A Twist on Lasagna

You're probably used to getting Mexican-themed recipes from me. Well, here's another one! This time, I do a remix on lasagna. And it's pretty easy to put together!

Salsa Verde Lasagna (Makes 9 servings)

• 12 whole wheat lasagna noodles, uncooked
• 2 12.5-oz. cans of chicken
• 2 16-oz. jars of salsa verde
• 1.5 cups of reduced-fat cheese
• Minced garlic, to taste
• Diced onion (dessicated), to taste
• Salt, to taste

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Drain chicken and place in a large bowl. Break into chunks. Add one jar of salsa verde, and the garlic, onion and salt; mix well.
3. Spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray, and add salsa verde from the second jar to the pan, about one-third of the jar, more than enough to cover the bottom.
4. Add 3 lasagna noodles, top with a third of the chicken mixture. Add 3 more noodles, top with another third of the remaining chicken mixture. Add 3 more noodles, top with the rest of the chicken mixture.
5. Add the final 3 noodles. Top with the remaining salsa verde. Top with the cheese.
6. Bake until noodles are tender.

With a salad or a side of vegetables, this is a reasonable Weight Watchers meal. To tone down the heat of the salsa, you could mix in fat-free sour cream to the chicken and salsa mixture, or top your serving of the lasagna with 1/4 cup of fat-free sour cream. Buen provecho!

Mexican Trifecta

Here are a few Mexican-themed recipes for ya. I made a Mexican feast last night!

Marinade for Taco/Fajita Meat

• 1 T canola or vegetable oil
  
• 3 T hot sauce
• Juice of 1 lime
• 1 T ground cumin
• 1 T minced garlic
• 1 T dry minced onion (or fresh onion, chopped; I'd go with at least 1/4 cup of fresh)

Mix the ingredients together and add to at least 1 lb. of meat. Marinade can be used with poultry or beef.

Marinate for at least 20 minutes, or as long as 24 hours. Grill meat when ready to cook. You can then slice the meat to put in soft corn or flour tortillas for tacos or fajitas, respectively. Or, you could serve the cuts of meat as-is with side dishes.


***

Pineapple Salsa

• 1 ripe pineapple, peeled and cored
• 1 jalapeno pepper
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro (leaves and stems), packed tightly
• 1/3 cup red onion, diced
  

Dice the pineapple. Finely dice the jalapeno. (Seed the jalapeno if you want a less spicy salsa; if you want some heat, you can include some of the seeds.) Finely dice the red onion. Finely chop the cilantro.

Mix everything together in a bowl and chill the salsa for at least an hour. After chilling, add salt, lime juice and/or cayenne pepper to taste if desired.

This can be eaten with tortilla chips or served on top of grilled pork or poultry.


***

Salsa Bean Salad

• 1 15-0z can of pinto beans
• 1 large, ripe red tomato
• 1/4 cup cilantro, tightly packed
• 1/3 cup red onion, diced finely
• 1 lime
• Salt
• Cayenne pepper
• 2 scallion stalks (optional)
  

Drain the pinto beans and place the drained beans in a medium-sized bowl.
Seed the tomato and dice it finely; add to the beans. Chop the cilantro finely and add to the bowl. Chop the cilantro finely and add to the mixture.
Juice the lime and add the juice to the bowl. Chop the scallions (white and green parts) and add at this time, if using.
Chill the salad for at least an hour. After chilling, add salt and cayenne pepper to taste.

Note: You can make a delicious fresh tomato salsa using this recipe by omitting the beans.

Easy Tortilla Chips

I made lunch for my husband this morning, a Mexican feast with chicken tacos and tortilla chips. But rather than break out a bag of greasy chips, I whipped them up in the microwave.

In 2 minutes of cooking time, you can have crisp, low-fat corn tortilla chips! All you need is taco-sized corn tortillas. These are the flat discs of corn that you heat in the oven to make soft tacos, as opposed to a box of the already crisped taco shells. I can get a bag of 36 of the soft corn tortillas from my local Aldi for less than $1.50. You'll see that this will keep you in tortilla chips for a long time.

Here's what to do:

• Get two to four tortillas, depending on how hungry you are.
• If desired, cut the tortillas into triangles. Cut in half, stack the halves and cut those in half. (If you want, you can cut smaller by stacking the quarters and cutting them into half. Or, you could leave the tortillas whole to crumble in the end, if you're eating them with a tortilla soup, a taco salad or something similar.)
• Put the tortillas on a plate. This should be a Corelle plate (which I use), melamine or ceramic, as opposed to a paper plate or a foam one.
• Heat the tortilla pieces for 1 minute; turn them over and heat for another 30-60 seconds, or until crisp and dry from the steam created during cooking.

