Baking Bridesmaid

These past months have been filled with 2nd job getting, 2nd job working...and dialing take out. Needless to say while I have been doing some cooking, the recipes have been repeats and certainly nothing exciting to blog about. With that said I do have one creation worth mentioning if only for the great picture to add to show!

I was recently in a wedding of a really great friend of mine, Molly. With the wedding came a shower, weekend planning sessions and a bachlorette party. Each of these weekends brought on plenty of cooking and eating. The shower was mainly catered by a friend of Molly's and the food was incredible (the same women later did her wedding cake). When it came to the wedding planning weekends the bride herself did alot of the cooking and preparing. Molly and I share alot of the same cooking tastes and techniques so I always love eating with her! For her bachlorette party us girls opted to take her out to a nice restaurant and conclude the night with desert back at her apartment...that's where I came in!

Now the shower was just the previous weekend and as mentioned her friend did an amazing job with the food. Molly's favorite cake is carrot and originally that was what I was planning to bake for the bach. party, however i quickly changed my mind when I tasted the carrot cake cupcakes at the shower. Let's just say no healthy options would possibly come close to that heavenly creation. In keeping with the scandalous nature of the party I thought about attempting a red velvet cake. Just the name conjures up love, lust and lusciousness. Of course knowing that the food and drinks would be flowing I began searching for a low fat version to attempt. (would you expect anything different from me?)

You may recall in my valentine post that I attempted red velvet cupcakes from the weight watchers site...they really weren't my favorite and they hardened rather quickly. I wanted to make the cake the night before the party so it was important to me that it would still be tasty the next day. I turned to my trusty Eating Well site and found Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting!

I was excited to try this because my previous experience with Eating Well proves that the recipes taste anything but healthy. This was fairly simple to make, and the double layers made it appear far more difficult than it actually was. I ended up with alot of extra frosting so I frosted the side of the cake as well. The one comment I have on this one is that the cake did not really rise in the pan at all! When you pour the batter in what you see is what you get, so plan accordingly. It was a bit slimmer than I wanted but everyone thought it turned out great.

Molly is a bit of a cake connoisseur (though you wouldn't know it looking at her!), so I was a bit nervous for her to try it. She claimed to really like it! Although I'm not sure if she meant the taste...or the topper :).

Divine Chicken Divan

There are dishes growing up that everyone has in their household that will forever be in your food memory bank. My mom always cooked growing up, so I happen to have quite a few. Its an on going joke with erin that I fully believe that my mom made up many of the recipes that she cooked for us. I would never had imagined her following a recipe. When it comes to making Shepard's pie, that's my mom's! Or strawberry shortcake with homemade biscuits...Betty Crocker who? So when my mom came to visit erin and I in New York I was sure that erin had never had Chicken Divan before. This was a chicken casserole dish that only mom could make. In this case erin actually hadn't heard of it...so it just fueled my theory. Her recipe is composed of chicken, cheeses, cream soups, mayo...all those delicious items that i have since broken free of (well for the most part). So imagine my surprise when I stumbled across Eatingwell.com's version of Chicken Divan.



I really didn't believe that there could be a way to duplicate the flavors in my mom's chicken divan in a healthy way. When I began my break up with certain items, erin had to lose them to, and sometimes that's not fair. So when I brought this recipe home she was more than willing to try it out. It was a hit! So last night when we were faced with what to do with another boring chicken breast...i quickly remembered this popular dish.


I poach the chicken while I prepped the rest of the ingredients, and pre-heated the oven at the same time. The recipe calls for one large leek, but I used two. I love those leeks. They really add a nice flavor without being over powering. My broccoli was frozen so I simply soaked them in some hot water so that they would be thawed by combination time. My one suggestion with this dish is to have all of your ingredients ready. The instructions tell you to constantly stir when combining things and it will make for a much smoother cooking process. The nice thing about this dish is that once assembled it has to cook in the oven for about twenty five mins, so this gave me time to cook some 10 minute brown rice!
The flavors in this are different than my mom's, but delicious and totally worth a try. The amount of calories and fat you save just enhance the dish that much more.

I must say this chicken is simply....divine.

Lovely Lentil Tacos with a Side of Spicy Swiss Chard

When I saw this recipe for Lentil Tacos on Runnersworld.com I could not wait to try it! I have been a huge fan of lentils for awhile and lived on lentil soup throughout the winter. It was so filling and creamy and a great substitute for someone like me who really lost their craving for alot of of meat dishes. Also if you recall I thoroughly enjoy Mexican food and love all the flavors that typically come with that cuisine. It did however take me a few weeks to convince erin of the joys of lentils. She had tasted my lentil soup and found it anything but Mexican. I convinced her that the spices and other ingredients would far surpass the typical blandness (which I happen to enjoy) in a lentil soup. She reluctantly agreed to try them...

