Yummy Spanish Paprika Chicken

Thank goodness that there will always be new things to do with chicken! This recipe was originally found, I believe, in Cooking Light or Redbook though it was called something nicer (aren't they always called something nicer in the magazines?).

This is an easy, quick recipe to spice up that pound of chicken you've got in the freezer. It's great for an evening when you just don't even feel like pre-heating the oven. Serve this with a little brown rice and some corn or another nice veggie, and you've got a really simple, hearty meal. The heat this dish gets from the paprika isn't spicy hot, but you can certainly heat things up by using extra seasonings! Otherwise, serve as is.

Spanish Paprika Chicken

You'll need:

1 t. paprika

black pepper (to taste); crushed red pepper (for spicy)

4 -- 5 bone/skinless chicken breasts, about 3 oz. each

2 t. extra virgin olive oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 C. chopped green olives

14 oz. can of diced tomatoes and green chiles, undrained

3 slices proscuitto, finely chopped (about 1/4 C.)

2 T. fresh chopped parsley (I like this with the flat leaf kind)

2 T . grated parmesan

Heat a large skillet over medium high heat and add your proscuitto. Heat until just barely brown and crispy, then remove to a plate and add in the parsley and parmesan cheese. Keep warm. Meanwhile, keep your skillet over medium heat and add the 2 t. of oil.

Combine your paprika and pepper and sprinkle all over both sides of chicken. I usually sprinkle one side, toss it face-down in the pan and then do the other side. This seems to make better use of the spices. Add the seasoned chicken to your pan and cook about 4 minutes, flipping once. Add your garlic and cook another minute, flip your chicken again. Add olives and tomatoes, bringing the whole mixture to a boil. Reduce heat and then simmer for 6 -- 10 minutes, until chicken is completely cooked through.

Place a chicken breast on each plate, top with 1/2 C. of the sauce, then sprinkle with about 2 T. of the proscuitto/parsley/cheese mixture. Declicious! I usually cut mine up into my rice, and it feel like a ridiculous load of food, but so good! This makes about 4 servings, and you can easily adjust that by just including fewer or more chicken breasts and topping the breasts with a little more/less sauce as necessary. Each serving is 6 pts on WW, or about 310 calories.

New Beefy Potato Casserole!

Well, ya'll, the temperatures here in Dixie just dropped below 50 this morning, so I know that Fall is good and here. I don't think I'm the only one that craves warm comfort casseroles and soups when the cold weather hits! This recipe is great for using up some stock items in your friedge, like that frozen pound of beef and those last few potatoes in the bag. It's just simple and homey, but really warm and filling on a cool fall evening. It's 8 pts on WW (370 calories, 14 g. of fat and 5 grams of fiber). I was inspired by the Greek moussaka casserole, but I toned it down and used ultra lean beef as my meat. Serve it with hot bread and some green beans and you've got a great meal.

Potato Beef Moussaka

Preheat your oven to 350 and coat a 13 x 9 pan with cook spray.

You'll need:

2 lbs baking potatoes, cut into 1/4 " slices (about 4 medium potatoes), peeled or not as preferred

1 medium onion, chopped

1 carrot, diced

2 garlic cloves

1 lb. lean ground beef

1 8 oz. jar diced pimentos, drained

8 oz. no-salt tomato sauce

1 t. salt, pepper to taste

1 t. cumin

1/2 t. cinnamon (this is what makes this recipe so good! It brings a wonderful heat and fall spiciness to your mouth with each bite)

1/2 C. finely chopped parsley (I like flat-leaf in this recipe)

1 C. 1% milk

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

garlic salt, to taste

2 oz. feta cheese

Heat a large skillet over medium and coat with cook spray. Add potato slices in batches of thirds until they've all been browned, about 4 -- 5 minutes per batch. Keep warm.

Recoat the skillet with spray and then add onion, carrot, garlic, and beef to your pan. Cook about 4 minutes until beef is browned, then add pimentos, sauce, seasonings and parsley. Cook until bubbly, about 10 minutes.

Arrange half the potatoes at the bottom of the pan, then cover with the meat sauce and about 1 oz. of the feta. Cover with the remaining potatoes, then the rest of the feta. Next, combine your eggs with the milk and garlic salt. When lightly mixed, pour over entire casserole evenly. Bake for 30 minutes until feta is lightly bronwed and filling has set. Let it settle about 10 minutes before serving.

This makes 6 servings and is great as leftovers for the rest of the week! If you have a lot leftover, you can freeze it for later.

The Deb Discovers Polenta!

