Thursday, October 20, 2011

Good eats, and only 220 calories.

Eating healthy has helped me get a lot more creative with food.  Flavors, textures, new ingredients  - great flavor doesn't have to be bad for you!  Experimentation is exciting and, so far, pretty rewarding.  Here's my latest concoction.

Without the appetizer, the entire meal is only 220 calories.  If you feel like gettin' crazy and adding the appetizer, the entire deal is still only 399 calories!  Serves four, by the way.

Le Bonne Vie tomato basil goat
cheese & "Everything" Pretzel Crisps .
Appetizer:
1oz Le Bonne Vie tomato & basil goat cheese (1/4 of a small log)
11 Everything Pretzel Crisps

Dinner Ingredients:
1 spaghetti squash
1 can Red Gold petite diced tomatoes
5 cloves garlic 
1/2 a medium sized onion (about 3" diameter)
1 green pepper
1 tomato
2 Bruce Aidells artichoke & garlic sausages
1 small box (about 8oz) of mushrooms
2 tsp herbs de province
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp oregano
healthy sprinkling of pepper & dash of sea salt (to your liking)

Preparation:
Chop up your veggies.  I left mine in big chunks this time.  I love it when garlic isn't finely chopped!  You don't have to use a fresh tomato, but I really like big pieces of fresh vegetables mixed in.

Cut the squash in half, take out the seeds, and lay it flat (skin side up) on a plate. Not a bad idea to throw a bit of water into it before you flip it over and lay it down - makes it moist.  

Cut the sausages into about 1cm thick slices and cook for a couple of minutes on each side with the chopped onion in a large sauce pan.  

Now, get the squash cookin'!  Microwave it for 12 minutes.  If you can run a fork through it like a comb, scoop it out into a bowl and have a bite to see if you're happy with the texture.  I'd prefer mine to be a hair crunchy rather than mushy.  If it's mushy, it loses it's awesome spaghetti-ness.  

Stir your canned tomato, real tomato, mushrooms, garlic, green pepper, and spices into the sauce pan and cook until veggies are partly done.  Take the lid off for the rest of the time and let simmer so that some of the water evaporates the sauce gets thicker.  I'm sure there are technical terms for these things, I just know that it tastes better when it's less liquidy!

Serve it up, and enjoy!





Nutrition info:
Calories - 220
Carbs - 26
Fat - 8
Protein - 14
Fiber - 7
Sodium - 680, not including sea salt
Click here for cheese nutrition info, and here for pretzels.


Nov. 11, 2011 - NOTE!  Spaghetti squash definitely turns out better if you bake it.  Cut it in half and put it skin-side-up on a baking pan and into the oven.  It's fine in the microwave, but if you've got the time, bake it for an hour or so at 350.  You can even do it in advance & leave it in the skin, then scrape out & warm when you're ready to eat it!  The texture's better.  

7 comments:

  1. Mmm! Thanks for posting the recipe! I'm still dreaming of the chicken version you made last week :)

    -L

    ReplyDelete
  2. omg. I'm drooling. I miss cheese so much. I've had to give it up because it seems I'm sensitive to it. I'm living vicariously through you! xoxo

    ReplyDelete
  3. Bummer! Why does it always seem to work that way? Seafood is my favorite, especially crab, lobster, shrimp, scallops... And I'm sensitive to all of 'em now. Every now & then I just decide to have a little thinking I can handle it and end up quite annoyed at myself.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Yum I love spaghetti squash! Over the summer I was using zuchinni as a pasta substitute (I bought a julienne peeler just for that!) But now that spaghetti squash is in season I'll be switching over to that... thanks for the great recipe!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I so want to try this but am having trouble finding spaghetti squash here in NZ. I might have to come up with an alternative. Or grow my own.

    ReplyDelete
  6. You can do what April mentioned above too, Maggie! Finely slice zucchini into noodles. Definitely going to try zucchini lasagna sometime, soon. Or, as I keep accidentally calling it, luzzini zuchagna...

    ReplyDelete