It's all Greek to me--a healthy twist on Spinach Pie

I love Greek food—it uses ingredients that I never really had as a child. My first time using fillo dough I was very intimidated, but I got the hang of it pretty quickly. In this recipe you spray each layer of the fillo dough with cooking spray rather than brushing them with butter, eliminating a lot of extra calories and fat. For best results, cook right before you are going to serve, or the top crust will get soggy.

Spanikopita (Greek Spinach Pie)
Serves 4
WW PointsPlus Value: 7
250 calories per serving


Ingredients

6 sheets Fillo dough
4 eggs
6 oz reduced-fat feta cheese
1/2 small raw onion
1 tsp dried dill weed
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp table salt
1 tsp black pepper
20 oz frozen spinach, thawed and drained

Instructions
-Pre-heat oven 350 degrees.
-Thaw and drain spinach. Place in bowl.
-Dice onions and mix in with spinach.
-Add lemon juice, dill, salt and pepper.
-Wisk together eggs and mix into spinach mixture.
-Add feta cheese and mix until well blended.
-Spray 9x13 pan. Layer 3 piece of filo dough, spraying each layer with PAM.
-Spread spinach mix over evenly.
-Top with last sheet three sheets of filo dough, spraying between each layer and on the top layer.
-Bake for 30 minutes or until top is golden brown.

Healthy meals to nourish your mind.

En-THAI-cing Chicken with Peanut Sauce

In the New Year I am trying to incorporate more spices into my meals to change things up. The strong taste of fresh ginger root mixed with tumeric, garlic and hot sauce are a great way to use fresh ingredients in an easy cooking preparation. This can be served as a main meal, or as an appetizer.

Have extra ginger root left over? Put it in a zip-lock bag and throw it in the freezer--next time you need it just grate the frozen root directly into your dish.


Thai-Style Chicken with Peanut Dipping Sauce
PointsPlus Value: 10 per serving (chicken with 1/6 of sauce)
460 calories/20g fat

Ingredients
2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into strips

Marinade
6 cloves garlic
1/4 cup lemon juice, canned or bottled
1 small raw onion, chopped
3 Tbsp ginger root, grated
2 tsp ground turmeric
¼ cup soy sauce
¼ tsp hot sauce

Sauce
Reserved marinade
2/3 cup(s) creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup(s) canned chicken broth
1 1/2 Tbsp sugar
3 Tbsp whole milk

Directions
-Puree all marinade ingredients together in a blender.
-Pour over chicken and let marinade over night.
-Remove chicken from marinade, and skewer strips onto individual bamboo skewers.
-Grill on bbq or indoor grill pan until cooked through.
-Place reserved marinade into a small pot.
-Add remaining sauce ingredients and bring to a boil.
-Let simmer for 5-10 minutes, adding more chicken broth if a thinner sauce is desired.
-Divide chicken into 6 equal portions and serve with a side of 1/6 of peanut sauce in a small dipping bowl.

Healthy meals to nourish your mind.

New Year, New You

Happy New Year!

So as many of you know my recipes always include the Weight Watchers points at the end, so that those of you who follow WW are able to incorporate these meals into your daily plan. I recently learned that Weight Watchers now follows a new points system, called Points Plus. The new system focuses on the way your body processes food, rather than just the caloric value of the meal.

Moving forward I will include the new Points Plus points on my recipes. As I cook the old recipes in my weekly rotation, I will update the old points values to reflect the new program.

I hope 2011 is a great year for you all, and I promise to include many yummy recipes on my blog to help you create healthy meals that will nourish your mind and your soul.

Festival of Frying, I mean lights…

Hanukkah is the Jewish festival of lights where we basically fry anything we can in recognition of the oil that burned for 8 days as opposed to the anticipated 1 day. While I know this is a very bad explanation of the holiday, I none the less use it as a reason to part with my healthy cooking was and indulge in one of the holiday highlights: potato latkes.

I have no idea of the calorie count or points on these things, but I am guessing it is bad, bad, bad. Nonetheless, sit back, relax, light your menorah and enjoy with a big scoop of sour cream or applesauce.

Happy Hanukkah!

Latkes
Makes 14 large latkes

Ingredients
4 large potatoes, peeled and shredded
1/2 onion, finely grated
1/4 cup flour or matzo meal (for gluten free you could use Rice Chex that you run through a food processor until it is a fine powder)
1 tbs fresh parsley, shopped
1 egg plus 1 egg white
salt/pepper
oil

Directions
-In a large bowl mix together egg, egg white, parsley, flour, salt and pepper.
-Stir in grated onion.
-Shred potatoes and squeeze out all of the liquid.
-Add to flour mixture. Mix until well combined.
-Heat up oil over medium heat.
-Drop large spoonfuls of the mixture in to the oil. Wait until browning on the edges and then flip.
-Drain on paper towel.
-Serve with applesauce or sour cream.

