Cooking lightER

I recently started working out with a personal trainer. Yep, I'm crazy. So...I decided that since I was going to be spending a lot of money working out, I should try to help myself by eating better. The sushi I had last night probably doesn't fit the plan, but these Lasagna Rolls were pretty good! I got a great Cooking Light cookbook for Christmas and this was my first shot at using it. The photo in the book just looked too good not to try. I'm a visual person and will always lean toward trying a recipe that looks good before one that sounds good.

I did change this up a bit - neither of us eat mushrooms and the original recipe called for regular pasta, but I only had whole wheat.

Lasagna Rolls with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce adapted from Cooking Light

• 8 uncooked ww lasagna noodles
• 4 t olive oil
• 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
• 1/2 7oz jar sun dried tomatoes packed in oil, drained and patted dry, chopped
• 1 6 oz package fresh baby spinach
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 cup shredded skim mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
• fresh basil, minced
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/4 t crushed red pepper
• 1 T red wine vinegar
• 1/4 t salt
• 1/4 t freshly ground black pepper
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 7 oz bottle roasted red bell peppers, undrained
• 1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper

Cook the lasagna noodles according to package directions, omitting salt and oil. Drain and rinse under cold water. Set aside. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet. Add onion, sun dried tomatoes, spinach, and 3 garlic cloves. Sauté until onions are tender and spinach wilts. Remove from heat, and stir in cheeses, basil, salt and crushed red pepper.

To prepare sauce, place vinegar and remaining 6 ingredients in a blender; process until smooth.
Place cooked noodles on flat surface; spread 1/4 cup cheese mixture over each noodle. Roll up noodles and place the rolls, seam sides down, in a shallow 2-quart dish. Pour 1/4 cup sauce over each roll, and cover with heavy-duty plastic wrap. Microwave at high 5 minutes or until thoroughly heated. **I actually put this in the oven at 350 for about 10 minutes, but would suggest longer because they were not completely warm. This makes 4 servings of 2 lasagna rolls each.

We both liked the roasted red bell pepper sauce, but to make things easier and faster we'll probably just to regular pasta sauce next time. This is a good starter recipe and something easy to add to or change up. My favorite thing about my new CL cookbook is that the nutritional information is included in every recipe - making the task of keeping up with my food a lot easier!

I need two ovens.

That statement went from a "want" to a "need" during the holidays. The in-laws came in the weekend before Christmas so that we could celebrate with them. And me, being the obsessive "I can do it all" kind of person I am decided that I'd be able to fix this elaborate meal without my MIL bringing anything. Usually I take up her offer on adding in a side and a few desserts, but this time...nope, I can do it all! Yeah, right. When they left I told Jason that next time I'm going to Sam's and buying a freaking box of paper plates and cups. Mostly, it was my dumb fault for thinking that everything needed to be served on my fancy Christmas dishes. The fancy dishes that cannot go in the dishwasher. Idiot.

So, I sat down to create this fantastic meal. The kind that did not include turkey and dressing. I nixed the Roasted Red Pepper soup that I wanted, mostly because Jason correctly stated that I would probably not like it. I ended up with rolls & butter, Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing, Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Carolina Apple Compote, Potatoes Au Gratin, Green Beans Amandine and the Peppermint Cheesecake from a few posts back. Everything would have worked out great...if I had factored cooking time and temps into this menu. See, three of the above items needed to bake in the oven. For about an our each. All at different temperatures. Nice. And since I waited until the last minute to buy Jason's Christmas gifts, I used most of my cooking time Saturday shopping. Even better.

In the end, I compromised by giving Jason the pork to cook on the grille and moving dinner time back by an hour. Not so bad, considering I was aiming for 6:30.

