Homemade Sausage Ramen Soup
PIN IT!FRIDAY!!! After the week I’ve already had, I couldn’t be happier to see Friday’s adorable face this morning. I want to give it the biggest hug and squeeze its chubby cheeks. I actually have a day off tomorrow so I’m looking forward to getting some extra shut eye and hopefully kicking the remnants of this evil ailment out the door. High dosages of cold medicine and this cozy, comforting homemade sausage ramen soup have really helped thwart off the virus. Thank god b/c I’m SICK OF BEING SICK.
I’ve always been a huge fan of ramen, even before I had to eat it because I was a broke college student. Yes, I know the packets of seasoning alone have 16,000 grams of sodium, which is precisely why I don’t eat them anymore. However, I can’t help but feel a slight ping to my heart when I walk by the $1 blocks of Maruchan ramen in the grocery store. Even when I wasn’t broke in college, I still flocked to this stuff. Something about the warm, cozy broth just made me feel better.
Plus, it’s really easy to make in a dorm microwave when you’re hammer drunk off Natty Light. Am I right?
Sadly the reason behind ramen this time wasn’t due to college house parties. The only thing I could really stomach this week was soup. And instead of chicken noodle, I craved the salty, deliciousness of ramen. Instead of just making a block of the 64 cent variety, I decided to whip up my own, lower sodium broth and add some low-fat beef sausage and mushrooms. The end result was EXACTLY what my sick body craved. Warm, cozy broth with hearty sausage and noodles.
Next time you’re craving ramen, make this instead. Your body, your jeggings and your face (mine swells up like a balloon when I eat too much salt) will thank you.
Homemade Sausage Ramen Soup
CLICK HERE FOR THE PRINTABLE VERSION OF THIS RECIPE!
Serves about 4.
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: About 15 minutes
Ingredients:
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic
- 3 green onions, chopped
- 1 cup sliced mushrooms
- 1 medium carrot, sliced
- 4 cups low-sodium, fat-free beef broth
- 1 cup water
- 2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
- About 1 1/2 – 2 cups sliced low-sodium, low-fat beef sausage (fully cooked)
- 1 block ramen noodles
- Additional chives for garnish
- Sprouts for garnish
Directions:
- Heat olive oil in a medium pot over medium-high heat. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 3 minutes. Add green onions , carrot and mushrooms and reduce heat to medium. Cook vegetables until soft, another 4 minutes or so. Add soy sauce, broth and water.
- Increase heat to high and bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat to low and let simmer for about 6 minutes. Add in ramen noodles and sausage and simmer until the noodles are soft. Season with pepper or salt.
- Serve immediately and garnish with chives.
Nutritional information per serving (about 2/3 cup):
Calories: 225.5
Fat: 8.5 grams
Carbohydrates: 23.5 grams
Fiber: 4 grams
Protein: 11.25 grams
Weight Watchers Points: 5
Claire
Tags:homemade ramen recipes, homemade soup recipes, low sodium soup recipes, ramen recipes
Skinny Coffee Cake
Happy 2013! I know, it’s January 3rd, I’m a little late to the New Years bandwagon. But, in my defense, I’ve been slowly dying of some new string of the bubonic plague so it’s really a plus that I’m still able to type. Okay, so maybe I’m being a little dramatic but I don’t do well sick. It just really throws off my entire life schedule. As a freelancer, I don’t get sick days. Sick days = no pay. So, despite being close to dead, I’ve been working my butt off trying to get everything done. But, you didn’t come here to hear about how pathetic I am right now, you came here for a recipe. And boy do I have one FOR YOU! 🙂 This skinny coffee cake is probably the best thing to happen to my kitchen since the Keurig.
I’m not one to make resolutions, but I do try to make New Years goals that are attainable. This year? My goal is to eat better. You’d think with a healthy food blog that’d be easier but I’ve just been eating sub par the past few months. And my view of myself (mentally and in skinny jeans) is totally reflective of that. I’m not saying I’m fat, but I’m not happy with what’s staring back at me. So, to start eating better, I’m remaking a lot of my favorite indulgent recipes into light, guilt-less recipes.
