Goat cheese quesadilla

This recipe was brought to you by a combination of laziness and desperation. Luckily, it turned out delicious! Easy to make for lunch or a light dinner and it kept me full. If you're wondering why it seems like there's one slice missing, it's because there is ... =X

Recipe:

1 oz goat cheese
1/4 cup baby spinach, washed
1 wedge Laughing Cow light cheese of your choice (I used garlic and herb)
4 oz grilled chicken strips
1 large tortilla (use whole wheat for less calories and more fiber
Cooking spray

Directions:

Heat a nonstick pan or panini press and spray with the cooking spray. While the pan heats, spread the cheese wedge onto half of the tortilla. Layer spinach and chicken strips over cheese wedge and crumble goat cheese on top. Fold other half of tortilla over and cook on each side for about 4 minutes, or 5 minutes total in a closed panini press. You could probably make this in a microwave but it wouldn't have the crunch. Top with hot sauce of your choice.

Nutritional info (serves 1)

Calories 425 (using whole wheat tortilla will cut this down by at least 100! I just didn't have any)
Fat 13.5g
Saturated fat 7g
Sodium 1235mg
Total Carbs 37.5g
Protein 32g

Slow-cooked butternut squash soup

I went to a farmer's market the other week and decided to buy some stuff I usually don't get. I got a leek, some kale, green and yellow zucchini squash, and a butternut squash (I was trying to get spaghetti squash but they ran out). I used the kale for pasta, but I had no idea what to do with the leek so I decided to use it for soup since I read that it's in the onion family (taste-wise). Most recipes call for roasting the butternut squash but I've been on a slow-cooker kick so I just chopped everything up and threw it in the slow cooker overnight. I attempted to blend it in the morning with a mixer because I don't have a hand blender (or patience) ... FAIL. Do not attempt at home, especially if you havalready changed into work clothes! Save yourself the dry cleaning bill and just let it cool for at least 10-15 minutes, then put it in a food processor or blender. It turned out delicious though, the little bit of almond milk helped make it creamy.

Ingredients:
1 butternut squash, peeled and cubed
1 leek (white root part only) sliced
2 small carrots, peeled and cut into 1" chunks
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1/4 cup almond milk
3 cups low sodium chicken broth

Directions: combine in slow cooker and cook on low for 4-6 hours. Use a hand blender or food processor (after allowing to cool) to blend into delicious soup!
If you don't have leeks, you can use a whole diced onion or 1 cup of sliced green onions. The almond milk can also be substituted with regular skim milk or soy milk, or left out completely if you'd like.

Nutritional Info (makes 3-4 servings, about 1 cup each)
Calories 93
Total fat 0.6g
Saturated fat 0.2g
Sodium 102.6mg
Total Carbs 20.5g
Fiber 4.0g
Protein 3.5g

Buffalo Chicken Mac 'n Cheese

This is my first original recipe EVER!!!!!!!!
My boyfriend loves all things buffalo sauce-covered, and my sister mentioned a while ago that she had found a great recipe for buffalo mac 'n cheese which I thought sounded fantastic but a little too rich for us since we're trying to lose weight. I tried making this plain once but it was really missing a lot of substance, so I decided to add in chicken and tomatoes and some more cheese. Considering the cheddar was fat-free and the Laughing Cow wedges are only 35 calories each, I think the added flavor was definitely worth it. You can use any flavor of Laughing Cow, I would have used blue cheese flavor but I didn't have any at the time.
Recipe:
1/2 box of elbow macaroni (use whole wheat for a healthier option)
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp flour
1 cup of milk (I used nonfat soymilk and it actually turned out perfect)
2 slices of fat-free cheddar cheese
2 wedges of Laughing Cow Garlic 'n Herb Lite cheese
1/4 cup of Frank's Red Hot buffalo sauce (or your favorite brand)
1 cup cherry tomatoes
1 cup cooked shredded chicken breast
Directions:
1. Boil water for macaroni and cook according to package instructions.
2. In a separate saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add flour and whisk together until almost uniform.
3. SLOWLY add milk while whisking. I really eyeballed this part, but I think it came out to about 1 cup of soy milk. You can add as much or little milk as you like for desired thickness, just make sure to whisk out the lumps
4. Add Laughing Cow and cheddar cheese slices. When cheese is melted, add buffalo sauce.
5. Add chicken and cherry tomatoes. Cook for about 2 minutes and mix thoroughly.
6. Add cooked macaroni back in and mix all together. Top with green onions if desired.
When I served this to my boyfriend, he just said "OH MY GOD" and then asked me to bring the entire pot to the table because he was about to finish his first bowl in 10 seconds. The tomatoes added a little bit of extra moisture without compromising the consistency of the sauce and the chicken added some great lean protein. I saw on IowaGirlEats that goat cheese crumbles can be added to the top if you're baking it, but I decided to keep it simple this time since it was a brand new recipe. Not sure if that will fly though, since my boyfriend told me "not to change a thing." I'll use whole wheat or high fiber pasta next time though (shhh, don't tell!).
Nutritional info: per serving (this recipe makes about 4 servings)
Fat 5.9 g
Saturated fat 2.5g
Cholesterol 45.1mg
Sodium 1268.4mg
Total carbs 47.2g
Dietary fiber 2g
Protein 23.4g

Honey Walnut Shrimp

I got this recipe off of rasamalaysia.com, a blog I recently discovered that has great Asian recipes. My favorite part is the candied walnuts, which was so much easier to make than I thought it would be. The shrimp also came out nice and tempura-like, so I might use this method to make shrimp tempura rolls without having to fully deep-fry. I will definitely make this recipe again, but I'll double the sauce and throw in some steamed broccoli so there are vegetables in there. (I had this dish at a dim sum restaurant once where they served it with broccoli and it was great!)
Here's a direct link to the blog and recipe. Enjoy!

Welcome!

Hi, thanks for checking out my blog! My name is Vicky and I LOVE FOOD. Most of all I love being healthy and am trying my best to get and stay fit by eating healthy and exercising. I don't think eating healthy should always be a sacrifice, and I have a slight suspicion that the notion of good-for-you-foods tasting bad is all in our heads. Food that tastes good should make us feel good, and vice versa. Of course, the occasional indulgence is always necessary =)
I am NOT a trained chef or professional athlete by any means. I'm just someone who loves to cook and exercise. Believe it or not, I have hated running my WHOLE life up until about 2 or 3 months ago. I'm still incredibly slow, but my endurance has definitely improved (I couldn't even finish a mile in middle school). I even just signed up for my first 5K in August ... hope I'm ready! I have, however, been cooking for a few years but have very few original recipes. Most of my favorite recipes come from cookbooks and other food blogs, and when I do post them I'll tell you where to find them and how I adjust them to my personal taste (but you can always adjust it to yours too). Please feel free to leave me any useful comments or tips as this is my first blog ever (unless you count my LiveJournal from high school ... haha).
Thanks for stopping by!