The Nifty Foodie

This is one of those dishes that is a simple, weeknight hit in our house. I’ve already blogged about it here and here (post with a recipe), but I figured another time shouldn’t hurt.

This is a great W/W dish to cook up in your home, so definitely give this one a try!

I’m always looking for new, healthy options to cook for dinner. I came upon this recipe from Cooking Light, and got really excited because my husband and I are huge garlic nuts!

I will say that this recipe was fairly good and very easy (great weeknight meal to make), but the sauce definitely needs more spices than what is mentioned in the recipe. However, I’m from Louisiana, so take that with a grain of salt if you aren’t used to spice, but I had to sprinkle some serious Tony Chachere’s on this. I probably will make this again with heavy adaptations, since it’s a good, healthy base sauce for pasta.

Chicken Pasta in Garlic Wine Sauce
Source: Cooking Light

Ingredients:

• 4  ounces  uncooked medium egg noodles
• 1  pound  skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
• 2  tablespoons  all-purpose flour, divided
• 1/2  teaspoon  salt, divided
• 1/4  teaspoon  black pepper, divided
• 2  tablespoons  olive oil, divided
• 1  tablespoon  bottled minced garlic
• 1/2  teaspoon  dried tarragon (you can use any dried herb, like basil or parsley as well)
• 1  (8-ounce) package presliced mushrooms
• 1/2  cup  dry white wine
• 1/2  cup  fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
• 1/4  cup  grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Cook noodles according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain and keep warm.
2. Cut chicken into 1-inch pieces. Place chicken breast halves in a shallow dish. Combine 1 tablespoon flour, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper, stirring well with a whisk. Sprinkle flour mixture over chicken; toss to coat.
3. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken to pan; sauté 4 minutes or until browned. Remove chicken from pan. Add remaining 1 tablespoon oil to pan. Add garlic, tarragon, and mushrooms to pan; sauté for 3 minutes or until liquid evaporates and mushrooms darken. Add white wine to pan; cook 1 minute. Stir in remaining 1 tablespoon flour; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in broth, remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, and remaining 1/8 teaspoon pepper; cook 1 minute or until slightly thick, stirring frequently.
4. Return chicken to the pan. Cover and simmer 2 minutes. Uncover; cook 1 minute or until chicken is done. Stir in noodles; cook 1 minute or until thoroughly heated. Place about 1 1/2 cups chicken mixture on each of 4 plates; top each serving with 1 tablespoon cheese.

The Skinny - per serving, Serves 4

Note: I loaded up on more mushrooms than chicken to make my meal stretch further calorie wise. That is not reflected, however, in the nutritional facts. 

Mushrooms are 15 calories/cup and barely any fat, so load up if you want!

Calories: 350
Fat: 11.1 g
Fiber: 1.2 g 

After a pretty full day, I wanted to make the hubs and I something easy and enjoyable. I’ve seen this recipe from Campbell’s for quite some time and was hoping that it would be a great recipe. I will say it had some really great flavor, but this recipe had some issues that I will take note of for next time.

First off, some of the rice ended up extra soft and some was still crunchy. I’ll have to be sure to stir occassionally while it’s in the oven to ensure that the rice is evenly cooked for next time.

Also, the recipe states that it needs to be covered the whole time it’s in the oven. However, after 50 minutes, it was still very watery. I had to keep it in the oven uncovered for a while after to let it evaporate, but it was still slightly watery even after that. Next time, I’ll uncover it when it’s halfway done to make sure it evaporates enough to make a thicker sauce for the chicken and rice.

I ended up omitting the vegetables called for in the recipe, since the hubs isn’t a fan of mixed vegetables. So, as you can see, dinner was pretty carb-y with the addition of some yummy garlic bread!

Cheesy Chicken & Rice Casserole
Source: Campbell’s Kitchen

Ingredients

• 1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Cream of Chicken Soup
• 1 1/3 cups water
• 3/4 cup uncooked regular long-grain white rice
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 cup frozen mixed vegetables (we omitted this)
• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast half  (about 1 pound)
• 1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

Directions

1. Heat the oven to 375°F.  Stir the soup, water, rice, onion powder, black pepper and vegetables in a 2-quart shallow baking dish.
2. Top with the chicken. Cover the baking dish.
3. Bake for 50 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and the rice is tender. Top with the cheese. Let the casserole stand for 10 minutes. Stir the rice before serving.

