Linguine with Garlicky Clams & Peas

Why do I always forget that eating healthier isn't all rabbit food...

...it doesn't have to be boring...

and... in fact...

It can be totally delicious!!

I don't know!!



This is another Cooking Light recipe.

I just changed the basil to flat leaf parsley. You can use whatever herbs you like.

Linguine with Garlicky Clams & Peas
1 9oz package fresh linguine
2 TBLS olive oil
4 large garlic cloves, minced
3 61/2oz cans of chopped clams, undrained
1 C vegetable stock
1/4 C dry white wine
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
1 C frozen peas
1/2 C Parmesan, shredded
2 TBLS fresh parsley, chopped

Cook pasta according to direction on package.
Drain and keep warm.
Drain clams, reserve clams and 1/2 C clam juice; discard remaining juice.
Saute garlic in olive oil in a large skillet. Add 1/2 C clam juice, stock, wine and crushed red pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Add clams and peas and cook until heated through. Add cooked linguine to pan and toss well. Sprinkle with shredded Parmesan and chopped parsley.
Makes 4 hearty servings.

Per serving:
Calories: 403.8
Fat: 11.5
Carbs: 46.4
Protein: 24

This is all you need.


Cook pasta according to direction on package.
Drain and keep warm.


Saute garlic in olive oil in a large skillet.

Add 1/2 C clam juice, stock, wine and crushed red pepper.

Bring to a boil.

Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.

Add clams and peas and cook until heated through.




Add cooked linguine to pan and toss well.

Sprinkle with shredded Parmesan and chopped parsley.


This was so tasty and delicious!!

Add a nice green salad and you're all set!

Spicy Fish Cakes = FAIL ~ but new KA Food Processor = YAY!!

My KitchenAid 12 Cup Food Processor arrived a couple days ago. YAY!!!

I won it from BakeSpace back in February.

I knew it had been shipped and found the perfect recipe to break it in!

... or so I thought...

In my quest for lighter recipes, I stumbled across this Cooking Light recipe for Spicy Fish Cakes.

Now, Jon and Tawny really like fish and request it often.

I try really hard to like fish, but just can't really work up that much enthusiasm for it. I LOVE shellfish... but fish fish mostly = yuck for me.

When I found this recipe, I was really excited about it.

It had scallops in it... YUM

Ginger... YUM

Garlic... YUM

Green onions... YUM

Chili paste... YUM

It also had haddock... my sister Jeannie really likes haddock... so I figured this would probably be ok.

Anyway... I made it...

And it smelled really good...



Beautiful isn't it?

OMG!! It was so gross!!!

Jon said the flavor was pretty good (although Tawny and I didn't like it)

But the scallops were gritty... YUCK

The texture was disgusting. It was very squishy.

It was supposed to be flaky... but really never got there and I cooked them twice as long as the recipe said.

I'm not posting the recipe, because even if you can offer insight as to where I may have gone wrong, it's extremely unlikely I'll attempt to make these again.

One thing I did learn... how to skin a fish fillet.

Jeannie said I should have asked the fish guy to skin them for me. But since I buy very little fish, I had no idea to do that. I did ask him if it was easy to skin and he didn't seem too sure... he also didn't offer to do it, so I just took them as they were.

I don't think I ever really got the hang of it. I ended up having to kinda man-handle some of it off of the skin... but manhandle it with crushing it... no easy task.

I was getting pretty frustrated.

So these are my fillets.

They leave the skin on, so it can be identified as haddock.


You're supposed to be able to slide the knife between the skin and the flesh... angling the blade toward the skin. The skin is very tough and won't rip. This is not as easy as it sounds.






It got harder to angle the blade at all.


Then Fig got interested in what I was doing






That's fish skin.


It's creepy & gross.


Trying not to man-handle the fish.


Let's just look at Fig again.


She's super cute and super soft... but she's actually the mean kitty.

So anyway... it LOOKED beautiful.


But it was extremely distasteful.

It's SO disappointing to have a recipe you're so excited about fail so miserably!

Especially when it contains $16 worth of fresh seafood!

Anyway... At least it was pretty... I guess....

So here's some pictures of my gorgeous new Kitchenaid Food Processor!

It's huge!


Not so big you say??

How about with a little perspective?


Pretty big, huh?

Cool box to hold accessories.


Filled with Spicy Fish Cake fixin's.


