Skinny Sweet & Sour Chicken

Skinny Sweet & Sour Chicken

Servings: 4

Time it'll take: about 40 mins

What you'll need:

• 4 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts, cut into 1" cubes
• 1 tbsp. Canola Oil
• 1 cup Snow Peas
• 1 Red or Yellow Bell Pepper, cut into chunks
• 1 Yellow Onion, cut into chunks
• 1 14 oz. can Pineapple Chunks
• 1/4 cup Water
• 1/4 cup Brown Sugar
• 3 tbsp. White Vinegar
• 2 tbsp. low-sodium Soy Sauce 
• 1 tbsp. Cornstarch
• 1 tsp. minced Ginger
• 2 tsp. minced Garlic

What to do:

• Heat oil in a large skillet or wok over high heat.  
• Add Chicken and stir-fry until slightly browned and cooked through.

• While the chicken cooks, drain juice from Pineapple into a small bowl and set the chunks aside.
• In the bowl with the juice, stir in Water, Brown Sugar, Vinegar, Soy Sauce, Cornstarch Ginger and Garlic.  Set aside.

• Once cooked through, remove chicken to a bowl, leaving leftover oil in pan.
• Add snow peas, pepper and onion to pan and stir-fry about 2 mins.  Add to the bowl with the bowl with the chicken.

• Pour the juice mixture into the empty pan, lower the heat to medium, and cook, stirring to scrape up any brown bits.  Cook until sauce simmers and begins to thicken, 3-5 mins.
• Add chicken and vegetables to the pan, along with the pineapple chunks.
• Stir constantly, until sauce is thick and glossy, and everything is heated through -- another 5 mins. or so. 

Serve with instant brown or basmati brown rice, and with some Veggie Spring Rolls or Potstickers as a side (Chung's or Trader Joes are my faves.)


ENJOY! :)


Nutrition Information (per serving):
345 calories, 5g Fat, 40g Carbs, 3g Fiber, 31g Protein
     (*Note: 1 serving of Rice adds about 150 calories, 1.5 g Fat, 34g Carbs, 2g Fiber & 3g Protein)

Skinny Baked Ziti

Skinny Baked Ziti with Sausage & 'Shrooms

Servings: 8

Time it'll take: about 1 hr & 10 mins

What you'll need:

• 12 oz. box Whole Wheat Ziti or Penne
• 12 oz. Jenni-O Lean Italian Turkey Sausage Links (Sweet or Hot, about 4 links)
• 1 5 oz. pkg. Sliced Mushrooms
• 1 tsp. Smart Balance Light butter spread
• 1 14 oz. can Diced Tomatoes w/ Basil, Garlic & Oregano
• 15 oz. Ragu Chunky Garden Tomato & Garlic Pasta Sauce
• 1 tsp. dried Thyme
• 1 tsp. dried Rosemary
• 3/4 cup low-fat Ricotta Cheese
• 1 1/2 cups Shredded Mozzarella (part-skim)
• 1/2 tsp. Garlic Powder
• 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan, divided

What to do:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Boil a medium pot of water, and cook Ziti until al dente (cooked through but firm to the bite). Drain and set aside.
• While the pasta cooks, cook Sausages over medium heat until cooked through.
• In a separate, small saucepan, heat the butter spread until melted, then sauté the Mushrooms, stirring constantly, until soft (about 10 minutes).
• Remove both from heat.  Once cooled, cut the sausages into slices, and combine with mushrooms and set aside.
• In the larger saucepan, add Diced Tomatoes, Pasta Sauce, Thyme & Rosemary, and simmer over medium heat for about 5 mins.  (Cover if you don't want to get red sauce all over your kitchen. :)  Remove from heat, and combine with sausage & 'shrooms.
• In a medium bowl, combine Ricotta, Mozzarella, Garlic Powder & half of Parmesan.  Mix well.
• Spray an 8 x 8 baking pan with cooking spray, and layer ingredients one by one -- Sauce/Sausage mixture, then Ziti, then Cheese mixture.  Repeat layers until all ingredients are used.  
• Lastly, sprinkle remaining Parmesan evenly across top.
• Cover with foil, and bake 25 mins.  Remove foil and bake 10-15 additional mins -- until its bubbly-deliciousness! 

Serve with a simple salad, like the LMS Favorite Salad!


ENJOY!

Nutrition Information (per serving):

380 calories, 13g Fat, 43g Carbs, 5g Fiber & 21g Protein

Skinny Mediterranean Baked Chicken

Skinny Mediterranean Baked Chicken

Servings: 4

Time it'll take: about 1 hr

What you'll need:

• 4 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts
• 8 garlic cloves
• 1/2 cup crumbled Feta Cheese
• 1 tbsp. Olive Oil
• Salt & Pepper
• 2 tsp. dried Oregano
• 1 whole Lemon, cut into slices
• 1/2 cup Kalamata Olives, pitted

What to do:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• Gently cut a slit across the side of each Chicken Breast, creating a pocket. (Careful not to cut through the other side, or the bottom.  It's easier than it sounds.)
• Peel and crush the garlic cloves to a mashed consistency, then spread 2 cloves of garlic in the pocket of each chicken breast.
• Stuff each pocket with some of the feta cheese, then fold the top flap over so as to seal up the pocket.  Reserve a little bit of Feta for after baking.
• Rub each chicken breast with a little bit of the olive oil, then sprinkle with salt, pepper & oregano.  
• Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray, and set the stuffed chicken breasts on it.
• Slice the lemon into 8 slices and the Kalamata Olives into halves.
• Squeeze the juice from the lemons evenly onto the chicken, the scatter the lemons on the baking sheet around the chicken so they are touching.
• Scatter the Olives so that there are several resting on each chicken breast.
• Put in the oven and bake about 45 mins., until done.  (Be sure to cut into the chicken breasts to make sure they're cooked through.)
• Remove from oven and sprinkle with remaining feta.

Serve with a simple salad with greek dressing, like the LMS Favorite Salad, or if you want a starch, go for Roasted New Potatoes! Mmmm...

ENJOY!

Nutrition Information (per serving):

310 calories, 10g Fat, 4g Carbs, 1g Fiber & 40g Protein

Welcome!

WELCOME to Little Miss Skinny!

... where healthy eating isn't a diet, it's a lifestyle!

(and it's delicious, too!)

Well, hello there!  A big welcome to the newest installment of the fabulous "Little Miss" conglomerate -- Little Miss SKINNY!  I'm Mika, and I'm just a regular, working girl with a busy schedule and a burning desire to stay healthy & skinny despite it!  

Over the last few years, I've set out to make a lifestyle out of healthy cooking & eating on a limited budget and without much time to spare.  And what I've found -- it's TOTALLY do'able!


But what I've also found is that while there are a lot of great websites out there with lots of great recipes, there are a LOT of flaws.  (Not easy to navigate, too much content, cook time and nutrition facts are inaccurate, and worst of all, some of the recipes just DON'T TASTE GOOD!  And trust me, there's nothing worse than spending time cooking a meal, only to be disappointed in how it tastes.)

And so, Little Miss Skinny was born!  It's a one-stop-shop for great recipes for you and/or your whole crew, and all of them are easy, accurate, and DELICIOUS!  I cook for myself & 2 hungry boys (my boyfriend and my little brother) on a nightly basis, so everything I post is "kid tested and psuedo-mother approved." ;) So be sure to check in often, and enjoy!

XOXO, Little Miss Skinny