That's it! As I mentioned, you could crumble the hardened tortillas over tortilla soup or a taco salad, eat them with salsa as a snack (1/2 cup of a fat-free salsa is a generous portion), or make a nachos meal with reduced fat cheddar (1 oz., or 1/4 cup), fat-free sour cream (1/4 cup), veggie toppings and beans (pinto or black), grilled chicken or lean ground beef or turkey (3 oz.).

Buen provecho!

Kid Lunch, Grown Up

I did something you're really not supposed to do today: I went to the grocery store on an empty stomach. I did resist the fried chicken and hoagies, though, settling on sushi.

That was at the front of the store. By the time I got to the back of the store, I had my doubts that the sushi, whole wheat crisps and fruit that I had selected was really what I wanted.

And then I laid my eyes on Kraft's Lunchables in the dairy section. I fondly remembered Lunchables from my childhood--the little package of neatly organized circles of meats and crackers, and stack of square cheese slices. Though tasty, the little meal packed a lot of fat and sodium.

Fast-forward nearly 25 years later, and Lunchables now makes a low-fat version that has earned the "Sensible Solutions" logo. And it's not just cheese and crackers, either, it's a complete meal!

The meal I had, at 360 calories, 8 grams of fat and 4 grams of fiber, was a mini turkey sub (complete with a packet of fat-free mayo and reduced-fat cheese), an 8-oz. water with sweetened Kool-Aid fruit punch powder to shake in, a 4 oz. cup of applesauce, and a small bag of Nila Wafers. I felt like I hit the jackpot!

The other Sensible Solutions variety is the Deep Dish Cheese Pizza box. Like the turkey sandwich combo, it comes with applesauce, water and Kool-Aid, and Nila Wafers.

White Chili With Chicken

This one was not only easy, it was economical, too!

• Half-pound of frozen grilled chicken breast strips
• 1 15-oz can of white beans, drained (Great Northern, small white, cannelini—any type will do)
• Jar of salsa verde
• Diced red onion to taste
• Cilantro to taste

1. Heat the chicken in the microwave; dice into small pieces and add to a bowl.
2. Add in the salsa verde.
3. Add the red onion.
4. Add the cilantro.

When I made this, I actually didn't cook anything, besides the chicken. I just heated the end product in the microwave when ready to serve. I served it with corn tortillas crisped in the microwave, and low-fat cheddar cheese.

An Egg-static Fan!

Before joining Weight Watchers, I was a major fan of IHOP's massive omelets. Ham and cheddar, steak, it didn't matter. As long as there were pancakes on the side (and butter pecan syrup on the table), it was all good.

These days, I have not banished omelets from my eating repertoire. In fact, I eat at least one a week. I've just learned to lighten up.

For starters, I now go with the carton of egg whites or yellow Egg Beaters rather than whole eggs. Instead of butter, I use a nonstick pan and cooking spray. And I use reduced fat cheddar or part-skim mozzarella over the higher-fat stuff. Aside from those ground rules, the sky's the limit!

Favorite omelets of mine lately have been center-cut bacon, spinach (fresh baby spinach leaves, frozen, or sauteed fresh) and cheddar; and Mexican-spiced ground turkey or lean ground beef and cheese, topped with salsa and/or fat-free sour cream.

You could make a more hearty meal (and add more fiber) by rolling up the omelet in a flatbread wrap.

As far as technique, I learned from the best! I saw Julia Child plying her craft several years ago, in an old episode of her show, "The French Chef," on public television.



To put it in non-chef terms:

1. Heat your nonstick pan on high. It's ready when a drop of water evaporates in the pan just about instantaneously.
2. Coat the pan well with cooking spray.
3. Pour in the egg, moving the pan to evenly coat the bottom.
4. Add your other ingredients. I suggest starting with anything that needs the heat most, like cheese or raw veggies.
5. Monitor the egg mixture.
6. As the egg mixture gets closer to being solid, shake the pan in a circular motion to loosen the omelet.
7. When loose, use a jerking/dragging motion, with the pan still on the burner, to flip the omelet closed.
8. If needed, cheat! Flip the omelet onto a plate to shape or use a spatula on the omelet in the pan to shape it.
9. If needed to cook the egg further, flip the omelet over after a few minutes. Flip onto a plate and then back into the pan, if needed.

Dessert Idea

I've been crushing on the various flavors of fat-free ice cream from Breyers over the past month or so.

