Pita and Naan Pizzas

We got this idea from the best grocery store ever - Wegmans!  Now, Wegmans are fairly new to people down here in the DC area, but coming from Rochester, the home of Wegmans, I have been a lifelong customer.  They truly are the best, I could go on and on.  Their store brands are high quality, the bakery, cheese and produce departments simply can't be beat plus they always have lost of yummy samples!  Their prices are consistently low and they are a family run business that really does care about their customers.  Anyway, that's enough Wegmans love for now, but they inspired our pita and naan pizzas.  One week one of the samples was pizza made using a new product they were featuring - their naan bread.  We had the sample and went on our way.  Then, last week we had red curry chicken and bought the naan for that meal.  What to do with the leftover piece of naan?  Pizza!  I don't know how true we stayed to the original recipe, since I tried to look it up on the website and could not find it, but we made our own version.  It's less of a recipe and more of a process, since everyone really understands the basics of topping a pizza, but it was so good I had to share!

Pita and Naan Pizzas

Inspired by Wegmans!

Ingredients:

For the pita pizza:

whole wheat pita shell

2 tablespoons jarred pizza sauce

various toppings - We used onions, yellow peppers and turkey pepperoni.

1/4 cup 2% shredded cheese

For the naan pizza:

naan flatbread, We used Wegman's brand whole wheat.

2 teaspoons olive oil

1 tablespoon chopped rosemary

salt

freshly ground black pepper

2 cloves garlic

onions

1/4 cup shredded fontina cheese

1 tablespoon parmesan cheese

Directions:

• Heat oven to 350 degrees.
• Place pitas on pizza stone. (Or sheet pan if you don't have a pizza stone.)
• Mix olive oil, minced garlic, rosemary salt and pepper in small bowl, let sit.
• Slice onions and peppers.   Quarter the turkey pepperoni.
• Assemble pita pizza with pizza sauce, onions, peppers, pepperoni and then cheese.  
• Assemble naan pizza by spreading oil mixture on naan, then topping with onions, fontina and then sprinkling with parmesan.
• bake for 12-15 minutes or until cheese melts and breads are crisp.

WW Points:  For the pita pizza we figured 5 points, using one serving size of turkey pepperoni split between 3 pizzas.  For the naan pizza the total was 11 points.  You would recalculate based on the ingredients you choose.  

Cornmeal Waffles with Chili

For the my first birthday after we started dating Zach got me a waffle maker as one of my presents.  It sounds very, shall we say, domestic, but I had wanted one, and we were spending our weekends together long enough at that point that our breakfasts needed some new variations.  Upon opening it I discovered a few recipes in the manual, one of which was this one, Cornmeal Waffles.  As soon as I saw it I wanted to make them and top them with Zach's award winning chili -- yes he's actually won an award for it, at a work chili cookoff contest, but that's still an award!   It's a delicious twist on cornbread with chili and helps to counteract the spiciness that Zach's chili often has.  You can top with sour cream, shredded cheese, and sliced green onions!

Cornmeal Waffles

source: my Cuisinart Waffle Maker Instruction Booklet

Makes (8) 6 1/2 inch round waffles

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups flour

3/4 cup yellow cornmeal

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 3/4 cups milk

6 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 large eggs

Directions:

• Place ingredients in large mixing bowl and combine until well blended and smooth.  Let batter sit 5 minutes before using.  
• Preheat waffle maker.
• Pour 1/2 cup batter onto the center of the lower grid, close cover.  
• Remove waffles when done, and for best results serve immediately.  You can keep them warm in a 200 degree oven until ready to serve.  

