Starving Artist

The start of 2010 brings a whole new slew of New Years resolutions. I’m willing to bet that more than half of you have resolved to start living a healthier lifestyle in the coming year, and eating healthier is one way to do that. I’m a big believer in substitution, not deprivation. You can still have your favorite comfort food, guilt-free, if you make some simple swaps!

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Calzones are one of my favorite guilty pleasures, but thankfully with substituting some of the key ingredients, it can actually be quite healthy! Go with whole wheat dough, instead of regular pizza dough, and look for lower fat versions of your favorite savory stuffers.

Here’s what I decided to use:

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Ingredients:

• 1 bag (1 lb) of whole wheat pizza dough
• 3 cups of part skim shredded cheese (I used a cheddar, monterrey jack and mozzarella blend)
• 8 oz of fat free ham
• 1/4 cup of pepperoncinis
• 1/2 cup of roasted peppers
• 1/4 cup of low fat parmesan cheese
• 2 egg whites
• 1/2 tsp minced garlic
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp parsley
• 1/2 tsp oregano

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The first step is to cut of the ham and peppers into bite-sized pieces.

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Mix all of the filling ingredients together in a large bowl.

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Roll out the dough onto a cookie sheet, and top with the filling. Fold up each of the ends of the dough so that they cover the filling. Pinch to ensure the filling doesn’t leak out.

This recipe will leave you with about 1/2 cup extra of the filling. Save that for a round #2 recipe of a Spiced Up Chicken Cordon Bleu Rollup (I’ll post the extremely easy instructions later this week with photos when i make it :)  )

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Top with a sprinkling of cheese.

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Bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes.

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Let the calzone cool a bit, and then slice and serve!

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Really good!!

Happy New Year everyone :)

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All of that tree climbing and apple picking made us work up quite an appetite, and by the time we got to Steph’s we were more than hungry!

I put together a quick snack to tide us over while we were cooking…

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Cranberry Almond Brie

Ingredients:

• 1 small wheel of Brie
• 2 tbsp cranberries
• 2 tbsp almonds
• 1/2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tsp honey
• 2 tbsp apple cider

1. Mix all of the ingredients (minus the Brie) in a small bowl.
2. Place the Brie on a microwave-safe dish, and top with the mixture.
3. Microwave for 45 seconds
4. Serve with apple or bread slices!

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Wine definitely is a cook’s best friend! We sipped on some Yellowtail Cabernet. Mmm.

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Steph got to work making her Ravioli with Apples and Walnuts from this month’s issue of Real Simple.

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They were sooo good! The sweetness of the apples, and the nuttiness of the walnuts paired so well with the creamy ricotta raviolis. The added parsley gave it such a fresh taste. So yum.

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While Steph made her ravs, I was cooking my Cranberry Apple Cider Chicken. With all of the ripe apples we had, I thought sauteeing the apples with an Apple Cranberry Chutney would be a great sauce for a chicken dish.

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Cranberry Apple Cider Chicken

Ingredients:

• 4 chicken breasts
• 2 apples (peeled and chopped)
• 1/2 jar of TJ’s Apple Cranberry Chutney
• 1/4 cup apple cider
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp fresh parsley
• S + P to taste

1. Saute the chicken with olive oil, and season with salt and pepper.
2. Once the chicken is cooked, remove from the pan and set aside.
3. Add the apples and chutney to the pan, and cook until the apples are soft.
4. Add in the parsley, honey, apple cider, and cinnamon and cook for another minute.
5. Add back in the chicken to the pan, and let it all simmer while the chicken absorbs the juices.
6. Plate and serve!

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A simple healthy Waldorf salad was put together to yet again highlight the freshly picked apples.

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Our apple feast!

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Such a perfect day :)

I’ve been looking forward to today all week! In about an hour, I’m driving out to Stow, MA with 2 of my girlfriends (pumpkin lattes in hand, obviously), to go apple picking! I’m a complete dork, but apple picking is one of my favorite Fall activities and I make sure to go every year. And to top off this fabulously Fall day, we’ll be putting our bounty of apples to work when we cook up an apple themed dinner tonight. I’ll be posting the photos and recipes, so check back later on tonight ;-)

As I gear up for what is sure to be a lovely day with my girlfriends (the rain has stopped, thank goodness!), I thought I would start my morning off with some healthy pecan pumpkin pancakes with TJ’s mix as the base.

