Hot Pineapple Sundae.

This is how I've felt about cooking recently:



In the last three weeks I've been to two weddings and spent 5 (LONG, HOT, STRESSFUL) days moving into a new apartment (with a bigger kitchen, YAY). That being said, cooking and blogging fell to the bottom of my priority list [yet again]. But, I'm back and here to share a mouth watering dessert - Hot Pineapple Sundaes! I shared a picture of this dessert with my friend Amanda, and I think our exchange pretty accurately describes how I felt about it...


I adapted this recipe from Cooking Light. One serving is only 235 calories and 6.4g of fat!

What you need...

• 3 tablespoons brown sugar


• 3 tablespoons orange juice


• 1 1/2 teaspoons honey


• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon


• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger


• 2 cups chopped fresh pineapple


• 1/4 cup macadamia nuts, coarsely chopped


• 2 cups vanilla fat-free frozen yogurt

How to make it...

Preheat broiler to high. Combine first 5 ingredients in a medium bowl, stirring well. Add pineapple.



Toss to coat.



Spread pineapple mixture in a single layer on a cookie sheet lined with foil.



Broil 5 minutes or until bubbly.



Spoon 1/2 cup yogurt into a dessert bowls. Top each serving with about 1/4 cup pineapple mixture and 1 tablespoon nuts.



Give this dessert a try, you won't be sorry! K, byeeee!

Skinny Egg Salad.

Sorry for the extended hiatus, its wedding season and I've been very busy (vacationing at the beach, drinking lots of beer, and eating the terribly).

Today I'm sharing one of my favorite lunch recipes - Skinny Egg Salad! I love egg salad and when I started making a conscious effort to eat healthier, I realized it wasn't the best option for me. That being said, it was really easy to figure out a way to make it better for me. All of the fat/calories in an egg are in the yolk...so take most of the yolk out, use low calorie mayo, and BOOM - you've got skinny egg salad!

I make this for lunch quite often. Its very easy and you can double (even triple) the recipe and eat it for a few days! But, when it comes to lunch, I've got a terrible case of food ADD and like to mix it up a lot, so I usually only make one portion when I'm in the mood for it.

What you need...

• 2 hard boiled eggs, peeled


• 1/2 tsp dijon or yellow mustard


• 2 tsp light mayo


• salt and pepper to taste

Note: I like my egg salad with more mustard than most people, so if you do not, try using 1/4 tsp of mustard. If that is not enough, you can always add more!

How to make it...

First, you obviously need to boil and peel the eggs.



Then you will need to cut the eggs in half.



Discard all but half a yolk.



Chop the eggs and combine with mayo, mustard, salt, and pepper.



Mix it all up and you've got Skinny Egg Salad!



You can have this whole bowl for only 40 calories and 5g of fat.



I like to put my Skinny Egg Salad on a Light English Muffin, for a total of 140 calories. Give it a try, its quite tasty! K, byeee!

Prosciutto-Mozza Pizza.

In case I haven't made it clear, I REALLY LIKE PIZZA. It should come as no surprise that I'm always looking for healthy options to satisfy my cravings. I have seen about 100 low-calorie pizzas in Cooking Light, so after a little encouragement from my boyfriend, I decided it was finally time to give one a try - we decided on the Prosciutto-Mozza Pizza from the June issue. This recipe makes 6 servings; each serving is 331 calories and 11.4g of fat.

What you need...

• 1 pound refrigerated fresh pizza dough


• 1 tablespoon cornmeal


• 2/3 cup light marinara sauce


• 6 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced


• 2 teaspoons olive oil


• 2 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto, torn into pieces


• 1/4 cup fresh oregano leaves

Sidebar: When cooking healthy, people often make the mistake of not properly measuring their ingredients. I know I used to guestimate how much of ingredient X would equal Y ounces and I'm sure this caused me to consume extra, unwanted calories. If you don't have a digital food scale, I definitely suggest investing in one. I just did, and I use my scale for EVERYTHING.

How to make it...

