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Spaghetti Squash Alfredo: 125 Calories

Spaghetti Squash Alfredo 125 Calories

I eat a lot of food.

A lot of high calorie food and beer that can leave me feeling like I want to take a nap in some kale. I tend to pendulum swing between wanting really bad for me food and really good for me food but I want it all to taste good.

So I’ve developed a fixation with produce. And how to manipulate it into tasting like that other side of the coin that leads me down a path far away from my skinny jeans.

So here you have my version of a pasta dish, made up mostly of vegetables, and a hefty serving weighs in at only 125 calories.

In fact, if you ate the entire batch it would only be 500 calories.

And you would be very full.

Spaghetti Squash Alfredo 125 Calories2

Spaghetti Squash Alfredo: 125 Calories

Ingredients

  • 1 large spaghetti squash
  • 1 head cauliflower (1.5 lbs), chopped
  • ½ cup skim milk (2% and whole milk work too)
  • ½ cup chicken broth
  • ½ tsp garlic powder
  • ½ tsp onion power
  • pinch cayenne
  • 1 tbs lemon juice
  • 2 tbs Greek yogurt
  • ¼ cup parmesan
  • 1 large tomato, chopped
  • ¼ cup parsley, chopped

    Instructions

  1. Cut the spaghetti squash in half, scoop out and discard the seeds and strings in the middle of the squash.
  2. Place, cut side down, on a baking sheet that has been lined with aluminum foil.
  3. Roast at 375 for 30-40 minutes or until a fork easily slides into the skin.
  4. Remove from oven, allow to cool enough to handle. Using a fork, gently scrape and lift the spaghetti like strands of the squash, transfer to four serving plates.
  5. While the squash is cooking, make the sauce.
  6. Cook the cauliflower in lightly salted boiling water until fork tender, about 10 minutes. Drain and transfer to a blender. Add the milk, broth, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne, lemon juice and Greek yogurt. blend until smooth. Return the mixture to the pot over medium heat. Stir in the cheese, cook until warmed. Thin with additional broth if desired. Salt and pepper to taste.
  7. Pour sauce over squash, top with chopped tomatoes and parsley.

 

Spaghetti Squash Alfredo 125 Calories3

Flourless Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

 Flourless Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies are naturally dairy and gluten free, take 5 minutes and one bowl to throw together. 

flourless peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chips cookies 2

 

There is really nothing simple about my life these days. Between two blogs, freelance work, a book, a book tour, another super secret project I hope to tell you about soon, and (oh yeah) a family, I’ve officially crossed over into complex living. As a result, my food has become more simple. Beautifully simple. Fewer (but better) ingredients, less waste, more time with that family who gives me so much support. These cookies are a great example. My favorite cookie recipe ever (on the planet) takes 3 days to make, inspiring the name Thursday Night Cookies because if I want them for the weekend, I need to start making them Thursday night.

But right now, in this crazy phase of my life, I want something that can give me near instant comfort and gratification with just a few ingredients I already have. So that someday I can get back to those lazy days and Thursday Night Cookies.

Flourless Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 12 minutes

Total Time: 17 minutes

Yield: 12 cookies

Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup peanut butter
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 cup whole oats
  • ½ cup chocolate chips
  • 1 large egg

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350
  2. In a large bowl gently stir together all ingredients.
  3. Using a cookie scoop, add golf ball size mounds to a cookie sheet that has been covered with parchment paper, evenly spaced. Flatten to one-inch circles using your hand.
  4. Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes or until the edges turn golden brown. Pull the parchment paper off the cookie sheet and onto a flat surface. Allow to cool.

Notes

A lot of oat companies process their oats with machines that also come in contact with gluten, making the contamination rate high for store bought oats. If you need these to be gluten free, make sure to buy oats labeled "gluten free."

flourless peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chips cookies 3

Chicken Sliders With Zucchini Buns

 

At the end of the month I have this little cooking on TV gig that I’m incredibly excited about. And as much as I strive to be unique and impervious to social pressure, none of that has been able to penetrate my own vanity. After the initial shock of being asked to cook on CBS, Los Angeles wore off my first very female thoughts went something like this:

"What am I going to wear?"

"The camera adds ten pounds. Awesome."

