Banana Nut French Toast

I love weekends. And I really love cooking on weekends. Just so happens I also love a big breakfast on the weekend. Most weekends I’ll make my famous pancakes. That recipe is top secret. I toss in some chocolate chips for the kids, and bacon and pecans for the wife. I prefer my pancakes plain. With a fried egg in between. So good.

But since the first of the year, the family is on a healthy lifestyle program (aka diet). What I like about that is it challenges me to find new foods that are filling, but not fattening. And they really need to taste good. This one is really good. Peggy tells me it’s too good to be healthy.  The trick is to find a dense bread. We love the Tuscan loaf. I buy it at SuperTarget, but I have seen it at several places. Another nice thing is if you have an overripe banana, what do you do with it? Not enough for banana bread, right? Here’s a healthier option. If you try it, let me know what you think.

Banana Nut French Toast

Serves 2

1 banana (ripe)

1 packet sweetener (optional)

1 egg

2 egg whites

¼ cup skim milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 slices Tuscan bread (28 g per slice)

2 tablespoons chopped pecans

Mash the banana and mix in sweetener until mushy (that’s a technical cooking term).

Whip the eggs until frothy. Add milk, continue to whip.  Add banana mixture and vanilla and mix well (I use a hand blender at each step).

Dip bread into egg mixture, soaking both sides, and place in hot, preheated skillet coated with non-stick spray. While in the skillet, sprinkle pecans on top of the uncooked side of the bread.  Cook until each side is golden brown.

Serve with light maple syrup. Two slices (one serving) is only 290 calories, without the syrup.

Pork Cutlets with Pineapple Salsa

Maybe cause it’s the dead of winter with highs in the single digits, or maybe it’s because we have not abandoned our New Year’s resolution of healthy living, but I have been craving citrus. I love clementines, and having made the citrus salsa for the scallops last week had me looking to make it even better.  

I found some small, thin boneless pork chops at the store. Each cut is around 2 oz and about a 1/4 to 3/8 inch thick. Perfect for some cutlets. I love pineapple on pork, so let’s see where this goes.

Pork Cutlets with Pineapple Salsa

Serves 4

Pineapple Salsa (prepared 1 day in advance)

1 - 8 oz can pineapple (crushed or finely diced) with juice

¼ cup diced onion (I used white)

¼ cup diced bell peppers (I mixed Red, Yellow, Orange for color)

2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

1 tablespoon orange juice (optional)

1 jalapeno pepper - seeded and finely diced (optional)

Make the salsa by combining all of the ingredients, mixing well, and refrigerating overnight.

Pork Cutlets

8 thin boneless pork chops (around 2 oz each)

½ cup flour

2 teaspoons paprika

¼ cup milk

2/3 cup bread crumbs (I used panko)

Salt and pepper to taste

Start by pounding any pork chop greater than 1/2” thick to approximately 1/4”. Rinse the pork chops and pat dry.  Preheat a non-stick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium heat.

Combine the flour and paprika in one dish and the bread crumbs, salt and pepper in another. Coat the pork chops with flour, place in the milk, and then coat well with bread crumbs. Place in the pan for approximately 3 to 4 minutes each side, or until golden brown. Cooking several at time, plate the cooked cutlets and cover with foil to keep warm.

Top the cutlets with the salsa, and enjoy!

Strike One

Tonight I swung for the fences with a light version of Honey Chicken with light and dark sesame seeds. And, like my childhood Waveland Avenue bomber Dave Kingman, I whiffed. Haven't done that since little league.

That's all I'm gonna say about that that. Tomorrow is pork cutlets with citrus salsa and roasted potatoes. Keeping the fingers crossed.

Almond Crusted Chicken with Sauce

Today was one of those crazy days. You know the kind, the ones where you realize you need to put a meal on the table, and it is 5:00. Within the next 60 minutes, the questions will start. What’s for dinner? When are we eating? And always punctuated with the exclamation, Dad, I’m Hungry! It was one of THOSE days.

