Zucchini Lasagna

This week I made a delicious Zucchini Lasagna for dinner.  It was so easy - 15 minutes hands on! - AND just as good cold the next day.  So all in all a great dinner for a week night or for when you are crunched for time.  Although this lasagna has no red sauce, the cheese sauce has a pink tint from my secret ingredient (ground cayenne pepper to give it a little kick!).  This lasagna serves 4 and packs only 398 calories!

Zucchini Lasagna
adapted from marthastewart.com

Incredients -

• Cooking spray, for baking dish
• 8 ounces 1/3 less fat cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 container (15 ounces) fat free ricotta cheese
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 2 medium zucchini, halved lengthwise, then sliced thinly crosswise
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 1 1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
• 6 no-boil lasagna noodles
• 2 ounces shredded (1/2 cup) part-skim mozzarella cheese

Directions -

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Coat 8-inch square baking dish with cooking spray; set aside. 

In a medium bowl, stir together cream cheese, ricotta and cayenne pepper; season with salt and pepper. In another medium bowl, combine zucchini, garlic, and oregano; season with salt and pepper, and toss to combine. 

Spread 1/3 zucchini mixture in prepared baking dish; top with two lasagna noodles, then 1/3 ricotta mixture. Repeat twice with remaining zucchini mixture, noodles, and ricotta mixture, finishing with the ricotta mixture.

 Sprinkle with mozzarella. 

Cover baking dish with aluminum foil; bake until bubbly and noodles are tender, 30 to 35 minutes. Remove foil; bake until golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes more.

Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

If you are not a big zucchini fan or just want to load in more veggies (like carrots and squash), that would be a great recipe adaption.  Enjoy!

Chocolate Chip Buttermilk Scones

I know, I know...it sounds like I am off my resolution only a couple days after I shared it with you.  But, SURPRISE!  Each of these delicious scones packs only 200 calories and 8g of fat, not bad for breakfast.

I have been trolling around the internet in search of healthy cooking blogs that I can use for inspiration.  This recipe comes from one of my favorites, Gina's Skinny Taste, which is totally focused on delicious food that is low calorie!  So, of course, I subscribed to her blasts and got this delicious recipe in my inbox on Thursday morning (just in time for some weekend baking!).

Chocolate Chip Buttermilk Scones
recipe adapted from skinnytaste.com

Incredients -

• 3/4 cup cold low-fat buttermilk
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 tbsp chilled butter (must be cold) cut into small pieces
• 3/4 cup chocolate chips
• cooking spray
• 1 large egg white, lightly beaten
• 1 1/2 tbsp sugar

Directions -
Preheat oven to 375°. Whisk the first four ingredients in a medium bowl - set aside.  Spray baking sheet with cooking spray.

Whisk flour, baking powder, salt, in a large bowl. Cut in chilled butter with a fork, until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Mix in chocolate chips. Stir in milk mixture just until dry ingredients are moist.

Knead lightly four times with floured hands. Place dough onto baking sheet and form into an 9-inch circle, about 3/4" thick. Using a knife, cut dough into 12 wedges all the way through. 

Bush egg white over dough (don't worry about using the entire egg white) and sprinkle evenly with sugar.

Bake until golden, about 17-20 minutes.

 Enjoy with a cup of coffee at breakfast or with a cup of tea for a great afternoon snack!

Happy 2012

It is a new year, which typically means resolutions to improve ones life.  Well I am no exception... One of my resolutions for 2012 is cook more/order less taken out.  This is a two part resolution, I not only want to make more homemade food, I want this food to be healthy and low fat!  With my commitment to healthy eating, I am also recommitting myself to blogging out my adventures in the kitchen.  So, expect low fat/low calorie dinner recipes, along with some other fun recipes along the way (and of course there will still be treats, because what fun is cooking and baking without delicious indulgences!).

Happy New Year!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Last Monday was my 27th birthday, so I have officially entered the my late 20's...yikes!  So, although this birthday was a hard pill to swallow, I fully believe in celebrating my birthday to the fullest!

The celebration began on Sunday night with a family dinner at Beauty and Essex.  This food was seriously delicious (and they serve champagne in the bathroom...amazing!).  It is all small plates, so we got to try a bunch of different things...  Pan Con Tomate with fresh burata (burata is one of my favorite things in the world btw), Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup Dumplings, Lobster Mac and Cheese (which was one of that night's specials), Braised Chicken Meatballs, Heritage Baby Back Ribs, Tandoori Salmon, Calamari Payaya (which is the one thing I did not like!) and the Beauty and Essex Burger...YUM!  Somehow we found room for dessert and ordered Macarons and Box of Doughnuts (pictured above).

I will start off by simply stating that I do not believe in working on my birthday, so Monday (my actual birthday) began with a delicious breakfast consisting of a pain au chocolat and a bowl of cappuccino from Balthazar.  Breakfast was followed by an amazing massage and facial at Bliss - Soho.  After the pampering was complete and a significant amount of window shopping was done, we stopped for SPICY FROZEN HOT CHOCOLATE at MarieBelle, this adorable, delicious chocolate shop (ps - the food there is not too shabby either).

My lovely birthday was complete with take out from Five Napkin Burger and a single, delicious chocolate covered strawberry from Cafe Lalo (complete with a candle and birthday wish!).

I'm back...

I am back in blogger world!  Over the past 8 months I have started a new job, moved apartments and generally have been running all over the place...  Now that I am settled in most aspects of my life (for now), I am back!

triple chocolate pecan cookies

These cookies can only be described as chocolate chip cookies on steroids.  They are so good, so pretty and very easy!

Triple Chocolate Pecan Cookies
recipe adapted from Great Cookies by Carole Walters

recipe after the jump

all scones are not created equal

This morning I was craving a vanilla soy latte from Starbucks and the chilly weather deterred me from walking the extra 10 or so blocks to Amy's Bread, so I opted for a blueberry scone from Starbucks.  But let me tell you, all scones are not created equal!  Not that the scone from Starbucks was bad, but a scone from Amy's Bread is like heaven on a plate...oh well, there is always next Saturday!