Tuna Salad Nicoise Recipe

If you’ve been reading my blog for any length of time, you know I try my hardest to get my husband on the healthy, veggie eating bandwagon. He’s pretty good about trying things although sometimes strange colors upset him (he thought purple potatoes, for instance, were just “wrong”). However, knowing that he likes tuna salad sandwiches, I decided to try this recipe for dinner one night. Success! Although he didn’t say he’d ask for this dish again, he cleaned his full plate, which is good enough in my book.

For the ultimate in fresh color to tempt your vision as well as you palate, use different varieties of the base ingredients. I’m not adding specific measurements because with this salad, you only need to pile the ingredients on the plate so use whatever you have or whatever ratio is most delicious to you and your family. The recipe below makes one full plate of hearty salad.

This salad is a feast for the senses and sure to tempt even the pickiest veggie eater.

Tuna Salad Nicoise

Mixed baby greens and/or herbs

1 packet of tuna in olive oil (or 1/4 pound freshly grilled tuna steak)

3 baby potatoes, boiled (use purple, red or yellow or a combo)

1 hardboiled egg, peeled and cut into quarters

1/3 cup kalamata olives, pitted (use a cherry pitter)

1 green onion, white and green parts sliced on the diagonal

Green beans or asparagus spears, cooked and tossed with Italian dressing

4 Baby heirloom tomatoes, halved and tossed with strips of fresh basil

Your favorite oil and vinegar salad dressing

To assemble salad, place greens in center of plate. Top with tuna. Surround salad with remaining ingredients. Grind a bit of black pepper over the top. Drizzle with salad dressing.

January 17, 2012: Healthy Stuffed Bell Peppers Recipe

Last year I shared a Spicy Stuffed Bell Pepper recipe with you. This year, when I’m concerned with calories, I decided to redo that recipe and make it healthier. Here’s what I came up with which, by the way, my husband loved (and he’s not counting calories!).

Healthy Stuffed Bell Peppers

½ cup brown rice

4 medium-sized green bell peppers

1 pound ground chicken breast

1 T. red bell pepper, minced

1 clove garlic, minced (divided)

2 green onions, minced (divided)

1 ½ T. green chile, minced (divided)

1/3 cup canned corn, drained

½ t. each: oregano, garlic salt, paprika, dried parsley, black pepper, dried cilantro and cumin powder

1 can condensed cheese soup (divided)

¼ cup fat free half and half

In a saucepan, bring 1 ½ cups water to boil. Add half cup brown rice. Cover and simmer on low for 45 minutes. Remove from heat.

Remove the cap of the green peppers and clean out seeds and membranes inside. Cut a thin slice off the bottom of each, if necessary, to make them stand up straight (good posture for peppers, ha!). Spray a baking pan with cooking spray and stand peppers within.

In a skillet sprayed with cooking spray, cook ground chicken over medium heat. Add red bell pepper, half of the minced garlic, the white parts of the green onion, and half of the green chile. Sauté for another two minutes, until veggies are soft. Add corn, rice, seasonings and ¼ cup of the cheese soup. The rice should have a small amount of unabsorbed water in the bottom of the pan; if not add a tablespoon of water to mixture to chicken mixture to thin it a bit.

Stuff each pepper with one quarter of the chicken/rice mixture. Cover the baking pan tightly with aluminum foil. Bake at 350 degrees for about one hour, until bell peppers are soft.

While the peppers are cooking, mix together remaining cheese soup, reserved vegetables and half and half. Microwave on high for 1 to 2 minutes, until heated through.

To serve, place one pepper on a plate and spoon a quarter of the warm cheese sauce over the top. Goes great with a hot bowl of soup or a crisp, fresh green salad.

Serves 4 with 349 calories, 11 grams of fat and 761.5 mg of sodium each serving.

January 14, 2012: Low Fat Asian Linguine With Vegetables Recipe

I know I’ve shared other recipes for Asian style pasta but with this one I took care to make it as low calorie as possible and I believe I succeeded nicely. The portion sizes aren’t big, but pasta is filling and it doesn’t take a large quantity to serve this as a side dish.

Note: The Oriental salad dressing I used was left over from the Oriental Chicken Salad recipe I prepared on January 5^th.

Low Fat Asian Linguine served with Asian Pork Tenderloin and Slow Cooker Sesame Green Beans

Low Fat Asian Linguine With Vegetables

2 ounces whole wheat linguine

1/4 cup chopped broccoli

1 t. sesame oil

1/4 cup Red bell pepper, cut into strips

1 Green onion, cut on the bias
2 fresh basil leaves, chiffonade

1/3 cup Oriental salad dressing

Cook linguine in boiling water as directed on package with broccoli; drain and set aside. In the same pot, heat the sesame oil over medium heat. Add the pepper and white parts of the onion (reserve the green parts) and stir fry for 2 – 3 minutes, until veggies start to soften. Mix in reserved linguine and broccoli and add salad dressing. To serve, top with slices of reserved green onion and basil leaves.

Serves 2 with about 90 calories each serving

January 12, 2012: Low Cal Potato Cheese Soup Recipe

Although cheese isn’t the most diet-friendly food, it is packed with protein and you can’t deny yourself (myself) all the time. This recipe is very filling; a little cheese goes a long way.

