When it comes to losing weight, I’ll be the first one to admit that it’s rarely as easy as knowing what to do and just following through. Our lives get in the way, our emotions get the best of us, and then there are these cravings that seem to come out of no where (you haven’t had pizza in years and all of a sudden that’s all you can think of, now that it’s “off limits.” <– this is of course hypothetical because I eat pizza at least once a month ) So yes, it’s a journey. Sometimes on a long and winding road. We, I,  may fall and backtrack but it’s important to get back up and keep moving forward. My favorite way to do that is by preparing something crazy delicious that tastes completely sinful but is actually quite good for you!  And of course I believe that no matter your health goals, it’s really important to satisfy cravings! Always and forever. No carrot sticks for dinner in this household (although I am having carrot fries with oven fried chicken tonight)!!

This (chicken) sausage and veggie stuffed manicotti was Italian comfort food at its best without the artery clogging or calorie busting properties (by the way, I’m back to calorie counting to get into tip top summer… or 30th birthday… shape). I started following the above linked recipe from Cooking Light but decided to cut the amount of sausage down by 1/3, and then ramped up the veggies. Italian food is good like that – once you cover it in cheese and sauce, it will all be gobbled up in no time!

So after browning the sausage for a few minutes, in went a whole container of chopped mushrooms, one yellow bell pepper and a few minutes later – 2 cups of baby spinach. The hardest part was not eating this whole mixture before stuffing it into manicotti! I persevered (even though it was a bit time consuming) and eventually dinner was on the table. Man, this was goooood!

My changes created even lighter manicotti (220 cals/pop) full of delicious nutrients. Between the spicy sausage, loads of veggies, tangy tomato sauce, creamy bechamel (made with skim milk!) and cheese, it definitely felt like a treat. Adam said this was the best meal I’ve made in a while (although he says it often ). This dish would be a great contender for my cooking parties because it would be fun to make as a team while chatting away (perhaps with a glass of red wine!). I’m thinking an easier and quicker version may be coming next though for those of us that don’t find an hour+ of hands-on cooking relaxing.

Oh and did I mention this meal is freezer friendly and reheats beautifully? All that time paid off for sure!

How much time do you usually spend making a meal?

PS- There is just one day left of the thinkThin giveaway – make sure you enter it!

I’m back on the dieting bandwagon. At least for a little while. I know I said I was done with dieting for good and maybe I forgot the struggles and ups and downs associated with restrictive measures (and need to relearn this lesson), but honestly – I got tired of the mental capacity intuitive eating requires. I still believe it should be everyone’s (including mine!) ultimate goal. I want to have the freedom to eat what my body and mind desire, drama-free. But in order to get “there,” you need to do a lot of digging and self-evaluation and discipline (yes, intuitive eating requires a lot of discipline… at least while you are learning the ropes of it) and at a time where I’m dealing with so many changes and emotions in my life, I just need a little break from all of this work.

Leaving my job created a lot of possibilities, but also a lot of old and new emotions. I still struggle with unrealistic expectations about how much I can accomplish in one day (which bring about anxiety and disappointment), perfectionism (in every aspect of my life… which turns into a lot of discomfort when I can’t completely control everything that’s happening… even myself), laziness (yup, I said it… that carries a lot of guilt too) and loneliness (that’s a new one from being at home alone during the weekdays…hoping to change that when my business launches!). Guess what? To cope with it all, I found comfort in food. Followed by shame. Here I was, finally pursuing my dreams and still dealing with my shit in the same old ways.

I tried pep talks and inspirational books, but like I said – it was all just too much for me right now. My weight gain was making me uncomfortable and I just wanted to get rid of it first and deal with my issues later. I know a diet is a band aid, but I feel like that is what I require right now. I own this decision. I think some of you may relate.