Now the first step was getting her past a few ingredients. She isn't a huge fan of celery, she quickly pointed out, but I really didn't want to alter the recipe until I had attempted it once. I assured her that the celery would cook down with the rest of the items and just give more texture to the filling. Also she wasn't completely sold on the raisins but again she decided to give it a try. I started with oil spray instead of the oil called for and I opted to go with the vegetable broth to cook the lentils in. I must point out that I ended up DOUBLING the amount of liquid called for. I added the entire can of veggie broth and approx. 3/4 cup of warm water. As the lentils cooked down I continued to check the tenderness and they definitely required more liquid. All the spices and textured smelled and looked great! We served these up with corn tortillas and topped it with some low fat Mexican cheese and I used some chopped up cabbage as a lettuce substitute. The recipe says that it feeds four, but there were three of us eating (two tacos each)and we had PLENTY leftover. I think this would work great as a nacho topper as well!

As the lentil mix cooked I had found a side dish on eatingwell.com that had some Mexican flavors, but wasn't high in the calories or fat. Normally I would tend to have chips on the side when having tacos, but even the healthier ones (i am a HUGE fan of the guiltless gourmet brand) are no match for my chip craving and I knew I would go overboard given the option. Instead I decided to try Chipotle Cheddar Chard! I have never had swiss chard before but the recipe looked simple and I knew that chipotle was a good flavor to pair with tacos! Now I made a major mistake while cooking that I am going to point out to anyone else who attempts this dish. When you read the recipe it tells you to separate the stems and leaves of the chard. Naturally I just threw the stems away, upon reading the instructions however I saw that you were suppose to cook the onions and stem together and then add in the leaves at the very end. Instead I added the leaves in the beginning and it cooked WAY down and made alot less than expected. It was still really good, but I assume that having the stems in there would have given the dish a bit more substance and quantity! We all went back for 2nds though so it didn't seem to bother us! I doubled up on the chipotle after tasting it and added some salt and pepper. I would also note that the recipe claims to feed 6, but I would say it was more like a serving for 4 (could be that the stems make a big difference). I also think we could have added this right on top of the tacos if those darn tortillas weren't so small.

This turned out to be a really successful, healthy dinner. The tacos were tasty and satisfying, filling everyone up! The side dish, although a bit off on the instructions, was delicious and simple. Both dishes could be used to create one tasty burrito/taco or nachos.

I think that leftovers might be lentil nachos...

Pork-Chop Cutlets Creation

Sometimes I think that cooking is a chore, I'm not gonna lie. For the most part I really enjoy trying new dishes, even after a long/tedious/boring work day. But some nights...the take out menus are calling my name. I say this because I was having just one of those moments last night. My love of cooking went out the window as my pajamas went on. However my wallet and defrosted pork chops did not take kindly to that whim. I am not a waster by any means and having defrosted meat out is by far the best way to ward off the terrible take out monster. I also have to admit that after my lapse of laziness subsided I realized that I had picked a pretty simple recipe and even simpler side dishes.

As I mentioned Erin had opted to take out pork chop cutlets this morning as we hastily decided what to have for dinner. I hadn't cooked in a few days so of course I thought I would be up for the job! I went online to search out some dishes and I must say most of the returns were mainly for pork tenderloins and cutlet creations were harder to find. Some of the menus that kept coming up were "rubs", which to me seemed pretty basic, but the one I chose also created a sauce which is always a plus in case the meats a bit dry :). I also had all the ingredients for this one and of course that is one of my number one rules when cooking on a budget!

These Pork-Chops with Maple-Mustard Sauce seemed to fit the bill where I was concerned. Although we had cutlets I saw that in the list of ingredients it called for "boneless pork-chops", perfect! I decided to serve brown basmati rice and steamed broccoli on the side. My one mistake came early as we were starving and brown basmati rice takes a good 40 mins. to cook. The pork-chops only took about 25 mins total, so I recommend starting the rice a good 15-20 mins. ahead of those. I spent alot of time "watching rice boil" which has a similar effect of watching a tea pot boil...even worse when you are hungry.

The recipe served two, and we had four pieces of pork so I doubled up! I used a combination of whole grain Dijon and creamy Dijon. I also didn't have any kosher salt on hand, so I opted for regular. No surprise I also did not use the oil, spraying the pan with Pam worked out fine. The mixtures of mustard's looked great together and the maple syrup was a nice addition in flavor. It was very savory and sweet at the same time, and I feel like there was almost a bit of spiciness without the heat (is that confusing enough?). There was plenty of sauce left to top the rice with and I will admit we couldn't wait the full 40 mins. for the rice to finish leaving it a bit al dente (just how I like it)!

