Roasted Chicken and Mashed Sweet Potatoes

476 calories of deliciousness

The holidays are busy for everyone, so sometimes it's nice to make a meal that keeps on giving and I love roasting a whole chicken for that very reason. I can make the leftovers stretch for days and days and that's going to make this week flow smoothly by. I hope.

This is my absolute favorite way to roast a chicken because everything goes in one pan and it makes the best mashed sweet potatoes I've ever had. I didn't even know I liked sweet potatoes until I realized you can eat them without drowning them in sugar and marshmallows. Peel a large sweet potato and cut it into half inch thick coins. Spread them out in the bottom of a greased glass baking dish and then top with thinly sliced onion rings.

I hope you're prepared to get your hands dirty. Starting with a good quality chicken with the skin on, very carefully slide your hands between the chicken and the meat and separate the two, taking care not to rip the skin. Make sure you do the entire chicken and really get down there and get into the wings, thighs, and drumsticks. Spread the flavor rub between the meat and the skin and if you have any left, don't forget the cavity, too. Place the chicken breast-side down on top of the onions and pour a tablespoon of white wine over the chicken. Pop it into the oven at 350F until a probe thermometer registers 145F in the meaty part of the thigh.

When your glorious bird hits 145F, flip it breast-side up using a pair of tongs. Continue cooking until it reaches 165F in the meaty part of the thigh. When you're done, you should have something that looks like this:

Remove the chicken to a cutting board. While it's sitting, use a slotted spoon to transfer the potatoes and onions to a blender. Puree until smooth and it's ready to serve. Now you can carve your chicken and serve it with the green veggie of your choice.

White Wine Chicken Rub

1 teaspoon dry tarragon
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon white wine
1/2 cup chopped leek

1. Combine all ingredients in a food processor until well combined.

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Crockpot Vegetarian Chili and Corn Muffins

I'm a big fan of meatless Monday. Not only is it good for the environment and my wallet, but it's also good for my waistline. Honestly, I see the environmental aspect as just a happy bonus of low-calorie inexpensive meals. And if you don't have a crockpot, go out and get one now. I'm not joking. I'll wait.

Got your crockpot? Okay, let's continue. I love how easy it is to cook with a crockpot. Just toss in all my ingredients, turn it on, and let it do it's thing. Sometimes when I know I have a busy day coming up I'll put a meal together in the crockpot the night before so I can just drop it in and go about my business. I've even roasted an entire chicken in there!

I think I may have mentioned stumbling across Quorn's meatless grounds not too long ago. I won't go into my crazy conspiracy theories about soy, but I will mention that I avoid soy-based products like the plague. I have my reasons. Anywho, Quorn's meatless ground are soy-free, so they make a great addition to my meatless Monday routine.

Meatless Monday Chili
Serves 4 at 296 calories a bowl

1 tablespoon peanut oil
1 medium bell pepper, diced
1 small yellow onion, diced
1 cup chopped leeks
2 cups Pomi chopped tomatoes
1 teaspoon vegetable base dissolved in 1 cup boiling water
1 cup dried kidney beans, soaked in water overnight
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (add more if you like it spicy)
1 teaspoon dried cilantro
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup red wine
2 cups frozen Quorn meatless grounds

1. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook the pepper, onion, and leeks until soft and pour into the crockpot.
2. Drain the beans and add to the crockpot. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir.
3. Cook on low for 6-8 hours, stirring occasionally.
4. Add the frozen Quorn meatless grounds 15 minutes before serving.

I love this stuff!

Corn Muffins

Makes 12 muffins at 133 calories each

1 tablespoon flax meal

1 cup boiling water

1/4 cup oil

3/4 cup yellow corn meal

1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 cup Truvia baking blend

2 tablespoons buttermilk powder

2 teaspoons baking powder

1. Preheat  your oven to 400 degrees and grease a standard muffin pan (you could also bake this in an 8" cake pan)
2. Whisk together the flax, water, and oil in a small bowl.
3. In a large bowl, combine the rest of the ingredients. Stir in the liquid ingredients just until a batter forms.
4. Scoop equal amounts into your muffin pan until you have 12 muffins.
5. Bake for 20 minutes.

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Chicken Sausage in White Wine Sauce

Sometimes I feel all Italian and need a big bowl of pasta, but I can only eat so many tomato-based sauces. I love the cheesy sauces, but not the calories or fat, so I decided to go with something light and refreshing. I have to say, I'm pretty happy with what I came up with. Everyone over here cleaned their plate!