So anyways, I tried going back to calorie counting. I couldn’t do it this time. It was too flexible. I was good for a few days, then I would totally blow it the next day (of course stopping tracking once I was over my daily allowance)… and starting over seemed harder and harder each time until it gave me so much anxiety I would start overeating right away (this is why I decided that I was done with the diets in the first place – it created this vicious cycle!). So I’m now doing something that’s a lot more restrictive just to shock my body a little and take certain trigger foods (chocolate, I’m looking at you!) out of the equation. On Monday, I started the 2-week phase I of the South Beach Diet. For the next 2 weeks, I am restricting my sugar intake and eliminating most starches from my diet (basically, it’s a low carb diet for the first 2 weeks) and then I can bring back some whole grains, fruit and booze back. This first phase is the one I’m most excited about because it is already teaching me that discipline I’ve lost (and the scale has finally reversed direction!). Because the foods I normally would turn to in my discomfort are not available to me right now, I am forced to find solutions that don’t involve food. And that’s the best “side effect.” I really am feeling better already! By the way, Adam is doing it with me so I’ve been extra motivated. There will be no cheating here!! We are in it together.

PS – Even on a diet, I refuse to eat “diet food.” This chicken cacciatore recipe from Cooking Light was incredibly delicious, diet or not. Skinless chicken thighs are well seasoned and beautifully seared, then baked over a medley of peppers, tomatoes and mushrooms. I omitted the shaved parmesan topping because I was lazy and the meal was fantastic without it, but I think the cheese could add a nice sharp bite to the dish. Highly recommended!

Are you an effortless healthy eater or do you sometimes need the kick your own butt and get a little more “serious?”

***Welcome Pinterest visitors!! So glad you liked my healthified buffalo chicken dip (it IS as good as it looks – maybe even better ). I have lots of other juicy content on the blog so I hope you stick around and do a little digging. For other fun healthy appetizers, you may want to try roasted red pepper, tomato and anchovy crostini, tofu and mushroom lettuce cups, double tomato bruschetta or chipotle-lime two-bean hummus. And for something a little indulgent, the pizza monkey bread is always a HUGE hit! For more ideas, check out my favorite recipes page on top. Thanks again for coming!! ***

Onto the post…

Hi y’all (I’m currently in the airport on the way to New Orleans, so I’m getting myself in the mood). Happy Friday!! I am obviously in a great mood since vacation is just hours away. The weekend is just around the corner for you too, so I wanted to share a quick and easy recipe with you before I shut my computer down for a few days.

Buffalo sauce. OMG, I love buffalo sauce. If I didn’t worry about killing my taste buds, I’d be totally cool with covering everything in it – breakfast, lunch and dinner. Something about how acidic and spicy it is. LOVE.

Luckily, it’s football season so instead of bathing myself in it (gross + I don’t have anything to wear with neon orange ), I can just show up to a football-watching party with a buffalo sauce covered concoction and be the most popular person in the room. Win-win.

A lot of buffalo chicken dip recipes call for canned chicken (eww) and butter (totally unnecessary). I came up with this on a whim the other day and it was the best buffalo chicken dip I’ve ever had. It’s not exactly health food but it’s just a little lighter.

Ultimate healthified buffalo chicken dip (serves a crowd)

• 2 poached chicken breasts, shredded
• 2 packages (8oz ea) neufchatel (low fat cream cheese), softened
• 1 cup low fat sour cream
• 3/4 cup Frank’s RedHot buffalo wing sauce
• 1 teaspoon of garlic powder
• 1.5 cups shredded reduced fat cheese (I used 1/2 mozzarella, 1/2 cheddar), divided
• Baby carrots and pita chips for dipping

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven, or toaster oven, to 350*.

2. Mix all ingredients together, hold 1/2 cup cheese. The Kitchen Aid with a paddle attachment does an amazing job of creaming it all together. Super easy!

3. Transfer to 9×5 loaf fan (or another baking dish), sprinkle remaining cheese over the top.

4. Bake for 15 minutes.

4. Broil for 1-2 minutes to get the cheese extra golden on top.

Enjoy!!

Creamy, buffalo-saucy, cheesy. Dig in!

For a few extra snacks, consider making the Eat, Drink and be Vegan two-olive sundried tomato hummus.

And Trader Joe’s blueberry goat cheese is perfect for those craving something a little sweeter… or  those that may just be goat cheese obsessed [I’m both!]

This stuff seriously tastes like cheesecake. Crazy awesome!

