Naked Turkey Bruschetta Burger

Lean, delicious, juicy turkey burgers made with zucchini and topped with a summer garden tomato bruschetta topping over a bed of baby arugula – no bun required!

I thought I would share this fabulous turkey burger recipe from the archives for those of you who may not have tried this.

This dish was inspired by a meal my girlfriend ordered during a girl's night out. I always get inspired when I go out to eat, and created this lighter version which turned out delicious. For the turkey burger, I went with my skinny turkey burger recipe I posted a few years back, it's made with shredded zucchini which gives it lots of moisture and great flavor. They are delicate, so I prefer to make them on a skillet instead of the grill.

This is the perfect summer meal for under 300 calories, especially if you have lots of tomatoes in your garden. You can easily make these vegetarian by using a boca burger or veggie burger of your choice. By the way the lovely fork is by For Such A Time Designs. Hope you enjoy!

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Chicken Pot Pie Soup

The taste of chicken pot pie, in a soup!

It's a blizzard here today and I'm snowed in! No worries, I have all the ingredients to make this soup and I thought I would share this popular recipe from the archives for those of you who are new followers. Hopefully you'll be inspired to make it this week for your family, trust me you'll be glad you did!

Chicken pot pie is ultimate comfort food and this creamy, chunky soup is loaded with chicken, potatoes, mushrooms, peas, carrots, corn, celery, onions and green beans in every bite. You can modify this with the vegetables you like to suit your taste. If you want to get fancy, you can serve this in hollowed out bread bowls or serve it with cut-out baked pie crust (extra points), but I often make them with these Easy Garlic Cheddar Biscuits.

This recipe requires cooked chicken breast. If you have raw chicken, poach 3 breasts in water for 15 minutes, then remove and dice into bite-sized pieces. This soup is super filling! One cup fills me up, but if you want a larger serving, I posted nutritional info for a larger bowl as well.

Leftovers make a great lunch!!

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Morning Maple Cranberry Pecan Oat Bars

 

Chewy bars with chunks of toasted pecans and dried cranberries combined with toasted oats, almond butter and pure maple syrup. I'm in LOVE with these bars!

I made these bars last week and I couldn't wait to share them with you. I've been eating one every morning for breakfast (in fact I am having one now as I type this). These are by far, the best tasting bars I've ever had, they are chewy and have great texture, made with wholesome ingredients – one bar is a meal and it's perfect to take on the go. They are also egg free, dairy free, vegan, and can be made gluten free if you use gf oats. Next time I make these, I plan on rolling them into smaller balls and turning them into healthy cookies instead.

The recipe is very slightly modified from the Power Hungry: Ultimate Energy Cookbook. Camilla really knows how to make great tasting breakfast bars, you may remember the banana split bars I made a few month back also from the same book.

You can use any type of mild flavored unsweetened nut butter, such as almond, cashew, or sunflower seed butter. Peanut butter would also work perfectly well in this recipe, but it can overwhelm the flavor of the maple syrup. Toasting the oats and pecans adds tremendous flavor, but if you are in a hurry, you can skip this step.

Once made, individually and tightly wrap the bars in plastic wrap. Store the bars at room temperature for up to 2 days, or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Alternatively, place the wrapped bars in an airtight container and freeze for up to three months. Let the frozen bars thaw at room temperature for about 1 hour.

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Chewy Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Breakfast Cookie

Oats, ripe bananas and chocolate chips – these healthy, "breakfast" cookies are chewy and delicious, and made with just three ingredients.

I was craving chocolate this morning, and decided to whip up a batch of these yummy cookies for breakfast (I ate 4 cookies, for 4 points). Some of you may recognize them, in the past I made them with walnuts in place of chocolate chips.

I would never eat cookies for breakfast, but these are made with healthy ingredients – oats, bananas, and a handful of chocolate chips (antioxidants, right?) with no added sugar or flour. If you wanted, you could replace the chocolate chips for cocoa nibs, raisins, craisins, whatever! Perfect for breakfast, snack or any time you crave a sweet healthy treat. And these are nut-free, gluten-free and egg free so they are perfect for different diet restrictions.

The riper your banana the better, so make these when your bananas are almost black and freckled with dark spots.