Chicken Sausage in White Wine Sauce
Serves 4 at 346 calories each

4 ounces of uncooked pasta
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound of mild Italian chicken sausage
2 cloves of garlic
1 cup sliced leeks
1 cup chopped mushrooms
1/2 cup white wine
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon chicken base in 1 cup boiling water
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon dried tarragon

1. Cook the pasta according to the package directions and set aside. Keep warm.
2. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook the whole sausage until nicely browned and set aside.
3. In the still-hot skillet, cook the garlic, leeks, and mushrooms for 5-6 minutes, stirring often. Add the white wine and cook until almost all of the liquid has evaporated. While it's cooking, slice the sausage into coins.
4. Add the sausage back to the pan and stir in the flour. Cook for 1 minute.
5. Stir in the chicken broth slowly. While stirring, bring to a boil and cook for 1-2 minutes.
6. Stir in the salt and tarragon and serve over the pasta.

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Shepherd's Pie

Oh, comfort food, I just can't live without it. I tried the diet thing where I denied myself my favorite foods, but that just didn't work for me. As soon as I hit my goal I was back to my bad eating habits, but I finally realized I have to adjust my favorite recipes to still taste good, but have less calories and fat.

I created this tasty treat because shepherd's pie is just too darn tasty to go without. I know it has a ton of ingredients and sounds complicated, but it really isn't too hard to make. Yes, it takes some time to put it all together, but it's the perfect meal for a cold, dreary Sunday afternoon. It works well to make it ahead of time and heat it up and if you make two pans, you can eat leftovers for days.

Shepherd's Pie
Serves 6 at 395 calories a slice

1 1/2 pounds sweet potato, peeled and diced
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut milk
2 tablespoons Brummel and Brown yogurt spread
2 1/2 ounces diced pancetta
1 pound ground lamb
2 small yellow onions, diced
6 ounce diced carrots
2 medium turnips, peeled and diced
1 cup chopped shittake mushrooms
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1/3 cup red wine
1 tablespoon flour
2 teaspoons beef base dissolved in 2 cups boiling water (or 2 cups beef broth)
4 cups chopped kale
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
1/4 teaspoon cracked black pepper
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 ounce shredded gruyere cheese

1. Preheat your oven to 375 and grease a 9x13 glass baking dish.
2. Steam the potatoes until soft. Mash with the coconut milk and yogurt spread and set aside.
3. Heat a large skillet on medium-high. Add the pancetta and cook until the fat is released. Cook the ground lamb in the pancetta fat until fully cooked. Strain with a slotted spoon into the glass baking dish and set aside.
4. In the still hot skillet, cook the onions, carrots, turnips, and mushrooms until the onion starts to brown. Add the tomato paste and cook another minute. Add the red wine and cook until most of the liquid is dissolved.
5. Stir in the flour, followed by the beef broth and cook for 1 minute. Stir will, then add the kale. Cook for 5-6 minutes, then add the thyme, rosemary, pepper, and salt.
6. Pour the vegetable mixture over the lamb mixture, making sure it's evenly distributed. Spoon the mashed sweet potatoes over the top and smooth out until the potatoes completely cover the top of the vegetable mixture.
7. Cover the pan with greased foil, place on a rimmed baking sheet (the gravy may boil over), and bake for 1 hour. Remove the foil, sprinkle the shredded cheese on top, and continue to cook for another 15 minutes. Allow to sit for 10 minutes before cutting.

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Soy-Citrus Seafood Medley over Soba Noodles

Somehow I managed to make it this far into posting recipes without posting anything with seafood in it. I'm not really sure how I managed that because I love seafood. I think I could probably eat nothing but seafood the rest of my life and die a happy woman. Anywho, I sometimes pick up a bag of Aqua Star seafood medley to keep in my freezer because it's great for a quick meal. It contains squid, octopus, shrimp, and mussels, which are all super yummy!

I saw this recipe (link) in the latest issue of Cooking Light and thought it sounded great, but scallops are way out of my budget. Then I realized I could just use my trusty bag of frozen seafood medley! And the best part of using the frozen seafood mix is that I didn't even have to thaw it out. It goes straight from the freezer to the frying pan and turns out perfect every time I've used it. My version came in at 273 calories, so it's even less than what it would have been with scallops. Maybe next time I'll try this with shrimp.

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Whole Wheat Cinnamon-Raisin Rolls

It's finally starting to get cold here and with that comes my craving for yummy warm comfort foods. Enter my goal to make cinnamon rolls that taste good and don't have the consistency of cardboard. These don't taste like they're healthy, but compared to the average 300 calorie cinnamon roll, they're a great improvement. And they have raisins in them, so now they count as fruit. My problem now is resisting this urge I'm having to eat the entire pan.