One of my 2011 goals (btw, I should really look at those again) was get into sports watching. I may not be a die-hard football fan just yet, but I’ve got the game day snacks down for sure!

Do you love buffalo sauce? Any favorite game friendly snacks?

*Last reminder about the Pomi giveaway. I’ll be announcing the winner on Monday.*

Anyways, I’m cool now and I want to tell you about the dinner I cooked for my dad’s birthday last weekend (sticking to my 30 by 30 list and hosting dinner parties left and right. haha)! His birthday happens to be on my wedding anniversary. Adam and I celebrated the night, just the 2 of us, but I had plans to make it up to my dad soon enough.

When hosting a dinner party do you pick a theme or just go with delicious recipes?

I wanted to make sure this was really really delicious so for my main course I chose a recipe I’ve made (and loved!) before – chicken thighs on the grill (btw, I always tag my favorite recipes so you can find them easily… on the right hand side).

Next up were these lovely ravioli with prosciutto, sundried tomatoes, basil and mozzarella in Jamie Oliver’s The Naked Chef cookbook. The pictures have been enticing me for weeks and a special birthday dinner seemed like the right time to break out my pasta roller! [PS – you can find the entire recipe on this blog]

Seriously, such cuties!

It appears that I had an Italian theme developing so I went with it! Doesn’t strawberry ricotta cake sound kind of Italian? [If you say ricottttte like Giada, it definitely will ]

OH YEAH!

Add a few Russian cheesy profiterole-like puffs (recipe coming to Russian Bites next)…

Some green beans with wild mushrooms…

And we have dinner!!

My mom was a giant help with executing the menu. I got a little ambitious planning this… happens every time!

I was hoping this would turn into delicious comfort food, fit for a hole in the wall restaurant. I don’t know if I hit the bar quite that high (I’m pretty critical of my own cooking) but every single item turned out absolutely delicious… I can tell you that!

Happy birthday, dad!!

[Ha, he was trying to make a funny face when I pulled out the camera… I say that worked!]

Hope your dreams all come true!

The angel food cake meets Italian grandmother was so light and the perfect ending to our Italian feast. Adam asked that I add it to our rotation of desserts (which means I should start a rotation of desserts! Yessss). I’m adding more strawberries between each layer next time!

Have you entertained recently? Do you have go-to items for dinner parties?

My favorite thing about the final product (which I guess is not even final yet) is that all the pretty food pictures of recipes that look appealing to me are right there, in the format that’s enjoyable to browse through (as opposed to before, where a few nice recipes were either buried between useless articles or worse – shoved into a big folder also known as the black hole for recipes).

So the other day, I was doing my thing, gluing away, and Adam spotted a picture of the spicy chicken shawarma recipe from Cooking Light… and said: “You need to make this asap!” The good wife that I am, I put it on next week’s menu… and decided to take it up a notch by making my own whole wheat pitas. Why not!

I used the whole wheat pita bread recipe from the King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking cookbook, which looked easy enough.

I  my Kitchen Aid.

My dough was seriously sticky. I think I added a bit more flour and definitely let the mixer go for longer than the book specified.

Eventually I stopped it and hoped that once the yeast does it’s thing, everything will turn out fine

Why hello, Mr. Yeast… looks like you’ve been hungry!

The dough was still slightly goopy (see top right in the picture above) but a slight toss in some flour produced perfect little dough balls.

Hi cuties! [Ok, I really need to stop this whole talking-to-my-food thing.]

Roll ‘em out…

And into the oven (on a pizza stone) they go!

OMG, OMG, OMG – they’re actually ballooning up!!!! [Yes, I was that excited.]

Actually, most of them looked like the ones below – at best. Spraying some water into the oven seemed to help a bit (thanks, Emily for this tip on twitter… Btw, I changed my twitter handle to @elinaholbrook… follow me if you love me!!)

Dinner time!

My first pita opened up so easily and perfectly, I was excited about “nailing it”!

The ones that followed definitely put up a fight (after this dinner I pretty much used them as flatbreads). They were really pillowy and doughy though so I enjoyed the texture.

I hate how store bought whole wheat pitas taste like cardboard so I’d love to find the perfect homemade (fool-proof) recipe that I can make over and over. It’d be cheaper too!

