Braised Brussels Sprouts with Turkey Bacon

Brussels sprouts once had a bad reputation, but lately it seems they are popping up on the menus at more and more fabulous restaurants which of course meant I had to add Brussels sprouts to my cooking repertoire.   No quality restaurant would ever serve just plain Jane steamed sprouts so it was crucial that my sprouts had something more.  After scanning recipes from several magazines and cookbooks I decided to stick to my roots and skim the fat from a recipe involving bacon because as every Southern girl knows bacon makes everything better.  

This recipe is based off a recipe from The Complete Test Kitchen Cookbook which I have retooled a bit to cut the fat and accommodate what I had in my pantry which includes swapping fatty delicious bacon with Jennie-O Everyday Turkey Bacon with a little olive oil.  My other trick pony is Land O Lakes light butter with canola oil.  It has all the flavor of butter, but with a few less calories and fat grams.  If you cannot find Land O Lakes light butter use regular butter.  Margarine will compromise the flavor of the entire dish so please do not use it as as substitute.

Braised Brussels Sprouts with Turkey Bacon

Heat:

½ Tablespoon Olive Oil

½ cup sweet onion finely diced

4 slices Jennie-O Turkey Bacon Chopped fine

Add:

½ cup water

1 lb Brussels Sprouts (outer leaves and based of stems removed cut in have through the base.  The outer leaves fall right off if you cut the stems first)

course ground sea salt to taste

Fold:

1 Tablespoon white wine vinegar

1 teaspoon Land O Lakes light butter with canola oil

Heat olive oil in a sauté pan over medium heat.  Add turkey bacon and sweet onion to olive oil and cook until bacon is browned and onion is soft and slightly brown (approximately 7 minutes).  Transfer to a paper towel lined plate. 

Add ½ cup of water, the Brussels sprouts and salt to the pan the bacon and onions were cooked in and cook covered approximately 5 minutes until bright green.  Remove lid and continue cooking until water evaporates (approximately 2 more minutes).  Remove from heat. 

Fold in light butter, white wine vinegar, and the bacon and onion mix.  Serve hot.

 - Serves 4

Big Italian Dinner

Like everyone I love pasta with vodka sauce, but it's so loaded with fat even thinking about making it is just begging for a first class ticket to the Biggest Loser Ranch.  Needless to say I was ecstatic to find a recipe for Lite Vodka Sauce in the February issue of Cuisine at Home.  This recipe makes 14 servings so unless you are hosting a huge family dinner you'll want to measure out a few serving for now and freeze the rest for later. 

At my dear husband's request I served this with his favorite Chicken Parmesan.  I had leftover pizza sauce from making pizza earlier in the week, but you can substitute Italian seasoned tomato sauce if you want to skip making an extra sauce for the chicken.  

Lite Spicy Tomato-Vodka Sauce

Heat:

2 Tbsp olive oil

Add:

1 cup diced onion

½ cup chopped turkey pepperoni slices (1.5 oz.)

1 Tbsp minced garlic

1 ½ tsp red pepper flakes

1 tsp dried basil

½ cup tomato paste

Stir In:

2 cans whole tomatoes in juice (28 oz each)

½ cup vodka

2 dried bay leaves

1 tsp. kosher salt

1 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar

1/3 cup heavy cream

¼ cup grated Parmesan

Heat oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high.

Add onion and pepperoni to oil and sauté until onions are soft, about 4 minutes.  Stir in garlic, pepper flakes and basil; cook until fragrant, 1 minute.  Stir in tomato paste to coat mixture and sauté 1 minute.

Stir in tomatoes, vodka, bay leaf and salt.  Crush tomatoes into chunks with a spoon.  Bring sauce to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until reduced by a third, about 30 minutes.  Discard bay leaf.  Stir in vinegar, cream, and Parmesan.

Serve desired amount of sauce over pasta immediately.  Freeze the remaining sauce for later use.

Makes 14 servings (7 cups)  

 

Baked Chicken Parmesan

2 chicken breasts cut in half width wise then pounded until thin

salt and pepper

½ cup dried breadcrumbs

½ cup fiber one cereal crushed into crumbs

1 tablespoon garlic powder

1 tablespoon oregano

1 tablespoon basil

1 teaspoon salt

½ cup egg substitute

1 tablespoon skim milk

¼ cup fat free shredded mozzarella

1/2 cup pizza sauce

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Coat chicken breasts with salt and pepper.  Mix breadcrumbs, fiber one, garlic powder, oregano and 1 teaspoon salt in a large freezer bag.  Mix egg substitute and 1 tablespoon in a shallow bowl.  Dip chicken breasts in egg mix then coat in the bread crumb mixture until covered.   Place on a baking pan coated with non-stick spray then spray the chicken with a light layer of non-stick spray.   Bake approximately 6-8 minutes until chicken is cooked through.  Immediately top the chicken breasts with a few spoons of pizza sauce and then top with a handful of fat-free mozzarella and place under a broiler until cheese is just melted. 

Pizza Sauce

1 28 oz can whole peeled tomatoes

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 large clove garlic minced

salt to taste

Puree all ingredients in a mixer.  Simmer in a saucepan over medium/low heat 30 minutes until reduced. 

Simple Pan Roasted Sea Bass with Coconut Curry

I absolutely love sea bass for it's clean flavor and delicate texture, but it's so clean I've always felt it needs something more than just the salt and pepper treatment recommended to us by our local fishmonger.  This is my first attempt at a curry and I am extremely pleased with the results.   The sauce has a very light curry flavor and would work great with any white meat if you don't care for fish. 

