Pasta

Butternut Squash Mac & Cheese

Leah Short — Sat, 26 Jan 2019 14:41:43 +0000

What’s comfort food for you? A hearty stew? A brothy soup? For me, it’s macaroni and cheese and I had no idea how good it could be until I stumbled on this recipe for Butternut Squash Mac & Cheese! Yeah, it sounds a little weird, but trust me. Roasted butternut squash adds such a depth of flavor, slightly sweet, but complements the Parmesan and sharp Cheddar beautifully. Once blended, it makes this mac and cheese some of the creamiest mac and cheese on the planet.

Cube your butternut squash and roast in the oven. I can’t say enough about roasted veggies. It really brings out the best of their flavor and those crispy bits…

Blend it! Here’s where the magic happens. Greek yogurt and nonfat milk help keep the calories low, but the creamy texture high.

It may be a tinge healthy, but we’re not leaving out the cheese! Salty Parmesan and sharp Cheddar, yes please and thank you!

If it’s cold where you are (and if it isn’t, where are you? can I come? ), a big bowl of this is all you need to get through winter. Cold weather dinner luxury. You won’t be able to get over the creamy, cheesiness of the sauce. I never want to have regular mac and cheese again!

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Lemony Orzo Salad with Chicken

Leah Short — Wed, 18 Mar 2015 16:23:00 +0000

It’s two days from officially being spring. Two days! I’ve never been so excited for winter to be over. I’m starting to crave lighter foods like this amazing Lemony Orzo Salad with Chicken. Not only is it light as in the opposite of a rich, heavy meal, it’s also light as in low calorie. You know I love me some super tasty low calorie eats! This salad is really quick and easy to prepare. It’s mixed with a tangy lemon dressing and tossed with rotisserie chicken, cucumbers, green onions, fresh dill, and goat cheese. I’ve been eating it for lunch all week with no complaints!

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Italian Mac & Cheese with Smoked Sausage

Leah Short — Mon, 17 Nov 2014 17:56:32 +0000

If you follow me on Instagram, you may remember this cheese sauce from last Wednesday. I started drooling while whipping up this Italian Mac & Cheese with Smoked Sausage, and that’s a good sign in this case. Six kinds of cheese with Italian seasoning and garlic should absolutely be made into a candle. Except I’m pretty sure I’d drool all the time over it, so maybe not. I can’t explain to you how good this cheese sauce smells while cooking and it’s a bajillion times better in taste. The best part is that it’s very easy to make. Boil your pasta and make the sauce while it cooks. Stir everything together and bake. Even the leftovers are crazy good…I should know because I’ve made this twice now and I’ve eaten it pretty much every day, sometimes twice, and I’m still not sick of it.

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Tilapia with Fennel-Yogurt Sauce & Red Pepper Couscous

Leah Short — Wed, 10 Sep 2014 15:13:14 +0000

I’m coming off of 10 days of glorious vacation! It’s a little challenging to get back into the swing of things with getting up early for work, getting ready for work, driving to work, being at work. Sensing a theme here? Yeah, I’m happy to be employed, but I sure do miss being on my own schedule, which most days didn’t include wearing makeup or heels. Getting used to my work schedule isn’t the only thing challenging me. It’s also going back to not eating the house down. No more Doritos, no more Devil Squares. Luckily I’ve got this fantastic, low calorie dinner that tastes like I’m still on vacation. This Tilapia with Fennel-Yogurt Sauce paired with Red Pepper Couscous makes me feel like I’m still splurging, but is much kinder to my hips than all those Doritos!

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Spaghetti with Creamy Basil Pesto

Leah Short — Thu, 22 May 2014 14:25:49 +0000

I’m continuing to eat low calorie as much as I can, but I really don’t want to miss out on some of my favorite foods like pasta and cheese! Enter Spaghetti with Creamy Basil Pesto. I had a feeling this dish would be awesome because the method reminded me of my Pasta with Mint Pesto recipe where the sauce gets thinned out with the pasta cooking water and somehow becomes creamy. It’s a simple pasta dish, but I loved the flavors from the basil pesto. One serving is huge and comes in at 360 calories.

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Stuffed Shells

Leah Short — Mon, 12 May 2014 13:06:20 +0000

A few weekends ago I was at my mom’s house and I wanted to cook something figure-friendly, but it had to be something we’d both enjoy. Sometimes low calorie versions of your favorite foods don’t quite taste as good as the original. Since my mom isn’t concerned with calories like I am, it had to taste good for her, too. We found this awesome recipe for vegetarian Stuffed Shells that was full of cheese and yummy veggies, and under 400 calories per serving. I’d say we both came out winners with this one!

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Glazed Salmon with Couscous

Leah Short — Mon, 28 Apr 2014 12:59:50 +0000

Salmon has made it on the blog! After swearing that I didn’t like the oddly pink fish, I’ve finally come around to really enjoying it. I’ve got my coworker Ryan to thank for that. He almost always orders it when we go out for lunch and slowly it started to look really good. He’d let me taste it and you know, it wasn’t bad! It’s mild, like I like my fish, and what sold me are all the yummy glazes and toppings you can add. For my first time making it at home, I chose this Glazed Salmon with Couscous. I knew I couldn’t go wrong with a brown sugar, mustard glaze.

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Easy Stovetop Mac & Cheese

Leah Short — Thu, 27 Mar 2014 14:02:57 +0000

I love macaroni and cheese so, so much. It’s probably my #1 comfort food. All that gooey cheese with perfectly cooked noodles. I like homemade, I like the stuff in the blue box (spirals, please), and I even like the frozen kind. Of course, some taste better than others. The bad thing is, it’s pretty much off limits when I’m trying to be good. There’s a certain frozen diet brand that I really like, but let’s face it, it’s never going to win against homemade. You can imagine my giddiness when I stumbled across this Easy Stovetop Mac & Cheese from Cooking Light. It’s low calorie, super cheesy, and a serving is quite a large size. Say what?! Yes, apparently you can have your cake, er mac and cheese, and eat it too!

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King Kong Couscous

Leah Short — Thu, 20 Mar 2014 14:30:32 +0000

Psst…I’m giving you a sneak peek today. Coming up early next week on the blog is a shrimp showdown! I don’t want to give away too many details, but you’ll want to stay tuned for that post for sure. I’ve been having fun in the kitchen learning how to devein shrimp and cooking up a storm. Who knew it was so easy…with the right tools {hint, hint}. When it comes to shrimp, there’s one dish that always pops into my head. King Kong Couscous. It’s on the menu at East Nashville’s Silly Goose and it’s life-changing good. It’s made several appearances in my dreams and I practically jumped up and down when I found the recipe for it in a new cookbook! I can’t believe they gave this recipe away…but I’m sure glad they did!

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Soba Noodle Salad

Leah Short — Mon, 10 Mar 2014 15:32:14 +0000

I adore Giada De Laurentiis. Giada at Home is one of the few Food Network shows I still watch and I loved Everyday Italian. I couldn’t wait to get my hands on her latest cookbook, Giada’s Feel Good Food: My Healthy Recipes and Secrets. Plus I’m a sucker for any cookbook that lists nutrition information. I was a tad bit disappointed in the cookbook overall because I had to thumb through it several times to find a recipe that I really wanted to make. Out of the entire cookbook, only about five appealed to me. This Soba Noodle Salad stood out because of the dressing ingredients. Almond butter, soy sauce, lime, honey, ginger, wasabi. I had to have it!

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