lucky♣plate

Sausage and Spinach Soup

Package spicy turkey or chicken Italian sausage
Cooking spray
1.5 C  chopped onion
2  cloves garlic, minced
1/2 C water (or more to cover onions)
Box of small shell pasta, cooked and drained (used about 1/2 of it in the soup)
2  (14.5-ounce) cans diced tomatoes
1 to 2 cartons fat-free, low sodium chicken broth
1 package baby spinach
Chopped fresh basil
Dried oregano
Grated Romano cheese

Cook sausage in a large saucepan coated with cooking spray over high heat until browned (or on the grill!). Let cool, use your hands to tear into bite sized pieces. Heat saucepan with more oil, add onion and garlic; cook until soft. Stir in 1/2 cup water and let steam for 2 minutes. Add cooked pasta, tomatoes and broth. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and add sausage and cook for about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in spinach, basil and oregano. Ladle into bowls and sprinkle with cheese.

Serves: 4
Modified from Cooking light recipe
Calories: 261 (original)
Fat: 8.6g (original)

Rocket (Arugula) and Sun Dried Tomato Pasta

1-2  T  olive oil (or use spray)
1  medium red onion sliced thinly
1-2 bag of baby arugula (I liked a lot so used 1.5)
1/2  C vegetable broth
3/4 C  chopped sun-dried tomatoes, dehydrated first in hot water
Ground red pepper to taste
Salt and pepper to taste
2  garlic cloves, minced
1 package cooked Bucatini pasta (like spaghetti but hollow)
1/4 - 1/3  C  grated Asiago cheese

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion, and sauté 4 minutes or until tender. Add arugula, broth, sun-dried tomatoes, red pepper, salt, pepper and garlic; cook until wilted. Add pasta and cook until thoroughly heated. Sprinkle with cheese; toss well.

From: Modified from a Cooking Light recipe
Calories:339
Fat:10.2g
Fiber: 2g

Roasted Corn Chowder

1 T olive oil
1 C small diced onions
1 C small diced red pepper
1 C small diced green pepper
1 1/2 C small diced potatoes (used pearl variety and left skins on)
1 carton veg or chicken broth (low sodium)
16 oz frozen roasted corn (I get at TJs; I actually ended up using 1 1/2 bags)
6 strips bacon, cooked and crumbled
2 C skim milk
1/4 - 1/2 C Greek yogurt
1 t dried thyme
Dash of Tabasco
Dash of turmeric
Pepper to taste

Heat oil in soup pan. Add onions and peppers. Cook until soft. Add potatoes and cook about 5 minutes more. Add broth, corn except 1 1/2 C and potatoes; cook for about 10 minutes. Blend saved corn with milk. Return to chowder. Add thyme, Tabasco, turmeric and pepper. Right before serving add yogurt, warm a bit, add bacon and serve.

By: K2

Shocking Deep Dark Fudgy Cake

This one is from eeeee!

This cake is shocking because it has no butter or oil except for, ahem, the baker’s chocolate and the chocolate chips, and very little sugar except for some brown sugar and a couple of bananas that you barely taste, if at all. I’ve also found perfectly good results with whole wheat flour. It basically comes out of the oven with a little halo over it.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and oil and flour a large baking dish, the deeper the better, such as a bundt cake or large loaf pan.

1) Mix these dry ingredients:

1 2/3 c whole wheat flour
¼ c brown sugar
1 c cocoa (unsweetened)
1 ¼ t baking soda or powder

2) In a blender, add:

1 c soymilk: can be plain, vanilla or chocolate, I use lowfat chocolate because I enjoy self-deception. Buttermilk can also be used.
2 bananas, beat up is fine, even a bit better than fresh
2 eggs
2 T vanilla
¼ cup water

Blend well.

3) In a microwave safe bowl:

5-8 squares bittersweet baking chocolate. I do 8.
1/2 water

Microwave a minute or so, till creamy. Blend quickly by hand and pour into mixture in the blender and blend about a minute.

4) Pour contents of blender into bowl of mixed dry ingredients and mix until batter is smooth, but don’t drive yourself crazy. Add ¾-1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips. If batter feels too thick just add soymilk as needed.

Pour into pan and bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes. Look for the top to crack a bit and the cake to pull back from the sides to know it’s done. After it cools, sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve. Great with whipped cream (so much for the halo).

Spinach and Artichoke Dip With Bacon

1/2 C non-fat strained yogurt (original: 1/3  cup  fat-free mayonnaise)
2  garlic cloves, minced
1 and a half tubs light whipped cream cheese, softened (original: (8-ounce) package 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened; 1 (8-ounce) package fat-free cream cheese, softened)
2/3  C grated fresh Parmesan cheese
5  center-cut bacon slices, cooked and crumbled
1  14-ounce can quartered artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
1  package frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained and squeezed dry

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place yogurt, garlic, cream cheese in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended and creamy. Stir in 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, bacon, artichoke hearts, and spinach. Spread mixture into an 11 x 7-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle with remaining Parmesan cheese. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Serve with crackers, e.g., toasted bread type crackers. Also good with red pepper slices.

