three-cheese chicken pasta bake

I chose this recipe because I needed something within our calorie limitations that could be prepared and cooked in advance and still be easy to serve.  I knew that my daughter would not eat all of the recommended ingredients, so I made a separate smaller dish for her with only the pasta, chicken, soup, and three cheeses.  I made extra of the chicken for Monday night's meal to use with this dish.

She really enjoyed her 'special' serving.  I wish I had made more for her and less for Chef D and myself.  I liked the dish, but I am not sure sure about Chef D as he only ate a small amount.  He really isn't a big 'casserole' eater.

In the end, I would recommend it if you are looking for a cheesy casserole dish with fewer calories.

rotisserie cornish game hen with sauced three-cheese ravioli and sauteed zucchini

I had the privilege again to assist Chef D with a weekend meal.  Tonight he wanted to give our new rotisserie a go with something a little different -- cornish game hens.  He used the Mimi's Sticky Chicken seasoning before putting them to cooking for about 2 1/2 hours on a low rotisserie setting.  We weren't really sure how long it would take, so we probably let them go a wee bit longer than necessary.  In the end, they weren't too overcooked, though.

He picked up some pre-made three-cheese miniature raviolis at the supermarket and used a pre-made spaghetti sauce as a base to which he added additional fresh herbs and seasonings.  

I helped by prepping the zucchini with our favorite julienne peeler.  I sauteed them in a dab of extra virgin olive oil with a bit of Mrs. Dash Table Blend and Emeril's Original Essence.  It only takes about 2 minutes since the zucchini has been cut to such small pieces.  Don't overcook!

This meal ended up being a bit on the spicy side, so we ended our meal with a little 100-calorie treat to cool down our lips.

Total calories for the meal (eating 1/2 of the hen and including the treat at the end): 635

cheap noodles

Well, they aren't cheap when you come to paying for them, but they are cheap when you count their calories.  I heard about these shirataki tofu noodles with only 20 calories per serving (and it is a pretty large serving) from Hungry Girl and decided to give them a try.

Today I invited Barb over for lunch and fixed Chef D's ginger rice noodle soup, but with the shirataki noodles instead of the rice noodles.  Yes, they take a little work to get them ready to use (drain and rinse, microwave for a minute, then totally dry them out on a towel), but it was well worth the effort.  They reminded me very much of ramen noodles, but a little chewier.  I do believe we have a winner here!

dan dan noodles with pickled cucumbers - part deux

This is the second time I have tried this recipe (see first time here).  

I again used hothouse cucumbers, but instead of having them julienned, I just sliced them thinly and put them together less than an hour before the meal.  They kept their crunch this time.  I also reduced the red pepper so that they would not be so hot.  Chef D said I am getting closer to what he is looking for in a pickled cucumber.  Practice makes perfect!

I used a chinese-style noodle that we had in the cupboard that just might be called long-life (they were VERY long).  The peanut-flavored sauce with ground turkey chunks worked well again. 

I liked this one and we'll have it again in the future.  Not bad at all for less than 500 calories.

italian sausage ragu with penne pasta

This Cuisine at Home recipe certainly led to a pretty photograph, but I am afraid that the flavor did not follow through in the same way.

Chef D ate the penne pasta with a bit of the sauce, but most of the vegetable portion of the meal remained on his plate at the end.  The tomatoes just did not cook down enough to break down their acidity.

I ate all of mine, but it is not something I would make again.  Perhaps if I started with a store-bought sauce and added the vegetables in, it may have worked better for us.   

Well, you live and learn.

blt pasta with orange-red onion salad

This was another recipe from my Cuisine at Home magazine.  This is the second recipe that has called for red pepper flakes and ended up being almost too hot to eat.  From now on, I am not putting any red pepper flakes in my recipes and will just wait until the end to season.  It was hard to even capture a taste of the bacon, tomato or spinach with all the heat from the red pepper-infused sauce.  Chef D ate it but did not really care for it.

The orange-red onion salad was a nice cool retreat from the heat of the pasta.  I really enjoyed the flavor of the dressing and even the onions (which I normally do not like on salads).  Chef D prefers a salad with a bit more crunch, so if I make the salad again I will include some iceberg lettuce with the mesclun/spring mix.

dan dan noodles with pickled cucumbers

This was yet another recipe from my Cuisine at Home magazines.  I decided to use a hothouse cucumber instead of the usual garden variety before I realized that the recipe called to julienne the cucumber.  I wasn't sure if it would provide enough crunch once I began to cut them up.   I did not have any of the long-life noodles, so I just used thin spaghetti.  

I made the cucumbers earlier in the day and I think I may have put in a few too many of the red pepper flakes.  Fortunately, the noodle dish did not have too much of a kick to it, so the cucumbers worked okay for me.  Chef D, on the other hand, prefers a previous non-julienned pickled cucumber recipe with a little less kick to it .  In the end, I really enjoyed this meal, even with the extra heat in the cukes. The peanut flavor was divine.  Chef D also enjoyed the noodles and said he could eat it again.  This one's a keeper!

baked rigatoni with ham and mushrooms

Tonight's Baked Rigatoni with Ham and Mushrooms was one of those courses that have that down-home cooking feel to them.  It was kind of like an upscale ham casserole.  I liked the texture of the rigatoni noodles -- usually I completely cook a pasta that is used in a casserole before it is mixed and baked, but this time I only cooked the rigatoni for about half the usual cooking time.  It definitely helped give a little more to bite into.  It was not bad, but wasn't special, either.  Since it isn't exactly low-fat, we probably won't be having it often.  However, Chef D did say he may take the leftovers for lunch tomorrow.