Low Cal Potato Cheese Soup

1 t. butter

¼ cup chopped white onion

2 cloves garlic, minced

3 green onions, chopped

1 stalk celery, thinly sliced

1 small Roma tomato, peeled and diced

1 roasted green chile, peeled and diced

3 red potatoes, cut into 1 ½” chunks

1 cup water

1 t. chicken bouillon

2 ounces Velveeta cheese, cubed

½ t. garlic salt

½ t. black pepper

1 cup 1% milk

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Add white onion, garlic, white parts of green onions, and celery. Sauté for five minutes, until vegetables begin to soften. Stir in tomato, green chile, and potatoes. Add water and chicken bouillon; bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to medium low, gently boiling potatoes for about 15 minutes or until soft.

Add cubes of cheese, salt, pepper and milk. Reduce heat to low and stir together just until cheese melts. To serve, top bowls of soup with green onions.

Serves 2 – 4 (two as a main dish, four as a side dish or appetizer) with calories of approximately 265 in a one-cup serving.

Tip: For a thicker soup, let it cool, then reheat slowly over low heat.

January 5, 2012: Low Fat Oriental Chicken Salad

I wanted to use a bit of leftover chicken I had in the freezer for dinner. My first thought was to make this chicken casserole that my husband so loves but, unfortunately, it’s filled with tons of calories. I decided, instead, to turn it into a lovely Oriental Chicken Salad. I used several different recipes to come up with this combination; the salad dressing is fat free and virtually calorie free so feel free to use as much as necessary to flavor your salad.

Low Fat Oriental Chicken Salad

Dressing

2 cups water

2 T. Truvia

3 t. dry pectin

1 T. rice wine vinegar

1 t. soy sauce

1 t. minced garlic

1 t. kosher salt

¼ t. black pepper

¼ t. paprika

1 package ramen noodles

1 cup water

½ t. chicken bouillon

3 cups torn green leaf lettuce

1 cup shredded Napa cabbage

2 green onions, white and green parts sliced on the diagonal

2 mushrooms, thinly sliced

1 rib celery, thinly sliced

½ cup cooked, shredded chicken

3 baby carrots, cut into matchsticks

1 T. roasted sunflower seeds

Combine dressing ingredients in a small saucepan. Heat over medium heat to boiling, whisking frequently. Cook at a low boil for about 10 minutes, until slightly reduced. Remove from heat, cool, and refrigerate.

Bring cup of water to boiling in saucepot. Add ramen noodles and boillon. Boil for 3 minutes then turn off heat and allow to cool (noodles will absorb excess liquid).

Combine lettuce, cabbage, onions, mushrooms and celery. Toss with 1/3 to ½ cup of dressing. Place in serving bowl and top with chicken, ramen noodles, carrots and sunflower seeds.

Serves one with approximately 525 calories – but this is a BIG salad and has enough protein to satisfy.

January 4, 2012: Shrimp, Potato and Pea Salad Recipe

I know I’ve talked about the need to lose weight on and off over the past year but now it’s time to get serious about it. I attended a Weight Watchers meeting last night as the guest of my friend Kathy. I was NOT impressed by the organization – I wasn’t allowed to use the scale (really? I snuck up there anyway) and at the end of the regular part of the meeting I wanted more information but was told by the gals manning the tables in back that they were “closed”. They gave me a flyer advertising a special deal and sent me on my way. This was not the way to get me to sign up and spend my money with Weight Watchers!

So…when I got on the scale I wasn’t too surprised to see that my weight was even worse than I’d thought. So my goal is to lose 36 pounds over the upcoming year. I did some sleuthing online and found out that to lose one pound with light activity (I walk about 3 – 4 miles in the park as often as possible but I guess walking isn’t considered even moderate exercise) I can only take in 1,214 calories per day. Okay, that’s difficult but not impossible. My usual breakfast of yogurt, string cheese and a few crackers along with two cups of coffee and creamer came out to 433 calories. That leaves me roughly 800 calories for the rest of the day. I’m doing my best to stick to that.

Here’s a recipe my Aunt Jean wrote out for me some years ago. She found it in a book from the library but I have no idea which one so I can’t give credit where it’s due. Anyway, by changing the regular mayonnaise to low fat or non fat or even substituting Greek yogurt, this recipe is very healthy and a great lunch or brunch dish.

Shrimp, Potato and Pea Salad

1 ½ lbs. cooked shrimp

5 medium-sized red potatoes, cooked, cooled and diced

1 10-ounce package frozen peas, cooked and cooled

3 medium dill pickles, chopped

4 green onions, chopped

Dressing:

1 cup mayonnaise (low fat or non fat or substitute Greek yogurt)

3 T. freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 T. minced fresh dill weed

¼ t. black pepper

In a large bowl, combine shrimp, potatoes, peas, pickles and onions. Cover and refrigerate.

In a small bowl mix dressing ingredients. Add to salad and mix thoroughly. Refrigerate a couple hours or overnight to allow flavors to blend.

Serving suggestions: serve with fresh sliced tomatoes and cucumber sticks along with a bread thin spritzed with spray margarine and garlic powder. Or serve with bran muffin and fresh fruit.