Pork Loin Roast with Carolina Apple Compote from Southern Living

• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 teaspoons dried Italian seasoning
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1 (3-lb.) boneless pork loin roast
• Kitchen string
• 2 teaspoons canola oil
• 2 pounds Gala apples, unpeeled (I couldn't find these at my store so I bought some other red apples)
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 cup apple cider
• 5 tablespoons sugar
• 2 1/2 teaspoons orange zest
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Pinch of ground cloves
• 1 tablespoon butter

The first 4 ingredients are for the pork tenderloin - since I turned that over to Jason I have no idea what he did instead. The recipe calls for the seasoning to be rubbed on all sides of the pork and tied with kitchen string at 1" intervals. Chill the pork for 2 hours. Brown it on the stove top and transfer to a 375 oven for about 1 hour. Instead, we threw this on the grill. The key to keeping things moist and tender is to let them rest when you take them off of the heat. It's taken me a while to get that through to Jason. He wants to take the food off the grill and cut it up right away. Huge difference when you take the extra 15 minutes!

For the sauce, cut apples into bite-size pieces and sprinkle with lemon juice. Add cider and next 4 ingredients to skillet. Cook, over medium heat, stirring occasionally, 10 minutes or until slightly thickened. Add apples, and cook, stirring occasionally, 20 minutes or just until apples are tender and liquid is absorbed. Stir in butter until melted, and remove skillet from heat. Stir any accumulated pan juices from roast into compote. Serve compote immediately with pork.

Green Beans Amandine from Southern Living

• 1/2 cup sliced almonds
• 2 lbs fresh green beans
• 1/3 cup butter
• 1 T lemon juice
• salt & pepper

Bake almonds at 350 for about 5-10 minutes, set aside. Split the beans lengthwise, cook in boiling water for about 4 minutes, or until tender. Drain. Melt butter and add remaining ingredients. Toss to coat.

Herb Potatoes au Gratin from Aaron McCargo, Jr. - Food Network

• 1 stick butter
• 1/2 cup flour
• 2 cups milk
• 1/2 cup grated Mild Cheddar
• 1/4 cup grated American cheese
• 1/4 cup grated white cheddar (I used Monterrey Jack instead)
• 1 t chicken bullion powder (I didn't have any, so I left this out)
• 2 t ground nutmeg
• 1 t pepper
• 3 lbs russet potatoes, peeled and sliced thin




• 1 stick butter, melted
• 2 cups Panko breadcrumbs
• 2 t smoked paprika

Preheat oven to 350. In a large sauce pot over medium-high heat, melt butter. Stir in the flour until pasty. Add milk and stir to remove lumps. Let it cook for about 6 minutes, or until thick. Lower the heat and add the cheese, bouillon, nutmeg and black pepper. Whisk until well combined and sauce thickens, about 4 minutes. Remove from heat. In a bowl, combine butter, Panko and smoky paprika. Stir well. Place potatoes into a 9*13 casserole dish. Pour cheese over potatoes and sprinkle au gratin on top. Wrap with foil and bake in oven for 35 to 45 minutes. Remove foil and cook for 10 minutes uncovered. Allow to sit for 10 minutes.

Ladies, babies and food

Occasionally the girls on the Nest will have a Foodie GTG. Basically...a reason to hang out, chat and eat. :-) Plus, since we have them on a Saturday the moms bring their babies and, well, that just makes everything fun.

This time I took a few appetizers that my mom found in a magazine. She said that the recipes came from a Good Housekeeping magazine, but I could not find the recipes on line. So...I can't credit the source either. They both turned out really well and were fairly easy to make, unless you consider pitting the two packages of cherry tomatoes. Thank goodness Jason is a nice husband and helped me out because I would have been making a tomato dip instead of stuffed tomatoes!

Stuffed Cherry Tomatoes

• 2 pkgs cherry tomatoes
• 1/2 cup lite mayo
• 1/2 pgk bacon, cooked and crumbled
• 3 T grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/3 cup chopped green onions
• chopped parsley

Cut the tops off of the tomatoes and pit them. I used a small paring knife which worked really well. Stir remaining ingredients and stuff the tomatoes. Try not to eat all them them before you serve them.

Stuffed Cucumber Slices

• 2 cucumbers
• 1/2 cup fat free sour cream (I actually had to use Miracle Whip because my new container of sour cream was not sealed!)
• 1 apple, chopped (any flavor but I used Red Delicious)
• 1 small can crushed pineapple, drained
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans

Slice the cucumbers. Mix remaining ingredients and spoon onto the cucumbers. I loved these, but my mom wasn't as thrilled with them.

