Tag Archives: low carb

Chicken and Cheese Enchiladas

Posted on February 12, 2010 | 1 comment

I have been making this dish for several years now and it’s always been a big hit. I have made it with different fillings, different sauces, different tortillas- but all in all, I am almost always happy with the way it turns out. For this go-round, I decided to stick with the basics, chicken and cheese with easy, store-bought sauce and lots of cheddar cheese. I did experiment with one thing though- the tortillas. I made half of the enchiladas with whole wheat, low-carb tortillas (5 grams of carbs per tortilla) and half with regular tortillas. I was really happy with the low-carb tortillas and did not feel that the dish suffered at all with them and whole wheat is always a good alternative!

I started off by poaching the chicken in water and chipotle seasoning. I boiled the whole package of chicken breasts (one of those large packages from Giant) and saved about half of them for tomorrow’s dinner. I shredded the remaining chicken for the filling. You could also chop them, but shredding is more palatable for this dish and is not that much more labor intensive than chopping.

I filled a 13×9 dish with shredded chicken.

Also, I cut up some fresh jalapeno for the filling as well. I considered sauteing the jalapeno first to  soften the texture and pull out some of the heat- but didn’t end up doing it.

When making enchiladas, I find it a good practice to be prepared and ready to make them all at once. It’s messy and you will probably need a helping hand if one is available. There really is no other way to do this other than rolling them by hand. You want the dish to be saucy so don’t be hesitant to get down and dirty for this! It will be worth it, trust me!

“Line” the baking dish with a 1/8 inch thick layer of sauce.

You also want to put a layer of sauce down on a plate. You will be dipping each tortilla into the sauce first, before filling and rolling. This is to prevent the tortilla from cracking and it will keep them moist when they cook. You don’t want to soak up too much sauce, but just a little dunk on each side is all you need.

Then you just fill each one with the amount of filling you like. I try to really stuff them as full as possible.

Roll ’em tightly and place in the baking dish. One after the next, until the baking dish is full.

Cover with the remaining sauce and cheese.

Ok now it’s time to bake! It needs about 20 minutes in the oven and then another 5 under the broiler.

Let it sit for 5 minutes (or longer- I have no patience when it comes to this!) before you cut it.

Top with some green onion and serve with sour cream.

Try this dish- it is SO good and everyone always likes it!

Recipe for Chicken and Cheese Enchiladas

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Wings- 2 ways

Posted on February 9, 2010 | Leave a comment

Wahoo! Super Bowl Sunday has finally arrived! This is one of my favorite days of the year. It’s really a holiday to me, complete with it’s own traditions, foods, and drinking privileges.  For the past few years we have made homemade chicken wings in the classic buffalo style with homemade blue cheese dressing for dipping. This year we did the same, but added a second variety of wings to the mix- garlic parmesan.

The first question is whether to use fresh or frozen wings. There are arguments for both of course, but we have found that either will be just fine and to get whatever is on sale or the cheaper one. With the frozen ones the most important thing is to make sure the wings are completely thawed. With the fresh wings, you may have to cut off the wing tips, which is not for the faint of heart. Either way you go, the first step is to rinse the wings well and make sure they are dry. If there is any moisture on them, it will pop in the oil and splatter.

The next step is heating the oil. Heat to 350 degrees.

(or 351.5 degrees, who’s counting)

We would have much preferred to have done this deep frying outside but were unable due to the massive amounts of snow. Things get pretty rowdy once the wings go in.

Once the wings are fried, set them aside.

For the classic buffalo sauce, it couldn’t get much easier (or fattening). Hot sauce and butter.

for transport and to keep them warm, we put the cooked and sauced up wings into a crock pot

For the garlic parmesan it’s essentially the same process, just with a different sauce.

Add now for the blue cheese dressing… because I mean what’s eating a chicken wing that’s been deep fried and soaked in a butter based sauce without some seriously creamy, cheesy sauce to dip it in? We are American. It’s our right.

Well, some good food for a good game! The Saints ended up winning, which I am really happy about. Greg picked Indy on the spread and the over and I took the opposite of his picks because that was my only chance in our playoff pool, as I was down by 2. We ended up in a tie and I won the tiebreaker! Kind of shady because I took the opposites and didn’t make my own picks. Anyway, at some point when we don’t need a snow mobile to get around, we will go to our celebratory dinner to Black Market Bistro. Can’t wait!

Recipe for Classic Buffalo Wings

Recipe for Garlic Parmesan Wings

Recipe for Blue Cheese Dressing

Check out Garlic Parmesan Wing Dip

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Pork Chops Marsala

Posted on February 9, 2010 | 1 comment

SnOMG, Snowmeggedon, Snowpacolypse, SuperStorm ’10, etc etc etc! Whatever you want to call it, it came, it conquered, and it’s little brother is on it’s way tonight to provide another 10-15 inches. Just what the region needs! I am a little behind on posts so here we go with the first since the onset of the mega snowstorm.

