After almost one year of Wicked Domestic, we’ve finally upgraded to a wonderful new look! You like? Elizabeth and I have been working with Krystyn from Krizzy Designs for a couple of months to perfect our new look. I hope you all like it! And a special thanks again to Krystyn for all of her hard work!
- Jackie
Oh-em-gee. I have a serious love affair with fish. If you told me that I could never have red meat or chicken ever again, but I could have fish, I’d shake your hand and say okay. Maybe it’s because I live on the coast where seafood is a-plenty, or maybe it’s because my Mum always served fish for dinner when we were kids. But, who cares? It’s delish and uber healthy, so bring-it-on.
I’ve been eating a wicked lot of salmon lately, so I thought I’d throw some lovely, briney scallops back into the ring. I saw a recipe recently for sweet potato rosti at one of my fav blogs, Healthy Food for Living, and have been drooling over the thought of crisp, shredded pieces of sweet potato goodness. I didn’t happen to have the patience to make the “rosti” part so instead I made hash.
I threw some nice wilted spinach on top of the hash, a few pan-seared scallops and a generous drizzle of chipotle lime yogurt drizzle. I’m totally loving the idea of using plain, non-fat greek yogurt as a base for creamy sauces instead of sour cream or mayo. Toodle-loo fat, what up creamy deliciousness? Here’s what I did (serves 4):
1 HUGE sweet potato (probably about 3 regular sized)
2 shallots, diced
2 jalapenos, diced
3 eggs, beaten (I didn’t have any eggs, so I used 3/4 cup of liquid egg whites)
1 small frozen package of frozen spinach, defrosted
1 lb. sea scallops
2 cups non-fat plain Greek yogurt
1 T. chipotle powder
1/2 lime
I told you the sweet potato was huge, right? It totally Beetlejuiced Jameson’s head in comparrison.
First off, I made the chipotle drizzle first, so that the flavors could marry a bit. Take 2 cups of the greek yogurt, add in the chipotle and a nice squeeze of lime. Mix and set aside.
Meanwhile, either sautee or micro the spinach until nice and warm. Keep it warm until you’re ready to serve.
Then you want to dice up the shallots and jalapeno (I left the seeds in) and sautee in a little olive oil on medium heat for about 3 minutes.
While that’s working away, shred the sweet potato on a box grater (until you have a mini Mt. Everest), put it in a kitchen towel or cheese cloth and squeeze the living hell out of it to express all of the water. Once that’s done, add the potato to the shallots and jalapeno.
To get a nice crisp char on the potato, make sure it’s getting as much contact with the hot pan as possible. Sautee and flip the potatoes for about 10 minutes or so.
While the hash is cooking, grab your scallops and pat then dry with a paper towel (the dryness attributes to the crispness when you pan fry). Sprinkle on some salt and pepper then add to a medium hot saute pan with a little olive oil. Cook for about 3-4 minutes a side.
Now onto assembling! Take the hash and make a little bed of it on your plate. Then top that with a hefty helping of the wilted spinach, top with scallops and drizzle the chipotle/lime mixture.
Queue the instant hunger pains. The crispy sweet potato hash and the creamy chiptotle cream make this dish feel decadent, but it’s totally healthy and filling. Scrumptuous!
- Jackie
I’ve always steered away from stir fry dishes because I’m not a big fan of soy sauce. But when I discovered that Trader Joe’s makes a sweet chili sauce, I thought that would be the perfect compliment to a wok full of chicken and vegetables. (Okay, I don’t actually have a wok, on account of the not really making stir fry very often. A sautee pan works just fine.) I do looooove chili sauce – such a delicious combination of heat and sweet. In order to balance out a couple of recent junk food junkie weekends, I’ve been trying to eat extra healthy midweek. This meal was loaded with veggies, lean protein, and brown rice, and as per usual, I made enough to last me several lunches. There is nothing better than having a good lunch to look forward to at work! Added bonus: it was really really easy.
Ingredients
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
about 1/2 cup (maybe less – I’m totally guessing…) sweet chili sauce
vegetables
rice
Sorry – I know that that is an extremely lame and vague ingredient list. But this is such an “open” recipe – do what works for you in whatever amounts fit your needs.
