500 Calories or Less

Egg Cups – Two Ways

categories: 500 Calories or Less, Breakfast, Posts, Recipes

 

I love spending quality time with my mom. It’s amazing how much closer my mom and I have gotten as I’ve gotten older. It must be that once you’re done with trying to get away with things, you have something in common with her that all of sudden makes you understand why she thinks the way she does. That’s just my theory.

So my mom and I spent the weekend on a staycation together. And what better way to bond than over breakfast. I wanted to try out these egg cups but I decided to make them two ways with turkey bacon and without.

Turkey Bacon Egg Cups

Ingredients

3 slices Pepperidge Farm Very Thin Whole Wheat Bread
3 large Eggs
3 slices Turkey Bacon
Cooking Spray
Sea Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste
 

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Spray a 6-cup muffin pan with cooking spray.
Using a round cup or cookie cutter, cut circles into each piece of bread.
Place the bread rounds at the bottom of each muffin cup.
Toast in the oven for 5 minutes.
Place one slice of turkey bacon inside of each cup with the scalloped side up.
Crack one egg into each breaded, bacon-lined cup.
Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Bake for 20 minutes (less if you want the yolks runny).
 

Toast Egg Cups

Ingredients

3 slices Pepperidge Farm Very Thin Whole Wheat Bread
3 large Eggs
3 tablespoons shredded Parmesan Cheese (or any cheese)
Cooking Spray
Sea Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste
 

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Spray a 6-cup muffin pan with cooking spray.
Cut the crusts off of each piece of bread.
Place each piece of bread into the muffin cups.
Sprinkle cheese in each cup.
Crack one egg into each cup.
Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Bake for 20 minutes (less if you want the yolks runny).
 

 

Nutrition Information: (Serving size, 1 cup)

Turkey Bacon Egg Cups – Cals 125. Carbs 4. Fat 8g. Protein 9g. Sodium 276mg.

Toast Egg Cups – Cals 131. Carbs 7, Fat 7g. Protein 9g. Sodium 21mg.

Fish Enchiladas

categories: 500 Calories or Less, Posts, Recipes, Seafood

 

I have seriously been craving enchiladas since we went to Uncle Julio’s two months ago. I love enchiladas and my personal favorite are the cheese ones, only because they over salt the chicken enchiladas. I was planning to make chicken enchiladas this week, but I need a change from chicken. Enter fish enchiladas.

Fish Enchiladas Recipe

Ingredients

1 pkg. McCormick® Enchilada Sauce Mix
1 ½ cups water
1 can (8 oz.) tomato sauce
1 lb. Fish (Tilapia)
8 corn tortillas or flour tortillas (6-inch)
Cooking Spray
1 cup shredded Part Skim Mozzarella cheese
¼ cup shredded Cheddar Cheese
1 small Onion, chopped
1 can low sodium Black beans (1/2 cup)
1 tablespoon Olive oil
 

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a small saucepan, stir Sauce Mix, water and tomato sauce. Bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes or until thickened, stirring occasionally.
In a large skillet, cook onion with olive oil until translucent. Add tilapia and cook until the fish cooked through. Stir in ¾ cup of the sauce.
Grease a baking dish with cooking spray.
Spoon the fish mix into the tortillas, wrap and lay seam down.
Pour sauce over the tortillas, top with black beans and top with cheese.
Bake for 15 minutes or until sauce is bubbly and cheese is melted.
 

 

Servings: 8

Nutrition Information: Cals 275. Carbs 22g. Fat 8g. Protein 24g. Sodium 660mg. Sugar 7g.

 

 

Chicken with Pepperoni-Marinara Sauce

categories: 500 Calories or Less, Chicken, Posts, Recipes

 

Right before Thanksgiving, my mom gave me a box of all her old Cooking Light and Bon Appetit magazines. She’s been hanging onto these magazines since 1998 and probably even earlier. It was seriously the sweetest gift. She was probably thinking that if I took the time to try out the recipes, I’d actually get better. Well, the box of magazines is sitting pretty in my garage at the moment – I’ll get to them eventually. I did, however, start paying more attention to Cooking Light and Bon Appetit online. That’s where I found this super easy and flavorful chicken recipe. Seriously, who doesn’t love pepperoni and marinara.