I personally think these are best eaten warm, right out of the oven. They taste almost like mini banana bread muffins, the texture is soft and chewy, not crisp like a dessert cookie. If you're expecting a crispy cookie you would keep in your cookie jar – you WILL be disappointed. But if you have a very ripe banana hanging around your counter, and you are craving chocolate... make these! You will be happy you did.

If you want more of a "traditional" oatmeal cookie recipe, then try my Low Fat Chewy Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies instead... but I wouldn't eat them for breakfast.

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Blueberry Banana Oatmeal Smoothie

If you're looking for a heart healthy, dairy-free breakfast loaded with fiber you can eat on the run, this is it!

In South America, it's common to drink avena, a delicious oatmeal shake usually made with whole milk, cinnamon and sugar. My oldest daughter loves it, you can see my original recipe here. I've made it with pumpkin, but I was curious to see what would happen if I used unsweetened vanilla Almond Breeze almond milk instead, along with blueberries and banana. The outcome was really good, I added some raw sugar to sweeten it, but you could even use stevia or whatever sweetener you would normally use.

This is best if you make it and drink it right away. If you only need one serving, cook all the oatmeal in water as instructed below, but use only half of the cooked oatmeal in the blender and save the other half for the next day.

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Skillet Mexican Zucchini

This zucchini is incredibly delicious with a little bit of a Mexican kick from the jalapeno then topped with melted queso blanco. It's also easy and quick, a must try!

I'm a bit of a cookbook addict. It's a problem as I'm running out of room in my home for all my books, but that never stops me from buying new ones. But the biggest problem is that I kinda neglect them. But this weekend I was thumbing through the Aaron Sanchez's (who is one of the judges on Chopped - one of my favorite shows) cookbook Simple Food, Big Flavor who is also one of the judges on Chopped (one of my favorite shows) and I came across his Mexican recipe for zucchini. I can't get enough of zucchini in the summer, in fact I have an entire Pinterest Board devoted to skinny zucchini called Yummy Zucchini, so I decided to test this out...

You MUST try this! I only made a few tweaks using less oil, and and rather than making a cilantro pesto, I added Garden Gourmet cilantro paste and minced pickled jalapeno for kick. It totally exceeded my expectations.

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Sauteed Julienned Summer Vegetables

Zucchini, yellow squash and carrots cut into spaghetti like strands and sauteed with garlic and oil. I make this side dish ALL summer long – not just because it's low-carb, gluten-free, clean and paleo friendly, but because it's delicious, good for you and also happens to be my husband's favorite way to enjoy zucchini!

This goes great with anything you grill, but I especially love serving this as a side to fish. It almost feels like you're eating noodles, maybe you can call them "zoodles".

The trick to quickly cutting the vegetables into thin long strips is to use a mandolin with a julienne blade. You could also do this with a sharp knife if you have serious knife skills, but I say splurge on a mandolin. My mandolin is from OXO, I've had it a few years and I get so much use out of it. I basically run the vegetables through the mandolin until I get the center where the seeds are, then I turn it. The carrots are a bit tougher to cut, so sometimes I just buy a bag of pre-shredded carrots. Once the cutting is done, it takes less than 4 minutes to cook, or vegetables that are tender crisp like al dente pasta.

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Chipotle Lobster and Avocado Wrap

Chipotle lobster salad with avocado, scallions, cilantro and lettuce on a whole wheat wrap – fabulous!!

A few weeks ago I grabbed a bite at Lenny's clam bar with my husband and daughter and we ordered the special – the chipotle lobster avocado burrito. It was SOOO good I HAD to recreate a lighter version of it myself.

I don't eat lobster often because it's not cheap, but I love it and like to treat myself once in a while, especially in the summer. I went to my local fish market and bought a 2 pound lobster and had them steam it for me (I personally don't love cooking live lobsters). All the fish markets near me steam them for you for the same price as buying it live. This yielded enough lobster meat for 4 servings.

Then I tossed the lobster with lemon juice, a little light mayo and yogurt to make it creamy and added some chipotle peppers in adobo sauce to give it a little kick. Tossed in some chopped scallion and fresh cilantro and the lobster salad was delicious.

I wrapped it on a whole wheat tortilla with avocado and lettuce (you can lower the carbs and make it gluten free by turning this into a lettuce wrap) and had myself a fabulous lunch over a bed of greens.

If you want to make a lunch to impress or even a light dinner, this is the perfect wrap!

