Skinny Balsamic Vinaigrette

March 24, 2023 Amanda Plott

I actually made this Balsamic Vinaigrette back in 2013, so naturally after 10 years I thought it was due for an update. Balsamic Vinaigrette is one of my favorite salad dressings. It’s tangy and light and full of flavor.

I've lightened up this classic dressing by subbing water and chia seeds for some of the oil. It's an old but rather faithful trick that I picked up from my mom some years ago when she would make her own Italian salad dressing. And by 'make her own', I mean mix oil and water with a packet…

Japanese Egg Salad

March 21, 2023 Amanda Plott

It doesn’t get any more simple than this right here. This Japanese Egg Salad is made with just 4-5 ingredients and takes hardly any time at all to make and the end result is creamy, light, and delicious! So what makes this egg salad Japanese? The secret is in the mayonnaise! This egg salad uses kewpie, which is the Japanese version of mayonnaise. But, don’t worry! You can find it at most grocery stores.

American mayonnaise is made with whole eggs and white vinegar. Kewpie is made with egg yolks and rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar. Kewpie eggs up being sweeter and has less tang. It’s also a lot richer and creamer too!…

PB&J Rice Cake

March 18, 2023 Amanda Plott

Peanut butter and jelly at it’s snacking finest with this PB&J Rice Cake! I found these fun rice cakes recently that are shaped and textured a bit differently than the old school ones so I picked a few of the strawberry flavored ones up. But then it’s - what to do with them. Well, when I think strawberries, I tend to think of strawberry jam. And when I think of strawberry jam, I think of PB&Js!

This PB&J Rice Cake is a fun take on a PB&J that is lighter and pretty filling too. It would be great as an afternoon or after school snack, or even as a part of a light lunch! So, it starts out with a strawberry rice cake on the bottom which is covered with some peanut butter and then topped off with fresh strawberries, peanuts, and some strawberry jam too…

Mediterranean Feta & Lemon Chicken

February 5, 2023 Amanda Plott

This Mediterranean Feta & Lemon Chicken is packed full of flavor and it’s all to do with the lovely marinade that it sits in for just thirty minutes. Only good, clean, and fresh ingredients go into it too. I don’t know about anyone else, but I can’t say no to a good feta cheese dish anyway and this chicken is just about as good as it gets.

Being as the ingredients here are super simple, there isn’t a whole lot to do here to lighten this up other than by using a fat free cheese, which is exactly what i did. I also used boneless skinless chicken breast and it was fantastic…

Broccoli Cheese Twice Baked Potatoes

January 7, 2023 Amanda Plott

The russet potatoes are HUGE here right now and I love getting to play around with them to use them as more of a meal than a side, and the bigger ones allow me to do that more easily. I was also really vibing with broccoli and cheese so I thought I’d put the two together. These Broccoli Cheese Twice Baked Potatoes are so big that they could definitely be used as a meal in themself which is basically what I ended up doing.

They also can be made ahead of time and then put through the final bake when you’re ready to enjoy them. I had planned to end up with two servings, but they were so big that I opted to go with twice baked rather than just a loaded potato. So I cooked two up for dinner one night and saved the other two for lunch the next day…

Air Fried Stuffed Mushrooms

January 4, 2023 Amanda Plott

These Air Fried Stuffed Mushrooms are really just another way to cook stuffed mushrooms. I’m just being honest here. It doesn’t change their taste at all, but it DOES change their texture. Usually when I bake my stuffed mushrooms they end up a little bit soggy on the bottom from cooking in their own water as it releasing in the cooking process. These, however, don’t end up that way!

It helped too to top these off with some grated parmesan which gave a little bit of a crunch factor to the tops of these stuffed mushrooms. They’re completely loaded with cheesy goodness too. Cream cheese, cheddar, and of course the parmesan. There’s even some bacon in there for extra yum…