Quinoa Jeuvos Rancheros

Mmmm... Quinoa. Where were you for the first 28 years of my life? GGC introduced me to you last year, and I've never looked back. Rice and couscous - I'm sorry, but you're dead to me. It's just the way life goes!

Quinoa:
Tastes AWESOME.
Is super versatile.
Is gluten free.
Supplies complete protein (it includes all 9 essential amino acids)

There are about a gazillion other benefits (how's that for specificity?), and you can read about them here.

Oak mentioned quinoa in her post this week, and Amanda threw in her own recipe in the comments. This inspired me to share my own recipe (can I call it my own if it's actually an adaptation from GGC?)? I like the way Ky (Two Pretzels) puts it -

I subscribe to the notion that if I cook/bake/assemble a recipe at least once I can claim it to be my recipe.

Amen, sister. :-)


SO, without further ado, here is my low cal version of GGC's quinuevos rancheros.

Ingredients:
1/4 c. Quinoa (white or red, whichever you prefer)
1 Egg
1.5 oz Avocado
3 Tbsp. Salsa
Sprinkle of shredded cheese
Cilantro (fresh if you have it!), Salt, & Pepper to taste


Without the cheese, this dish is just under 350 calories - if you prefer, you can add in some cheese. I love cheese, so when I'm not trying to lose weight, I always sprinkle on whatever cheese I have in the fridge!


Preparation:
1) Cook up the quinoa according to package directions. Some comes pre-washed, some does not. If it does not come pre-washed, you MUST wash it in cold water before cooking. I usually cook up a cup or two at a time and store it in my fridge because I use this in so many dishes. If you do that, then this entire breakfast will take five minutes to assemble. 
2) Cook up your egg - I prefer mine over easy, but you can do scrambled or whatever you'd like!
3) Top heated up quinoa with the egg and immediately sprinkle some cheese so it melts a bit. Add slices of avocado, spoonfuls of fresh salsa, and whatever seasoning strikes your fancy (I try to use fresh cilantro and some S&P). 


Serve immediately - this dish is best while piping hot! 

When I cook this for my hubby, I'll use a little extra quinoa and two eggs, which makes it around 450 calories. He loves it!

                       Calories   -       Carbs -        Fat -    Protein

Per Dish:       345                 42                        15g               14g

Jalapeno Poppers with Cream Cheese & Bacon

I found this basic recipe on The Pioneer Woman's website, Tasty Kitchen, and have modified it just a bit for caloric reasons. I did lift some of her preparation instructions from her website - check it out for step by step photos!

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 20 minutes

Serves: 24 poppers

Ingredients:

1 box (8oz) of Philadelphia 1/3 Less Fat Neufchatel Cream Cheese
12 jalepeno peppers (2-3” long)
12 slices of thin sliced bacon

Preparation:
1) If you have them, slip on some latex gloves for the pepper prep… Cut jalapenos in half, length-wise. With a spoon, remove the seeds and white membrane (the source of the heat; leave a little if you like things HOT).
2) Smear softened cream cheese into each jalapeno half. Wrap jalapeno with bacon pieces (1/2 slice).
3) Secure by sticking toothpick through the middle. (At this point, you can freeze them, uncooked, in a Ziploc bag for later use).
4) Bake on a pan with a rack in a 375-degree oven for 20-25 minutes. You don’t want the bacon to shrink so much it starts to the squeeze the jalapeno. If, after 20 minutes, the bacon doesn’t look brown enough, just turn on the broiler for a couple of minutes to finish it off. These are best when the jalapeno still has a bit of bite to it.

Serve immediately, or they’re also great at room temperature.

                       Calories - 0% Carbs - 50% Fat - 50% Protein
Per Popper:        42              0                  3g                3g

Mushroom Marsala Pasta w/Artichokes

I found this recipe on Smitten Kitchen's website (an amazing site if you haven't been there before!) and she has a great step-by-step tutorial with pictures on how to make it. It is SO delicious though that I just had to include a post about it here as well. :-) My husband normally is not a mushroom guy, and even he liked this recipe!

Prep Time: 10 min.

Cooking Time: 20 min.