Have you ever made pitas? Any tips for me on technique, or maybe a link to a better recipe? Thanks!

PS – The chicken recipe was quick and easy but nothing earth shattering taste-wise. The pitas were definitely the highlight of the meal for me!

SO, I’m currently on the Amtrak train to NY, where I’ll be spending the rest of the week (let me know if you want to meet up on Friday at some point!!). I originally told Adam about this business trip and the fact that I was going to stay over my sister’s for the weekend and he didn’t seem to be fazed by it… until he realized he was going to have to feed himself for 6 days! Ha!

He’s currently trying to be healthy so in order for him to avoid feasting on takeout every night (not good for our budget or his health), I told him I’d prep some stuff for him. I ended up being really happy with my super easy “meal plan” and thought I’d share it with you. This is how you make a week’s worth of food in just over an hour!

To make it that quick, you’ll need help though from your grocery store (I originally was going to roast the chicken myself and make homemade tomato sauce but we all know by now from my frequent absence from this blog that time is not typically my friend).

This is the stuff I picked up for the week:

A roasted chicken from Whole Foods (just $9.99!!), broccoli, Applegate prosciutto, 1lb of 90% lean ground grass fed beef. I also had a jar of tomato sauce and a tube of polenta in the cupboards and some carrots, baby spinach and dying asparagus in the fridge. Wraps, burger buns, pasta, cheese and condiments are not shown here. We had them at home (you probably do too!) and they will come in handy during the “assembly stage” but not yet.

I started by roasting some veggies. They make great sides for just about any meal!

[Carrots were tossed with coconut oil, salt and pepper; asparagus and broccoli with EVOO, salt and pepper. 425* until nice and toasty… that’s about 15 mins for broccoli, 20 for asparagus and 30 for the carrots. Toss occasionally]

Then it was time to jazz up the tomato sauce. Jarred tomato sauce with extra red pepper flakes, baby spinach and roasted chicken – let the sauce simmer with the mix-ins for about 10 minutes.

I also made some chicken salad (see below) and grilled the polenta rounds. Lastly that ground beef was made into some burger patties (to be frozen) [1lb beef with 2T ketchup, 1T Worcestershire sauce and 1/4t salt is my go-to burger seasoning – it makes the patties moist and flavorful].

Here we go – all done!

Meal #1: Roasted chicken with roasted veggies and fried potatoes (from last night’s dinner)

Meal #2: Pasta with tomato, spinach and chicken sauce (Adam will cook the pasta)

Meal #3: Chicken salad [chicken, reduced fat mayo, light sour cream, pinch of cayenne pepper, lemon juice, s&p + carrots]

Mix in sliced toasted almonds right before eating, wrap with tomato and avocado slices.

Meal #4: Grilled polenta with tomato sauce and prosciutto

This idea comes straight from Jamie Oliver’s Jamie’s Dinners cookbook. Actually the whole idea of repurposing a few ingredients for different meals (in this case chicken, tomato sauce and prosciutto) came from the book. Love Jamie and all his books!

Burger patties to be frozen and grilled on demand

Other meals… that Adam can handle on his own

• Prosciutto panini
• Chicken/avocado/tomato sandwich

Roasted veggies for sides

Snacks:

• Baby carrots with hummus (Whole Foods jalapeno hummus is our my recent obsession)
• Yogurt with homemade granola and organic blueberries (all washed, ready to eat)
• Fruit (organic apples, pears and bananas in the living room platter)

Oh and if you’re wondering what’s sneaking behind there in the photos… that would be parmesan thyme biscuits and maple walnut shortbread cookies I made over the weekend. No big deal

All together, ready for the fridge!

I had one happy husband on my hands! Now he has to report back on how everything was. I better not see greasy Chinese in his online food journal!

I need to do things like that more often even when I’m in town! What would you have made??

Adam planted some flowers in our patio…

Groceries for the week were purchased.

We broke out the grill for the first time this year!

Dinner was chicken thighs with snap peas from Mario Batali’s Italian Grill cookbook.

