You’d think for Mother’s Day I’d post about something that my mom at least likes, but nope, not me. I’ve got a schedule around here—I try to write about things in the order we make them, and today, it’s time to talk about Meatloaf. Sorry, Mom. Happy Mother’s Day, though!

Crazy thing? This is one of those recipes that came off of the Weight Watchers message boards, where it’s been floating around for ever, as far as I can tell. And despite the fact that it starts as a healthy “lightened up” version of meatloaf…in spite of how basic and simple this recipe is, it’s also my favorite meatloaf. It’s moist, and flavorful, with an absolute minimal amount of work.

The meatloaf mix itself takes some real shortcuts. This is a four ingredient recipe. While I enjoy shortcuts, especially on a weeknight, I usually recognize the trade-off I’m making. Not so, in this case. The ingredients are simple, the assembly couldn’t be easier, and using muffin tins in place of a loaf pan not only shortens the cook time, but builds in portion control (if you’re into that sort of thing).

Meatloaf Muffins

• 1 lb ground beef, turkey, pork, or a combination. (I used ground beef, because that’s what we keep on hand).
• 1 box stove top stuffing, prepared without fat
• 1 egg (If you want to make this as light as possible, feel free to use 2 egg whites in place of a whole egg)
• 1/2 cup ketchup

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a 6 muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray.

2. Prepare stuffing mix according to package directions, omitting the butter or margarine (using only water). Set a side.

3. In a medium bowl, use your fingers to combine ground beef, egg, and box of stuffing. Mix until everything is combined, but do not over mix. Shape into six muffin size patties, and place into prepared muffin tins.

4. Top each muffin with 1-2 tablespoons of ketchup. Bake in 375 degree oven for 20-25 minutes or until cooked all the way through.

I really, really enjoyed this Sweet & Sour Chicken recipe, and so did Leah and David. The sauce made with pineapple juice was much tastier than any sweet and sour sauce I’ve had at home. The water chestnuts and bell pepper added a satisfying crunch to the mixture, but the pineapple chunks were my favorite. This was very good with canned pineapple, but I imagine fresh pineapple could take it to a whole new level. I think I’ll try that next time.

Sweet & Sour Chicken
Adapted from Cooking Light magazine

• 1  tablespoon  olive oil
• 1  tablespoon  bottled minced garlic
• 1  teaspoon grated fresh ginger
• 1/4  teaspoon  crushed red pepper
• 1 1/2  pounds  skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 3/4  cup  chopped onion
• 1/2  cup  chopped red bell pepper
• 1 small can sliced water chestnuts, drained
• 1  (15 1/4-ounce) can pineapple chunks in juice, undrained
• 1/3  cup  reduced-sodium soy sauce
• 2  tablespoons  rice vinegar
• 1 1/2  tablespoons  cornstarch
• 2  teaspoons  brown sugar
• 1/4  cup  dry-roasted chopped cashews
• 1 batch of prepared Baked Brown Rice, recipe follows

This Chicken Cordon Bleu (Chicken breast, stuffed with ham and cheese) recipe lightens the traditional fried version by using part-skim mozzarella in place of the fattier swiss cheese and by baking instead of frying. The prosciutto brings a lot more flavor to the dish than the deli ham that most recipes call for. We were happy with the results.

Chicken Cordon Bleu
Adapted from Cooking Light magazine

For the past few seasons, I’ve watched The Biggest Loser pretty regularly. Sure, there’s nothing realistic about the conditions, and yes, they fall into the reality show trap of drama, drama, drama. But despite all of that, it’s still really inspiring what the contestants are able to accomplish in just a few weeks on the ranch.

I picked up The Biggest Loser Cookbook a while back, and finally got around to trying one of the recipes last week when I made their Pecan Crusted Chicken.

As the book said, the breading contains enough pecans to be satisfying, but not enough to make the crust unhealthy. This recipe was pretty simple, though I made a few changes to up the flavor a little bit. The recipe below is my take on this tasty dish.

Pecan-Crusted Chicken
Adapted from The Biggest Loser Cookbook

• 1 large egg white
• 4 tablespoons minced toasted pecans
• 1/4 cup dried bread crumbs
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh parsley leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• fresh cracked black pepper
• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 2 tablespoons dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon honey

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly mist a nonstick baking sheet with cooking spray, or cover with parchment paper. In a small shallow bowl, beat the egg white, honey, and mustard with a fork.

In another small bowl, combine the toasted pecans, bread crumbs, parsley, salt, and pepper. Spread on a sheet of wax paper. Dip each chicken breast into the egg white/mustard mixture to coat. Place the smooth side of the breast on the nut mixture; press to adhere. Place the breast, nut side up, on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the other chicken breasts and place on the baking sheet, so that the pieces are not touching.

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until no longer pink. Let stand 5 minutes.

Note: If you’ve never toasted pecans, it’s pretty simple to do. You can either spread them in a single layer on a non-stick baking sheet and bake on the top rack of a 350 degree oven for 2-4 minutes until lightly browned. You can also toast pecans or other nuts in a small skillet over medium heat. Keep an eye on them, because they can burn quickly. Your nose will know when they’re done though–toasted pecans smell delicious!

