A Lighter Cocktail

Alcohol is one of those things we've cut back on since we've decided to count our calories. We haven't given it up completely, but it's now a treat once or twice a week. Matt is typically happy with a beer, but I like a refreshing Gin and Tonic (with Hendrick's Gin, of course). The problem is tonic is quite high in calories. Sure I could use a diet tonic, but have you tasted diet tonic? It's really gross and I don't like the chemicals used in diet sodas. (It's hard enough to find a regular tonic water that doesn't contain high fructose corn syrup.) Then I discovered this at World Market.

Fever Tree Naturally Light Tonic Water

This tonic has only 49 calories per 8oz serving (about 45% less than regular tonic)and uses fruit sugars as a sweetener. Their regular tonic contains 9g of sugar while this one only has 4.8g. Best of all it taste great. I would drink this even if I wasn't watching my calories.

Let's face it a cocktail is never going to be diet food, but now I've found an easier way to work one into my day.

If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://agoodappetite.blogspot.com OR at http://agoodappetite.com then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at katbaro AT yahoo DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author unless otherwise noted. © 2007-2013 Kathy Lewinski

Dal with Kale

Things continue to go well on our "diet." We are learning to portion better, lighten our existing recipes and are trying lots of new ones too. We are seeing some success too, Matt has lost 17 pounds and I'm down 8. Not too bad for 6 weeks in.

This is a new dish for us to make. Matt ordered some Bob's Red Mill Red Lentils after trying a Campbell's Golden Lentil with Madras Curry Soup. He loved the flavor of the soup wanted to experiment with making his own versions. This one is much more stew than soup, but had the flavors he was looking for.

Matt made his own curry seasoning for this dish. I think it was an excuse to use things like the charnushka he picked up at Penzeys. The flavor was really great and it made the house smell amazing. You get a lot of very satisfying food for the calories with this dish. Plus it made great lunch leftovers.

Dal with Kale
1 c red lentils
14 oz can crushed or diced tomatoes
1 t turmeric
1/2 T olive oil
1 c chopped yellow onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 t mustard seed
1/2 t black onion seeds (charnushka)
1/2 t ground fenugreek
1/2 t ground cumin
1/2 t ground coriander
4 oz chopped kale leaves, blanched for 1 minute in the microwave
salt

Put the lentils, 2 1/2 c water, tomatoes and turmeric and a large pot. Bring to a simmer. Cover, but leave the cover open slightly. Let cook for 30 minutes or until the lentils are done.

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and sauté until it starts to get translucent. Add the garlic and sauté for one more minute.

Crush the mustard and onion seeds to a powder. Add to the onion and garlic with the remaining spices. Sauté a minute or two until fragrant. Add to the lentil mixture. Stir in the kale and heat through. Taste for seasoning and add salt as needed.

Makes 5 servings at 183 calories per serving.
We served it with jasmine rice at 160 calories per serving and chicken samosas from Trader Joe's.

If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://agoodappetite.blogspot.com OR at http://agoodappetite.com then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at katbaro AT yahoo DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author unless otherwise noted. © 2007-2013 Kathy Lewinski

Chicken and Olive Stew

I was looking through the freezer the other day to see how many chickens I had left when I stumbled on a package of boneless chicken thighs. I pulled them out with the idea of doing some sort of one pot, Mediterranean-influenced dish.

The star of this dish ended up being the Kalamata olives, their brininess just adds a brightness to the sauce. Enhanced with a little white wine, fresh thyme and some garlic, it makes me think of warmer climates, but is still perfect for a cold winter Minnesota night.