Nutritional Information:

264 Calories

13 g Fat

6g Protein

32 g Carbs

1g Fiber

Fontina and Caramelized Onion Stuffed Chicken

This is another recipe from The Best of Cooking Light.  It caught my eye right away since it was originally entitled Brie and Caramelized Onion Stuffed Chicken.  I am a recent convert to Brie cheese and definitely wanted to try this recipe right away.  We put it on the menu for the next week.  When we were shopping at the store though, the Brie was in larger chunks.  The recipe only calls for 2 ounces, and I knew if we had that extra Brie sitting around it would do damage in our efforts to lose weight,  So, I decided to use Fontina instead since we already had some at home from a previous recipe.  That's the only change I made to the recipe, besides scaling it down to make two chicken breasts instead of four.  It was very good, and felt much more rich than just 220 calories.  I would definitely make it again, both in my modified version and tro try again with Brie.  

Fontina and Caramelized Onion Stuffed Chicken


Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 chicken breast half and 3 tablespoons sauce)


Ingredients
1 teaspoon olive oil, divided
1 1/2 cups sliced onion
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
2/3 cup dry white wine, divided
2 ounces Brie or Camembert cheese, rind removed and cut into small pieces (about 2 tablespoons)  (I used shredded Fontina.)
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
4 (4-ounce) skinned, boned chicken breast halves
2 tablespoons minced onion
1 tablespoon chopped fresh or 3/4 teaspoon dried rubbed sage
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 (10 1/2-ounce) can low-salt chicken broth
Sage sprigs (optional)


Directions:

• Heat 1/2 teaspoon oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add sliced onion; sauté 30 minutes or until golden brown. Add sliced garlic; sauté 5 minutes. Stir in 1/3 cup wine; cook 5 minutes or until liquid almost evaporates. Spoon onion mixture into a bowl; let cool. Stir in Brie, salt, and pepper.

• Cut a horizontal slit through the thickest portion of each chicken breast half to form a pocket. Stuff about 1 1/2 tablespoons of the onion mixture into each pocket.

• Heat 1/2 teaspoon oil in skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken; sauté 6 minutes on each side or until chicken is done. Remove chicken from skillet. Set aside; keep warm.

• Add 1/3 cup wine, minced onion, sage, and minced garlic to skillet. Cook over medium-high heat for 2 minutes. Stir in broth. Bring to a boil, and cook 7 minutes or until reduced to 3/4 cup. Return chicken to skillet; cover and simmer 2 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Serve sauce with chicken. Garnish with fresh sage, if desired.

Nutritional Information 
Calories:220 
Fat:7.1g 
Protein:30.8g
Carbohydrate:7.1g
Fiber:1g
WW Points: 5

Grits Casserole with White Beans and Rosemary

This recipe is from my Cookbook of the Month for January and February, The Best of Cooking Light.  What drew me to the recipe was the rosemary.  I used to not like rosemary.  I had only encountered it rarely, and when I did the shape and often charred manifestation of it reminded me of pine needles.  It wasn't an herb that made me want to come back for more.

My mom did not use many fresh herbs in her cooking, probably because they were not as readily available as they are now, and I'd imagine if they were available, they were expensive.  My mom used the be the queen of bargain shopping, and was an expert at coupon clipping.  Now that I am the primary cook, I am a huge fan of coupons and use them whenever possible, but I also have come to realize the fantastic flavor that fresh herbs can bring to a dish.  In my mind, they are worth the money in the winter especially.

This spring, now that we finally have a summer when we wont be moving, and a cute little outdoor yard and deck, we plan to plant three or four big pots of herbs for our own mini herb garden.  Rosemary is at the top of our list.  Chopped finely, and not left to it's normal pine needle like state, it's a great addition to many recipes and a flavor I am coming to greatly enjoy.  I did make one change to the recipe, I used bread crumbs we already had instead of the fresh bread crumbs.  The ones I had were made from whole wheat bread, so I think they added some extra nuttiness and worked just fine.

Grits Casserole with White Beans and Rosemary
Adapted from The Best of Cooking Light
Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients
1 cup breadcrumbs
1/2 cup (2 ounces) grated fresh Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley
7 cups boiling water, divided
3 ounces sun-dried tomatoes, packed without oil, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cups vertically sliced red onion
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt, divided
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 (19-ounce) can cannellini beans or other white beans, drained
1 1/2 cups uncooked regular grits
2 tablespoons butter
Cooking spray

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 400°.

