Orange Chicken & Roasted Vidalia Onions

Life is getting back to normal which, for me, means: "Stop eating comfort foods and go back to your diet!!!" These two recipes are very light and packed with savory flavors.

Roasted Smokey Orange Chicken
Serves 4
Preheat oven to 350 degrees

4 (5 oz) skinless chicken breast halves
salt and ground black pepper
1/2 C orange marmalade (of the "all fruit" variety)
1-1/2 tsp reduced sodium soy sauce
1/2 tsp liquid smoke

Line a shallow baking pan with tin foil. arrange chicken in pan and lightly season all over with salt and pepper. Set aside.

In small bowl, combine marmalade, soy sauce, and liquid smoke. Mix well and pour over chicken.

Roast for 30 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through.

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Roasted Vidalia Onions
Serves 4
Preheat oven to 350 degrees

4 medium vidalias (2 lbs) peeled and cut into 8 wedges
Olive oil-flavored cooking spray
1 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1 T balsamic vinegar

Arrange onions, flat side down, on jellyroll pan coated with cooking spray. Lightly coat onions with spray. Sprinkle seasonings over onions. Bake 30 minutes. Turn onions over and bake an additional 25 minutes. Spoon into serving dish and drizzle with balsamic vinegar.

copyright 2009 What's Cooking?

Baked Oatmeal

Who doesn't love breakfast? And who wouldn't want it made ahead, freezable, and reheatable, too? That's what you'll get with this delicious and easy oatmeal recipe.

Baked Oatmeal
Serves 10
Preheat oven to 350 degrees

5 C rolled oats
4 eggs (or 1 C egg substitute to reduce calories)
1/2 C canola oil
1/2 C unsweetened applesauce
3/4 C sugar (or Splenda)
2 C skim milk
1 T baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salk
1 large apple, chopped with skins left on
1 C raisins

Put ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix well. Pour into sprayed 9 x 13 inch baking dish and bake for 40 minutes.

Great warm or cold, drizzled with milk (fat free half and half is even better!)


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Stuffed Portabello Mushrooms

So far so good on the diet front... In keeping with my newly-found resolve, today's recipe is a vegetable - one so filling it can be considered a light meal.

Stuffed Portabello Mushrooms
Serves 4

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

4 large portabello mushrooms, stems and gills removed
1 pkg frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well-drained
2-3 large garlic gloves, minced
1 C chopped onion
1 C artichoke hearts, chopped
1 T olive oil
1/4 C Parmesan cheese
1/4 C pine nuts

Saute the onion and garlic in olive oil until softened. Add the mushroom caps, flat side own, and saute for a minute or two. Remove the mushrooms to a foil-lined baking pan, leaving onion and garlic in the pan. Add the spinach and artichokes to the pan and saute just to combine flavors. Add the pine nuts and Parmesan and stir to combine.

Spray the unfilled mushrooms with non-stick cooking spray to keep the rims from drying out. Evenly distribute the filling among the four mushrooms and bake 15 minutes.

Have fun playing with the filling ingredients. This week I added 1/2 Cup of Morningstar Farms sausage crumbles (awesome!), and I think some blue cheese or feta would be good too. Let me know what you do with it so I can try it too.

copyright 2009 What's Cooking?

Blue Cheese Coleslaw

Summer’s nearly here, and one of my favorite side dishes is coleslaw – it’s all about the coleslaw. I love it – so creamy, salty, and crunchy. But, I might as well just slather it all over my hips, ‘cuz that’s where it’s heading after I eat it! But, then I was watching Robin Miller’s cooking show on the Food Network one day, and she presented a version I couldn’t resist. It's much lighter, nutritionally, than the traditional recipe, and the flavors explode in your mouth.

Blue Cheese Coleslaw
Serves 6 (1 cup each)

3 T cider vinegar
2 T olive oil
1 tsp Dijon mustard
½ C raisins
¼ C crumbled blue cheese
salt and freshly ground pepper
1 package coleslaw mix

In small bowl, whisk together the vinegar, oil, and mustard. Stir in the raisins and the blue cheese. Season with salt and pepper and toss with the packaged coleslaw mix in a large bowl.

Nutritional information:
Calories: 135
Fat: 8.35 grams
Cholesterol: 4.2 mgs
Sodium: 243.3 mgs
Carbohydrate: 14.5 grams
Fiber: 2.5 grams
Protein: 2.6 grams

This is fabulous with barbecue, pizza, burgers, or anything you can think of – even by itself.

Marble Man once told me he loves when I go on a diet because we eat so well when I do. :)

copyright 2009 What's Cooking?