Unhealthy meals to nourish your mind.

The Perfect Pesto

I love pesto, but rarely use it since the store bought brands tends to be high in both fat and calories. Since we have a fresh herb garden on our porch, I decided I would take the plunge and see if I could create a pesto sauce that was both delicious and not too "bad" for you. This recipe seemed to do the trick. The fresh basil has such a strong taste that you really only need 1-2 tablespoons to create a flavorful dish.


Pesto Perfect
Makes 16 Tablespoons
45 calories, 5 grams of fat, 0 grams fiber
1 Weight Watchers point per tablespoon

Ingredients
1 cup fresh basil leaves, washed and dried
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese (I used the bottle type, but fresh would be great too)
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons pine nuts
1 clove garlic, chopped
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Directions
-In a food processor, pulse basil and cheese until they are totally combined.
-Add nuts, garlic, salt and pepper. Pulse until nuts are well combined with the basil mixture and you have a smooth paste.
-Add olive oil. Process until you have a smooth, thick pesto sauce.
-Serve over your favorite pasta, to make a pizza, or spread on your sandwich.

Healthy meals to nourish your mind.

Sweet Fall Tzimmis--Nannie Anne's Tzimmis reborn

I tend to get lazy with side dishes. My go-to sides usually consist of russet potatoes in any form--baked, roasted, or mashed. This weekend we had friends over for dinner and in addition to the roasted potatoes I was making, I wanted to serve some type of side that had the rich flavors of fall--cinnamon, nutmeg, and just a little bit of sweetness. My Nannie Anne's tzimmis came to mind, and I created the recipe below based on her concept but modified to create a more intensely spiced dish.

This side dish would work great for Thanksgiving, and although it does take a lot of time, it is an easy dish to make.

Sweet Fall Tzimmis
Serves 10
178 calories, .5g fat, 11 grams of fiber
3 Weight Watchers points per serving

Ingredients
-3 large sweet potatoes, baked
-4 tbs margarine
-1 8-oz can crushed pineapple, undrained
-4 carrots, peeled and diced and steamed in the microwave for 4 minutes until semi-soft
-6 prunes, pitted and chopped
-1/4 cup brown sugar
-1 tbs cinnamon
-1/4 tsp nutmeg
-1 tsp salt
-1 tsp pepper

Directions
-Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees.
-In a large bowl combine steamed carrots, prunes, crushed pineapple and brown sugar.
-Line a 9x13 inch baking dish with foil. Pour in the carrot mixture, cover, and bake for 1 hour.
-While the carrot mixture is baking, remove skin from the baked sweet potatoes and puree the in a food processor with margarine until smooth.
-Remove carrot mixture from oven, uncover, and allow to cool for 30 minutes. Add carrot mixture to food processor and pulse until carrot mixture is well combined. I like a very smooth tzimmis so I puree until it is the same consistency of mashed potatoes, but if you prefer a chunkier side, simply pulse less.

Healthy meals to nourish your mind.

Holy Guacamole!

So want to know one of the weirdest things that happened to me after I had a baby? I went from HATING guacamole to not being able to get enough. I can remember the moment so clearly--I was at my friend Elexia's house and she served the most delicious looking guacamole I had ever seen, I just had to have a bite. That turned into about 20 bites, and my whirlwind relationship with this delicious dip was born.

I can't promise you my guacamole tastes as good as Elexia's, but it is as close as I can get. It is healthy in the sense that it uses all natural ingredients, but being that avocados are high in both fat and calories, be sure to eat it in moderation.

Now to make my rendition of guacamole, first you must make your own pico de gallo. This is easy and fast, but tastes best if you let it sit overnight:

Pico de Gallo
75 calories in entire dish
2 tomatoes, diced
1/2 red onion, diced
1/4 cup diced green pepper
Juice from 1/2 lime
1 tbs cilantro
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Mix it all together, and you are done! Best part, it is super low in calories, and has 0 Weight Watchers points.

Guacamole
14 points in entire recipe
600 calories, 56 grams of fat (YIKES), 8 grams of fiber
2 Hass avocados
1 large clove garlic, minced (don't use a garlic press, the garlic becomes overpowering)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
Juice from 1/2 lime
1/4 cup Pico de Gallo

-Cut avocado in half and remove seed, setting it to the side for storage (putting the seed back into the finished product prevents browning).
-Scoop out avocado from peel and set in large mixing bowl.
-Add minced garlic, salt, pepper and lime juice.
-Using a potato masher (or a large fork) mush up the avocado until it becomes mostly smooth, with some small chunks still remaining.
-Mix in the Pico de Gallo.
-Add extra salt, pepper and lime juice to taste (I find if my Pico de Gallo is made just right I do not need additional seasoning).

If not serving right away, return seed to finished product and store in an airtight container in the fridge.

Healthy meals to nourish your mind.