Who knew what a delicious little snacky cake baked polenta makes?! Oh, I guess the rest of the world had figured this out. Ooops. My local store even had flavored polenta!

Also, this recipe takes all of 10 minutes to prepare, so don't give yourself a half-hour like I did. I was standing over the shrimp, glaring at them with my Deb-ray vision in an effort to keep them warm while waiting for my husband to get home.

Parmesan, Paprika and Polenta!

Go ahead and preheat your broiler.

You'll need:

1 T. olive oil

1 lb. peeled/deveined medium shrimp
1/4 white wine

1 T. chopped chives

1 T. lemon juice

1 T. papkrika

dash of garlic salt, Old Bay (to taste)

1 16 oz. tube polenta (I used the dun-dried tomato flavor, and boy was it good with this recipe!), cut into 8 even (about 1/2") slices

cook spray

8 spoonfuls of marinara sauce

8 spoonfuls of shredded parmesan cheese

1 T. chopped parsley

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add in your shrimp and cook max maybe 3 minutes until just done, pink and curled. Remove from heat, stir in wine, chives, lemon juice and seasonings, tossing to coat. Keep warm (with laser eyes if necessary).

Place polenta slices on sprayed cookie sheet and top each slice with one spoonful each of sauce and then cheese. Broil 3 or 4 minutes until the cheese is melty. Top each serving with your shrimp mixture and sprinkle all over with parsley!

This is perfect with just a salad or maybe a little rice. Polenta, you just made yourself a friend.

The recipe is only 230 calories, with 5 grams of fat, 2 grams fiber. That makes it only 6 pts on Weight Watchers, and the polenta is deliciously filling!

Breakfast Ideas

The Deb has a serious weakness for women's magazines. There are few things as enjoyable as popping some low-calorie popcorn and lolling on the couch with a frivolous magazine. Now, while I don't condone the overall message of these magazines (You're Fat! You should pleasure your husband more often!* No One Likes You Unless You Weigh 4 lbs! Why Can't You Buy More $500 Pairs of Shoes?!), I have noticed that they all have one thing in common when talking about weight loss -- they all tell you to have breakfast.

When your Deb was in high school, she remembers that the wrestling coach actually told his boys to SKIP breakfast... when they were trying to GAIN weight! So surely between old Coach Hunt and every women's magazine on the planet, they're on to something.

And I don't know about you, but I despise when a recipe book extols a breakfast idea s "quick!" when it involves Bisquick. Quick = the time it takes to toast something, not the time it takes to preheat an oven, prepare a recipe and then bake it. And the Deb is a busy girl, as she images ya'll to be. She is busy putting her face on in the morning -- she saves her suave supper skills for, well, supper time.

Therefore, the Deb recommends that you do, certainly eat breakfast. And you should probably skip those weird sugary breakfast bars. Instead, I find it infinitely more satisfying to toast something -- it makes you feel like you're cooking, but doesn't take much time, and smells like real food. I'm partial to the Thomas English Muffins. They have 100 calorie ones, and, my favorite, the light multi-grain. These have lots of fiber and are still as crumbly and delicious as anything. Plus, only around that same 100 calorie mark. So toast yourself a nice English muffin OR two slices of white-wheat bread -- both options are only 1 pt. on WW, around 100 calories (for two slices of the bread). Spray it with some fat free butter spray before toasting, and then top with one of the following for a complete, easy breakfast that will make itself while you're busy making important wardrobe decisions:

Savories -- each topping only an addition point on WW or around 100 calories:

2 tsp. Reduced Fat Peanut Butter -- tons of protein, delicious and filling

1/4 ripe avocado, mashed with a little lemon juice and garlic salt -- high in the "good" fat, and incredibly filling, very savory

1 1 oz. slice of Canadian bacon, topped with a teeny bit of shredded Parmesan cheese -- if you have a toaster oven, just toss the slice in there while you're toasting your English muffin and it'll cook to just the right warm temp. Then you've got a nice little sandwich for breakfast!

1 oz. Reduced Fat cheddar cheese, melted onto the toasted bread (either in the microwave or with a toaster oven), with a little pepper on top -- so savory and good. Like the cheese toast of your childhood without the guilt!


Sweeties -- also only an additional point on WW (on top of your bread choice)

1/2 banana, sprinkled with a pinch of cinnamon and sugar -- sweet but good for you! Loads of potassium!

1 T. any sugar-free jam or jelly -- nice and sweet, great for days on the run. Also, did you know it's better for your metabolism if you eat your sweets earlier in the day? The sugar has an easier time of processing within your system if you've got all day to do it.