First, I baked the chicken with a little of the sweet chili sauce to bake in the flavor – about 25 min at 350.
Next, I shredded the chicken into bite size chunks.
For vegetables I bought a pre-mixed bag of stir fry vegetables and two fresh peppers. I was a bit wary of the mix, but it was really convenient and really fresh and worked out great. I sauteed all the veggies in olive oil, then added a couple tablespoons or so of the sweet chili sauce. I didn’t want to coat everything, just spread the chili sauce throughout.
Once the veggies were almost done, I added the shredded chicken and let all the flavors meld for a few minutes.
I had cooked up some brown rice, which rounded out this super healthy meal.
This dinner was so easy and really good. I highly recommend the sweet chili sauce! A little goes a long way and it’s packed with flavor. No need for soy sauce – I’ve found my stir fry staple!
- Elizabeth
For a moment, please consider the lentil. The protein packed legume is used heavily throughout the vegetarian world for its hardy flavor and beefy consistency. As my wedding date slowly creeps up, I’m trying to eat super healthy by excluding a lot of animal fats and proteins, so vegetarian and vegan meals right now are totally up my alley. I’m even considering the idea of the “vegan until dinnertime” diet by Mark Bittman of the New York Times. It’s exactly how it sounds: you eat a vegan diet until suppertime rolls around and then anything goes! I don’t know if I can ditch my Chobani yogurts as my mid-morning snack, but we’ll see what happens. Anyways, back to the lentils.
Of course, my bff Martha Stewart had an ab fab recipe for mediterranean veggie burgers with mint yogurt sauce and a carrot salad that I thought sounded awesome. Particularly because they feature my other new bff, lentils! This burger was super satisfying and truly delicious. Here’s what I did:
4 medium carrots, grated
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
3 tablespoons olive oil
4 scallions, thinly sliced
Coarse salt and ground pepper
5 whole-wheat hamburger buns I used 100% whole wheat sandwich thins)
2 cups lentils, cooked and cooled
1 large egg
1/4 cup thinly sliced fresh mint leaves
1/2 cup plain low-fat greek yogurt
1 head Bibb lettuce (I used baby spinach leaves instead)
First off, I made the mint yogurt sauce so the ingredients had time to marry. In a bowl, combine yogurt, half of the mint, and one tablespoon of the lemon juice; season with salt and pepper. I also threw in a few chopped scallions too. Set the sauce in the fridge until you’re ready to serve.
To make the carrot salad, grate the carrots (either by hand or if you’re blessed enough to have a large food processor with a grater attachment) and put in a large bowl. Toss with two tablespoon of lemon juice, one tablespoon olive oil, s&p and half of the scallion. Set that aside.
Now onto the burgers! Take one of the hamburger buns (unless you are also using the sandwich thins, then I would use two buns since they are less dense) and pulse it in the food processor. To the bread crumbs, add half of the lentils, remaining mint, remaining scallions, egg and s&p and combine. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and add remaining lentils. By processing only half of the lentils, it gives the burgers some nice texture since half of the lentil are still whole.
Divide the mixture into fourths, form into patties and grill for about 4 minutes on each side. Toast the buns and top with the spinach or lettuce and the mint sauce. Don’t forget the carrot salad on the side!
These burgers are wicked tasty and seriously healthy. If you wanted to omit the bun and just serve on a bed of baby spinach, that would be great too! This meal may not be vegan, but it’s probably one of the tastiest vegetarian meals I’ve had in a while.
- Jackie
Cheesecake happens to be one of those desserts that I zero interest in making myself. My fiance dreams about the stuff nightly, yet there’s no way I would put the time and energy into the tasty treat. And it doesn’t hurt that there’s easily 300 plus calories and countless grams of sugar, it’s not exactly on the menu of my wedding diet.
While flipping through Bethenny Frankel’s book, “Naturally Thin“, she has a recipe for faux cheesecake including whipped cottage cheese and dark chocolate chips. It’s sweetened with vanilla extract and honey. BINGO! Game, set, match. This is my kind of cheesecake. Here’s what I did:
1/2 cup whipped cottage cheese or low-fat ricotta cheese (I accidentally got regular low-fat cottage cheese and it was still really good. I think the texture was a little off, but it did the trick)
1/2 t. vanilla extract
1 t. honey
1 T. dark chocolate chips
Mix it all together and serve chilled in a ramekin. This serves one, but it’s easily doubled.
