Sauté zucchini with tomatoes, onion and fresh basil

Yesterday I made my first farmers' market run of 2008. It's early in the summer-- pickings were a little slim. But I bought zucchini, hothouse tomatoes, onions and a fresh basil plant to put in a pot on the patio.

Still trying to eat as right as I can, tonight I used those ingredients to cook up a veggie dish that I figure has three Weightwatcher points per serving. We had this with a nice spinach salad for dinner:

Zucchini, tomatoes and onion sauté

2 cups chopped zucchini
1 cup chopped fresh tomatoes
1 cup diced onions
1 clove crushed garlic
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese
2 thin slices Italian dry salami

Heat olive oil over medium high heat in a sauté pan. Cook onion with crushed garlic clove until onion pieces are translucent, about 7 minutes. Add zucchini and tomatoes. Cut salami slices into small pieces, add to pan. Heat 7 minutes longer. Toss with fresh grated Parmesan cheese. Serves 3.

Summer diet calls for abundance of strawberries

Sorry I've been remiss about my food blog. I've been watching what I eat for about three weeks, just trying to lose a bit of weight, and it's working, though I miss bread, brie, potatoes and Tootsie Rolls.

Fortunately, I can eat all the strawberries I want. Last night for dinner I had a spinach salad with green onions, carrots, cucumber slices, a spritz of fat-free dressing, a handful of imitation crabmeat and a generous pile of strawberries. All of two Watchwatchers points. Summer's a good time to diet. Grilled vegetables with chicken, turkey burgers, salads, salads, salads, all easy to do this time of year.

A few other things I've come to enjoy -- Sargentos 50-calorie low-fat string cheese, 4-ounce containers of Dannon's fat-free yogurt, Propel flavored water, Special K 90-calorie breakfast bars. And strawberries.

You can join Weight Watchers these days without signing on for meetings. The Web site provides recipes, and allows me to keep track of daily menus and exercise. The system provides good motivation to exercise-- going to the gym or taking Bella for a long, long walk is the only way I can rack up extra food points. http://www.weightwatchers.com/.

Quick quesadillas provide meat-free protein

Dave's been cooking a lot lately, and making really delicious, healthy dinners. I'm so grateful; I'm trying to hit the gym before I come home from work, and it is so nice to arrive home after some treadmill time to find something righteous for dinner. One night this week he made pork chops with apricot glaze, and couscous with spinach. Another night he made these excellent quesadillas, which are only about 420 calories per serving. Corn and beans provide plenty of protein and a few minutes under the broiler make these nice and crunchy.

Quesadillas with black beans and corn

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups chopped fresh tomatoes
1/2 cup cilantro (I love cilantro.)
1 15-ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained
4 8-inch flour tortillas
3/4 cup shredded Mexican blend cheese
1 cup frozen corn
Commercial picante sauce

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic, stir and cook for 30 seconds. Add tomatoes, cilantro, beans and corn. Cook five minutes. Place tortillas on a cookie sheet coated with cooking spray. Top each tortilla with 1/4 of the bean mixture and 3 tablespoons cheese. Fold in half. Spray tops of tortillas with cooking spray. Broil 3 minutes, until tortillas begin to brown. Let cool about 3 minutes before cutting each tortillas into three wedges.

Top with a dollop of salsa. Mmm.

Cheese strata with spinach is easy brunch fare

Sunday brunch is an easy party to have. You have Saturday to shop, Sunday morning to get everything ready. I invited friends from church for brunch today and made blueberry lemon muffins in mini-muffin tins (perfectly bite-sized!) along with this cheese and egg casserole. Very tasty.

Cheese strata with spinach and red pepper

6-8 slices high-fiber whole-grain bread
1 pound bulk sweet Italian sausage
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 cup low-fat shredded cheese (a combination of Colby and Monterrey Jack works well)
6 eggs, slightly beaten
1-1/4 cup milk
3/4 cup half-and-half
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
3/4 cup uncooked spinach leaves
1/2 cup chopped sweet onion
1/2 cup finely diced red bell pepper pieces
Salt and pepper to taste

Trim crust from bread; place bread in a buttered 11-by-13-inch casserole to cover the bottom of the dish. Brown sausage; drain fat. Add onion and red pepper to skillet with sausage; cook an additional 5 minutes, 'til vegetables are soft. Stir in mustard. Spoon evenly over bread. Top with spinach leaves. Sprinkle with cheese. Combine remaining ingredients; mix well. Pour over cheese. Bake at 350 for 35 to 40 minutes or until set. Serves 8.

