similar establishment and order them now! The flavor and aroma are just so amazing. I created a post about this before but basically the deliciousness comes from truffle oil. Now, you wont really find oil from a truffle anywhere. What you will find is oil infused with truffle aroma. So, I finally picked the oil up and attempted to make some "oven" fries with it. I used russet potatoes because they are on the "high levels of antioxidants" list. I knew the fries would be good tossed with the oil at the last minute, but since I needed to put something on them to go in the oven I drizzled both olive and truffle oil on the raw potatoes and immediately saw it was too much. The potatoes just didn't need that much oil and they soaked it up like a sponge. Then, the aroma of the truffle burned off! So, I just had to throw some more truffle oil on the cooked potatoes. They did come out quite tasty, but my goal was to create something that wouldn't be crazy fattening. SO, next time I plan to just spray the taters with some olive oil spray (which currently I am out of) and then toss the fries in the truffle oil at the end. I also tossed in some salt and finely chopped (or "dusted" as my cooking teacher called it) parsely.

Kale Stuffed Mushrooms

I just threw these together and they came out quite delicious with some nice, complex flavors, lots of nutrients, and not a lot of fat and calories. I didn't measure things but here's what i did:

I took about 7 large crimini mushrooms and pulled the stems out. I chopped the stems very small and threw them in saute pan with a few tablespoons of water and then I chopped up the leaves of two stems of kale and threw that in too. I covered the pan and steamed everything until soft. Then, I crushed in 1 small clove of garlic and cooked that up a but. Then I turned the heat off and stirred in about a 1/2 cup of fat free ricotta cheese and a tablesoon of grainy mustard. I then stuffed the mushroom caps with this mixture and then put the mushrooms back in the pan. I poured in about 1/2 cup of white wine and put the lid on and steamed everything for about 8 minutes or until the mushrooms are cooked.

Delicious~

Even more low calorie deliciousness from Hungry Girl

Just tried the Boneless Buffalo Wings and Egg Foo Young! Check it out below..

Hey ya'll. Most folks who know me personally are aware that I do watch my figure (watch it pretty much stay the same..) but nonetheless, when I am home I try to stick to really healthy foods that are supposed to be good for the waistline. This year I have been eating super healthy like veggies, lean protein, nuts, omegas, coconut, you name it. But then of course I like to go out and eat some not so healthy things., but in general I try not to eat very many carbs or sugar. But, I am getting kind of sick of eating all of these salads and I need a change. The point here is that I am going to try counting calories for a while to see if that helps with the weight and not worry as much about the carbs. I think it will add some variety to my diet even if it adds some not so great things like processed foods, and hopefully it will help me lose some inches. Don't get me wrong, I am still eating many of the healthiest foods on earth like blueberries, etc. I think if I lose fat, that will offset any of the bad affects of the processed foods, right? That is what I am telling myself anyway. I am also going to try to exercise more...

I picked up the Hungry Girl 200 under 200 book and am a little obsessed with it right now. It's 200 recipes under 200 calories which is great for me because I am really a mini-meal kind of person. Most of the recipes are simple and quick. I made a bunch of recipes last week that I really liked and I am already back to my pre-cruise measurements (I haven't owned a scale in 5 years), but I am not going to post the recipes because she just published the book and that wouldn't be right. You can browse all the recipe photos and stats on her website here.

Here are the recipes I 've tried:

Boneless Buffalo Wings
I love buffalo wings.. so I just had to try this recipe out. They are very tasty. When making them, be careful flipping and removing the chicken from the baking sheet as the "breading" can stick a little if you don't whip it into submission.
I served these up with a slaw salad and some celery with a mixture of low fat ranch dressing and a little full-fat blue cheese dressing mixed in to get the right flavor for dipping. I also put a little extra Buffalo sauce on top of my "wings" because that's how I roll.

Egg Foo Young!
Where has this recipe been all my life?? This is why I love Hungry Girl.. she takes all the stuff we love that isn't so good for the waist-line and creates a low calorie version that is amazing. I love Egg Foo Young.. maybe because my grandmother used to order it or maybe because I love gravy so much. Whatever the reason.. this recipe rocks my world AND, you wont find it in the book, you can get it right here for free.

I did make a couple of flavor modifications because I am not as sodium-conscious as I could be: I added salt and pepper to the egg mixture and to the gravy I added a drop of Gravy Master and a drop of oyster sauce.


Crispy Tuna Croquettes
These are fantastic!! The picture shows only two of them which make a fine appetizer or mini-meal, but one serving is 4 croquettes for only 170 calories! A great find. I will be making these often.

Gooey Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Icing
These are pretty tasty, but pretty small. One of them is 126 calories but it's pretty impossible to eat just one. So, for 250 calories for 2 I think there are probably some better breakfast options out there. I won't be making these again.: (

Redhot chicken salad
This can be as mild as you like, so the name is a little deceiving. It's basically a chicken salad with a "mayo" dressing with ingredients that make it taste like buffalo chicken, which I LOVE. It has buffalo chicken sauce, celery, and carrots mixed in. I made it twice already and have been eating it within a sandwich or on its own. I also served it to the boyfriend yesterday and he couldn't tell it was "diet" food. This was 142 calories per serving.

Chinese chicken salad
Another great salad.. a light version of what you might get in a restaurant. It is very tasty and healthy with a lot of veggies and some sliced almonds. Big hit with the boyfriend as well. (In case you haven't noticed.. he actually eats pretty much anything I make since he doesn't cook and doesn't have a choice.) This was 199 calories per serving.

Key lime mousse pie

This was an awesome treat for me. A big slice is only 100 calories with a dollop of cool whip on top and it was a light, refreshing, and satisfying dessert. I am a lime lover but I think you could probably make this with any flavor of Jell-o. I usually eat about 100 calories or so of chocolate covered nuts for dessert but as I mentioned above, a girl needs some variety!

I have a list of things I am going to make this week so I'll post again next week and let you know how they went.

Delicious meatball sundae at Ikea!!

I am a guest blog poster!

Hey everyone! Check out my blog post at A Daily Dose of Dieting (http://adailydoseofdieting.blogspot.com/). My low-calorie butternut squash risotto recipe is featured there. Thank you, Ashley, for sharing my recipe!

Thin crust pizzas made with lavash bread

I've been using Trader Joe's whole wheat lavash bread to make some very tasty, quick, and easy "pizzas" lately. Lavash bread is very big, so try half of the piece worth of pizza paired with a side salad for a great, balanced and low calorie meal.

Here is the basic recipe:

• 1 piece whole wheat lavash bread
• A few squeezes Contadina Pizza Squeeze
• 1/2 cup shredded fat free mozzarella or cheddar cheese
• Fresh basil on top! (if you have it.. I've managed to keep a basil plant alive for a couple of months now, yay me)
• Toppings! Try turkey pepperoni, roasted veggies like eggplant, pepper, or zucchini, or any of your favorite toppings. I cubed up a serving of meatloaf and that was really tasty.

1. Preheat oven to 400.
2. Spread sauce, then cheese, then toppings, then basil on your pizza.
3. Bake on a cookie sheet until bread is crisp and cheese is melted, about 12 minutes.
   
   Tip: You can keep the lavash in the freezer and go straight from freezer to oven, just cook it a few minutes longer. Between that and the pizza squeeze in the fridge, you always have what you need for a quick, tasty meal!