I recently discovered an awesome cookbook author, Lisa Lillian aka Hungry Girl. The concept of her cooking method is taking every day food that everyone loves, and transforming it from calorie-laden messes into healthy, delicious dishes!
Here's a little bit about Lisa:
Hungry Girl is not a nutritionist. She's just hungry.
Lisa Lillien (aka Hungry Girl) is a New York Times bestselling author and the creator of the Hungry Girl brand. She is the founder of www.hungry-girl.com, the free daily email service that entertains and informs hungry people everywhere. Lisa is a typical woman battling the same food issues most females struggle with every day. Lisa considers herself a foodologist, not because she has some kind of fancy degree, but because she is obsessed with food how wonderful it is, and how much of it she can eat and still fit into her pants.
After some shopping around I found the Hungry girl books were the cheapest on Amazon. I ordered two- 200 recipes under 200 calories and recipes and survival strategies for guilt-free eating the real world, in addition to a set of handy recipe cards.
The books are amazing- filled with tons of great recipes, tips, and entertaining food facts. All of the recipes have nutritional information as well, which is great! I hit the grocery store today armed with a list of ingredients I needed to start making these recipes, and a fistful of coupons.
Tonight for dinner, I made:
Spicy Crispy Chicken Sandwich:
Ingredients
* 1/3 cup Fiber One bran cereal (original)
* Dash each salt, black pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder, or more to taste
* 1/4 cup fat-free liquid egg substitute (like Egg Beaters Original)
* 3 oz. raw boneless skinless lean chicken breast
* 1 tbsp. fat-free mayonnaise
* 1 small hamburger bun (light, if available)
* 2 slices tomato
* 2 hamburger dill pickle chips
* 1 leaf romaine lettuce
Preparation
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Using a blender or food processor, grind Fiber One to a breadcrumb-like consistency. Season the crumbs with as much salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder as you like, and mix well. Place crumbs in one small dish and egg substitute in another.
Sprinkle both sides of the chicken with a dash each of salt and pepper. Then, coat chicken on both sides—first with egg substitute, and then with seasoned crumbs.
Place chicken on a baking sheet sprayed with nonstick spray. Top chicken with a light mist of nonstick spray.
Bake in the oven for 10 minutes.
Flip the chicken over, and add another light mist of nonstick spray. Cook for an additional 10–12 minutes, until chicken is fully cooked and coating looks crispy.
Spread half of the mayo on each half of the bun. On the bun bottom, place chicken, tomato, pickles, and lettuce, and then top with the other half of the bun. Enjoy!
PER SERVING (1 sandwich): 283 calories, 3.75g fat, 940mg sodium, 45g carbs, 11.5g fiber, 5.5g sugars, 28g protein
(KFC's original chicken sandwich has 450 calories and 22 grams of fat).
And...
OOEY-GOOEY CHILI CHEESE NACHOS
- 3 ounces fat-free block cheddar cheese
- 1 wedge The Laughing Cow Light Original Swiss Cheese
- 2 tablespoons fat-free cream cheese
- 1/2 cup light soy milk
- 1 cup low-fat turkey or vegetable chili (I didn't use the chili)
- 1 (7-ounce) bag baked tortilla chips
- 3/4 cup salsa
- 2 tablespoons fat-free sour cream
Yields 6 servings.
Place all 3 cheeses in saucepan with soy milk. Heat over low heat, stirring occasionally. Continue until all cheeses have melted and your cheese sauce is thoroughly mixed and hot.
Prepare chili according to package directions.
Microwave chips in bowl until warm and then spread them out on large platter.
Pour cheese sauce over chips. Top with chili. Spoon salsa and sour cream on top.
Nutritional analysis per serving: 216 calories, 3.5 grams fat, 671 milligrams sodium, 36 grams carbohydrates, 4 grams fiber, 3 grams sugars, 13 grams protein.(Taco Bell's Nacho Supreme has 440 calories and 24 grams of fat! Yikes!!!)
I have to say- I am SO impressed! Both of these recipes are insanely good! The Fiber One used as breading sounds strange, but OMG it was awesome! The queso sauce for the nachos was so good you would never know it was low fat at all!
I can't wait until tomorrow so I can try more HG recipes. :)
