Tag Archives: lemon juice

Mixed Greens with Avocado Dressing

The avocado is unexpected and that makes it twice as good ! Mixed with the lemon and yogurt, this makes a very light yet creamy dressing.

Mixed Greens with Avocado Dressing
Mixed Greens with Avocado Dressing

4 servings
106 calories per serving

1 avocado, cut into chunks
¼ c plain low fat yogurt
½ t grated lemon zest
1 T lemon juice
1 T water
½ t salt
4 c sliced romaine lettuce
4 c watercress or endive

In a blender mix the avocado chunks, yogurt, lemon zest, lemon juice, salt and 1 T water until smooth. Put dressing in a bowl and add greens and mix well.

Veggie Salad

Often times the best thing about a salad is not the lettuce, but all the other stuff ! And this salad agrees 🙂 No lettuce – – just all the good veggies in a great lemony dressing. If you have extra broccoli, throw it in. If you are out of celery, don’t’ sweat it ! Make this salad anything you want 🙂

Veggie Salad
Veggie Salad

4 servings
82 calories per serving

1 yellow bell pepper thinly sliced
1 large cucumber, peeled and thinly sliced
2 stalks celery, diced
2 large carrots, shredded or sliced
6 radishes, sliced
1 T chopped parsley
2 T lemon juice
1 T oil
½ t garlic powder
Salt and pepper to taste

Toss tomato, cucumber, celery, carrots, radishes and parsley. Combine juice, oil, salt, pepper and garlic and mix well and then pour over salad and serve immediately.

Pork Piccata

The lemony piccata sauce is just made for pork ! And this couldn’t be easier to put together – – yet you get a fancy, restaurant quality meal.

Pork Piccata
Pork Piccata

4 servings
216 calories per serving

1 lb. pork loin in 8 thin slices
2 T flour
1 T oil
1 t cornstarch
½ c chicken broth
3 T lemon juice
3 T chopped parsley
½ t salt

Heat oil in skillet. Dredge pork in flour and add to skillet browning each side. Stir together cornstarch, broth, juice, parsley and salt and add to pan along with pork and simmer 1 minute.

Roasted Broccoli

So lemony, so garlicky, so very good and so very good for you !

Roasted Broccoli
Roasted Broccoli

4 servings
127 calories per serving

1 large head broccoli, cut into long florets
2 T oil
10 cloves garlic
½ t red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper to taste
Juice on one lemon

Spray a baking sheet with Pam and heat oven to 450 degrees. Place broccoli and garlic on pan. Sprinkle with red pepper, salt, and pepper and then drizzle with oil. Cook 10 minutes and then stir. Cook another 10-15 minutes. Sprinkle with lemon when you remove it from the oven.

Kitchen Sink Salad

This is my ‘recipe’ for a salad that contains ‘everything but the kitchen sink’. Sometimes it’s the best unplanned dish of the week.

By the end of the week I have a bunch of bits and pieces of veggies left over – so I use them all in a salad – whatever I have, it gets thrown in. And because the salad is so full of flavor from all the veggies, I use NO OIL. And that makes for one LOW CAL, LOW FAT salad !

Sometimes I even put in bits of other prepared salads I had made – this picture shows a salad where I added in some left over cucumber and radish salad – and even some black beans. Try it – it makes salad eating so much more pleasurable !

Kitchen Sink Salad
Kitchen Sink Salad

1 serving
30-80 calories per serving

2 c field greens or any other leftover lettuce you have
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 t garlic powder
1/4 t onion powder
1/4 t oregano flakes
Vinegar (balsamic, red wine, anything)
Citrus juice – up to a tablespoon of lime juice, lemon juice, orange juice – whatever floats your boat
1 c Veggies – cucs, broccoli, carrots, celery, jicama, zucchini
1/4 c Beans – black beans, chick peas, cannellini beans
1/4 c Fresh herbs – parsley, cilantro, basil

Mix it all up and enjoy !

Homemade Cheese with Curried Spinach

This has the most awesome Middle Eastern flavor ! It was spicy without being too hot and the texture of the cheese really went well with the chopped spinach – – it picked up the spices of the spinach nicely. This was my first time making cheese and it was well worth it. It was a definite ‘2 thumbs up’ from the whole family 🙂

Homemade Cheese with Curried Spinach
Homemade Cheese with Curried Spinach

4 servings
302 calories per serving

2 quarts 1 % milk
1/3 c lemon juice
4 t oil
1 onion, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 t ground coriander
¾ t turmeric
¼ t salt
10 oz. frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1 c chicken broth
2 T tomato paste
2 t jalapeno pepper sauce or Asian chili and garlic sauce

Bring milk to a boil (be careful to not let the bottom scorch – be patient and do it on medium or medium high heat rather than cranking it up to high) then remove from heat and add lemon juice. Let stand about 15 minutes so that the curds and whey separate. Line a colander with a doubled piece of cheese cloth, place in the sink, and pour in the milk mix letting the whey drain away. Let sit 20 minutes or so and then pull together the cheesecloth and squeeze gently to remove any more liquid. You can use a light twisting motion and that helps. Then flatten into a disk on a plate and then place a small saucepan on top of it and place an unopened canned good in the pan to create a weight on top of the cheese. I used a large can of crushed tomatoes and it worked great. Do not refrigerate. Let stand 2 hours or until firm enough to cut.