I had to make a few changes, namely melting the cheese on the stovetop and using turkey pepperoni. Adapted from Cooking Light.

Chicken with Pepperoni-Marinara Sauce Recipe

Ingredients

Cooking spray
2 cloves garlic, minced
16 slices Turkey Pepperoni, coarsely chopped
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1 1/2 cups lower-sodium marinara sauce or regular marinara sauce
1 tablespoons Dried Basil
2 teaspoons olive oil
4 Chicken Breasts
Black Pepper, to taste
1 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
 

Directions

Heat a saucepan over medium-high heat.
Spray with cooking spray, then add the garlic and pepperoni. Cook 2 minutes.
Add oregano.
Then add marinara sauce and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat, and simmer for 5 minutes.
Stir in basil, and remove from heat.
In a large skillet, add olive oil over medium-high heat.
Add chicken and brown on each side for about five minutes.
Pour the sauce over the chicken, bring to a boil. And simmer for 15 minutes.
Add mozzarella cheese, cover and cook on low until the cheese melts.
 

Servings: 4

Nutrition Information: Cals 320. Carbs 12g. Fat 11g. Protein 41g. Sodium 775mg. Sugar 9g.

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Arabic Food Made Easy Series: Mjaddara [Brown Lentils and Rice]

categories: 500 Calories or Less, Arabic Food Made Easy, Posts, Recipes, Rice & Grains

Mjaddara

Let’s face it, Arabic food takes forever to make. There are lots of steps and long cooking times, time I don’t have when I’m working full time and trying to conserve my culture simultaneously. That’s why I’ve decided to start a recipe series featuring traditional Arabic dishes, made much easier for those of us that have full time jobs and prefer to keep weekday cooking to 30 minutes or less. This is the third installment of the series. Don’t forget to check out previous posts in the Arabic Food Made Easy Series.

Mjaddara pronounced EM-JADARA isn’t really a hard dish to make. It’s quite simple, actually and is perfect for those “vegetarian days.” You know, at least once or twice a week when you have dinner sans meat. The last time I made mjaddara it turned out great, despite my issues cooking rice. I had a small problem though, mjaddara is usually served with plain yogurt. The last time, I had picked up nonfat vanilla yogurt instead of nonfat plain yogurt. It was a small disaster — but now I pay extra attention at the grocery store.

Mjaddara  

Mjaddara

Mjaddara Recipe

 

Ingredients

1 cup Brown Lentils
2 cups Basmati Rice
1 medium Onion
Salt, to taste
1 tablespoon Cumin
1 tablespoon Cardamom
1 tablespoon Seven Spice
Vegetable Oil
 

Directions

Go through the brown lentils, picking out any stones or dirt then wash them and boil them in a pot until they are soft and edible (15 minutes on medium heat.)
Wash the rice three times, then soak in hot water until the lentils are done.
Cut the onion into long strips and fry in vegetable oil until golden brown. Remove half with a slotted spoon.
Drain the water from the lentils and from the rice as well. Place the rice on top of the lentils in the pot and mix together.
Add a teaspoon of vegetable oil, and mix the ingredients together over medium heat for two minutes.
Add salt, pepper, cumin, and cardamom and seven spice.
Cover with hot water (1 cm above the mixture). Once it boils, cover and let simmer on low heat until the water evaporates (about 25 minutes).
Turn over (like a cake) in a big plate, and cover the top with the fried onion stripes.
Serve with plain yogurt. 
 

Servings: 4

Nutrition Information: Cals 352. Carbs 46g. Fat 14g. Protein 12g.

Eggplant Parmesan

categories: 500 Calories or Less, Posts, Recipes, Vegetables & Sides

 

I love eggplant. I didn’t always love eggplant. When I was younger, I actually tried to avoid it at all costs. To me, it was unnecessary and had an after taste that didn’t particularly resonate well with me. I’m not sure what exactly transformed me from anti-eggplant to an all-out love affair with the vegetable. But it must have not been very dramatic – since I don’t remember the turning point.

