This dish has a subtle yet delicious curry flavoring – it’s perfect next to chicken and fish dinners. If you haven’t tried curry before, but you like cauliflower, this is a great dish to try. It’ll get you hooked on curry, I bet 🙂
Curried Cauliflower
8 servings
100 calories per serving
1/4 c olive oil
2 t curry powder
2 t sugar
1 t lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste
4 c cauliflower florets
1/3 c slivered or sliced almonds
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix oil, curry, sugar, lemon, salt and pepper than mix in cauliflower. Pour all into a 13×9 baking dish and cover. Bake 15 minutes then stir and add almonds and cook another 10-15 minutes uncovered.
So simple yet so good – this is a great meal to serve when zucchini are in season. Remember to use a grill basket for regular kabob recipes – it takes out so much of the work and you’ll find the food cooks more evenly.
Grilled Chicken and Zucchini
6 servings
187 calories per serving
1 c parsley, chopped
2 T chopped almonds, toasted
2 T chopped chives
½ t grated lemon zest
3 T lemon juice
1 T oil
½ t oregano flakes
Salt and pepper to taste
1 garlic clove, minced
1 ½ lb. bones skinless chicken breast, cut into bite sized pieces
4 zucchini cut into thick slices
1 t red pepper flakes
Pam
Heat grill. Mix parsley, almonds, chives, lemon zest, lemon, oil, garlic and some salt and pepper. This will be a salsa to serve with the dish. Spray a grill basket with high heat Pam and grill chicken and zucchini 8 minutes or until done. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and red pepper flakes half way through the cooking process. Serve with the prepared salsa.
Using just citrus means the dressing on this salad is nice and light. So even though you have higher cal avocados and corn, the salad is still a good side dish coming in at just 133 calories per serving. The avocado is what really makes this special – the creaminess blends so nicely with the corn and tomato !
Corn and Avocado Salad
4 servings
133 calories per serving
1 small 8.5 ounce can corn
2 pints grape tomatoes, halved
1 avocado, diced
1 T fresh lemon juice
1 T fresh lime juice
1 T oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Mix all ingredients. Serve alongside many different dishes to bring a little spark and flavor – This is great next to chicken, fish, sandwiches, etc.
I’ve been making this chicken salad since the 80’s when a friend shared her recipe with me. Before then, I definitely was not a fan of the thought of apples and chicken together. But ever since that first bite all those years ago, I have never made traditional chicken salad again without apples ! If you’ve never tried, give it a shot !
Chicken Salad Sandwiches
4 servings
290 calories per serving
12 oz. cooked boneless skinless chicken breast, in small chunks (Perdue Shortcuts work great here)
1 granny smith apple, diced small
2 t lemon juice
¼ c low fat mayo
8 slices 45 calorie per slice wheat bread
Salt and pepper to taste
Mix all ingredients and let sit in refrigerator at least 1 hour so flavors combine well. Make sandwiches and enjoy !
At only 160 calories, make this one often ! The lite buttermilk, lemon and wine is a nice change from your typical mayo and vinegar dressing. The flavor is right on and this will definitely satisfy your potato salad craving.
Light Potato Salad
12 servings
160 calories per serving
4 lb. small red potatoes, quartered
Salt and pepper to taste
¼ c dry white wine
4 T lemon juice
½ c low fat buttermilk
¼ c low fat mayo
1 T Dijon mustard
1 c packed basil leaves sliced very thin
Cilantro for garnish
Add cold water to potatoes to cover them by 2 inches, cover and bring to a boil then add 1 t salt, recover and reduce heat to medium low and cook 10-15 minutes or until tender. Drain. Add wine and 1 T lemon juice them toss and cool to room temperature.
Whisk buttermilk, mayo, mustard, ¼ t salt, pepper and 3 T lemon juice. Blend well and then toss with potatoes and basil.
This is sooooo refreshing. Between the tart lemon, the sweet tea and the cold, cold temperature, you’ll turn down the heat in any room when you serve this summery dessert.
Tea and Lemon Sorbet
8 servings
68 calories per serving
2 c boiling water
4 Earl Grey tea bags
1/2 cup sugar
¾ c fresh lemon juice
1 c ice water
Boil 2 c of water and then steep the tea bags for 6-8 minutes. Remove bags and stir in sugar. Add lemon and 1 c ice water then chill 2 hours. Pour into an ice cream maker and freeze. When done, place in a container and freeze one hour before serving. If you do not have an ice cream maker, you can make this mixture into ice pops using molds or into a granita by following these instructions:
Place a metal bowl in the freezer to chill. Combine ingredients and pour into the bowl 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. Best to serve right after the initial freeze time, but if you let it sit overnight, be sure to defrost for 15 minutes or so before serving.
This tastes like a lemonade stand in a slice of pie ! It is so refreshing and delicious. Instead of the second pie, I used the extra filling to make homemade ice pops.
Raspberry Lemonade Pie
16 servings (2 pies)
198 calories per serving
1 ½ c boiling water
.3 oz. package lemon Jello (sugar free)
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
6 oz. frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed
8 oz. cool whip, thawed
1 c raspberries
2 low fat graham crusts
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 crusts then refrigerate at least 4 hours. It will be very thin at this stage – after it is refrigerated it will thicken up a lot. You can also freeze this and simply thaw ½ hour or so before serving. Garnish with a few leftover raspberries.
Stuffed artichokes cooked in a pressure cooker are delectable ! They soften up beautifully and the garlic seems to just be infused into the artichoke leaves. This is a great recipe – so flavorful, so classic.
Stuffed Artichokes (Pressure Cooker)
8 servings
105 calories per serving
8 large artichokes, trimmed
½ c bread crumbs
½ c grated parmesan cheese
½ c minced garlic
1 c chicken or vegetable broth
Salt and pepper to taste
1 lemon
Everyone trims an artichoke differently – I cut off the stem and then ½ inch from the top. Then I trim all the leaves by nipping off the end. To get the leaves to open up enough to stuff them, I bang the leave side down on the counter a couple of times – then you can use your fingers to pry open the leaves some. Yes, all this work is definitely worth it 🙂
Separate leaves slightly so you can drop in the ingredients – each should get bread crumbs, parmesan cheese and garlic.
Place artichokes in pressure cooker (you can double decker them) and pour over broth. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and then squirt with the juice of 1 lemon. Close pressure cooker and bring to pressure and cook 60 minutes. Quick release pressure.
If you don’t have a pressure cooker, you can cook these stovetop in a dutch oven – simmer for 2 hours or until tender.
You can make these ahead of time and just reheat in the microwave prior to serving – I actually prefer to do it this way. They just seem to be more flavorful with the second heating.
This is a terrific, easy to make appetizer with the wonderful flavors of Greece just shining bright. The feta cheese, lemon, cucumbers and olives are a perfect topping to the toast triangles. Fancy tasting without a ton of work !
Greek Cucumber Toasts
4 servings
158 calories per serving
4 slices light whole wheat bread, crusts removed and cut diagonally into triangles
4 t olive oil
3 oz. low fat feta cheese
1/2 t lemon juice + a few squirts extra
Kosher salt
Coarse pepper
1 small English cucumber, halved and then thinly sliced crosswise on the diagonal into 8 slices
4 pitted kalamata olives, sliced
Preheat oven or toaster oven to 450 degrees. Brush the bread pieces with the oil and bake until they are golden, about 5 minutes. Mash up the feta and mix with oil and ½ t lemon then add salt and pepper to taste. Spread the mix over the toast points and to with a slice of cucumber. Garnish with olives and then spritz with lemon juice and sprinkle with a little salt and pepper.