Let the dough stand at room temperature, covered, for 30 minutes (the following picture...is the most exciting picture I've ever taken). Place a heavy baking sheet (or if you're cool enough, a pizza stone) in the oven and preheat oven to 500° (keep baking sheet/pizza stone in the oven as it preheats). While the dough and the oven are doing their thing, you should prepare the rest of the ingredients: shred the prosciutto; slice the mozzarella; and measure out the corn meal, marinara, oregano, and olive oil. Once the dough is done hanging out, roll it into a circle on a lightly floured surface. If you don't have a rolling pin, just use the jar of marinara! (I'm always getting creative in the kitchen.) Then pierce the entire surface of your perfect circle liberally with a fork. Remove the baking sheet from oven (with your bare hands, clearly) and sprinkle with cornmeal. Place dough on baking sheet...ta-dah! Spread sauce over dough, leaving a border for the crust. Or if you hate crust, get real cray and don't leave a boarder at all - not my pizza, not my problem! You can totally make an uncrustable pizza!! Remember Uncrustables? Same basic idea, no curst. ANYWAY, crust or no crust, top with cheese. Brush outer crust with olive oil. If you don't have a fancy pastry brush, just use a napkin. (Um, apparently I wasn't supposed to do this until after the pizza baked? But why? I don't want an oily crust...that just SOUNDS disgusting. Oily crust. No thanks. So I'm going to go ahead and say do to it before you bake it...turned out just fine for me!) Bake at 500° for 14 minutes or until crust is golden and cheese is lightly browned. At this point....the eater gets anxious.... Remove from oven....NOMZ. Arrange prosciutto over pizza then top with oregano. Cut into 6 large slices. Now comes the hard part....DON'T EAT THE WHOLE PIZZA. Instead, limit your enjoyment to one or two slices and you can kill your pizza craving without killing your diet! K, byeeee.

Chili Mac & Cheese.

Holy crap this was good. My boyfriend said it tasted like a really fancy hamburger helper - I say it tasted like heaven. I'm really not sure why, but mine didn't end up looking much like the picture in Cooking Light - but I swear I followed the recipe! And I still can't believe this wasn't a million calories.

What you need...

• 1 teaspoon canola oil


• 3/4 pound light ground beef (or turkey)


• 1 teaspoon garlic powder


• 1 teaspoon ground coriander


• 1 teaspoon ground cumin


• 2 teaspoons chili powder


• 2 cups fat-free, lower-sodium beef broth


• 1 cup water


• 1 (10-ounce) can mild diced tomatoes and green chiles, undrained


• 8 ounces uncooked elbow macaroni


• 1/2 cup fat-free milk


• 4 ounces 1/3-less-fat cream cheese


• 4 1/2 ounces finely shredded reduced-fat sharp cheddar cheese

How to make it....

Heat a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. What is a dutch oven, you ask? I have no idea - just use a big pot! Don't have a big pot? Yeah, I can't find mine either. So just use a medium-sized pot and hope it doesn't boil over...works like a charm (errr...kind of). Add oil to your non-dutch oven. Add beef and next 4 ingredients; cook until browned.



Add broth, water, and tomatoes then bring to a boil.



Stir in macaroni and cover - this is where things get sketchy if you're using a medium-sized pot...but just go with it.



Cook  for 10 minutes or until macaroni is done and all the juices have been absorbed.



Heat milk and cream cheese in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook until the cheese melts, stirring frequently.



Remove cheesy mixture from the heat and stir in cheddar.



Add cheese sauce to macaroni mixture.



Stir until coated evenly.



All joking aside, if these pictures aren't making your mouth water then I think you need to go see a doctor....because I don't think you're a human.



This heavenly creation serves six. Each serving size is 1 cup, containing only 342 calories and 12.3g of fat! Seriously, go make this immediately...if not before. K, byeeee!

Pan-Grilled Flank Steak with Soy-Mustard Sauce.

Pan-Grilled Flank Steak with Soy-Mustard Sauce...yepp, its as delicious as it sounds. The recipe is from Cooking Light and it didn't require as much effort as you would think!

What you need...

• 1 pound flank steak, trimmed


• 3/8 teaspoon kosher salt


• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper


• Cooking spray


• 1 teaspoon canola oil


• 1 1/2 teaspoons minced fresh garlic


• 2 tablespoons lower-sodium soy sauce


• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard


• 3/4 teaspoon sugar


• 1 1/2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream


• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro, divided

Heat a grill or grill pan over high heat. Sprinkle steak evenly with salt and pepper. Lightly coat the steak with cooking spray. (Ewwww, raw meat is gross.)



Add steak to pan (or grill); grill for 5 minutes on each side or until desired degree of doneness. Let stand 3 minutes.


Heat a small skillet over medium-high heat. Add oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add garlic; cook for 30 seconds or until fragrant. Add soy sauce, mustard, and sugar; cook 1 minute or until bubbly. Remove pan from heat. Stir in cream and 1 tablespoon cilantro.



