Black Bean Corn Salsa

Apparently I'm on a Mexican kick lately. I think that's just how I roll in the summer time. Anyone else like that?

A few years ago my mom introduced me to this recipe. It was in their church cookbook, submitted by some lady I've never met. BUT I have gotten some good use out of this recipe. It's perfect to take to summer BBQ's or pot lucks. I love that I typically have most of the ingredients on hand and if I don't, it only takes about $3 to pick them up from the store.

We like foods pretty hot and spicy in our house. This recipe does include a jalapeno. I usually leave some of the ribs and seed intact so that some of the heat remains. If you don't like very much heat, make sure you remove all the ribs of the jalapeno before you dice it up. I also like to cover my hand in the plastic produce bag while chopping a jalapeno. You can also keep rubber gloves on hand. I must have had a REALLY potent pepper one time that I made this recipe and ended up with a burning hand for 3 days. I haven't made that mistake again.

Black Bean Corn Salsa

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can shoepeg or white corn, drained and rinsed
3 Roma tomatoes, diced as tiny as you can get them
1/2 red onion, diced as tiny as you can get it
1 jalapeno, finely diced
1/4 cup Zesty Italian dressing

Mix together all ingredients. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Best if refrigerated for at least 4 hours or overnight. Serve with tortilla chips, put in quesadillas, or serve with rice as a vegetarian meal.

Makes 12 servings

60 calories 1.4 g fat 10.2 g carbohydrate 2.6 g fiber 2.6 g protein

Pico de Gallo

Four summers ago my husband and I enjoyed a wonderful week on the Mayan Riviera in Mexico for our honeymoon. We went all out and reserved a fancy-schmancy all inclusive which was above and beyond my expectations. One of my favorite parts about staying at an all inclusive is not having to worry about what to make for meals, where to go, etc. You have a HUGE selection of restaurants and buffets at your beck and call. Although this can be disastrous for your waistline, it doesn't have to be! There are many fresh, healthy options like fruits and vegetables available for you to try.

One of our favorite dishes at the resort we stayed at wasn't a dish at all, it was a condiment. PICO de GALLO!!! We loved it. It was so fresh and tasty and went with everything. I spent the whole week trying to remember exactly how it tasted so I could recreate it at home. When we returned, it took several tries but I think I perfected the pico de gallo. Now we have it all summer long. It would be great with oven baked tortilla chips or with Paco's Tacos (recipe to come!).


Pico de Gallo

1 large ripe tomato, diced into TINY pieces
1/2 red onion, small dice
1 jalepeno pepper, seeded and diced
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
juice of 4 limes
salt to taste

Serve with tortilla chips, on tacos, with eggs, on quesadillas - whatever your heart desires!!! Store in refrigerator. Tastes best when flavors have been allowed to blend for a few hours or overnight.

Makes 6 servings

16.6 calories
0.2 g fat
4.3 g carbohydrate
0.7 g fiber
0.5 g protein
Provides 20% DV Vitamin C

Garbanzo Bean Dip

I've been wanting to make homemade hummus for a REALLY long time. For some reason I don't like buying it premade but will eat it like it's someone's going to take it away from my when I'm at my parents house. So I had resolved to make it last week and decided to buy the necessary ingredients when I went to the store. Well, one of the key ingredients in hummus is tahini (sesame paste). I went down the ethnic aisle of my grocery store to find a giant 12 oz bottle of tahini.... for $8.99. Well I am a crazy couponer and there is no way I am paying $8.99 for something I need about 2 Tbsp of. So I gave up on hummus for a while.

Then, we were at our local microbrewery with friends and I saw a stack of this local magazine. Inside was a recipe for white bean dip. The original recipe called for Great Northern beans but I thought maybe I could substitute garbanzo beans and make almost a hummus (minus the expensive tahini).

I made this on Father's day and paired it with slice cucumbers, baby carrots and wheat crackers. It was awesome! I had it again today for lunch. Super easy and very full of flavor.

Garbanzo Bean Dip

1 can (15.5 oz) garbanzo beans, drained
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 Tbsp olive oil
juice of 1/2 of a lemon
1/2 tsp cumin
sprinkle of paprika

Combine beans, garlic, oil, lemon and cumin in a blender. Blend until smooth. Garnish with a sprinkle of paprika.

Makes 4 servings. Per serving:

140 calories
4.4 g fat
21.3 g carbohydrate
4.0 g fiber
4.5 g protein

Baked Tortilla Chips - 2 ways

So Megan at Muncher Cruncher pretty much has the same affinity (dependence) on La Tortilla Factory Tortillas as I do. I mean, seriously, how can you not love a little tortilla that is only 50 calories, 10 carbs, 7 g fiber and 5 g protein? But Megan kicked it up a notch by making an awesome snack with them.



Check out Megan's post here to see how she created baked tortilla chips out of La Tortilla Factory Tortillas.

Want a sweet treat instead? I sprinkled some with cinnamon sugar before baking and served it with vanilla low fat yogurt. Pretty much awesome...



Enjoy your snacking :)

Zucchini Bake

Some people follow recipes to the tee. They carefully measure and level each ingredient. They make separate trips to the grocery store just to get some crazy ingredient that they probably won't use in any other recipe. Others kind of wing it. Oops... out of one ingredient? Guess we'll try it with another ingredient. They might follow the method of a recipe, but don't follow the ingredients to the letter of the law.

