Low-Carb Cheese-Stuffed Chicken Breasts

Old spices and all, the husband really liked dinner. I just wish I liked the photo better!

We keep a clean, well-organized house around here. At least, I liked to think that. 

I sweep, vacuum and mop; the husband always makes sure the dishes are put away. We change our sheets regularly, clean the bathroom, you know the drill.

And then company will come and I'll realize the baseboard in the hallway has a big brown dirt spot on it. Yes, a huge dirty mark running about a three-foot span. 

Low-Carb Waffles

High-Protein, Low-Carb Waffles

You know that feeling you get in the back of your throat after you've just eaten so much bread so quickly that you're about to get the hiccups and know you're going to need some peanut butter? No? Are you telling me you've never eaten bread so fast you've gotten that hiccups or that you don't cure hiccups with peanut butter?

Oh, well. Let's not start that debate.

Let me just tell you that these waffles were a long time coming. I tried them with three egg whites, which resulted in a volcano of a waffle erupting all over our kitchen countertop. I tried adding water, which made the waffle iron sizzle and steam - and make very crispy, airy waffles.

Finally I stuck with two egg whites, skipped the water and ended up with waffles.

Thank God.

Winning Chicken Dinner

Winner, Winner Chicken Dinner

Bake chicken, ham and cheese. Who knew that's all I had to do to make the husband an ah-maze-ing dinner? Seriously. He loves chicken cordon bleu so much (news to me) that I've made it twice in the last three weeks - and one of the last three weeks we weren't even home. So let's just say I've made him this meal twice in two weeks.

I can't complain, though. This a simple dinner that tastes great, is low in carbs and the husband absolutely loves it.

High-Protein, Low-Carb "Pancakes"

High-Protein, Low-Carb "Pancakes"

Wife: People who see me eat lunch probably think I'm so weird.

Husband, pointing to himself: You mean like this guy?

That was us yesterday discussing my recent brown-bag specials, which have consisted of turkey and cheese roll-ups and chicken salad made with Greek yogurt. I don't eat a lot of carbs - doctor's orders.

So even though the husband wasn't home this morning when I was eating breakfast, I could picture him in his usual spot across the table from me, saying the exact same thing he said to me yesterday afternoon:

Whatever makes you happy, honey.

Well, some might consider this a strange breakfast, but these "pancakes" made me verrrry happy this morning.

High-Protein, Low-Carb Pancakes

Inspired by This Guy

1/2 cup liquid egg whites

1 scoop 100% whey protein powder (I used vanilla)

a dash of apple pie spice

cooking spray

spray butter

Combine the egg whites, protein powder and spice in a shaker and shake for two minutes. The mixture will thicken and begin to look like batter.

Heat a griddle over medium heat and spray with cooking spray. Pour the "batter" onto the griddle. Cover and cook for 1 1/2 to 2 minutes or until small bubbles begin to form. Flip. Cook on the other side.

Continue making "pancakes" until all of the batter is gone. Top with butter spray or your favorite syrup or fruit. Next time, I might even use a little Greek yogurt and see how that tastes.

Enjoy!

Serves 1

207 calories, 2.5 g fat, 5.7 g carbs, 0 g fiber, 38 g protein

Light Basil Mayo

A few weekends ago we grilled turkey burgers and spicy corn, and if you read all about that, you may have wondered what that huge white glob was on my bun. Well, that was a little light basil mayo that I've made a couple of times recently, and the husband and I are just loving it. Plus, it's a really nice way to put our abundance of fresh basil to use. (Absolutely no complaints about that!)

Light Basil Mayo

From Cooking Light

1/4 cup light mayo

2 teaspoons chopped fresh basil

1 garlic clove, minced

1/4 teaspoon salt

Stir with a whisk until fully combined. How simple is that?

Serves 4; makes 1 tablespoon per serving

51 calories, 4.9 g fat, 1.5 g carbs, .1 g fiber, .2 g protein

My (Banana) Muffin Man

I eat a lot of fruit. No joke. On any given day, I'll eat an apple, blueberries or cranberries, pineapple chunks or an orange, and I almost always eat a banana. I love bananas. So it's odd that we've had so many overripe bananas in our kitchen lately. But the last thing I was going to do was throw them into the compost. 

Lil' Brownie Bites

My momma and I have this running joke every time there's a social event she's headed out to that I have to miss where she'll ask me what I'm bringing. I'll often say I'm bringing a picnic salad or, better year, the wine. And since we're usually discussing this mid-Saturday morning, I always end with: "We'll leave as soon as the husband gets back from golf. I guess I'll see you at about midnight." Oh, if only, Momma.

