Category Archives: Summer

Mojo Chicken

September 2, 2010 admin Leave a comment

This marinade is reminiscent of a Mojito – it makes a great, refreshing, summery chicken recipe. Sometimes instead of boneless breasts I par boil split breasts and then slightly score the breast meat before marinating and grilling.

6 servings
200 calories per serving

6 boneless skinless chicken breasts (Perdue Perfect Portions work great here !)

Marinade:
¾ c orange juice
3 T lime juice
3 T oil
2 T parsley, minced
2 t mint, minced
2 t oregano
2 cloves garlic, minced
½ t salt
½ t ground ginger
½ t ground allspice
Pam

Make some shallow slits in the chicken and place in a zip loc bag along with all the other ingredients. Refrigerate at least 4 hours.

Spray a grill with High Heat Pam and grill chicken to desired doneness.

Dinner, Kid Friendly, Pork, Summer

Grilled Pork Roast

August 31, 2010 admin Leave a comment

Cooking the pork in this manner turns your grill into a big oven. Be sure to sear the pork at the end of the cooking process so you get a nice browned outside. Serve with Oven Fries and a salad for a great balanced meal. Leftovers are great for making Cuban Sandwiches.

10 servings
253 calories per serving

3 pound pork top loin roast or pork loin
2 T parsley, chopped
1 t fennel seeds, crushed
1 t minced dry onion
½ t rosemary, crushed
¼ t salt
¼ t ground cloves
¼ t pepper
¼ t garlic powder
¼ t onion powder
1/8 t ground coriander

Trim fat from roast. Mix all spices together to create a rub and sprinkle it evenly over the meat and rub it in. Heat grill – lower heat to medium low – shut off one side of the grill so that you can grill with indirect heat. Place meat on a rack in a baking pan and place on the side of grill that is NOT on. Cook 1 ½ hours. Sear the meat on the side of the grill that is on for just a few moments, then remove from grill and let sit 15 minutes before slicing.

[FA_Lite id=”9343″]

Dessert, Kid Friendly, Snacks, Summer

Ginger Pops

August 30, 2010 admin Leave a comment

What a crisp and refreshing pop ! And when you are done, your mouth tastes like you just ate a bunch of ginger snap cookies. These are definitely on my list of recipes to make again 🙂

4 servings
52 calories per serving

½ c lemon lime seltzer
1/2 inch ginger
Juice of one lime
Juice of one lemon
3 T honey
1 cup ice

Place all in a blender and mix well. Spoon into popsicle molds and freeze at least 4 hours.

Dessert, Kid Friendly, Summer

Strawberry Dream

August 28, 2010 admin Leave a comment

This is like a pudding pop with strawberries – very rich, very creamy and very delicious !

18 servings
254 calories per serving

8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 c skim milk
1.5 oz. package sugar free vanilla instant pudding
1-1/2 c thawed cool whip
20 Nilla Wafers, coarsely broken
1 c sliced fresh strawberries (save some for tops of desserts)
1/2 c strawberry ice cream topping (or strawberry jam)

Beat cream cheese until creamy and gradually beat in milk. Add pudding and beat 2 minutes (it will be quite thick) then stir in cool whip and berries. Swirl in topping. Divide cookies among 18 cupcake liners (I use silicone ones) then spoon in the strawberry mix, garnish the tops with extra berries and freeze 4 hours. Let sit out 10 minutes before eating.

Holiday Meals, Summer

Winding down to Labor Day

August 23, 2010 admin Leave a comment

I figured you might be getting together your plans for Labor Day and looking for some great summer recipes – over the next week I’ll be re-posting some of my favorites from the past couple of months. These are great dishes for BBQ’s and picnics. If you are looking for more ideas, be sure to click the SUMMER category in the list over on the right side of the page !

Dessert, Italian, Summer

Cappuccino Granita

August 19, 2010 admin Leave a comment

Think Chocolate Italian ice but with more of a coffee flavor – and that describes this pretty well 🙂 A great dessert for only 70 calories and a perfect ending to a summer night.

7 servings
80 calories per serving

½ c sugar
2 T cocoa
3 c strong hot coffee (decaf)
1 c skim milk

Place a 13×9 metal pan in the freezer to chill. Combine all ingredients and cool for ½ hour then pour it into the pan and place in the freezer for 30 – 60 minutes. When ice crystals form on the edges, stir with a fork being sure to pull away all the frozen pieces around the edges and freeze another 2-3 hours stirring every ½ hour.

Dessert, Kid Friendly, Summer

Raspberry Lemonade Pops

August 18, 2010 admin 2 Comments

This tastes like a lemonade stand – utterly delicious ! The original recipe I had was for a pie, but the filling is just great in a homemade ice pop. How refreshing – tart and sweet at the same time just like a great lemonade !!

16 pops
110 calories per serving

1 ½ c boiling water
.3 oz. package lemon Jello
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
6 oz. frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed
8 oz. cool whip, thawed
1 c raspberries

Add boiling water to jello and stir 2 minutes to dissolve completely. Cool a bit and then add in the lemonade. Beat cream cheese until creamy and then gradually add jello mix. Stir in cool whip and berries and pour into ice pop molds then freeze at least 4 hours.

Drinks, Summer

Torani Tea

August 17, 2010 admin Leave a comment

When you’re in the mood for a great refreshing summer drink, why not make a flavored iced tea? Adding flavor definitely takes the ho-hum out of a glass of iced tea ! Torani makes some GREAT flavored syrups that you can use.

I use their syrups making lo fat lattes and all sort of coffee drinks. And they have a whole bunch of fruit flavored syrups that are perfect in a glass of iced tea. Some are sugar free and ZERO calories. Others have sugar and are 80 calories or so per ounce.

What I love is that their flavors don’t taste like fake flavoring – the blood orange tastes like you squeezed a blood orange into the tea ! Watermelon syrup makes you think you just bit into a slice of watermelon. And the coffee ones are the same – pumpkin, gingerbread, vanilla – – all GREAT flavors that don’t have any nasty aftertaste and make a real treat out of your everyday coffee and tea drinks.

1 serving
5-85 calories per serving

6 oz. hot black tea
Glass of ice
1 oz. Torani syrup – today I am using BLOOD ORANGE

Mix all together and enjoy 🙂 Can’t you just taste it from there ????

Dessert, Kid Friendly, Summer

Raspberry Lemon Cream Pie

August 16, 2010 admin Leave a comment

This was a very sweet pie perfect for a hot summer day. I added lots of extra raspberries as a garnish and it really hit the spot !

8 servings
230 calories per serving

8 oz. low fat cream cheese, softened
1 small package instant lemon pudding
1 c skim milk
2 t grated lemon zest
2 c Cool Whip, thawed and divided
¼ c raspberry preserves
Low fat graham crust
1 c raspberries + extras for garnish

Beat cream cheese, pudding, milk and lemon with electric beater and then gently stir in 1 c Cool Whip. Spoon preserves on bottom of crust and cover with the pudding mix. Top with the rest of the Cool Whip and the raspberries. Refrigerate 4 hours. Garnish each slice with extra berries.

Dinner, Sides, Summer, Vegetables

Roasted Vegetable Salad

August 9, 2010 admin Leave a comment

Adding balsamic to grilled or broiled vegetables brings out a whole new dimension of flavor. Vinegar is often used as a flavor enhancer and boy does it do the trick here. This is a great side, lunch, appetizer – – however you slice it, you gotta make it ! 🙂

8 servings
140 calories per serving

1 green pepper
1 red pepper
1 yellow pepper
8 oz. Portobello mushroom caps
6 eggplant slices
1 c low fat Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing

Cut peppers lengthwise into quarters and place all veggies on a broiler rack or on a wire rack atop a baking sheet and brush them with 1/2 c of the dressing. Broil 6-8 minutes turning and brushing a few times with the another ¼ c of the dressing. Slice mushrooms and mix all ingredients together and dress with the last ¼ c of dressing.