1/4 C. fresh raspberries, strawberries, or blackberries, squeeze of lemon juice, sprinkled with a pinch of powdered sugar -- again, sweet and delicious without the calories of french toast. Plus you get a nice amount of antioxidants from the darker berries and a fruit serving! You can totally use frozen, too. Just defrost a handful the night before in your fridge.

3 slices apple, drizzled with low-fat maple syrup -- Apples have more goodness in them than we really know what to do with. This is a perfect start for what's bound to be a hectic day!

So happy Breakfasting, lovelies! It's an important meal and eating early will help you not over-indulge from starvation later on. Don't just chug that coffee; enjoy one of these genuinely easy little morning treats!



* MORE often?! Please. That poor boy would explode.

Crock Pot Chicken Paprikash

The Deb knows she's been AWOL for a while, but it's been a real emergency, kids! She's gotten all your cards, letters and emails, begging for more, so she's back, don't you worry. Sometimes, when maintaining an active lifestyle and good eating habits, it's important to go with what you know, and this, sadly for you (loyal readers), means that the Deb just goes on auto-pilot. She makes all her tried-and-trued dishes with some repetition, in order to stay the course. There hasn't been anything good and new to share with ya'll, no matter how much she loves you! But now she's back with a new chicken recipe that you're gonna love -- it's so easy and so creamy delicious.

Crock Pot Chicken Paprikash

You'll need:

cooking spray (go ahead and spray your crock pot)
2 C. mushrooms, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 small garlic clove, minced
1 small jar pimentos, chopped, drained
1 T. paprika
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 C. chicken broth
1 lb. chicken tenders, uncooked, in long strips
1 T. flour
1/2 C. Fat free sour cream

Coat a skillet with your cooking spray and heat over medium. Add mushrooms, onion, garlic and pimentos (this drives my poor husband crazy because it smells so good and yet dinner isn't for another 6 hours! If this happens to you, do what I do and make him a nice omlette for lunch using a few of the ingrediants); saute 5 minutes. Stir in spices and cook another minute. Spoon all this into a crock pot and add the broth. Add in the chicken and cover, cooking for 5 -- 6 hours on LOW.

Just before supper time, make yourself a nice loaf of bread and while that's cooking, stir together the flour and sour cream -- this will keep the cream from curdling when heated. Trust me: few things are as actively disgusting as curdled sour cream. Stir this into your chicken mixture, cover and cook another 10 minutes, perfect for while your bread is cooking.

Spoon yourself a big helping of 1 1/2 C. (makes about 4 servings) and it's only 215 calories (4 WW points), loaded with flavor and goodness. Sop up the extra creaminess with your bread!

Easy Bread Spread

This is one of my very favorite Dainty tricks: I buy a nice loaf of "Take and Bake" bread (get the whole wheat kind for extra fiber!) from the bakery of my grocery story (the beloved Harris Teeter) and dress it up for company. This spread I created the other night is delicious and easy. You can make huge batches of it and refrigerate it -- as I used to do with the full-fattening version I once made. It's only 1 point on WW, and around 100 calories (estimated). Plus the whole Wheat bread, that makes an easy and delicious 3 points for 1/4 a slender loaf!

Bread Spread

Preheat your broiler to 500.

You'll need:

1 baked baguette, whole wheat, preferably
1/2 lemon: the zest and juice
1 -- 2 oz Feta cheese (you can use flavored or regular, depending on what flavor medley you want with the main dish)
1 triangle of "Laughing Cow" lite cheese -- any flavor!
1 -- 2 T. minced garlic (to taste)
freshly chopped basil, parsley or chives -- about 1 -- 2 T. each, or whatever you may be in the mood for.
1/4 C. fat-free butter spray (Parkay or I Can't Believe It's Not Butter, or you can substitute margarine of any brand, so long as it's softened before you toss it in the food processor)

This is a recipe full of variables, which you can use to your advantage. If you want to make a garlic bread, then use more garlic, and season it with chopped chives and parsley, plus use the garlic flavored Laughing Cow cheese. If you want a lighter, herbier taste, go with plain cheese, chopped basil and then add a little salt and pepper. Be creative! If I'm serving a heavy, flavorful dish, I go with a plainer bread, whereas if I'm serving a more bland pasta dish, I serve the garlic flavor.