So in honor of Memorial Day weekend and the delicious barbecues I know everyone will be enjoying this weekend, I'll tell you what I'd bring: Light Brownie Bites. These things were a cinch to throw together. I did all of the work by hand - while on the phone with my momma - and the brownie bites were mixed, baked and ready to eat in less than 15 minutes. No joke. With these in hand, I may even make it to a party in the hollow by about 11:30 pm.


Light Brownie Bites
Inspired by Cooking Light
Makes 24 brownie bites

1/2 cup self-rising flour

2/3 cup sugar

3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa

4 large egg whites

2 tablespoons canola oil

3 tablespoons Kahlua White Russian mix or chocolate liqueur (optional)

cooking spray

powdered sugar (optional)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Combine flour, sugar and cocoa in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk.

Whisk egg whites until foamy in a separate bowl. Add oil and liqueur, if desired, which I do suggest, and stir with a whisk.

Add egg white mixture to flour mixture, stirring just until moistened. Spoon batter evenly into 24 miniature muffin cups coated with cooking spray.

Bake for 8 minutes. Remove from pan; cool on wire racks.

If you don't mix your dry ingredients well, your brownies may look like mine.

If you follow Cooking Light's recipe, which also uses chocolate chips and a sprinkle of chopped almonds, the nutritional information for one mini brownie bite: 61 calories, 2.4 g fat, 8.8 g carbs, .3 g fiber, 1.2 g protein

Meatless Monday: Mini Chickpea Burgers

Mini Chickpea Burgers and Wild Rice

My lack of posts last week may have made it look like I was on vacation but, alas, I wasn't. The truth is I fed the husband tacos one night, a quick pancetta grilled cheese sandwich another night and Friday was an eat-whatever-you-can-find-in-the-fridge night. Sorry, readers. Life happens. I'm sure you know how that goes.

But Monday is here once again, and that means I get a fresh start; another opportunity to feed the husband a healthy dinner sans meat. Last Monday the husband kept asking: "Are we having falafels? Are we?" I asked him if that's what he really wanted, and he told me he didn't even know what they were. "What do we even eat them with?" He asked me.

The thing is, he does know what they are because I've made them before. So since I didn't make the husband falafels last week, and I really haven't in a while, I thought maybe we were due. 

Meatless Monday: Baked Polenta and Tri-Color Beans

Baked Polenta Topped With Beans and Veggies

When they say you learn something new every day, does that limit us to one thing per day? If that's the case, I think I learned up all of today and tomorrow's lessons tonight. You see, tonight I realized polenta really is as easy to make as it sounds, and I learned how to cut open a pineapple. 

The husband sent me a text late this afternoon asking what was for dinner this Meatless Monday. (He's catching on nicely, don't you think?) I told him i wanted to make polenta that it might take awhile. He said that was fine, and I know we both started reminiscing about those delicious polenta dishes Momma made when she was visiting. I was more than excited to get home and get to work.

Blackened Tilapia (Inspired by Cooking Light)

Blackened Tilapia and Southwestern Corn

I'm skeptical. It's true I'm a strong believer everything happens for a reason, but I also have a hard time believing things that just plain sound too good to be true. Tonight's dinner was exactly one of those instances. I had absolutely no faith our dinner would be ready in less than 15 minutes. Thank you for proving me wrong, Cooking Light! You helped me see I really need to let this skepticism go a little bit.

The husband and I planned to take the big brown dog and little brown dog to the park tonight, so we really needed a dinner that would come together quickly. After eating pounds of pulled pork last weekend, I still don't have much interest in meat just yet. Lucky for me the husband was up for fish tonight. Just for him, I thought I'd try out a blackened fish recipe.

Whole Wheat Buttermilk Pancakes

Whole Wheat Buttermilk Pancakes - for Dinner!

Ten years ago my plan was to graduate from college, get a job teaching high school English, marry a really handsome man and live within a 20-mile radius of my hometown. Well, some of those plans came true. I did, in fact, marry a really handsome man. And I graduated from college - and grad school - in five years, to be exact. But instead of earning a teaching degree I went with journalism, and I now live about 800 miles away from my parents. 

It's funny how life can change. I never thought I'd marry a country boy I have known almost all of my life. But man am I glad I did. And I never thought he'd talk me into eating breakfast for dinner - but he did.

Apple-Stuffed French Toast

Apple-Stuffed French Toast

We're looking at a chilly, rainy weekend here - at least that's what the weatherman says. It hasn't rained here yet, but we've been told it's coming. So the husband asked if I'd like to go on a date this afternoon. Do I have a keeper or what? We're heading out shortly for a trip to Super Target (which really does sound exciting to me), a matinee and dinner at one of our favorite steakhouses. But, you know me, it doesn't matter how much food I plan to consumer later, I must eat breakfast.