Whole Wheat Cinnamon-Raisin Rolls
Makes 20 rolls at 179 calories each

2 1/4 teaspoons active-dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water
1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons Truvia baking blend
1 stick of unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon orange zest
1 large egg, beaten
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups unbleached bread flour

3/4 cups raisins, soaked in hot water
1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 large egg white, lightly beaten

1 ounce reduced fat cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar
very hot water, as needed

1. Combine the yeast and the water in a measuring cup and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, combine the milk, Truvia, butter, vanilla, orange zest, and egg with a wooden spoon. Stir in the yeast.
3. Using a wooden spoon, stir in both flours. When the dough starts to come to together, use your hands to knead the dough until it is uniformly mixed but still slightly tacky. Spray lightly with pan spray, cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and place someplace nice and warm to rise for one hour or doubled in size. If you press your fingers in the dough and the indentations remain, it's ready.
4. Drain the raisins and set aside. Mix together the brown sugar and cinnamon.
5. Roll the dough into a 15x10 rectangle on a floured surface. Brush half the egg white over the dough, then sprinkle with the sugar-cinnamon mix and raisins, leaving a 1/2 inch border all around. 
6. Roll the dough up into a log starting on the long side. Pinch the seam shut. Wrap the dough up in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 20 minutes or overnight.
7. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
8. Unwrap the dough and cut into 20 rolls. Place cut-side up in a big glass baking dish and cover with plastic wrap. Place someplace warm and allow to rise for 1 hour 15 minutes or until doubled in size and an indentation pressed into them stays.
9. Uncover, brush with the remaining egg white, and bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown.
10. To make the icing combine the cream cheese and the powdered sugar. Stir in the hot water a tablespoon at a time until you get the consistency you want. Drizzle the icing over the hot rolls.

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Butternut Squash, Mushroom, and Gruyere Tart

I got all fancy again over the weekend and tried out this recipe (link) from Cooking Light. I know the recipe calls for pre-chopped stuff, but that costs more and I just did it myself. It took longer, but totally worth it! I did my usual substitute of whole wheat flour for the white flour and it turned out just fine. And to save time, I peeled my squash, chopped it into cubes, tossed them with the 1 tablespoon oil and onions, and roasted them at 425 for about 25 minutes, before starting on the crust. I feel like roasting brings out better flavors than sauteeing, when it comes to squash.

I'd definitely recommend sticking pretty close to this recipe. It's so worth the trip to your local deli counter to get real gruyere cheese and pancetta because I can't think of anything that would work as a substitute and give you the same flavors. Also, a trick I learned for using wine for cooking is to buy those little 4-packs of the tiny bottles so you don't have a big bottle of wine hanging out in your fridge trying to get your attention. Try and stay away from anything labeled "cooking wine" because if you wouldn't drink it, you shouldn't cook with it.

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Peanut Butter-Molasses Granola Bars

Cutting calories is hard. Really, really, really hard. Our bodies just don't like giving up the weight and, through trial and error, I found the best way to keep from going on a hunger-fueled eating binge is to always keep something in my belly and always carry a snack on me if I'm not hanging around the house. Seriously, the hungrier I get, the more I just want to open the fridge, stick in my head, and shovel everything into my mouth.

Granola bars are a great snack to keep around because they travel well, but those store-bought ones have so many weird things added to them, not to mention the cost (which keeps going up). This past weekend I experimented with making knock-off mocha almond chocolate chip bars based on a certain large "health-food" company's product, but that didn't go so well. They just wouldn't hold together and now I have a giganto bowl of granola hanging around, which isn't a bad thing, but still not convenient for on-the-go snacking. So today I decided to try making a different type of granola bar and see if maybe some peanut butter might glue things together.

Final verdict? It worked and they taste AMAZING! I think I'm going to keep on tinkering and see what other flavors I can come up with using this recipe as a base. I will figure out those darned mocha almond bars one of these days.

