cooking light recipes Archives - 2 Sisters 2 Cities

Posted by 2 Sisters 2 Cities on March 22, 2012

Well hello, hello! I feel like I have been MIA lately. Do you want to know what is to blame this time? The Hunger Games! I got so wrapped up in these books during the last week that I feel like I got nothing done besides read those books. You will be happy to know that I finished the series and I can now give you my full attention. I am, however, going to see the movie this weekend which I am very excited about! Are any of you addicted to these books and plan on going to see the movie? It seems like everyone I talked to was wrapped up in these books.

Well, besides my Hunger Games vacation, I also received my Cooking Light magazine over the weekend. I am pretty excited because they have an entire section for 40 meals under 40 minutes. I don’t know about you, but on the weeknight, I need a dinner that is easy and quick to pull together.

The first meal I picked from the magazine is a little unlike me because I am not a huge chili or mac and cheese person. Don’t get me wrong about mac and cheese- I do love it, but I tend not to make it because it is not always healthy. I picked a recipe for Chili Mac and Cheese and let me tell you… it was awesome! My boyfriend also loved it- when I offered him one more scoop, he happily obliged which he hardly ever takes seconds of meals. I loved this recipe because it was like a healthier homemade version of Hamburger Helper, which I use to love in college. Also this recipe is super easy and only uses two pots! Okay on with Chili Mac and Cheese.

Chili Mac and Cheese
Ingredients
1 tsp. canola oil
1 lb. ground beef (95 % lean)
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. ground coriander
1 tsp. ground cumin
2 tsp. chili powder
2 cups fat-free, lower sodium beef broth
1 cup water
1 10 oz. can diced tomatoes and green chilies (I used hot but you can also use mild)
8 ounces uncooked elbow macaroni
1/2 cup fat-free milk
4 oz. of 1/3 less fat cream cheese
4 1/2 oz. of shredded reduced fat cheddar

Instructions
Heat a large Dutch oven or pot over medium-high heat . Add oil and allow to heat up. Stir in ground beef and all 4 spices and cook for about 3-4 minutes. Next add broth, water, and tomatoes. Bring mixture to a boil and stir in elbows. Cover with lid and let cook for 10 minutes or until the macaroni has been cooked and most of the liquid in the pot has been absorbed.

In a small sauce pan heat the milk and cream cheese over medium heat, stirring constantly until cream cheese has been melted and combined with milk. Remove from heat and stir in cheddar cheese until melted. Add cheese sauce to the macaroni and stir well. Serving size is about 1 cup. Makes 6 servings.

Source– slightly adapted from Cooking Light, April 2012

Posted by 2 Sisters 2 Cities on February 14, 2011

I like to bring my lunch to work to save money and to eat healthier. A lot of times I bring leftovers from dinner or Lean Cuisines/Smart Ones. The frozen meals are easy to pack, but I don’t like to eat them every day because of the high amount of sodium they have. I am always in the search for easy healthy recipes to make and bring to work. My favorite recipe to bring is the Black Bean Burrito Bake from Cooking Light. It makes 4 servings and they are soooooooo gooooooddd. I replace the light sour cream with fat free sour cream or plain Greek yogurt, flour tortillas with low carb whole wheat wraps (2 PointsPlus) and monterey jack with reduced fat shredded Mexican cheese. With these changes, the burritos are only 7 Weight Watchers PointsPlus.

After making them I put them in plastic containers and have them ready in the fridge to take to work. I bring additional salsa to put on top of them after I reheat them in the microwave for 2-2:30 minutes.

Enjoy!

-K

Posted by 2 Sisters 2 Cities on January 10, 2011

My roommate and I wanted to make a new recipe last night with either beef of seafood. We found a recipe we were interested in in this month’s Cooking Light. The recipe was called Beef Tagine with Butternut Squash. I have heard the term Tagine before but wasn’t sure where it was from. After doing some research, we found out that it was a Moroccan dish. The couscous recipe that is shown with the recipe looked good but we wanted to use the quinoa we had so we made the Quinoa with Roasted Garlic, Tomatoes and Spinach (which I have previously posted about) to go on the side. The dish was delicious and we are so happy we tried something different. We were worried about being able to find beef shoulder roast in the grocery store, but my grocery store actually had it.