Okay now erin gave this a 9! A NINE! But I then reminded her of previous ratings and I think that the food induced high has been compromising her ratings system. I am thinking that in the future I should ask her to rate dishes the next day, as well as provide her with previous ratings for comparative analysis...

Then again, its just pork-chops!

Side dish Easter Sunday

I celebrated Easter away from home this year and I could not for the life of me figure out what I considered a "traditional Easter Dinner". Growing up we always went to my Grandma's house and typically, with such a large family, everyone would make a dish to share and it ended up being quite similar to Thanksgiving...at least that is what I remember. My Easter memories consist more of finding my hidden basket, over indulging in chocolate and jelly beans and locating those pesky eggs we spent hours dyeing the night before. I think dinner was just something we let the adults worry about.

This year, at Erin's house, I came to realize that I was in fact one of the adults now. I really wanted to take a bigger role in creating Easter dinner so I checked with her mom and they didn't really have any traditions either. With that being said it was quickly suggested that ham be the meat de jour. I had never made ham before and most of the packaged hams already come cooked and glazed (you just heat in the oven for a few hours) so erin's mom said she would handle that job. The sides were up to me!

I perused the normal websites/cookbooks for Easter ideas, however alot of them were geared toward brunch ideas. I knew that erin was a huge fan of scalloped potatoes (normally out of a box) and potatoes go great with ham. Also everyone seemed to really enjoy the asparagus that I made with the fish a few weeks back, and for an easy side I opted to make my Mom's homemade applesauce. With the menu in place I set off to find the perfect, low cal recipes.

I already had the applesauce set and I knew that for asparagus I wanted to try a Roasted recipe. The one big issue was the potatoes. Now erin is a HUGE fan of this dish so although I was trying to find something a bit healthier than your typical boxed brand, I also wanted to keep in mind that it was the holidays and it should be delicious above all else. I spent a few days printing out recipes and running them by erin until we both settled on Asiago, Bacon and Potato and Bacon Gratin. (the bacon sold us both!)

The big Easter day came and I was ready to cook. Now for most of my dishes there was prepping that I could do ahead of time so that when it came time for dinner the four glasses of wine in me wouldn't alter the dishes!

I began with the applesauce. Now my mom always made this straight out of the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. Unfortunately through the years the cookbook has gone through many revisions and in turn lost some pretty great recipes...this applesauce included. It's fairly simple and can be made in a pan and cooked within an hour, a crock pot and cooked all day or a pan simmering all day (this is the one I went with). I diced up a bag of Macintosh apples, combined them with a cup of water, 1/2 a cup of splenda for baking (the recipe is originally for sugar of course), 1 teas. of cinnamon and I opted to add a few dashes of nutmeg. You bring this all to a boil and as the apples heat up you take a potato masher and create the sauce. I reduced the heat as low as possible and let it cook all day long! My mom told me that it really is ready after about twenty mins. but since I had the time I let all the flavors just sit together for a few hourse. I must say that it also made the house smell amazing!

The next item on my list to prep was the potatoes. Probably the most tedious part of this recipe was the peeling and slicing. I used the Yukon potatoes and used the large side of a cheese grater to get those 1/4 inch slices. I think if you used a knife it would have taken way to long to slice, or made the slices far too thick. Once this step was done the rest was a piece of cake! I pre-sliced the shallots and chives, and also grated the asiago cheese. One little side note with the asiago cheese is that you really don't need a very large block, I have a huge block left in the fridge from this recipe. When it came time to boil the potatoes that is when I also fried up the bacon. I substituted turkey bacon with this and because it doesn't crispy up like regular bacon I simply chopped it by hand. I also used skim milk as opposed to 1%. This casserole looked scrumptious before it even went in the oven and the layering really helped to get the cheese and bacon throughout the whole dish. (this is important if you have that one person who always wants the top of the casseroles...that's me!)

Cooking asparagus is always fun because I already love the taste, so any additional flavor is just a bonus. I decided to roast it because alot of recipes I have seen used this cooking method. Roasting is simply putting the asparagus on a cooking sheet, drizzling oil over the stems and roasting it in the oven for about 15 mins. In this recipe: Roasted Asparagus you also drizzle balsamic vinegar over the stems after they are done cooking. This was a nice dish but erin and I both agreed that in the future steaming them takes far less time, no oil needed and it still hads a great taste. The balsamic however was a nice addition that I would try again!

