Quick and simple to do, yet a really flavorful way to serve chicken. Serve with a salad and a small baked potato for a great meal.
Parmesan Chicken
4 servings
206 calories per serving
1/2 c grated parmesan cheese
1/2 t garlic powder
Salt and pepper to taste
4 b/s breasts – Perdue Perfect Portion 5 oz each (150 calories each)
Mix cheese, garlic, salt and pepper. Moisten chicken with water and place in baking dish. Sprinkle cheese mix evenly across chicken. Broil 6-8 minutes. Let sit a few minutes before serving.
A classic combination with just a little twist – the apples in the stuffing add a bit more overall crunch to the dish making this a definite keeper recipe. Make sure you use pork chops that are on the thicker side so they don’t dry out.
Pork Chops with Apple Stuffing
6 servings
370 calories per serving
6 boneless pork chops (about 4 oz. each)
¼ t salt
¼ t pepper
1 T oil
1 small onion, chopped
2 ribs celery, chopped
2 Granny Smith apples, peeled and coarsely chopped
14.5 oz. chicken broth
1 can low fat cream of celery soup
¼ c white cooking wine
6 c herb seasoned stuffing cubes
Pam
Preheat oven to 375 degrees and spray a 13×9 baking dish with Pam. Sprinkle pork chops with salt and pepper and cook in oil in a heated skillet. Brown pork about 3 minutes per side and remove from pan. Add onion and celery to skillet and cook 3 minutes. Add apples and cook another minute. Add broth, soup and wine and stir well then bring to a simmer and remove from heat and stir in stuffing cubes. Pour stuffing into baking dish and then place pork chops on top. Cover tightly with foil and bake 40 minutes or until pork is done.
Wow – this is a great filling meal for only 220 calories and if you have a low cal side dish, you can up the amount of shells you eat and still stay under 400 calories. The mushrooms and spinach really bulk up the meal and you feel like you are cheating, but you’re not 🙂
Stuffed Shells Florentine
8 servings
220 calories per serving
1 c coarsely chopped mushrooms
½ c chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
½ t garlic powder
½ t onion powder
½ t parsley flakes
¼ t pepper
¼ t salt
16 oz. fat free cottage cheese
10 oz. frozen spinach, thawed and well drained
½ c Egg Beaters
24 jumbo shells
15 oz. marinara sauce
Pam
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook pasta according to package instructions. Saute mushrooms, garlic, onion, and seasonings in a skillet sprayed with Pam. Remove from heat and stir in cottage cheese, spinach and eggs. Spoon the mix into the shells. Spread ½ c of sauce into the bottom of a 13×9 baking dish and place the shells in the dish. Top with the rest of the sauce and bake 35-40 minutes. You can make these well ahead and keep refrigerated and then just slip into the oven 40 minutes before it’s time to eat – that makes it a great convenient meal and a great one for entertaining.
I usually have couscous heated but this salad is served cooled or chilled and it is a new and different flavor experience. Couscous is just a tiny pasta, almost like pastina. And you can find it boxed and usually in with the rices and rice mixes at your grocery store. Give it a try for something different !
(I just noticed that with all my couscous recipes, I photograph it in the same dish…what’s with that? hehehe I guess it’s THE couscous star.)
Couscous Salad
4 servings
131 calories per serving
1/2 c whole wheat couscous
1/2 c boiling water
1 c canned diced tomatoes
1/2 c diced English cucumber
1 T fresh oregano, chopped
1 T fresh parsley, chopped
1 T fresh basil, chopped
2 T red wine vinegar
4 t extra virgin olive oil
1/4 t salt
1/4 t freshly ground pepper
Combine couscous and water in large mixing bowl and let sit until water is absorbed. Mix together vinegar, salt and pepper and oil. When couscous is cool, fluff with a fork and add the remaining ingredients and toss to combine. Serve as is or chill for a bit before serving.
The chicken pot pie lover in the house called this one a keeper 🙂 Using a predone crust makes this so very easy to do and the cream cheese mixed in with the gravy makes for a very tasty meal.
Chicken Pot Pie
6 servings
330 calories per serving
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into cubes
¼ c Kraft light zesty Italian dressing
1 oz. low fat cream cheese, cubed
2 T flour
½ c chicken broth
10 oz. mixed frozen vegetables, thawed
1 refrigerated pie crust
Preheat oven to 375 degrees and in a skillet cook the chicken and dressing 2 minutes. Add cream cheese and cook and stir until melted. Add flour and mix well then add broth and vegetables and simmer 5 minutes. Pour the mixture into a deep dish pie plate and place a 10 inch pie crust on top. Flute the edges and cut 4 slits in the crust for venting. Bake 30 minutes or until golden brown.