I had boneless, skinless chicken breasts mostly thawed out in the fridge. OK, that’s a start. I had a spice rack. That’s good. And I have a family demanding the dinners get mo’ healthy. Piece of cake, right? So tonight I was going to wing it. No recipe, no instructions. Just a semi-stocked pantry and fridge. But as I attacked the task at hand, I had ulterior motives. Whatever I tried on the chicken, I was eventually going to do with the tilapia in the freezer for lunch this weekend. I’m the only one in the house that will eat seafood, so this was a test.  I aced this exam. The kids asked me to make this one again. Cha-ching! The whole meal was less than 450 calories and 10 grams of fat. I love it when a plan comes to together.

Because I had no recipe, and as usual I didn’t write it down, I need to record this so I can have a tasty lunch this weekend. I’ll prep the tilapia the way I did the chicken, and the sauce will be something yet to be discovered.  Here you go…          

Almond Crusted Chicken with Sauce Something or Other

Serves 4

Almond Crusted Chicken

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

¼ cup almonds (roasted and ground fine)

2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

2 tablespoons bread crumbs

1 tablespoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon Thai basil (regular basil will also work)

¼ cup milk

1 egg white

4 cups cooked pasta

Preheat oven to 425. Prepare a baking sheet lined with foil.

Whisk the egg white until frothy and add the milk. Whisk until well blended.

In separate dish combine the almonds, bread crumbs, Parmesan, coriander, paprika and basil and mix well. Add some salt and pepper because that's what the TV chefs would do at this point.

Dip one side of the chicken breast in the egg mixture. Transfer to the dry ingredients so the same side is well coated. Place on the baking sheet with the coated side face up. Bake for 30 minutes.

Sauce

One can of Campbell’s Healthy Request Cream of Chicken Soup (98% fat free)

¼ cup white wine

¼ cup chicken stock

¼ cup milk
1 tablespoon lemon juice

¼ cup finely dice onions

¼ cup finely diced celery

Salt and pepper (to taste)

In a pan coated with cooking spray, cook the onions and celery over medium heat until soft. Add white wine, chicken stock, lemon juice, salt and pepper and cook uncovered for 5 minutes. Mix in the soup and cook for additional 10 minutes until well heated. Add milk, reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.

Serve pasta and chicken with sauce. Enjoy!

Light Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Ever looking to “healthy up” our lifestyle in a typical New Year’s fashion, I’ve been seeking creative ways to change up the menu. Here’s one I did this week that seemed to be a hit. It starts with Kraft Light Asian Toasted Sesame reduced fat salad dressing. I have used this as a marinade for grilled chicken before, and it seemed to go over well. The nice thing about this is that you can top it on rice, serve it as a lettuce wrap, or in my case, a little bit of both. Abbey had it with white rice, Peggy liked it with brown rice, and I had it with brown rice, and wrapped in lettuce. It’ll come back to the table again soon.

Asian Chicken and Rice Lettuce Wraps

Serves 4

1 lb boneless chicken breasts (finely diced)

4 tablespoons Kraft Light Asian Toasted Sesame reduced fat salad dressing

¼ cup finely diced onion

1 teaspoon minced garlic

½ cup finely diced water chestnuts

¼ cup slivered almonds

1 tablespoon olive oil (optional)

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Salt and pepper (to taste)

Lettuce leaves (Butter or Boston Bibb)

4 cups prepared rice (optional)

Heat a wok, if available, or saute pan to medium high heat and coat with non-stick spray, or use optional olive oil. Cook onion for approximately 5 mins, or until it just starts to turn translucent. Mix in garlic and cook 2 more minutes.

Push onions to outer edge, and put chicken, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper in the center. Cook until it just starts to brown. Mix in water chestnuts, slivered almonds, and salad dressing. Cook for additional 5 minutes, stirring frequently.

Serve on top of prepared rice, or with lettuce leaves. Or both!

Easy Italian Fare

This is one of those items that is on the menu at dozens of Italian Restaurants, but I don’t recall ever actually ordering it. For some reason I thought I’d try to make it for the family. That was a couple of years ago, and now it’s on table every couple of weeks. I’ve tweaked the recipe a bit, and it’s easy to make it into a healthy option as well. Here’s the standard fare version:

Simple Chicken Picatta

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (or use four chicken cutlets if desired)

2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

¼ cup flour

¼ cup bread crumbs (I use Panko)

Salt and pepper

1 egg white

¼ cup milk

4 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons butter

½ cup chicken stock

½ cup dry white wine

3 tablespoons lemon juice

Capers (as desired, approx. ¼ cup drained for full recipe)

Chopped fresh parsley

Shredded Parmesan cheese

Take the chicken breasts and cut them in half on the plane to get 4 cutlets. If they are more than ¼” thick, place them between two sheets of plastic wrap and pound them flat to achieve desired thickness. Rinse the breasts in water and set aside.