Serves: 6-8 (or 4 very hungry men)

Ingredients:

3 Tbsp olive oil

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 pound mushrooms, trimmed, cleaned, & chopped into small bits

1 tsp. kosher salt, plus 1 Tbsp for pasta water

1 c. dry Marsala wine

1 pound ditalini pasta

1/2 pound frozen artichoke hearts, thawed (I used 1 can of canned artichoke hearts)

3/4 c. grated Parmesan

1/2 cup cream

1/2 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

Cooking Directions:

1) Place olive oil (I used EVOO) in a large skillet over med/high heat. Add onions & cook for one minute.

2) Add mushrooms & 1 tsp. of the salt. Sauté, stirring occasionally, until all the moisture has evaporated & mushrooms have cooked down (5-10 min).
3) While that's sautéing, bring a large pot of water to boil over high heat for the pasta & stir in remaining salt.
4) Add the pasta & cook until al dente, stirring occasionally (8-10 min).
4) While pasta is cooking, add the Marsala wine to the mushroom/onion skillet and continue cooking until almost all the wine has evaporated (about 5 min).
5) Drain pasta & and add it to the skillet.
6) Add the artichoke hearts, Parmesan, and cream & cook until the artichokes are heated through (about 5 min).
7) Stir in the parsley & pepper just before serving.

Delicious!

                       Calories - 66% Carbs - 16% Fat - 17% Protein

Per Meal:              3000           415g               101g              109g
Per (1/8) Serving:  375               52g                 13g                14g
Per (1/6) Serving:  500               69g                 17g                18g

Turkey Tacos with Avocado Corn Salsa

The first recipe happens to be what I'm making for dinner tonight! I'm a new fan of ground turkey - I'd never really eaten it before, but I got into it because of The Biggest Loser always promoting it.  My Husband and I have found that we really like replacing ground beef with ground turkey in a lot of our meals - you can barely tell a difference in taste, and we both feel (physically) better eating less red meat. We're lucky enough to be able to buy most of our meat from a local farmer who raises quality natural meats - look for one in your area!

Prep time: 10 min.

Cooking time: 5 min.

Serves: 4 (two tacos each)

Ingredients:

1 avocado, peeled, pitted, & chopped

1 c. canned sweet corn kernels, rinsed & drained

1 c. cherry tomatoes, halved

1 Tbsp. lime juice

8 hard taco shells

1 pkg (1.25 oz) reduced-sodium taco seasoning mix (I usually just add some cayenne pepper & spices on my own instead of using a mix to avoid sodium & msg)

12 oz ground turkey, (pre-cooked weight), browned in a medium skillet
3/4 c. water

Cooking Directions:
1) Coat medium skillet with cooking spray, then over medium/high heat, brown the ground turkey.
2) Mix avocado, corn, tomatoes, & lime juice in medium bowl. Set salsa aside.
3) Add seasoning & water to the browned turkey. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4) Spoon turkey mixture into shells. Top with the salsa you made.

*I like to toast my taco shells, so I'l preheat the oven when I turn the burner on for the turkey and during the final 5 minutes that the turkey is simmering with the seasonings, I put the taco shells in the oven on a pizza rack to lightly brown.

                  Calories - 45% Carbs - 25% Fat - 30% Protein
Per Meal:     1400           119g             66g              78g
Per Serving:   350             30g              17g              20g

Eating Mindfully

Hello blogger world!

I'm starting this blog as a place to chronicle my go-to recipes that are easy to prepare and low in calories while still having good nutritional content. I have absolutely zero professional training in nutrition - just the real life working knowledge of what works for my body.

I have found over the years that knowing ahead of time the calorie content of the food you're about to eat is half the battle - you can always plan accordingly how much to eat if you know that extra few bites will add 10s (or 100s) of calories to your total for the day.

These recipes will hopefully inspire you to enjoy moderation in all things. I truly don't believe in banning any one food from your life - in my personal experience, that's a recipe for disaster! It leads to hidden trips to the kitchen to finish the cookie dough while no one is watching... and if you're someone like me who has struggled with eating disorders all your life, you know that this is never going to help you maintain a healthy weight that you can feel good about.

I hope this website has some useful ideas for you all!

Josey

All nutrition info is taken from the MyFitnessPal database. Information is deemed reliable, but not guaranteed.