Tag Archives: red pepper

Grilled Chicken and Zucchini

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
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.

Foiled O’Brien

Cooking the potatoes and peppers in a foil packet basically steams them and they come out a wonderful consistency and packed with flavor. Serve alongside 3 oz. of broiled steak or a 4 oz. chicken cutlet for a meal balanced with protein, veggies and that all mighty carb that keeps you feeling more full 🙂

Foiled O'Brien
Foiled O'Brien

4 servings
155 calories per serving

1 lb. red potatoes, washed and sliced thinly
2 c red bell pepper slices
2 c yellow bell pepper slices
6 T sliced shallot (regular onion will work here too)
Pam
2 cloves garlic, mashed
3 T chopped parsley
½ t onion powder
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Take 4 sheets of aluminum foil, each about 12 inches by 12 inches (about 1 inch longer and 4 inches wider than a sheet of paper) and place them on a flat surface. Spray each with a little bit of Pam. Divide the potatoes, peppers and shallots evenly among the foil sheets. Sprinkle with the minced garlic, parsley, onion powder, salt and pepper.

Create a packet out of each by folding the foil sides up to make a tent and folding the edges over 2 times – then take each side and fold (roll) over twice and seal firmly so that the packet will say sealed keeping all the steam inside.

Place packets on a baking sheet and place in oven. Bake ½ hour to 45 minutes. Open packets and transfer contents to plates. Be careful opening packets as they will be full of steam.

For more instructions folding, Reynold’s says:
For each foil packet, bring up the two sides of the foil and double fold with about 1-inch wide folds. Leave room for heat circulation inside the packet as the food cooks. Double fold each end to form the foil packet.

And the Scouts site has a nice diagram.

Stir-Fry on the Grill

By using a grill basket, you can get the great grilled flavor with just about anything, even small pieces of meat and veggies. Some would do these as kabobs, but I find them too tedious to put together and then some of them always fall off the skewers and into the grill. Get a grill basket and you can do all sorts of things without any lost pieces 🙂

Stir-Fry on the Grill
Stir-Fry on the Grill

6 servings
283 calories, per serving

2 4 oz. boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into small pieces
1 lb. beef cubes (lean)
2 baby eggplant, sliced
1 onion, sliced
1 red pepper, sliced
½ head of broccoli cut into florets
½ head of cauliflower cut into florets
½ c steak house marinade
Salt and pepper to taste
1 t onion powder
½ t garlic powder.
Pam

Place the meat and chicken in a Ziploc and add the marinade. Mush it all around to coat all the meat and then place in the frig and let marinate 2 hours. Place the veggies in a bowl and sprinkle with the spices. Heat the grill and a grill basket. Spray the basket with high heat Pam and add the veggies. Cook, stirring frequently, 10 minutes. Move the veggies to one side of the basket and add the meat to the other side. Cook 6 minutes or until chicken is done. Mix all together and server immediately.

Chili Garlic Tuna

A nice ‘beefy’ tuna steak on the grill is one of those great summer treats. The leftovers make a GREAT tuna salad – just add a little low fat mayo and some diced up pickles or celery.

Chili Garlic Tuna
Chili Garlic Tuna


4 servings
335 calories per serving

2 cloves garlic, minced
½ t crushed red pepper
4 tuna steaks – 8 oz. each
2 t Chili Garlic sauce (found in the Asian section of your market)
Salt and pepper to taste
4 t oil
Lime zest as garnish
Lime juice

Heat the grill or preheat the broiler. Combine garlic, pepper flakes, chili garlic sauce and salt. Make several small slits in the tuna steaks and insert the garlic mix into the slits. Then rub the oil on the steaks and sprinkle with salt and pepper and grill or broil 3 – 5 minutes per side or until desired doneness. Squirt with a bit of lime juice and sprinkle with lime zest and serve.

Basil Garlic Marinara Sauce (Crock Pot)

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
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 ! 🙂

Southwest Ranch Salad

This is simple to make and you can even pack it up to go as it travels well. All the southwest flavors mingle nicely and it’s a refreshing lunch salad. If you don’t like Ranch dressing, substitute any other low fat or no fat dressing.

Southwest Ranch Salad
Southwest Ranch Salad

4 servings
380 calories per serving

4 c mixed salad greens
15 oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed
10 oz. frozen corn, thawed and drained
1 large red pepper, chopped
4 medium tomatoes, chopped
1 c low fat shredded cheddar cheese
½ c low fat ranch dressing
2 T cilantro, chopped

Arrange greens on plates and top with beans, corn, peppers, tomatoes and cheese. Top with dressing and cilantro.

Grilled Veggie Tacos

You can serve these veggies in bread, on top of a salad, or in a crunchy taco shell. I choose a taco ! Spreading the cheese inside the taco makes for a great bite from start to finish.

Grilled Veggie Tacos
Grilled Veggie Tacos

4 servings (1 serving = 2 tacos)
230 calories per serving

Get taco shells and spread the inside with the spread mix – then put in veggies – if more room, add extra chopped lettuce for crunch

Spread:
3.5 oz. goat cheese
¼ c roasted red peppers
1 t chopped chives
1 t liquid from jar of roasted red peppers

Veggies:
1 T oil (used in an oil mister, 1 T goes a long way !)
1 t Kosher salt
4 large Portobello mushrooms halved
1 red bell pepper, quartered lengthwise
1 yellow bell pepper, quartered lengthwise
1 small eggplant in ¼ inch slices
4 taco shells
4 lettuce leaves, chopped
Pam

Preheat broiler. Process all the ingredients for the spread in a food processor and then set aside. Spray a baking sheet with Pam and place mushrooms, peppers and eggplant in a single layer on sheet and spray with oil and sprinkle with salt. Broil 8 minutes, turn, then broil another 5 minutes or until tender. Cool for a bit and then slice up. Spread inside of tacos with the cheese mix and then add lettuce and then veggies.

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Parmesan Veggies

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

Parmesan Veggies
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).

Pepper and Bean Salad

A great side dish that tastes just as good cold as it does warm. This is one you will definitely make again 🙂

Pepper and Bean Salad
Pepper and Bean Salad

8 servings
60 calories per serving

2 shallots, cut into thin slices
1/2 c vinaigrette dressing
1 lb. green beans
1/4 c water
1 red pepper, cut into thin strips
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat skillet and add half the dressing. Add the onions and cook 8 minutes or until tender. Add the beans and the water and stir well then cover the pan and cook on medium for 5 minutes. Finally add peppers and recover and cook another 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add in the rest of the dressing, salt and pepper.

Deviled Chicken

Add a quick mustard sauce to chicken before baking and you end up with a zesty dinner in no time at all !

Deviled Chicken
Deviled Chicken

4 servings
244 calories per serving

4 4 oz. boneless skinless chicken breasts (Perdue Perfect Portions work great here !)
1/2 t pepper
1/4 t salt
Pam
2 T spicy brown mustard
1/2 t ground red pepper
½ c bread crumbs
I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter Spray

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper and place on a baking dish sprayed with Pam. Bake 15 minutes. Brush chicken with mustard and sprinkle with red pepper. Sprinkle with crumbs and press a bit so they stick well. Spritz with ICBINB Spray and return to oven for 10 minutes or until chicken is done

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