One last item I happened to whip together, and should be mentioned, was a low fat cheese sauce. Now I will preface this dish by saying that when erin and I moved to Boston I started cooking for her parents more...and her Dad has been very courageous and tried everything I have laid out. The one comment he always gives me is how great cheese sauce would be on my veggie dishes :)...So for the holiday I decided to indulge his palate. I found this Light Cheese Sauce recipe and thought it would be a mix of my healthy concoctions and his love of cheese. This came together quickly and you have to be careful because it gets pretty thick as soon as it begins to cool.

I think this may have been the largest meal that I have blogged about so far, but it really was simple and fun to make. Prepping everything in the morning, while everyone else got ready, was the perfect way to go. Everything came out great. The applesauce was warm, the potatoes were cheesy and the asparagus was crispy. A little bit of everything for everyone.

Perhaps my new Easter dinner tradition is Scrumptious Side Dishes!

Bulging Brown Basmati Broccoli (with shrimp)

My ideal dinner normally consist of more than one dish that in turn makes up the complete meal. I am a girl for options. I like to know that I have more than one thing to eat so that when one item is gone I have another just waiting for me on the other side of the plate. With that said I would normally pair a casserole with a salad, or a side of fruit. But my above dish did not need anything to satisfy as a meal.

When I originally had this recipe it was a side dish at our friend Molly's house. It was so good and have great flavor and texture. She had mentioned to me, as we cooked, that her fiance and her also like to make this dish a meal by adding a meat or extra veggies...which is precisely what I decided to do.

Before we left Molly's I had made sure to jot down the instructions for the delicious Herbed Basmati Rice. I will start off first with what I altered (not much!). I had to use dried thyme and dried basil, because that is what I had on hand and I also did not buy the fresh parm. I must say, however, that we did have the fresh cheese at Molly's and it's worth the extra money if you have it. I knew that I was going to be doctoring up the recipe with other ingredients, so I didn't splurge for the cheese. As mentioned in the title of this post I also used brown basmati, as opposed to just the reg. white. The rice did take longer than fifteen mins. to absorb all the liquid but I just monitored the pan and saw when the liquid was almost gone. At that point I added the remaining ingredients (as instructed) and also threw in a bag of steamed broccoli and pre-cooked shrimp. The dish looked colorful and tasty!

A couple things about the dish that I think is important to mention: One, the rice tends to be al dente which I throughly enjoy but I know some would not. Erin is not a huge fan of al dente dishes, she has to test the pasta whenever we cook that, and the rice texture did not seem to bother her. Also the thyme and basil are quite strong in the dish and if you aren't a huge fan of one or the other I would leave it out!

I think the possiblities for this dish are endless. You could add a variety of meats, vegetables, beans or just leave as a side dish.

Erin gave it an 8.4 I believe, and you know what they say...eight is great!

Sweet and Savory Chicken Maple Sammies

I love watching the food network, although I must admit I don't attempt many of the recipes because they tend to leave my mind after the program ends. One of the cooks I love watching though is Rachael Ray. She just has a way with flavors that appeal to everyone and uses so many everyday items that are easy to find. Her cookbooks are also pretty intense, offering so many different varieties of the same recipe and uses for their leftovers as well. A cook after my own heart, or shoud I say I after hers!

This "breakfast for dinner" recipe that I tried was made for erin and I once and we absolutely loved it. It was fairly simple to make and the ingredients were easy to manipulate to create a more calorie friendly rendition. As I quickly mentioned you could categorize this menu as breakfast, although I must say it was a fine filler for dinner.

These are Rachael Ray's Apple-Maple Sausage Sammies. Erin and I were having dinner with another couple and seeing how this dish serves four we thought a perfect time to attempt these ourselves. To start I will let you know that I did not use the veggie oil, instead opting to cook these on a non-stick griddle. I also subbed sugar free maple syrup for the real stuff, although alot of people argue that real stuff is not bad in moderation (I agree). We didn't have cheddar cheese, and erin's not a huge fan anyway, so I used our always on hand fat-free sliced American and Egg whites were a great sub for the whole eggs. We didn't really need to add milk to that mixture either but kept the salt and pepper. As you can see the patties are rather large and I had picked up the 100 calorie english muffins. I thought they worked out fine, but you could totally go with the sandwich sized muffin as suggested! The seasonings were a great addition and I used generic steak seasoning for the McCormick's mentioned and doubled the nutmeg.

Now, as I was mixing the patties (like you would meatballs) they seemed rather wet and I was a bit worried I had overdone it on the syrup. However once they sat on the grill for a few minutes they came together nicely. Another thing to watch is the english muffins in the broiler because they toast up quicker than I had expected (erin alerted me of this just in time!).

They were a hit! We had them with a side of roasted red potatoes and the sweetness of the sausage with the saltyness of the potatoes were a great combo. Erin's rating for this one was an 8.9 and our dinner guest (who aren't huge fans of sausage) loved them as well.

I think breakfast for dinner just got better!!