You couldn’t find an easier dessert recipe…well maybe other than “take fudgicle out of freezer and eat”. Which sounds pretty delicious.
You can swap out a few different ingredients with this recipe too. Instead of vanilla extract, try almond extract. And instead of chocolate chips, try slivered almonds. Don’t have honey? Use Maple syrup.
I love all of Bethenny’s super healthy recipes that are basically lower fat versions of our favorite foods. Next recipe on my list? Low-fat mock-a-mole (made with mashed peas in place of a lot of the avocado). Check out some of her recipes here.
This healthy faux cheesecake is definitely going to be a repeat!
- Jackie
I do love me a good reuben sandwich, but I can never figure out which is my favorite ingredient. Is it the salty corned beef? The tangy sauerkraut? The rich Russian dressing? Does it matter? No. They’re just delicious. So when I found a slow cooker recipe for a “chicken deli casserole” that seemed to mimic a reuben, I was sold. I made some changes to the original recipe, and recommend a few more.
Ingredients
31 oz jar/can of sauerkraut (approx. – see warnings)
1 cup Russian dressing
6 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1 tbsp yellow mustard
Swiss cheese slices
dark rye bread
A word on sauerkraut. I had never bought it before, so didn’t really know where in the store to look. (And I still don’t know exactly what it is – pickled cabbage, maybe?) I ended up finding it in the aisle with jarred tomato sauce, much to my surprise. I couldn’t find any fresh or jarred, so I reluctantly (and only after debating ditching the entire recipe) ended up with this can of “Silver Floss” sauerkraut. Since I don’t eat much sauerkraut outside of reuben sandwiches, I’m not a good judge of quality and I think that in the end, the Silver Floss sufficed. Either that, or it’s slowly eating away at my stomach lining and I’m about to buy the farm. If so, thanks for reading.
ANYWAY. Once you get past the Silver Floss situation, the recipe is a breeze. First, dump (there is no word more apt) about half of the sauerkraut on the bottom of the crockpot. I didn’t use the entire jar – probably only 3/4 of it (for the entire recipe, not just at this point), and it was still more than enough sauerkraut. Drizzle about 1/3 cup dressing on top. I really didn’t measure too carefully – just eyeballed it.
Place the chicken breast halves on top, spread the mustard over the chicken, and top with remaining sauerkraut (or however much you’re brave enough to eat). Drizzle the rest of the dressing over the top.
Cook on low for about 4 hours. The original recipe served this as a casserole with rye bread on the side, but I shredded the chicken inside the crockpot and mixed it all together to make the filling for a sandwhich.
The mixture was definitely heavy on the Silver Floss, so you may want to cut it down a bit. As I heated up the panini press I baked some sweet potato fries. At Trader Joe’s I found a perfect mini-loaf of rye bread, and though I was wary of the seemingly too-thin slices, they were dense enough to stand up to the sandwich filling. I loaded up the rye with Swiss cheese and the delicious mixture, and panini-pressed until they were crispy and melty. Mmmmm…
Even though it’s early morning as I blog, I totally want a chicken reuben sandwich right now. Yowzah, were they good!. We made two good sized sandwiches with plenty of filling left over for the freezer. Next time I’d use less sauerkraut, but this recipe is mos def a keeper!
- Elizabeth
You know those recipes that you have sitting in the back of your mind for months (or years) and never get around to trying them? These egg white mini muffins is one of those for me. Since I’m a self-proclaimed constant snacker, I needed to switch up my snacks and try something new and thought I’d give these a whirl. I basically love anything you can make in a mini muffin tin and these fit the bill. They’re cute, they’re healthy and they’ll be your new favorite mid morning snack! Feel free to add in crumbled bacon or sausage or any kind of veggie. Here’s what I did:
1 16 oz. container of egg whites
1 cup wilted spinach
1/2 cup shredded cheese (I used this great smoked cheese blend from Trader J’s and it was really good)
Grease a mini muffin tin and place about a tablespoon or so of wilted spinach in each muffin slot.
Pour the egg whites over the spinach then top with a sprinkling of cheese.
