A special parmesan butter atop a fresh grilled piece of corn just spells S U M M E R !!

Grilled Corn

4 servings
200 calories per serving

4 ears of corn, husked and cleaned
¼ c butter, softened
2 T parmesan cheese
2 t basil, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

Shuck corn and clean it well. Wrap in foil and grill 15-20 minutes or until tender.

Grilled Corn

Mix butter, cheese and parsley. When corn is done, open foil and place a pat of butter on the corn. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Milanese style just means a breaded cutlet – - This is easy to throw together and the cutlets rival my old standby recipe – it’s the parmesan cheese in them that make these really special. Change up the salad by adding different veggies; tonight I had some left over zucchini and radishes that I threw in.

Chicken Milanese with Salad

4 servings
197 calories per serving

4 3 oz boneless chicken breasts
1/4 t black pepper
¼ t salt
1/4 c seasoned bread crumbs
2 T grated parmesan cheese
1 1/2 t oil
3 c baby salad greens or field greens
1 c grape tomatoes, halved
1/4 c matchstick cut carrots (pre-packaged)
3 T low fat balsamic dressing
Pam

Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Rinse chicken in water. Combine bread crumbs and parmesan in a bowl and press chicken cutlets in to coat well. Spray a skillet with Pam and heat over medium heat and add the chicken and cook about 4-5 minutes per side or until browned. Mix the salad greens, carrots, tomatoes and dressing and serve salad alongside chicken cutlet.

This recipe gives you a really nice creamy dressing since you use mayo instead of eggs and oil. If you like it with a lot of bite, add extra anchovy.

Creamy Caesar Salad

8 servings
88 calories per serving

½ c grated parmesan cheese
½ c fat free mayo
¼ c lemon juice
2 t anchovy paste
2 t Worcestershire sauce
½ t pepper
¼ t dry mustard
5 large cloves garlic, minced
8 oz. fresh bread cut into cubes
4 head romaine lettuce in bite size pieces

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Combine 1.2 c water with cheese, mayo, lemon juice, anchovy paste, Worcestershire, pepper, mustard and garlic. Whisk well and set aside. Place bread pieces on a baking sheet and bake 15 minutes to toast them. When done combine croutons and romaine and then dress and serve immediately.

Creamy, cheesy, savory spinach – a perfect side dish to a light fish meal.

Spinach Au Gratin

6 servings
200 calories per serving

1 medium onion, thinly sliced
6 slices pre-cooked bacon, finely chopped
15 oz. fresh baby spinach leaves
4 oz. low fat cream cheese, cubed
15 Ritz Crackers, coarsely crushed
2 T grated parmesan cheese
1 T butter, melted
Pam

Preheat broiler. Spray pan with Pam and add onion. Cook 5 minutes adding a couple of tablespoons of hot water along the way if needed to keep the onions moist. Add bacon and cook 3 minutes. Add spinach and cook 3 minutes to wilt the spinach then remove from heat and add cream cheese being sure to mix well. Turn into a casserole dish sprayed with Pam. Mix crackers, parmesan and butter and sprinkle over the casserole. Broil 2 minutes to brown the crackers.

I am very passionate about my sauce ! My Italian Grandma and Mom taught me well I have been making my own since I was 16 and over the years developed a recipe that is LOVED and CRAVED by many. That recipe included cooking sausage and meatballs in the sauce – and that gives it a very rich flavor. But it also adds calories. So in my quest to keep things lower cal, I’ve been trying a few batches of sauce without meat and this one is really, really good. It comes quite close to my regular recipe !

I’ve added beef bouillon to make up for some of the lost flavor from the meat, I’ve added roasted garlic which gives a great depth of flavor (much different than dropping in raw or sautéed garlic) and I make sure to use tomato paste. Tomato paste is to tomatoes what lemonade concentrate is to lemonade – - it is highly concentrated and adds a different flavor than any other tomato product out there. And finally I add 2 secret ingredients – shhhhhhh ! Fennel and anise seeds add the flavor you would get if you cooked sausage in the sauce. It is the finishing touch that so many sauces are missing. You only get the slightest hint of taste of the seeds in the finished product. But let me tell you, without them, the sauce is just not the same.

If you’ve never tried sauce before – try !! This one starts from canned products, not raw tomatoes – so it is NOT labor intensive. And even a bad batch of homemade is better than a jar of Ragu It’s what makes a pasta meal special, so do it up !

Basil Garlic Marinara Sauce

12 servings
58 calories per serving

8 cloves roasted garlic, minced
2 28 oz. cans crushed tomatoes
1 6 oz. can tomato paste
¾ c water
1 T oil
2 t basil flakes
6 basil leaves, torn into small pieces
1 t oregano flakes
½ t red pepper flakes
½ t garlic powder
½ t onion powder
½ t whole anise seeds
1 t whole fennel seeds
2 packets or 2 cubes beef bouillon
Salt and pepper to taste
¼ c parmesan cheese

Mix all ingredients in a crock pot, cover and cook on low 8-10 hours or high 4-5 hours.

