Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Quick and Easy Home Roasted Peppers

I used the tool at Calorie Count to set the nutrition facts for one pepper and a scant amount of oil as most will be removed with the skin.

Deliciousness!
Quick and Easy Home Roasted Peppers

Ingredients:

As many peppers as you would like to roast
Olive oil

Preheat oven to 450
quartered and oiled

Directions:

Rinse and quarter the peppers. Slice the top, remove the core, de-seed, and remove the ribs.

Either brush with olive oil or put oil in a bowl and dip the pepper quarters to coat.

roasted!
Roast in a pan with a side (to catch some of the spitting oil) for about 15-20 minutes or until the skins blacken and blister.

Remove the peppers from the oven. Use tongs and place the peppers in a brown paper bag, roll to seal the steamy goodness within, and allow the peppers to cool for 10 minutes.

resting in a bag
Now that they are cool enough to handle and the sealed container has assisted in a final steam making the peppers easy to peel - peel off the skins and excess black bits with your fingers!

Slice them now and use in your favorite recipe or place in a clean preserve jar packed well with oil and store in the fridge where they will keep for about two weeks.

Friday, November 16, 2012

Crazypotato98’s Thick and Juicy Hamburgers

Can a calorie counter eat a hamburger? Of course, The important thing is planning, low cal side dishes, and portion control. The nutrition facts were created at Calorie Count!

Crazypotato98’s Thick and Juicy Hamburgers

Ingredients:
(Makes 6 servings)

9/20 kg 90% lean ground beef
1/3 cup oats
2/3 cup water
1 tbsp ketchup
1 tbsp teryaki sauce
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp mustard
1/2 tsp pepper

Directions:

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. 

Pat out six patties and fry in nonstick skillet until no longer pink in the middle. 

Serve on whole-wheat buns, ketchup and pickles. Lettuce and tomato make it more delicious. If you add cheese, don't forget to log the calories!

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Michael's Cucumber Yogurt

This is a delightful garnish for lamb, beef, burgers or other sandwiches... or just eat it right out of the bowl!


Michael's Cucumber Yogurt
nutrition facts

Ingredients:

1 large cucumber
1 cup plain yogurt
1 pinch dill
1 T white wine vinegar
Optional: 1/2 t sugar or packet of Splenda

Directions:

Rinse and slice a few pieces of cucumber to serve as the garnish. Then peel and slice the cucumber in half. Remove seeds with melon baller - or just use an English or seedless cucumber.

Dice the cucumber and mix with the plain yogurt. Add a pinch of dill, a bit of chives, and/or a splash or two of white wine vinegar and stir.

Meganr’s Cucumber Salad

The BEST kind of cucumbers for this recipe are Armenian.  The next best are those long English style hot house cucumbers. The worst are the squishy regular ones and in fact don't bother if that's all you have. Get a great cucumber and make a great salad!

English Hot House Cucumber
Meganr’s Cucumber Salad
Ingredients:

4 big cucumbers
½ Sweet Onion (such as Vidalia or Walla Walla)
1 red bell pepper
2 T rice vinegar
1 t thyme
Optional: red pepper flakes to taste

Directions:

Peel and thinly slice rounds of cucumber.  You can cut them in half if you want so you have smaller half-moon pieces. 

Thinly slice the onion - as thin as you can get it.

Thinly slice the red bell pepper into rounds and then cut the rounds in half.

Place the veggies in a bowl and add the rice vinegar – Meganr does not measure this. She just adds 3-4 hearty splashes.

Add the thyme OR if you prefer some perkiness, red pepper flakes. 

Toss gently and serve.