My first homegrown zucchini!

Last night I finally got to pick something from the garden. A beautiful zucchini! I couldn't wait to cook it. I wanted to try to keep it as fresh as possible, not alter the zucchini too much by means of breading etc, so I could actually enjoy the flavor of my very own zucchini.

I decided to roast it in the oven with just a few spices. 

I chopped the zucchini into disks, and put them into a gallon ziplock bag. I added about a tablespoon of Olive Oil, salt, pepper, oregano, basil and thyme. Shook it all up, and spread them out on a foil covered cookie sheet. I baked at 350* for about 20 minutes, sprinkled them with a little bit of Parmesan cheese, and put them back in the oven on broil for another 2-3 minutes. They tasted amazing! I ate a few just like that, and a few dipped in a little bit of Cucumber Ranch salad dressing.

Soo so good!

Can't wait to pick a few more! I have a couple that look like they'll be good to go by the weekend!

Updated Garden Update!

The zucchini continues to take over the garden, however, I got to pick my first one last night! I also have about 20+ tomatoes going right now, can't wait to pick the first one! Got a little time with those though, all of them are still bright green.

Garden update!

So, here is my conclusion:

I CAN, in fact, keep a plant alive!

The garden is completely flourishing, and I'm loving every second of it. I cannot wait until I have fresh veggies to use! My zucchini plant is continuing to take over, to the point where I think next year I'll give zucchini's their own bed.

Check out the progress:

Zucchini Plant taking over..

First Big Boy Tomato of the season is doing well :)

Plum Tomatoes are doing great too!

First Zucchini!! About 3" in length now!!

Low Calorie Mexican Pizza!

When I'm stuck for dinner, I tend to usually make this, or something like it. It's quick, easy, and low calorie. Here is my version of mexican pizza!

What you'll need/Breakdown:

Low Carb 10" Tortilla: 80 Calories

Low Fat Shredded Cheese: 120 Calories (I used a mexican blend, 1 1/2 servings)

Fat Free Refried Beans (canned): 30 Calories (2 tablespoons)

Light Sour Cream: 40 Calories (2 tablespoons)

Salsa: 10 Calories (2 Tablespoons)

Scallion

Taco Seasoning

Cumin

Total: 280 Calories

HOW TO:

Lay tortilla on a microwave safe plate. Spread the refried beans over the tortilla, and sprinkle the cheese evenly on top.

Add taco seasoning and cumin to your liking over the cheese.

Microwave until cheese melts fully, I usually microwave this at 70% heat for a minute and a half to start, and continue in 30 second intervals until melted fully so that the cheese doesn't over cook and get hard. 

Once melted, spread sour cream, then salsa over the top, and sprinkle chopped scallions.

Cut into 6 pieces with a pizza cutter and you're done!

Baked Cheesy Zucchini and Squash

Last week I decided to re-work a Pinterest recipe that I had found. It sounded great and combined two of my favorite things, zucchini and cheese. How could it go wrong? Well, other than my biggest zucchini having a strange bug that had tunneled through the whole thing, it tasted great! (No, the bug zucchini wasn't used, so this recipe for me definitely had way more yellow squash then zucchini.)

Here's the recipe:

What you'll need:

Two Medium Zucchini

Two Medium Yellow Squash

A reduced fat bag of shredded cheese (I used a 4 cheese mexican blend)

Salt, Pepper, Garlic, Basil & Parsley

Non stick Spray

Baking Dish

Preheat oven to 350*. Then spray down baking dish with non stick spray. Then cut up the squash and zucchini and combine in baking dish.

Add in all spices to taste (extra garlic and basil for me!) and mix.

Fold in shredded cheese (I used about 1 cup of cheese). Use a little bit of extra cheese to cover the top off.

Place in oven uncovered for 15-20 minutes, or longer, depending on the crunch level you want on the squash and zucchini. Mine took about a half hour, and I also mixed it up one time in the middle to move the cheese around. Once the veggies are at the doneness you like, put the oven on broil to brown the top of the cheese.

Serve with a chopped up scallion on top, and you're done! 

