Ashley’s Favorite Sauces: Lightened Summer ‘Alfredo’

That is, it’s not a real Alfredo at all (you can find that one here), but a lightened cream sauce with a touch of Parmesan and Neufchâtel for richer flavor.

Alfredo’s a pretty heavy sauce for hot summer days, and heavy on the calories as well. 

I put this over pasta, shrimp, and fresh steamed broccoli - and topped it with the two handfuls of oregano I wound up with when I was cutting back the herb garden this morning! 

LIGHTENED SUMMER ‘ALFREDO’

14oz chicken broth, bouillon, or broth base (Orrington Farms broth base is gluten free, and comes in both chicken and beef)

1 1/2 C milk, divided

2 T corn starch

4oz Neufchâtel cheese (low fat cream cheese)

3oz fresh Parmesan

Heat the chicken broth/water and broth base or bouillon in the microwave two minutes. (I use a four cup measure.) Add one cup of milk and stir.

In a smaller measuring cup, whisk together the other half cup of milk with two tablespoons cornstarch. Whisk together well.

Pour the milk/cornstarch slurry into the four cup measure and stir. Heat to boiling in the microwave, stirring every minute, until thickened.

Whisk in the Parmesan and Neufchâtel until melted. 

Chicken and Broccoli Stir Fry

 I don’t often blog stir fries, because I never measure anything when I’m making them - never! - but I had my parents over for lunch today, and Mama wanted the recipe! So I’m going to give a stab at measurements. 

Stir fries are awesome for healthy weight loss, they really are - just watch the rice! Actually, when I was working on shedding my 100+ pounds, I’d often eat them without the rice, just the straight stir-fry for dinner. Lots of vegetables, lean protein, and minimal calories in the sauce - what could be better?

A couple notes on the ingredients:

Tamari soy sauce is gluten free, marked so. If you are cooking gluten free, watch out for the soy sauces - contrary to their name, they are usually made from wheat!

Rice vinegar is often sold ‘seasoned.’ That just means it has sugar and salt added. Buy the plain, and ‘season’ it yourself! The salt in the soy sauce and the honey are plenty enough for this recipe.

Get all your ingredients ready to go before you start cooking anything! That’s a hard-and-fast rule for any stir fry. You’re cooking over a pretty high heat, and everything is cut into bite sized pieces. You don’t have time to get anything else ready once you start heating that wok!

And a note on the wok: if you’re going to do stir-fries, you really need a wok. Nothing really cooks as a stir-fry in any other kind of pan. You need a good one, but even my very favorites are not expensive - I’ve fallen in love with the IKEA woks, and yes, you can order online and have them ship!

CHICKEN AND BROCCOLI STIR FRY

3 tablespoons + 1/4 cup soy sauce (I use the low-sodium Tamari, because it is gluten free)

2 tablespoons + 1/4 cup rice vinegar (plain, not seasoned!)

4 tablespoons corn starch, divided

1 pound (or so) chicken breast

4 teaspoons (or so) honey

6 cloves garlic

2 tablespoons ginger paste (such as Spice World, in the squeezable bottles)

6 cups (or so) broccoli florets

Any other vegetables you like, cut into bite size pieces (snow peas are a favorite of mine in stir fries)

Green onions or scallions, for garnish

Rice for serving, if you choose

Trim your chicken and cut it into bite size pieces. Place it in a gallon-sized ziplock bag with 3 tablespoons soy sauce, 2 tablespoons rice vinegar, and 2 tablespoons cornstarch. ‘Zip’ the bag closed and squeeze the ingredients around until the chicken is well-coated and the marinade fully mixed. Place in the refrigerator while you prep the rest of the ingredients. 

Mix up the rest of the sauce in a one cup measure: 1/4 cup soy sauce, 1/4 cup rice vinegar, 4 teaspoons or so of honey (use more if you want it sweeter, of course), and 2 heaping tablespoons of corn starch. Whisk until well blended. Set aside.

Get your vegetables ready to go in the stir fry. Trim up your broccoli florets; steam in the microwave until just the ‘crisp’ side of tender-crisp. (You will finish them in the wok. Trust me, this is the best way to get them all done ‘just right’ when you’re stir-frying.) If you’re using snow peas, red bell pepper, whatever, get them diced up into bite sized. Dice your green onions or scallions for garnish; set aside.

Coat your wok with pan spray and add the garlic. You want to cook at a pretty high heat; I use the medium-high setting for the burner on my stove. Keep the garlic moving around as the pan heats, and when it is sizzling, get the chicken out of the fridge. Dump all contents of the ziplock into the wok. Add the ginger paste.