Live action footage from my kitchen! (I'm easily entertained)


Anyway... dinner was gross... so I had Dilled Chicken Salad on a Bagel instead!


Thanks for tolerating my foolishness!

Have a great weekend!

Baked Rice with Chicken and Kielbasa

A lighter, more family friendly meal. Bobby is my pickiest eater. But this only has stuff he likes in it. He couldn't really identify the leeks and didn't find them offensive!

This was cool because in addition to eating better, I'm also trying to exercise regularly.

Prep time on this might be 15 - 20 minutes at most. Then it's into the oven for 45 minutes. Enough time to go downstairs and workout while it's baking.



Baked Rice with Chicken and Kielbasa
1 1/2 C jasmine rice, uncooked
3 1/4 C chicken broth, fat free
1 tsp thyme
pinch of saffron, crushed
1 pound chicken breast, skinless
14 oz turkey kielbasa, extra lean
1 leek, sliced thin
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 C frozen peas
salt & pepper

Preheat oven to 400F.
Heat chicken broth, thyme and saffron until very hot.
Cut chicken and kielbasa into bite-sized pieces and put in large casserole dish. Add sliced leeks, minced garlic, peas and uncooked rice. Toss until well mixed.
Pour hot broth over mixture.
Bake uncovered, 45 minutes, or until rice is tender and broth is absorbed.
This makes 8 hearty one cup servings.

Nutritional Info per Serving
Calories: 276.6
Fat: 3.1g
Carbohydrates: 37.5g
Protein: 22.1g

Heat chicken broth, thyme and saffron until very hot.


Cut chicken and kielbasa into bite-sized pieces and put in large casserole dish.


Add sliced leeks, minced garlic, peas and uncooked rice.




Pour hot broth over mixture.


Bake uncovered, 45 minutes, or until rice is tender and broth is absorbed.


Now you have 45 minutes... you can workout if you want... paint your nails... or maybe take your queue from Donna over at My Tasty Treasures and work up more of an appetite!

.... 45 minutes later...

It's dinner time!

Chicken Souvlaki

I mentioned before that we're trying to lighten up at my house.

We've been grilling a lot of chicken.

This looked like a tasty recipe from Cooking Light, so I tried it out a week or so ago. I tweaked most of the quantities, but the ingredients are mostly the same.



Chicken Souvlaki
2 - 3 lbs skinless chicken breast, cut into 1 inch pieces
6 TBLS lemon juice
1 TBLS fresh oregano, chopped
1 TBLS olive oil
6 cloves garlic, minced

Combine lemon juice, oregano, olive oil and garlic in a large plastic ziplock bag.
Add chicken pieces.
Squish it around so the marinade really gets to all of the pieces of chicken.
Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
If you're using wooden skewers, they need to soak for 30 minutes in water.
Thread the chicken onto the skewers and grill about 8 minutes, turning the skewers as they cook.

You can find my Tzatziki Recipe HERE.

Fresh lemon juice makes such a difference.


But bottled is fine, if that's all you have.
(it's often all I have!)

And again... I can't help but smile when I go to my herb garden to fetch herbs for whatever I happen to be putting together.




Mix the lemon juice, oregano, olive oil, and garlic in a plastic bag.

As you can see... I dirtied a bowl by mistake!




Now add the chicken to the bag and squish it around so it's all mixed up really well.


Pop that into the fridge for 30 minutes.

Then thread them onto skewers.


Obviously, feel free to add veggies between the chickens if you like.

If I was just serving the shish kabobs, I would have added veggies. But I was serving them in flat bread... and I always stuff them too full!

Now it's grillin' time!

Only charcoal at my house!

I AM the grill master! Ok... just the grill master at my house.

But for YEARS the grill was very intimidating to me. Then we went to a Cinco de Mayo party a few years ago, at the house of one of Jon's former band mates and I watched Steve grill all day. He truly IS a grill master! Something clicked that day. Suddenly it wasn't intimidating anymore. And I do pretty well!

Anywayyyy.....

Throw those shish kabobs on the grill.




Oh yeah!


Slather your favorite flat bread with Tzatziki Sauce and some lettuce, tomatoes and onions. (or whatever you like on a sammie)


Add some of that gorgeous grilled chicken.


Fold it up and it's time to eat!!!


The chicken tastes so fresh marinated in the lemon juice with oregano and garlic.


So delicious with the tangy, creamy (and entirely fat free) Tzatziki Sauce you forget it's totally figure friendly!