OMG, so amazing!! The freshly made bread crumbs flavored with garlic, parsley and anchovies coating super tender chicken thighs… mmm, definitely going on the favorite recipes list. Comfort food fit for summer!

Welcome back summer weather! You’re making me very happy. I hope you plan on staying for a while

I love love love this process. Searching through my google reader for ideas with a specific ingredient or browsing through cookbooks is almost meditative to me. I honestly could spend hours on it as I click through recipe after recipe. So many meals, so little time!

I often ask Adam if there is anything he’s craving and the answer is usually no, or… it’s been a while since you’ve made us banh mis. Yes, we love ‘em round these parts.

A few weeks ago, though, Adam surprised me and said he wanted something with maple syrup. Really??! Maybe he was subconsciously still thinking about those maple scones I made a while back?? I know I’ve been thinking about them ever since but I have a food-crazy mind.

Not surprisingly, my google reader had nothing in the savory department with maple syrup… but I imagined a nice roasted chicken with crispy skin and a maple glaze. So I got to work…

I used this recipe for maple glazed duck as my base but used a chicken we recently got in our meat CSA. Chicken cooks a bit differently from duck – I followed this roasting time guide and then made sure the thermometer read 175*. I also placed carrots under the chicken which absorbed all its juices. Root veggies under roasted chicken are actually my favorite part of the meal!

We don’t eat nearly enough roasted chicken but I just love it. The meat was super juicy… the only thing – the maple flavor wasn’t pronounced enough!

The carrots were spot on though– they really caramelized. LOVE.

I’m still impressed with pulling this off on a weeknight!

Do you meal plan? Any favorite savory recipes with maple syrup? I want MORE!

Have you ever tried popchips? They taste like airy potato crisps and Adam and I are big fans. Actually, to be honest I’m not really into potato chips in general (not enough chocolate in them, hehe). But, when a craving strikes, I’m all about these. The salt and vinegar flavor is my favorite – so much intense flavor in each bite. Love! Adam on the other hand can’t eat a sandwich without chips and he LOVES popchips. He practically jumped up and down when he saw the box on our kitchen counter… in a very manly way of course. lol

I knew right away what I wanted to attempt. March munch madness = football to me (<—I just spelled “foodball” and couldn’t understand why spell check didn’t like that. wow…. Oh and apparently it’s basketball? What? I’m such a noob. ). Anyways, that means manly snack foods, whatever the sport is.

Enter: Popchips crusted baked buffalo chicken tenders! It could work or it could be disastrous. Luckily it worked. Very well in fact. All you need is 3 ingredients!

1. Preheat oven to 450*

2. Crush some chips into little pieces (1 serving of chips covered 4 chicken tenders).

3. Dip chicken tenders into buffalo sauce, then into popchips “crumbs,” place on oil sprayed cooling wrap over baking sheet. Hopefully that makes sense.

4. Bake for 13 minutes (or until chicken is fully cooked through).

5. Brush with some more buffalo sauce (I like mine super saucy!).

6. Enjoy with some blue cheese dip or if you’re like me and don’t like blue cheese, make a simple cooling dip out of yogurt, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Yum!

Healthy and fun! The potato flavor was mild but the chips added that perfect crunch. These were devoured very quickly!

I was having so much fun, I decided to make another munch-madness snack – popnachos! Here is everything you’ll need to recreate this deliciousness:

Original potato popchips, grape tomatoes (sliced), sundried tomatoes (sliced), olive tapenade (or sliced olives), goat cheese, peppadews…

and CHEESE! Quantities are per your liking.

Bake at 350* for about 10 minutes, until cheese is melted.

The popchips were a really fun alternative to the traditional tortilla chips (and a lot healthier!). I also really loved my toppings combo – sweet, spicy, briny, cheesy… perfect game food!

Happy munching!!

Interested in trying some popchips? I’ve been given the opportunity to have some popchips sent to a few of my friends and well, I’d like to share them with YOU! [US residents only, please. Sorry!]

Here are the rules: there are 7 ways to enter.

1) Leave a comment on this post – Anything you want… maybe what you’d do with your sample of chips (create a recipe or just snack on them straight up?). Just don’t say “comment” – that makes me sad, I do read every comment here!

