Filed under Main Course …

Dec 25 2011
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6P+, Chicken, Main Course, Spicy

Buffalo Chicken and Potato Casserole

A haiku for hot sauce:

hot sauce in my fridge

gives spicy flavor I want

just when I want it

(Excuse my lousy attempt at poetry.)

I don’t know when I was introduced to “Buffalo” as a flavor. I can only guess that it happened some time in college: late bar nights that yielded orders of Domino’s chicken wings and cheesy bread, shared amongst sorority sisters.

Oh, and don’t forget the Sheetz Nachos. I used to eat a whole order of those with sour cream and cheese piled on. Without sharing. But those weren’t buffalo. What was I saying?

What I do know is that from the moment I was introduced to “Buffalo” anything, I had to have “Buffalo” everything. Hot sauce is my condiment of choice. I don’t eat fast food anymore, but when I did, I put Buffalo sauce on everything: the chicken, the burgers, the fries, the onion rings, the pizza crust. There was no “wrong place” for Buffalo sauce. I even order my calamari tossed in Buffalo sauce when I’m out to eat. (Try it, you can thank me later.)

So naturally, any opportunity I get to bring Buffalo flavor into my meal plan in a waistline-friendly kind of way, I take it. With gusto.

I know I tend to be all-fancy with my meals lately, so for Christmas, I give you: a one-bowl, one-dish casserole! Tada!

Oh, and Buffalo flavor.

And a partridge in a pear tree.

Layer of uncooked chicken strips and hot sauce

Prepped, and pre-baking

Buffalo Chicken and Potato Casserole

Adapted from Holy Cannoli Recipes

Ingredients:

  • 1 ¼ lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch strips
  • 1/3 cup hot sauce or buffalo sauce (I used Stop and Shop brand hot sauce)
  • 1 cup chopped celery (about 2 longs stalks)
  • 6 cups (thawed) frozen hash brown potatoes (Stop and Shop, or another no-sodium brand)
  • 1 c 2% milk
  • ½ cup reduced fat (2%) cheddar cheese, shredded
  • 1/2 cup red onion, chopped
  • 1 can (10 oz) Campbell’s Healthy Request Condensed Cream of Celery
  • 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
  • 1/2 tsp paprika
  • ½ cup panko

Directions:

1. Spray a 13×9-inch baking dish with cooking spray or Misto. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Place the chicken strips in the prepared baking dish in a single layer. Top with hot sauce.

3. In a large bowl, mix together celery, potatoes, milk, cheese, onion, and soup until well combined. Spread mixture over chicken.

4. Sprinkle panko evenly over the top. Cover with foil.

5. Bake for 30 minutes; then uncover and bake 20 to 25 minutes longer or until potatoes are tender and juice of chicken is no longer pink. Let set for 5 minutes and cut into 8 equal portions.

Nutritional Information Per Serving (6P+ per serving, makes 8 servings):
Calories: 304
Carbs: 34
Fat: 8
Protein: 34
Fiber: 3
Sodium: 706
Nutritional Information from myfitnesspal.com
(PS – If someone can find me a place to get low sodium or no sodium hot sauce, I would be indebted to you forever.)
Dec 19 2011
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8P+, Main Course, Mushrooms, Pasta, Spinach

Creamy Gnocchi Alfredo with Spinach and Mushroom

I think I have mentioned before that I have an unhealthy relationship with cheese. What I didn’t mention was that when I was looking for a blog name, I was going to choose “Cheese Fetish” and only blog recipes that had cheese in them.

Two things derailed this idea:

  1. I really enjoy baking, and felt that I would need to incorporate that into my blog.
  2. I Googled “Cheese Fetish” to make sure the name wasn’t taken. My search results made my tummy feel weird.
I made some Gnocchi Mac and Cheese a few weeks ago, and had a lightbulb moment: alfredo! I headed back out to the market and purchased some mini-gnocchi. If you can’t find exactly what I used, 2 (17.5) oz packages of fresh gnocchi would suffice. It shouldn’t change the serving size too much, your gnocchi will just be bigger and plumper.

Anyhow, this recipe contains cheese, is cooked on the stove top, and is incredibly decadent.

WIN.

Creamy Gnocchi Alfredo with Spinach and Mushroom

Stovetop method adapted from whiteonrice couple

Ingredients

  • 2 tsp extra virgin olive oil, divided
  • 12 oz pre-rinsed, pre sliced mushrooms
  • 1 (6oz) bag baby spinach, rinsed and drained
  • ½ cup sweet onion finely chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 (17.5 oz) packages Rienzi mini gnocchi, fresh, not frozen
  • 2 ¼  cup reduced fat milk (2%)
  • 1 cup grated parmesan cheese
  • pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Heat 1 tsp olive oil in a medium skillet sauté mushrooms. When mushrooms become soft, add spinach and remove from heat. Cover, allowing spinach to wilt while the gnocchi cooks. Set aside, covered.