My favorite part of the recipe was that I got use my new dutch oven that I got for Christmas and most importantly eating it (for dinner and lunch)! MMMMmm make it! You will thank me later.

The ingredients

Browning the beef and onions

The beef is browned, and ready to add the garlic.

Adding the squash, after cooking for 5 minutes with the diced tomatoes and broth.

After simmering for 15 minutes the Tagine is ready to go!

Served with chopped Cilantro on top.

Enjoy!

-K

Posted by Meaghan Barry on July 25, 2010

Between Sister K and I, I think we are going to cook through the whole issue of Cooking Light for August. On Sunday night, I made husband M the Spicy Corn and Crab Chowder. He liked it so much that he requested this dish with lobsters over the requisite New England Clam Chowder I usually make.

If you are going on any weekend long vacations this summer, be sure to check out the magazine’s 1-Cooler, 1-Weekend Getaway feature. Both sister K and I really want to do this some weekend. We are going on a beach vacaction for a week together later this summer, but it will be for a whole week. I think we’ll definitely be trying out at least a few of the recipes in this feature though! And no, we do not work for Cooking Light- we are just obsessed!

-m

Posted by Keelin Hollenbeck on July 22, 2010

I bet you can already guess what magazine I cooked out of tonight. I cooked Easy Grilled Chicken Salad from my August Cooking Light, of course! This recipe was super easy to make (hence the name) and really, really, really good (yes it gets three reallys).

I made a couple of exchanges in this recipe because I already owned some items and I wanted to save some money while I was grocery shopping. First, I replaced the celery with cucumber because I really don’t care for celery. I didn’t know how it was going to taste, but it ended up being really good and sort of reminded me of taziki sauce a little. I ate this right away. I would say if you were going to make this for a meal ahead of time, the cucumbers may get soggy and ruin the salad. The next replacement I made was that I switched the chopped pecans to chopped almonds. Finally, I used a little bit of regular onion instead of green onion. In the end, I think the changes I made were really good. I ended making on 1/4th the recipe because I was making it for just myself. You should try some variations of it yourself and tell me how it goes. The chicken salad is placed on a bed of baby spinach and I also served it with a steamed summer squash. MMMMmmmm!

Enjoy!

-K

Posted by Keelin Hollenbeck on July 21, 2010

Once again, I decided to try a recipe out from my new August Cooking Light. Tonight, I made Quinoa with Roasted Garlic, Tomatoes, and Spinach. This is a side dish but my roommate and I doubled the recipe and made it for 2 meals. I have never cooked with quinoa and I didn’t even know where to find it in the grocery store (which is rare because I know everything in my grocery store). I had to call my mom to ask her where she would find her quinoa. Apparently I was pronouncing it wrong (pronounced KEEN-Wah.) I eventually found it in the organic sections (where would we be without super moms!)

Roasting the garlic is pretty easy- just peel some of the papery skin off and then cut it half (so you are basically cutting every piece of garlic in half.) Next, wrap it in aluminum foil and bake for an hour at 350 degrees. The recipe it pretty simple and besides the hour it takes the roast the garlic, it is pretty quick. It was so good that I ate my serving for tomorrows lunch! Oops!

I used an onion instead of shallots because I already had one, and the garlic bunch in the picture is not a whole one because the whole one is in the oven during this picture. I also used Pecorino Romano cheese instead of parm because I like it better.

Enjoy!

-K

Posted by Keelin Hollenbeck on July 19, 2010

Tonight, my roommate and I made a recipe from the new August Cooking Light. While in a rush to the grocery store I looked at the Cooking Light and picked out the recipe Whole-Wheat Pasta with Edamame, Arugula, and Herbs. It was pretty easy to make- just a lot of herb chopping (basil, parsley, and thyme.)

Start boiling the pasta water before doing anything else and cut up everything else in the meanwhile. The edamame only takes about 3-4 minutes to heat up. Make sure you read the whole recipe on the link before you start making it! The recipe makes 4 pretty large portions so we got dinner and lunch for tomorrow out of it.