These pictures were from 4pm on Friday.

So for dinner we decided to make pork chops Marsala (a play on veal Marsala). This complimented the weather nicely, as the sauce came out thick and rich. Also, this recipe is relatively easy and doesn’t take too long to make.

First, we dredged the pork chops in flour, a step that can be omitted if trying to go low-carb. I like to use bone-in pork chops for the extra flavor the bone provides. Don’t be scurred of the bones!

Next, we sauteed the pork chops…

…and put them aside to make the sauce.

The sauce ingredients include mushrooms, onions, garlic, and Marsala wine to name a few. They actually sell Marsala wine at the grocery store, so no special trip to the wine store is needed (although if you are on your way there already they probably have it there as well!).  We also had some leftover thyme so we threw that in and it worked really well too.

We used “baby bellas” (pre-sliced) for this dish. Any mushrooms on hand will do.

We were happy with the way it turned out, although an afterthought was to add lemon juice to the sauce. This would have been a great way to break down the sauce a little and add some acidity to it.  Next time, we will definitely add lemon juice!

Even though having cabin fever would be physically impossible at this juncture because we just got home hours earlier, maybe the thought of being stuck in the house for the next several days was the catalyst for this bout.

Recipe for Pork Chops Marsala

Bogie lost this match, but many more will likely be fought… keep your head up buddy!

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Snow Crab Legs (how fitting!)

Posted on February 5, 2010 | 1 comment

It’s begun! The Mid Atlantic is supposed to get hammered this weekend by a serious snow storm. It is possible we will get up to 30 inches of snow, which should shut down the state for at least a week. Fittingly, the other night we ate one of our favorite things: snow crab legs. Giant had these on sale for $4.99 a pound, which is pretty awesome and a tad disrespectful to the crabs! Anyway, we steamed them with old bay and served them with butter in the mini-crock pot, AKA “the little dipper”. No sides or anything, the snow crab is the star of the show.

Gettin’ their steam on for about 6-8 minutes.

Unfortunately, we decided to take a picture after a few rounds and this guy has seen better days. Despite it’s amputee-status it still tasted good, and that’s what matters. It was a nice mid-week treat.

Now bring on the snow!

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Meatloaf! The All-American Dinner

Posted on February 3, 2010 | 1 comment

Whether it’s 1950 or 2010 you cannot go wrong with this dinner. A classic diner institution, I am pretty sure my meatloaf can match up with anything you see on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. Ok, maybe I’m getting a little carried away here, but as Greg said, my meatloaf is good because I make it with love. I really do LOVE making (and eating) this meatloaf and the combination of eating it with mashed potatoes and peas (thanks to my Grandma J) is the ultimate combo.  In our house though there is a division over ketchup. I simply cannot eat meatloaf without it and Greg rarely uses it all and prefers his meatloaf with the classic beef gravy, which coincidentally I do not like so much. So, what to do? Make two meatloaves- one with ketchup and one with gravy.

The ingredients for the all-American dinner include, meatloaf “mix” (ground beef, pork, and veal), peas, mashed potatoes (cheating, ya caught me-not from scratch), ketchup (reduced sugar), onion soup mix (hiding in the background), beef gravy, eggs, and bread crumbs.

Meatloaf #1 was my meatloaf- Ketchup Style.

From left to right, bread crumbs (I try to use as little as possible), onion soup mix, ketchup, and an egg atop a package of ground meat. I mix my meatloaf by hand to get all the ingredients incorporated together.

Meatloaf #2 was Greg’s meatloaf- Gravy Style

From left to right, onion soup mix, gravy (a little too much poured out than I wanted), egg, and breadcrumbs (I had to use more to balance out the excess gravy) atop a package of ground meat. Due to my pouring error I had to add more breadcrumbs to get the consistency right. This nearly doubled Greg’s meatloaf in size from mine.

Each loaf went into it’s own dish and got covered in preferred sauce- mine ketchup, Greg’s gravy.

These guys have to cook for a while, at least 45 minutes. In the meantime, I prepared the sides- mashed potatoes and peas. It’s tough to know when the meatloaf is done. I used a meat thermometer and also just went on looks. Below: this meatloaf is not quite done but it’s getting close.

Yum, yum, yum. Both varieties came out great.

Ketchup!

Gravy!

I have to say, the gravy plate looks great! I still prefer to have it my way though.

Recipe for Meatloaf

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Mussels Marinara

Posted on February 2, 2010 | Leave a comment

Ever since dining at Granville Moore’s in DC we have been hooked on mussels. They’re actually quite easy to make and you can make them in many different styles. Usually we try to emulate GM’s Moules formage bleu because it is delicious and we have gotten pretty good at making it, but tonight we decided to try our hand at mussels marinara. I had the idea in my head for this dish for the past few days and wanted to try to make a spicy tomato broth. Overall, I am pleased with how they turned out, but our mussels to broth ratio was not exactly what I had in mind. I wanted it to be more brothy and less chunky and the ratio of sauce to mussels was off but it was still a good dinner.

