Author Archives for popcorngirl12

Blueberry Pancakes

Every so often we get that craving for pancakes on the weekend. But trying to watch the carb and calorie intake makes it tough. This recipe only has 4 grams of carbs per serving! No joke. And they are actually very good! I know many of us have tried the “Atkins” pancake mix, or other low-calorie low carb mix over the years and they were all just a little on the bland side. Not this recipe, which I got from “George Stella’s Livin’ Low Carb” book. I actually use this cookbook quite a lot. This coming from a true carb hound. The recipes are great! This recipe I actually had all the ingredients so we tried them out. It actually calls for heavy cream and I didn’t have any so we used half-and-half instead and it was great. The other minor ingredient I actually did not have on hand was baking powder! So I found my ‘substitution’ chart and made my own! Just combine ½ teaspoon cream of tartar and ¼ teaspoon of baking soda. Voila, baking powder. And since I only needed ¼ teaspoon of baking powder it was perfect. Also, usually we have the sugar-free syrup in the house for the pancakes and waffles we sometimes have, but this time we used the amber agave nectar!

Delicious and so much better for you! We also have the light one as well. Found it cheap at Marshall’s! Go figure!

INGREDIENTS:

Cooking spray or butter (for pan)

2 large eggs

½ cup heavy cream (I used half-and-half and it was fine)

¼ cup water

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ cup soy flour

2 tablespoons sugar substitute (Splenda recommended)

1 tablespoon wheat or oat bran (I used wheat)

¼ teaspoon baking powder

½ cup fresh or frozen(thawed) blueberries

DIRECTIONS:

1. Grease a griddle or large skillet with cooking spray or butter and heat over medium heat for at least 5 minutes. The griddle should be very hot so that the pancakes don’t stick.

2. Mix all the ingredients except for the blueberries in a blender or food processor for about 15 seconds. Stop and scrape the sides and mix for another 15 seconds until well blended.

3. Pour about 12 little cakes onto the hot griddle (they should be about the size of the bottom of a soda can). Wait for the pancakes to bubble and then sprinkle with a few blueberries on each of them. Cook for a little longer, then flip with a spatula and cook for a few more minutes, until both sides are slightly browned. Serve hot with melted butter and syrup of your choice! You may have to do this in a couple batches.

Makes about 12 small pancakes. You can use other berries also just make sure you cut them up small enough to about the size of the blueberries.

Baked Shrimp Balls

Ok I can hear the comments now, even from my husband. “I didn’t know Shrimp had balls! And why would we want to eat them?” Funny! Ha ha! This recipe does not have bread crumbs or other heavy filler in it either. Baking them also cuts down on the calories but not the taste. The picture I put in is not of my own, yet. But if anyone makes them, take a picture and send me a copy and I will post it! Send to my website email at agenua@cucinadiandrea.com. These are also very easy to make so give it a try and let me know how they come out! I will do the same!

Ok, the picture has been updated to my own photo. I made these over the weekend. I cut the recipe in half as it was too much for just two of us. Has anyone made them? Ok, all I have to say is maybe they left out something in the recipe. They were easy to make, smelled good, looked good but taste? Hmmm not so much. They fell apart for the most part.  I made a quick honey mustard sauce to go with it. (¼ cup light mayo, ¼ cup Dijon mustard and 1 tablespoon agave nectar) Sauce was great! Shrimp balls needed something for sure. So I made them into a crustless Quiche the next night for dinner! Broke them all up and added egg beaters, half and half, spinach, cheese, dill and some hot sauce.  I will post the outcome tomorrow!

INGREDIENTS:

2 pounds shelled, deveined shrimp, minced

6 canned water chestnuts, finely chopped

2 tablespoons fresh ginger, finely chopped

1 small onion, chopped

2 egg whites

1 teaspoon cornstarch

3 teaspoons olive oil

Pepper to taste

lemon wedges

DIRECTIONS:

1. Place everything but the lemon wedges into a bowl and mix together.

2. Shape mixture into small balls (about 1 teaspoon). Place on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Spray balls with olive oil and bake at 350º for 20 minutes. Serve hot with lemon wedges.

They reheat well also!

Makes about 50-60 shrimp balls depending on how large you make them. Mangia!