Sour cream coffee cake is one of my favorite morning indulgences. Seriously, I can’t tell you how much willpower it takes when I walk into a bakery not to eat all the coffee cakes or buy the entire Entemann’s display when grocery shopping. The mix of cinnamon, nuts and super fluffy cake is just perfect. Really, it’s that simple.
Even though the bakery coffee cakes are DIVINE, they aren’t exactly guilt-free. In fact, most recipes have two sticks of butter in just the batter. Paired with a heaping cup of sour cream and your cake has more than 15 grams of fat PER SLICE. That’s about the equivalent of eating a McDonald’s fried chicken sandwich.
To make this healthier, I swapped out 3/4 of the butter with unsweetened applesauce and used nonfat vanilla Chobani in place of sour cream. And guess what? That beautiful, fluffy, insanely moist little cake in front of your peepers is what you get. My husband took one bite and then said “so how fat is this going to make me?” Then, I proceeded to tell him the stats (less than 5 grams of fat per serving) and he nearly had an aneurysm. You can’t tell there’s almost no butter. All you taste is perfect coffee cake.
Who doesn’t want to start your day with cake for breakfast and still lose weight?
Skinny Coffee Cake
CLICK HERE FOR THE PRINTABLE VERSION OF THIS RECIPE!
Serves about 12. Recipe inspired by King Arthur Flour.
Prep time: >8 minutes
Cook time: About 25 minutes
Ingredients:
For the cake:
- 1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2/3 cup brown sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- Dash of salt
- 1 cup nonfat vanilla Chobani
Topping:
- 1/4 cup white sugar
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- 1/2 cup chopped almonds
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8 x 8 baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside. In another bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt until mixed.
- In a large bowl, beat the butter, applesauce, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla until creamed. Mix the Chobani into the applesauce mixture until fully combined. Add the flour mixture and stir until fully combined. Pour 1/2 of the batter into the prepared baking dish.
- To make the topping, mix the sugars, pumpkin pie spice and almonds together. Sprinkle 1/2 of the topping over the batter. Cover with the rest of the batter and then sprinkle the remaining topping over the batter.
- Bake cake for about 35* minutes or until golden and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
*Some people have mentioned it needed close to an hour, so just watch the cake and determine when it’s done.
Nutritional information per slice:
Calories: 170.5
Fat: 4 grams
Carbohydrates: 28.03 grams
Fiber: 2.5 grams
Protein: 5.3 grams
Weight Watchers Points: 4
Claire
Tags:cake recipes, low fat coffee cake recipes, low-fat cake recipes, skinny coffee cake
New Years Eve Bubbly Cocktails
Happy New Years Eve! Anyone have any superbly awesome plans, like going to a rocking party with P. Diddy or something? (And if you are, I’m just assuming my invite got lost in the mail so there are no hard feelings.) We’re kickin’ it low-key here in Chucktown but I’m 100% okay with that. However, that does not mean I won’t be indulging in a bit of bubbly. Since, as y’all know, I’m a big fan of the champagne.
I just love bubbles. Champagne, Prosecco, sparkling wine. I love them all. So, to celebrate the amazing year that was 2012 and hopefully kick off an even better 2013, I’ve rounded up a few of my favorite bubbly cocktails, just in time for your big celebration. Whether that’s an all-nighter in Vegas or a low-key party at home.
Happy New Year, friends! I hope you have an amazing night filled with lots of bubbles, sparkles and kisses!
Claire
Tags:champagne recipes, cocktail recipes, mimosa recipes, new years eve recipes, new years recipes
Creamy eggplant dip
It’s almost New Years!! Who else is as ridiculously excited as I am? I’ve always loved, LOVED New Years Eve. For one, you can drink champagne ALL DAY LONG and no one judges you. Two, you can wear an obscure amount of sparkles, sequins and glitter without being mistaken for Ke$ha. And three, well, do you really need more reasons than that?
All of my past New Years have been quite eventful so I’m SO happy to be having a low-key celebration here in Charleston with my hubs and in-laws. One of the best things about a low-key, at home partay is that you don’t have to die of a horrible hangover on the 1st and you can gorge on homemade apps! This year, I’m whipping up my new favorite app of all time, this creamy eggplant dip.
It doesn’t look very pretty, but omg it’s amazing. Creamy, full of flavor and so incredibly cheesy. I just want to face dive into this and never come out.