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The pumpkin pancakes were out of this world, and so incredibly light and fluffy!

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Here’s the recipe:

Recipe is for 1 large pancake.

• 1/3 cup TJ’s Pumpkin Pancake Mix
• 2 tsp Fage Nonfat Yogurt
• 1/4 cup skim milk
• 1 tbsp egg whites
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tbsp chopped pecans
• Pumpkin Butter
• Maple Syrup

1. Combine all ingredients (except for the pumpkin butter and maple syrup) in a small bowl.
2. Lightly coat a fry pan with margarine/spray/butter/whatever you like, and pour the mixture in.
3. Flip over once the top of the pancake is covered with bubbles and the sides are cooked.
4. Top with a spread of pumpkin butter, drizzle of maple syrup, and a sprinkling of pecans.

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Enjoy!

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I think pumpkin is starting to run through my veins, I’ve been eating so much of it. Flavorful pumpkin oatmeal for breakfast, and now onto creamy pumpkin pudding for dessert. I’m definitely making sure that I soak up every bit of these Fall flavors while I can!

After a delicious dinner of whole wheat pesto vermicelli with slow cooked lemon pepper chicken (recipe to come tomorrow!), I realized that within my pantry I had the ingredients to put together a simple pumpkin pudding. And that I did.

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For the pudding, I had a box of Sugar-Free Jello Singles Instant Vanilla Pudding. Individual packets with 60 calories worth of pudding (when mixed), it was the perfect portion. I combined the dry mixture with the following:

• 1/2 cup cold skim milk
• 1 tsp pumpkin butter
• Pinch of nutmeg
• Pinch of cinnamon

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I mixed all of the ingredients together and popped the bowl in the refrigerator to set up. Meanwhile, I prepared a simple crunchy topping consisting of:

• TJ’s Pumpkin Spice Granola
• Pecans
• Light Maple Syrup

When the pudding had set, I piled the topping in the bowl.

So tasty and comforting…

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The perfect treat to cozy up to on the couch while relaxing and watching some Sunday night TV. Desperate Housewives, Brothers & Sisters, Mad Men, and The Next Iron Chef. Oh, what to watch, and what to DVR??

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When I was younger, the mere utterance of the word “brussel sprouts” would cause me to hide under the kitchen table. Now that I’m past the age of being petrified of vegetables, I really don’t understand why they get such a bad wrap. How are they any worse then peas or (shudder) cauliflower? As my taste buds began to change and my palate expanded, I began to really love the little green gems (now I’m on to discriminating against cauliflower… go figure).

Trader Joe’s had beautiful fresh brussel sprouts, so I picked up a package when I was there this weekend. Three minutes in the microwave and they were good to go. Quick and easy, and they still had a crisp bite to them (not at all mushy).

For lunch today, I made an impromptu brussel sprout salad. I toasted up cubes of the Cranberry Almond Cornbread that I baked yesterday to make croutons, and tossed the 2 ingredients with the Apple Cranberry Chutney from TJ’s. Yum.

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For dinner, I took the leftover sprouts and sauteed them with a basic margarine, salt and pepper mix. To accompany the leafy greens, I cooked up a simple weeknight shrimp scampi. So tasty, and done in the time it takes to cook the pasta! I put some whole wheat penne on the stove to cook, and in the meantime sauteed some shrimp, along with the following:

• 2 tbsp of light margarine
• 3 tbsp of lemon juice
• 1 tsp white wine
• a pinch of parsley, red pepper flakes, and garlic powder
• salt and pepper to taste

I took the shrimp off the heat and stirred in 1 tbsp of fat free half and half. I drained the pasta, and then added it to the pan along with the shrimp and sauce.

A sprinkling of Parmesan shavings (well, more than a sprinkling… we all know I’m obsessed with Parm), and dinner was served!

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Time to watch Hell’s Kitchen and get a little work done. Tennille and Suzanne really need to go!! I go back and forth between Kevin and Dave for the win… gotta love Dave’s monotone voice. Do you watch? Who’s your favorite for winning?

Going to see Eric Ripert tomorrow at the MFA! I can’t wait… getting slightly giddy :)

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