Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Chinese Pork and Noodle Stir Fry

I had a revelation last week.  I realized that, although the name of my blog is "Living Lux But Lighter," most of my recipes are...well...not so light.  More like indulgent!  So rather than change my blog name, I thought it might actually be a good idea to include a few "lighter" recipes.  Brilliant, eh?  I mean, I don't sit around eating Decadent Caramel Brownies all day!  If only.

So, enjoy with me a new recipe we tried just last week.  It's adapted from Betty Crocker The 300 Calorie Cook Book, one of the purchases I made a few years ago when hubby and I decided to drop some pounds.  We've been gravitating back to lower calorie meals of late, because if one wants to enjoy a salty snack or adult beverage in the evening, one needs to not eat all of one's available calories at dinner!



Chinese Pork and Noodle Stir Fry
Printer-friendly copy here

Ingredients:
1 - 8 oz. can pineapple chunks in juice, drained (juice reserved)
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon Splenda brown sugar, packed
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 Tablespoon cornstarch
1/2 lb. pork tenderloin, cut into 1/4 inch slices
4 oz. uncooked Ronzoni Smart Taste spaghetti
2 teaspoons sesame oil
1/4 cup fat-free chicken broth
1 medium bell pepper (any color), chopped
4 stalks celery, chopped
4 oz. fresh sugar snap peas, strings removed, cut in half
8 oz. bag mung bean sprouts
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes, optional
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Directions:
In a medium glass bowl, mix reserved pineapple juice, soy sauce, Splenda brown sugar, garlic and cornstarch.  Add pork.  Cover and marinate in the refrigerator for at least one hour but no longer than four hours.  Cook and drain the pasta as directed on package.  In a large skillet or wok, heat sesame oil over medium-high heat.  Add pork and marinade, stir-fry 2 minutes.  Remove pork from skillet and add broth, bell pepper and celery; cook 6 minutes, stirring frequently.  Add peas, pineapple, pasta and bean sprouts.  Cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly.  Return pork to skillet.  Cook and stir about 1 minute until sauce is thickened.  Garnish with red pepper flakes, if desired, and black pepper.  Serve.

Note:
Replace mung bean sprouts, bell pepper, celery, and/or sugar snap peas with any combination of other vegetables, such as bok choy, onion, water chestnuts, broccoli, or baby corn.  This will affect calorie count.

Serves: 4
Calories:  265

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Nutella-Swirled Peanut Butter Chip Blondies

My boy Bubba is a Nutella fiend.  He asks me for spoonfuls (sorry, buddy, request denied).  All summer I made him Nutella-Stuffed Cinnamon Sugar Muffins for breakfast.  Then he wanted to try something different, so recently I've been making him Skinny Double Chocolate Chip Muffins that I "frost" with Nutella.  Funny, because I only discovered the stuff in the last couple of years.  And now we go through a lot of Nutella.  We buy the mega-jar at Sam's Club!

When I saw a recipe for these Nutella-Swirled Peanut Butter Chip Blondies from one of my favorite bloggers, Averie Sunshine, I figured they would be a big hit with my little man.  I was right.  Since Averie published her recipe in August, I've made three batches!

The original recipe calls for peanut butter chips and Nutella, but I've also tried a semi-sweet chocolate chip/Nutella combination.  Surprisingly, Bubba prefers the peanut butter chip version (he's usually ALL ABOUT chocolate).  I think these bars would also be tasty with white baking chips and Nutella or white baking chips and peanut butter instead of Nutella.  I'll have to bake another batch and test my theory!


For the recipe, visit AverieCooks.com!