Peanut Butter-Molasses Granola Bars
Yields 24 bars at 119 calories a piece

1 cup crispy rice cereal
2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup unsalted peanuts
1/2 cup raisins
A healthy dash of cinnamon
1/4 cup molasses
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup natural unsweetened peanut butter
1/4 cup peanut oil
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

1. Grease a 9x13 baking pan and line with waxed paper.
2. Stir together the rice cereal, oats, peanuts, raisins, and cinnamon in a large bowl. Set aside.
3. In a high-sided pot combine the molasses and sugar. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and cook for 2-3 minutes. Stir in the peanut butter, oil, and flour. Cook for an additional 2-3 minutes.
4. Pour the sugar mixture over the oat mixture and stir well using a wooden spoon. Make sure all the crumbs get mixed in. Turn out into the baking pan and press it in. I put a layer of waxed paper on top and pressed another pan on top of it to get it evenly distributed.
5. Refrigerate for 15 minutes, remove from pan, and cut into 24 bars.

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Mini Meatloaves and Roasted Potatoes

It's chilly out, so why not have some meat and potatoes? I used to think I hated meatloaf, but that's until I actually had it made so that it doesn't taste like shoe leather. Apparently it doesn't have to taste like it was made out of pureed jerky. Who knew?

Anyway, sometimes I'm lazy and a whole meatloaf can take forever to cook, so I figured why not make a bunch of mini loaves? And while I was at it, I decided to wrap the meatloaf around a stick of cheese. You know, for health reasons. I decided to do some oven-roasted potatoes with these because you just can't have meatloaf without potatoes.

Mini Meatloaves
Makes 6 at 314 calories each

1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
1/2 cup fat free evaporated milk
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
3/4 teaspoons dried oregano
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1 tablespoon mustard powder
1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/4 cup barbecue sauce
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 large egg, beaten
1 1/2 pounds ground beef
1/4 cup barbecue sauce
3 ounces cheddar, cut into 1/2 ounce sticks

1. Preheat your oven to 425F and grease a baking sheet.
2. In a large bowl combine the breadcrumbs, milk, salt, spices, barbecue sauce, garlic, and onion. Allow to sit for 5 minutes, then add the egg and ground beef.
3. Divide the meat mixture into six portions and wrap each portion around one stick of the cheese. Form into football shapes and place on the baking sheet.
4. Brush the loaves with the second portion of barbecue sauce and bake for 25-30 minutes.

Cheesy!

Oven-Roasted Potatoes
Serves 3 at 193 calories each

1 pound of russet potatoes, washed and diced with the skin still on
1/2 cup sliced leeks
1 tablespoon peanut oil
Salt and Pepper, to taste

1. Preheat your oven to 425 and grease a glass baking dish.
2. Toss together all the ingredients, pour into baking dish, and bake for 30 minutes or until the potatoes are crispy and brown.

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Pizza!

Peppers, onions, mushrooms, and squash and only 186 calories a slice

Who doesn't love pizza? I know I love it. How can you go wrong with cheese and bread? There's no way. I used to order out for pizza, but that stuff is just way too greasy for my poor stomach, so I started making my own. For the longest time I just bought those pre-made pizza crusts until I realized that it's actually not that hard to make the crust from scratch. The great thing about this crust recipe is that it actually tastes better if you let the dough sit in the fridge overnight, so if I know I've got a busy day coming up, I just mix up a batch of pizza dough the night before. I also HIGHLY recommend investing in a pizza stone if you end up being a pizza junkie like me. It makes perfectly crispy crust every time. And the beautiful thing about homemade pizza is you have complete control over what goes into it and on it!

Whole Wheat Pizza Crust
Yields enough dough for one 10-12" pizza and 1/8 of it is 107 calories

3/4 cup unbleached all purpose flour
3/4 cup 100% whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon sea salt
2/3 cup lukewarm water
1 teaspoon sugar or honey
1 1/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
1 tablespoon olive oil

1. Whisk together the flours and salt in a large bowl. Set aside.
2. In a large measuring cup combine the water and sugar (or honey). Stir in the yeast.
3. Form a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour in the water mixture. Stir just until a rough dough is formed. Do no overmix or your crust will be tough. Work in the last of the flour with your hands.
4. Pour the olive oil over the dough and make sure you  roll the dough in the oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set it someplace warm. Allow the dough to sit for 30 minutes, then refrigerate. If you need to use your dough right away, allow it to rise for an hour and skip the refrigeration.
5. One hour before you plan to eat, place your pizza stone in your oven and turn it on to 425F. 
6. Take the dough out of the fridge and turn it out onto a circle of parchment paper cut to the size of pizza you want covered with a handful of corn meal. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let it sit for 15 minutes.
7. Sprinkle the dough with a little bit of flour to keep it from sticking and roll it out to the size you want with a rolling pin. Cover it and let it rise for 45 minutes.
8. Top with your favorite pizza sauce, cheese, and toppings and bake for 10-15 minutes, or until the cheese is golden and bubbly.

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