What makes a meatloaf ‘porcupine’ ? The addition of rice ! And it also gives the meat a really nice texture and moistness. Try it !
Porcupine Meatloaf
6 servings
306 calories per serving
1 can condensed tomato soup
½ c thick salsa
¼ c water
1 ½ lb. lean ground beef
½ c raw instant white rice
¼ c dried onion pieces
1 T Worcestershire sauce
¼ t salt
¼ t pepper
¼ t garlic powder
¼ t onion powder
¼ c Egg Beaters
Combine soup, salsa and water. Combine beef and all the rest of the ingredients plus 1/2 cup of the tomato mix. Shape into an oblong meat loaf and place in the bottom of a crock pot and pour the rest of the tomato mix over the loaf. Cover and cook on low 7-9 hours. Remove from crock and let stand 5 minutes. Slice into 6 slices and spoon the sauce over the slices.
Stuffed zucchinis are a great side dish. You can change up what you ‘stuff’ them with and that makes it easy to pick complementary flavors. This one is great next to Italian flavors and Italian inspired dishes.
Stuffed Zucchini
4 servings
162 calories per serving
2 medium zucchini
½ c onion, diced finely
1 clove garlic, minced
1 t oil
½ c chopped green bell pepper
½ c chopped peeled eggplant
½ c chopped tomato
¼ c Egg Beaters
1 t basil flakes
Salt and pepper to taste
20 Ritz crackers, divided
2 T grated parmesan cheese
Pam
I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter Spray
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Slice zucchini in half lengthwise and scoop out the centers leaving just a shell. Reserve 1 c of the insides and chop it up. Heat a skillet and add oil and sauté onion and garlic 4 minutes. Add pepper, eggplant, tomato and zucchini and cook 5 minutes or so. Remove from heat and stir in basil, salt and pepper, and eggs.
Break 15 crackers and stir into the veggie mix and then spoon the mix into the zucchini shells and place on a baking sheet sprayed with Pam. Crush the other 5 crackers and mix with the parmesan and sprinkle over the zucchini boats. Spray the crumbs on top of each of the zucchinis with the butter spray so that they brown a bit. Bake 25 minutes or until hot.
I always find bay scallops sweeter than their larger sisters. The spinach mix gives this dish a special feel and it is sooooo low calorie !
Sicilian Scallops
4 servings
197 calories per serving
1 ¼ lb. bay scallops or seas scallops, quartered
Pam
1 T oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 T chopped basil
¼ t salt
½ t black pepper
1 c cherry tomatoes
4 c spinach leaves
¼ c sliced black olives
2 T grated parmesan cheese
Rinse and dry scallops. Spray skillet with Pam and then add oil and heat. Add garlic and cook 1-2 minutes. Do not let it brown or it will be bitter. Add scallops, basil, salt and pepper and cook until scallops are lightly browned, about 5 minutes. If you get a lot of water in the bottom of the pan, drain it or the scallops will not brown. Remove to a platter and keep warm. Add tomatoes and spinach to skillet and cook just until spinach is wilted. Add olives and cheese and mix well. Place tomato mix around bed of scallops and serve immediately.
Here’s another great meal using FiberGourmet pasta – without it, the calorie count would make this meal unreachable in a 400 calories per meal lifestyle. Thank you, thank you, FiberGourmet !! The rich sauce over the mushroomy noodles was just a perfect mix for this alfredo dish. I can’t wait to try their other varieties of flavored noodles !
Alfredo Shrimp Over Wild Mushroom Fettucine
4 servings
340 calories per serving
8 oz. FiberGourmet Wild Mushroom Fettucine
1 ½ c frozen peas
¾ c low fat alfredo sauce
¼ c fat free half and half
1 lb. shelled, cleaned cooked medium shrimp
½ t basil flakes
¼ t pepper
Salt to taste
Cook pasta according to package instructions and during the last 3 minutes of cooking time, add the peas then drain it all together. Combine sauce, half and half, shrimp, basil, salt and pepper in a sauce pan and heat slightly. Add cooked pasta and peas and cook 2-3 minutes to heat through.
