Recipes

Lamb Kabob Patties with Skinny Garlic Aioli

 

I’m not sure why I was craving Ground Lamb Kabobs, but I took the meat out of the freezer the day and put it in the fridge in anticipation that I was going to use the meat for something delicious. So I decided to make “Lebanese style” ground lamb patties for lunch today.

Unless I’m lying around the house with no plans to leave, I usually put my contacts in first thing in the morning. Well, this week I’m on “Winter Break” so, I wasn’t planning to put my contacts in until I planned the leave the house later this afternoon. (I use the quotes because since the beginning of my winter break I’ve been doing at least four hours of work daily. Some vacation.) Contact-less, I got working on my ground lamb patties. First, I diced the onion. Bad idea. My eyes instantly became sore and started tearing. I didn’t realize that my contacts shielded my eyes from onion-cutting irritation – until today.

Minus the eye irritation, the lamb patties turned out well and my Skinny Garlic Aioli was de-licious!

Lamb Kabob Patties with Skinny Garlic Aioli Recipe

Ingredients

1 lb Ground Lamb
½ Bunch Parsley finely chopped
1 Medium Onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon Seven Spice (can be found at your local Middle Eastern Grocery)
 

Directions

Mix together ground lamb, seven spice, parsley and onion.
Form into round patties.
Grill in a grill pan or a cuisineart Panini grill.
Serve in Arabic Bread with Skinny Garlic Aioli

To make the Skinny Garlic Aioli, mix together 6oz plain fat-free greek yogurt, ¼ cup light mayo and 5 cloves garlic, minced.

Servings: 8-10 patties

 Nutrition Information: Cals 123. Carbs 2g. Fat 9g. Protein 8g. Sodium 34mg. Sugar 1g.

Chocolate Covered Candy Canes

 

I love candy canes. Who doesn’t? That’s why I went ahead and bought a box of candy canes for myself. The season for candy canes is pretty much over. I think Christmas marks the end of that season. So I decided to use up the candy canes before it’s too late.

Chocolate Covered Candy Canes Recipe

 

Ingredients

1 box Candy Canes
3 Squares Baker’s Chocolate
¼ cups Chocolate Chips of your choice (Milk or dark work best)
 

Directions

Melt the chocolate in the microwave 30 seconds at a time, stirring between heatings.
Line a baking sheet with wax paper.
Dip each candy cane into the chocolate and carefully place the candy canes on the baking dish. Refrigerate for at least 1 hours until hardened. Enjoy!

Be careful unwrapping the candy canes – that’s where I broke a good number of them. They’re still delicious – just broken.

Crustless Broccoli Quiche

 

 

 

A couple years ago, when I was finishing up my Master’s at Syracuse University, my mom came to visit and help me move out. There’s something about moms where they can rummage through your fridge and find random ingredients then turn those random ingredients into deliciousness. Somehow, while I was packing up my things, my mom made this crustless quiche. It was amazing.

This morning was a crustless quiche kind of morning. I’m missing a couple ingredients – namely the right kind of cheese – but I was able to improvise.

Crustless Broccoli Quiche Recipe 

Ingredients

1 cup milk
2 eggs (I used egg substitute
½ package chopped, frozen broccoli
½ cup grated Mozarella cheese
¼ lb shredded cheddar cheese (or 5 slices American Cheese, squared)
¼ cup and 2Tbsp biscuit baking mix
2Tbsp butter, softened
 

Directions

Preheat oven to 375°
Grease a cupcake pan
Beat eggs, milk, biscuit mix, butter and Mozarella
Stir in broccoli and cheddar cheese (or American Cheese)
Pour into cupcake pan
Bake for 40-50 minutes (until eggs are set and top is golden brown)
 
 

 Servings: 4

 

Nutrition Information: Cals 158. Carbs 8g. Fat 10g. Protein 10g. Sodium 239. Sugar 4g.

With Love, Sunny-Side Up Eggs

 

Yesterday, I took a much needed day off work – well, half day off since I had a couple calls and some papers in the morning. It made all the difference, nonetheless. I was able to get out to the store a buy a couple new dishes and serveware, oh and a steamer for my Tayta.

