AHA! Another recipe! XD

Fig, prosciutto, and fontina panini served with a blood orange and baby herb salad topped with a homemade salad dressing. (having issues with image size!)

Panini:
Fresh crusty italian bread
1 oz. prosciutto (I used boars head)
1 oz. finely shredded fontina (boars head again)
1/2 oz. baby arugula leaves
1 1/2 tblspn. fig preserves (Honestly harder to find than I expected! But, Central Market came through for us!)

Layer onto bread and cook in a panini press (I use a stovetop one. Of course, a grill pan with something flat and handled to press the sandwiches down works just as well!)

Salad Dressing:
Juice from one blood orange (Any orange would work, but I actually got my hands on blood oranges so by gosh, I'm'a use 'em!!)
2 tspns finely minced shallot
1 tblspn honey (did you know that eating uncooked local honey on a daily basis can help you fight off seasonal allergies?)
2 tblspn white wine vinegar
whisk together, pour over 6-8 cups mixed baby greens, top with one orange, chopped. This was delicious, and very low cal!

Mozzarella, Ham, Basil Panini

So my dear, sweet hubby bought me a new panini press/grill pan, and I decided to give it a shot! =0 ) And here is the result!

Mozzarella, Ham, Basil Panini:
Ingredients:
11 Small Ciabatta roll ((I used the brown and serve ones from Target...YUM!)
Dijon mustard
Balsamic Vinegar
1.5 oz. fresh mozzarella, sliced
3 fresh basil leaves
4 thin slices ham (Do yourself a favor, use boars head!)
1 small campari tomato (thinly sliced)

Brush bottom cut half of roll with dijon, top cut half with balsamic, layer rest of ingredients in order, and place on your panini press. (Or use a grill pan, and top with a heavy skillet.)
Serve with a nice side salad, and enjoy!
Each of this size works out to roughly 275 calories, but it really depends on how big the bread is, how thick the ham is sliced, etc.
This one earned two thumbs up from Ken.

Maple Walnut Chicken with Boring Canned Green Beans

With the walnuts and the dark meat, you know this is going to be a bit higher calorie than usual, but walnuts are healthy; along with salmon they are one of the foods with the highest positive impact on your bad cholesterol levels. Adding an ounce to your diet here and there is well worth the extra calories and fat grams!

Maple Walnut Chicken:
Ingredients:
1 tblspn Extra Virgin Olive Oil
4 boneless chicken thighs, 4 oz. each, fat trimmed and cut into 1/4" thick slices
Salt and pepper to taste
1/8 c. apple cider vinegar
1/4 c. chicken broth
1/3 c. real maple syrup

Coat a large skillet with 1 tblsn. EVOO
Pat chicken dry and season with salt and pepper to taste.
Add to skillet and cook, stirring and turning occasionally, until cooked. Remove and set aside.
Drain off all fat that has formed
Add the vinegar. Cook and deglaze the pan.
Add chicken broth, maple syrup, additional pepper to taste.
Cook over medium heat until sauce is thickened.
Return the chicken, add the walnuts, fold together. Loosely cover the pan and simmer over low heat for 3-5 minutes.

Tastes delicious served over rice, and in the past I have made a double batch of sauce to ladle over the rice, though that adds quite a few calories, of course.

In this case, I served with a side of canned green beans (my favorite veggie in a can) seasoned lightly with I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Spray (Love that stuff!!! FYI, 7 sprays is 1 calorie), and some Johnny's Seasoning Salt that we special order from Washington from time to time. (Full of MSG goodness! XD)

The chicken from this dish is a fantastically simple to prepare dish that will have your company exclaiming over how good it is every single time. I adapted this from the Maple-Walnut Chicken Thighs (bone in, skin on) in Rachel Ray Every Day Oct. 2010. I cut out the skin, butter, and some olive oil to remove fat grams, and reduced the maple syrup (1/3 c. is still plenty! Especially if you use a strongly flavored dark syrup). I used bone out strips to make a smaller portion size seem larger, and to decrease cooking time dramatically.

Lemon Steamed Salmon, Herbed Roast Butter Squash, Small avocado side salad

Salmon:

Marinated three 6 oz. steaks in 3 tbspn olive oil, 1/4 tspn. sea salt, 2 grinds pepper, juice from 1 lemon for 20 min's in the fridge.
Placed in microwave steamer and steamed according to directions. I was a little bit skeptical about microwaved fish, but this came out tender and beautifully flavored all the way through.

Herbed Roast Butternut Squash:

This is an in season vegetable at the moment, and quite cheap. High in fiber, potassium, and vitamin B, this makes an excellent addition to the dinner plate at this time of year. Check Costco for pre-chopped squash which is, dollar for dollar, cheaper than buying it whole and chopping it yourself. This recipe is adapted from the one that was on the package I bought while there.

Preheat oven to 350.
Ingredients
2 1/2 cups butternut squash, chopped
1 1/2 tbspn. brown sugar
1 1/2 tbspn olive oil
1 cup red onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tblspn fresh sage, chopped
1 tblspn butter, qaurtered

Combine squash, oil, brown sugar, garlic, and onion in a bowl, toss gently until squash is evenly coated with other ingredients. Lay in single layer on a baking tray, back at 350 for 30 minutes or until squash is tender. (I stirred once but don't think that was needed).

Place the butter in the bottom of a medium bowl, add cooked squash on top, and sprinkly with sage. Toss GENTLY until butter is melted and sage and butter evenly coat the squash.

I have to say, this really was a delicious recipe!

The salad was simply 1/4 avacado, sliced, laid over small portion of salad greens (normally we have bigger salads, but I forgot to pick up more at the store! DX

All said and done, the entire meal ran about 580 calories, and was fairly high in fat, but all of the fat was the healthy kind that comes from fish and avocado. Very filling and satisfying meal!

First Post!

Okay, I finally got around to making this blog!
Watch here for the light recipes I've been making, along with their recipes.
I'll also most likely post the occasional crafty tidbit. =0 )
Hooray! The first step is done! LOL