Sofie's Birthday Dinner - Spice Rubbed Pork Tenderloin and Pasta

Thanksgiving falls on my daughter's birthday this year and she protested the fact that instead of having both a Thanksgiving holiday dinner and a birthday dinner, should would only one or the other.   So, we decided to celebrate our Thanksgiving on Wednesday (yesterday) and Sofie requested her favorite dinner for her birthday-- Spice-Rubbed Pork Tenderloin with a side of Pasta. 

I have written many other posts about my Spice-Rubbed Pork Tenderloin.    Everyone who tries this dish thinks it is totally delicious and it turned out great for Sofie's birthday dinner as well.

We don't usually serve this with pasta, but Sofie requested it.  Sofie likes her pasta either plain with some butter and fresh grated Parmesean or with some sweet tomato sauce.  For my wife and I, I made some pesto using fresh basil, parsley, toasted pine nuts, olive oil, lemon juice and garlic and mixed this with pasta and fresh tomatoes.

For dessert, Kelly made apple slices with melted chocolate and caramel. 

Traditional Thanksgiving Dinner

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner on Wednesday.    My daughter's birthday falls on Thanksgiving this year and she thought it was unfair that instead of having two special days, she would have only one this year.   So, since it was just going to be us this year, no guests, we decided to have our Thanksgiving dinner on Wednesday.  

I ordered an organic whole Turkey breast from Whole Foods.   This is the first time I have cooked just Turkey breast instead of a whole turkey, and I liked it much better.   The cooking time was much less and I didn't end up with a giant roasted bird I needed to carve and a lot dark meat that would go uneaten (especially since I have been eating a healthier diet).

I put the 7lb turkey breast in the oven at about 1:30 in the afternoon.   I coat the chicken with butter and then sprinkle salt, pepper, and Herbs de Provence  over the turkey and roast at 350 degrees, uncovered in the oven until the meat about 175 degrees.    

While the turkey roasted I made the other dishes:  fresh green beans, sweet potatoes (topped with marshmallows), mashed potatoes, dressing/stuffing (Pepperidge Farms), cranberry sauce (from a can), gravy (from a jar), and dinner rolls.   Its clearly not a gourmet Thanksgiving dinner.   Our dinner is pretty much made up of the dishes both my wife and I ate at Thanksgiving as kids minus the stuff we didn't like and still don't like green bean casserole and scalloped potatoes.   Actually, as a kid, I ate only the green beans, rolls, turkey, and marshmallow topping on the sweet potatoes.

I had dinner on the table a little before 6pm, so the whole meal took a little less than four and a half hours to prepare.   We all thought it was one of the best Thanksgiving dinners we have had.  I did count the calories and although I didn't weigh everything, I estimated that I ate about 1,000 calories for dinner. 

Herbed Chicken with Zesty Potato Salad

On Sunday, my wife, Kelly, made another dish using a recipe from the Williams-Sonoma New Slow Cooker Cookbook.   The recipe, Herbed Chicken with Zesty Potato Salad, calls for browning the chicken over the stove and then cooking for several hours in the slow cooker.  

The dish includes onion, garlic, thyme, oregano, and bay leaves, and although I always appreciate a new and different dish for dinner, I thought the flavors were a little strong and the chicken a little dry.   The recipe calls for bone-in chicken thighs, but we used boneless, skinless chicken breasts and I think the substitution contributed to the less than spectacular results.

The potato salad turned out great and it is something I would make again.  Another blogger used this recipe and wrote about it in more detail here.

Birthday Dinner for Kelly at The Village Pub

It was my wife's birthday on Thursday and on her request we went out to dinner at The Village Pub in Woodside, CA.   This has been one of our favorite restaurants for several years now and I am sure it is considered one of the best restaurants in the San Francisco Bay Area.

THE VILLAGE PUB

On my birthday, I picked Giovanni's pizza.  I had not eaten pizza for months since I had been eating a healthier diet.   It was good, but if you compare our choices of birthday dinners,  there's no doubt who is the classier person in this relationship.

Dinner was amazing.   We both had the pumpkin soup and baked scallops for dinner.  Our daughter had a roasted pork chop with cooked apples and of course plenty of homemade dinner rolls.  Everything was memorable and it was really the first time we have taken our daughter to a nice restaurant and she really enjoyed it and ate something other than bread and pasta.

Mini-Farfalle with Roasted Peppers, Onions, Feta, and Mint

Mini-Farfalle with Roasted Peppers, Onions, Feta, and Mint is a dish based on a Cooking Light recipe I have written about in this blog several times.   It has always been a reliable and delicious vegetarian dish that I look forward to making.   But on Tuesday night, I succeeded in ruining this simple dish.  

 Photo: John Autry; Styling: Leigh Ann Ross

On Tuesdays, my daughter has dance until about 6:30pm and then my wife picks her up and they return home at around 7pm.   I like to have dinner ready when they walk through the door so that my daughter ends up getting to bed at a decent time and also because by 7pm everybody is usually pretty hungry (and sometimes cranky).

Everything seemed to be going well, but when we sat down to eat, I realized I forgot to toast the pine nuts and I forgot to add the raisins when I was cooking the onions and garlic.   What I soon discovered is that the pine nuts and raisins are really important to the flavor of this dish.  Without the sweetness from the raisins and nutty flavor of the pine nuts, this dish is just bland and a chore to finish eating! 