At only 60 calories a serving (makes 6 servings) this is an awesome dish to curb your cheese craving, while getting a fair amount of veggies at the same time! 

Enjoy :)

Todays Bento

Breakdown:

Cheese Cubes: 120 Calories (8 pieces)

Turkey: 66 Calorie

Rosemary Wasa Toasts: 70 Calories (2 sheets)

Laughing Cow Cheese: 35 Calories

Cucumber: 2 Calories

Hummus: 70 Calories (2 tbs)

Baby Carrots: 31 Calories (22 pieces)

Total: 394 Calories

Todays Turkey Wrap Bento

I made this wrap for lunch yesterday, it tasted amazing so I decided to make it again. You can see the specific ingredient breakdown of the wrap HERE.

 Breakdown:

Turkey, Veggie, and Hummus Wrap: 299 Calories

Laughing Cow Swiss Wedge: 35 Calories

Rosemary Wasa Toasts (2): 70 Calories

Total: 404 Calories

Awesome 300 Calorie Wrap!!

I made this wrap for lunch yesterday, and I'm pretty sure I could eat it every day and not get sick of it. I even brought another one today in my Bento lunch. So fresh and tasty!

Heres the Calorie and ingredient breakdown:

Sundried Tomato Wrap: 150 Calories (SOMEONE find me lower calorie wraps!!)

Turkey: 66 Calories (2 oz)

Hummus: 70 Calories (2 tbs)

Cucumber (chopped): 2 Calories

Carrots (shredded): 4 Calories

Tomato (chopped): 7 Calories

Salt, Pepper, Dill to taste.

Total Calories: 299 Calories!

Thats it! Even with a 150 calorie wrap.

And the garden begins..

This past weekend was CRAZY. We filled the sandbox around the swing set with six yards of sand, had my parents over to help, and about four of our friends over to help as well. So we put the all guys on sand patrol, and my mom and I started the garden. We decided on planting; Plum Tomatoes, Big Boy Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Zucchini, and Yellow Squash. ALL of my favorites!

A frog decided to make its way in to the planter box as soon as it was set up to welcome the garden, so our little man was fascinated, he loves frogs!

Within the next few days, we added some small fences for the vines to grow up.

Since then I've also planted marigolds around the border (another compliment to my mom for the idea, and the flowers) to deter bugs away. I'll get a photo of that soon, because it looks crazy pretty. 

The cucumber plant has grown the most, and is already starting to sprout flowers! I can't believe how fast those showed up..

I think one of the biggest reasons I'm excited about this, is the time that little man and I will have this summer taking care of the garden. He's the best little helper. I remember, growing up in New York, my grandfather ALWAYS had a vegetable garden (much bigger than mine of course, I'm just a rookie). That would be one of my favorite parts of summer, helping him in the garden, and of course, the first tomato sandwich of the season. I've already promised him the first tomato that I grow on my own. I can't wait to sit with him and make a sandwich with it. Now I get to enjoy the time in the garden with my son, like grandpa and I got to enjoy it when I was younger.

Here's my big boy helper watering the plants.

..and look.. there's even a rainbow.

Quick & Easy Turkey Wrap

Heres a quick and easy snack or lunch on the go!

Light veggie cream cheese: 60 Calories (2 tbs)

Turkey: 33 Calories (1 oz)

Cucumber: 2 Calories

Tortilla: 75 Calories

Dill, Salt, Pepper, whatever spices you want to taste

 

Total: 170 calories

Todays Bento!

Breakdown:

Carrots: 22 Calories (16 pieces)

Roasted Garlic Hummus (oh my co-workers are going to hate me today..): 70 Calories

Cheese Cubes: 120 Calories

Tortilla: 75 Calories

Turkey: 33 Calories

Cucumber: 2 Calories

Laughing Cow Cheese Wedge: 35 Calories

Salsa: 10 Calories

Total: 367 Calories

Todays Bento!