Side Car Martini

It’s Friday! Woo hoo! And it is after  5 o’clock so let’s get the weekend started! I just found this recipe on the Cooking Channel site. It is courtesy of Giada De Laurentiis so you know it’ll be a good one! And it has one of my favorite liqueurs in it, Limoncello. Love it! (maybe I should marry it!) Anyway, here it is and enjoy your weekend everyone! This recipe makes 4 martinis so invite a few friends over to get the party started! Just be careful as these martinis will definitely pack quite a punch! So nosh on some snacks with them and be careful!

INGREDIENTS:

½ cup sugar

1 lime, zested

1 lime wedge

10 ounces cognac (Hennessy is recommended)

4 ounces Cointreau (or Triple Sec)

4 ounces sweet and sour mix

4 ounces Limoncello

2 ounces lime juice

ice

DIRECTIONS:

1. Chill 4 martini glasses. In a small shallow dish combine the sugar and the lime zest. Run the lime wedge around the rim of each glass. Dip in the sugar and zest mixture.

2. In a cocktail shaker mix the cognac, Cointreau, sweet and sour mix, Limoncello, and lime juice over ice. Shake to chill.

3. Pour the Side Car Martinis into the glasses and serve immediately.

Chocolate Mousse Bars

All you chocolate hounds out there this one is for you! Chocolate Mousse is always seen as such a decadent dessert and it usually is but my recipe will use the sugar substitute sucralose (Splenda). Sucralose is one of the few substitutes that you can use exactly as you would sugar. It may even be sweeter! I can only use sucralose because aspartame gives me migraines. So no “Blue” in my house! Only “yellow”!  Aspartame can’t stand up to the heat of baking either so that is another reason to use sucralose. If you are really weird about using ‘fake’ sugar by all means use the real stuff. I will never know! And I won’t think any less of you! But if you use the sucralose and are counting points for  Weight Watchers for any reason, the bars are only 4 points each and regular sugar makes them 5 points each. Not much of a difference so it’s up to you!

Photo is for illustrative purposes only!

INGREDIENTS:

6 extra-large egg whites

1¼ cup sugar or sugar substitute

1 tablespoon canola oil

1½ cups unsweetened baking chocolate, melted

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

¾ cup all-purpose flour

1½ cups nonfat plain yogurt

1 teaspoon vanilla

DIRECTIONS:

1. Heat the oven to 350º. Spray an 8″ square baking pan with cooking spray.

2. In a large mixing bowl whip the egg whites until frothy. Gradually add the sugar and beat until fluffy.  Meanwhile, stir the oil into the melted chocolate. Add this mixture to the egg whites and blend.

3. With a mixer on low, sift in the flour and cocoa powder and fold together. Beat until fluffy. Add the yogurt and vanilla; beat until uniformly combined.

4. Scrape the batter into the pan; smooth the top. Bake until the batter feels firm to the touch in the center, but a toothpick comes out coated with the batter, about 30-35 minutes.

5. Remove the pan to a wire rack to cool to room temperature. Cover with plastic wrap and chill until firm, at least 1 hour.

Makes 16 bars

Chicken Breast Braciole

Most people who know what braciole is would normally think of beef. Not chicken. Well this is a chicken version of that recipe. You can also use veal, pork or beef if you want so don’t worry. It will be fine. Chicken has more protein and we should all eat more of it. This is another low-fat recipe but feel free to fatten it up if you need to. I won’t be offended. These are a little like little chicken croquettes or something. I will post a picture as soon as I make them! Promise!

INGREDIENTS:

2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts

½ cup bread crumbs (your choice)

¼ pound part-skim mozzarella cheese, sliced or shredded

2 tablespoons parsley

2 garlic cloves, minced

4 tablespoons white wine

juice of one lemon

DIRECTIONS:

1. Cut each chicken breast into four pieces. Place chicken breast between waxed paper and pound with a mallet until they are about ¼ inch thick.

2. In the center of each piece place bread crumbs, mozzarella and parsley evenly. Roll and secure with toothpicks.

3. In a frying pan over medium heat, put the oil and garlic. Saute garlic till lightly browned. Saute chicken in the olive oil and garlic until golden brown.

4. Add wine, reduce heat, cover and cook 5-6 minutes. Sprinkle with lemon juice and serve immediately.

Serves 2

Delicious Creole Gumbo

On May 4, 2009 the world became a lot less funny. Comedic genius and actor Dom DeLuise passed away at the age of 75. I don’t know of anyone who can’t name at least one favorite Dom  DeLuise movie. One of my faves is “Fatso”. The food in this movie was incredible and you got hungry just watching it. Especially the scene with the huge pot of sauce and meatballs. He dunks a little Italian bread into to taste it and it’s all down hill from there. Funny. He was one of my favorite actors and you always smiled when you watched him. Smiled or laughed hysterically.