So here I am, trying to stay as healthy as possible until I can school the Los Angeles metro area on the mid-day news with an introduction to cooking with beer all while still trying to run two food blogs that dazzle you with fun and delicious food. Not as easy for me as I’d like.

I did, however, discovered that if I give up dairy, which I already find skeevey in it’s unmanipulated state, the battle to lose those last few pounds becomes much easier. Butter and goat cheese have been the only real sacrifices, the rest has been easy to ignore or replace.

Don’t forget to come back on Wednesday when I give the best chocolate ice cream I have ever had that happens to be dairy free. It’s insane how creamy it is. You’ll want that recipe.

This recipe, which is dairy and gluten-free, gives you this delicious little mini burgers that are only about 90 calories each. And I am now one step closer to cooking on TV and not crying about it.

Chicken Sliders With Zucchini Buns

Ingredients

For The Patties

  • 1 lb ground lean chicken
  • 1 egg
  • 1/4 cup panko (for GF, use crushed potato chips)
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp pepper
  • 1/2 tsp dry oregano
  • 1/2 tsp dry basil
  • 1 cup fat free chicken broth

Condiments & Toppings

  • 1 to 2 large zucchinis, cut into 1/4 inch rings (buns)
  • Avocado Slices
  • BBQ Sauce
  • Pickled Jalapenos
  • Tomato Slices

Instructions

In a bowl, combine all the the patti ingredients (except the chicken broth) with your hands until well combined.
Spray the inside of a skillet (with a lid) with cooking spray, allow to get hot but not smoking.
Form the chicken mixture into patties about the width of your zucchini slices and about 1/2 inch thick. Cook on one side until browned on the bottom, flip and allow to cook for about 1 minute. Add the chicken broth until about half way up the sides of the chicken patties. Cover with a lid and allow to steam for about 3 to 5 minutes or until chicken patties are cooked through. Because fat is responsible for moist patties, very lean meat becomes dry very easily. This is the method I use to make sure the chicken is cooked through but is not dry.
Remove from pan and allow to drain.
Add the patties to the zucchini slices, top with condiments and serve.

(Makes about 8)

Goat Cheese Stuffed Apricots With Honey

I have a message for that guy who decides what day holidays are on. It’s awesome when he picks a day of the week, rather than a date of the month. He did a great job deciding on Thanksgiving and Easter, but a spectacularly awful job for Halloween and the 4th of July.

So I have some changes to propose to…that guy. Whoever he is.

The 4th of July should be celebrated on the first Friday in July, so that the 5th of July never has me sitting in an office trying to participated in work related functions with the remnants of my "casual get together turned late night party" still hanging onto me like a overly tired toddler. I do realize that if you name a holiday after a date, then it really messes people up if it doesn’t occur on that date, as in, "Are you coming over for The 4th of July on the 6th of July?" But, Holiday Naming Guy is to blame for that.

So my suggestion is that Independence Friday is now to  replace (or rather move) Mid Week 4th of July celebrations. All the same patriotic fun with out the comprehensive country wide lack of productivity the following day. I might have to start lobbying for this as soon as I can beat the crap out of who ever invented Day Light Saving time, that Guy is a real A-Hole. 


Goat Cheese Stuffed Apricots

12 apricots

6 to 8 ounces goat cheese

3 tbs raw honey

1/4 cup chopped pecans

Cut the apricots in half and remove the pits. Grab a small piece of goat cheese, about the size of the pit you just removed and roll it into a ball. Place it in the center of the apricot. Drizzle with honey, sprinkle with pecans.

I also cut these in half again before serving, but that’s your call.

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Crab Stuffed Baked Avocado

There is something about the raw exposure that blogging brings that forces you to face and deal with emotional handicaps that you didn’t even know that you have.

It may be the contrast between complete strangers showering you with compliments and adorations, and other complete strangers raining down harsh criticism. When in reality, neither is wholly accurate. You are, to one degree or another, somewhere in the middle.

And as harsh and those nasty comments can be, the overly positive ones have always been more difficult for me to deal with. Those readers who send compliment saturated emails about how much they love my recipes, or how great my life must be, are with no doubt a highlight of blogging. But I am always left with the fear that the pedestal will crumble and I will be exposed as the ordinary person that I truly am.