Well, we ate it anyway, and although my wife said it was alright, I was disappointed.   I had planned to serve this for left overs on Wednesday, and I did, but I toasted some pine nuts and sauteed some raisins in a little bit olive oil and threw the pine nuts and raisins into the dish and it was as delicious as I remembered.

Picadillo Tostadas

For the past few weeks, my wife has been cooking some of the weekend dinners and using recipes from the Williams-Sonoma New Slow Cooker Cookbook by Brigit Binns.   The dinners have been amazing.   Brigit Binns has published several cookbooks and they all look like they could be just as fantastic as the New Slow Cooker Cookbook.  

For dinner on Sunday, my wife made Picadillo Tostadas.   This recipe is not online, so unfortunately, I can not provide a link to the recipe, but I will do my best to describe it without copying the recipe word for word.   The boneless beef chuck is browned in oil over the stove and then placed in the slow cooker.   The same pan is used to saute onion and garlic which is then placed in the slow cooker along with apple, vinegar, and tomatoes, raisins, and spices of bay leaves, cumin, cinnamon, cloves, salt, and pepper.   The whole dish is cooked for 5 hours in the slow cooker and served over corn tortillas with a slaw made from carrots and cabbage.

I thought this dish was delicious but my wife said she didn't like it too much and that she realized that she wasn't a big fan of chuck roast.  

Black Bean Salad

After some heavier meals I made from the Chicken Biryani I made last Thursday, I decided to make something a bit lighter and serve a black bean salad for dinner on Saturday.   I used a Cooking Light recipe for the salad.  

Photo: Becky Luigart-Stayner; Styling: Fonda Shaia

The ingredients include avocado, lettuce, black beans, tomatoes, fresh parsley, fresh cilantro, green onions, and jalapeno.   At less than 200 calories per serving, this salad needed a bit more substance to make this a meal, so I added some roasted chicken I bought already roasted from the grocery store and I made a dressing for the salad.    The dressing included some olive oil, vinaigrette, fresh garlic, chili powder, sugar, and lime juice.   This is my take on a southwestern variation of a greek salad dressing.  

With the chicken and the dressing, dinner came in at a little over 400 calories and it was delicious and satisfying.

Chicken Biryani

Cooking Light's recipe for Chicken Biryani has been on my to-do list for a long time and I am really glad I decided to make this on Thursday.   This dish was one of my favorite meals so far this fall.  

Photo: Randy Mayor; Styling: Cindy Barr

A few years back, I took a few trips to India as part of my job and when the team went out for dinner, some type of Biryani was always among the many dishes we would share at dinner.   Fresh ginger, cumin, garam masala, and fresh cilantro give this dish a wonderful flavor.   My wife likes Indian food and she always seems to appreciate the Indian dishes I make. 

Salmon with Tangy Cucumber Sauce

Salmon with Tangy Cucumber Sauce is a dish I have made before but I have not written about.   This is Cooking Light recipe I found on myrecipes.com.   The recipe calls for grilling the fish and the seasoning on the fish is just some salt and pepper. 

 I have had so many bad experiences grilling fish, with my fish falling apart on the grill, that I haven't even tried to grill fish for for several years.   I should probably get a grill rack for fish and give it another shot sometime.   I cooked the salmon on the stove top in a little butter and olive oil, a few minutes on each side.   I used some nice thick pieces of wild-caught Alaskan king salmon and I cut the skin off before I cooked the fish. 

Unfortunately, salmon season is over, and this fish was previously frozen, so it wasn't quite as good as some of the fresh salmon we have had this year.   Well, this dish is really about the cucumber dill sauce.   The sauce includes cucumber, sour cream, green onion, fresh dill, lemon juice, horseradish and salt.   I love this sauce mixed with the salmon. 

I served the salmon with roasted potatoes with parsley and parmesean cheese and some asparagus which I steamed for less than 5 minutes and then sauteed in olive oil for a few more minutes.   Everything was really delicious.

Slow Cooker Beef Short Rib Ragu with Papperdelle Pasta

My wife did the cooking again this Sunday and made another recipe from the Williams-Sonoma New Slow Cooker Cookbook.   This time she made Beef Short Rib Ragu with Papperdelle Pasta. 

OMG!   This was amazing.   I am not quite sure if it was better than the Spicy Pork she made last week, but it was definitely in the same league.   It was incredibly good. 

The ribs cooked for almost 8 hours in the slow cooker.   After which the meat is taken off the bone, mixed with the sauce and served over Papperdelle pasta. 

My wife said she was inspired to try this recipe after the lunch we had downtown Chicago at Spiaggia Cafe last summer.   She had the Wild Boar Ragu at Spiaggia and it was incredible.    (Don't tell Spiaggia, but I think the beef short rib ragu turned out as well as Spiaggia's ragu).

Someone else who was deeply impressed with this recipe has posted the recipe online.   William-Sonoma New Slow Cooker Cookbook recipe for Beef Short Rib Ragu.

Spicy Southwestern Dinner - Redux

For dinner on Thursday, I did a repeat of the Spicy Southwestern dinner I made back in August.    I've been trying not make any dish more than 4 times per year, so I have a put a 3 month waiting period between all repeats.   But I have to say, I have been looking forward to a repeat of this meal since August.  