Breakdown:

Rosemary Wasa: 60 Calories (2 pieces)

Laughing Cow Swiss Wedge: 35 Calories

Cucumber: 2 Calories (1/8 cup approx)

Cheese Cubes: 120 Calories (8 cubes)

Carrots: 22 Calories (14 pieces)

Roasted Garlic Hummus: 70 Calories (2 tbs)

Half of a Banana: 53 Calories

Clementine: 35 Calories

Total:

397 Calories

Todays Bento

Breakdown:

Baby Carrots: 22 Calories (16 carrots)

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus: 70 Calories (2 tbs)

English Muffin: 120 Calories

Peanut Butter: 95 Calories (1 tbs)

Concord Natural Grape Jelly: 50 Calories (1 tbs)

Total: 357 Calories

Todays Left-over Easter Ham Bento!

Breakdown:

Bone in Easter Ham: 96 Calories (2 oz)

Baby Carrots: 20 Calories (14 pieces)

Hummus: 70 Calories (2 tbs)

Wasa, Light & Crisp: 60 Calories (3 full pieces, broken in half)

Cheese Cubes: 120 Calories (8 pieces)

Mustard: 15 Calories (1 tbs)

Tota: 381 Calories

Todays Bento

Breakdown:

Wasa: 60 Calories (2 pieces)

Ham: 30 Calories (1 oz)

Turkey: 33 Calories (1 oz)

Laughing Cow Cheese: 35 Calories

Cheese Cubes: 120 Calories (8 pieces)

Baby Carrots: 20 Calories (14 pieces)

Hummus: 70 Calories (2 tbs)

Total: 368 Calories

Quick 160 Calorie Lunch or Snack

I was getting ready to run out over the weekend and needed something quick to eat before I left. Heres what I threw together!

160 Calories!!

Mini Pita, 2 tbs Hummus, Carrot Shreds, Cucumber, Dill and Salt

Todays Bento!

Today's Bento, with last nights Zucchini Cakes.
Also, with a "put together later" mini pita sandwich as shown HERE.

Breakdown:

Zucchini Cakes: 130 Calories

Ketchup: 15 Calories (1 tbs)

Hummus: 70 Calories (2 tbs)

Mini Pita: 80 Calories

Baby Carrot Shreds: 8 Calories

Cucumber Slices: 2 Calories

Cheese stick: 80 Calories

Total: 385

Zucchini & Cheese Mini Breakfast/Snack Cakes

Tried a new recipe last night! Altered the ingredients a little bit so I'll just tell you what I did instead of linking back to it. Oh, and they're only 65 calories each!

Zucchini Mini Cakes!

What you'll Need:

Muffin Pan

Mixing Bowl

Kitchen Towel

Cheese Grater

Pam Spray

Ingredients:

2 Small Zucchini's (or one large)

1/3 Cup Bread Crumbs (I used Italian)

1/3 Cup Shredded Reduced Fat Cheese

2 Eggs (only one shown in picture, added another later)

1/4 Cup yellow onion

Salt, Pepper, Spices to taste

Preheat your oven to 400*. 

Start off by grating the Zucchini onto a clean towel. You will need to wrap up the Zucchini in the towel to squeeze out the excess water. Do it over the sink, theres a lot.

Combine all ingredients into a mixing bowl.

Spoon mixture into muffin tin. My mixture filled 8 spots.

Bake at 400* for about 20 minutes, turning around in the oven half way through. Keep checking on them though, once the tops are brown they should be good to go!

They reminded me of mini breakfast quiche, so I ate mine with ketchup! They tasted awesome! I may add a little bit more cheese next time, but these were great. Also perfect to throw in todays bento box!

Lemon Orzo & Asparagus Salad and a huge Sandbox

Happy Monday! Who am I kidding.. ugh.. it's Monday..

This weekend managed to be a very productive one! As I've mentioned in earlier posts we are doing a LOT around the house for the summer. One of the bigger projects is the backyard. We are expanding our patio area, I'm starting a garden, and we have ordered mini-man a swing set for his birthday, and the husbutt had the idea to put it into a big big sandbox (I'm talking 24' x 16' sandbox, aka an estimate of 14,000 POUNDS of sand). So this weekend was phase one, build the sandbox frame. We called in some back up (aka my parents), and decided to bar-b-q for dinner, so my mom and I cooked while all the boys built. 

So anyway, I decided to try a new recipe I found on Pinterest while the grill was going, and it was AMAZING. 