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Tropical Fruit Salad Recipe

This tropical fruit salad, made with fresh papaya, mango, pineapple, bananas and grated coconut is the best tasting fruit salad... EVER!!

It makes a great big bowl, big enough to feed a crowd so it's perfect to bring to a picnic, potluck or to serve at a backyard BBQ. This is easy enough for anyone to make – if you can use a knife, you can make this salad. The bananas are added just before serving so they don't turn brown.

Fruit salad always makes me think of my Dad, when I was younger he made a great big bowl of fresh fruit salad just about every night. It's the perfect dessert because it's all natural, made with nothing but fruit – it doesn't get cleaner than that!

In my past life I must have lived on a tropical island somewhere; the climate, blue oceans, palm trees, and sweet tropical fruit are my idea of a perfect world. Thank goodness we can get papayas, mangoes, coconut and pineapples here in the states, but there are still so many tropical fruits I'd love to see a lot more tropical fruit imported here one day such as fresh guanabana (sour sop) guava or passion fruit (maybe I need to get on a plane to somewhere tropical really soon).

Fruit salad is naturally low-fat, low-sodium, gluten-free, vegan, paleo friendly, clean-eating dish you can serve for brunch, snack or dessert. Yes, there is sugar in fruit, but it's natural and unprocessed, and loaded with vitamins, antioxidants, phytonutrients and fiber. Unless you have to watch your sugar for health reason, the USDA suggests you eat about 1-1/2 to 2 cups of fruit a day.

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Just Peachy Green Smoothie

At least 3 to 4 days a week, I start my morning with a green smoothie because it's a quick way to enjoy a nutritious breakfast without having to cook a thing. Just throw everything in the blender and breakfast is ready in less than a minute. I especially love this time of year when stone fruits are in season, especially sweet juicy peaches.

Which is the perfect time to make this delicious smoothie, because frozen peaches just aren't the same. For this protein packed liquid breakfast, I combined the peaches (skin and all) with a frozen ripe banana, some hemp seeds for extra protein, almond milk and baby spinach (you can't taste it, I promise!) My toddler loves green smoothies and always reminds me to buy spinach when I'm out (cracks me up!).

I often get asked about my blender, and I can't say enough good things about my Blendtec Total Blender. I never really knew what I was missing until I owned it, and now I'm not sure I could ever live without it. It's so powerful, perfect for whipping up smoothies and so much more. If you don't have one, no worries, I used to use my magic bullet and it worked just fine.

And just one note about counting points in smoothies, as per Weight Watchers the official answer is yes, you should count the fruit when you calculate the recipe in recipe builder when making smoothies. That being said, I've been told many WW leaders don't. One WW leader mentioned on my Facebook page: "you should let your weight loss be your guide. If you're doing smoothies within reason, I wouldn't count the points". So it's really up to you, if you don't count the fruit, this smoothie is 3 points plus.
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Jalapeño Shrimp Cakes

These shrimp cakes are light and delicious, made with jalapenos, scallions, and cilantro then topped with a little fresh lime juice and a few slices of avocado. Serve this over a bed of greens for a quick, light summer meal.

It's really starting to feel like summer around here, temperatures are expected to hit 90 today. I can actually smell summer in the air, which gets me sooo excited!! After a long weekend of going to BBQ's and too many glasses of sangria, this week I am keeping it low carb and light. I love shrimp, it's naturally lean and cooks in minutes, which makes it perfect for a quick weeknight meal.

I've attempted shrimp cakes in the past, but always had issues with them holding together well so this time I decided to pulse the raw shrimp in the food processor and that worked out perfect. I left some of the seeds from the jalapeno to give it a little heat but you can leave them out if you don't like spicy food. My plan was to grill them, but the patties were a bit delicate and I decided to saute them on the pan instead which worked out perfect. Topped with fresh lime juice and a few thin slices of avocado on top, this was flavorful and light.

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Grilled Harrisa Lamb Chops

I love the Mediterranean flavors of these grilled lamb loin chops marinated with fresh lemon juice, garlic, cumin and harissa.

We LOVE lamb chops in my house; I probably make them twice a month but I wanted to try something different and use up my jar of Mina Harissa so I thought it would be fantastic marinated over these lamb chops (and I was right). I served this with a simple salad and made my skinny tzaziki to go along with it put you can also serve this with pilaf on the side for a quick light Mediterranean inspired meal.

