fighting the fat, one delicious meal at a time

Main Dishes

Fit and Fresh: Shrimp and Spinach Salad with Sesame Dressing

On June 17, 2013   /   Low-Fat, Main Dishes, Salads, Sauces, Dips, and Spreads, Seafood   /   Leave a comment

Shrimp and spinach salad with light sesame dressing

I’ve been working on making my salads more substantial. Step one: find an even bigger plate. Step two: add protein. Step three: make sure the dressing is as yummy as it can possibly get.

While step one involves shopping and is therefore super fun, steps two and three are where you should focus most of your energy. As I think you know by now, my favorite protein is shrimp. They go from frozen to cooked in like 10 minutes! You guys. You KNOW how lazy I am. If I can’t get dinner ready in like a half hour or less, I’m just gonna eat a pile of celery. This is why I consume so much dang shrimp! (Also? Delicious.)

Creating new dressing recipes is one of my favorite things to do in the kitchen, so step three of my super-salad plan is no sweat at all. I like this sesame dressing because even though it’s quite light (20 calories for two tablespoons!), it’s so full of flavor that you don’t feel deprived. The sesame oil is nutty and rich, and the rice vinegar brightens everything up.

I loved the sesame dressing with this shrimp and spinach salad. With the celery and mushrooms, it reminds me of a classic stir-fry. Quick and easy? Check. Good for you? Check. Delicious? Double check. Here’s the recipe. Read more… →

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Cheap, Easy, Good: Spicy Italian Sausage Soup

On May 28, 2013   /   Main Dishes, Pork, Soup   /   Leave a comment

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While I always feel extra-virtuous when I’m eating a big bowl of vegetables, health-consciousness is NOT the main reason why I avoid cooking meat. The real reason I don’t cook meat more often? Unless it’s a Sunday afternoon and I have tons of time to kill, I am the world’s laziest cook. I worked all day long! The last thing I want to do when I get home is fool with some thick cut of meat. No one has time for that. I mean, really. I’ll just make a salad.

For a long time, my favorite cashier at the grocery store thought I was a vegetarian. “Nope!” I said, when he asked. “I just like vegetables a lot.” Occasionally though, I (or someone who loves me) throw a few bites of meat into my cart. Then, things like this spicy Italian sausage soup happen.

It’s super easy, super simple, and super quick. It took me just 40 minutes to make from start to finish, vegetable prep and all. And it’s just delicious to eat — probably one of my favorite soups I’ve ever made. The spice from the Italian sausage flavors the whole dish throughout. Something about that extra bit of fat makes it feel like a real treat. There’s also a little twist that makes the soup extra delicious: Greek yogurt! Stir it in at the very end to add just a little creaminess and tang. Read the full recipe after the jump! Read more… →

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Sunday Supper: Oven-Fried Chicken Drumsticks

On May 5, 2013   /   Main Dishes, Poultry   /   Leave a comment

Oven-fried chicken drumsticks

This recipe really takes me back. These oven-fried chicken drumsticks are one of the first things I made when I decided to cook healthy food for myself. Before I discovered these drumsticks, my weekly dinners were a sad rotation of frozen meals and boring romaine salads. The drumsticks changed everything. They were the proof I needed that I could make tasty, healthy food at home.

I made these yesterday for the first time in ages and knew I had to share them. They’re cooked in the oven instead of deep-fried in tons of oil, but they’re still plenty delicious.  The drumsticks turn a beautiful golden brown: crunchy on the outside, tender and moist on the inside.

Boil some sweet corn, make a small salad, throw a pair of drumsticks on your plate, and you’re in business. It’s perfect for a Sunday night supper on the back porch. The drumsticks are also great for breakfast: have one with a little maple syrup and a sweet bagel for a protein-packed treat.

Credit to Lisa Lillien (aka Hungry Girl) for the secret to the healthy breading — see my version of the recipe after the jump! Read more… →

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Quick, Easy, Good: Creamy Shrimp and Asparagus Pasta

On April 24, 2013   /   Main Dishes, Pasta, Seafood   /   Leave a comment

Creamy shrimp and asparagus pasta

My name is Kamille, and I am a shrimp addict.

It’s hard for me to remember when my shrimp obsession began. It would have to be well after I was 9 or 10. Around that time, my big brother shared the pleasant news that the veins in shrimp were “doo-doo.”  To be more precise (and less of a fifth-grader), the vein you see on the back of a shrimp is the digestive tract. While it is certainly better to remove it whenever possible, nothing BAD will happen to you if you eat it. Of course, these details escaped me at the time. I refused to eat shrimp for a few years (doo-doo veins or no).

Fortunately, I soon got over this senseless phobia. I am now one of the top five consumers of shrimp in the nation. (Numerous unscientific studies confirm.) One of my best friends is also a member of this elite group. After seeing a recent shrimp-filled post, she expressed clear frustration at my failure to share the shrimpy-wealth. I’ve known this woman for nearly a decade: she meant business. So I made this shrimp and asparagus pasta for our ladies’ lunch on Sunday afternoon.

You all know the drill by now: this dish is simple, easy, and delicious. That’s just the kind of food I believe in. And did I mention it’s under 300 calories per serving?

The pasta’s creaminess is thanks to judicious use of ricotta cheese — just add a dollop to the hot noodles at the end. The flavor of asparagus infuses both the pasta and the shrimp; you’ll be able to really taste it throughout the dish. If you’re not an asparagus fan, broccoli would make a great substitute.

Recipe after the jump! Read more… →

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Simple and Springy: Tuna Pasta Salad

On April 18, 2013   /   Main Dishes, Pasta, Seafood, Side Dishes   /   Leave a comment

Tuna pasta salad

You guys, I’m so excited. I totally saw the sun today. I haven’t worn my parka in over a week. Spring is finally, finally here. What does that mean? It’s almost potluck season. And what does THAT mean? It’s time to break out the pasta salad.

Even if you’re not potlucking it up, pasta salad is a great thing to make during warmer months, when good produce is fresh and plentiful. It’s a serious workhorse. I love to make a huge batch of pasta salad on Sunday and chip away at it throughout the week. It gets better and better the longer it sits in the fridge: tangier, zestier… pasta-ier? Ok, maybe not that last one. Still, a good pasta salad gets appreciably more delicious as time goes on.

This tuna pasta salad is a slight variation on my usual recipe. I was poking around in my pantry the other day, looking for inspiration, and I saw that I had a stack of canned tuna that was a foot high. BOOM. Protein source found.

The tuna works great in this dish — it plays nicely with the red onion and lemony dressing. To keep the tuna’s flavor from overpowering the rest of the ingredients, I added just one can and made sure to drain it well. The tuna adds just the right amount of salt and makes the pasta feel extra-filling.

Here’s how I put everything together. Read more… →

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