Both of these are great for appetizers and not that horrible for you.

I actually cooked!

Well...I helped cook. Last night I went to my friend's house to have dinner and help her pack. I'm horribly sad that Joey is moving...oh, I'm sad Jess is leaving too! ;-) I'll really miss his smiles.

That said, we cooked. I didn't take any photos because we were hungry and had a one year old attempting to walk around us...but it turned out really good! AND to top it all off...I ate fish. This is a BIG deal considering it's my least favorite thing, but I will eat salmon and I really liked it. Plus, it was a Weight Watchers recipe!

Honey Mustard Roasted Salmon from Weight Watchers

• (4) 6oz pieces of pink salmon fillet
• salt & pepper, to taste
• 1/4 cup Dijon Mustard
• 2 T honey
• 1 T water
• 1 T white wine vinegar
• 1/4 t dry mustard
• 1/4 t garlic powder
• 2 t fresh dill, chopped

Preheat the oven to 400. Spray a shallow baking dish with cooking spray. Season both sides of the salmon with salt and pepper, place in the baking dish. In a small bowl, whisk together all remaining ingredients except the dill. Brush 2 T of the mustard sauce onto the salmon, set the rest aside. Roast until salmon is fork-tender, about 15 minutes. Mix the dill into the remaining sauce and serve over the salmon.

WW Points - 5 per serving, 4 servings total

We also made corn on the cob, fresh green beans and zucchini sticks. I found the zucchini stick recipe on another blog...but I didn't right down who! So...if it is you, let me know and I'll link it.

Zucchini Sticks

• 3-4 zucchini, cut into 1/4" sticks
• 1 cup Panko breadcrumbs
• 1/2 cup Italian style breadcrumbs
• salt & pepper
• 1/2 t garlic powder
• 1/2 t Italian Seasoning
• 1 egg white

Toss the zucchini in the egg white, and then into the dry ingredients. Place a cooling rack on top of a cooking sheet, spray with cooking spray. Lay the zucchini out onto the cooling rack and spray again with cooking spray. Bake at 400 degrees for about 25 minutes.

WW Points: 4 per serving, 4 servings

It slices, it dices...

Ok, well, almost. The in-laws were here this weekend and they seem to be fans of the gadgety as seen on TV stuff. Hey, if it works I'm all for it! So that meant that while shopping Saturday, my mother-in-law bought me the Vidalia Slice Wizard! I'm always a little skeptical of the "as seen on TV" stuff, but I will say that this sucker works! We intended to make garlic mashed potatoes last night for dinner, but Jason wanted to try out the new toy...and loved it. He also managed to slice about half of a clove of garlic as well, but I'd stick with something larger than garlic.

I also made Roasted Broccoli for the first time! I read about it in another What's Cooking nestie's blog (however, I can't remember whose it was!) and thought it would be good to try. We love broccoli and usually just steam it with a little Parmesan cheese on top, but I wanted to try something different. This was perfect.

We cooked our favorite Grilled Pork Tenderloin. I really don't have a recipe for this because Jason just wings it! However, it always turns out really good! The pork is seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder. He then mixes a sauce of bottled BBQ sauce, ketchup, salt, pepper, garlic, onion powder, worcestershire sauce and brown sugar. The pork is rubbed with the sauce before we throw it on the grill.

Rosemary Roasted New Potatoes

• 4-5 new potatoes
• 1 t salt
• 1-2 t black pepper
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 t onion powder
• 1 T dried rosemary
• 2 t dried thyme
• 1/2 t ground oregano
• 2-3 T olive oil, to coat

Slice the potatoes (or dice them) and toss with the seasoning and olive oil. Spread a thin layer on a baking sheet and bake at 415 for 30-40 minutes, until tender.

Roasted Broccoli

• 3 bunches fresh broccoli
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2-3 T olive oil
• 1-2 T balsamic vinegar
• salt, ground black pepper and red pepper flakes to taste

Cut the broccoli so that you have the small florets only. Toss with the remaining ingredients, making sure to coat the vegetables. Spread on a baking sheet and roast in the oven at 415 for 20-30 minutes.