 Photo: Becky Luigart-Stayner; Styling: Cindy Barr

The Southwestern Tabbouleh is a riff on a classic middle eastern dish I grew up eating but with the bold southwestern flavors I have come to love since moving to the west coast.  

The recipes for the Southwestern Chicken Soup and Southwestern Tabbouleh both come from Cooking Light and I think the versions I made tonight were my best attempts yet at reproducing these delicious dishes.

Halibut with Mint Chutney

Halibut with Mint Chutney is one of our favorite dishes.   I wrote about this same dish back in March.    I haven't made this dish as frequently as I did last year, because I have found so many new recipes I love.     This is a Cooking Light recipe you can find at myrecipes.com.

This dish has Indian flavors so I served the halibut with Basmati rice and the same Indian Spiced Green Beans I often serve with Tandoori Chicken.  

It was a healthy and delicious dinner and less than 500 calories for 4oz of halibut, half cup of the green beans, and 2oz of cooked rice.

Pork with Spicy Squash

My wife did all the cooking this weekend.   Both nights she made dinner using recipes from The New Slow Cooker Cookbook from Williams Sonoma. 

On Sunday, she made Pork with Spicy Squash.    This dish was amazing.   I enjoyed this dinner more than anything we have had in the past few months.  It was really delicious.   There are many flavors happening in this dish including butternut squash, fresh cilantro, fresh basil, peanut oil, slow cooked pork shoulder, onion, lime vinaigrette, and wine.   Wow! 

This recipe is also online and I provided the link above.   I am really looking forward to eating the left overs tomorrow night!

Creamy Herbed Polenta with Mushrooms

My wife checked out a Williams-Sonoma slow cooker recipe book from the library and wanted to try some recipes so she did the cooking on Saturday night.

She decided to make Creamy Herbed Polenta with Mushrooms.    We served this with some roasted chicken.   I am not a big fan of polenta, but its ok once in a while.   I really enjoyed the flavor of the mushrooms with the fresh herbs (parsley, thyme, and oregano).   We both said this is probably not a dish we would make again soon.

Polenta with Mushrooms

Gnocchi with Shrimp, Asparagus, and Pesto

Every once in a while, dinner doesn't turn out well.   We had pizza take out last night since it was Halloween and we didn't have time to shop and cook a proper dinner.    So, tonight I planned to make something that need to provide us with one meal and no left overs.  

Photo: Lee Harrelson; Styling: Leigh Ann Ross

Several months ago, I made Cooking Light's Gnocchi with Shrimp, Asparagus, and Pesto.   It was delicious and I loved the homemade pesto so much that I have made several different pesto dishes since then.   Unfortunately, tonight's dinner did not match expectations set by my previous attempt at this recipe.  

The only real issue was the pasta.   I bought fresh Gnocchi from whole foods, like I did last time.  I didn't realize that I had picked up wheat-free Gnocchi.   It wasn't good at all and it pretty much ruined the whole dish.  After a few bites, I started picking out the shrimp and asparagus which were alright.   The homemade pesto turned out well. 

Overall, though, a disappointing dinner.  :(

Greek Tuna Steaks

I love the simplicity and flavors of the fresh herbs in Cooking Light's Greek Tuna Steaks recipe.   I use similar flavors with Chicken breasts in another dish I like to cook.   The fresh, chopped oregano and thyme, combined with the lemon juice and garlic give the fish a wonderful flavor.  

I started with fresh tuna steaks I bought from Whole Foods.   I served the fish with Orzo with Butter and Parsley and some zucchini sauteed in olive oil.   It was a delicious dinner and the whole dinner was about 600 calories.  

Ground Beef Kabobs, Grean Beans with Tomatoes, and Hummus

Middle eastern ground beef kabobs was one of my favorite dishes growing up.    I like to make these kabobs a couple of times per year and usually on a weekend when I have more time to chop a lot of parsley! 

The kabobs are just ground beef mixed with chopped parsley, chopped onions sauteed in olive oil, garlic, and salt.   I use about a half cup of chopped parsley and a half cup of onion per pound of beef.   I mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl and then form the kabobs into little footballs.   I use about 2 oz of meat per kabob, so a pound will yield about 8 kabobs.  The kabobs are about 100 calories each.   Then I grill the kabobs over a charcoal grill.

The green beans and tomatoes is another recipe from my childhood, although I have made some modifications to this recipe.   I saute the beans in a little olive oil for about 5 to 7 minutes.   Then I add salt, pepper, and cumin and one 28oz can of diced tomatoes and let the beans and tomatoes simmer for a couple of hours on the stove before serving over rice.

My hummus recipe is online at myrecipes.com.   I have given my hummus recipe to several people over the years.    If you try it and you like it, please leave a comment for me on myrecipes.com.

Bulgur with Dried Cranberries

There are a few different bulgur dishes I like to make and one of my favorites is a Cooking Light recipe for Bulgur with Dried Cranberries.   I have been making this for a few years now.   I use about half the salt called for in the recipe and if I remember to ease up on the salt, this dish is always delicious.

