Guilt Free Sweet Potato Fries Recipe

I love me some sweet potato fries, but they're just so high in calories and fat.  Trader Joe's has healthier-than-restaurants-but-still-pretty-bad-for-you option that we usually get when we go grocery shopping, but, alas, they were out when we went on our last trip.  So, I became determined to make a healthier, but still delicious version.  This recipe comes out to 150 calories a serving, so you could actually eat the entire recipe for only 300 calories!

Guilt Free Sweet Potato Fries Recipe

Ingredients:

1 bag Trader Joe's peeled and pre-cut sweet potato spears (or you could do the work of peeling and hacking apart a regular sweet potato)

1/2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

salt

garlic powder

Directions:

1.  Pre-heat oven to 475°.  Move racks so that you have one on the highest rung in your oven, and one on the middle one.

2.  Lay the sweet potato spears on some paper towels to absorb any moisture.  Sprinkle with salt to draw out water.  Dab the spears with a paper towel as you see the water drawn out.

3.  Dump the spears on a baking sheet and mist with the olive oil (using my handy dandy Misto).  Sprinkle with garlic powder and salt. 

4.  Place the baking sheet in the oven on the top rack and bake for 7 minutes.

5.  Flip the spears on their sides and bake for another 7 minutes.

6.  Reduce heat to 350° and move baking sheet to the middle rack.  Bake for another 10 minutes and turn off oven.  Leave in the oven for 15 minutes.

You should end up with some delicious, crispy sweet potato fries that won't leave you craving the bad stuff:

This makes two servings, but it wouldn't ruin your diet to eat the entire recipe.

Nutritional Information:

per serving

Calories: 150

Carbs: 30

Fat: 4

Saturated Fat: 1

Protein: 2

Fiber: 6

Baked Lemon Garlic Mahi Mahi with Tzatziki Recipe

I know I say this about all of the recipes, but seriously, this was fantastic!  I've been in a Greek mood for the past few days, so I threw this together the other night, and served it with the Greek couscous salad I made the other day.  

Baked Lemon Garlic Mahi Mahi with Tzatziki Recipe

Ingredients:

Mahi Mahi Fillets (I had 9 oz)

8 tablespoons lemon juice

1 clove garlic, finely minced

Salt

Pepper

Ground cumin

1 cup Greek yogurt

1 cucumber, shredded

Directions:

1. Rinse the mahi mahi fillets and pat dry.

2. Place the fillets on tinfoil lined baking sheet.  Sprinkle three quarters of the minced garlic over the fillets.  Drizzle a few tablespoons over the fillets and sprinkle with pepper.  

3. Bake at 375° for 6 minutes.  Flip the fillets over, spooning some of the garlic onto the top.  Drizzle remaining lemon juice over the fillets, sprinkle with pepper and bake for another 4-6 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fillets.

4.  For the tzatziki, combine the Greek yogurt, shredded cucumber, the remaining portion of the minced garlic, and two tablespoons of lemon juice.  Do not strain the liquid from the cucumber, this will help to thin out the tzatziki.  Add ground cumin, salt, and pepper to taste.

To serve, spoon some of the tzatziki over the mahi mahi.  I plated mine with some of the Greek couscous salad I made the other day.

Makes 3 (3oz) servings

Nutritional Information:

Per 3oz of fish, and 1/3 cup of tzatziki

Calories: 95

Carbs: 4

Fat: 1

Saturated Fat: 0

Protein: 18

Fiber: 1

Greek Couscous Salad Recipe

This is a quick and easy (and tasty!) recipe that I usually throw together on the weekend and take to work for lunch through the week.   Only 291 calories!

Greek Couscous Salad Recipe

Ingredients:

1 cup whole wheat couscous

1 cup vegetable broth

1 cup grape tomatoes, halved

1 cup chopped red onion

2 cucumbers, chopped (I used persian cucumbers because they're seedless)

1/2 can of pitted black olives, halved

4 oz. light feta, crumbled

2 tablespoons lemon juice

10 tablespoons fat free, very low calorie Italian dressing (I used Kraft Free Zesty Italian, only 15 calories)

pepper and garlic salt, to taste

Directions:

1.  Bring the vegetable broth to a boil.  Remove from heat and add the dry couscous to the broth.  Stir until the grains are completely immersed in the liquid.  Cover, and let stand for five minutes.

2.  Meanwhile, chop up the veggies and add to a bowl.

3.  Fluff the couscous with a fork and let cool.

4.  Add the Italian dressing, crumbled feta, and lemon juice to the veggies and toss until the veggies are coated with the dressing.

5.  Add the cooled couscous to the bowl of veggies, stir, and add salt and pepper to taste.

Voilà:

Makes 4 very large servings.