Dom was not a skinny man by any means but over the years he realized he had to do something. I bought his first cookbook “Eat This…It’ll Make You Feel Better!” back in 1988. It was full of funny and wonderful stories of his family and friends. It was and still is an awesome cookbook. When I got married my father wouldn’t let me leave the house with the copy I had so I had to go and buy another one to take with me! The book is full of his mother’s Italian home cooking as well as recipes from his family and friends. It’s actually my “go to” Italian cookbook.  As the years went on and Dom got larger and larger he decided to start eating better and came out with a second book in 1997. Another hit. This one is called “Eat This Too!”. It’s a low-fat cookbook of all his favorites along with more pics and stories of his family and friends. I will never part with either cookbook. All of the recipes are delicious.

Dom & Julia on Good Morning America in 1984

Today’s recipe is from “Eat This Too!” Gumbo can be very fattening but his version is loaded with vegetables and a seafood. Serve it over brown rice instead of the usual white rice.  Don’t be afraid of the long list of ingredients either. It’s not too scary, really! It will take longer to cut up and prep all of the veggies (where’s that private sous chef when you need one?) than to cook so be brave! You won’t be disappointed!

INGREDIENTS:

2 pounds shrimp/scallops, lobster, or other seafood, shelled, cleaned

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 onion, chopped

1 carrot, sliced

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 28-oz can tomatoes

1 6-oz can tomato paste

1 red pepper and 1 green pepper, coarsely chopped

½ teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon parsley

1 teaspoon paprika

10 mushrooms, sliced

2 bay leaves

1 teaspoon oregano

1 teaspoon thyme

½ teaspoon Tabasco sauce

12 fresh okra, sliced

2 zucchini, sliced

1 stalk celery, chopped

3 tablespoons flour mixed with ½ cup cold water

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a large pot sauté the onion and garlic in the olive oil, until golden brown. Add the remaining ingredients except the seafood.

2. Cook over medium-low heat until flavors intermingle, about 30 minutes. Add the shrimp/scallops or other seafood. Cook just a few minutes until seafood is just done. Serve while still tender.

Serves 8-12

Quinoa with Spinach and Feta Cheese

Lately I’ve read many recipes with couscous and quinoa (keen-wa). I found one today that is very easy to make and sounds really good. I am going to try and make it tonight and I will report back on it. The recipe calls for fresh spinach but if you don’t have fresh on hand use frozen, just make sure you thaw it good and squeeze out the extra liquid. You can also add chopped tomato (regular or even sun-dried!). Be brave, experiment. Remember, it’s your kitchen! (Got that from the Next Food Network Star finale last night. Yay Aarti!) I will also be using light or fat-free feta cheese in this recipe but as always feel free to use regular if you wish. This is a great side dish in the summer, it’s simple and not so heavy, and it’s full of protein from the quinoa! All good! So give it a try and as always, let me know if you try it and how it turns out!

Quinoa, cooked

INGREDIENTS:

½ cup uncooked quinoa

1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil

2 cloves garlic, sliced very thin

1 cup fresh spinach (or frozen, thawed and squeezed dry)

½ cup crumbled light or fat-free feta cheese

Quinoa with spinach and feta

DIRECTIONS:

1. Rinse the quinoa in a strainer. In a small saucepan, add the quinoa and 1 cup of water. Bring to a boil over high heat, then cover and reduce heat to simmer until water is absorbed, about 10-15 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, heat a skillet over medium heat and add the olive oil and garlic. Cook the garlic in the oil until the garlic turns light brown. Be careful not to let it burn.Lower the heat if necessary. When the quinoa is done cooking add it to the skillet along with the spinach. Stir together until the spinach wilts or is heated through if using frozen. Add the crumbled feta cheese and stir to combine.

