This is a way lower cal version than your typical scampi. Instead of floating in a lake of butter, this shrimp dish takes the scampi flavor profiles and makes it well affordable in terms of calories 🙂 Use next to a pasta or rice dish (like paella) or use atop salads.
Buttery Baked Shrimp
4 servings
46 calories per serving
1 lb. peeled, cleaned shrimp
Butter flavored Pam
Molly McButter
I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter Spray
½ t salt
1 t garlic powder
1 t parsley flakes
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a baking dish with Pam. Lay the shrimp out without overlapping. Spray with the butter spray then sprinkle with a little bit of the Molly McButter. Finally sprinkle with garlic powder, salt, and parsley and bake 8 minutes or until done. Optionally sprinkle with just a bit of parmesan cheese just before serving.
Veggies are good. Veggies are sweet. Veggies are full of fiber. Veggies are good for you.
Veggies are a pain in the butt to prep !
But if you do a whole big platter when you have time over the weekend, then you can eat off of it all week long 🙂
As a snack, dip veggies in low fat dressing. As a side to lunch or dinner, drizzle with balsamic vinegar. Chop up and use in soups, salads and stews. The possibilities are endless !
So take 1/2 hour over the weekend and get your veggie on !
Think Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cereal – that is the flavor you get from this deliciously sweet treat. You can add or remove flavorings as you see fit – I added bunch more cardamom than the recipe calls for because I am addicted to it’s flavor 🙂 This is a perfect healthy treat with tons of MUFA for you ! The won’t last long – you might want to make 2 batches !
Candied Walnuts
Makes 5 cups
2 T nuts = 129 calories
1 egg white
1 t water
5 c walnut pieces
1 c sugar
1 t cinnamon
1/4 t nutmeg
¼ t cardamom
1/8 t ground cloves
½ t salt
Pam
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray a baking sheet with pam. Mix egg white with water and add nuts and mix well. Combine spices and toss with nuts. Spread on pan and cook 30 minutes. Cool completely and store in an airtight container.
These are great served for breakfast, lunch or dinner – the cooked onions added in with the potatoes makes for a really great dish with lots of taste.
Onion and Potato Pancakes
4 servings
225 calories per serving
1 bag Oreida Steam and Mash Potatoes (24 oz)
5 t oil
2 onions, finely chopped
3 T low fat sour cream
¾ t salt
¼ t pepper
1/8 t nutmeg
3 T flour
This spicy broth is a nice contrast to the mild and creamy wontons. The ricotta mixed with the spinach for the filling makes for a very creamy textured wonton center. Wontons are definitely NOT hard to make ! Give it a shot ! Even if they don’t come out quite the right shape, as long as they stay sealed, that is really all that matters 🙂 And at only 137 calories per serving, double up the portion and you still have room for some crispy homemade flat breads as a side !
Spinach Soup with Wontons
8 servings
137 calories per serving
10 oz. frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
½ c part skim ricotta cheese
1 t chopped basil ( or ¼ t basil flakes)
½ t pepper
32 wonton wrappers
4 14.5 oz. cans chicken broth
2 T soy sauce
2 t chili sauce (available in the Asian section of your market)
½ c scallions, thinly sliced
For this recipe, be sure to use a pot that is large enough that the wontons have room and don’t get all piled on top of one another. Mix spinach, ricotta, basil and pepper in a blender until smooth. Place 1 T filling in each wonton and fold according to package instructions being sure to seal the last fold with a bit of water. Bring broth, soy and chili sauce to a boil. Add wontons and scallions and bring back to a boil. Cover and reduce heat and simmer 3 minutes or until wontons are tender.
Here is a video to help you lean how to prepare wontons –
I modeled this recipe after a restaurant favorite of mine – it is a wild mushroom ravioli appetizer that I could not help but order every time I frequented a certain restaurant, but the calorie count was over the top. Not this one !! Between the RICH cream sauce and the multiple mushroom flavors, this meal tastes just as decadent but with so few calories, you can eat it without any guilt.
Portobello and Ricotta Wontons
Thanks to Marxfoods.com for the wild mushrooms to create this masterpiece ! The different varieties lend quite a flavor to this dish. The dish would just not be the same using run of the mill mushrooms. The mixture of the chanterelles and matsutakes inside the little packet of goodness combined with the flavors of the porcini, lobster and black trumpet mushroom sauce … well, it’s just a little bit of heaven right here on earth.