Ginger adds a little zing to healthy chicken dish

Tonight I cooked up a Weight Watchers recipe for dinner. It was so good, and very easy. Took all of 13 minutes. My sister has been raving about the success she's had dropping a few pounds lately on Weight Watchers, and the online program looks great, if for no other reason than to try some of the healthy recipes on the Web site. I used the wok for this, and adapted a little to add more onion and garlic than the recipe suggested. Pineapple and fresh ginger add delicate flavor, and brown rice provides a bit of whole grain texture:

Chicken with pineapple in black bean sauce

1 pound skinless chicken breast tenders, cut into 1-inch pieces
5 green onions, chopped (use white and green portions)
3 garlic cloves, finely minced
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, finely chopped
1/4 cup black bean with garlic sauce
1 20-ounce can pineapple tidbits in 100 percent juice
Canola oil cooking spray

Heat electric non-stick wok to medium high. Coat with one spritz of cooking spray. Cook onions, garlic and ginger in the wok, stirring with a wooden spoon, for three minutes. Add chicken. Cook five minutes, stirring frequently. Add black bean sauce and pineapple with juice. Simmer five more minutes, until chicken is cooked through. Serve over cooked brown rice.

Bake marinated pork chops when grill won't light

It is pouring rain. Happy Memorial Day. We had planned to grill today, so I marinated extra thick pork chops. And then -- after a couple of storms' worth of hail and rain, the grill wouldn't light. So we had to regroup and figure out a different way to cook the chops. I browned and baked them, and they were actually quite delicious.

I didn't bother looking up a recipe for the marinade; I just sloshed various ingredients in a gallon-size freezer bag and threw the chops in. Here's basically what I did:

Baked marinated pork chops

Combine in a gallon-size freezer bag:

1/4 cup soy sauce
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup red wine
1/4 cup finely diced sweet onion
1 crushed garlic clove
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano
1 tablespoon chopped fresh sweet basil

Seal bag, shake well to combine ingredients. Add three or four thick pork chops. Shake well. Let marinate at least two hours.

In a large skillet, heat 1/4 cup olive oil over medium high heat. Brown chops (with a good share of your marinated onion and garlic bits) in olive oil, three minutes to a side until well browned. Line a casserole dish with aluminum foil. Place browned chops in the foil, topping with extra pan juices and onion bits from skillet. Bake at 375 degrees for 35 minutes.

Break from tradition with mayo-free potato salad

Today after getting home from a quick road trip, I didn't have a lot of energy for cooking. But it's Memorial Day weekend, so -- after finding that the fresh dill growing in my garden is thriving--I had a hankering for homemade potato salad. I threw some ingredients together-- potatoes, pickles, onions, red pepper pieces, olives and artichoke hearts, before I realized that the only mayonnaise in my fridge had an expiration date of June '07. So I pitched that jar of mayo and created a healthier-than-traditional potato salad. We'll grill flatiron steak and some corn on the cob to go with.

Potato salad with red pepper, hold the mayo

8-10 medium-sized red-skinned potatoes, boiled just 'til soft (about 15 minutes. Do NOT rinse potatoes after cooking)
1 jar artichoke hearts, chopped, and accompanying marinade
1/2 cup sliced black olives
1 large red bell pepper, seeded and diced
1 large dill pickle, chopped
4 hard-cooked eggs, sliced
3 green onions, chopped
1/2 cup diced sweet onion
1/4 cup fresh dill, chopped
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 to 3/4 cup olive oil
3/4 teaspoon paprika
1/3 cup Dijon-style mustard
Sprigs of fresh parsley

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Chill at least two hours before serving.

Grilled asparagus kicks off farmers' market season

We hit the farmers' market for the first time this season on Saturday. Bought beautiful asparagus, which the vendor recommended we grill. We hadn't done this before. He suggested putting the stalks into a plastic bag with a little olive and salt and pepper, shaking that up and then laying the stalks onto the grill and turning often 'til they're just a little blackened.

Last night we had a crowd of out-of-town family here for dinner and weatherwise, it was the best spring evening we have had all year. Dave grilled up German sausage (from YB Meats-- what a great store!), asparagus, some green and yellow bell peppers. I wrapped potato rolls in foil and heated those for just a few minutes on the grill too to go with our sausage. Added some store-bought potato salad and tabouli to the mix. An easy backyard picnic. The asparagus was especially elegant.