Cut steak diagonally across grain into thin slices. Sprinkle with remaining 1 tablespoon cilantro. Serve sauce with steak. One serving  (about 3 ounces steak and about 1 tablespoon sauce) is 220 calories.

I served the steak with Garlicky Asparagus for a total of 277 calories. It was by far one of my favorite meals I've ever cooked. I mean, just look at it!!!

Writing this post made me want to make it again...and I'm sure my boyfriend wouldn't hate that. Seriously, make this, you won't be sorry!!! K, byeeee.

Garlicky Asparagus.

I love asparagus. I usually just get frozen steamer bags of them, but I decided I was in the mood for some fresh asparagus. I found this recipe for Garlicky Asparagus in Cooking Light, and not only were they super easy to make, but they were seriously delicious.

What you need...

• 1 pound asparagus spears, trimmed


• 1 tablespoon olive oil


• 2 garlic cloves, minced


• 1/8 teaspoon salt


• 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

How to Make them...

Steam asparagus 4 minutes or until crisp-tender...seems simple enough, right? Well, it would be if you had a vegetable-steamer-pot-thingy, but not all of us have those (me included). So how are you going to steam your asparagus? Just get creative! I assembled my steamer using a strainer and alumni foil - worked like a charm!

While asparagus steams, heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic; cook 2 minutes or until fragrant, stirring frequently. Add asparagus, salt, and pepper; toss to combine.

I cooked the asparagus in the pan until they got a little bit of color, then called it a day.

My garlic ended up getting crispy and it added nice texture to the asparagus. One serving (about 3 ounces) is only 57 calories!

These Garlicky Asparagus are the perfect complement to any meat dish - give them a try! K, byeeee. (Hehe, this rhymes.)

Doritos Locos Nachos.

When most people heard of the Doriots Locos Tacos from Taco Bell, they were like this:



When I heard about the Doroits Locos Tacos, I was like this:



I wish I was kidding when I say I immediately went out and tried this GENIUS invention. After I devoured a Doritos Locos Taco and all its glory (and then another...woopsie) I could not believe I'd never had the pleasure of tasting such a masterpiece. I kept thinking, "Why have I never made nachos with Doritos?!?!?!?!!!" So obviously, I had to change that.

One Doritos Locos Taco Supreme (with lettuce, tomato, cheese, and sour cream) is 200 calories. Okay, not bad right? WRONG! Have you ever just eaten a single taco from taco bell? Because I haven't. Its like eating three potato chips and saying, "Close the bag, I'm done." It. Just. Doesn't. Happen. I could probably crush at least three Doritos Locos Tacos Supreme in one sitting, without thinking twice about it - so that's more like 600 calories. Instead of doing that and feeling terrible about yourself for the rest of the day, for just 360 calories you can eat an entire plate of Skinny Doritos Locos Nachos!!

What you need...

• 1 oz (about 12 chips) Baked Doritos


• 40z lean ground turkey


• 1/4 cup water


• 1 1/2 tbsp less-sodium taco seasoning


• Shredded lettuce


• Salsa


• 2 tbsp fat free sour cream


• 1/4 cup Sargento Shredded Reduced Fat 4 Cheese Mexican Cheese

How you make them...

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and add the turkey - cook until browned. Stir in 1/4 cup water and taco seasoning; bring to a simmer. Remove from heat.



Turn oven on to a Lo Broil - this is important, if the temperature is too high you'll burn your chips almost immediately (found this out the hard way). Place 1oz of Doritos on a baking sheet. (I actually weighed 1oz of Doritos and it ended up being 12 chips.) Using all 4oz, top each chip with a spoonful of ground turkey and cover with evenly with 1/4 cup cheese.



Place in the oven and watch carefully - the cheese will melt quickly. Once melted, remove from the oven and transfer to a plate.



Cover each Dorito nacho with lettuce.



Then add a layer of salsa.



And finally, top with fat free sour cream. Be sure to measure out two tablespoons and divide it up evenly - its really easy to get carried away with the sour cream and you end up consuming extra, unnecessary calories. And there you have it - Skinny Doritos Locos Nachos! 

They were everything I hoped and dreamed they would be. While my boyfriend and I were grubbing on them, he looked at me and said, "You've made me happy! You know you're going to have to make these again, right?" Haha, I think those comments say it all. K, byeeee!