This weekend, I was doing my usual grocery run and I spent a nice amount of time in the produce aisle. I found these big purple eggplants staring at me saying “buy me, buy me.” I looked away to think, what on earth am I going to make with eggplant that isn’t fattening and won’t throw my diet off track. I didn’t really come up with anything. I convinced myself I would grill them on our Panini press or roast them in the oven and bagged one large one up, tossing it into my cart.

Although grilled eggplant sounds absolutely delish, I decided to spice it up a little bit a make some eggplant parmesan with a side of spaghetti noodles. At the last minute I came up with the idea of makeshift garlic bread (recipe to follow). Let’s just say I rummaged through the freezer and found some bread that could be used.

Eggplant Parmesan Recipe

Ingredients

1 Large Eggplant, cut into 1 inch rounds
¼ cup egg substitute
3-4 tablespoons Olive Oil (more if needed)
1 cup Italian Breadcrumbs
1 cup Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
1 can Tomato paste
¼ cup Grated Parmesan cheese
 

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Wash and cut the eggplant into 1 inch rounds.
Place the egg substitute in one bowl and the breadcrumbs in another.
Dip the eggplant in the egg mixture and then in bread crumbs.
Heat the olive oil over medium-high heat in a large skillet.
Brown the breaded eggplant on both sides before placing in a cooking-sprayed baking dish.
Mix together the tomato paste with ¼ cup water. And spoon over each eggplant.
Cover with mozzarella.
Then top with parmesan cheese.
Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Serve with a side of Spaghetti
 

Servings: 4

Nutrition Information: Cals 311. Carbs 20g. Fat 22g. Protein 13g. Sodium 495mg. Sugar 5g.

Makeshift Garlic Bread

Ingredients

2 hotdog buns, halved
I can’t Believe It’s Not Butter Light (about 4 tablespoons)
Garlic Powder
Dried Oregano
 

Directions

Spread a thick layer of I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter Light on one side of each half.
Sprinkle with Garlic Powder and Dried Oregano
Spread I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter Light on the bottom of a baking dish. Then place the bread in the baking dish.
Broil on 500 degrees for 5-7 minutes, to desired brown-ness.
 

 

Servings: 2

Nutrition Information: Cals 200. Carbs 25g. Fat 12g. Proetin 5g. Sodium 460mg. Sugar 2g.

 

Filo-Wrapped Baked Chicken

categories: 500 Calories or Less, Chicken, Posts, Recipes

 

 

I bought a box of filo dough a week or so ago and I have been trying to figure out what to do with it. I’m not crafty with sweets, at all. I finally did some research about how exactly to handle filo dough and all that research did not prepare me for the actual handling. I’m warning anyone who plans to make this dish, filo dough is super fragile. Once I figured out how to deal with these thin sheets, making fillo-wrapped chicken was easy.

Filo-Wrapped Baked Chicken Recipe

Ingredients

4 sheets Filo Dough
2 Chicken Breasts
7 oz Chopped Spinach (I bought a 14oz can)
1 tablespoon pine nuts
1 oz Goat Cheese
2-3 tablepoons I Can’t Believe it’s Not Butter
Lemon Juice, to taste
Sea Salt, to taste
 

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
Mix together spinach, goat cheese, lemon juice, sea salt and pine nuts in a bowl. 
Cut a pocket in the middle of each chicken breast. 
Place one sheet of Filo dough on your work surface, brush with butter. Then place a second sheet on top of the first and brush with butter.
Place the chicken breast in the middle of the filo sheets, and spoon spinach mixture on top covering the surface. 
Carefully fold over the right then left side of the filo dough and carefully place into a lightly greased baking dish. 
Repeat with the second chicken breast.
Brush the top of each wrap with butter.
Bake for 60 minutes.
 

Servings: 2

Nutrition Information: Cals 395. Carbs 15g. Fat 16g. Protein 39g. Sodium 616mg. Sugar 1g.