Nutritional Information:

per serving

Calories: 291

Carbs: 43

Fat: 6

Saturated Fat: 1

Protein: 11

Fiber: 7

Indian Quinoa Recipe

I've never had quinoa before, but have heard about all the health benefits and how great it tastes, so I picked up a box at Trader Joe's.  Its been sitting in the cupboard for a few weeks now, since I had no idea what I wanted to do with it.  I sucked it up tonight and decided to give it a go and make it for my lunch for tomorrow.  I figured I'd treat it like couscous or rice, and give it an Indian twist.  My inspiration is this Indian fried rice dish my mom used to make that I love.

Quinoa Recipe

Ingredients:

1 cup dry quinoa (red or white, I used white)

1.5 cups vegetable broth (or water if you don't have any broth)

2 shallots, chopped (use a medium red onion if you don't have shallots)

5 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp turmeric

1 tsp cayenne

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp ginger powder

1 tsp garam masala

1 tsp black pepper

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons lemon juice

From left to right: Ground Coriander, Ground Cumin, Garam Masala, Turmeric, Cayenne, Ginger Powder

Cooking Directions:

1.  Bring the quinoa and vegetable broth to a boil and simmer on medium heat, covered, for about 10 minutes.

2. In a separate pan, sauté the shallots in the olive oil for about a minute, then add the garlic.  Add all of the spices and cook for another two minutes.

3.  Add in the cooked quinoa and the lemon juice, stir and serve!

This turned out so good, I can't wait for it to be lunchtime tomorrow so I can eat this!

Makes 2 main dish servings, or 4 side dish servings.

Nutritional Information:

Serving size: 1 main dish serving (half of what was made)

Calories: 511

Carbs: 72

Fat: 20

Saturated Fat: 2

Protein: 12

Fiber: 6

Fish Tacos Recipe

I had a package of Trader Joe's seasoned mahi mahi fillets sitting in my freezer that I needed to use, so I decided to make fish tacos tonight.  I also had some asparagus, so I made that on the side as well.  The meal was pretty good and turned out to only be 330 calories total (250 for the tacos, 80 for the asparagus).  

Fish Tacos Recipe

Ingredients:

1 package Trader Joe's seasoned mahi mahi fillets (1/3 package per serving)

Herdez green salsa (or any salsa of your liking)

Shredded cabbage (not pictured)

Corn tortillas (2 per serving)

Cooking Directions:

1.  Heat a pan on medium-high heat and add the mahi mahi to the pan.  Since the mahi mahi is already marinated, there wasn't any need to add oil to the pan.  Cook 5 minutes on each side.

2.  Heat the tortillas in a pan or in the microwave.

3.  Assemble tacos: add the fish, shredded cabbage, and salsa to the tortillas.

Asparagus

All I did was wash the asparagus and break off the tough part of the stems, then coat the spears in half a tablespoon of olive oil and some garlic salt.  I stuck them in the oven at 300° for the entire time I spent cooking and assembling the tacos (about 15 minutes).

And here's the finished product:

Nutritional Information:

Fish Tacos
Serving size: 2 tacos
Calories: 250
Carbs: 25
Fat: 7

Saturated Fat: 1

Protein: 23
Fiber: 3

Asparagus
Serving size: about 10 spears

Calories: 80

Carbs: 8

Fat: 4

Saturated Fat: 1

Protein: 4

Fiber: 4

Low Cal Vegetarian Chili Recipe

A friend of mine shared a healthy, low-calorie recipe with me that I decided to make for dinner.  I didn't have the same ingredients at home that her recipe called for, so I made some adjustments and came up with this.  It was DELICIOUS and so filling.  Only 381 calories and I'm stuffed.  

Vegetarian Chili Recipe

Ingredients:

1 can black beans
1 can kidney beans
1 cup corn
5 cloves garlic
2 jalapeno peppers
1 medium red onion
1 can diced tomatoes (I didn't have any so I used 1 cup pasta sauce instead)
1 cup vegetable broth
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon taco seasoning

Prep Work:

Chop the onion, garlic, and jalapenos to a thickness of your liking.
Open the cans and rinse the beans.

Cooking Directions:

1.  Heat the olive oil in a large pot on medium heat and add the jalapenos, garlic, and half of the onion.
2.  Sautee for a minute and add the spices (coriander, cumin, cayenne, and taco seasoning).











3.  Add the tomatoes (can diced tomatoes or pasta sauce), vegetable broth, both cans of beans, corn, and remaining onion to the mixture.  Stir and let simmer on medium for twenty minutes, stirring occasionally.  Adjust the consistency by adding more vegetable broth if it gets too dry or thick.


Nutritional Information:

This recipe makes 4 servings.
Per Serving:

Calories: 381             
Carbs: 54
Fat: 10
Saturated Fat: 1
Protein: 16
Fiber: 13

This is my serving suggestion, as I had it - over polenta with a poached egg: