Hurrah for Hungry Girl!
I’ve seen the Hungry Girl cookbooks out for years now, even in such discount stores as K-mart and Target, so I figured they must be popular. I’ve browsed through the recipes, but wasn’t tempted to buy a cookbook until last week. What’s great is that most cookbooks do not cater to the singleton, but most of the Hungry Girl recipes yield one to four servings, many of them one serving.
I happened to stumble upon the Hungry Girl’s show on the Food Network on Sunday morning, and I was tempted because the recipes actually appeared to be doable, unlike a lot of what we see on cooking shows (Hello, Martha, I’m lookin’ at you. And you, Julia, I’m referring to you). So, I stopped by the B and N on Monday and found two of her cookbooks, though she has written more. I was most interested in 300 Under 300 (as in 300 recipe under 300 calories) and 200 Under 200. I settled on the 300 recipes because I was able to find the recipe I had seen HG prepare on her show, Taco-Stuffed Chicken Breasts. The other upside of her recipes is that many of them do not require an entire grocery store full of ingredients. The Nacho-Riffic Stuffed Chicken was made with 5-ounce chicken breasts pounded flat. The filling was refried beans, Laughing Cow cheese, and fat-free shredded cheddar. Each of the four breasts was filled with a quarter of the stuffing mix and rolled up. Then, they were secured with a toothpick, and each was covered with a tablespoon of taco sauce and crushed fat-free taco chips and were baked in the oven. They were splendid! Honestly, I’ve done a lot of experimentation with low-calorie cooking. Often-times, the end result is bland or at best “good enough.” I can truly say the taco chicken breasts were good food, not just “good low-calorie food.”
Online, I found the other recipe HG prepared on the show, margaritas. I recently have become turned on to margaritas because one of my new favorite restaurants, Viva La Bamba, features a drink special for margaritas on Saturday nights. They are literally less than $1.50. Unfortunately, I also know that margaritas are about the worst drink calorie-wise, which is why I have avoided them in the past. The HG recipe is easy and low-calorie. Her solution is that in an alcoholic beverage, the calories should come from the alcohol and not from mixers.
Ingredients:
* ¾ cup Sierra Mist Free (or Diet Sprite, Diet 7-Up or any diet lemon-lime soda)
* 1.5 oz tequila
* 1 packet (two 5-calorie servings) sugar free powdered drink mix lemonade (I used the Crystal Light lemonade mix individual packets that I add to my bottled water)
* 2 tbsp lime juice
Mix all ingredients together and pour over one coup of crushed ice.
Actually, the margaritas taste really great blended, which is how we prepared ours. And get this, they are only 115 calories! The recipe above is for one drink, but it can easily be double, tripled, and so on. I can't believe this is a diet drink.
I happened to stumble upon the Hungry Girl’s show on the Food Network on Sunday morning, and I was tempted because the recipes actually appeared to be doable, unlike a lot of what we see on cooking shows (Hello, Martha, I’m lookin’ at you. And you, Julia, I’m referring to you). So, I stopped by the B and N on Monday and found two of her cookbooks, though she has written more. I was most interested in 300 Under 300 (as in 300 recipe under 300 calories) and 200 Under 200. I settled on the 300 recipes because I was able to find the recipe I had seen HG prepare on her show, Taco-Stuffed Chicken Breasts. The other upside of her recipes is that many of them do not require an entire grocery store full of ingredients. The Nacho-Riffic Stuffed Chicken was made with 5-ounce chicken breasts pounded flat. The filling was refried beans, Laughing Cow cheese, and fat-free shredded cheddar. Each of the four breasts was filled with a quarter of the stuffing mix and rolled up. Then, they were secured with a toothpick, and each was covered with a tablespoon of taco sauce and crushed fat-free taco chips and were baked in the oven. They were splendid! Honestly, I’ve done a lot of experimentation with low-calorie cooking. Often-times, the end result is bland or at best “good enough.” I can truly say the taco chicken breasts were good food, not just “good low-calorie food.”
Online, I found the other recipe HG prepared on the show, margaritas. I recently have become turned on to margaritas because one of my new favorite restaurants, Viva La Bamba, features a drink special for margaritas on Saturday nights. They are literally less than $1.50. Unfortunately, I also know that margaritas are about the worst drink calorie-wise, which is why I have avoided them in the past. The HG recipe is easy and low-calorie. Her solution is that in an alcoholic beverage, the calories should come from the alcohol and not from mixers.
Ingredients:
* ¾ cup Sierra Mist Free (or Diet Sprite, Diet 7-Up or any diet lemon-lime soda)
* 1.5 oz tequila
* 1 packet (two 5-calorie servings) sugar free powdered drink mix lemonade (I used the Crystal Light lemonade mix individual packets that I add to my bottled water)
* 2 tbsp lime juice
Mix all ingredients together and pour over one coup of crushed ice.
Actually, the margaritas taste really great blended, which is how we prepared ours. And get this, they are only 115 calories! The recipe above is for one drink, but it can easily be double, tripled, and so on. I can't believe this is a diet drink.