If you don't like lamb I'm sure this would be a great marinade on a lean steak such as flank.

Calculating loin lamb chops are a little tricky because they only provide you the nutrition for the meat, and since these are on the bone, I cut a few chops off the bone to see what the meat weighed and found the bone weighed about 1 oz, so I subtracted 8 oz from the total weight since I'm not eating the bone. My chops weren't very large and sizes will vary so you may want to weigh yours to be accurate.

If you don't have a grill or grill pan, you can also cook them in a skillet or under the broiler. Enjoy!

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Roasted Red Pepper and Prosciutto Stuffed Chicken Breast

Chicken breast stuffed with melted cheese, roasted red peppers, prosciutto and baby spinach. Words cannot describe how good this is, and it's really not complicated to make.

I just returned from a four day weekend to Disney in Orlando with my family. It was both work and play, and it was really nice to get away for a few days to spend some quality time with my youngest daughter Madison and my husband Tommy. We stayed at the Grand Floridian which was beautiful and had so much fun in the parks. On our return seeing the devastation that just took place in Oklahoma deeply saddens me and once again reminds me just how fragile life can be – my prayers and thoughts are with Oklahoma today.

Just a quick note on the chicken; I couldn't eat two pieces after I photographed this. One piece with a side salad was plenty for me, but my husband who has a bigger appetite found two pieces the perfect amount. For the side salad I just tossed romaine lettuce, cucumbers and tomatoes with a little olive oil, apple cider vinegar, salt and pepper.

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Superfood Triple Berry Chia Pudding

 

I LOVE chia pudding! And what can be easier than throwing a few chia seeds into a mason jar with some fresh fruit and almond milk and giving it a good shake! Side note: please excuse the manicure.

If you've never tried chia pudding, I highly recommend picking up some chia seeds and Blue Diamond Almond Breeze almond milk and give it a try. Chia is a super food; an excellent source of omega fatty acids, has more antioxidants than blueberries and it's full of minerals, calcium, protein, vitamins and fiber. Plus it is low in calories and is incredibly satiating.

Some of you may have tried my Mango Coconut Chia Pudding which is always a favorite of mine, but I wanted to try something with all the berries I bought this week and used fresh blueberries, raspberries and blackberries... delicious!

All I do is combine the chia seeds with milk (my favorite milk to use when making chia pudding is Almond Breeze Unsweetened Almond-Coconut Milk) then add fruit and a little liquid stevia or whatever sweetener you like, then shake it all up, let it sit 15 minutes and give it another good shake and keep it in the refrigerator overnight. Karina, my oldest loves this! Madison, my youngest wanted to help me style the shot, perhaps I have an assistant in training...

Isn't she such a ham : )

This is so healthy you can even eat this for breakfast, which is what I did this morning. Did I mention this fits into so many dietary restrictions; gluten-free, dairy-free, low sodium, low sugar, low calorie, vegetarian, vegan... enjoy!! By the way the lovely spoon is by For Such A Time Designs.


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Mexican "Unfried" Ice Cream

A skinnier fried ice cream with a sweet crunchy cinnamon topping. Oh-my-word, I can't tell you how good this is!

If you've ever had the Mexican fried ice cream at Chi Chi's, you'll understand this recipe. I always loved the concept of fried ice cream, as a kid I remember ordering it and always found it fascinating that the ice cream didn't melt.

This recipe is a much lighter, healthy version of the original fried version. This isn't fried at all, but it still has that same great taste with the crunchy cinnamon topping, and cold creamy vanilla ice cream (well, actually frozen yogurt) in the center.

This idea came from a fan. She actually made something like this for a party and layered everything in a square pan which is a great idea if you want to serve a crowd, but for portion control, I thought making them in individual servings was better.

To make it light, I bought my favorite fat free vanilla frozen yogurt: Gotta Have Vanilla from Stonyfield; that stuff is sooo good, I actually prefer it over their other brand Oikos. Then I perused the cereal aisle and decided on using crushed Special K as my crust mixed tossed with some cinnamon. If you are gluten free, I would use a gluten free cereal instead. Enjoy your weekend and have a happy Cinco De Mayo!


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Salsa Verde Chicken Tostadas

Chicken tenders are slow cooked in the crock pot with salsa verde, then served on a crispy corn tostada and topped with melted cheese, jalapeño and a simple cabbage slaw made with red cabbage, lime juice, cilantro and salt. I could eat these everyday!!

