Roasted Broccoli with Parmigiano-Reggiano

These are so yummy and so very good for you. Roast the florets in a 400-450 degree oven (mine works best at 425) for a crunchy, somewhat sweet, salty, and awesome veggie. The Parmigiano-Reggiano will look like a ton, but it only adds 27.5 calories for the ENTIRE batch (serves 4) and provides a ton of flavor!

 Snagged these 3 minutes into the baking process. Forgot to take the "before" picture.

Just after the roasting. The Parm. looks like a lot, but I used a very fine microplane grater which made the cheese super light and fluffy (please forgive the poor lighting, I will get better).

After the Parm melted and a little extra vinegar on top (I'm in love with balsamic vinegar!). You may think you see less broccoli and you'd be right. I can't resist this!!

Recipe

Ingredients

1 12 oz bag Broccoli Florets
1 Tbsp light EVOO (probably a lot less)
1T Balsamic Vinegar
1/4 OUNCE Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated on a fine microplane
1 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper.
2 tsp Emeril's Essence

*All seasonings should be done to taste.

Directions

Spray baking sheet with EVOO. Add Broccoli and top with Essence (salt), garlic powder , black pepper and balsamic vinegar. Bake in a 425 degree oven for 15 minutes. Turn over the broccoli and bake for another 10 minutes. Top immediately with Parmigiano-Reggiano. Serve hot or store and eat on it all week long. YUM!

Serves 4.

*Spices and vinegar are purely estimates. They are provided to give as close to accurate nutritional info as possible.

Nutritional Info:

• Fat: 4.3g
• Carbohydrates: 6.2g
• Calories: 68.6
• Protein: 3.4g

Baked Mini Chicken Meatballs

Here's a recipe that I came up with (combined about 3 different recipes to form my own). This is for Baked Mini Chicken Meatballs. Never have worked with ground chicken before, I didn't know what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised!

• 1 pound ground chicken (Perdue recommended)
• 1/4 cup Italian bread crumbs
• 2 large whole eggs
• 3 T ketchup
• 75 grams (3/4 cup) Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, grated (no green can stuff if you can help it)
• 1/2 onion, grated
• 3 cloves, garlic, grated
• 2T Mrs Dash Onion & Herb
• 1/4 cup chopped flat leaf parsley
• Ground pepper, to taste
• Paprika

Directions:
Preheat over to 425

Mix all ingredients except the ground chicken and paprika. Mix well. Place ground chicken in bowl and mix well, but don't over work. Using a 2 teaspoon "cookie" scoop, scoop up mixture, leveling the excess off onto the side of the bowl. Place into hand a gently round out the meatball. Place onto a broiler pan or cookie sheet. If at all possible, refrigerate for a few hours. This step can be skipped if you need to. Sprinkle paprika over the surface of the meatball.

Place pan into oven and bake 10-15 minutes, or until done.

Number of Servings: 45 (1 meatball per serving, I'd say a true serving would be 4 meatballs)

Nutritional info: Calories 29.8, Fat 1.8 g, Cholesterol 20.5 mg, Sodium 42.7 mg, Carbs .8 g, Fiber 0, Protein 2.6 g

Last night I served them in a Pasta Fajolie soup. So yummy. I'll post the recipe for that next, but here's a picture....

I'm also going to try this using ground turkey breast and frozen spinach. I'll let you know how it goes :)

Individual Chicken Pot Pies

I found this on the Pillsbury website and it looks really yummy. I haven't tried it yet, but will be sure to post when I do. You can significantly reduce the calories and fat by using low fat butter, skim-1% milk, and reduced fat biscuits (or pass on the biscuits all together). The formatting below is off so for the full recipe, click on one of the links above.