I made the husband a nice French toast breakfast and one for myself, as well, but I amped it up a little bit. Of course I offered to make the husband's breakfast just like mine, but he really wasn't interested. He liked his simple french toast just fine, and now we're ready to take on the day. I'm just hoping not everyone else and their brother has decided to go to the movies today, as well.

Chicken and Spinach White Pizza

Chicken and Spinach White Pizza

As we were about to put our pizza in the oven tonight the husband asked me, "Are we predictable because we eat pizza almost every week, or are we unique because we eat different kinds of pizza?" My answer?

"You obviously don't read my blog, do you?"

"Your blog is my life! I don't really need to read about my life," he told me.

So although the husband may not care to read what we ate for dinner, you, I hope are interested. And you already know that Friday often means pizza night in our house. But tonight we had a pizza that was a little different than any pizza I've made before. As much as I've thought about and wanted to make pizza with spinach, I'd never done it until tonight.

Ellie's Pork Chops and Warm Apple Slaw

Pork Chops and Warm Apple Slaw

Smell can make us draw pretty powerful associations, wouldn't you agree? The smell of sauteing garlic always reminds me of gravy on Sundays and good memories of my parents' kitchen filled with family. On the other hand, the smell of Pine Sol makes me think about mopping the floor after one of the dogs has been on a naughty streak. You get my drift. Is this not a good way to start a food post? Perhaps, but I need you to understand how hesitant I was to make the husband cabbage for dinner - and get him to eat it. 

I love cabbage. I enjoy a good cole slaw, steamed cabbage with butter, sauteed cabbage with olive oil and salt and pepper, and I even like a little cabbage soup every now and then. The husband, however, feels the need to make faces, tell me I'm gross and talk about how  awful the kitchen smells every time I make cabbage. Every. Single. Time. So I really wasn't sure how well tonight's dinner would go over. But I really wanted to make this recipe, and the husband recently told me he'd try anything I want to make. (And, yes, there's a chance he admitted this after a few PBRs, but I'm not about to forget it.) 

Meatless Monday: Creamy Creole-Spiced Pasta

Creamy Creole-Spiced 

When we clear the table at the end of a meal, one thing is always the same: My plate is always cleaner than the husband's plate. It's a habit I've had for years. I think I get it from watching my step-father wipe heels of Arthur Avenue bread around his plate, wiping up gravy or balsamic vinaigrette, at the end of a good meal. The husband? He never does this - ever. (I'm really starting to question what kind of Italians raised him.) So when I saw him using a slice of bread to clean his plate tonight, I knew he liked dinner.

I had told the husband I planned to make something like a baked mac and cheese; he said it sounded like a good idea. And when I got his text at 4:45pm telling me that Meatless Monday was killing him and he was starving (dramatic, I know), I knew dinner better be good or I'd never hear the end of it. 


But I was willing to live with good, and when I decided not to really make a mac and cheese, I didn't worry. I just wanted to make a good meal - that had a lot fewer calories than your traditional mac and cheese. So when the husband finished his meal by wiping his bread all around his bowl, I knew dinner was better than good. I apologized for not making mac and cheese, but the husband said he really liked dinner and that it was more like an Alfredo pasta. He didn't even reach for the spices or extra cheese that I put on the table for him. And that pretty much proved to me that he doesn't think Meatless Monday is so bad after all.

Easy, Low-Fat Granola

Homemade Granola

Wife: So I was reading this story today on TreeHugger.com about this 103-year-old man who rides his bike every day.
Husband: Wait, what?
Wife: Yeah, I know! He's 103, can you believe that?
Husband: No, I mean, you were reading a website called TreeHugger.com?
Wife: Babe, you knew who I was when you married me.

The husband may like to laugh at the fact that I enjoy clicking around TreeHugger.com, recycling, composting, searching for healthy recipes and reading nutrition labels at the grocery store. But he also really likes to benefit from these habits - and he especially likes eating the granola I've been making lately. And I don't think he minds my stories that much, either.

Easy, Low-Fat Granola
Inspired by a lot of reading but especially The Gracious Pantry


2 cups oats (sometimes I use 1 cup old fashioned and 1 cup quick)
1 cup crisp rice cereal
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 cup walnuts
1/4 cup raw honey
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup dried cranberries


Heat oven to 300 degrees F.

Combine the oats, cereal, cinnamon and walnuts in a large bowl; mix well.

Stir in the vanilla, honey and applesauce until everything is thoroughly combined.


Spread the mixture evenly on a lightly sprayed baking sheet.

Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and press the cranberries into the slightly cooked granola. 