Marxfoods offers a bunch of wild mushroom varieties – I think my favorite in this dish were the black trumpet mushrooms – they have a very delicate texture and the aroma is akin to a truffle. These are definitely on my list of favorites.
8 appetizer servings (3 wontons each) – 106 calories per serving
4 dinner servings (6 wontons each – 212 calories per serving
Filling –
1 t oil
4 shallots, sliced
¼ c water
2 oz. reconstituted dry chanterelle mushrooms (reserve the liquid)
2 oz. reconstituted dry matsutake mushrooms (reserve the liquid)
2 oz. Portobello mushrooms, sliced
½ t salt
¼ t pepper
1/3 c part skim ricotta cheese
To reconstitute dried wild mushroom, place in a glass bowl and cover with very hot water. Let sit 20-30 minutes. Reserve the water to use as when boiling the wontons.
Sauce –
1 t oil
1.5 oz. reconstituted dry porcini mushrooms (reserve the liquid)
.25 oz. reconstituted dry black trumpet mushrooms (reserve the liquid)
.50 oz. reconstituted dry lobster mushrooms (reserve the liquid)
1 T water
1 c beef broth
2 t cornstarch
¼ c fat free evaporated milk
1 t red vinegar
To reconstitute dried wild mushroom, place in a glass bowl and cover with very hot water. Let sit 20-30 minutes. Reserve the water to use as when boiling the wontons.
The glaze makes an already great tasting steak that much better ! Pair this with Roasted Grape Tomatoes and Spinach Orzo for a meal just a teeny bit over 400 calories.
Filet Mignon with Red Wine Glaze
4 servings
203 calories per serving
½ t salt
3 cloves garlic, minced
4 4 oz. filet mignons
Pam
¼ c rich red wine
¼ c beef broth
Combine salt and garlic and rub evenly over the meat pressing some so it will stick well. Heat a large skillet to medium high and coat with Pam. Add meat and lower heat to medium and cook 4 minutes each side or until done. (alternately, you can cook them on a heated grill). Remove steaks to a plate and keep warm. Add wine and broth to pan and cook about 3 minutes, until reduced to about ¼ cup of liquid. Drizzle sauce over steaks.
This is loaded with veggies and tastes so good ! It’s way quicker than a regular paella and if you really want some seafood in there, add some Buttery Baked Shrimp. Paella is a great healthy dinner that the whole family will enjoy.
Vegetable Paella
6 servings
362 calories per serving
3 T oil
½ onion, chopped
½ green bell pepper, chopped
½ poblano pepper, seeded and chopped
12 oz. sliced mushrooms, roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 t paprika
1 t oregano
½ t pepper
¼ t red pepper flakes
1 ½ c brown rice (MINUTE rice)
2 ½ c vegetable stock / broth
14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes
1 ½ t salt
9 oz. baby spinach leaves, chopped roughly
1 c frozen peas and carrots, thawed
1 c frozen or canned artichoke hearts
2 T red vinegar
¼ c chopped parsley
Heat oil in a Dutch oven or large soup pot on medium heat and cook onion 7 minutes. Add bell pepper, poblano pepper, mushrooms and salt and cook 5 minutes then add garlic, paprika, oregano, red pepper and black pepper and continue cooking another minute or two. Add stock and tomatoes and salt and bring to a boil. Then stir in rice. Cover and reduce heat to low and cook 7 minutes. Stir in spinach, peas, artichokes, vinegar and half the parsley. Season with salt and pepper to taste and cover again and let sit 5 minutes for all the juices to absorb. Serve with parsley garnish.
This is a great salad served either cold or at room temperature. The arugula was a great addition to a classic salad and the buttermilk dressing was light and flavorful.
Pasta Salad with Buttermilk Dressing
4 servings
273 calories per serving (add 80 calories per serving if you do not use FiberGourmet pasta)
8 oz. FiberGourmet rotini pasta
1 c frozen peas
1/2 c fat free buttermilk
1 T minced chives
1 t chopped thyme
½ t salt
½ t pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 c baby arugula
1 t oil
3 oz. finely chopped prosciutto or deli ham
Cook pasta according to package directions adding in the peas during the last 2 minutes of cooking then drain and rinse in cold water to stop the cooking process. Mix buttermilk, chives, thyme, salt, and pepper and add pasta and arugula and toss well. Heat oil and cook garlic 1 minute then add ham or prosciutto and cook another 2 minutes. Drain and sprinkle on salad.