But really, you can’t go wrong with eggplant, goat cheese and truffle salt right? Oh yes, I said TRUFFLE SALT. Also known as HEAVEN. Or the best stuff in the entire world. Or crack. Or meth. Whatever your drug of choice, THIS truffle salt carries the same addictive qualities.
I got this stuff in Paris and it’s so good I want to drink it. I’m not even kidding you, it’s that good. It adds such an earthy, incredible flavor from the truffles. It’s really like nothing you’ve ever had. A little bit of this really changes your dishes. And it completely adds such an AMAZING flavor to this dip. But don’t worry guys, if you don’t have this salt, use regular. The dip will taste just as amazing!
Not only is this dip so good, it’s light too! It’s made with fat-free Chobani instead of sour cream and has just a few ounces of soft goat cheese. This is the perfect New Years appetizer because it’s quick, easy, absolutely delicious and light so you can rock those sequins leggings with ease.
Don’t judge me, I own sequins leggings. I feel so JLO when I rock them.
Creamy eggplant dip
CLICK HERE FOR THE PRINTABLE VERSION OF THIS RECIPE!
Yields about 1 1/4 cups. Recipe adapted from Coastal Living.
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: >5 minutes
Ingredients:
- 1 medium eggplant
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- Pepper
- 1/2 cup (4 ounces) non-fat Chobani yogurt
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 – 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- About 2 – 3 ounces (1/4 cup) goat cheese
- 1/2 teaspoon truffle salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons oregano
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Cut the eggplant in half vertically and place in a baking dish. Cover with pepper and 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Bake for about 10 – 15 minutes or until soft. While the eggplant is still warm, scoop out the flesh with a spoon and place in the body of a food processor.
- Add lemon juice, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, goat cheese, Chobani, truffle salt, oregano and pepper. Pulse on low until mixture is creamy. Add additional lemon juice, olive oil or salt for taste. Serve warm with sweet potato chips and enjoy!
Nutritional information per serving (about 2 tablespoons):
Calories: 73.9
Fat: 5.7 grams
Carbohydrates: 3.4 grams
Fiber: 1 gram
Protein: 3.2 grams
Weight Watchers: 2
Claire
Tags:chobani recipes, eggplant recipes, low fat recipes, new years eve recipes, yogurt dip
Spicy Salmon Cucumber Bites
Who else is in sad denial that Christmas is over? It’s always so hard to hop back into the swing of things after such an amazing holiday. Especially when you get to spend time with family and friends you haven’t seen in a few months!
Either way, you can’t wallow in the past, you have to march right into the future! (Can you just see that quote on one of those posters with a cat hanging from a tree?) Luckily it’s rather easy for me to get excited about the future (especially the near one) because it’s almost New Years Eve! What girl doesn’t love an excuse to get dolled up and drink far too much champagne? To kick off a healthy new year, I whipped up these super low calorie and delicious apps for your party, spicy salmon cucumber bites!
I absolutely ADORE this appetizer. For one, it’s super easy to make. Two, there’s less than 25 calories per bite. Three? It looks absolutely beautiful! The pops of the green paired with the bright pink of the salmon and the ivory of the horseradish cream make these one visually appealing appetizer. Then, you eat one, and your mouth explodes with amazing spicy flavor and the right amount of crunch from the cucumber.
If you don’t have time to roast or bake the salmon, simply buy a package of smoked salmon from the store. Both work just as well. I just love the flakey texture you get when you bake salmon. I topped each bite with a few chops of chive for another added bit of green color. You can top it with dill, rosemary, thyme. Whatever you want! Just do me a favor, don’t sub out the horseradish cream, it MAKES this dish.
These are the perfect party apps for your New Years soiree because they are cute, pretty, healthy and easy. Plus, the spicy flavor of the horseradish makes these a fabulous compliment to some sweet sparkling wine or champagne! And seriously guys, there’s less than 25 calories PER BITE and 0 points!
Be SURE to check out SHE KNOWS for the delicious and easy recipe here! (Plus recipes for two other light and low-fat apps!)
Nutritional information per bite:
Calories: 21.5
Fat: 1.2 grams
Carbohydrates: 1 gram
Fiber: 0 grams
Protein: 1 gram
Weight Watchers Points: 0