Chicken and Olive Stew

1/2 T olive oil
4 boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into large pieces
1 c chopped yellow onion
1 clove garlic, minced
2 T white wine
1 T white wine vinegar
1 14.5 oz can crushed or diced tomatoes
15 pitted Kalamata olives, cut in half
1 t fresh thyme
1/4 t dried parsley
salt & pepper

In a heavy pot, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and brown on all sides. Add the onion and sauté until translucent. Stir in the garlic and sauté for 1 more minute. Add the wine, vinegar, tomatoes, olive, thyme and parsley. Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat and simmer for 10 - 15 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through. Remove the top and let simmer until the sauce has reduced. Taste for seasoning adding salt and pepper as needed.

Serve over hot rice or noodles.

Makes 3 servings
332 calories per serving without rice or noodles (You can reduce the calories by using chicken breasts instead of thighs, but we like the flavor of thigh.)

If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://agoodappetite.blogspot.com OR at http://agoodappetite.com then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at katbaro AT yahoo DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author unless otherwise noted. © 2007-2013 Kathy Lewinski

Tomatillo Chicken and Rice

We roasted a chicken last week, so there was lots of leftover chicken to use in other dinners. One of my go-to dishes for leftover chicken is enchiladas. Well, I took one look at the calories in a tortilla and knew that was out right now. I decided to make a hot dish that would gives us the same flavors with less calories.

You know, hot dishes are just never the prettiest thing to photograph, but they rate high on the comfort food scale. This one has such great flavor from the tomatillo sauce. We make our own oven roasted sauce, but you could use a store bought sauce or even salsa. The rice is baked in the oven allowing it to absorb the flavors of the sauce. This definitely filled the bill for the flavor I was craving and was so incredibly filling. We served it with a few tortilla chips.

Tomatillo Chicken and Rice
If you've got leftover cooked chicken this dish is a very easy one dish meal.

1 cooked chicken breast, chopped
1 c tomatillo sauce
3/4 c frozen sweet corn
1/2 c jasmine or white rice, uncooked
1 oz colby jack cheese, shredded

Preheat oven to 355 F.

In a small baking dish, mix the chicken, tomatillo sauce, corn, rice and 1 cup water.
Cover with foil.

Bake for 30 minutes until the rice has absorbed most of the liquid and is soft. Remove the foil and sprinkle the cheese over the top. Bake uncovered another 10 -15 minutes.

2 servings
Approximately 390.5 calories per serving, your tomatillo sauce may change this.

If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://agoodappetite.blogspot.com OR at http://agoodappetite.com then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at katbaro AT yahoo DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author unless otherwise noted. © 2007-2013 Kathy Lewinski

Pork with Tart Balsamic Cherries

With only two people in the house, Matt and I have to think when we are shopping and planning meals how we are going to use ingredients that come in larger sizes without a lot of waste. Can something be used in more than one meal that week, like a whole chicken? Should we make a larger dish and have leftovers for lunches? Can we cut it up and freeze the rest to use later?

We did the later with a pork tenderloin that we picked up last week. Matt weighed it and cut it into three pieces, each piece enough for two servings. So, that way we were only cooking exactly what we needed. This is great if you are watching your calories, because there are no leftovers to tempt you into a second helping.

This dish really felt like a special night dinner, even though Matt prepared it quickly in one pan. The tartness of the cherries, along with the depth of the balsamic, adds so much flavor to the pork. You definitely want to use tart, not sweet cherries, in this dish.

Pork with Tart Balsamic Cherries

1/2 T olive oil
8 oz pork tenderloin, cut into 4 medallions
1/2 c sliced yellow onion
1/2 c dried tart cherries
2 T balsamic vinegar
1 t Dijon mustard

In a skillet, heat the oil over medium high heat. Add the pork cook on one side for about 4 minutes. Flip the pork over and add the remaining ingredients. Cover, reduce heat to low and cook for about another 10 minutes, until the pork is cooked through and the onions and cherries have soften. Uncover and simmer until the sauce is reduced and thickened to a consistency you like.

2 servings
322 calories per serving.

If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://agoodappetite.blogspot.com OR at http://agoodappetite.com then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at katbaro AT yahoo DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author unless otherwise noted. © 2007-2013 Kathy Lewinski