Archive from August, 2012
Aug 16, 2012 - 500 Calories or Less, Posts    1 Comment

Chicken Scallopine with Lemon and Caper Sauce

I found a recipe for Pork Scallopine online and it looked absolutely delicious. Unfortunately, we don’t eat pork so I thought why not try out the recipe and make some adjustments for Chicken. My husband loves capers and I can vaguely remember him asking why I didn’t add capers to a pizza I had made a few days earlier. Capers on pizza, really? I opted to selectively ignore his pizza suggestion and use capers sparingly as a way to enhance the flavor of chicken. The best part about this meal is that it’s done in less than an hour saving time that I don’t really have.

 

  

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Chicken Scallopine with Lemon and Caper Sauce
 

Ingredients
  • 4 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts, halved
  • ¼ cup All Purpose Flour for dusting
  • 1 tablespoon Olive Oil
  • 3 small Shallots finely chopped
  • 1 tablespoon Lemon Juice
  • ¾ cup vegetable stock
  • ¾ cup White Cooking Wine or Grape Juice
  • 1 tablespoon Capers small brined
  • 2 tablespoons Flat Leaf Parsley, finely chopped
  • Salt, to taste
  • Pepper, to taste

Instructions
  1. Gently pound the chicken breasts until about ½ inch thick (I pounded them between parchment paper).
  2. Mix salt and pepper with flour and dust the chicken
  3. Heat a large non-stick frying pan over high heat until very hot.
  4. Heat the oil and brown the chicken about 1-2 minutes each side.
  5. You will need to brown them in batches adding a tiny bit of oil each time.
  6. Remove from the pan and the remaining oil.
  7. Sauté the shallot until soft.
  8. Add the lemon juice, stock and wine.
  9. Reduce until halved, about 5 minutes.
  10. Add the chicken back in along with the capers.
  11. Cook for 5 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and hot.
  12. Sprinkle with chopped parsley before serving

Nutrition Information
Serving size: 1 Chicken Breast Calories: 209 Fat: 5g Carbohydrates: 11g Sodium: 800mg Protein: 24g

 

 

Aug 4, 2012 - 500 Calories or Less, Posts    No Comments

Broccoli Cheese Soup

One of my favorite soups at Panera, is their broccoli cheese soup. Some days, usually in the winter, I like to indulge in a bowl of Panera’s broccoli cheese soup … in a bread bowl. And yes, I eat the whole bread bowl too. Unfortunately, those indulgences lead to the small needle on my scale tipping in the wrong direction the next morning. But every woman should indulge in food, every once in a while. I try to keep from ordering the bread bowl unless it’s a serious emergency. And by emergency, I mean having the bread bowl rather than eating practically everything with carbs at home. Who’s to say I don’t balance everything out by having lettuce for dinner, or foregoing dinner altogether.

There are a few kitchen experiments I play to tackle during my time as house wife (and future house mom) one of them is desserts, and the other is soup. I’m still working on my lentil soup which isn’t turning out anywhere near my mom’s. Mom is amazing when it comes to soup. Some of my favorites include squash soup, corn and scallop soup and salmon soup. So when I made broccoli cheese, I was happy to announce that it turned out really good. Well, except for the fact that I totally forgot to add salt.

 

Adapted from Pham Fatale

 

 

Broccoli Cheese Soup Recipe

Ingredients

 1 pound fresh Broccoli Florets
1 tablespoon Olive Oil
1 Onion, chopped
2 tablespoons Unsalted Butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup Vegetable Broth
Nutmeg, to taste
Garlic Powder, to taste
Dried Thyme, to taste
Salt, to taste
Black Pepper, to taste
4 oz Mild Cheddar cheese, cubed or shredded
1/2 cup heavy cream
 
 

Directions

In a small pot, heat the oil. Add the onions and cook until golden. Remove onto a plate and set aside.
In the same pot, melt the butter over medium-low.
Once melted, bring the heat back up to medium-high and add the flour.
Keep stirring until the flour absorbes te butter and turns into a paste.
Add the vegetable broth slowly. Increase heat while stirring.
Add the cheddar cheese and allow the cheese to melt.
Add nutmeg, garlic powder, thyme, salt and pepper.
Put the cheese mixture aside.
Bring 2 cups of water to boil with the onions.
Add the broccoli florets and let boil until the broccoli is tender.
Add the cheese mixture.
Using a hand blender, blend the broccoli and cheese until desired thickness.
Bring to a boil then add the heavy cream.

Servings: 2-3

Nutrition Information: Cals 354. Carbs 16g. Fat 30g. Sodium 461mg.

 

Aug 1, 2012 - Posts    No Comments

Quiche

A couple days ago I gave you all a glimpse into my mom and my mother-daughter trip. Taking one of those as an adult is really important because you start to realize how much closer you are to your mom when you’re not trying to keep things from her as a teen/college student who’s obviously getting into some sort of trouble. It’s a whole new perspective when you realize you and your mother have a lot more in common than you think, and she can actually give you some pretty good advice. Especially because watching you grow up, she probably knows a lot more about you than you thought, or that you even knew yourself. Rude Awakening.

On our trip, we visited Paris. A very romantic city – but spending time there with my mom was a blast. As you might have guessed, we were instantly drawn to Avenue des Champs-Élysées. We did the whole tour thing but the best parts were the shopping, taking in the view atop the Eiffel Tower, and eating French food – of course.  On one of those cold nights after walking until our legs practically froze over, we made it over to a small street lined with shops and restaurants. We found ourselves in a cozy restaurant that served none other Quiches. It was perfect.

 

 

Broccoli Quiche – No crust – Recipe

Ingredients

1 cup 1% Milk
½ cup Egg Beaters
2 cups Frozen Broccoli
½ cup Parmesan Cheese
1 cup Mozzarella Cheese
¼ cup and 2 tablespoons Bisquick Mix
2 tablespoons I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter Light
Cooking Spray

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Lightly grease quiche pan with cooking spray
Beat milk, egg beaters, bisquick mix, butter and parmesan
Stir in the frozen broccoli and cheddar cheese
Pour into the baking dish and bake for 50 minutes, until eggs are set and top is golden brown

Serve with bread rolls and butter

 

Servings: 4

Nutrition Information: Cals 274. Carbs 16g. Fat 17g. Sodium 595mg.