2. Rinse raw gnocchi in a colander and let drain.

3. Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, warm 1 tsp olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic and onion,cook  2-3 minutes until fragrant.

4. Add gnocchi and milk to the saucepan with garlic and onion. Slowly bring the milk/gnocchi mixture to a simmer, stirring frequently. Once the mixture comes to a simmer, immediately turn down the heat to low. Gnocchi will cook in the milk. Plan to stand at the stove, if this mixture boils over it will be VERY messy!

5. Cook and stir for about 5-7 minutes or until milk has been fully absorbed.  When milk has thickened, stir in cheese, until melted. Remove from heat.

6. Stir mushrooms and spinach into gnocchi.

7. Place a lid on top of pan and cover for about 5 minutes. This rest period will allow gnocchi to plump up and absorb any excess milk.

Nutritional Information Per Serving* (8P+ per 1 cup per serving, makes 8 servings):
Calories: 475
Carbs: 45
Fat: 6
Protein: 14
Fiber: 3
Sodium: 954
Nutritional Information from myfitnesspal.com
*NI may seem high for this particular item. Myfitnesspal did not have the exact gnocchi listed, so I estimated with a heavy hand. :)
Nov 21 2011
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6P+, Chicken, Cranberries, Main Course

Baked Chicken and Cranberry Sauce

I’ve noticed over the last few days that many of my favorite food bloggers (read: heroes) have been making Thanksgiving foods in an effort to prepare their readers for the holiday. Me? I’ve been sitting here for half of the week wondering what in the WORLD to do with the fresh cranberries I bought on sale.

On Thanksgiving, I’ll be visiting the homes of my nearest and dearest, where there will be enough food to feed an army or two. My father fries the turkeys for my aunt who hosts; and on my mother’s side of the family, I am sure I will find some of my aunt’s signature pumpkin pie.

I will travel with White Mint Chocolate Cookies & Cream Fudge. (I’ll post pictures. The recipe belongs to a friend who has a cake/truffles/deliciousness business, so I can’t give away her secrets.)

What I’m getting at, here, is that I don’t plan to do any heavy-duty cooking this week.

But those cranberries! The only other thing I had on hand was chicken. So I Googled it. You know how I feel about Google.

This recipe was inspired by the first “hit” I got from Google. I served it alongside some Teeny Tiny Potatoes and cooked carrots.

And yes, it turned out to be an early taste of Thanksgiving.

Making a cranberry sauce turned out to be VERY low-maintenance!

Baked Chicken and Cranberry Sauce

Adapted from allrecipes.com

Ingredients:

  • cooking spray
  • 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, sliced in half (forms 6 thin breast servings)
  • paprika and fresh ground pepper
  • 2 cups fresh cranberries
  • 1 1/2 c water
  • 3/4 c packed brown sugar
  • 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
  • 1 cinnamon stick, whole

Directions:

Chicken:

  1. Spray a large cookie sheet with nonstick cooking spray. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
  2. Place chicken breasts on cookie sheet, season each with paprika and ground pepper (just a dash of each!)
  3. Bake approximately 20 minutes, or until chicken is no longer pink in the center. Watch chicken carefully so you don’t dry it out!

Cranberry Sauce:

  1. Combine cranberries, water, packed brown sugar, and red wine vinegar in a deep skillet. Add cinnamon stick.
  2. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes.
  3. Remove cover, raise heat to medium, and simmer approximately 25-30 minutes. You want your sauce to be slightly thick, but not dry. Remove cinnamon stick before serving.
Cranberry sauce should be slightly tart, slightly sweet. Add more cinnamon or cracked pepper to taste.
Spoon approximately 1/6th of Cranberry Sauce over each chicken breast. I would guess about 1/4 – 1/3 c. I was bad and forgot to measure!

Oh, I'm ready for Thanksgiving.

Nutritional Information Per Serving (6P+, makes 6 servings):
Calories: 220
Carbs: 31
Fat: 1
Protein: 23
Fiber: 1
Sodium: 46
Nutritional Information from myfitnesspal.com
Nov 11 2011
2 Comments
5P+, Chicken, Main Course

Crispy Baked Chicken with Creamy Mushroom Sauce

For years, I have been saying that I need to make a shirt that says “Google is my….” ummm…how do I put this politely for the interwebs?

“Beeotch,” I guess. You get the idea. Please don’t be offended. I know it’s early on in my blogging career for profanity.

Recently, the always-awesome-and-entertaining WW.com 20′s Board introduced me to Pinterest. I feel compelled to mention that I might need to make a different shirt now.

I “pin” all of my hopes and dreams to my “boards.” Truth is, they  are usually hopes and dreams I have pilfered from the boards of others.

It’s a guilty pleasure.

The most guilt and the most pleasure come from the food boards. Oh, food, glorious food. (Name that tune! I sang it in 4th Grade Chorus. Nothing in that song sounds appetizing to me though, but I was never a British orphan. I digress.)