• Combine breadcrumbs, cheese, and parsley in a small bowl; set aside

• Combine 3 cups boiling water and sun-dried tomatoes in a bowl; let stand 10 minutes or until soft. Drain tomatoes over a bowl, reserving 1 cup liquid.

• Heat oil in a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion, rosemary, crushed red pepper, and garlic; saute 3 minutes. Add tomatoes and reserved 1 cup liquid. Bring to a boil; cook 7 minutes or until most of liquid evaporates. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt, black pepper, and beans.

• Combine 4 cups boiling water, 1 teaspoon salt, grits, and butter in a large saucepan. Cook 8 minutes over medium heat, stirring constantly. Pour grits mixture into an 11 x 7-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Spoon tomato mixture evenly over grits; top with breadcrumb mixture. Bake at 400° for 20 minutes or until golden.

Nutritional Information, per serving
Calories: 303
Fat: 7.4g (sat 3.4g,mono 2.9g,poly 0.9g)
Protein: 10.2g
Carbohydrate: 47.2g
Fiber: 5.2g
WW Points: 6

Cookbook of the Month: January/February 2010

As the new year hit us, we decided that a good resolution would be to start eating healthier in the hopes of losing some weight.  We started following the Weight Watchers program, a program I have used successfully before.  So far in our first three weeks I am down over 5 pounds, and Zach has lost over 7, and we hope to stick with it to meet our goal weights sometime this spring.  So, you can expect to see many more "light" recipes popping up in this blog.  Right now we've been using The Best of Cooking Light to plan many of our meals, since it provides nutritional info for each recipe, which makes it very easy to figure out the Weight Watchers 'points'.  It's also my Cookbook of the Month for January, and since it's so large (over 400 pages and 500 recipes!) February too!  We've already made 4 recipes from it this month, and have enjoyed them all.  I found it on a clearance rack at Borders for $7.99 and it's become a great resource as we search for ways to lighten up our meals and still have great flavor.  Now that I have it, I know I'd gladly pay twice or three times as much for it, since it's got so many great recipes.

Indonesian Ginger Chicken: Barefoot Bloggers

This is the first Barefoot Bloggers recipe for January.  When I saw it was one of the picks for this month, I was excited as the recipe looked simple, and since it's an Ina recipe, I knew it would be delicious as well.  it was very simple, I liked setting it up the night before and marinating, it made for an easy meal the next night.  We would definitely make it again, and used the leftover chicken in many ways, shredded in wraps and salads.  Unfortunately, it will be the only Barefoot Bloggers recipe I post for January as the other chosen recipe was Shrimp Bisque, and I am not a fan of shrimp.  I've tried them, and just don't like them.  I asked Zach if we would want to make the soup, since he does like shrimp, but he wasn't interested in the particular recipe.  I can't wait to see what is posted for February though!  Oh, and, also, I forgot to take a picture!  We had my sister over for dinner that night and it slipped my mind.  

 Indonesian Ginger Chicken

Stuffed Mushrooms: Barefoot Bloggers

This was the second December recipe for Barefoot Bloggers, and I thought it was very good!  We got a large package of extra large mushrooms, but ended up with about 14 instead of the 16 stated in the recipe.  So, ours are a bit over-stuffed, but still excellent.  One thing I noticed is that the mushrooms had a very good texture.  I think back to eating stuffed mushrooms as appetizers at parties or events, and always remember biting into the mushroom and having liquid gush out.  That did not happen with these mushrooms.  Maybe it was the soaking in olive oil and sherry that helped, but it was nice not to have to worry about getting mushroom juice squirted out at you, since, inevitably it would wind up all over my clothes and make me look like a slob!  :-)  We used a chicken/turkey italian sausage instead of pork based, and I think it was a great substitution.  We'd definitely make these again as appetizers, or as a side to a nice steak and salad.

 Sausage-Stuffed Mushrooms