Photo: Ellen Silverman; Styling: Toni Brogan

I served this with grilled boneless, skinless chicken breast and steamed asparagus.   The chicken was seasoned with salt and pepper before grilling... nothing fancy there.   I probably steamed the asparagus a little too long because it was too soft.   I don't mind soft asparagus really.   I grew up eating canned asparagus which I loved, but my wife didn't much care for it.   Usually, I just steam it a little and then saute in olive oil for flavor, but I couldn't manage that and grill the chicken.   I think the bulgur and cranberries were so good that it made up for the mushy asparagus. 

The whole meal with 4 oz of chicken was around 400 calories.

Chicken Fried Rice

I love this fried rice recipe from Cooking Light, but I don't make it that often mostly because for fried rice to turn out well, you need to make the steamed rice the day before and I don't usually know what I am going to make for dinner the day before.   Well, I planned ahead this week and had the steamed rice in the fridge ready to go.  

Photo: Randy Mayor; Styling: Leigh Ann Ross

I use chile garlic sauce from a bottle instead of sambal oelek (which I can never find in the grocery store).   I like the way the chicken or pork is cut into very small pieces when I order fried rice from a restaurant, but I never seem to be able to cut my chicken into small enough pieces to get the same effect. 

The recipe calls for cooking the chicken for one and a half minutes or until slightly browned.   I have found, that I need to cook the chicken for about 7 or 8 minutes before its slightly browned.  After about 2 or 3 minutes, a lot of moisture comes out of the chicken and then it takes about 4 minutes for that moisture to boil off and then another minute before the chicken starts to brown.   Maybe cutting the chicken into smaller pieces would help?

My egg never turns out in a form such that I could transfer it to a cutting board and cut it into smaller pieces.   My egg always turns out mostly scrambled and pretty much in small pieces.

Despite these obvious gaps in my ability to correctly prepare fried rice, the dinner turned out great.   It was really delicious and I had a hard time limiting myself to the serving size of one and a half cups.

Three Bean Chili

As the weather turns colder, I always look forward to making a pot of chili.   I will usually make chili for dinner 2 or 3 times during the fall and winter season.   Until tonight, I have always made chili using my mother's recipe which is pretty much beef stock, cooked ground beef, cooked onions, a can of kidney beans, diced tomatoes, a little tomato sauce, salt and chili powder.   It makes a wholesome and delicious chili that reminds me of home.

The past couple of years, my wife hasn't been very enthusiastic about my family chili recipe, so I decided to try something new and move to a healthier vegetarian recipe.    I found a Cooking Light slow cooker recipe for Three Bean Chili on myrecipes.com

This recipe adds a few more spices and flavors compared to my family chili recipe.   The Three Bean Chili includes jalapeno, Worcestershire sauce, and cumin and of course some additional types of beans and no meat.

Both my wife and I liked the new recipe better than my family chili recipe and I could always add meat to this recipe if desired.   But I like this healthier, lighter take on chili.   I am sure I will make this a couple of more times before spring.

Grilled Steak with Mushroom Wine Sauce

Seems like it had been some time since I grilled steak.  In general, this year, I have been eating much less beef than I have in the past.   I probably eat steak about once per month.   I wanted to something different with the steak and I found this Cooking Light recipe for a Filet Mignon with Mushroom Wine Sauce.

 Randy Mayor; Bob Gager

The recipe calls for cooking the steak on the stove, but I wanted to grill the steak.   I trimmed some of the fattier pieces off of the steak and cooked them over the stove to brown the pan and create some drippings for the sauce.   I prepared the sauce as directed by the recipe using the pan I cooked the trimmings in and substituting a California Black Muscat for the Sweet Marsala wine called for in the recipe.    I had a glass of the wine while I was cooking and it was really nice.

I grilled the steak and then we poured the sauce over the steak on our plates.   I served the steak with a baked potato and zucchini sauteed in olive oil.   The dinner turned out great.   And this is the first time I have ever served steak with a sauce.   This is definitely a recipe I will make again.

Cilantro-Serrano Pesto with Grilled Chicken and Penne

My wife did the cooking tonight using a recipe I had picked out from Cooking Light.   This dish is a fusion between Italian and Mexican cuisine and it is the first time we have tried to make this.

Photo: Randy Mayor

The pesto is made from cilantro, Serrano pepper, and pecans.   Instead of grilled chicken we bought roasted chicken from the grocery store.  

The flavor was much more mild and the dish was much more dry than we expected.   Still, I liked the dish, but my wife found it to be a bit disappointing.   I don't think it is something we will make again.

Sauteed Halibut with Romesco Sauce

I was in the mood for fish tonight and wanted to try something new, so I decided to make Sauteed Halibut with Romesco Sauce.   I have never made Romesco Sauce before and it seemed like a sauce which should have a lot of flavor from looking at the recipe I got from Cooking Light.

Photo: John Autry; Styling: Cindy Barr

I was not disappointed.   I think this dinner was probably one of the best meals I have made in a few weeks.   We loved the sauce with the sauteed halibut.

I served this with rice and sauteed spinach and it was so good, I was looking forward to eating the left overs the next night.

Chevy's Grilled Chicken Fajita Recipe

Given the success I had with the steak fajitas and the crab enchiladas, I decided to try another recipe from my Chevy's cookbook... Grilled Chile-Rubbed Chicken Fajitas.   Making fajitas is all about the marinade for the meat and Chevy's Chicken Fajita marinade includes a kind of chile paste called achiote paste, tropical fruit juices, onion, garlic, and vinegar.  

