Light Stuffed Taters - Recipe Challenge Week 2

Another week down!  We have successfully completed two weeks of the month-long recipe challenge.  After today, I will bid farewell to Rachel Ray and move on to the next mag, Bon Appetit.  I will admit, I'm nervous about that one.  It's fancy (pronounced fun-sea, of course).  :)

Ok, back to this week.  After a week of cheesy, fattening goodness, I chose one of the "light" recipes in the magazine.  There were only two so it was an easy choice.  Rachel doesn't do too many diet-friendly dishes.  And, I had some broccoli that needed to be used up anyway.

Here's an easy peasy recipe for cute little stuffed potatoes.  These were yummy!

7 small yellow-fleshed potatoes, such as yukon gold
1 cup broccoli florets
2 ounces monterey jack cheese, shredded
3 tablespoons reduced-fat plain yogurt
2 tablespoons finely chopped pickled jalapeño chile
Salt and pepper
Olive oil cooking spray
Chili powder, for sprinkling

Place the potatoes in a large saucepan with enough water to cover. Bring to a boil, lower the heat and simmer until fork-tender, about 25 minutes. Drain and let cool slightly.

Meanwhile, in a small saucepan of boiling water, cook the broccoli until crisp-tender, about 5 minutes; drain. Finely chop the broccoli and place in a medium bowl.

Slice 6 potatoes in half. Scoop out half of the flesh from each piece and add to the broccoli. Peel and finely chop the remaining potato and add to the mixture. Add the cheese, yogurt and the jalapeño; mash coarsely and season with salt and pepper.

Preheat the oven to 425. Arrange the potato halves cut side down on a baking sheet and lightly coat them with cooking spray; invert and season with salt and pepper. Divide the stuffing among the potato halves. Lightly coat with cooking spray and sprinkle with chili powder. Bake until golden, about 20 minutes. Garnish chili powder.

Trying to scoop out the middle of these teeny guys was no picnic, but the end result was a fun little appetizer popper. The tangy bite from the yogurt paired well with the broccoli and chili powder.  I would make these again.

NYE Snackies - Love to Trader Joes

Happy 2011 Everybody!

Just sharing my kids' favorite thing about the Eve - snackie dinner!  This year we ran to Trader Joes and picked up all the frozen appys and goodies we could find - trying to be somewhat mindful of ingredients and such.

We had:

Fresh tri-color tomatoes oven burst and spread on toasted french bread.  Cilantro chicken dumplings.  Large head of garlic to for roasting and spreading.  Seasoned salmon fillets.  Tri-color hummus and garlic cheese with chips and pretzels.  Parmesan pigs in a blanket.  Mini pizza bagels.  And of course, Swedish donuts with caramel dipping sauce.  Yup, we made pigs of ourselves and enjoyed every minute of it!  Then I went to bed at 10.  :)

Anyone else have any NYE traditions?  Have you ever been to and do you like Trader Joes?

Walnut Pepper Spread on Grainy Bread

Another dish from our appy dinner night.  This one was also found in Rachel Ray magazine and modified only slightly.

2 cups walnuts, toasted
1/2 cup olive oil, divided
1/4 cup walnut oil
juice of 1/2 a lemon
2 tsp raw honey
3/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1 roasted red pepper, chopped
1/4 cup parsley, finely chopped
Whole grain baguette


In a food processor, pulse walnuts, 1/4 cup of the olive oil, walnut oil, lemon juice, honey and red pepper flakes until combined and resembling a thick spread.

Add roasted red pepper and pulse to combine.  Transfer to a bowl and stir in parsley.

Meanwhile, slice baguette on the diagonal and drizzle with the remaining 1/4 cup of olive oil.  Heat in a 350 oven until edges are browned.

Serve as a spread for the toasted bread.  Delicious!!

This and the preceding recipe (Polenta Tomato Sliders) were a great pair of appetizers (and the only dishes I had to wash were the serving bowls and wine glasses - yay).

Cute Little Appy - with Bacon!!

Who doesn't love bacon!  It's one of the things I've really been missing these days.  Bacon used to make an appearance at least every Sunday if not more often.  We've since switched to turkey bacon, but it doesn't get that greasy crispy goodness that makes bacon, well, bacon!  So here pair the artery clogging goodness with some healthier ingredients.  Because, of course, if you eat two healthy things with one unhealthy thing, the unhealthy gets cancelled out.  ;-)

I found this in a Rachel Ray magazine and modified it slightly.  This recipe is more appealing to the eye when done on the grill, but I chose to do this one on a very rainy day and used my grill pan.

Polenta Tomato Sliders

1 package ready-to-eat polenta, sliced
1 ripe tomato, sliced
6 strips low sodium bacon, cooked to crispy (as if there was any other way)
2 tbsp good dijon mustard
1/4 lb. low fat cheddar, shredded
olive oil cooking spray

Lightly spray your grill pan and warm to medium.  Grill polenta slices until firm (or until they have grill marks which unfortunately mine never got).  Spray with cooking spray and flip.  Cook other side to desired doneness.

To assemble your sliders just top one slice of polenta with a smear of mustard, a slice of tomato, bacon strip (or 2) and cheddar cheese.  Top with another polenta slice.

That's it.  I thought they were very cute and pretty tasty.  Can't beat the ease of preparation either.  And boy, when you don't have bacon for a while, it tastes DARN good when you indulge!!

My husband and I enjoyed these for dinner one night with a little whole grain bread and a walnut pepper spread (recipe for that will be along shortly).  A glass of white wine and we were satisfied.

Anybody else do an all appy meal once in a while?  I find it right up there with the breakfast for dinner scenario.  Fun and yummy!