2) Follow me on Twitter (please include your twitter handle in the comments section so that I can confirm your entry).

3) For an additional entry, you can also tweet about this giveaway (my twitter handle @elinacooks and a link to this post must be included to qualify)

4) Subscribe to Healthy and Sane by email

5) Like Healthy and Sane on Facebook.

6) Add Healthy and Sane to your blogroll.

7) Link to this post on your blog, if you have one. If you don’t, let someone else know about this giveaway and tell me so in the comments section after they’ve entered the giveaway.

Please leave a separate comment on this post for each entry. The giveaway will end on March 27. I will randomly choose 1 winner using random.org the following day. Good luck!

Edited to add: I just learned that you can help me win the contest by liking my recipe pics on Facebook. To vote for the popchips encrusted buffalo chicken tenders recipe, please “like” this picture, to vote for the popnachos, please “like” this picture. I don’t want to be unfair to other contestants so I will not be offering additional giveaway entries for this BUT I would really really appreciate it!! Thanks so much!

This was less than 3 years ago (I can’t believe it!) and I don’t know what happened, but I just don’t have this stamina anymore. I love love love meal planning for the week and grocery shopping (unless it’s a zoo, then that’s not so fun). And some days I seem to be really in the zone, excited to make meal after meal, prep for days ahead, etc – but most days I’m just too damn tired.

On days like that the internal battle between eating out, throwing something easy like a sandwich or actually making the meal I planned ahead begins. I think if I already had all the ingredients organized, chopped and pre-measured, Adam and I would be enjoying healthy home-cooked meals even more often.

That’s exactly how Healthy Habits Kitchen started. They target people that want to eat healthy, homemade meals but may not have the time, desire or the energy to plan the meals, shop for the ingredients and then prep them – so they do it for you! All the meals are planned by the founder and owner, Susan, then reviewed by a registered dietitian to make sure they’re under 400 calories per serving and are well balanced, and then prepped by one of the the HHK staff. I think it’s a totally brilliant business idea (and given HHK’s success, their customers agree!).

A few weeks ago, I got a chance to visit their kitchen in Wellesley and chat with Susan. Such a fun little road trip.

This is where the magic happens…

Everything is so organized, shiny and clean. I wish my kitchen had this much space for prepping!!

I learned that all of HHK’s produce comes from local farmers markets in the summer (they also sell a lot of the meals in farmers markets all over Massachusetts); the meats are all 100% antibiotic and hormone free. I asked Susan if she considered using organic chicken and grass-fed beef and she said that she has but based on customer surveys, it was clear that her customers were not willing to pay this (don’t forget – wherever you are, you vote with your dollars!!!). Maybe in the future

They also hold lots of parties right in the kitchen, where guests prep their own meals while sipping on drinks and munching away. Sometimes they even bring in special guest speakers (like the dietician and yoga teacher, Diana Cullum-Dugan, who will be teaching the Mindful Eating workshop on March 23 – more details here). Very fun!

The menu changes often. Susan gave me one of her top sellers, chicken marbella, to try, which has a unique combination of brown sugar, prunes, capers and olives. Everything was all nicely packaged in this box:

Cool, no?

We actually ended up going away to Maine that weekend so I popped the whole box in the freezer and then defrosted it the day before I wanted to cook this (I may actually start doing this more often… if only I had extra time for all this prep work. May be a good time investment though!). The day of the dinner, I followed the instructions on the box (super easy) and with minimal hands-on time, we had a homemade meal on our hands in about 40 minutes (most of it was just baking time though).

The small box had 3 servings but Adam and I had no problem polishing it off. At first I actually thought that the sweetness of the sugar and prunes was weird with the sour/bitter olives but this combo totally grew on me and well, I went back for seconds. Adam loved it too!!

I think Healthy Habits Kitchen meals are a great way to make more people involved in healthy cooking and making it more accessible to beginners or busy cooks. It is pricier than doing all of it from scratch but it compares favorably to meals out and has the benefit of being healthy and homemade (in a good way).

How often do you eat out of eat something boring because you’re tired or busy? Do you ever wish you had a prep cook of your own? <—Man, that be awesome!!