I marinated the chicken for several hours before grilling and I cooked the veggies on the stove using a spice consisting of oregano, chile powder, cayenne pepper, and salt per the recipe.

Everything turned out great.   The fajitas were delicious!

Curied Shrimp and Chick Peas in Tomato Sauce over Rice

Our schedules on Thursday and Friday this week were thrown off due to a car in the shop.   Its amazing how much turmoil is created by having to fight my way through peak traffic to get to the mechanic's shop across town before the shop closes at 6pm.   

I didn't have time to go the grocery store on Thursday or Friday, so I had to make due with ingredients on hand.   I had some frozen, wild-caught, gulf shrimp in the freezer and combined this with canned chick peas, canned diced tomatoes, rice, and some spices to make a dish which was similar to Chana Masala (without fresh herbs).

I cooked the onions, garlic, and spices in oil and then added shrimp follwed by chick peas and the diced tomatoes and salt.   I did not drain the tomatoes so the liquid in the 28 oz can of diced tomatoes provided most of the liquid for the sauce.   I did end up adding a bit of broth to give the dish more moisture.

I served this over steamed rice and it was pretty good-- good enough that we actually ate the left overs on Saturday night.   This is something I will make again but with some cilantro next time.

Spice Rubbed Pork Tenderloin with Arugula Potatoes

There is no dish I have posted more often than Spice Rubbed Pork Tenderloin.   It is the family's favorite dish this year and one of the few things my daughter asks for.   I try not to make it more than once every couple of months, and its been about 6 or 7 weeks since I made this last time.    It was delicious as usual.

In order to keep things interesting I introduced a new side dish with tonight's dinner, Roasted Potatoes with Arugula-Pistachio Pesto.   Oh, the potatoes were amazingly good and complimented the pork tenderloin well.   The sharp flavor of the arugula combined with the nutty flavor from the pistachio is totally delightful.   The potatoes were a hit with my wife as well.  It was a delicious dinner.

Jamaican Spiced Chicken and Black Beans

There is a Jamaican restaurant I really like in downtown San Jose called the Back-A-Yard.    Since I have been cooking at home more in order to manage my diet, I don't go out to eat very often and have not enjoyed Caribbean food for quite some time... until tonight!  

I found a Cooking Light recipe for Jamaican Spiced Chicken which looked promising.   The recipe had almost 40 positive reviews, so I decided to give it a shot.   Its a pretty simple recipe.   Toss the raw chicken in a mixture of red onion, sugar, jalapeno, vinegar, soy sauce, allspice, thyme, black pepper, and red pepper and then cook the chicken.   In my version, I cooked the chicken over a charcoal grill.   The recipe calls for chicken thighs, but I used boneless skinless chicken breasts instead.

To go along with the chicken, I made Simple Black Beans, which is another Cooking Light recipe.  I found this recipe on myrecipes.com while searching black bean recipes of Caribbean cuisine.   The beans are cooked with onion and garlic and in the last stage they simmer on the oven for a half hour creating a thick and flavorful dish which I served over rice.

Both the beans and the chicken turned out great and this is something I am sure I will make again.

Thai Beef Tacos with Lime-Cilantro Slaw

After the lasagna earlier in the week, I was in the mood for something a little lighter with more exotic flavors.  I decided to make Thai Beef Tacos with Lime-Cilantro Slaw using a Cooking Light recipe I found on myrecipes.com.

Photo: Becky Luigart-Stayner; Styling: Jan Gautro

 Although the recipe calls for marinating the steak for only 20 minutes, I let the steak marinate for a couple of hours in the refrigerator.   I grilled the steak over a charcoal grill using indirect heat.   I like to arrange the charcoal in a ring around the grill leaving the center open.   I place the meat in the center area and move the meat to the outer edge for searing when needed.

 Ring of Fire

My wife made the slaw for the tacos using the Cooking Light recipe and we used Smart and Delicious Light Flour Tortillas from La Tortilla Factory.  

The slaw was great and the combination of the cilantro, lime juice, ginger, and steak was wonderful.   We really enjoyed this dinner.

Classic Light Bolognese Lasagna

I'm not sure if its the anticipation of fall or something else, but I have been feeling hungrier lately and craving heavier foods.   It has been quite a long time since I have made lasagna.   I have been thinking about this for a few weeks and looking at lasagna recipes and finally settled on a Cooking Light recipe for Classic Light Bolognese Lasagna.  

Photo: Brian Woodcock; Styling: Mary Clayton Carl

I liked that this recipe used mostly poultry instead of pork or beef and I liked the use of the fresh basil.   I substituted chicken sausage for the turkey breast in the recipe and I did not include the celery or carrot called for in the recipe.  

The lasagna was absolutely delicious.  Without a doubt it was the best lasagna I have ever made.   The recipe made about a little over 7 good sized (4" x 4") servings with each serving at about 420 calories.   When I make a dish like this, I like to freeze some of the servings so that I can use them for lunches over the following couple of weeks.

Chicken Piccata

I have posted previously about Chicken Piccata and don't have anything new to say about this dish other than to say I am getting better at it.   As I have mentioned in the past, I got this Cooking Light recipe for Chicken Piccata from myrecipes.com.   The sauce is a bit tricky because there are several steps and you can't really take time to go back and read the recipe between each step or something is going to be burned or overcooked.   So, its important to have all the ingredients prepared ahead of time and ready to go.  