Its a (very) lemony orzo salad. Of course as usual I added a few of my own twists to it. We didn't have tomatos, just sundried tomatos, but since I'm the only one of the 4 people eating who like sundried tomatos, I had to leave them out. I also have one hell of a time finding Orzo in any of the food stores here (weird? yes I think so) but I found Riso pasta (aka shorter orzo) so I used that isntead. We added black olives (awesome move) and a bit more garlic than what was called for, and a little less olive oil. Point being, it came out great! 

It's a bit high in calories because of the pasta. I'm estimating one serving to be around 280 calories. But its defintely worth it, with a piece of grilled chicken cut up on top of it! 

Here's the link to the original recipe!

Color Run 2012!!

Anyone ever hear of a Color Run? I hadn't. A friend just told me about it, because there's one going on in Charlotte in October of this year! I can not tell you how much fun this is going to be!

http://thecolorrun.com/about/

I'm definitely not be a marathon runner, let alone have done ANY sort of "race" before. This seems like a perfect starter idea. You can run, walk, jog, skip (oh yes, there will be skipping). It's one crazy colorful 5k!

I CAN'T WAIT!!

Todays Bento, Inspired by last nights dinner!

Heres the bento for today!

Breakdown:

Chick peas: 52 Calories (1/4 cup)

Carrot Shreds: 14 Calories (1/4 cup)

Corn: 30 Calories  (1/4 cup)

Cucumber: 5 Calories  (1/4 cup)

Red Bell Peppers: 12 Calories  (1/4 cup)

Turkey: 55 Calories (2 oz)

 Laughing Cow Cheese: 35 Calories

Mini Pita: 80 Calories

 (plus: salt, pepper, dill, lemon juice)

Total: 283 Calories

Last Nights Tuna/Veggie Salad!

I'm on a tuna kick. It rarely happens, but when it does.. I want tuna, ALL the time. I go in and out of stages of liking tuna, this week.. it's on. Last night I wanted something fresh, with a crunch, and with tuna. I should mention that if you're not a tuna lover, this would taste AMAZING with chicken, or even chick peas if you want to go full out vegetarian with it.

So here's last nights dinner!

Lets Break this down:

1 can of Tuna: 100 Calories

1/4 cup Carrots: 14 Calories

1/4 cup Corn: 30 Calories

1/4 cup Tomato: 7 Calories

1/4 cup Cucumber: 5 Calories

Two Chopped Scallions: 1 Calorie

Topped with Salt, Pepper, Dill and Lemon juice

So for just about 150 Calories, I had an amazing tasting, fresh salad!

..and it was GREAT!!

Quick, Yummy, 160 Calorie, Tuna Snack in Under 5 Minutes

I was so hungry, so so hungry. We had been running around all afternoon and I hadn't kept up with my "eat a little something every 3 hours" normalcy, so by the time we got home I was STARVING. I tried to figure out something filling and quick I could throw together, and heres what I came up with.

What you'll need:

One can of Tuna in water (drained)

Lemon Juice (to taste)

Pepper (to taste)

Dill (to taste)

Fresh minced garlic (the natural stuff in the jar) (to taste)

2 Pieces of Wasa

Fresh Cucumber

What you'll do:

Mix the tuna, lemon juice, pepper, and garlic together.

Top Wasa toasts with the tuna mixture.

Cut slices of the fresh cucumber and place on top

Sprinkle dill over cucumber.

Sound easy enough? It is. It took me less than 5 minutes. And it was surprisingly filling for only 160 calories! 

Enjoy :)

Todays Bento

Breakdown:

Turkey: 49 Calories (2oz)

Laughing Cow Cheese: 70 (2 pieces)

Wasa, Rye: 60 Calories (2 pieces)

Hummus: 70 Calories (2 tbs)

Baby Carrots: 22 Calories (16 pieces)

Cheese Stick: 80 Calories

Clementine: 35 Calories

Total Calories: 387

Extra snack for afterwork also included:

Special K Bar: 90 Calories

Sauteed Asparagus with Feta Cheese

So I'm on a feta cheese kick this week, obviously. Like I've said in the past, I try to use up all foods before they go bad, and if that means eating somewhat of the same thing a few nights out of the week, so be it. 