Yesterday I posted the Easiest Crock Pot Salsa Verde Chicken recipe and promised to post the tostadas today. I made these for lunch and everyone in my home loved them (even my husband doesn't care for cabbage). The cabbage adds just the right amount of texture and freshness with a hint of acidity that just works, and he loved it! One was enough to fill me up for lunch, but if you want this for dinner, I would go with two.

The crock pot chicken actually makes enough for 9 tostadas, but I only made 6 tostadas for sake of calculating to keep it an even number. It's really not spicy at all, which is why I added jalapenos. If your family doesn't like spicy food, leave them out. If you don't have plans for Cinco De Mayo, I suggest you give these a try!! If you can't find tostada shells, you can follow the same recipe with corn taco shells instead.


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Mediterranean Quinoa Salad

A protein packed salad with Mediterranean flavors – quinoa, cucumbers, tomatoes, kalamata olives, red onion, extra virgin olive oil, fresh lemon and a little feta cheese combined makes a healthy salad with fresh clean ingredients.

I had dinner at my friend Julia's house last week, and she made a similar salad as a side dish which she served with fish although hers didn't have tomatoes or feta (I recall she mentioned she was out). I posted a picture of it on Instagram the other day and got so many requests, most of you mentioning the feta was a must! So I made this for dinner last night, with the feta as you requested.

Have lots of leftovers so I am having a big bowl of this for lunch today! This also makes a great side dish for chicken or fish, perfect for backyard parties and BBQ's (can't wait for the warmer weather!) You can totally adapt this to your taste, leave out what you don't like, add more of what you do like. Easy!

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Grilled Shrimp Avocado Fennel and Orange Salad

Grilled shrimp, slices of avocado, shaved fennel and oranges are served over baby kale and mixed greens then topped with a citrus vinaigrette.

Spring is here, although today you would never know it with this crazy cold weather we are having in New York, but my allergies are kicking in to high gear and confirming that Spring is hear indeed. Just a few more weeks before the warmer weather approaches and I already started switching up my meals from those cozy comfort dishes to lighter salads.

This recipe is for my friend Raquel who texts me photos of her fancy dishes she eats when she dines out, then asks me how to make it. I told her I would try to recreate it for her, but wasn't too excited about the idea of fennel. Because she raved about it so much, I bought all the ingredients anyway and to my surprise, the fennel didn't bother me at all! I think the trick is that I shaved it real thin with my mandoline, and I loved the way it paired with the citrus and the grilled shrimp.

I felt like I was eating dinner at a fancy-shmancy restaurant, and kept thinking what a great dish this would be for Mother's Day. My daughter Madison (yes, my three year old) enjoyed the salad too believe it or not! Here she is on Easter, she's getting so big...

She liked everything except the avocado and baby greens, but ate all the shrimp, oranges and fennel, go figure! I packed the rest for lunch and leftovers tasted just as good as yesterday.

This salad is light and delicious, less than 300 calories, and perfect for Weight Watchers, Clean Eating, Paleo, Gluten-Free, Egg-Free, Dairy-Free, Low-Sodium and I'm sure others dietary restrictions I'm not familiar with. I am starting to label all the Clean Eating and Paleo recipes from my site for those of you who asked for this, you can see them in the column on the right. I have a lot to go through so it will take a while to get through them all.

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Southwestern Black Bean, Quinoa and Mango Medley

Happy Monday, hope everyone had a nice weekend. Today is the first day of April and Spring is in the air! I started my morning with a two mile run which felt great, and I thought it would be the perfect day to enjoy this delicious quinoa salad which I am reviving from the archives.

Black beans, sweet mango, and lots of colorful vegetables make a delicious zesty salad that has wonderful texture, color and flavor. Serve this as a side dish at a potluck or enjoy this as a meatless main course with some corn tortillas (perfect for Meatless Mondays!!) Leftovers are perfect for lunch on the go as the flavors only get better the next day.

Packed with vitamin C, vitamin A, fiber, folate, iron and lutein so it's not just tasty, it's good for you.

This recipe is from The Plant-Powered Diet by Sharon Palmer, RD who I met in California on my trip to the Dole Blogger Summit. If you are interested in adding more vegetables and plant-based foods to your diet, this is the book for you.

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