This morning, I woke up refreshed and ready to face they day – or more like face the hundreds of dollars I need to cough up for servicing my car – aka overcharging me for opening the cap to the coolant and flushing the system out because somehow in one year my coolant has turned to “sludge.” That’s not going to bring my mood down today. Today, I started my day with a little bit of Sunny-Side Up Egg Sandwich love.

Heart-Shaped Sunny-Side Up Eggs

Ingredients

1 Egg
Olive Oil Spray
Heart-shaped cookie cutter
2 Slices Whole Wheat Bread 
 


 

Directions

Spray your frying pan with olive oil spray, and place the cookie cutter inside. Crack the egg and ease it into the cookie cutter. It might seep a little, but that’s okay.

In the meantime, toast the bread (it’s easier to cut that way).

Use the cookie cutter to cut the bread into heart shapes.

Once the egg is finished, remove carefully with tongs and use a butter knife to ease the egg out.

Serve.

Servings: 1

Nutrition Information: Cals 170. Carbs 21g. Fat 7g. Protein 11g. Sodium 170mg. Sugar 3g.

Spanish-Style Mushrooms

 

Mushrooms are a favorite in my house. I love mushrooms and so does everyone else. we add them to pizza, omelets, veggie side dishes, burgers –you name it, we add mushrooms.  So when I came across a recipe for these Spanish-style mushroom tapas I was really excited.

 

Spanish-Style Mushrooms Recipe

Ingredients

8 oz Mushrooms (white button and baby bella)
2 Tablespoons Butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup Marsala cooking wine
2 Tablespoons freshly minced Parsley
Juice of 1 Lemon
Sea Salt
 

Directions

Rinse the mushrooms of any dirt or grit.
Heat the butter in a cast iron skillet over medium.
Once it starts to bubble, add the garlic; bloom for 30 seconds.
Add the Marsala wine and bring back to a bubble.
Toss in the mushrooms, cover and simmer on medium-low heat for 15 minutes.
Remove the lid, throw in a pinch of salt and simmer 5 more minutes.
Sprinkle with fresh parsley and lemon juice.5Serve right out of the cast iron skillet, or on mini appetizer plates
 

 

Servings: 2

Nutrition Info: Cals 225. Carbs 16g. Fat 12g. Protein 9g. Sodium 18mg. Sugar 7g.

Pan-Fried Flounder

 

 

 

I don’t really get crazy with the type of fish I use in my cooking. Generally, I use tilapia (more for convenience since I can buy a frozen bag of tilapia filets) and shrimp – if you really want to count shrimp as a fish (and also because I can buy a convenient bag of frozen pre-cooked tail-off shrimp). I love salmon, but sometimes it gets a bit too fishy at home. So, I’ll leave salmon to my mom and the restaurant pros. I’m sure I’ll pick it back up sometime in the future.

Tilapia was starting to get boring. So I found this recipe for pan-fried flounder. Don’t let the name fool you. It’s not deep fried or bad for your health or anything like that, but you end up with a nice flaky, lightly browned filet that goes well with a number of veggie sides. This kind of fried won’t break your diet.

Pan-Fried Flounder Recipe

Ingredients

2 Flounder Filets
2 teaspoons Butter
1 cup of Flour sprinkled onto a dinner plate (this is enough flour for several flounder)
Salt
Pepper
Lemon wedges
 

Directions

Sprinkle salt and pepper onto the floured plate to make a basic seasoned flour.
Lay the flounder on the plate of flour and dust liberally on both sides. This  will turn golden and crunchy later.
Melt 1 teaspoon of butter in a large frying pan.
Add the flour coated flounder.
Fry the flounder for about 5 minutes each side on medium heat until golden. Add more butter if you love butter.
Serve with lemon wedges

 

Serving Size: 1 Flounder filet

Nutrition Information: Cals 254. Carbs 22g. Fat 7g. Protien 24g. Sodium 93mg. Sugar 1g.