Chicken Alfredo Pizza

It's a holiday weekend, and I made pizza. Absolutely delicious.

Crust:
1 pkg active dry yeast
1 C warm water
1 T canola oil
2 t sugar
1/2 t garlic-herb seasoning
1/2 c wheat flour
2 1/4 to 2 1/2 c. bread flour
1 T cornmeal

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Add oil, sugar, seasoning, wheat flour, and 2 1/4 c. bread flour. Mix, turn out and knead until smooth. Put in bowl coated in cooking spray, cover and let rise for about 20 minutes.

Punch dough down, and roll out to 15 inches. Sprinkle cornmeal on pizza pan, and spread dough, building up edges. Bake at 425 for 12 minutes or until edges are slightly browned.

Topping:
4 t flour
1 1/4 c milk
1 1/2 c cubed cooked chicken breast
1/3 c shredded Parmesan
1-2 c fresh spinach, cooked until just wilted
2 oz mushrooms
2 oz olives
1.5 oz onions
1.5 oz red pepper
2 oz shredded low-fat mozzarella

Combine flour and milk in saucepan, bring to a boil, stirring until thickened (about 2 min). Add chicken, Parmesan and spinach, stir until cheese is melted.


Spread mixture over baked crust and add other toppings. Bake for an additional 10 minutes or until cheese is melted. 8 servings. 1 slice = 277 calories, 15 g protein, 41 g carbs, 7 g fat.

I obviously had some issues with the crust: it doesn't look very pretty, but it tasted wonderful. My pizza pan is also only 12 inches, so it's thicker than called for. Will definitely make again!

General Tso's Chicken

General Tso's Chicken

Diced 1 lb. chicken chicken breast and marinated overnight in a marinade of ginger and garlic paste, turmeric, chili powder, and hoisin sauce.

Stir-fried the chicken in sesame oil. For the sauce, I kinda ran out of stuff (who runs out of hoisin sauce? Isn't that one of those things that lives in your refrigerator forever?) so it consisted of 1 tsp each of ginger and garlic paste, chili powder, curry powder, brown sugar, corn starch, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, 1/4 c. soy sauce and some fresh garlic and ginger. Cooked down and added vegetable broth to thin.

Added brown rice and steamed broccoli (overcooked the broccoli, dammit), and Voila! Urge for Chinese food satisfied!

4 servings: 215 calories (not including rice and veggies)

Curried Lentils

Wow, I am going to make this ALL the time. It's super easy and it tastes fantastic. The curry is not too strong, so if you like curry, add more. I'm eating it over couscous this time around, but I'm sure I can find other uses for it.

Curried Lentils

1 cup raw lentils
1 teaspoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
12 ounces spinach leaves, fresh, washed and chopped
1 (14 ounce) can plum tomatoes, with, liquid, chopped
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Cook lentils in about 4 cups of water until they are tender but firm. (I think it took about 25 minutes.) Heat the olive oil in a large skillet and saute the garlic. Add spinach leaves and saute over moderately low heat for 1 minute or so until leaves are wilted. Add the lentils and the remaining ingredients to the skillet, cover and simmer over very low heat for 15 minutes.

6 servings: 160 calories

Zucchini Meatloaf

This is definitely going into the rotation. It was soooo good, and very versitile. I did the turkey option, and I had some fresh basil, so I added that in instead of the dried, and wow what a difference. I'm thinking I'm going to do a bit more tweaking of the recipe to incorporate more elements of Mom's meatloaf (which I consider the gold standard of meatloaf), and to switch up the flavors.



Zucchini Meatloaf

2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup oatmeal, ground
1 cup shredded zucchini
1/3 cup finely diced onion
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon fresh basil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/8 teaspoon dry mustard powder
1 1/2 pounds ground turkey
1/2 cup marinara sauce
1 tablespoon grated Parmesan

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a large loaf pan or a large casserole dish with vegetable cooking spray and set aside.

In a large bowl beat the egg with a fork. Mix in milk and ground oatmeal and allow to rest for a few minutes. To the egg mixture stir in the zucchini, onion, parsley, salt, pepper, basil, oregano, and mustard powder. Add ground turkey and gently combine. Place in your prepared pan and press down slightly. (Form into a loaf, but don’t pack the meat tightly, if using a casserole dish.)

In a small bowl combine the marinara sauce and Parmesan cheese. Spread on top of meat. Bake for 60-75 minutes or until a meat thermometer registers 160 degrees. Allow meatloaf to rest for about 5 minutes before slicing.

6 servings: 190 calories

Cheeseburger Pasta

I'm behind on my recipies! Mom got me a subscription to Taste of Home Healthy Cooking magazine for my birthday. The first one came last month, and I decided to try out the inaugrual recipe on Calvin and Malea. What kid doesn't like cheeseburgers? Well, it didn't go over too well, but I think it was because of the incongruity between taste and texture. It did taste exactly like a cheeseburger.



1-1/2 cups uncooked whole wheat penne pasta
3/4 lb. lean ground beef
2 Tbsp. finely chopped onion
1 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes
2 Tbsp. pickle relish
2 Tbsp. mustard
2 Tbsp. ketchup
1 tsp. steak seasoning
1/4 tsp. seasoned salt
3/4 c. shredded reduced fat cheddar cheese

Cook pasta according to package directions. In large skillet, cook beef and onion over medium heat until no longer pink; drain. Drain pasta; add to meat mixture. Stir in the tomatoes, relish, mmustard, ketchup, steak seasoning and seasoned salt. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes. Sprinkle with cheese. Remove from heat; cover and let stand until cheese is melted.

Serves 4: 390 calories

It was very "hamburger helper" in terms of ease. I did use ground beef because I didn't think the kids would go for the turkey, but I may as well have used ground turkey since I ended up eating the majority of it. I liked it.

Stuffed Zucchini Parmesan

I'm going to start posting recipes that I find and like. If I had thought of this before I ate supper tonight, you would be getting a nice picture of the finished product instead of my cold leftovers, but hey, nobody's first try is ever perfect.

The first one is Stuffed Zucchini Parmesan. I got a zucchini in my produce gift bag from Mom last week, so I was looking for recipes to use it in.



My modifications were as follows:

1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup sliced onions
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes (though I think next time I'll use more)
1/4 tsp basil
1/4 tsp oregano
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Heat oil in a heavy ovenproof skillet over medium heat. Sauté onions and garlic 4-5 minutes, or until golden. Stir in tomatoes. Simmer 2 minutes stirring occasionally. Arrange zucchini slices on a piece of wax paper. Combine basil, oregano and half the Parmesan. Sprinkle over zucchini slices and press into zucchini. Transfer half the tomato sauce to a bowl. Place zucchini slices over remaining tomato sauce in skillet, overlapping if necessary to fit in all the pieces. Spoon reserved tomato sauce over zucchini. Combine remaining Parmesan and mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle over tomato sauce. Cover and simmer 8-10 minutes until zucchini is just tender. Turn on broiler. Uncover skillet and place under broiler 1-2 minutes, or until cheese browns.

It supposedly makes 4 servings (as I did it, 135 calories per serving), but I ate half with a side salad so I was stuffed. This one is definitely going into the rotation.