From Cooking light (modified)

Arugula, Beet and Walnut Salad

Dressing:
1/3  cup fresh lemon juice (used Meyer lemon, three small)
2 tablespoons finely chopped shallots
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
Salt

Salad:
Baby beets (about 1 pound) (Trader Joes has already roasted beets. Otherwise roast them by cleaning/cut root off and wrapping each beet in tin foil. Cook at 375 until done, about 1/2 hour. Let cool and rub skins off. Cut into wedges.)
2 packages baby arugula
1/4 C toasted walnuts, chopped
3-4 T crumbled blue cheese (Asiago is good)
3 T chopped fresh chives

Place roasted beets in a small bowl; drizzle with 1 tablespoon dressing; let sit for half hour or so. Combine first 5 ingredients to make dressing, stir with a whisk. Place salad greens in a large bowl; sprinkle with salt. Drizzle remaining dressing over greens. Mix in beets, walnuts, cheese and chives.

Serves: 8
From Cooking Light (modified)
Calories: 98 (original)
Fat: 4.1g (original)

Grilled Greek Salad

The Chicken:
1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 2 inch pieces
1/4 cup olive oil (I used 1T to 2T)
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest (I used more)
About 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, from 1 large lemon (more)
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tablespoons fresh oregano, chopped, or 2 teaspoons dried and crumbled

The Vegetables and Feta:
24 cherry tomatoes
3 large green peppers, cut into 1-inch strips
2 medium red or yellow onions, each one cut into 6 wedges
24 large green pimiento-stuffed olives
Olive oil spray
One block feta cheese (used lite)
1 cup panko or regular breadcrumbs
4 whole pita breads (used lite)
4 cups crisp romaine lettuce leaves, chopped

Marinate the chicken (I use a zip-top bag) with all the remaining ingredients in Chicken section. Marinate for at least 1 hour and up to 8 hours. Note: I made extra marinade and saved to serve with salad.

Place the chicken on 2 large skewers. Place the tomatoes, onions, and peppers (skin side out), and olives on skewers, keeping each vegetable on a separate skewer. Spray veggies with olive oil and salt and pepper.

Place the breadcrumbs in a small bowl. Add feta and and coat with the breadcrumbs. Place in refrigerator until ready to grill.

Heat a charcoal or gas grill to 400 degrees. Grill the chicken for about 15 minutes, turning the skewers several times during grilling. The chicken should be cooked through with no sign of pinkness. Grill the peppers for about 11 minutes, or until soft and charred. Grill the onion for about 11 minutes until tender and charred. Grill the tomatoes for about 5 to 7 minutes, or until just tender and slightly charred. Place the cheese on the outside of the fire or on a higher shelf with gas grill; cook about 4 minutes, flipping once, or until just soft but still intact. Grill the skewer with the olives for about 3 to 5 minutes, or until grill marks appear and they are hot.

Warm the pita breads on the grill for about 3 minutes or until warm and just beginning to puff up.

To serve, place veggies, chicken, feta and pita on a large platter. Put romain lettuce in a separate bowl. Let everyone help themselves. I made additional marinade and served that in a bowl for those that wanted to drizzle some on their salad.

Serves 4.
From: Kathy Gunst, from an article on WBUR (I made modifications)

http://www.here-now.org/shows/2008/07/20080702_17.asp

Yucatan Open-Faced Sandwiches

Corn Tortilla
Refried beans (I used guacamole)
Shredded turkey (bought grilled chicken breasts at Whole Foods and shredded to save time)
Shredded lettuce
Tomatoes, chopped
Pickled jalapeno
Grated queso fresco cheese (I used Cotija, similar to Parmesan)

Spray tortilla with oil and bake in oven until crisp. Remove from oven and cool. Spread each tortilla with beans or guacamole; add the rest of the ingredients.

From: Healthy Latin Cooking
Original recipe (4 tortilla, 4 servings): Calories: 163, Fat:3.7

Corn Soup

Sent in From Martha:

8 cups corn kernels (cut from 10 to 14 ears)
6 cups water
1 tablespoon kosher or coarse sea salt  I USED 2 TEASPOONS KOSHER
1/4 cup chopped fresh chives

Simmer corn with salt in the water, covered, 20 minutes, DOESN'T TAKE MORE THAN 15 MINUTES. ALSO I ADDED SOME OF THE CORN COBS, THEY GIVE A LOTTA FLAVOR or until very tender. Purée soup in batches in a blender until very smooth (use caution when blending hot liquids). As each batch is puréed, pour through a coarse sieve, pressing on solids, into a saucepan if serving hot or into a metal bowl if serving cold. Reheat soup, stirring, or chill it by setting bowl of soup in a larger bowl of ice and cold water and stirring. If soup is too thick, thin with water. Serve sprinkled with chives.

From: Gourmet
Servings: Makes 6 servings (about 7 cups)

Asian Green Bean Salad

Salad:
3 ounces uncooked linguine (I used whole wheat soba; whole package)
1 pound green beans, trimmed
2 cups diagonally sliced celery
1 cup thinly sliced red bell pepper
1/2 cup (1/2-inch) slices green onions
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Dressing:
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons dark sesame oil (used 1T)
2 teaspoons grated peeled fresh ginger (more)
1/2 teaspoon sugar (did not use)
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 red jalapeño pepper, seeded and finely chopped (about 1 tablespoon) (used Chinese chili paste -- just a little is needed, about 1/2 t.)

Cook pasta according to package directions. Cook green beans in boiling water. Rinse with cold water; drain. Place mixture in a large bowl. Stir in celery, bell pepper, onions, and cilantro. To prepare dressing, combine vinegar and remaining ingredients in a small bowl; stir with a whisk until blended. Add to salad; toss well. Cover and chill.

From: Cooking Light
Servings: 8 (1 cup)
CALORIES: 101 FAT 3.8g, (original amount of oil,) FIBER 3.1g