Quinoa Lettuce Wraps with Balsamic Vinaigrette

From Leah’s Kitchen

1 cup cooked quinoa

1 cup chopped red and yellow peppers

1/2 cucumber chopped

1/4 cup red onion minced

6 iceberg lettuce leaves

Balsamic Vinaigrette:

1/2 cup olive oil

1/4 cup water

3 Tbs. aged balsamic vinegar (good quality)

1 tsp. dijon mustard

1 garlic clove

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Prepare vegetables by finely chopping the peppers, cucumbers, and red onion. Wash and separate the iceberg lettuce leaves and set aside to dry. To make the vinaigrette, pour all of the ingredients into a blender. Make sure to use a garlic clove and not minced garlic already prepared in a bottle. Crush the garlic clove through a garlic press. Add salt and pepper to taste and blend to emulsify the dressing. Cook the quinoa following package directions and immediately make the lettuce wraps.

To make the lettuce wraps:

Place a few spoonfuls of quinoa and vegetables in each lettuce wrap and drizzle the balsamic dressing. Best when quinoa is warm. Use a little dressing- it goes a long way with flavor!

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From Leah’s Kitchen

This healthy apple cinnamon coffee cake is moist with a little crunch and absolutely delicious with your morning coffee or tea. You can enjoy this coffee cake on the weekend and then wrap individual servings in plastic wrap or a plastic sandwich bag to enjoy through the week. This reduced-fat, high fiber coffee cake will leave you feeling full for hours without any guilt!  You can omit the apples if you are pressed for time!

Ingredients:

Cake:

• Cooking oil spray or coconut oil melted
• 1 cup oat flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup cake flour
• ¾ cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¾ cup nonfat plain Greek yogurt
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 2 tablespoons organic unrefined coconut oil or canola oil
• 1/4 cup low-fat/no fat buttermilk
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 1- 1/2 cups diced apples (about 2 medium apples
• 1 tsp. lemon juice

Crumb Toppping:

• 1/4 cup ground flax seed
• 2 tablespoons cinnamon
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup old fashion or quick oats
• 2 tablespoons butter or organic unrefined coconut oil

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat a 13×9″ baking dish with cooking spray or rub a little butter or coconut oil on the baking dish.
2. Peel and dice the apples into very small pieces. Squeeze the juice of a lemon or about 1 tsp. and add 1 tsp. of cinnamon. Coat the apples with the cinnamon and juice and set aside.
3. Combine with fork the oat flour, whole wheat flour, cake flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.
4. In a large separate mixing bowl, combine yogurt, eggs, applesauce, coconut oil, buttermilk and vanilla. Stir until smooth and then fold in the apples. Next, pour in the flour mixture and stir until uniformly moistened using a spatula. Spread evenly in pan.
5. In a small bowl, stir together oats, flax seed, cinnamon, brown sugar, vanilla extract, and salt.  Add melted butter and stir with fork until mixture is moist and crumb-like. Sprinkle evenly over batter and gently press the crumb mixture into the batter.
6. Bake about 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean from center of cake; allow to cool before cutting. Makes about 12-15 servings. It is best to store this cake in an airtight container after it has completely cooled.

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This week’s recipe honors the upcoming Super Bowl game with a significantly lower fat snack food for game day. If you knew how much fat is in over-breaded and deeply fried boneless buffalo chicken wings, you may not be so inclined to order these in a restaurant. Since I am human, I can enjoy “bar food” once in a great while. However, even a few bites can make your stomach turn and your conscious guilty when the food is so heavily laden with fat and grease. There is no reason why more if any restaurants are not offering a healthier, baked option including a low-fat buffalo sauce and  blue cheese dip. The recipe for wing sauce is usually a lot of butter mixed with hot sauce!

For now, the only place I will enjoy buffalo boneless chicken wings is at home! My baked homemade recipe is healthy, low-fat, tastes great, and it will trick your brain into thinking you are splurging. No need to have a “splurge day/cheat day” when you eat foods in moderation and you make food that tastes good!

Ingredients:

For the chicken:

1 lb. organic chicken tenderloins halved

1 cup whole-wheat panko break crumbs (or gluten free: cornmeal)

1/4 cup whole-wheat flour or cornmeal (or gluten free flour of choice)

1 egg

1/4 cup fat-free buttermilk

Dash of hot sauce optional

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees.