I spend a LOT of time “pinning” food, most of which are things I plan to make someday. I pinned this recipe on Wednesday afternoon, and made it Wednesday evening. I served it alongside a microwaved acorn squash, drizzled with a teaspoon of olive oil, creamy mushroom sauce, and some black pepper.

The chicken was crispy and flavorful. The sauce was creamy and comforting.

Good news is, if you don’t like mushrooms, Campbell’s has a few other options: Healthy Request Cheddar Cheese Soup, Healthy Request Cream of Chicken, and  Healthy Request Cream of Celery. This may change the P+, but I haven’t investigated yet.

Overall, this dish was easy, quick, and delicious. I promise.

I left 7 of these bad boys at home when I went to Grad class. They had all been devoured when I returned.

Will you like it? You’ll never know until you try…..

Crispy Baked Chicken with Creamy Mushroom Sauce

Recipe adapted from www.jamiecooksitup.blogspot.com 

Chicken:

  • Cooking spray
  • 3 chicken breasts, sliced into thirds to make 9 thin “mini breasts”
  • 1 ½ c plain panko (Japanese Style Bread Crumbs. I used Progresso.)
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • ½  tsp pepper
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • ¼  c nonfat milk
  • 1/3 c shredded reduced fat cheddar
  • 1 tsp dried parsley

Sauce:

  • 1   10 ¾  ounce can Campbell’s Healthy Request Cream of Mushroom Condensed Soup
  • 2 tbsp light sour cream
  • ½ c nonfat milk
  • spices to taste (I added some generous dashes of garlic power. I heart garlic.)

 

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a 9×13 pan with cooking spray.
  2. Pour the milk into a shallow dish and panko on to a plate. Mix the paprika, pepper, and garlic into the panko. It will make the panko colorful and fragrant.
  3. Dip each piece of chicken into the milk to coat. Sprinkle 1 scant tablespoon of cheese on one side of chicken. Immediately dredge both sides of chicken in panko to coat. Place chicken on prepared pan. Repeat for all pieces of chicken.
  4.  Sprinkle the dried parsley over the chicken.
  5. Cover the pan with tin foil and bake at 400 degrees for 35 minutes. Remove the tin foil, bake for an additional 10 minutes, or until the edges of the chicken are golden brown and crispy.
  6. In a medium saucepan, combine the cream of mushroom soup, milk, and sour cream with a with a whisk. Continue whisking until well combined. Stir for a few moments until sauce is hot. Serve over chicken.
Nutritional Information Per Serving (5P+ for one breast and approximately 1/4 cup sauce):
Calories: 206
Carbs: 17
Fat: 5
Protein: 22
Fiber: 0
Sodium: 242
Nutritional Information from myfitnesspal.com
Nov 08 2011
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6P+, Chicken, Main Course, Soups and Chilis

White Chicken Chili

Mondays are my Sunday. I spend the day being genuinely lazy, aside from food prep and the occasional load of laundry.

I use the time to have a HOT breakfast. I do love hot breakfast.

I had some stellar plans for dinner this Monday: WW Easy (Shrimp) Fried Rice.

But I didn’t have peas.

Or carrots.

Or scallions.

Or the will to go to the grocery store.

So I started scouring my favorite recipe sites for something I could make with what I had on hand. I ended up at skinnytaste.com, with guest appearances from emilybites.com and canyoustayfordinner.com.

With 1 lb of ground chicken defrosting on my countertop, I adapted Skinnytaste’s White Bean Turkey Chili recipe. It smelled fantastic cooking.

You can use any 2 cans of beans you have on hand here. Two kinds of white beans look the prettiest, but I just couldn’t get myself out to the grocery store. That’s excusable, right?

White Chicken Chili

Adapted from skinnytaste.com 

Ingredients:

  • cooking spray
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2 tsp chili powder
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1/4 tbsp cumin
  • 1/4 tbsp oregano
  • 1 tsp red pepper flakes (to taste)
  • 1 lb ground chicken
  • 1 can navy beans, rinsed and drained
  • 1 can red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
  • 2 cups of fat free chicken broth
  • 1/4 cup of light sour cream
  • salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

  1. Heat a large heavy bottomed pot over medium heat. When hot, spray with cooking spray. Add onions and garlic, sauté about 5 min.
  2. Add chicken and cook, breaking it up until white, about 5 minutes. Add chili powder, cumin, oregano, and red pepper flakes and cook for 2 minutes.
  3. Add beans, broth, cook uncovered about 10 minutes.
  4. Add bay leaf. Lower heat and cover, simmer about 30 minutes mixing occasionally.
  5. Add sour cream and cook 5 more minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Remove bay leaf.

**Garnish with cheese and sour cream, if desired – will add extra points!**

Nutritional Information Per Serving (6P+ for a 1 cup serving, makes 7 servings):
Calories: 244
Carbs: 27
Fat: 2
Protein: 25
Fiber: 7
Sodium: 813
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