Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Drunk Chops


Last night we had whiskey pork chops with rosemary potatoes compliments of Cooking Light Magazine. Two things I love about Cooking Light: (1) the recipes are typically very easy and (2) recipies utilize every day ingredients. It never takes more than 10 minutes to prep a meal for the oven and rarely do I have to make a last minute store run to go grab a random ingredient for a recipe....definitely nice after working a 10-12 hour work day! We also cut the recipe in half for just the 2 of us, but there was still more than enough sauce.


Whiskey Pork Chops

2/3 cup fat-free sour cream
1/2 cup water 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon sage
1/4 teaspoon black pepper 4 (6-ounce) bone-in center-cut pork chops, trimmed 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 (8-ounce) package presliced mushrooms
1/2 cup whiskey

Preheat oven to 300°.
Combine the first 6 ingredients in a small bowl.
Sprinkle pork with 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper. Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add pork; sauté 5 minutes on each side or until golden. Remove pork from pan. Add onion and mushrooms to pan; sauté for 3 minutes. Carefully add whiskey to pan; cook for 1 minute or until liquid almost evaporates. Stir sour cream mixture into pan. Return pork to pan; spoon sauce over pork.
Wrap handle of skillet with foil. Cover and bake at 300° for 1 hour (only 25 minutes if you are cooking 2 chops). Serve immediately.
Nutritional Information (Per Chop)
CALORIES 310(28% from fat); FAT 9.6g (sat 3g,mono 4.5g,poly 1.1g); PROTEIN 29.5g; CHOLESTEROL 71mg; CALCIUM 16mg; SODIUM 546mg; FIBER 1.3g; IRON 2mg; CARBOHYDRATE 24.3g

Rosemary Potatoes

3 Medium Sized Red Skin Potatoes
2 Tbs Rosemary
2 Tbs Fat Free Promise Spread

Melt Promise Spread and combine with Rosemary. Add to Potatoes. Cook potatoes stovetop for 5 minutes on high, or until browned. Reduce heat to low and cover. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring often.
We served with a small salad as well. Enjoy! =)

Monday, November 12, 2007

Encore!

Dessert--low fat blondies with a light caramel sauce. The brownies were a bit dry. I tried to skimp a bit on the butter and cut out some of the splenda brown sugar. Next time I will stick with the recipe. Jeff loved them, so it was definitely worth the effort!

Butterscotch Blondies (Cooking Light with Marissa Modifications)
2 cups all-purpose flour (about 9 ounces)
1 1/4 cup firmly packed Splenda brown sugar (can use regular, but it's 2 1/2 cups instead)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
10 tablespoon unsalted butter
3/4 cup egg substitute

Preheat oven to 350°.
Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Place butter in a small skillet over medium heat. Cook for 6 minutes or until lightly browned, stirring occasionally. Pour into a small bowl, and cool for 10 minutes. Combine butter and egg substitute, stirring with a whisk. Pour butter mixture over flour mixture; stir just until moistened. Spoon batter into a 13 x 9-inch baking pan coated with cooking spray; smooth top with spatula. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack. Cut into 48 squares.

24 servings (serving size: 2 squares)
Nutritional Information
CALORIES 100 (with Splenda); FAT 2.4g (sat 1g,mono 1.2g,poly 0.2g); PROTEIN 1.9g;

In another blog, I read that caramel sauce is worth the effort. So true! It's very easy and really added that needed touch to the dessert. And for only 45 calories per serving (one tablespoon), who could say no!?

Caramel Sauce (Cooking Light)
1 cup sugar (CAN'T use Splenda for this)
1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon margarine
3/4 cup evaporated skimmed milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Dash of salt

Combine sugar and water in a heavy saucepan, and place over medium-low heat. Cook 13 minutes or until sugar dissolves. (Do not stir.) Cover, increase heat to medium, and boil 1 minute. (This will dissolve any sugar crystals clinging to sides of pan.) Uncover and boil 10 additional minutes or until amber or golden. (Do not stir.)
Remove from heat; let stand 1 minute. Carefully add margarine, stirring until it melts. Gradually add milk, stirring constantly. (Caramel will harden and stick to spoon.) Place pan over medium heat, and cook, stirring constantly, 3 minutes or until caramel melts and mixture is smooth. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla and salt. Pour sauce into a bowl; serve warm or chilled. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Here Goes Nothin'


My very first post. My husband was pleasantly surprised with my first attempt at a blogworthy meal. I promised him I wouldn't compromise his health and would continue to use low fat ingredients if he swore not to mock my post-meal picture taking. It was a deal. Here were the results.


The meal: Garlic, cheesy baked chicken from allrecipes, with a healthy twist. Side items were green beans and reduced fat cheesey garlic biscuits (compliments of MrsPresley). Pretty good for someone who doesn't care for cheese, huh?! We finished off with low fat butterscotch blondies with a low fat caramel sauce. The blondies were good, not great. I wouldn't recommend them without the caramel sauce. The meal was FANTASTIC, if I do say so myself! ;)


Garlic Cheddar Chicken (Allrecipes.com with Marissa Modifications)

2 tbsp butter1 clove garlic, minced
3 tbsp dry bread crumbs
1/8 tsp dried parsley
1/8 tsp dried oregano
1/8 tsp ground black pepper
1/8 tsp salt2 tbsp freshly grated Reduced Fat Parmesan cheese
6 tbsp shredded Fat Free Cheddar cheese
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, pounded thin

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat, and cook the garlic until tender, about 5 minutes.In a shallow bowl, mix the bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, Cheddar cheese, parsley, oregano, pepper, and salt.Dip each chicken breast in the garlic butter to coat, then press into the bread crumb mixture. Arrange the coated chicken breasts in a 9x13 inch baking dish. Drizzle with any remaining butter and top with any remaining bread crumb mixture.Bake 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until chicken is no longer pink and juices run clear.

Cheesy Biscuits (from MrsPresley with Marissa Modifications)

2 cups Bisquick mix
1/2 cup shredded Fat Free cheddar cheese
2/3 cup skim milk
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon parsley
1/4 cup fat free Promise Margarnie- melted
Preheat oven to 450 F. Combine first 3 ingredients until moist. Drop onto greased cookie sheet. Bake for 8 minutes, or until golden. While the biscuits are baking, mix melted butter, parsley and garlic. Pour over hot biscuits and serve.