Makes 2-4 servings

Quinoa with spinach and feta & garlic soy pork chop

Sandwich Spreads

When we make sandwiches we usually put either mayonnaise or mustard or both on them. I’m the last person to put down mayonnaise but why not try something different. I actually use guacamole sometimes if I have leftovers in the fridge. Have to use it before it turns brown so I use it on sandwiches, hamburgers and even hot dogs! So good! I have a few other substitutes that we can all use on our sandwiches that will definitely give them more pizzazz! Don’t be scared, try it, you may like it. And I of course will use the light versions of most of these items if they are available. These spreads will last up to a week in the fridge!

BLUE CHEESE & WALNUT BUTTER

This is great on roast chicken, beef or apple sandwiches.

Beat ½ cup soft butter and ½ cup crumbled blue cheese in a bowl. Stir in ¼ cup chopped toasted walnuts. Makes 1 cup

CREAMY PEPPERY GREENS

This is great on roast beef or corned beef sandwiches.

Stir 1/3 cup minced arugula, 1/3 cup minced radicchio, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, salt and pepper  into 1 cup mayonnaise. Makes 1 2/3 cup.

FIG JAM

This is great for turkey or grilled cheese sandwiches.

Plump 1 cup chopped dried figs in 3 cups hot water for 25 minutes. Drain the figs, reserving some liquid. Puree in a food processor. Add the saved liquid until the mixture is spreadable. Like jam! Stir in ¼ teaspoon orange zest. Makes 2/3 cup.

ZESTY WHITE BEAN

This spread is delicious on ham, veggie or tuna steak sandwiches.

Blend one 15-ounce can rinsed cannellini beans in a food processor with 1 teaspoon lemon zest, 1 teaspoon fresh thyme, salt, pepper and 2 tablespoons olive oil. Makes 1 cup.

Italian Wedding Cake Martini

Yes it is finally Friday! Time to start the weekend! I apologize for not having a cocktail recipe last Friday but I am making up for it today. This is a simple 3 ingredient martini that is just bellisimo! Great way to kick off the weekend or any evening really. I have had an Italian Martini before but that has Amaretto in it. This one tastes just like a piece of cake! The calories may be just as much but that’s okay. So give it a try this weekend! I’ll be in Miami this weekend for the Goo Goo Dolls concert on Saturday night so I will be on the lookout for more cocktails to tell you all about as well as any new little snacks or restaurants. Don’t forget to keep checking my website too. I am adding new stuff every day. And if anyone has a request for a recipe, cocktail, restaurant recommendation or anything, just let me know here on the blog or the website at www.cucinadiandrea.com and I will make sure I do my best to accommodate you! Have a fantastic weekend all!

Photo is for illustrative purposes only!

INGREDIENTS:

2 ounces vanilla vodka

1 ounce White Creme de Cacao

splash of pineapple juice

DIRECTIONS:

Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake well. Pour into chilled martini glass!

Makes 1 drink

Mini Upside-Down Key Lime Pies

Key Lime Pie is one of my all time favorite pies. If I splurge and get dessert when we’re out for dinner and Key Lime Pie is on the menu I can’t resist. (Unless there’s crème brûlée or tiramisu also!) But with the crust and sugar and rest of the high calorie ingredients I am always hesitant to order it. This recipe makes 5 little “pies” so it’s portion controlled and using lighter ingredients helps me stay in control. The recipe calls for sugar-free Jell-O, this can be an issue for me. Jell-O uses aspartame in their sugar-free product and I am allergic to it. I get intense migraines from even a little bit. So unless I find a sugar-free gelatin with sucralose in it I will probably use the full sugar version on the Jell-O.

For illustrative purposes only!

INGREDIENTS:

1 4-serving package (or half an 8-serving package) Jell-O Sugar-Free Lime Gelatin dessert mix

1 no-calorie sweetener packet (Splenda)

1½ tablespoons lemon juice

¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups Cool Whip Free, thawed

2 sheets (8 crackers) low-fat honey graham crackers, lightly crushed

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a medium bowl, combine 1 cup boiling water with gelatin mix and sweetener. Stir for at least 2 minutes, until completely dissolved.

2. Mix in lemon juice, vanilla extract, and ½ cup cold water. Refrigerate for about 45 minutes, until slightly thickened but still mixable.

3. Stir in the Cool Whip. Whisk until completely blended. Divide mixture among 5 small bowls. Refrigerate until firm, at least 3 hours.

4. Once ready to serve, evenly distribute crushed graham crackers over the pies.

Makes 5 servings

Per pie: 83 calories, 1g fat, 15g carbs, 5g sugar, 1g protein, <.5g fiber

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