Individual Chicken Pot Pies
	Flaky biscuits top these veggie-packed pot pies. The individual servings are a nice change from passing hot pie pans or casserole dishes at the table. Prep Time: 25 Min Total Time: 45 Min Makes: 8 servings User Rating:
NGREDIENTS 1/4 cup margarine or butter 1/3 cup all-purpose flour Dash pepper 1 can (10 1/2 oz) condensed chicken broth 3/4 cup milk 2 cups cubed cooked chicken or turkey 1/3 cup chopped onion 1 can (4 oz) Green Giant® mushroom pieces and stems, drained 1 cup Green Giant® Valley Fresh Steamers™ frozen sweet peas 1 cup frozen sliced carrots 1 can (16.3 oz) Pillsbury® Grands!® Flaky Layers refrigerated original biscuits Additional milk, if desired Sesame seed, if desired DIRECTIONS 1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease 8 (10-oz) ramekins, custard cups or large muffin cups. 2. In 10-inch skillet, melt butter; stir in flour and pepper. Cook about 1 minute, stirring constantly, until smooth and bubbly. Gradually stir in broth and 3/4 cup milk; cook until mixture boils and thickens, stirring constantly. Add chicken, onion, mushrooms, peas and carrots; cook until hot and bubbly. Spoon mixture evenly into ramekins. Separate dough into 8 biscuits. Press each to make 4 1/2-inch round. Place biscuit rounds on tops of filled ramekins. Cut slits in biscuit tops. Brush biscuit tops with additional milk. Sprinkle with sesame seed. 3. Bake 17 to 20 minutes or until biscuits are golden brown DIRECTIONS: 1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease 8 (10-oz) ramekins, custard cups or large muffin cups. 2. In 10-inch skillet, melt butter; stir in flour and pepper. Cook about 1 minute, stirring constantly, until smooth and bubbly. Gradually stir in broth and 3/4 cup milk; cook until mixture boils and thickens, stirring constantly. Add chicken, onion, mushrooms, peas and carrots; cook until hot and bubbly. Spoon mixture evenly into ramekins. Separate dough into 8 biscuits. Press each to make 4 1/2-inch round. Place biscuit rounds on tops of filled ramekins. Cut slits in biscuit tops. Brush biscuit tops with additional milk. Sprinkle with sesame seed. 3. Bake 17 to 20 minutes or until biscuits are golden brown. High Altitude (3500-6500 ft): No change. NUTRITION INFORMATION: 1 Serving: Calories 380 (Calories from Fat 170); Total Fat 18g (Saturated Fat 4 1/2g, Trans Fat 5g); Cholesterol 30mg; Sodium 980mg; Total Carbohydrate 35g (Dietary Fiber 2g, Sugars 9g); Protein 18g Percent Daily Value*: Vitamin A 120%; Vitamin C 2%; Calcium 8%; Iron 15% Exchanges: 1 1/2 Starch; 1 Other Carbohydrate; 0 Vegetable; 2 Lean Meat; 2 Fat Carbohydrate Choices: 2 *Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Special Touch: For a nice flavor twist, add 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme or rosemary leaves to the chicken mixture. Then garnish each little pie with a sprig of fresh thyme or rosemary.

Baked Eggs

One of my favorite ways to prepare for the week is to bake a batch of eggs. They come out the perfect size for the "Thin" Breakfast Sandwich or anything else you might want to come up with. You can also do this with egg substitute, but the cook time will probably be less.

You will need:

• 6 large eggs (pictured are Extra Large eggs because that's what I had)
• a muffin top pan (ramekins or extra large muffin pan can also be used)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray pan lightly with canola oil (or any oil you like), using a Misto. Crack 1 egg into each muffin top section. Poke egg yolk with a fork and very, very lightly combine with the egg white...

Place in oven for 7-10 minutes (I go with 7 minutes because they will be reheated later in the week. I try to avoid the eggs becoming overdone and rubbery).

Now your eggs are ready for the morning, or any time, all week long. It takes almost no effort at all and can be a God send in the mornings.

Roasted Veggies

I spent most of the day looking for "recipes" for roasting vegetables. Then in dawned on me that it's really a method, not a recipe.  So, this is what I came up with:

*Preheat oven to 450 - 475
*Wash and prep veggies of your choice (I used broccoli, carrots, zucchini, and red & orange sweet peppers)
*Place veggies on a lightly sprayed cookie sheet
*Spritz with oil (I used canola, but any oil will do), season with salt, pepper, and any herbs you like (I used Mrs. Dash Onion & Herb)
*Toss veggies on the cookie sheet and place in oven for 10 minutes. Give the veggies a toss and place back in the oven for another 5-10 minutes or until they're like you like them
**I did find that I needed to place the peppers under the broiler to char the skin. I placed them in a sealed container and let steam for about 10 minutes. The skin peels right off after that. They taste so much better than the jarred stuff (I don't have any problem with jarred red peppers. I keep them on hand).

The picture above is what's left of the veggies. They were so good, my 10 year old daughter and I couldn't stop eating them (she mainly went for the carrots). YUM!!!

Nutritional info will vary depending on the veggies you use and how much oil you use. As long as you keep the oil to a minimum this is a very safe and healthy way to eat. I look at veggies as "free food". Nobody ever got fat from eating too much broccoli!!

After poking around some blogs, I did discover *this* recipe. Scroll down to  "Calabacitas". This is an excellent blog and an example of where I'd like to be in about a year (not weight wise, that will take much longer).

"Thin" Breakfast Sandwich

 

Yummy breakfast sandwich:

1 serving Arnold's Select Sandwich Thins Multigrain or Whole Wheat (MG pictured)

1 large Egglands Best Egg, cooked in pan that's sprayed lightly with oil using a Misto

1 slice Kraft 2% American cheese single

.5 ounces Earthbound Farm Organic Baby Spinach

1/2 plum tomato

Toast bread lightly, assemble in any order you like, and enjoy :). 

Calories: 228, Fat: 8, Protein: 15, Carbs: 26, Fiber: 7