Whisk the egg white and add milk.

Combine and stir the flour, bread crumbs, salt, pepper, and grated Parmesan.

Heat olive oil in skillet over medium high heat. Coat the chicken in the egg wash, and then place in the flour mixture until well coated on each side.

Place 2 of chicken breasts in the pan, without crowding them, and cooking on each side until golden brown. Remove to a platter and cook the other two. Wrap the four cutlets and platter in foil and place in the oven to keep warm.

Add the chicken stock, white wine, and capers (if desired). Cook sauce until reduced to about ½. Add the butter and scrape up the browned chicken bits to complete the sauce.

Serve the chicken plated with pasta of choice. Top with sauce, shredded Parmesan, and chopped fresh parsley. For added flair, garnish with lemon slice.

Enjoy!

The (Anti-) Heart Attack Lunch

I probably should have said this sooner, but my ultimate chefly inspiration is my mom. I know that sounds kind of canned, but if you know her (or had the pleasure of eating her crown roast, lobster-stuffed beef tenderloin, or chocolate chip cookies) you know what I mean. For years she had a catering business, and while her smoked meats were off the hook, her cakes were the big hit. She made the cakes for my wedding. My groom’s cake was her most amazing chocolate cake, with about 862 pounds of shave fine chocolate on the top. Oh my….

But over Christmas she introduced us to a new favorite, and something much healthier. She calls it Heart Healthy Chicken Salad. Abbey calls it cat food. We all call it awesome. It’s a fairly popular and simple recipe. The nice thing about it is that you can take the basics – chicken, light mayo, salt and pepper - and then add your preference for crunchy – celery and almonds are below. You can easily substitute apple, peanuts, slaw mix, cashews, and to add a little sweetness, throw in some dried cranberries. The secret is the chicken. The canned chicken chunk breast sold at Sam’s is what my mom uses. I tried the canned chicken breast from the grocery. From now on I’m grilling and dicing it from scratch. Enough rambling, here it is….

Crunchy Chunky Chicken Salad

·         3 ½ cups finely chopped grilled chicken breast

·         1 cup finely chopped celery

·         1/3 cup slivered almonds

·         1/3 cup light mayo

·         Salt and pepper to taste

·         1 tablespoon lemon juice (optional)

Combine mayo, salt, pepper, and lemon juice, if desired. Stir in chicken, celery, and almonds.

It’s that simple.  Serve on bread, rolls, or roll it up in lettuce.

Healthy eating!

Today’s lunch – scallops with a Caribbean flair

It’s the end of the week and all I had to work with was 4 oz of frozen small scallops. I was looking for a quick healthy lunch. Thawing the scallops under cold water only takes a few minutes, so what to do? Well I wanted to try out the new spice (coffee) grinder I got for Christmas, so I broke out the coriander and made some great healthy tacos.

Spicy/Sweet Caribbean Scallops

4 oz. thawed scallops

2 tablespoons toasted coriander

2 teaspoons paprika

Salt and pepper to taste

1 mandarin/clementine orange, peeled, sectioned, and diced.

¼ cup salsa

2 tablespoons low fat shredded cheese

2 small hi-carb wheat tortillas

Grind the coriander to a fine grind and combine with paprika and a pinch of salt & pepper. Roll the scallops in the seasoning mix until coated. In a preheated sauté pan with non-stick spray, cook the scallops for about 3 to 4 minutes, turning often, until done. Transfer to a paper towel to dry.

Combine the salsa with the chopped mandarin oranges for a sweet and spicy topping. Divide the scallops and salsa mix on each tortilla and top with low fat shredded cheese, and if you have some lettuce and light sour cream, throw those on as well.

Total calories consumed (without lettuce and sour cream) = 395. Nice!