Bake in a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes or until the egg is set. Makes 24 mini muffin or 12 regular sized muffins.
These are going to be an awesome snack to bring to work during the week. Just pop in the microwave for 20 seconds and you have a mini omlet of sorts. Easy peasy and wicked healthy!
- Jackie
Throwing a dinner party makes you feel so adult. I mean, there are other things that make you feel grown up like doing your taxes, working a full-time job, not eating ramen noodles everyday. You get the point. But throwing a dinner party, to me, is one of the most fun things about being an adult.
Last week I had the sudden urge to scour my cookbooks and put together a french inspired meal for all my pals. I planned out my menu, did the shopping, set my table and was ready for a fabulous dinner party-au francais! I requested all my guest grow teeny mustaches and were bereits, but no such luck. We had fun anyway. Here’s how it all played out:
A few shots before I started cooking:
Baked brie with dijon and brown sugar
Brie with fig preserves
Parmesan and thyme cheese straws
Sole meuniere, Cauliflower gratin
Endive, pear and roquefort salad
and for dessert: croissant bread pudding
Can you tell that I’m pretty obsessed with Ina Garten? Her recipes are simple yet elegant. I don’t think you can go wrong with her. Anyways, the dinner was absolutely delicious, but the company was even better. You can’t have a good dinner party without fabulous guests!
To say this was a healthy meal would be a big fat lie. This menu was unbelievably butter and bechamel sauce heavy…but hello?! It’s French food, people. It’s quite possibly the best food on earth…throw out your diet for one night and savor the delectable offerings of France. You’ll be glad you did!
- Jackie
Last summer Jackie and I took a spin through the Greenfest in Government Center. While there, I picked up a “beginner’s guide to eating vegan” (or something like that). I’m definitely NOT vegan, but since I don’t really eat dairy and I like to sporadically cut down on the amount of meat I’m eating, I thought maybe the booklet could be interesting. After flipping through the first few pages showing how animals (even fish!) are slaughtered, I got to the good part – vegan recipes. Honestly, the only one that looked remotely good to me was this one for pancakes. The guidebook calls them “Wonderful Waffles”, but as I am sans waffle maker, I figured they’d adapt just fine into pancakes. I also happened to have all the ingredients on hand, which makes a recipe much more appealing.
Ingredients
1 ripe banana, mashed
2 cups water
1/2 cup uncooked oatmeal
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
vanilla extract to taste (optional)
Mix together the mashed banana and water, then add the dry ingredients and mix, leaving lumps in the batter. Add the vanilla, if using. At this point, I realized that my batter was too thick and dry to make a good pancake so I added in some thawed frozen blueberries with a little bit of the juice.
I was excited to finally use the griddle insert on my stovetop, but it was not a very good idea. It didn’t oil up well enough and pancake making turned ugly.
The next time I made these pancakes (well, after I thawed the leftover frozen batter), I used a regular skillet and it was much easier. Except for that minor flipping incident on the side of the pan.
The pancakes were actually really good! A little heavy on the spices, though – next time I’d cut down on the amount of cinnamon and nutmeg. But they were flavorful and didn’t taste like fake pancakes (which they weren’t – just whole wheat with no milk). Definitely a twist on a regular pancake!
- Elizabeth
To cut to the chase, there’s nothing more delicious than homemade pasta. It’s light and fluffy compared to the dried, boxed stuff that most people eat day in and day out. It’s not a simple task to make your own pasta at home, but it’s absolutely worth the hard work. My cousin Katherine has a pasta making machine and we love to get together and make up big batches and feast until we can feast no more. It takes four of us girls to pull off the cutting of the fettucine and we were wondering how little old Italian ladies can pull it off on their own! For a basic pasta dough recipe, click here. And for a tutorial for making the fettucine using a pasta making machine, click here. The following pictures are our adventures in pasta making…can you smell the marinara sauce in the air?
The pasta was so amazing! Katherine also made an amazing homemade tomato sauce that made the dish that much better. Throw on some fabulous parmesan cheese and manga! If you have the time and the desire, homemade pasta making it absolutely worth the effort. It’s a great entertaining centerpiece for an interactive dinner party as well. Pasta+wine+good pals=best dinner!
- Jackie
Wicked Domestic