My mom is the latter type of cook and I think I learned it from her. This is where my original knowledge of tweaking recipes came from - long before my Experimental Food class in college.

My mom is also really good at making food for a crowd. When I was growing up, we often would joke around that we should open up a catering business when I got older since we were always putting on luncheons and other functions for our church. Our high school graduation open houses were a like a fun challenge for us.

About 6 months ago, my mom hosted a baby shower for me before my daughter's birth. She had quite the spread of 8-10 different items, all displayed beautifully on trays. Included in that spread were little squares she called Zucchini Bake. The original recipe was from the Bisquick website. But, of course, she tweaked it!

In the original recipe, each square provides:
80 calories
6 g fat
4 g carbohydrate
0 g fiber
2 g protein

My mom cut the recipe's oil in half. I suppose you could also use 1 cup egg substitute instead of full eggs as well but I did not do that. My mom also doesn't put all of the same seasonings in it. Overall - this is a really tasty appetizer. I have also packed leftover squares in my lunch to go with a salad. They can be eaten hot or cold or even just warm like a quiche. I have a weird thing about my food being extra hot, so obviously I eat mine HOT. Give them a try!

Zucchini Bake - BETTER

4 eggs, slightly beaten
3 cups thinly sliced zucchini (use a mandolin if you have one)
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup oil
1 onion, finely chopped
salt/pepper to taste
1 cup Heart Smart Bisquick

Beat the eggs and add remainder of ingredients. Spread in a greased 9x13 pan and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until inserted knife comes out clean. Cut into 24 squares (4x6).

Per square:
62 calories
4 g fat
4 g carbohydrate
0 g fiber
2 g protein

Thanksgiving Recap

We traveled 11 hours to Pennsylvania for my extended family's Thanksgiving this year. Because of our long car ride with a 3 month old, we were assigned to bring some appetizer munchies. I tried to find recipes for foods which wouldn't require any cooking so I could just throw them together in the hotel the night before. As it turns out, I didn't even have time for that and just threw them together when we got there. Thankfully, I had come up with a few quick fix ideas.

Michigan Trail Mix
4 oz. Michigan Dried Cherries
1 can mixed nuts
2 cups broken pretzel sticks

Pour into a bowl and serve! Makes approximately 12 servings.

Although this recipe is pretty high in fat from the nuts, the dried cherries are an excellent source of fiber and melatonin.

Calories 206, fat 11.9 g, Carbohydrate 22.4 g, Fiber 3.0 g, Protein 4.8 g

Quick Cheese Ball
2 pkgs fat free cream cheese
1 pkg garlic and herb dressing mix
1/4 cup 2% cheddar cheese

Blend cream cheese and package of dressing mix until well blended. Form into a ball. Sprinkle with cheese. Serve with whole wheat crackers or raw veggies like broccoli, cauliflower, celery, carrots or bell peppers. Makes ~ 32 servings.

Calories 15, Fat 0 g, Carbohydrates 1 g, Fiber 0.0 g, Protein 2.0 g

Snake Bites

OK… Paula Dean doesn’t have a blog, but I love watching Paula Dean. I have no illusions that I am going to be getting a healthy meal out of any of her recipes but they sure tempt my taste buds. A few weeks ago, my husband and I were watching her Halloween special where she made a recipe called Snake Bites. Essentially it was rolled up crescent roll dough with meats and cheeses on the inside. I promptly went to foodtv.com to get the recipe. As printed in the recipe, each serving provides:

563 calories

37.8 g fat

1421 mg sodium

28.2 g carbohydrate

0.6 g fiber

26.2 g protein

Now when I decided to make this for a special treat for my husband for dinner, I had no intentions of making it health-i-fied. However, I’m not sure if the recipe is written wrong but it calls for 30 ounces of meat and 12 ounces of cheese. There is NO WAY that would fit in one can of crescent roll dough! So I used significantly less meat and cheese, as well as reduced fat crescent roll dough, only one egg yolk and reduced fat cheese for a slightly healthier version. (I also omitted the mustard, but that’s because I hate mustard). I also didn’t shape this into a snake as we were just having it for dinner – not any special occasion. I’m pretty sure my two month old doesn’t quite appreciate the Halloween snake shape either.

Snake Bites - BETTER (makes 10 appetizer servings)

1 can reduced fat crescent rolls

Flour, for dusting

4 ounces lean ham

4 ounces salami

10 pepperonis

4 oz. reduced fat cheddar cheese

1 egg yolk

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with foil and spray with nonstick spray.

Dust a flat surface lightly with flour. Spread out the crescent dough – do not separate. Pinch together the seams so that you have 1 piece of dough. Roll out to make a large rectangle. Make sure the dough is not stuck to the surface at all.

Layer the meats down the center of the rectangle, leaving a 1 inch border on either end.

Top the meats with the cheese. Fold one side of the dough over the filling, lengthwise. Fold the other side over the middle. Pinch the seam with your fingers to seal. Press the outside of the dough to make sure everything is sealed tight. Brush the top of your dough with beaten egg yolk. (I also sprinkled with garlic powder).

Transfer dough/meat roll to prepared cookie sheet. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through. Let sit for 5 minutes before slicing.

254.9 calories

15.7 g fat

589 mg sodium

18.6 g carbohydrate

0.3 g fiber

9.5 g protein

*** This would likely also be good using the breadstick, French bread, or pizza crust dough. My husband and I both thought that the crescent roll taste was a little strong ***