Back In The Kitchen

First my apologies for photo quality - I didn't have my camera so these are mobile uploads!

After a brief hiatus to wreck my stomach with festival and vacation foods (so good yet so bad!) I am back in the kitchen cooking again and couldn't be more ready to put some fresh ingredients back into my belly!  For starters, this isn't a Now Eat This recipe, but I had to brag!  My friend and I made our own version of Mellow Mushroom's Avacado Hoagie - Turkey, Muenster Cheese, Avacado, Tomato, & Red Onion!  SO TASTY - can't wait to make this over and over again. 

This morning I made the Now Eat This Diet's recipe for French Toast a L'Orange!  However, I am OBSESSED with the flavor of blueberries right now so I traded a L'Orange for a L'Blueberry!   

The toast is low fat & cal. with fat free syrup, egg substitute, evaporated skim milk, and fresh blueberries!  But with all the extracted calories, I have to attest that the dish didn't lose ANY of its flavor!  Put that on everything.

Dinner For Two!

Now Eat This Diet!'s Chicken Amadine with Green Beans & Lemon Butter - with a few twists!

This dish was great.  Baking the chicken on the elevated rack made it the most moist, flavorful piece of meat I've ever cooked!  My twists:  I made this dish a little heartier by adding mashed potatoes to the mix - small portions though!  I also added a few spices to the lemon butter sauce over the chicken and swapped pecans for almonds in the crust!  The meat turned out wonderfully.  However, I have to say that the cook time for the green beans was not enough to get them to soften and the recipe may have called for a little too much lemon juice.  Other than that, everything was great!  Can't wait to try this dish again and PERFECT it this time!

One Word: Cobbler.

Today I brought a friend along for the ride to help me make the Now Eat This Diet!'s recipe for Apple Cinnamon Cranberry Cobbler (minus the cranberries cause I'm just not a fan).  She peeled the apples while I mixed the apple coating and cobbler topping.  Then we baked it in one BIG dish - here's the before:

And here's the after...pure low calorie deliciousness

Dessert For Breakfast?

 This is hands down the best breakfast I have EVER created!  "Blueberry Graham Cheesecake Oatmeal" from RD's Now Eat This Diet!  It was the perfect blend of flavors - creamy cream cheese, tart blueberries, and savory oatmeal.  It was also easy - just mix in all the ingredients into a saucepan then enjoy!  And what goes well with blueberries?  Yoga.  I call it, "Zenberry" - ha.  So I did a little p90x yoga for just a bit before running out the door to watch two of my best friends get married!  Congrats Chris & Chloe.  Speaking of food...what about the amazing spread you guys had at the reception?  Fried green tomatoes, burger sliders, grits, and that CAKE!  Glad I started my morning off on a low-cal note in preparation for the celebration!

First Dish from the Now Eat This Diet!

Today I made my very first dish from Rocco Dispirito's "Now Eat This Diet"!  (complete with many amazing recipes, instructions, & cooking advice)

I first heard about Rocco's diet perspectives on Rachael Ray.  I loved how he combined healthy eating with the reality of wanting food to taste good and fill you up.  I loved that he didn't take the how to's of healthy eating and complicate them, but stuck to basic, scientific principles that keep metabolism cranked up and hunger simmered down.

So back to my first dish - "Blue on Blueberry Silver Dollar Pancakes".  SO easy to make.  I couldn't believe I was making a sauce in a saucepan (just like on Food Network) popping the blueberries just as they heated up and turning the syrup a very purply purple.  The syrup was FANTASTIC.  The portion was perfect.  AND I had leftovers to pop on the skillet tomorrow morning!  Now onto lunch...

This is the "Now Eat This Diet" recipe for "Ginger Sweet Chicken and Broccoli Stir-Fry" - with brown rice!  I sauteed the chicken and broccoli together with soy for savory, apricot preserves for sweet, and chili sauce for some sPiCe!  So yum.  Who needs takeout?  Deleting the number for my local chinese takeout...NOW :)

New Post!

This is my first entry...  Many colorful, fresh, & healthy dishes to come!  Time to get cookin'...