The Skinny – per serving, serves 4

Calories 408.4
Fat 10 g
Fiber 0.7g

Here’s another recipe from Ellie Krieger, out of the book, The Food You Crave. This was REALLY good. We ended up saving the leftover meatballs and sauce to make whole wheat meatball poboys another night. In fact, I found the sauce to be way better as leftovers, since the flavors developed more!

Spicy Meatballs and Spaghetti
Source: Ellie Krieger

Ingredients

For the sauce:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 (28-ounce) can crushed fire-roasted tomatoes, liquid included
• 1 teaspoon finely minced canned chipotle chiles en adobo and sauce, or more to taste
• 2 teaspoons chopped oregano leaves
• 1 sprig fresh rosemary
• Salt
• 1/4 cup torn fresh basil leaves

For the meatballs:

• Cooking spray
• 1 pound ground turkey meat
• 1 slice fresh whole-wheat bread, crusts removed, pulsed into crumbs
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan, plus more for serving
• 1/2 cup finely grated carrot
• 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
• 2 large cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves, plus more for garnish
• 2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme leaves
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 box (16 ounces) whole-wheat spaghetti

Directions

• Fill a large stockpot with water and bring to a boil for pasta.

For the sauce:

• In a 4-quart saucepan heat the oil over medium heat.
• Saute the onions until translucent, about 3 minutes, then add the garlic and cook for 1 minute more.
• Add tomato paste, tomatoes, chipotles, oregano, rosemary, and salt. Bring all the ingredients to a low boil, reduce heat and cook for approximately 15 minutes, until liquid has evaporated slightly.
  Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
• While sauce is cooking, make meatballs.

Meatball Directions:

• Preheat the broiler. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. Combine the turkey with all other ingredients in a large work bowl.
• Form into 2 1/2 -inch balls and place on a baking sheet. Broil for 10 minutes, or until browned and almost entirely cooked through.
• Meanwhile, remove rosemary sprig from sauce and add fresh basil. Add the meatballs to the sauce, cover, and cook additional 10 minutes, or until sauce has slightly thickened and meatballs have
  absorbed some of the sauce.
• While the meatballs are cooking, cook the
  whole-wheat spaghetti according to package directions.
• Drain the pasta and return it to the pot. Add the sauce and meatballs, toss and heat through over medium heat. Divide evenly among 4 pasta bowls and garnish with parsley and 1 tablespoon grated
  Parmesan.

Yield: 6 servings (1 serving equals about 1 1/3 cups pasta and sauce, plus 2 meatballs

POINTS*: 7

I was searching for the perfect beef stew recipe, and was pointed out to this recipe by someone on the What’s Cooking board that I frequent. I have to thank her so much for pointing me to this recipe because I would have never made it or known to search for it. This was a wonderful recipe! FI went for seconds and he RARELY does that for anything I cook! I guess my skills are growing!

Beef Daube Provencal
Source: Cooking Light

Ingredients:

• 2  teaspoons  olive oil
• 12  garlic cloves, crushed
• 1  (2-pound) boneless chuck roast, trimmed and cut into 2-inch cubes (I used extra lean stew meat)
• 1 1/2  teaspoons  salt, divided
• 1/2  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper, divided
• 1  cup  red wine (I used 12 oz.)
• 2  cups  chopped carrot
• 1 1/2  cups  chopped onion
• 1/2  cup  less-sodium beef broth
• 1  tablespoon  tomato paste
• 1  teaspoon  chopped fresh rosemary
• 1  teaspoon  chopped fresh thyme
• Dash of ground cloves
• 1  (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1  bay leaf
• 3  cups  hot cooked medium egg noodles (about 4 cups uncooked noodles)
• Chopped fresh thyme (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 300°.
2. Heat olive oil in a small Dutch oven over low heat. Add garlic to pan; cook for 5 minutes or until garlic is fragrant, stirring occasionally. Remove garlic with a slotted spoon; set aside. Increase heat to medium-high. Add beef to pan. Sprinkle beef with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper. Cook 5 minutes, browning on all sides. Remove beef from pan. Add wine to pan, and bring to a boil, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Add garlic, beef, remaining 1 teaspoon salt, remaining 1/4 teaspoon pepper, carrot, and next 8 ingredients (through bay leaf) to pan; bring to a boil.
3. Cover and bake at 300° for 2 1/2 hours or until beef is tender. Discard bay leaf. Serve over noodles. Garnish with chopped fresh thyme, if desired.

Note: To make in a slow cooker, prepare through Step 2. Place beef mixture in an electric slow cooker. Cover and cook on HIGH for 5 hours.

Serves: 6

POINTS*: 8 (with noodles)