Photo: Johnny Autry; Styling: Mary Clayton Carl

This dish has turned out great of me every time I have tried it.   My wife and I really enjoyed dinner and the left overs the following night.  

Chevy's Crab Enchiladas

My wife gave me a Chevy's restaurant cookbook for my birthday.   Chevy's used to be one of my favorite places to eat out.   I have written about Chevy's restaurant in a previous blog post. 

I decided to try to make the Crab Enchiladas using a recipe from the new cookbook.   This is not a light recipe... this is full fat!  I figured, though, that based on many months now of cooking lighter and healthier food, I could try the Chevy's enchilada recipe and if the dish turned out well, I could try making a lighter version of the enchiladas in the future.

The recipe for Chevy's Crab Enchiladas can also be found online in an article by Bay Crossings, a publication about maritime culture in the San Francisco Bay Area.

My crab enchiladas turned out really good.   It is really the sauce that makes these enchiladas so delicious.   The recipe yields about 6 enchiladas which made for 3 servings.   The sauce for the 6 enchiladas is very rich and includes 1 cup of heavy whipping cream, 4oz of cream cheese, and 1/2 cup of Monterey Jack cheese.   

Each serving ended up at about 800 calories.    I am sure I make a healthier version of this recipe without giving up a lot of flavor and will probably give this a shot in a couple of months.

Sesame Spaghetti with Chicken and Zucchini

The last time I made Sesame Spaghetti with Chicken and Zucchini was back in February.   One of my goals this year is to grow my repertoire of dishes.   I have made more than 50 different dishes for dinner so far this year.

Sesame Spaghetti was one of the first dishes I learned to make when I was learning to cook many years ago.   At that time, I was a vegetarian and got the sesame spaghetti recipe from a vegetarian cookbook called, Main Course Vegetarian Pleasures by Jeanne Lemlin.   If you want to do more vegetarian cooking, I highly recommend this book.   The recipes are simple and delicious, although not necessarily low fat or low calorie, but then when you cut out the meat, then generally, you are pretty far ahead of the game when it comes to cooking light.   Jeanne also has a cooking blog worth checking out.

Of course, as you might have guessed, my version of this dish now includes chicken (please don't tell Jeanne!)

My well worn copy of Vegetarian Pleasures

Classic Roasted Chicken

Classic Roasted Chicken is amazingly delicious.    I usually eat a whole chicken leg which I did tonight.   A whole chicken leg is about 6 ounces of meat which is almost 400 calories.   Combined with roasted potatoes and broccoli sauteed in olive oil, my dinner was around 600 calories.  I try to target around 500 calories for dinner, so I have to be careful about how much I eat the rest of the day when I make roasted chicken or I maybe I just need to eat less chicken at dinner!

I used  Cooking Light recipe for herb roasted.   The recipe calls for fresh chopped parsley and fresh chopped thyme.   The concept is simple and delicious, but it took me longer than I expected, almost 40 minutes, to get the potatoes into the oven.   I use only the leaves when I chop fresh time and pulling all of those little tiny leaves off the stems takes too long.

Photo: Johnny Autry/Randy Mayor; Styling: Cindy Barr/Lindsey Lower

I steamed the broccoli and then sauteed the broccoli in olive oil and fresh minced garlic and some salt.

 

Greek Beef Pilaf

The weather feels like it is starting to change here in San Jose, CA.   I was wondering if we might have to turn the heat on last night.   It got down well into the 50s last night and the house was chilly this morning when I woke up.    Tomorrow morning will be the coldest Monday in quite awhile when it will be about 57 degrees when we leave the house.   And, after the rain on Saturday, we were in the mood for a fallish kind of dinner.

Photo: Randy Mayor; Styling: Leigh Ann Ross

I made Greek Beef Pilaf which is based on a Cooking Light recipe for Greek Lamb Pilaf.   The main difference in my version is that I used ground beef instead of ground lamb per request from my wife and I use just a little less cinnamon and about half the salt than the Cooking Light recipe calls for.    I have made this dish a few times before, but I thought the version I made tonight for dinner was the best instance of this dish I have made to date.  

There were a couple of other minor deviations from the Cooking Light recipe, which I don't think account for much difference.   I was out of long grain rice so I used jasmine rice instead.   And, I didn't have any yellow onion, so I used a red onion.    I also serve this dish with about 1 tablespoon of plain, lowfat yogurt per serving.   I like to mix the yogurt in with the dish.  

The nutritional info in the Cooking Light recipe said this dish is 446 calories per serving, but when I added up the calories for all the ingredients, I came up with 364 calories (380 including the yogurt) per serving.   I used 90% lean ground beef.  I am pretty sure the difference in calories is due to the use of lean ground beef instead of lamb.   Using ground lamb would add 360 calories to the dish or about 90 calories per serving.

Lemon Garlic Grilled Chicken with Quinoa and Toasted Pine Nuts

I was in the mood for some grilled chicken today before I went grocery shopping.   After searching through my list of recipes, I decided to make Green Beans and Quinoa with Toasted Pine Nuts to go along with the chicken.  