Shrimp spinach salad is ultimate convenience food

I don't shop for dinner in the frozen-food aisle, because it's so easy to make a healthy, fresh meal quickly from scratch. The other night I threw supper on two plates in less than a minute. I started with a layer of bagged baby spinach, added some dried cranberries, a few mini-carrots, some baby tomatoes, and a few crumbles of feta cheese. I added sliced almonds, a morsel of artichoke heart and a generous layer of pre-cooked cocktail shrimp I'd bought at the fish counter at my grocery store. I spritzed on some no-fat dressing and we were set. Genuine lean cuisine, no microwave needed.

Savor easy-to-make bite-size quiche, pesto tarts

Yesterday I made mini quiches and pesto tarts to take to a dinner party. These are really easy and fun to make. To make the dough, beat an 8-ounce package of cream cheese with two sticks softened butter until well blended. Add two cups flour. Mix until dough forms. Shape into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate one hour, or overnight.

Shape the dough into golf-ball size rounds and place into a non-stick mini-muffin tin. I press the tarts into shape with a little wooden mini-tart shaper I bought from Pampered Chef. The dough is easy to work with and this little pestle is just the coolest kitchen tool. With a toothpick, poke holes in the flattened crusts and bake at 425 (400 convection) for about 10-15 minutes, until crust is golden. Let the tart shells cool a little in the pan.

To assemble quiche, mix two eggs with 1/4 cup milk. Put a little Swiss cheese in the bottom of the baked tart shells, add a little shredded spinach, finely chopped onion, bits of ham, whatever you like. Drizzle egg mixture into each filled shell with a teaspoon to fill. Season with salt and pepper.

To make pesto tarts, put a little shredded mozzarrella or Swiss cheese into the bottom of each baked shell, top with a dollop of pre-packaged pesto sauce, top with more cheese and about three pine nuts.

You can also fill the tarts with just cheddar cheese and a little pepperoni or ham, bits of bell pepper and feta, bits of chopped olive, anything that sounds good.

Bake tarts at 425 (400 in a convection oven) for about 10-15 more minutes, until cheese is melted and the eggs in your quiches are cooked. Serve immediately. Makes 3 dozen lovely mini-tarts.

Pass the Dijon: Turkey feta burgers, grilled peppers

Another gorgeous evening, and we're still on this (probably temporary) health kick, so we grilled turkey burgers for dinner, adding a few sprinkles of feta before we pulled 'em off the heat. I chopped a red bell pepper into big chunks, skewered the pieces and brushed my pepper kabobs generously with olive oil. While the meat patties cooked, Dave grilled the pepper pieces, making sure they got just a little blackened and nice and soft. They were perfect. I made a spinach, tomato and walnut salad, which I topped with a shake of low-fat balsamic vinagrette. Easy supper in about 10 minutes.

Instead of standard hamburger buns, we used nice slices of whole grain bread for our burgers. Didn't slop on any mayo, just spread with a baby bit of Dijon and some red-leaf lettuce. Delectable.

Heat up the grill on a beautiful sunny weekend

Today was warm and wind-free, so we spent all day outside with the pup and then had dinner on the patio. We grilled chicken with sweet potatoes, peppers, onions and broccoli.

With a nice cold bottle of Fat Tire, I felt like summer has arrived. I came up with a quick way to grill sweet potatoes. I cut two potatoes into home-fry-size sticks, brushed those with olive oil and then laid them flat on a sheet of aluminum foil. I folded the edges of the foil up, covered the bottom sheet with a second sheet and sealed those up. The sweet potatoes were cooked through on medium heat in about 20 minutes. Sweet potatoes provide good, healthy carbs, and I just love them. These would also be good with a few shakes of fresh-grated parmesan cheese.

Nice and healthy: Stir-fry vegetables with shrimp

I'm on a health jag. I'm determined that we are going to start eating right, every meal, every day. This resolution will not last two more weeks, I know, but for now, we've had a lovely weekend with lots of vegetables, low-calorie meals, all the right moves.

Tonight for dinner I cooked up a wok full of veggies with shrimp to serve over rice. It was easy and so good. In the 30 minutes it took to cook rice in the microwave, I chopped a red bell pepper, a sweet onion, two large chunks of broccoli, about 10 stalks asparagus, three stalks of celery. I heated some canola oil in my wok with a few sprinkles of sesame oil, then threw in all the vegetables, and cooked those on high heat for about 6 minutes. I added about 1/2 cup white wine, and three generous shakes of red pepper flakes. Then I added one pound medium-sized, peeled, pre-cooked shrimp, which I'd bought today at the grocery store fish counter. And I added a 1/2 cup bottled Kikkoman-brand stir-fry sauce.

Yum. And healthy, too.