Continue baking at 20-minute intervals, stirring every 20 minutes to make sure the granola is browning evenly and not burning. (Stir more often for fewer crunchy granola clumps.) The granola may take up to a whole hour until it is lightly browned to your liking and cooked completely.


Spoon into baggies or keep in a covered container.

Makes 8 (2-ounce) servings:
156 calories, 3.7 g fat, 28.5 g carbs, 2.9 g fiber, 3.5 g protein

Meatless Monday: Curry-Spiced Noodles

Curry-Spiced Noodles Inspired by Cooking Light

Finally! I've only been waiting weeks - literally weeks - to make this dish. This was supposed to be last Monday's dinner, but since the husband left me home to fend for myself, I had to put this meal on hold. (He actually left the house last week smirking over his shoulder saying, "I'm off to eat some meat.") But there was no business dinner to save the husband from Meatless Monday this week. And joke as he may, I don't think he minded this Meatless Monday dinner one bit.



As the husband and furkids played outside, I got started on dinner. I knew (thank you, Mom Chef) that this meal wouldn't come together as quickly as I hoped. And even though I took a few shortcuts, skipping the shiitake mushrooms and lemongrass, to mention a few, it still look more thought and planning than I'd anticipated. (Lucky for me I cut the recipe in half or I'd still be julienning carrots!) I made quite a mess in the kitchen, but it smelled amaaaazing.

Marmalade-Glazed Chicken

Marmalade-Glazed Chicken With Rice and Veggies

I can't exactly remember the context, but I can recall talking with my momma years before I got married about brides and she said, "brides always get skinny." I was probably whining to her about my weight and unnecessarily worrying about whether I'd make a beautiful bride. Well, I'll be honest: I got skinny right before my wedding. I was actually doing so well watching my weight and working out that at my last dress fitting the seamstress said: "Oh, baby girl! You're losin' weight on me. Look at all of the fabric back here!"

Well, a whole seven months later, I no longer seem to be losing weight - or maintaining it for that matter. I'm a whole six pounds heavier than the day I married the husband and, although he hates to hear about it, really starting to worry this isn't a good sign. I need to get back on track! So tonight I served up a lighter meal that still tasted pretty good.

Meatless Monday: An Italian Wrap & Pumpkin Yogurt

Pumpkin Yogurt and Graham Crackers

There's nothing I don't like about living with the husband. I love our time together more than anything. Honestly. I enjoy all the little stuff - even sorting laundry together. I just plain love it all. But there's something to be said about solitary evenings alone. When I'm home by myself I can watch hours of Sex and the City reruns or dance around the kitchen while I sweep the floor. The dogs never mind. Nor do they mind when I eat meals that their dad would likely consider repulsive. So as sad as I was when the husband said he had to go to a business dinner and wouldn't be home tonight, I also knew it meant I'd get to eat whatever I wanted for dinner without anyone raising an eyebrow.

While searching the Web a couple of weeks ago for vegetarian dishes I came across a recipe for vegetarian meat substitute that I thought sounded really interesting. I knew I'd never get away with serving it to the husband, though, so I was kind of looking forward to a night alone - a vegetarian night alone, ending with a little pumpkin dessert, to be exact.

Banana-Topped Pumpkin French Toast

Banana-Topped Pumpkin French Toast

Before we headed out for a day of outlet shopping today (thank you, spring rain), I made myself and the husband a nice French toast breakfast. He ate just plain old bread and egg whites with maple syrup (trucked all the way from Vermont). But I ate mine with a little pumpkin and some cooked bananas on top. Mmmmm. There's nothing like a great breakfast to start the day.

"See all the great things I introduced you to?" the husband asked as he ate his breakfast and I continued to cook mine. He was right. I never - never - ate French toast until I met him and his momma, who once owned a restaurant that I have a feeling specialized in breakfast. And I never ate pumpkin. You'd have never known my former breakfast aversions, though, from the meal I had this morning.

Banana-Topped Pumpkin French Toast

2 slices 35-calorie 9-grain bread
2 tablespoons canned pumpkin

1/2 large banana

1/2 cup liquid egg whites

dash vanilla

dash cinnamon

1/2 tablespoon honey

Mix about 1/4 cup of the egg whites, the cinnamon and vanilla in a bowl. 

Spread the pumpkin onto one slice of bread, and sandwich the other slice of bread on top. 

Dip the bread into the egg white mixture, covering both sides with the eggs. Cook the sandwich on a warmed and sprayed griddle. Flip the French toast sandwich after a few minutes and cook the other side until both sides are lightly brown and the eggs are cooked.

Cook the remaining egg whites and serve on the side.

Top the French toast with honey and enjoy!

Serves 1

Amount Per Serving: 237 calories, 1.5 g fat, 43 g carbs, 7.9 g fiber, 18 g protein