Photo: Johnny Autry; Styling: Cindy Barr

I sprinkled the chicken with salt and pepper and then marinated the chicken in a little bit of olive oil, lemon juice, and garlic in ziploc bag in the fridge for about 2 hours.   I grilled the chicken on charcoal grill using my technique of banking all of the hot coals around the outer edge of the grill and placing the meat in the center so that it is not directly above any of the hot coals.   I put the chicken on the grill, covered the grill, and let the chicken cook on one side for about 3 minutes.   Then I turned the chicken over, covered the grill again and let the chicken cook for another 8 minutes and then turned it again and let it cook for another 3 minutes.   The chicken turned out perfectly.   There is a similar Cooking Light recipe on myrecipes.com.

I snapped 4lbs of green beans and then steamed them for about 10 minutes.   I sauteed about a quarter cup of shallots in 2 tablespoons of olive oil for about 2 minutes and then added the green beans and sauteed the steamed green beans for another 5 to 6 minutes.   While the green beans were in the pan, I added about between 1/4 and 1/2 teaspoon of salt.    This makes about 8 servings of green beans and they were delicious.

I have made the Quinoa with Toasted Pine Nuts before.   For, its the toasted pine nuts that really make this dish.  I use about 1 oz of pine nuts for 6 servings.   This is a Cooking Light recipe I found on myrecipes.com.   I really like this dish.

With about 4 oz of cooked chicken, 1/2 cup of cooked quinoa per serving, and about a cup of green beans, this is about a 400 calorie meal.  

Thai Red Curry Tofu and Shrimp Cakes

I have been thinking about making shrimp or crab cakes for quite awhile now and decided to try a Cooking Light recipe for Thai Shrimp Cakes.  

Photo: Brian Woodcock; Styling: Cindy Barr

 I bought frozen, wild-caught, pink Key West shrimp from Whole Foods in Campbell, CA.  The shrimp were lovely and I hesitated to chop them up for the shrimp cakes.   I forgot to add the egg to the shrimp cake mixture and I used all of the shredded coconut in the mixture and had to add more coconut to the breading later.   I also needed a bit more oil when I cooked the shrimp cakes than is called for in the recipe.   Still, the shrimp cakes turned out to be pretty good.   My wife really liked them.

At only 83 calories per shrimp cake (per the recipe), I needed something else to make this a dinner, so I made the shrimp cakes a side dish to one of my favorite Thai dishes-- Thai Red Curry Tofu.

The Red Curry Tofu recipe is based on a Cooking Light Recipe for Thai Red Curry Shrimp.   I marinated the tofu in some Sarachi hot sauce, salt, and a little sesame oil for about an hour and then sauteed with a little more oil before adding the tofu to the curry mixture.   I served the Red Curry Tofu with plain rice.

This was a higher calorie dinner than I usually eat and the fact that I used more coconut than I should have and more oil, my shrimp cakes came out to around 150 calories per cake.   The tofu dish was around 320 calories per serving and with 3/4 cup of rice at 181 calories, the complete dinner was 650 calories!

Halibut with Peach and Pepper Salsa

In the San Francisco Bay Area, our peaches came in kind of late this year.   It seems like locally grown, ripe peaches didn't show up in the stores until just a few weeks ago.   Its been a long wait.

Photo: Gentl and Hyers; Styling: Kendra Smoot

I saved this Cooking Light recipe for Halibut with Peach and Pepper several weeks ago and have been waiting for the right opportunity to try it.   I thought it might be too soon after I made the pineapple salsa with pork, but I just couldn't wait any longer and I wasn't sure if the peaches could wait any longer.

The ingredients of the salsa are fresh peaches, red bell pepper, fresh oregano, arugula, green onions, lemon juice and garlic.   I added a little sugar as well which was not in the recipe.   You could serve just about anything with this salsa and it would taste great, I'm sure, but the salsa with the halibut was wonderful.  

I served this with zucchini sauteed in olive oil and buttery corn on the cob.   My wife and I really enjoyed this dinner.

5oz of cooked halibut per serving, plus about 3/4 cup of the salsa, half an ear of corn with some butter, and a quarter cup of zucchini came out to about 400 calories.

Grilled Pork Chops with Pineapple Salsa

I have been wanting to try something new and decided to have a go at a Cooking Light recipe for Pork Chops with Pineapple Salsa.   I have really been into making salsas this summer.   This turned out great and I wanted to keep eating the salsa when my pork chop was gone!    My wife enjoyed this dinner as well.

Photo: Randy Mayor; Styling: Melanie J. Clarke

The recipe calls for pan grilled pork chops, but I really enjoy grilling outside on a warm day, so I grilled my pork chops over a charcoal grill.   I made the salsa on the stove.  

I served this with rice noodles and an southeast asian style salad with lettuce, shredded carrots, mint, cilantro, onion and a dressing made with sesame oil, chile garlic sauce, fish sauce, vinegar, and some sugar.

Everything was really delicious and the whole meal with a 3.5 oz cooked pork chop and 4 oz of cooked rice noodles and the salad was under 500 calories.

Spice Rubbed King Salmon with Orzo and Asparagus

While I generally cook fresh, wild-caught Salmon for dinner every couple of weeks while its in season, it has been quite awhile since I have cooked salmon with my favorite spice rub.    I think the last time was in May at the start of the season..   My spice rub includes  garlic powder, brown sugar, cumin, paprika, salt, pepper, cinnamon, and all spice.   I cover the salmon with the spice rub and then broil the salmon for about 15 minutes. 