I had a brilliant idea for jazzing up my fat-free vanilla ice cream last night—adding candy. I had some Weight Watchers toffee bars (by Whitman), and I whacked them with the flat side of a meat tenderizer to crush them. They were a delightful addition to my half-cup serving of ice cream!

The Whitman chocolates come in many flavors, including double chocolate fudge, mint chocolate, and chocolate peanut butter, to name a few. The Breyers ice cream comes in vanilla, French chocolate, strawberry, chocolate cookies & cream, and more.

Berries Jubilee!

'Tis the season for those small fruits with the big benefits, berries. Rich in antioxidants, and other important nutrients, I've been taking advantage of the abundance of strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries to give my diet a sweet/tart kick.

Here are some ideas for berries:

• Eat them raw.
• Mash them and serve them on top of fat-free vanilla ice cream..
• Mash them, mix with a little Splenda, and serve them in a peanut butter sandwich.
• Eat them in cereal.
• Whip them into a smoothie.
• Incorporate their puree, with some Splenda, into lemonade.
• Add them to a salad. Keep the other flavors light so the berry flavor shines through.

Italian Bacon Sandwich

Here's another tasty breakfast alternative!

• 2-3 slices of center-cut bacon (Different brands vary on serving size. Check the nutrition information to see what a serving size is, and go with that.)
• 1/2 cup spinach sauteed in olive oil and garlic
• 1 oz. part-skim mozzarella cheese
• light English muffin

Toast the English muffin; melt the cheese on both halves of the muffin in the microwave. Place the bacon on half of the English muffin. Top with the spinach; top with the other half of the English muffin.

BLT 2.0

This has been a favorite lunch lately, a lighter version of the classic BLT:

• 3 slices center-cut bacon (Center-cut bacon has less fat and fewer calories than the regular variety.)
• 1 cup lettuce (or spinach)
• Tomato slices
• Light English muffin, toasted
• 1 T light or fat-free mayonnaise

If you want to get in a dairy serving, you could omit the mayo and melt 1 oz. of shredded cheese on the bun.

Easy Lunch Ideas

I've done this a lot lately...

• 1 serving of a light Progresso vegetable soup (It'll say 0 points on the can. My favorite is Italian Vegetable)
• 1 serving turkey meatballs

Heat the soup; heat the meatballs. Dice the meatballs and add to the soup. Enjoy!

I often eat this with a light English muffin adorned with olive oil. If I want to get in a cheese serving, I add mozzarella to the soup.

That's the typical one I eat, but I've also gone with:

• Progresso Southwestern-Style Vegetable
• 2-3 ounces of grilled chicken
• Light sour cream or reduced-fat cheddar (optional)
  

You can eat this one with 2 small corn tortillas heated in the microwave until crisp (approximately 2 minutes).

Another Good Diet Dessert

I made this last night. Tasted just as good as the fried version!

• 2 taco-size corn tortillas
• 1 tsp. cinnamon sugar
• quick spritz of cooking spray

Heat the tortillas in the microwave for 1 minute; turn over. Heat for another minute, or until crisp.
Lightly spray the tortillas with the cooking spray; top each with cinnamon sugar.

(You might be able to forego the cooking spray; I just thought it would make the cinnamon sugar adhere better. I'll try without next time.)

A Filling Diet Breakfast

This was my breakfast today. I found this one from a regular on one of the Weight Watchers message boards. (I think it was Lawchick but am not 100% sure.)

• Light English muffin (I went with Thomas' Light Multigrain)
• Laughing Cow light cheese (I've tried the swiss and French onion)
• 1 slice Canadian bacon (I use turkey Canadian bacon, but you could go with pork)

Toast the muffin, spread on the cheese. Heat the Canadian bacon and add it to the bread and cheese.



I usually have the sandwich with a cup of tea flavored with 1 tablespoon of honey and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice.

Easy Fajitas

I mean really easy:

• Frozen precooked, pre-sliced, grilled chicken breast (I purchased this wonderful find from ALDI and used maybe 3/4 of a 2- to 3-lb. bag)
• Frozen bag of sliced peppers and onions (Probably 12 oz. Sorry, I'll have to pay attention to quantities and sizes more!)
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• Garlic powder to taste
  
• Small corn tortillas
  

Heat the oil and add the chicken and vegetables. Stir until everything is coated with the oil. Add the garlic powder. Cover the mixture but check back regularly to stir. Cook until the meat and veggies are thawed and everything is heated through, not more than 15-20 mins.
Heat the tortillas in the microwave and add the meat and veggies mixture. Voila! I guesstimate the meat/veggies mixture is enough for about 10 fajitas.