In a large skillet heat 2 t oil and add onion and garlic and cook 7 minutes or until tender and then add the coriander, turmeric and salt. Mix and then add the spinach, broth, tomato paste and pepper sauce. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 5 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and wipe out skillet. Cut the cheese into ½ inch chunks. Heat 2 t oil in skillet and add the cheese cooking for 4 minutes or until light browned and crusty then gently stir in the spinach and cook another 2-3 minutes.

Here’s a couple more pictures of the cheese making process:

Curds and Whey separating
Curds and Whey separating
Cheese Disc
Cheese Disc

Mushrooms and Wild Rice

The nutty flavor of the wild rice really mixes well with the mushrooms and makes this a great side for just about any dish.

Mushrooms and Wild Rice
Mushrooms and Wild Rice

6 servings
156 calories per serving

1 c wild rice or wild rice mix, cooked
2 T oil
1 lb. sliced mushrooms
Salt and pepper to taste
¼ t garlic powder
¼ t onion powder
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 T chopped parsley
1 T lemon juice

Cook rice according to package instructions. Heat oil in skillet on medium high heat and add mushrooms. Season with salt and pepper, garlic powder and onion powder and cook until mushrooms are browned, about 15 minutes. Add garlic and cook 30 seconds and then stir in cooked rice and remove from heat. Add parsley and lemon juice and stir well. Add additional salt and pepper to taste.

Lemon Cookies

So buttery, so lemony, so good ! These are like lemon shortbread and they just melt in your mouth. A little high on the calorie count, but sooooo worth it. And 3 cookies really is enough for a snack – these are so rich !

Lemon Cookies
Lemon Cookies

30 cookies
328 calories for 3 cookies

2 c flour
1 c confectioner’s sugar
1 t Kosher salt
1 T plus 1 t lemon zest
1 t lemon juice
1 c sweet butter cut into pieces
2 large egg yolks
1/4 c granulated sugar

Pulse flour, confectioner’s sugar, salt and lemon zest. Add butter and process until coarse like breadcrumbs. Add yolks and lemon juice and process until dough comes together. Divide dough in half and form each into a log. Wrap in plastic and freeze until firm, about 3 hours. If you freeze any longer than 3 hours, these will be too hard to slice and you’ll need to let defrost a bit or microwave for 30 seconds or so.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread sugar on a piece of foil and roll logs in the sugar. Cut into 1/4 thick slices and place on baking sheets 1 inch apart as they will spread as they cook. Bake 15 minutes or until edges are browned.

Chickpea Salad with Feta Cheese

I’m not a huge fan of plain salads. But when you add lots of fiber (chickpeas) and cheese, then they become special and they do fill you up. This one has both and has a great citrus dressing. Add a few squirts of fresh lime of orange juice to give it even more citrusy taste.

Chickpea Salad with Feta Cheese
Chickpea Salad with Feta Cheese

4 servings
178 calories per serving

1 15oz. can chickpeas, drained
2 scallions, sliced
1/2 c grape tomatoes, halved
3 T fresh parsley, chopped
3 C bagged salad mix (I like to use a mix or organic greens or mesclun mix)
2 oz. low fat feta cheese
1 t lemon zest
2 T lemon juice
1 t oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 t salt

Mix zest, juice, oil, garlic and salt. Add chickpeas, tomatoes, scallions, parsley and salad and toss well to coat. Sprinkle with feta and serve.

Citrus Chicken

Citrus and chicken just go together ! And the flavor punch for almost no added calories is a great way to feel satisfied even after eating a smaller meal. There’s lots of calories to spare here, so add a hearty side dish and enjoy.

Citrus Chicken
Citrus Chicken

4 servings
133 calories per serving

4 small b/s chicken breasts
2t garlic powder
1/2 t seasoned salt
1/2 c lemon juice
1/2 c lime juice
2 t lemon pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a small baking dish with Pam. Rub the chicken with the dry spices. Spray a skillet with Pam and cook the chicken 3-4 minutes per side to brown. Then place the chicken in the baking dish and pour the citrus juice over the chicken and bake 20-25 minutes.

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