To go along with the Salmon, I made a side dish I use often, orzo with butter and parsley.   The orzo with butter and parsley is also a very simple and delicious Cooking Light side dish recipe that I found on myrecipes.com.    I also sauteed some fresh asparagus in a little bit of olive oil as another side dish. 

I ate 4.5 oz of cooked salmon, 3 oz of cooked orzo with butter and parsley, and about 6 asparagus spears.   Dinner was delicious and healthy and less than 500 calories.

Chicken Enchiladas with Ranchero Sauce

I know I say a lot of dishes are my favorite, but Chicken Enchiladas really could be at the top of my all time greatest hits!   They are so good and this dish is usually good for dinner for two nights and at least a couple of lunches.   I get to enjoy this dish for several meals after I make it.

Photo: John Autry; Styling: Cindy Barr

Its really the home made ranchero sauce which make this dish so good.   The recipe for the chicken enchiladas is based on Cooking Light recipe for bean and cheese enchiladas with ranchero sauce I found on myrecipes.com.   The ranchero sauce is made with fresh oregano, boiled ancho chiles, sauteed onion, tomato paste, lime juice, and cumin.   I boil the chicken in water, broth, and some water from the ancho chiles.    The enchiladas are stuffed with cheese, black beans, and chicken and then smothered in cheese and ranchero sauce.   Oh man, this is delicious!

I am getting hungry writing about it.  I try to limit myself to making this dish once over couple of months so I don't get too tired of it.   If I didn't restrain myself, I would make enchiladas a couple of times per month.

We usually eat two enchiladas per serving which comes out to about 450 calories per meal.  

Dinner at Il Fornaio

It has been many weeks since we have gone out for dinner.   When we do go out for dinner we often eat Italian since we can order pasta for my daughter.    Its hard to stay on a diet and go out for dinner.   The food served in restaurants is often too rich, the portions are large, and then there's the high sodium!   But both my wife and I have been doing so well on our diets it seemed like we deserved a night out.

We went to Il Fornaio in downtown San Jose.   The restaurant is located inside the historic St. Claire Hotel.    I always like walking through the lobby of the hotel to get to the restaurant.   It feels like I have gone back in time for a few moments.

I looked up the menu online before we left and had identified a couple of dishes I could eat and stay within my calorie budget for the day and also ate a lighter lunch to give myself a little more room.   But when we looked at the menu, I had a hard time making up my mind.   My wife was feeling the same way, so we decided to share and appetizer, pasta dish, and a main course.   We started with Carpaccio followed by Pennoni alla Vodka (giant penne pasta with a vodka-cream sauce), and Petto di Pollo al Peperoncino (chicken breast marinated with sage, rosemary, thyme, crushed red pepper, white wine, Dijon mustard and lemon; served with spicy peperoncino sauce).  

We passed on wine and the whole meal was around 700 calories and amazing.   I don't know if it was amazing because we just haven't gone out to dinner much or if was really amazing in an absolute sense, but we were very happy that we went out to dinner.   And the bill for the three of us came out to only $60 before tip!   I guess there are some financial advantages to watching the calories.

Greek Salad with Chicken

Whenever I don't have much time to cook, a greek salad something I can prepare quickly, especially if I have time to pick up a roasted chicken from grocery store.    When I make greek salad, each serving includes about 1/4 cup chopped cucumber, 2 cups lettuce, 1/4 cup chopped tomato, 1 oz of cumbled feta cheese, 4 or 5 kalamata olives, and 3 oz of roasted chicken breast.  

The dressing per salad is a tablespoon of some type of vinegar, a teaspoon of olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon of sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of oregano, 1/2 teaspoon of lemon juice, 1/8 teaspoon of pepper, and 1/8 teaspoon of salt. 

I made some hummus earlier in the week and so on both Thursday and Friday night, I had Greek Salad, hummus, and pita bread for dinner.   At only 450 calories per meal, its a light and delicious meal.

Shrimp Fettuccine Alfredo

On  Tuesday, after salad and soup for two nights, I was in the mood for something richer, so I decided to make Shrimp Fettuccine Alfredo.    It had been quite awhile since we had shrimp for dinner and I have been wanting to try Cooking Light's version of Alfredo sauce.   The last time I made Alfredo sauce at home, it was the full fat version and almost too rich.   This was before I started making healthier healthier dinners.  

Photo: John Autry and Randy Mayor; Styling: Cindy Barr

I usually buy frozen or previously frozen, wild caught shrimp.   Most of the frozen wild caught shrimp I find at Whole Foods in California seems to come from the Gulf of Mexico.  

I had some half-n-half left over from the Creamy Tomato Soup I made on  Sunday.   The Alfredo sauce is basically grated Parmesean cheese, half-n-half, and light cream cheese.    It was a nice bonus to make two dishes within a few days which both use half-n-half since I rarely use all the half-n-half I buy.

This is a pretty simple dish and really delicious.   I liked the Alfredo sauce better than my full fat version.   Its pretty rich though, even for a Cooking Light recipe.   A serving size of one cup, which is a little small for me, is about 450 calories.   I was able to limit myself to one cup and stay within my calorie budget for the day and have enough for left overs tomorrow night.   I did want to lick my plate, though.