Pan Roasted Sea Bass with Coconut Curry

Sea Bass Ingredients:

4 filets of sea bass

3 tablespoons canola oil

salt

pepper

Curry Ingredients:

½ tablespoons canola oil

½ large onion thinly sliced

½ red pepper thinly sliced

1 3.2 oz package shitake mushrooms sliced

1 13.5 fl oz can light coconut milk

3 stems fresh cilantro

1 tablespoon curry powder

1 dash turmeric

1 pinch dried ginger

salt to taste

cayenne pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Sauté onions and red pepper in ½ tablespoon of the canola oil over medium heat until onion and pepper begin to soften.  Add shitake mushrooms, curry powder, turmeric and ginger.  Stir over medium heat approximately one minute to distribute spices.  Add coconut milk and cilantro and continue cooking over medium heat whisking occasionally until slightly reduced (This should take approximately 15 minutes). 

In a separate large sauté or fry pan, heat the remaining 3 tablespoons of canola oil until it’s so hot it sizzles when you sprinkle a drop of water in the pan. 

Season the fillets with sea salt and pepper and add to the hot pan skin side down for approximately 5 minutes until the skin is nice and crispy.  Flip over for 30 seconds.  If you have an ovenproof pan transfer the pan to the 450° oven and roast 3-4 minutes or until fish is opaque and cooked through.  If your pan is not oven proof then transfer fish to a baking sheet coated in nonstick spray before cooking in the oven.  (Note: if you do transfer to a baking sheet it will take slightly longer to cook so you’ll probably have to up your baking time to closer to 6 minutes.)
Serve sea bass immediately with curry sauce and a side of steamed fresh green beans. 

Legendary Seven Layer Dip

We had a couple people over this weekend to watch the games so I decided it was a good time to whip up my legendary seven layer dip.  This is a super easy recipe which I can guarantee will make you the hit of any party.  

If you want to save a few steps you can buy the guacamole already made from Whole Foods or another store that sells fresh made guacamole.  The factory made guacamole tend to be bitter and will ruin the dip so check the ingredients to ensure it's made without preservatives or mayonnaise.  

The Seven Layer Dip

1 16 oz can fat free refried beans

Guacamole (recipe below)

1 package taco seasoning

1 16 oz carton light sour cream

1 ½ cups Mexican blend 2% cheese

1 cup tomatoes diced

½ cup sliced black olives

½ cup sliced pickled jalapenos

Make Guacamole.  Mix taco seasoning with sour cream.  Layer ingredients in order listed above in a 9 inch pie pan or a wide shallow bowl.  Serve with Tostitos Baked Scoops.

Guacamole:

2 very ripe hass avocados

¼ cup minced onion

 1/3 cup fresh cilantro minced

1 large glove garlic minced

½ a fresh jalapeno minced

½ teaspoon chili powder

¼ teaspoon cumin

dash of cayenne pepper

juice of 1 lime

salt to taste

Using a dough blender mash the avocados with all other ingredients until the desired consistency is reached.    If you don’t have a dough blender you can also use a potato masher or a fork.  

Tip:  If you plan to make guacamole frequently or ever plan to make puff pastry I strongly suggest investing in a dough blender.  They are generally less than $10 and will save your fingers a world of pain if your avocados aren’t quite ripe.  

Simple Seafood Pot Pie

Inspired by a recent episode of Iron Chef America I decided to try a seafood makeover of the Hungry Girl chicken pot pie recipe using some frozen Trader Joe's lagostino tails and shrimp I had in my freezer.  Lagostino are really just big crawfish so crawfish tails would be an awesome substitution if your local grocery sells crawfish tail meat.  This recipe should work with any combination of seafood or firm fish so feel free to mix things up according to your preferences or even by what's on sale at the grocery.  
 

Simple Seafood Potpie

1 cup finely diced sweet onion

1 large clove garlic minced

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 cup frozen cooked shrimp defrosted

1 cup frozen cooked lagostino tails defrosted

1 Tablespoon Old Bay seasoning

1 10 ¾ oz can 98% Fat Free Cream of Mushroom Soup

3 cups frozen mixed vegetables cooked according to package directions

4 reduced-fat crescent rolls

Cook onion and garlic in 1 tablespoon olive oil in a sauté pan over medium heat until transparent. Add seafood and Old Bay seasoning to onions and garlic and mix over medium heat for 1-2 minutes until seafood is warm.

In a large bowl fold the seafood mixture and the cooked vegetables into the cream of mushroom soup.  Transfer the mixture to a pie pan sprayed with non-stick spray and smooth mixture so it is flat on top.

Bake in a 350 degree oven approximately 20 minutes or until the edges are bubbling

Separate the crescent roll triangles and place on a rolling sheet or clean counter sprayed with non-stick spray so they are in a square pattern slightly overlapping.   Roll until thin and large enough to cover the pie pan.

Remove pie pan from oven after bubbling and cover with the rolled crescent rolls.  Trim edges of rolls with a sharp knife so the dough is no longer hanging over the edges of the pie pan. 

Place the pie back in the oven and cook 10-15 minutes until the crust is golden brown.   (I usually make the remaining 4 crescent rolls into crescent rolls and bake them on a pan below the potpie at this time.  They’ll be ready at the same time as the pot pie.)

Let sit at room temperature 5 minutes then enjoy.

- Makes 4 servings