Recipe Reviews 2/7

I have been a slacker blogger for the last little while, and I totally missed last weeks recipe reviews, as well as this weeks meal plan (which has not been followed, we have been busy this week).  The good news is that I have a few really delicious recipes to share from last week, complete with pictures!  None of these recipes are particularly low calorie, but we generally have them with a salad, and maybe a piece of fruit, so the meal itself is usually right around 500 calories.  UGH!  No matter how hard I try I cannot get this stupid post to format correctly.  I am pretty much inept at html, so I am going to just leave it alone, because the harder I try, the more annoyed I get with my failure!

 Quick Chicken Cordon Bleu for Two
Really, really yummy!  It wasn't necessarily quick, but compared to actually stuffing the chicken it was really fast. 

• Ingredients
  2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (tender removed)
  1/4 tsp pepper (divided)
  1/8 tsp salt
  3 tbsp Swiss cheese
  1 tbsp cream cheese
  2 tbsp dry breadcrumbs
  1 1/2 tsp chopped fresh parsley
  2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
  2 tbsp chopped ham

Directions

Preheat oven to 400°F.Sprinkle chicken with 1/8 teaspoon pepper and salt. Combine cheese and cream cheese in a bowl. Combine the remaining 1/8 teaspoon pepper with breadcrumbs, parsley (or thyme) and 1 teaspoon oil in another bowl.
Heat the remaining 1 teaspoon oil in a medium, ovenproof nonstick skillet over medium heat. Cook the chicken until browned on both sides, about 2 minutes per side. Move the chicken to the center so the pieces are touching. Spread with the cheese mixture, sprinkle with ham, then top with the breadcrumb mixture.
Bake until the chicken is no longer pink in the center and an instant-read thermometer registers 165°F, 5 to 7 minutes. (I baked them for about 45 minutes, because I fear salmonella.  They were still really good and moist, so I kind of think they would have been raw at 5 minutes)

Extra Info

• Serves 2
• Prep time: 30 minutes
• 338 calories.  You can get rid of some calories by using low fat/non fat dairy, but I never use that chemically "enhanced" stuff anymore.  I will take the brain and heart healthy fats, thank you very much :)

 

Fettuccine Alfredo
Okay, this isn't actually super delicious. but it is pretty tasty.  I think that if I used FRESH Parmesan cheese instead of the Kraft dried stuff it would be amazing, but the dried stuff gave it a weird grainy texture, which when added to the weird grainy texture of whole wheat pasta was a little overkill.

• Ingredients
  3/4 cup chicken broth
  4 large garlic cloves, peeled
  4 ounces whole wheat fettuccine (I just guessed. I don't have a kitchen scale so measuring long pasta is beyond my capabilities.  Also I used linguine, not fettuccine, because it was all I could find in whole wheat)
  2 tsp cornstarch
  2 tbsp sour cream
  a pinch of nutmeg
  1/8 tsp pepper
  3/4 cup Parmesan cheese, divided
  1 tbsp fresh chopped parsley
• Directions
  Bring a large saucepan of water to a boil. Combine broth and garlic cloves in a small saucepan; bring to a boil over high heat. Cover, reduce heat to a simmer and cook until the garlic cloves are soft, about 15 minutes. After the garlic has simmered about 10 minutes, cook fettuccine in the boiling water, stirring often, for 8 minutes, or until just tender. Meanwhile, transfer the garlic and broth to a blender. Process until the mixture is smooth, about 1 minute.  Return the mixture to the pot and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Add cornstarch mixture; whisk it until slightly thickened, about 15 seconds. Remove from the heat and whisk in sour cream, nutmeg and pepper. Return the pot to very low heat to keep the sauce warm. (Do not boil.) Drain the pasta and place in a large bowl. Add the sauce and 1/2 cup Parmesan; toss to coat well. Sprinkle with parsley and serve immediately, passing the remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan separately.   

 

• Extra Info
  • Serves 2, but we had a little left over, so it could probably serve 2 adults and 1 child
  • Prep Time: 30 minutes
  • 334 calories (without adding any more Parmesan after it was cooked)

Grilled Beef and Provolone Sandwiches
These were pretty yummy.  I cut the bread WAY to thick though, and you practically had to unhinge your jaw like a snake (ewww, I hate snakes) to get it in your mouth.  But the flavor was good.  So my calorie count will be a little off, because I used huge amounts of bread, which you don't really need to do...  Originally this recipe was made for a George Foreman style indoor grill, but I just made it like grilled cheese.

• Ingredients
  4 slices French bread
  2 tbsp pesto
  1/4 lb thinly sliced, cooked roast beef (like from the deli)
  2 slices of provolone cheese
  1 tbsp butter
• Directions
  Heat a frying pan.  Spread one side of each slice of bread with pesto.  On two slices of bread layer beef and cheese.  Top with remaining slice of bread, pesto side down.  Spread butter on the outsides of both sides of both sandwiches.  Put them on the heated frying pan.  Cook on one side until toasted, then flip and cook on the other side until toasted.

 

• Extra Info
  • Serves 2
  • Total time: 10 minutes
  • 427 calories, but you could cut a few off by using reasonable slices of bread.

Meatball Pizza Casserole
This was super fast and easy to make, and tasted really good!  You could make your own meatballs, but Michael had bought me some frozen ones because I mentioned how handy they would be, so we used those.  We don't actually LIKE these meatballs, but we still liked this dinner, that is how good it is!

• Ingredients 1 cup uncooked rotini (I think I used a different kind, and it worked fine)
  4 frozen, precooked Italian meatballs, slightly thawed
  1 jar (14.5 oz) pizza sauce
  1/4 cup sliced olives
  3/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• Directions
  Heat oven to 350°.  Grease 1-qt casserole.  Cook rotini to desired doneness, as directed on the package.  Drain.  Cut each meatball in half.  In the greased casserole combine all ingredients.  Mix well.  Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until bubbly. 
  (The original instructions say to mix everything but the cheese, and sprinkle the cheese on at the end, then bake for 5 minutes to melt the mozzarella.  I didn't read the directions very well and mixed it all in together.  It also says to cover the pan, but since I don't ever remember that I need foil until I am making something that calls for it, I didn't cover it.)

 

• Extra Info
  • Serves 2 (but Michael and I ate it one night, generous servings, then the next day I gave it to the girls for lunch, so I would say it serves three or four, but you should add a few more meatballs if you want to feed it to more people)
• It says it takes 20 minutes prep time, but I shaved at least half of that off by buying shredded cheese and sliced olives.  
• 560 calories IF you actually eat half of it.  Like I said, we ate quite a bit less than half.   

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