Pants-friendly Paella

Posted on March 29, 2012 by Fervent Foodie

I vividly remember my mom sitting cross-legged in the pantry, furiously flipping through cookbooks and earmarked magazines, her disheveled auburn curls in disarray around her face as she searched for that one recipe she’d seen months ago and mentally filed away. As far back as I remember, my mom was adventurous in the kitchen. I helped her bake bread in recycled tin cans, wrinkled my nose as she savored caviar loaded crackers, and hesitantly obliged to mandarin oranges in our dinner salad (which was UNHEARD of at the time). I remember raising my eyebrow and dramatically cocking my head to the side as she scraped this mysterious spaghetti squash onto her plate. I gagged at the anchovies on her pizza, and I cried, yes cried, when she urged me to try her sushi.

Mom was always cooking something big, and when she made her Spanish paella she’d use this absurdly large dish–big enough to feed a family of four twice and a half over. It took her hours to prep and cook the meal–well, at least it seemed that way to her teenage “mom, I swear to god I’m dying of starvation” daughter.

I hated peas and hated shrimp, but man did I love her paella. How could I not with those huge hunks of sausage and pieces of chicken poking through the steaming bed of orange rice?

This is not my mom’s paella recipe because, according to her, she “doesn’t have one.” Uh huh. Surrrrrre mom. This is my lightened-up version of paella, which uses chicken sausage rather than Spanish chorizo, simply because I wasn’t able to find any at the grocery store. Traditional? No. Pants friendly? Absolutely.

Pants-friendly Paella Recipe

Print recipe

Serves	8
Meal type	Main Dish
Misc	Freezable, Serve Hot

Ingredients

1.5lb chicken breast (cut into 1/2 inch chunks)
3 Links hot chicken or turkey sausage (casings removed) (for more authentic flavor, use Spanish chorizo)
2 cups yellow onion (diced)
1 cup red bell pepper (diced)
2 cloves garlic (minced)
1/2 cup flat leaf parsley (chopped, plus extra for garnish)
14oz can whole tomatoes (drained)
2 cups short-grain brown minute rice
2.5 cups fat-free low sodium chicken broth
1/4 cup dry white cooking wine
1 large pinch Spanish saffron
4oz shrimp (peeled, deveined)
1 cup sweet peas (defrosted)
S&P (to taste)

Chicken rub

1 tablespoon paprika
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Note

This pants-friendly paella uses chicken sausage. For a more authentic flavor, sub in a link or two of Spanish chorizo. Spanish saffron can be quite expensive. I've seen bottles for as little as $6 at Trader Joe's, TJ Maxx, and Marshalls.

Per serving: 274 calories, 27g carbs, 4g fat, 31g protein, 3g fiber

Recipe inspired by my mom and Tyler Florence's Ultimate Paella

www.ferventfoodie.com

Directions

Step 1	Combine chicken rub ingredients in a medium size bowl or large zip top bag. Add chicken breast, and toss or shake to coat evenly. Cover and marinate in the fridge for one hour.
Step 2	Heat a large pot coated with cooking spray over medium high heat. Once hot, add the sausage. Break apart sausage with your spatula, and cook until no longer pink. Remove sausage from pot and set aside. Add additional cooking spray to pot, if needed, then add chicken pieces. Sear chicken on all sides then remove from pot and set aside.
Step 3	Add onions, garlic, and parsley to the pot, season with S&P, to taste, reduce heat to medium. Cook for 3 minutes, using your spatula to scrape up the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Add the tomatoes and crush with your spatula. Season with S&P. Add uncooked rice to the pot and stir to combine. Once the liquid is absorbed, add chicken broth and cooking wine. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 10 minutes.
Step 4	Add the sausage, chicken, and saffron to the pot and stir to combine. Add the shrimp, pushing them down into the rice. Simmer for 15 minutes then add the peas. Garnish with remaining parsley.

Spaghetti Squash with Sausage, Pesto, and Tomatoes

Posted on February 1, 2012 by Fervent Foodie

Although it may seem like I eat meatballs at every meal, I occasionally opt for different meats of the non-ball variety. (Like when I’ve run out of meatballs and don’t have the necessary ingredients to make more.) Tonight was one of those nights. With a grumbling belly and nary a meatball in sight, I decided to remix my usual spaghetti squash with some ingredients I had on hand.

Enter Spaghetti Squash with Sausage, Pesto, and Tomatoes:

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Brown Dump Chili

Posted on January 26, 2012 by Fervent Foodie

I love to cook, but sometimes all I want is to dump a bunch of ingredients in a pot and come back an hour later to a piping hot bowl of flavorful comfort. I need my unproductive internet perusing and phantom shopping time, which means I can’t spend every ounce of my free time in the kitchen. That’s what I love about this chili. You simply brown the turkey then dump everything in the pot.

Perhaps, at first glance, the name Brown Dump Chili is unappealing to some. Given the two-step process behind the chili, I’m sure you wholeheartedly agree the name is appropriate (or, at the very least, foretelling).
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Amaze(meat)balls.

Posted on January 20, 2012 by Fervent Foodie

I shamelessly consider myself a meatball connoisseur. If meatballs are on the menu, you can bet your last breadstick I’m gonna order one. Just one solitary meatball is all I need for my analysis. Texture, taste, accouterments. More often than not, I’m disappointed. I’m not a fan of mushy ones and I need them to be thoroughly seasoned, preferably bobbing along in a vat of marina sauce (though I’m flexible on that stipulation). Every once in a while, about 1 in 5 tries, I will sink my teeth into an amazing meatball and for that brief moment this crazy messed up world is right again.

I have been trying to create a delicious healthified meatball recipe for YEARS, and have been wholeheartedly devoted to the cause. I’ve tried dozens of impromptu turkey meatball concoctions, but they always left something to be desired. Too dry, too poultry-ee, not meatbally enough, etc. I kept crawling back to my favorite, albeit it no-so-healthy, meatball recipe: Meatball Nirvana on Allrecipes.com. I LOVE this recipe because it results in meatballs that are juicy, flavorful, and that have the coveted sink-your-teeth-in meaty texture.

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I say frittata, you say… ?

Posted on July 24, 2011 by Fervent Foodie

If I ever volunteer to come to your house and make you breakfast, you should consider yourself very lucky. You should also consider yourself forewarned:

For no dish, no matter how simple, will the kitchen be left unscathed. What can I say? I like to become one with my food Winking smile

And yes, that IS a bottle of wine next to the eggs.

I’ve always wanted to make a frittata, and this Sunday morning I was in the mood to get my cook on so I decided to give it a shot. Once I started googling frittata recipes, I realized I was lacking a major piece of equipment: a skillet that could go from stove top to oven without causing a fire. Dangit. That’s going on the T.J. Maxx list.

Since I had my heart set on eggy bliss, I decided to just use a standard glass pie pan. Does that mean it’s not a frittata anymore? Hmmmm what would its proper classification be? I say frittata, you say….. frrrrreggcasserole?

Something to ponder as the man pours your mimosa.

This frittata consisted of:

6 egg whites
3 eggs
2 Hot Chicken sausages (casings removed, cooked and crumbled)
1 large handful chiffonade spinach
S&P, to taste
Frank’s Red Hot, to taste (plus more for garnish )
1/4 cup diced tomato
1/4 cup diced red onion
1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
2 tsp minced garlic

While I cooked up the sausage, and sautéed the onion, mushroom, and garlic, I got to egg crackalacking. Once the sausage was cooked and the veggies were soft, I stirred all the goodies into the eggs then poured into a pie pan that I’d coated with cooking spray.

Into the oven at 350 degrees for 35 minutes, and you’ll end up with this beauty:

The frittata set up PERFECTLY. Perfect temperature, perfect cook time:

I started off with just a slice:

But ended up eating precisely half of the frittata…

Good news is the stats on half the frittata: 318 calories, 11g carbs, 11g fat, 41g protein, 3g fiber

Molto bene Red lips

Recipe: Jambalaya {bad things happen when I don’t eat}

Posted on July 19, 2011 by Fervent Foodie

Somehow in the past few months I seemed to have forgotten my passion for cooking. Let’s take a moment to ponder how the heck this is even possible. Somewhere between leaving a job of over four years, attempting to sell a house, subsequently becoming a landlord, selling off and donating an insane amount of my possessions, a crazy condo hunt, leaving my family and home state of 26 years, a HORRIBLE moving experience, starting a new job, and immersing myself in the culinary delights of a new city I forgot how much fun and just how darn rewarding a home cooked meal can be.

Blasphemy!

Through these past few whirlwind months I’ve been a little *ahem* emotional. Ok, not just emotional. Let’s also throw in irrational, brash, and downright scary at times. This Saturday I actually cried over burnt pizza. I CRIED, PEOPLE. And then I sat on the living room floor with my knees clenched up to my chest and just stared off into nothingness as my body seethed in furry searching for some sort of carbohydrate to peak my bottomed out blood sugar.

I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again: bad things happen when I don’t eat.

While I was in the midst of nuclear shutdown, the BF came over, sat down beside me, and put his arm around his little sugar feigning zombie. And we sat. And then he did what any good man would do: he didn’t talk, didn’t ask questions, he just got up from the floor sauntered over to the kitchen and made me a snack.

I know, right?

Why can’t I see things so simply? Is it really just a man thing? Are women really just crazy complex, overanalyzing, (often) emotional basket cases? Whatever the case may be (lord knows I don’t have the answers) the BF does a pretty darn good job of reeling me back from Mary’s Land of Anxious Gloom by trying to insert some of the simple things into my life. Sunday morning he convinced me to simply sit on the porch and drink mimosas, and Sunday night we simply made jambalaya for dinner.

This was simply stick to your ribs delicious, guys. I’m serious. It gave the jambalaya we had in New Orleans a run for the money!

Jambalaya

Print recipe

Serves	6
Prep time	30 minutes
Cook time	35 minutes
Total time	1 hours, 5 minutes
Meal type	Main Dish

Ingredients

2 links hot chicken or turkey sausage (cooked and sliced)
1 cup white onion (chopped)
1/2 cup celery (chopped)
1/2 cup green pepper (chopped)
3 cloves garlic (minced)
1.5 cups uncooked long grain brown rice
3 cups fat-free low-sodium chicken broth
2 teaspoons paprika
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground thyme
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepepr
16oz cooked chicken breast (cubed)
14.5oz can diced tomatoes with green peppers and onions (undrained)
4oz shrimp (uncooked)
1/2 cup green onions (thinly sliced)

Note

I recommend Uncle Ben’s Fast & Natural Whole Grain Brown Rice and Harris Teeter hot chicken sausage or Jennie-O Turkey Sausage.

Stats on 1 serving: 344 calories, 45g carbs, 6g fat, 33g protein, 4g fiber

Recipe adapted from Cooking Light's Jambalaya.

www.ferventfoodie.com

Directions

Step 1	Coat a large pot with cooking spray then heat over medium-high heat. Add sausage, onion, green pepper, celery, and garlic. Cover, reduce heat to low, and cook 12 minutes or until vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally.
Step 2	Stir in uncooked rice and cook for two minutes, stirring constantly. Add broth and all the spices and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes.
Step 3	Add chicken and tomatoes, half of the green onions, and shrimp. Stir, then cover and cook 8 minutes or until shrimp are done.
Step 4	Remove from heat, sprinkle with remaining green onions, and eat your face off.

Looking for a Jambalaya-for-one recipe? Check out this post.

Looking for a crazy, borderline incoherent, slightly volatile woman? Catch me on a day when I miss my midmorning snack.

3 Ingredients to Breakfast Bliss

Posted on May 30, 2011 by Fervent Foodie

What do these three ingredients have in common?

Cottage cheese (bleghhhhhh), eggs, and oatmeal?

Despite being super healthy and good for your body, these three ingredients have one MAJOR thing in common.

A big ole plate of PURE breakfast bliss, that’s what.

I hope you are as excited as I am Open-mouthed smile

Thank you to Jessica from Warfield Ninjas for sharing with me one of the simplest yet tastiest belly pleasing recipes I’ve tried in a while!

For two good sized pancakes (similar in size to a toaster waffle), you’ll need to combine the following in a food processor:

1/3 cup uncooked oats (I used quick oats)
1/3 cottage cheese (I used fat free)
2 egg whites

Give all the goods a quick buzz in the food processor until the lumps are gone, and cook them up like you would “normal” pancakes!

get. in. my. bellllllllllllllllllyyyyyyyyyyyyy.

I was feeling a little OVER THE TOP, so I decided to top mine off with some all-natural peanut butter, Dannon Vanilla Greek yogurt, strawberries, AND Smuckers sugar free syrup.

Feel free to use the toppings of your choice. To each her own pancake, I always say Smile

I made a smaller version of these for my mom over the holiday weekend, and she said they were surprisingly tasty and that she appreciated the “healthy and hearty” texture of the pancakes. I completely agree!

Pure breakfast bliss.

I’m looking forward to playing with this recipe a bit – and hopefully making it waffle-iron ready Open-mouthed smile Fingers crossed

Stats on two pancakes (without any toppings): 203 calories, 21g carbs, 2g fat, 22g protein, 3g fiber.

Chicken Larb

Posted on May 23, 2011 by Fervent Foodie

Reasons why you should never judge a recipe by its cover.. err title:

Chicken Larb!

Say whaaaaa? What the crap is “larb”? Google tells me “larb” is a type of meat salad. Good to know, Google. Good to know.

Had I known this fun fact, I might not have hesitated to clip the recipe for “Chicken Larb” out of one of my issues of Cooking Light. But lucky for my belly, I looked past the gag-reflex-prompting title and filed this puppy away in my big black book.

I tweaked the recipe slightly and scaled it down to one delicious serving. First up, toss the following in a food processor:

4 ounces chicken breast
2 tsp red curry paste
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 tsp minced garlic
sprinkle of black pepper

Give it a quick buzz in the food processor, and you’ll end up with this crazy orange colored ground chicken:

I’m still amazed that I can make my own ground meat at home. It’s the little things, I guess!

Saute the chicken in a pan coated with nonstick spray over medium heat. I occasionally added a tbsp of water to the pan to help moisten things up.

Meanwhile, combine the following:

1/2 cup diced cucumber
1 tbsp chopped cilantro
1 tbsp minced shallot
The juice of 1/4 of a lime

Thing of beauty:

Once the chicken is cooked through, combine the chicken with the cucumber mixture and then spoon onto romaine lettuce leaves, and juice a quarter lime over top:

Looks crazy good, am I right? I had a big serving of roasted broccoli on the side:

This was super tasty and SUPER healthful. I decided mid-meal to grab a tablespoon or so of fat-free plan Greek Yogurt to dollop on top. It really was the icing on the larb

This was my first time using red curry paste, and the paste along with the cilantro really made for a tasty combo.

There’s a recipe on the back of the paste bottle for Red Curry Shrimp. I need to try that STAT!

Roasted broccoli Smile

A delicious dinner enjoyed on my newly assembled patio furniture:

It’s nice to have a little helper. Or a 6’4” helper… either way Smile

Stats on the Chicken Larb + 1.5 cups broccolee broccolye brocco-lee-hee: 221 calories, 19g carbs, 1g fat, 27g protein, 4g fiber

I can’t believe how outrageously low cal yet still tasty that meal was – next time I may beef it up with some beans or avocado.

Soooooo did you catch the broccoli reference?!?! PLEASE take 4 minutes and watch this. You won’t regret it. And as an added bonus you will now know the song I sing to myself every time I chop up broccoli Laughing out loud

A whole day of FOOD

Posted on July 22, 2010 by Fervent Foodie

Guess who forgot her camera cord at home today??? That’s right, one fervent-frazzled-foodie

That’s ok, now I get to take my time with this lovely Thursday post, rather than rushing through a lunch-time blog session!

Today should have marked Day #1, Week #6 of my interval training plan… But unfortunately during my run in Charlotte Tuesday morning I started to have some knee pain

I haven’t had any problems throughout my entire interval plan. I think the pain was probably caused by having to run on the sidewalks in the city in combination with the TON of walking we did on vacation.

When I woke up this morning, I was still feeling a little pain in my knee. I think I’m going to forgo running outside for a week before attempting to pick up on my intervals again. Hopefully that will be sufficient time for me to get right back on track. Until then, I’ll stick to the low-impact elliptical.

Can’t believe tomorrow is Friday already! Love short workweeks–even if it has been a hectic one. You can always gauge my level of overwhelmsion at work by the cleanliness of my desk. Case in point, today my desk looked like it might try to swallow me whole at any moment:

Breakfast #1

Leftover’s from the scramble I made Tuesday night:

This was tasty, but I was really craving some eggins with turkey sausage. Think I’ll have to pull some of my Jennie O’s out of the freezer tonight!

Stats on B#1: 141 calories, 13g carbs, 1g fat, 19g protein, 3g fiber

Breakfast #2

Long-awaited return of OVERNIGHT OATS! Missed these guys so much on vacation! I actually contemplated packing OO supplies to take on my vacation, but once I saw the exorbitant amount of food I packed I decided against it. I also nixed bringing the immersion blender and almond milk to make smoothies… haha

Last night, I mixed up:

1/2 cup uncooked quick oats
1/2 cup Almond Breeze Unsweetened Almond Milk
1 tsp brown sugar
sprinkling of cinnamon

This morning, I topped the overnight oats with fresh strawberries and blueberries:

GLORIOUS!

Speaking of overnight oats, I get a whole lot of questions on how to make these. If you’re intrigued, check out my Overnight Oats Addition to the Foodie Q&A Page. Also check out the recipe page for some ideas on what to put in your overnight oats!

Stats on B#2: 200 calories, 36g carbs, 5g fat, 6g protein, 6g fiber

Lunch

While making last night’s dinner, I threw and extra chicken breast on the grill for my lunch today. I was feeling a little saucy so I decided to make up some healthified buffalo chicken.

This time, I used the following:

4 ounces grilled chicken with Montreal Chicken Seasoning
S&P, Garlic Powder
1/4 cup Stonyfield Farms fat-free plain yogurt
1/4 cup Frank’s red hot

Lucky for me, this mixture made enough for 2 wraps so I saved the other half for tomorrow. I put the buffalo chicken on a Mama Lupe’s low carb tortilla:

Then topped with some tomato and onion:

I was super excited for lunch ALL day today… couldn’t wait to devour this spicy treat.

Last time I made this buffalo chicken salad, I used a lot less sauce. I think I prefer it extra saucy

On the side, I had a jumbo salad with romaine, tomato, onion, banana pepper, green pepper, and 2 tbsp Ken’s Steakhouse lite Italian Romano dressing:

Stats on Wrap & Salad: 302 calories, 34g carbs, 9g fat, 28g protein, 10g fiber

Dinner

While trying to decide what to make for dinner, I came across a bag of calabacita veggies in the freezer:

This reminded me of my shrimp quesadillas, which sounded likes a fabulous idea for dinner.

Here’s what went into the quesadillas:

First I carefully sliced a Joseph’s low-carb tortilla in half, then I topped it with a quarter of the bag of steamed calabacita veggies, a thinly sliced light mini baybel cheese round, and three large grilled shrimp that I had seasoned with lime juice, S&P, garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, and red pepper flakes:

I put the other half of the pita on top of my masterpiece and grilled on the george foreman for 4 minutes until the cheese was melty and the pita was crispy. Then I topped with 2 tbsp Breakstone’s Fat Free sour cream, 1/2 a plum tomato, 1/4 cup red onion, and some banana peppers:

I love it when a meal is healthy and tastes AMAZING like this one did. Look how yummy:

On the side, I had 1 cup each of roasted broccoli and cauliflower:

These veggies were seasoned with Black pepper, garlic salt, and onion powder. I placed them on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray and gave them a good toss before roasting in a 415 degree oven for 15 minutes. Y-U-M.

Next time I make quesadillas I think I’ll sub in some pinto beans for the shrimp and make a vegetarian quesadilla with TONS and TONS of veggies…. mmm can’t wait!

Stats on the quesadilla & fixins: 296 calories, 34g carbs, 6g fat, 24g protein, 69g fiber

Stats on the roasted veggies: 55 calories, 11g carbs, 0g fat, 4g protein, 5g fiber

All together now: 351 calories, 45g carbs, 6g fat, 30g protein, 11g fiber

Late-Night Snack

Post-dinner snack tonight was a delicious fruit smoothie. I put the following into the blender:

1/4 cup plain Stonyfield Farms Fat-Free Yogurt
1/4 cup Almond Breeze Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk
1 packet truvia
1/2 cup fresh blueberries
1 cup spinach
1/4 cup frozen blackberries
1/2 cup ice cubes

Blueberry bliss:

How can healthy foods taste so darn good?? Still baffles me!

All together now: 101 calories, 23g carbs, 1g fat, 6g protein, 5g fiber

Special Surprise

As you may recall, the BF was out of the country for work on my birthday, and the day after he returned, we headed to Charlotte/Charleston. On vacation, he told me my present was “too big” to bring to Charleston, so I’d have to wait til we got home. He also expressed some worries that I wasn’t going to like the gift… Uh oh…

All I really wanted for my birthday was a night out in Charleston and a cupcake — (which I got several times over on vaca!), so I wasn’t too worried about the gift.

Last night was THE NIGHT. I sat down with two nicely wrapped presents. I was super excited to open them, albeit slightly apprehensive.

Here’s what was in the packages:

If you are like me, you’re probably wondering what the heck I’d use two travel guides to New Orleans for. Maybe you are quicker at gathering the facts than me…. but for those who aren’t: WE’RE GOING TO NEW ORLEANS IN OCTOBER!!!! How awesome is that?!?!? Flights and hotel are already booked! Now all I have to do is research all the best places to eat

QUESTION: What’s the best surprise and/or birthday present you have ever received?

Healthified Buffalo Chicken Wrap

Posted on July 10, 2010 by Fervent Foodie

I had a serious craving for some buffalo chicken this afternoon, so I thought I’d take a shot at a healthified buffalo chicken wrap.

I mixed up the following in a little bowl:

2 tbsp oikos plain greek yogurt
1 tbsp franks red hot
sprinkling of Black pepper, garlic salt, red pepper flakes, onion powder

Then I mixed in 2.5 ounces grilled chicken shredded (all that was left from last sunday’s big grill up):

I put this mixture on top of a Joseph’s Low-Carb pita, and topped with a thinly sliced mini babybell cheese round and some banana peppers. Then cooked in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes and topped with some tomato:

Up close and personal:

This was delicious! I tried a few bites of the buffalo chicken when it was cold, and I think I actually liked it better cold than heated up because I could taste the buffalo sauce better. So two thumbs up, and next time I’ll keep it in a cold wrap rather than baking.

I love when random concoctions turn out tasty

Stats on the BCW: 213 calories, 12g carbs, 6g fat, 32g protein, 5g fiber