First slice your baguette down its full-length so you've got two long, even halves of the loaf. Then gently score each half into 8 equal portions (so you can easily cut it into pieces later, and also to allow the spread to melt into these cracks). Now toss your lemon zest, juice, and cheese into the food processor and let them get good and blended. Finally blend in the butter substitute (or margarine) and get the spread nice and combined (using your spatula to smoosh down unruly ingredients if necessary in the blending process). Take the spread and divide it, spreading each half evenly over your baguette halves. Then broil the bread 5 inches from the heat, about 5 minutes or until golden and bubbly.

This is so good, my husband always goes back for seconds, and he's not even a bread freak like I am!

Bacon-ghetti

Lord do I love bacon. It was the absolutely worst part about my semester abroad in England -- I couldn't get good bacon. It was either unrecognizable or undercooked. Gah. First thing I did when I got back? Made me some bacon.

Here's a nice way to incorporate the smoky deliciousness of bacon even if you're watching your figure. I use Canadian-style bacon because I feel it imbues the sauce with more flavor, but I've also made this with pancetta and with regular bacon. They were also quite good, though I maintain that Canadian-style gives this sauce more oomph. Also, this recipe is cheap, easy and perfect with just a nice salad and maybe garlic bread. Great for the middle of the week when you want real food but aren't feeling like an hour in the kitchen. It's 257 calories per serving (it's 5 WW points), and this makes 4 nice sized servings.

Bacon-ghetti

You'll need:
8 oz. uncooked whole wheat spaghetti
1 t. olive oil
5 oz. Canadian-syle bacon, diced
1 onion, diced
1 tsp. minced garlic
14 1/2 oz can diced tomatoes
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
salt and pepper, to taste
freshly grated parmesan cheese, for garnish

Cook the spaghetti al dente and reserve 1/4 C. cooking water before draining and keeping warm.

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat and add the bacon, cooking until browned. Add in the onion and garlic, also cooking until lightly browned. Finally, add the tomatoes and then red pepper flakes. Let simmer together for about 10 minutes.

Combine the sauce with the pasta, reserved pasta water, and salt and pepper to taste. Top each serving with a little parmesan cheese.

You can also always double or triple the sauce recipe and keep some in a jar in the fridge for a super quick meal in the future. It keeps forever... at least 3 months. But I'd try to use it within a month of making it.

Chicken Parmesan

I don't know many things better than fried meat baked under a layer of sauce and cheese. I make this dish with fewer calories than what you'd get at Olive Garden, but the key is using good, fresh ingredients (isn't it always?). Make sure you use freshly ground Italian seasoning, freshly sliced, good quality mozzarella and equally freshly grated, good parmesan cheese.

Chicken Parmesan
Preheat your oven and spray an 8" square bake pan with cooking spray.

You'll need:
1 lb. chicken breasts, boneless/skinless, pounded thin (about 4 4 oz. pieces)
2 large egg whites, lightly beaten
1/2 C. dry, seasoned breadcrumbs
2 T. Italian seasoning
1 t. olive oil
2 8 oz. cans tomato sauce (I use the garlic and basil flavored kind)
1/2 C. part-skim mozzarella, sliced into thin strips
2 T. freshly grated parmesan cheese

Combine the breadcrumbs and seasoning in a shallow dish. Also, heat a skillet over medium high heat and add your olive oil. Pour 1/2 a can of tomato sauce into the bottom of the bake pan.

Coat each chicken breast with egg whites and then thoroughly dredge through the breadcrumb mixture. Turn to get all sides of chicken coated. Add the chicken to your hot skillet, and cook until lightly browned, about 4 minutes on each side. When the chicken is no longer pink on the inside, remove to bake pan and cover with remaining tomato sauce -- it's sort of a matter of taste. (My husband likes lots of sauce, which he spoons over the whole wheat pasta.) Then top with cheeses. Bake until bubbly and cheese is browning, about 25 minutes. Serves 4.

I serve this over pasta with a nice big salad. It's 256 calories (5 WW points) and it is one of our favorites. It's also not particularly labor intensive. Once you've dredged the chicken in crumbs, the hard work is over. I usually buy more chicken breasts so that Stephen has leftovers for lunch. This is a super easy recipe to double -- you just use a 9 x 13" bake pan instead of the little one.

Chicken Cha Cha

"That's Amore" by Dean Martin (it certainly will be "amore" after you serve him breaded, lightly fried meat under gooey cheese and warm sauce)

"Time to Say Goodbye" by Andrea Bocelli (time to say goodbye to those extra pounds with style and satisfaction)

Mac n' Cheese, Daint-eased

Mac n' cheese actually saved my husband and I from complete starvation on several occasions. It used to be his big kitchen contribution -- he'd make mac n' cheese with frozen fish sticks. The effort struck me as sweet, even if it lacked finesse. And it was back when I was slothfully not cooking for my man.