Self worth is supposed to be an isolated container, unaffected by the thoughts of others. But I’m not sure anyone has really figure out how to do that, and if he does, I’m not sure I want to meet that guy.

The truth is, sometimes we need a mirror of honesty to see how great we are, and place that value in our container of worth. And to really start to believe it.

Take a second to think back on your life and write down all the best compliments that you have ever received.

And then take the rest of your life to truly believe them.

Crab Stuffed Baked Avocado

4 oz cream cheese, softened

6 oz crab meat (drain well if using canned meat)

1/4 cup tomatoes, chopped

1 tbs scallions

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

pinch cayenne pepper

3 large ripe avocados,cut in half, pits removed

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 400.

In a bowl, combine all the ingredients except the avocados and the parmesan, mix until well combined.

Fit the hole in the avocado with crab mixture, top with generous amounts of cheese. Place avocados in the wells of a muffin tin, bake at 400 until the cheese has melted about 8-10 minutes.

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Skinny Potato Skins: 62 Calories

I’m not going to sit here and pretend that these are as good as the real thing. Those potato skins loaded up with bacon, sour cream and cheese that are somewhere around 62 calories per bite. But these make a great lunch durring my "I am GOING to lose those final 3 pounds" week. And they reheat really well, so you can make a batch on Sunday, and reheat them through out the week for lunch. With a side of this salad.

I’ve run the numbers and have come up with 62 calories each potato half, but that completely depends on the size of your potato and the amount of flesh you scoop out of it.  

My Husband added fat free sour cream and shredded cheese. If you add a tbs of fat free sour cream and a tsp of shredded part skim mozzarella cheese, it will about double the calories in the potato. But, if you like it more and that will make you eat less, it may be worth it. 

Also, this dish is:

Gluten Free

Vegan

Kosher for Passover

Skinny jeans friendly 

Skinny Potato Skins

4 large red potatoes

1 large red bell pepper, thinly sliced, stem removed

1 large yellow bell pepper, thinly sliced, stem removed 

2 cups sliced crimini mushrooms

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

olive oil cooking spray

2 tbs Smart Balance Light, melted

1 1/2 tbs or Fajita Seasonings

(Or: 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp smoked paprika, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp chili powder)

1/2 cup Pico De Gallo (or you fav salsa)

Preheat oven to 400. 

Pierce the potatoes a few times with a fork and microwave on high for 5-7 minutes or until cooked through. Remove and allow to cool until enough to handle. Cut in half and scoop out most of the insides, leaving about 1/4 inch of the walls in tact. You can save the potato middles for mashed potatoes or potato cakes.

Place thinly sliced bell peppers, mushrooms, and garlic on a baking sheet. Spray lightly with olive oil cooking spray and sprinkle with fajita seasoning (or the homemade blend) and toss to coat. 

Roast the vegetables in the oven for 15 minutes or until soft and the mushrooms have browned, tossing every 5-8 minutes with a heat safe spatula. 

Place the skins on a baking sheet and brush the insides with melted smart balance light, sprinkle with salt. Bake at 400 for 10 minutes, allow to cool slightly. 

Fill each potato skin with fajita veggies and top with Pico De Gallo. 

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Passover Risotto: Quinoa & Roasted Mushrooms

I’m over at a Passover Potluck today with Tori at The Shiksa In the Kitchen! Check it out, if you are Jewish or a Shiksa (non-jewish girl) I think you are gonna love it. Tori and I have acctualy known each other since the 4th grade and reconnect as adults through blogging.

She is one of the most genuine people I have ever known, sweet, smart and generous with her talents and knowledge.

Tori recently interviewed a man I know, Michael, who is an 81 year old Holocaust survivor who was sent to Auschwitz concentration camp when he was 13. His story is incredible and Tori even got is World Famous Tiramisu recipe! The interview is inspiring, you should read it (Click here).

The recipe I created today for the Potluck is one of my favorite dishes, risotto, that I have re-made using the rules of Kosher cooking, which Tori was sweet enough to walk me through! I love Risotto, which is traditionally made with rice, but during passover, it isn’t considered Kosher. You all know my love for quinoa, so this was a fabulous stand in when rice is not an option! Roasting the mushrooms was so quick, and developed a rich flavor quickly.

Check it out over at The Shiksa!

Roasted Mushroom Quinoa Risotto For Passover