Enjoy!

-k

Posted by Keelin Hollenbeck on July 11, 2010

I got my new Cooking Light on Friday and found a lot of recipes I wanted to cook. I have been having problems with getting motivated about cooking lately, so I was happy I finally found something that interest me. Tonight I am going to be making Summer Squash and Corn Chowder with tomato brushcetta on fresh toasted French bread for the side.

It was delicious!! You should make it, but crank the A/C up because it can get hot in the kitchen especially in the summer.

I am turning 25 this coming weekend so stay tuned to hear about my birthday.

Enjoy

-k

-K

Posted by Keelin Hollenbeck on March 1, 2010

My boyfriend loves potato pancakes, so I decided I would attempt to make them for him on Friday. I picked a recipe from my newest Cooking Light cookbook, “Cooking Light Way to Cook” because it was a little healthier than classic recipes. They turned out really good, but I didn’t have a working camera this weekend, so no pictures :(.

Basic Potato Latkes

2 pounds baking potatoes, peeled

1 small onion (about 6 ounces), peeled

1/4 cup egg substitute

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon of kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

3 tablespoons canola oil, divided

1. Shred potato and onion using the shredding blade of a food processor (I don’t have this so I just used a box grater.) Combine shredded potato and onion in a colander over a large bowl, tossing well to combine. Let mixture stand 15 minutes, pressing occasionally with the back of a spoon until most of the liquid drains off. Remove colander from bowl. Carefully pour off the potato liquid, reserving thick white layer of potato starch in the bottom of the bowl. Discard potato liquid.

2. Combine egg substitute and next 3 ingredients in small bowl, stirring with a whisk. Add egg mixture to potato starch in large bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Add potato mixture and parsley to bowl, tossing well to combine.

3. Heat a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 1/2 tablespoons oil to pan, swirling to coat. Add potato mixture in 1/4 cupfuls to pan to form 6 latkes; flatten slightly. Cook 4 minutes on each side or until golden brown. Remove latkes from pan; keep warm. Repeat procedure with remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons oil and remaining potato mixture. Yield: 6 servings (serving size: 2 latkes)

Calories 208; fat 7.2g; protein 4.9g; carb 32.3g; fiver 2.6g; chol 0 mg.

Enjoy!

-K

Posted by Meaghan Barry on January 24, 2010

Pork Vindaloo is one of my hands down favorite dishes to make. I like it so much that I often double the recipe as it makes great leftovers. This recipe is originally from Cooking Light May 2007 and the online recipe can be found here. I have abridged the recipe slightly to how I like to make it.

Ingredients
Raita:
16 oz container plain, non-fat Greek Yogurt
3/4 cup chopped seeded peeled cucumber (or if you don’t feel like taking the seeds, try an English cucumber)
3/4 cup chopped seeded tomato
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon garam masala

Vindaloo:
1 1/2 cups thinly sliced sweet onion
2 teaspoons grated peeled fresh ginger
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon ground cumin
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 to 1 teaspoon ground red pepper (this dish is pretty spicy so adjust this based on your desired heat level)
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 pounds boneless pork loin, cut into 3/4-inch cubes
Cooking spray
1 cup chopped seeded tomato (or to save time, use a 15 oz. can diced tomatoes, drained)

Sides (can cook one or both):
4 1/2 cups hot cooked basmati rice
pre-packaged garlic naan

Directions

To prepare raita, pour yogurt into a medium sized bowl. Stir in cucumber, 3/4 cup tomato, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and garam masala; cover and refrigerate.

To prepare vindaloo, combine onion and next 13 ingredients (through pork) in a gallon-sized freezer bag; marinate in refrigerator 30 minutes (I sometimes make this a day ahead of time and let it marinate overnight).

Heat a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add pork mixture; sauté 7 minutes or until lightly browned. Stir in 1 cup tomato. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 30 minutes or until pork is tender, stirring occasionally. In the meanwhile, cook the rice and heat up the naan (I like to brush the naan with olive oil before heating it up). Serve with raita, naan, and/or basmati rice.

-M