I had a bundle of asparagus in the fridge, and a brand new bottle of Adobo spice mix in the pantry. Now let me start off by saying I have NEVER had Adobo before, but was dying to try it. So why not throw it on the asparagus?

Heres what you'll need:

Adobo Seasoning

Pepper (just pepper, adobo is salty enough)

One bundle of Asparagus

Feta Cheese (to sprinkle on top)

Olive Oil (1.5-2 tbs worth)

How to do it:

Wash off Asparagus and snap off bottom woody area, cut the remaining stalks into 3 pieces of about equal size. Throw into a mixing bowl with about One Tablespoon of olive oil and pepper and adobo mix, toss until pieces of aspargus are coated. 

I used a decent amount of Adobo on this, because while tossing in the skillet it is bound to have some come off.

Put whole bowl of asparagus into a skillet on medium-high, constantly mixing it around for the first minute or two. If you need to add more olive oil, now would be the time, the tablespoon I used on the asparagus was enough to sautee it up.

If you like your asaparagus to have a slightly "steamed" texture to it, you can cover it up while cooking with the top of a pot, or if you have a skillet with a cover use that. Only keep the top on for a minute or so at a time, and then move around the asparagus. Apparently, it tends to burn quickly.. yeah don't ask me how I know that.

Once its to the texture of your liking (I like mine slightly crunchy), remove from pan, and top with a bit of feta cheese crumble.

I'm estimating this to be just around 100 calories a serving (yeilds two servings as show above), but it can change depending on the amount of olive oil used, and amount of feta use to top it off. Best bet would be to calculate your own calories on this one just to be sure.

Enjoy!!

Todays Bento

I made turkey sausage for dinner last night, so of course, left overs go in the bento!

Breakdown:

Turkey Sausage: 140 Calories

Mini Pita: 80 Calories

Cheese Stick: 80 Calories

Hummus: 70 Calories (will only use half the container for lunch)

Baby Carrots: 22 Calories (16 pieces)

Cantaloupe: 36 Calories (2/3 cup)

Total: 428 Calories

I will call them.. Zucchini Frittercakes.

I'm on a crazy zucchini kick lately. It's one of my favorite spring/summer foods, that I can't get enough of. I decided to try out making a lower calorie version of zucchini fritters last night. They came out great, but not so frittery.. more like a pancake. They didn't have as much crunch as I think a fritter should have, probably mostly due to the fact that I used Pam instead of Olive Oil. Either way, I ate a full one before the last two were even cooked, and it was GOOD.

What you'll need:

 Cheese Grater

Mixing bowl

Large spoon

Large Skillet

Pam Spray

Ingredients:

One Large Zucchini

1/4 cup Flour (any kind really)

1/4 cup Reduced Fat Feta Cheese

One Large Egg (not shown in photo, oops)

Two big scallions, chopped

Spices of your choice to taste, I HIGHLY recommend Dill

(I used Dill, Garlic Powder, Parsley, Salt & Pepper)

Wash and grate down the zucchini.

Place grated zucchini either in a metal strainer, or on a few paper towels and squeeze out most of the water.

Combine ALL ingredients together in mixing bowl (Zucchini, Flour, Feta Cheese, Egg, Scallions, Spices).

Mix until smooth, and it all becomes kind of the consistency of thick pancake batter. I had to add a little bit more flour to mine.

The final mixture should make the perfect amount of "batter" for 4 large fritter/pancakes (Frittercake? yes.. I'll call it a frittercake. And Yes, I just changed the title of the blog, right now.)

Once I realized these would be more frittercakey than actual fritter, I pushed them down when I flipped them to make them a bit thinner, and so that they cook a little faster. It took about 3-4 minutes on each side to get a golden brown. 

Sprinkle a little bit of extra feta cheese over the top and voila! Frittercake! Best when served with Tzatziki Sauce :)

Each one of these badboys is about 95 calories (sauce and extra feta on top not included)

For a slightly higher calorie option, but to get the crunch of an actual fritter, substitute Olive Oil for Pam when cooking on the stove.