Keep stirring the chicken as it cooks. You don’t want anything to get too brown or to start sticking. Just as soon as the chicken is done (I’ll sometimes use my spoon to cut some of the larger pieces in half, to check done-ness), add the broccoli. Pour half the sauce over the broccoli (it might need another stir with the whisk, with that honey in there), and stir until ingredients in the wok are well combined. Pour the other half of the sauce in, and keep stirring. 

When the sauce, vegetables, and chicken are well combined, take it up from the wok quick, before anything gets too done! 

Serve hot - over rice, if you choose. *Just watch the portions on that rice!*

Hashbrown Pizza Crust

I made this hashbrown crust into a pizza with Canadian bacon, fresh mozzarella, fresh steamed spinach, and topped it with oregano when it came out of the oven. The real reason I think I like this recipe for a gluten free crust? IT HOLDS UP WELL ENOUGH TO PICK UP!

HASHBROWN PIZZA CRUST

1lb frozen shredded hashbrowns, thawed

4 eggs

1/2 cup shredded cheese

 (I used shredded sharp cheddar since I didn’t have mozzarella, and it worked great)

Set your frozen hashbrowns out to thaw an hour or two beforehand.

Preheat your oven to 400.  Beat four eggs in a large mixing bowl. Add the thawed hashbrowns and 1/2 C cheese. Mix well.

Form into a crust with your hands on parchment paper (do NOT forget the parchment paper, it sticks terribly otherwise!) on top of a pizza stone or baking sheet. Bake at 400 for 30 minutes.

Top with your favorite toppings, and bake again until the cheese is melted. Cut and serve hot.

Servings: 6

Spinach with Cannellini Beans

Want a quick healthy side dish? This one is done in the time it takes to steam the spinach in the microwave!

SPINACH WITH CANNELLINI BEANS

40 oz fresh spinach

1 16-oz can cannellini beans, drained

Olive oil

Fresh herbs (I used parsley and a bit of chives)

Fresh Parmesan 

Steam the spinach in the microwave. I steam it in a tightly covered bowl, with a little bit of water in the bottom, in batches until it is all done. Spinach cooks down quite a bit.

Add the drained cannellini beans, a few tablespoons of olive oil (I didn’t measure, but I think I used about three), whatever fresh herbs you have on hand, and a handful of fresh Parmesan (to taste). 

Serve hot.

Quinoa with Mozzarella, Snow Peas, and Cherry Tomatoes

Since this is prepared ahead of time and served chilled, it is EXCELLENT for lunches! I’m preparing on the weekend, portioning out, and chilling in individual tupperwares for the week. 

Start with 2 cups of Basic Quinoa:

Instapot Quinoa if you have an Instapot

Or Basic Quinoa here if you want to do it on the stove.

Once you’ve got your quinoa going, I’m adding some frozen chopped spinach to mine to cut the calories and up the nutrients a bit. I’m cooking two 12oz bags of frozen chopped spinach in the microwave.

Then I’m getting out my snow peas, cherry tomatoes, and fresh mozzarella.

Slice your snow peas on the diagonal, and I’m sticking mine in the microwave for a couple minutes. You can use them raw if you prefer!

My super-cool yellow, red, and purple cherry tomatoes are just getting halved, and then the mozzarella log is getting sliced into bite-sized pieces.

Are those not the BEST tomatoes? Splurge on yourselves sometimes!

Mix your dressing ingredients together, and whisk well.

When the quinoa is done, let it sit 5-10 minutes, fluff with a fork, then mix all ingredients together. Drizzle dressing over it and stir well.

Refrigerate and serve cold.

QUINOA WITH MOZZARELLA, SNOW PEAS, AND CHERRY TOMATOES

2 cups dried quinoa, prepared

2 12oz bags frozen chopped spinach

8oz snow peas

1 pint cherry tomatoes

8oz fresh mozzarella 

Dressing ingredients:

1/4 C lemon juice

2 T Dijon mustard

2 T olive oil

3/4 t sea salt

1/4 t freshly ground pepper

Cook quinoa: Basic Quinoa is the link for stove top quinoa, and Instapot Quinoa for instapot. I prefer Instapot, myself, because it can’t boil over.

Cook spinach according to package directions. Cut snow peas on the diagonal; microwave 2 minutes. Halve cherry tomatoes and slice mozzarella into bite sized pieces.

Mix dressing ingredients together and whisk well.

When quinoa is done, let sit 5 minutes and then fluff with a fork. Combine quinoa, spinach, snow peas, tomatoes, and mozzarella. Drizzle dressing over quinoa salad and mix well.

Serve chilled.

Servings: 7

Calories per serving: 325 

Breakfast Pizza with Hashbrown Crust

As usual, I have a recipe where I got the idea for this that I am not following at all. From the get-go, on this one: my shredded frozen hashbrowns were supposed to be thawed.

Oops.