First, the mussels. We bought way too much as always- 2 2lb. bags of live mussels.

The mussels need a good rinse so they can release any sand they have inside.

…and now for the broth. We started off by sauteing some minced garlic in olive oil and adding white wine and seasonings, including red pepper which is optional if you don’t want any heat. We added a large can of crushed tomatoes and made sure to get the temperature really hot.

We have learned from experiece to get the broth very hot (up to a boil) so the mussels can cook quickly. Somehow that soothes the guilt we feel for killing them, but let’s not focus on that! The next step is to add the mussels and stir and stir and stir until they open up. You can also put the lid on to get it nice and hot in there.

(You can see the other bag in the background awaiting a similar fate)

Once they have opened up you can serve them.  Just remember that you are not supposed to eat the closed ones!

We served our mussels with some fresh Italian bread so we could soak up the remaining broth.

I seasoned the sliced bread with olive oil (via the misto), italian herbs, garlic powder, and salt and pepper and baked them in the toaster for about 10 minutes at 400 degrees.

Another alternative to the bread, or in addition to it, would be pasta or rice.  Or you can just eat them by themselves, which we have done many times before. We ate this meal as a main course, but it makes a great appetizer as well. Next time we make mussels we will probably return to the formage bleu so you will get to see that as well, hopefully soon!

Recipe for Mussels Marinara

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Oven Roasted Brisket

Posted on February 1, 2010 | Leave a comment

I guess Greg was inspired by our most recent trip to Urban BBQ when he decided what to make for dinner the other night… Brisket! Unfortunately though smoking this baby was out of the question considering it was under 20 degrees outside and we don’t technically own a smoker.  So, oven roasting it was.

Massive amounts of seasoning were added to the meat a suggested by Paula Dean. We don’t have a roasting pan so Greg used a basic Pyrex baking dish and it worked just fine.

I believe this picture was taken after an hour or so of baking. You can see that Greg added beef stock to the pan. It went back in the oven for another couple of hours.

This is what it looked like when it was finished. It shrunk down quite a  bit as you can see.

Greg and I went different directions with how we ended up eating it. He had his on an onion roll with some BBQ sauce.

a lil blurry...

Instead of a sandwich I opted for having the meat by itself with some of the natural gravy/pan juices.

yum!

Recipe for Oven Roasted Brisket

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Curry Chicken Salad with Thyme

Posted on January 27, 2010 | Leave a comment

For lunch I decided to make chicken salad. We had a leftover rotisserie chicken in the fridge and some leftover thyme that needed to be used. I decided to try to make a healthier version of chicken salad and used nonfat Greek yogurt and light mayonnaise instead of using tons of full fat mayo. Also, I included some pungent spices to supplement that lack of flavor that could have come from the lack of fat in this recipe. I placed the finished salad into a “cup” of cabbage leaves and it was ready for me to grab in the morning to take to work.

The recipe made about three servings and it came out really good. I ran out of curry powder, which is why it’s not super yellow. However, the flavor was still very present. The cabbage leaves provided a nice crunchy base and I used them like I would a tortilla or cracker. I also discovered that the plain Greek yogurt tasted a lot like sour cream and may be a good substitute for that down the road.

Recipe for Curry Chicken Salad with Thyme

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Turkey Parmesan Lite

Posted on January 26, 2010 | 1 comment

For Monday night’s dinner Greg was inspired to do a “lite” version of chicken parm. Typically chicken parmesan is made by breading and frying chicken cutlets, adding tomato sauce and cheese, and serving over pasta. For our “healthy” version, Greg used boneless, skinless turkey breasts from Shadybrook Farms. He “breaded” each one with Italian seasoning and oven-baked them. He also substituted pasta for spinach, which he  sauteed  in olive oil with onions and garlic.  All in all, a great, healthy meal.

"breaded" turkey

After baking for about 8 minutes

sauced up

ready for the broiler!

The base of the dish was sauteed spinach, which provided a lot of flavor.

onions and roasted garlic

plated spinach awaiting turkey

garnish with fresh basil and enjoy!

This dish was good because not only did it taste good, but it was very light.  I don’t mind sacrificing some flavor for not feeling heavy after a big meal, but I really did not feel that I had to sacrifice with this one. I would recommend some tomato sauce on the side for dipping because the turkey itself can be rather plain. Make sure to season it well and you should be alright.

Recipe for Turkey Parmesan Lite

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Weekend breakfast

Posted on January 26, 2010 | Leave a comment

I wanted to share a typical weekend breakfast for us. This weekend we enjoyed bacon and eggs due to a surplus of both in our fridge.

Cooking eggs...notice all those spices!

bacon aka "meat candy"

Maybe the most fun thing about making such a good breakfast at home is the ample time I have to play with the espresso maker! Here is my version of espresso breve:

check out the "crema"!

Recipe for Espresso Breve

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