Anyway. Here's a whole wheat version that's only 280 calories per serving and a lot better for you, what with all the whole grains and real cheese, compared to the powdered stuff that comes in a certain blue box.

Dainty Mac n' Cheese
Preheat oven to 350 and spray a large bake pan or casserole dish (at least 4 qts) with Pam or similar.

You'll need:
3 C. (uncooked) whole what macaroni (about 3 C.), cooked without oil, drained and still hot
8 oz. Reduced fat cheese (I use the 75% Reduced Fat Cabot White Cheddar, which is really good)
3/4 C. fat free evaporated milk
1 8 0z. carton fat free sour cream
1 T. Dijon mustard
splash of Worcestershire sauce
1/8 t. nutmeg or cinnamon
2 T. freshly grated parmesan cheese
2 T. crushed fat free croutons

While macaroni is still freshly hot from being drained, stir in the cheese until it melts. Then add milk, sour cream, mustard, Worcestershire and nutmeg, stirring to combine. In a small dish, combine Parmesan and crumbs for topping. Sprinkle on top and back until top is golden and the whole thing bubbles, about 30 or 35 minutes. Makes 6 servings (about 1 1/2 C. = 1 serving). This simple fare is simple easy to make and nigh on guiltless.

Easy Cheesy Singing:
"Mac the Knife" by Bobby Darin
"What do the Simple Folk Do?" from Camelot

Mama's Favorite Scallops

My husband called me like 8 times yesterday afternoon, unbeknownst to me, since I was in class until 5:30 (I am one of those thoughtful people who never has the cell phone turned on). His frantic messaging availed him not. He finally got a-hold of me, and I was curious as to what the fuss was all about.
"We're going to the movies tonight, right?" He asked, fairly keyed-up. I mean, it's just the movies, in Winston-Salem, for the love of monkeys.
"Um, yes...?"
"What time?" He presses aggressively. Sheesh. Maybe the boy needs a popcorn fix, I thought.
"I don't know. Whenever." I reply flippantly.
"It's playing at 6:45 at The Grand." He prompts. I'm still baffled as to his movies-are-crack attitude about this whole thing, but whatever.
"Ok, fine."
"You can do dinner by then?!" He asks, rather incredulously.
"Why yes. Yes I can." I reply, now rather amused.
"Why don't we eat leftovers?" He suggests anxiously. Like my father, Stephen does not like top miss previews. I have no idea why. If you ask me, previews were created for the sole purpose of allowing me the time to get extra butter onto my popcorn.
"Because I will have dinner ready when you get home. I already have chopped the vegetables." I say, starting to be exhausted with this whole tahoobahoo over the movies.
"Well, all right. If we miss the 6:45, we can always catch a later show." He concedes, unwittingly implying that dinner will NOT, in fact, be on time.
Hmph.
Gauntlet down, I harumph my way back to the kitchen to finish preparing one of the fastest, easiest meals you'll ever make -- forcing your significant other or family/guests/friends to rue the day they doubted your swiftness in the kitchen.

Mama's Favorite Scallops (because they are, in fact, one of her favorites)
Preheat your broiler and get out a 10 x 6 glass baking pan.

You'll need:
2 bell peppers (I like to get two different colors as a pretty contrast, red working nicely), sliced into strips
1 bunch scallions, cut into 2" pieces
1/2 C. fresh chopped Parsley
1 T. olive oil
4 minced garlic cloves
1 lb. sea scallops, patted dry
fresh ground pepper
1/4 c. dry white wine
2 oz. crumbled feta cheese
1 T. Ouzo (this is a freaky Greek liquor -- it's what they do so many shots of in My Big Fat Greek Wedding; if you don't have any on hand, use some anise extract, the licorice flavor brings out the taste of the seafood and cheese)

Once your veggies are chopped, you're pretty much done. Heat the oil in a skillet and add the garlic, just until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Then add in the wine and peppers, and bring to a boil. Then let them saute together, letting the flavors blend, for about 10 minutes. Add in the fresh ground pepper and scallops and cook, turning only once, until opaque in the center, about 5 minutes. Stir in the scallions and parsley and cook all together for maybe 2 more minutes. Then pour the whole skillet into your bake pan and sprinkle on the ouzo followed by the feta cheese. Pop it uncovered under the broiler for two minutes, just letting the cheese get browned and bubbly.

Makes four servings, at all of 200 calories per serving, and goes great with brown rice or rolls. Between the cooking and the quick devouring of such a delicious meal, you'll be out the door and on your way to the movies in no time!!