First lightly salt the chicken tenderloins and then cut each tenderloin in half. Whisk the egg, buttermilk, and hot sauce in bowl. Mix together the flour and panko break crumbs in another bowl. Line a baking sheet with foil and brush with olive oil.

Dip each tenderloin in the egg mixture and then coat with the breadcrumbs pressing the crumbs into the chicken to evenly coat. Place on baking sheet.

Bake 10 minutes. Open the over half-way through cooking time to flip the tenderloins and bake for an additional 8-10 minutes or until fully cooked. I use an instant thermometer always. Once you remove the chicken from oven, pour the buffalo wing sauce over all of the pieces and serve immediately.

Buffalo Wing Sauce:

1/2 cup hot sauce of choice ( check labels and avoid any brands that contain major preservatives or added fat. Hot sauce should be a combination of words you can pronounce- aged cayenne peppers, distilled vinegar, salt, garlic, and fat content per serving should be below 2 grams.)

1/2 cup chicken broth

4 TBS. honey

2 tsp. garlic powder

2 tsp. apple cider vinegar

Directions:

Mix all ingredients in small sauce pan on medium-low for 5-10 minutes. Keep this sauce warm and ready to go when the chicken is ready out of the oven. Immediately pour the sauce over the chicken tenderloins to cover. Place the chicken on a separate dish and serve immediately with celery, carrots, and low-fat blue cheese dip of choice or my recipe below.

Low-Fat Blue Cheese Bacon Dip

1/2 cup no-fat greek yogurt plain

1 TBS. blue cheese

1 TBS. reduced-fat sour cream

1 TBS. fat-free buttermilk

2 skillet cooked slices of no-nitrate bacon crumbled

1/4 tsp. sea salt

Squeeze of lemon

Directions:

Mix all of the ingredients together. Smash the blue cheese with back of spoon to get more flavor from the cheese if desired. This dip has a lot of flavor so a little goes a long way. Serve with celery and carrots.

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I have been making this recipe for a long time. This is one of those comfort winter meals that the whole family will enjoy. I intended to use low-fat cheese in this recipe but when I was at the grocery store, the only cheese available was fat-free or regular.  I was pleasantly surprised when the fat-free cheese mixed with 1/4 cup of regular sharp cheddar offered the right taste and texture.You can use 1 3/4 cup of reduced fat cheese as a substitute and omit the full-fat cheese. You can make this dish vegetarian and omit the tuna since there is an adequate amount protein in the egg noodles as well as the cheese. There is 19 grams of protein per serving with the tuna added versus 16 grams without. You can replace the sour cream with non-fat plain yogurt. I don’t recommend using greek yogurt because I have tried this and it gave the dish a slightly bitter taste. If you prefer a bread crump topping, you can sprinkle whole-wheat panko bread crumbs on top.

Ingredients:

1 bag No Yolk Wide Egg Pasta (or gluten-free macaroni noodles)

1 3/4 c. Fat-Free Mild Cheddar Cheese

1/4 c. Sharp Cheddar Cheese

1 can Campbell’s Healthy Request Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup

1 can tuna (This can be omitted for vegetarians since this dish offers an adequate amount of protein).

1 medium onion chopped

1- 1 1/2 cup of celery diced

1/2 cup light sour cream

1 1/2 cups of 1% milk

1 TBS. olive oil

Splash of sherry (optional)

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Saute the onion and celery on medium heat with olive oil until the onions and celery are soft. Boil the noodles until al dente. The noodles will continue to cook in the oven. In a 9×13 casserole dish, mix together the condensed cream of mushroom soup, cheese, sour cream, milk, tuna, splash of sherry, and the cooked vegetables. You can add 1/4 tsp. black pepper or more depending on taste.

Add the cooked noodles and gently fold all the ingredients together. If using bread crumbs, sprinkle on top before covering the dish with foil.

Bake for 30-35 minutes until the sauce is bubbling on the sides. Remove foil and let the bread crumbs crisp for the last 5-10 minutes. Be careful since the noodles are not covered in cheese as it is traditional served, the noodles can overcook and become dry and crisp without foil. Make sure to check after 5 minutes without foil.

Serve with a side salad.

Makes 8-10 servings.

Nutrition:

Serving Size 8 servings

Calories: 306 calories

Total Fat: 4.59 grams

Sat. Fat: 2.5 grams

Sodium:  527 mg.

Carbohydrates: 40 grams

Fiber: 3 grams

Sugar:  4 grams

Protein: 19 grams