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: