Thin Crust Personal Pizza

This delight is so tasty that I make it the exact same way each time. Of course, you can vary toppings to your liking, I just happen to have this combination on hand often enough.



Ingredients (per pizza)
1 8" flour tortilla
1 tsp. olive oil
1/4 c. marinara sauce
1/2 tomato, seeded & diced
1/2 an Italian sausage, cooked (I used MorningStar's Pre-cooked Italian Sausage)
36 grams (2% milk) shredded mozzarella cheese (err, a heaping 1/4 cup)
salt (optional)

Method
This recipe requires either an oven baking stone or a pan on bottom of oven that can withstand 500 degree F temperatures (such as a broiling pan).

Start pre-heating the oven to 500 degrees F.

Spread a very thin layer of sauce over the tortilla, leaving 1/2" dry around the circumference.

Using a brush, apply olive oil to the uncovered 1/2" tortilla lightly. Optionally salt to the crust. Kosher salt seems to have the best consistency.

Evenly sprinkle the mozzarella over the sauce, then add the tomatoes and sausage. If desired, shred a small amount of cheddar for marbled presentation.

At 500 degrees F, cook the pizza for 2 minutes 15 seconds or until desired done-ness. Watch the pizza, it cooks quickly.

Notes
This pizza goes really well with a salad to round off the meal.

Hawaiian Delight Smoothie

This delight is inspired by Walh's Dairy Port, the happenin place in b-town during the occasionally warm coastal summer.




Ingredients
1/2 frozen banana
1/2 cup pineapple (fresh or canned)
1/2 cup ice cubes
1/2 cup water or milk (it's all about consistency, baby!)
1 scoop vanilla protein powder
1 tbsp. chocolate fudge fat-free, sugar-free instant pudding mix.
1 tbsp. chopped walnuts (optional)
1 tbsp. flaked coconut (optional)

It appears to be a lot of stuff to be jamming into a smoothie, but honestly, the first 5/6 things are put into pretty much every smoothie I make, so no special grocery trips necessary. Mixing is done in a personal-sized Magic Bullet blender. Super quick and easy cleanup. This just happens to be the first of many recipes we plan to add that use infotastic devices first featured on tv. You can definitely use a regular blender, but like the GTXpress, the Magic Bullet has proven to be one of the most useful kitchen time-savers for around $50.

Method

• Add the following to your blending container
• banana
• pineapple
• ice
• water
• protein powder
• puddin mix
• Blend, 30 - 60 seconds until well mixed
• Give a quick rinse to the blender blade for next use
• Stir in coconut and walnuts
• Depending on consistency (more/less ice, milk), you can either eat this with a spoon or sip it. Despite the stirring spoon in the photo above, I sipped this and crunched up the coconut and walnuts during the process.

Nacho Mac & Cheese

I'm having a blast with the 300 calorie meals lately. My energy levels are back up, and I can wake up ready to rock n roll in the mornings and still have energy to do cardio and some horsing around in the evenings. Among other things, I've become more adventurous in cooking creations. This meal may take some tweaking in the future, but it served its purpose tonight.. a healthier version of mac n cheese.

[I'll inject a photo the next time I prepare this meal.]

Ingredients
63 grams Ronzoni Smart Pasta - Elbow Macaroni
1/2 cup milk (I use 1% organic)
1 tbsp. Wondra
1 tbsp. nacho cheese popcorn seasoning
Pepper
Paprika (optional)

Method

• Bring a small pot of water to a boil
• Toss in the macaroni, then move on to the sauce
• In a saucepan, mix milk and Wondra
• Heat saucepan on medium setting, stirring sauce very frequently
• After a few minutes, sauce will show thickening, add a few shakes of pepper
• Super optional - add a few shakes of paprika (this actually makes it a little spicy in the end)
• Continue stirring sauce and preparing macaroni
• Once sauce reaches the consistency of thick ketchup, mix in the cheese seasoning
• Drain finished macaroni, stir in sauce

A few notes

1. Smart pasta rocks. I personally like the taste as much as traditional pasta and it has a good amount of calcium and a bit of fiber as well. I recommend replacing any current pasta dishes with Smart Pasta for the nutritious benefit.
   
2. The nacho cheese popcorn seasoning I have is very low sodium and 1 tbsp. has 24 calories. I picked it up at wally world.
   
3. If you're used to adding salt or just have an average American salt diet (i.e. high sodium diet), this meal will not provide you with that salty taste each bite. I've put a decent amount of effort in reducing my personal sodium intake, and after a while, adding additional salt is rarely part of my culinary ways. If you're not concerned, add a few shakes of kosher salt to the sauce and you'll likely have a greater appreciation for this meal.
4. I have no idea what 63 grams of pasta comes out to in cup fractions, but I'll take a measurement next time. The amount was chosen since it comes out to about 200 calories of pasta. You can wing it pretty easily since a serving is 180 cals and tossing in a few more elbows. If you have a small food scale, that serves this purpose.
   

Chicken & Rice

This meal has it all, and rolls in under 400 calories! It's a healthy and nutritious version of an old Dugas classic. Another bonus -- this meal exhibits ultimate parallelism in preparation, that is, each part can be made nearly simultaneously.



Ingredients
4 oz chicken breast tender
2/3 cup prepared brown rice
2/3 to 1 cup Normandy vegetable mix (any decent veggie or mix is great)

Ingredients (sauce)
1 cup milk
2 tbsp. Wondra (or flour)
Chef Paul's poultry magic seasoning
2-3 scallions, diced
butter buds sprinkles
s&p


Method

• Start preparing the chicken breast (I use the GTXpress, 12 minutes total)
• Start preparing the brown rice
• Start preparing the vegetables
• Prepare the roux
• Combine milk, butter sprinkles, Wondra in a non-stick skillet, mix well, crank heat up to medium
• Stirring often, the roux should thicken after a few minutes, at that point, add the scallions and 1-2 tsp Chef Paul's seasoning
• Once the roux has thickened to your desired consistency, start plating
• Plating
• Make a bed of brown rice
• Slice chicken (optional) and lay on rice
• Pour roux over chicken,
  
• Optional
• Sprinkle a bit more Chef Paul's seasoning on the roux
• Garnish with a couple spring onions (optional)
• Accompany with vegetables, sprinkling on butter and other desired seasonings (I used Spike seasoning, another decent one would be Old Bay)

That's it. For a home-cooked meal, it doesn't take too long, and I've made a double batch so I can enjoy some leftovers later.

Nutrition Info
Brown Rice 150 calories, 1.5g fat, 3g protein
Chicken 100 calories, 1g fat, 24g protein
Sauce 100 calories, 1g fat, 6g protein
Vegetables 35 calories, 0.5g fat, 2g protein

Nutrition Totals
385 calories, 4g fat, 35g protein

Sunday Breakfast

Sunday mornings, I enjoy waking up, taking it easy and making some decent breakfast. Lately, it's been some combination of low-fat, high-protein foods with a bit of spice. Behold, the breakfast of Feb. 24.



Ingredients
non-stick spray
3/4 cup egg beaters
1 slice fat-free sharp cheddar cheese
salt & pepper

1/2 cup breakfast mix

1 fresh jalapeno

1 slice Franz 40 cal. bread
1/2 tbsp. whipped butter

1 Morning Star egg scrambler

Method

• Spray skillet with non-stick spray, heat to med-high
• Prepare breakfast mix in the skillet
  
• Scramble eggs, add cheese just before removing them from skillet
• Toast bread, butter
• Slice jalapeno into chips
• Microwave egg scrambler for ~50 seconds.

Nutrition
1 Morning Star Egg Scrambler: 60 cal, 2.5g fat, 3.5g protein
3/4 cup Egg Beaters: 90 cal, 0g fat, 18g protein
1 slice fat-free cheese: 30 cal, 0g fat, 4g protein
1 slice Franz bread: 40 cal, 0.5g fat, 3g protein
1/2 tbsp. whipped butter: 25 cal, 3g fat, 0g protein
1 jalapeno: 4 cal, 0g fat, 0g protein
1/2 cup breakfast mix: 70 cal, 1g fat, 3g protein

Nutrition total
319 cal, 7g fat, 31.5g protein

Grilled Cheese (nutrition-remix)

Grilled cheese is grilled cheese. No matter how you approach it – there's bread and there's cheese. The thing that makes this version unique is that health+nutrition are high and it dishes out 2 sandwiches (8 squares) per person. I started making this when I was eating 6 meals a day (~300 cal/meal) and wanted to mix in an old favorite. Full nutrition info is located at the end of the post, but it's good to know that each sandwich has 110 cals (10g protein, 1g fat). Make one for a snack, 2 for a meal, or 3 for a craving!



Ingredients
4 slices 40 calorie bread by Franz
2 slices fat-free cheese
non-stick spray or 1 tbsp. light butter

Method

• Prepare your non-stick skillet on medium heat
• Spray or lightly butter one side of each bread slice
• Assemble each sandwich on the skillet
  
• bread slice, butter-side down
• slice of cheese
• bread slice, butter-side up
• Cook each side until golden-brown, about 1-2 minutes
• Remove cooked sandwich, cut as desired

Nutrition info
4 slices bread = 160 cal, 12g protein, 2g fat
2 slices fat-free cheese = 60 cal, 8g protein, 0g fat

Total nutrition
220 cal, 20g protein, 2g fat

I took in a glass of milk to crank it up to 310 cals and 29g protein, but using double-cheese works just as well.