You can also put this in a pressure cooker for 20 minutes or simmer stove top for 2-3 hours.

The length of time does make a different – the sauce tastes much richer when simmered for hours than a quick sauce (which have their place in some recipes, but don’t equal a traditional slowly simmered sauce).

Freeze your extra portions and next time it’s pasta night, just defrost in the frig over night and quickly reheat in a sauce pan.

Let me know how you like it !

This recipe makes up a wonderfully flavorful sauce – anything with bacon is good in my book !

Spaghetti Carbonara

2 servings
300 calories per serving

4 ounces uncooked FiberGourmet spaghetti
1/2 cup skim milk
3 T grated Parmesan cheese
1 T chopped parsley
Salt and pepper to taste
Pam
1/3 c chopped pancetta or thick cut bacon (about 1 1/2 ounces)
1/4 c finely chopped onion
1 garlic clove, minced
1 large egg

Cook pasta according to package instructions. Drain reserving ¼ c of the cooking water. Mix milk, cheese, parsley, salt and pepper. Heat a skillet and spray with Pam then sauté pancetta 3 minutes. Add onions and garlic and continue cooking another 5 minutes until onion is browned. Reduce heat to medium low and add milk mix and spaghetti to the pan. Whisk egg in a bowl and add the reserved cooking liquid stirring constantly so egg does not start to cook. Gradually add to pan stirring constantly and cook 4 minutes on low until sauce is thick.

Authentic, delicious, Greek pasta dish – easy to make and a great meal for entertaining or for every day !

Greek Pastitsio

8 servings
370 calories per serving

1 lb. lean ground turkey
1 small onion, chopped
24 oz. marinara sauce
2 T red wine vinegar
2 T butter
1 1/2 c skim milk
1 c strained plain Greek yogurt
1/4 t nutmeg
2 c FiberGourmet elbow macaroni, cooked
1/4 c grated parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste
Pam

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brown onions in a skillet sprayed with Pam. Add turkey and brown. Drain. Add sauce and vinegar and cook for 15 minutes. Melt butter and add milk. Bring to a boil on medium heat stirring constantly then lower heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in yogurt and nutmeg. Add macaroni, salt and pepper and stir. Spread meat sauce into a 13×9 baking dish and top with macaroni. Sprinkle with cheese and bake 50 minutes.

I am betting you can smell this cooking from all the way over there ! The parmesan and cheddar cheeses blend to perfection and the pasta…well, it just feeds the soul. The portion size will be cut down dramatically to come in at 400 calories if it were not for the FiberGourmet pasta.

Veggie Mac and Cheese

4 servings
399 calories per serving

10 oz. Fiber Gourmet Penne pasta
2 t oil
1 9 oz. yellow summer squash halved lengthwise and sliced thinly
1 9 oz. bag frozen artichoke hearts, thawed
4 scallions sliced thinly
1 bottled roasted red peppers, rinsed and diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 T flour
2 ½ c skim milk
¾ t salt
1 c grated no fat cheddar cheese
¼ c parmesan cheese
Pam

Cook pasta according to package instructions. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Heat oil in a skillet on medium high heat and add squash, scallion, artichokes, peppers and garlic. Cook 7 minutes. Add flour and stir well and then gradually add milk. Add salt and cook an additional 5 minutes. Add the hot veggies and sauce to the pasta along with the cheddar cheese and mix well and turn into an 11×7 baking pan that has been sprayed with Pam. Sprinkle with parmesan and bake ½ hour or until hot and crusty.

Here’s another one of those appetizers that also makes a great dinner side – these are great served next to a hearty bowl of minestrone soup.

Mini Calzones

24 servings
50 calories per serving

1 11 oz. can soft breadsticks
1/2 t garlic powder
1/2 c shredded part skim mozzarella cheese
6 slices very thin deli ham, each rolled and cut into 4 pieces
¼ t oregano flakes
2 T grated parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Let dough come to room temperature then unroll it and separate into 12 sticks then cut each in half making 2 short sticks. Flatten each piece of dough to about a 2 inch wide piece. Sprinkle all the dough pieces with garlic powder. Place 1 t mozzarella cheese in the center. Fold ham and place over the cheese making sure to leave a border so you will be able to seal the calzones. Fold the dough over and pinch the edges to seal and make a little pocket. Place on a baking sheet and sprinkle with the parm and oregano. Bake 15 minute or until golden brown.

The cheese just melts into the marinade and really coats all the veggies – every bite is so full of flavor

Parmesan Veggies

8 servings
60 calories per serving

2 zucchini cut into ½ inch thick slices
2 yellow squash cut into ½ inch thick slices
1 red pepper cut into strips
1 green pepper cut into strips
1 yellow pepper cut into strips
1/3 c light Italian dressing
¼ c grated parmesan cheese
Pam

Spray a skillet with Pam and heat to medium high. Add veggies and sauté 5 minutes. Add dressing and cheese and continue cooking 5 minutes or until veggies are desired tenderness (I like mine pretty crisp).