We are moving right ahead with them frozen. 👍🏻

I AM remembering to preheat the oven (to 400), which is another step I often forget. Preheating the oven while beating four eggs in a large bowl, and then adding the hashbrowns, milk, and a half cup of the cheese.

*That’s edited too, by the way: I apparently have more experience with ‘alternative crusts,’ perhaps we should say?, than the original recipe creators. Their crust wouldn't have held together enough to even be taken up. Gluten free for fifteen years will give you plenty such experience, I suppose! Tossing aforesaid recipe out the window at this point —

Stir all those crust ingredients together and then shape into a crust with your hands, either on a pizza stone or a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. You are REALLY going to want that parchment paper for this recipe.

Bake at 400 for half an hour.

Top with ham, spinach (I wanted to cut the calories down a bit), and cheese. Break four eggs over the pizza, evenly spaced. I did not want runny yolks, so I broke my yolks as well.

Bake at 40 for twenty minutes (for set yolks).

BREAKFAST PIZZA WITH HASHBROWN CRUST

8 eggs

1lb frozen shredded hashbrowns

1 1/2 C shredded sharp cheddar cheese

1/4 C milk

4oz diced ham

Fresh spinach, wilted

Preheat oven to 400.

Beat four eggs in a large mixing bowl. Add frozen hashbrowns and 1/2C cheese. Mix well.

Form into a crust with your hands on parchment paper, on top of a pizza stone or baking sheet. Bake at 400 for 30 minutes.

Remove from oven. Top with ham, spinach, and cheese. Break four eggs, evenly spaced, across the pizza. If you want set yolks, break the yolks at this time.

Put back in the oven and bake another 15-17minutes for runny yolks or another 20 minutes for set yolks.

Cut and serve hot.

Servings: 6

Calories per serving: 275

Hungarian-Style Sheet Pan Brussels Sprouts with Bacon

This is try #2 on this recipe: last week was a failure!

Boiled Brussels are not to my taste, and trying to steam them in the microwave was no good either. So! Sheet-pan-ing them, roasting with bacon and onion, if you like onion. (I don’t. Putting in the onions as options for parents and aunt, because they DO like onions, lol!)

To sheet-pan roast your Brussels, get them trimmed up: tough outer leaves removed, and halved.

To sheet-pan roast your Brussels, get them trimmed up: tough outer leaves removed, and halved.

Pan spray your sheet pan, and lay out your halved Brussels sprouts, cut side DOWN.

I use olive oil pan spray, and spray the tops of the Brussels sprouts again before they go in the oven.  You'll want to salt and pepper them after you use the pan spray. I highly recommend salt AND pepper grinders!

PRO TIP, HERE: IF YOU WANT TO LOSE WEIGHT, CUT <OUT> THE OLIVE OIL. 

I use olive oil pan spray for virtually EVERYTHING now except salad dressings! And I’m down over a hundred pounds: I’m telling you, it WORKS.

I am layering my bacon on top of my Brussels sprouts. I really think a thick center-cut bacon would be best here, but it’s not what I had in the freezer!

If you are using onions - my parents were my testers on that! - cut them into quarters or eighths and put them on the sheet pan with the Brussels too.

Roast for 22 minutes at 425 or until the bottoms of your Brussels sprouts halves are carmelized. You’re going for a long way past just tender-crisp when you’re roasting!  You want this look on the bottoms of your Brussels:

Crumble your bacon on top of your Brussels sprouts (and onions, if you used onions).












I am using Greek yogurt because it’s healthier than sour cream, and I’m celiac, so I’ve got to watch the probiotics in the gut and all that. Nonfat plain Greek yogurt - Love It LOVE IT. Stir a cup or so in.

This is four pounds of Brussels sprouts, prepped and ready for the week! (This is a double of the quantities in the recipe below. I didn't figure most people would want four pounds of them. Bulk veggies are another PRO TIP!!)

HUNGARIAN-STYLE SHEET PAN BRUSSELS SPROUTS WITH BACON

Two pounds Brussels sprouts
1/2 of a 12 oz package thick-cut bacon
Salt and pepper
Olive oil pan spray
1 cup nonfat plain Greek yogurt
2 onions, optional

Preheat oven to 425.

Trim and halve your Brussels sprouts. Cut your onions into eighths.

Use olive oil pan spray to prepare a sheet pan. Place your Brussels sprouts in a single layer on the sheet pan, cut sides DOWN. Spray the tops of the Brussels sprouts with olive oil pan spray. Grind salt and pepper over the Brussels once they have been sprayed.

Place bacon strips and onions on top of the Brussels sprouts.

Roast at 425 for 22 minutes or until bottoms of Brussels sprouts are starting to carmelize, as in the picture above.

Crumble bacon over Brussels sprouts and onions. Stir in  1 C nonfat plain Greek yogurt.