Another soup? I know, right?

Truth be told, David had to have a tooth pulled, and that had me seeking out soft things for him to eat. There’s not much softer than soup!

This chicken & dumpling soup was a tasty, quick meal. Using store-bought chicken stock gave this dish a long-cooked taste, even though it was finished in about half an hour. Fresh herbs really upped the flavor profile from what you’d normally expect in a quick soup. All in all, I was pleased.

Herbed Chicken & Dumpling Soup
Adapted from Cooking Light Magazine

• Cooking spray
• 8  ounces  skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 3/4  cup  (1/4-inch) diagonally cut celery
• 1/2  cup  (1/4-inch) diagonally cut carrot
• 1/2  cup  chopped onion
• 1/8  teaspoon  dried thyme
• 3  parsley sprigs
• 1  bay leaf
• 3  cups chicken stock
• 2.25  ounces  all-purpose flour (about 1/2 cup)
• 1  tablespoon  chopped fresh parsley
• 1/4  teaspoon  baking powder
• 1/4  teaspoon  salt
• 1/4  cup  1% low-fat milk

I’m always on the lookout for healthy recipes that don’t look like healthy recipes. Partly because I’m not generally a fan of HEALTHY healthy food. Partly because I don’t care for very many vegetables. Partly because I like cooking too much to give up all the tasty things I love to make. Partly because if I want to eat healthy, I’ve got to find a way to make sure my “test kitchen” wants to eat it also.

This recipe sounded promising from the start. Cream cheese? Pesto? Crunchy chicken breast? Sounds amazing, doesn’t it? Hardly sounds healthy at all, really. Except that the cheese is low-fat cream cheese, the pesto is made with heart-healthy olive oil, the breading is egg whites and super-crunchy panko and the chicken is briefly pan-fried before being finished in the oven–giving it all the crunch of a fattening fried chicken breast, with much less oil.

Cheesy Pesto Stuffed Chicken Breasts
Adapted from EatingWell Magazine

• 2 tablespoons reduced-fat cream cheese (neufchâtel cheese)
• 1 tablespoon basil pesto (store-bought or homemade)
• Freshly ground pepper to taste
• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (1-1 1/4 pounds total)
• 1 egg white
• 1/4 cup plain dry breadcrumbs
• 1/4 cup panko breadcrumbs
• 1/2 tsp Italian Seasoning blend
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Coat a rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray.

2. Combine cream cheese, pesto and pepper in a small bowl with a fork.

3. Cut a horizontal slit along the thin, long edge of a chicken breast half, nearly through to the opposite side. Open up each breast and place one-fourth of the filling in the center. Close the breast over the filling, pressing the edges firmly together to seal. Repeat with the remaining chicken breasts and filling.

4. Lightly beat egg white with a fork in a medium bowl. Place both kinds of breadcrumbs in a shallow glass dish. Stir in italian seasoning and garlic powder. Hold each chicken breast half together and dip in the egg white, then dredge in the breadcrumbs. (Discard leftovers.)

5. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken breasts; cook until browned on one side, about 2 minutes. Place the chicken, browned-side up, on the prepared baking sheet. Bake until the chicken is no longer pink in the center or until an instant-read thermometer registers 170°F, about 20 minutes.

NUTRITION INFORMATION: Per chicken breast: 233 calories; 7 g fat; 71 mg cholesterol; 11 g carbohydrate; 30 g protein; 1 g fiber; 231 mg sodium.

Note: This is one of the most decadent healthy recipes I’ve come across in a long time. If you’ve never used neufchâtel cheese you’ll be pleasantly surprised; it’s like cream cheese, but has 1/3 less fat than traditional cream cheese, without any of the aftertaste or texture problems of “low fat,” “reduced fat,” or “fat free” cream cheese. Look for the “1/3 less fat than cream cheese” in the product name, and you’ll know you’re buying the right one. I did use a small container of storebought pesto, only because my basil crop wasn’t quite ripe for picking. I served this with Pesto Mashed Potatoes, which is code for leftover mashed potatoes with pesto in them (about 1 Tbsp of pesto for every cup of mashed potatoes). The whole dinner was delicious.

This recipe is another one from Cooking Light magazine’s Dinner Tonight series. I tend to like these recipes, because they’re just simple enough to be weeknight meals, but they’re still complicated enough that I enjoy cooking them. If that makes any sense at all. The original recipe called for sherry vinegar, but I used balsamic, because it’s what we have on hand, and what we like the best.

Chicken & Balsamic Vinegar Sauce
Adapted from Cooking Light Magazine

• 4 (4-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon butter
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1/2 cup minced shallots
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 3/4 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
• 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar (can also use Sherry Vinegar)2 tablespoons whipping cream
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Heat the butter and oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken; cook 4 minutes on each side. Remove from pan; keep warm. Add shallots & garlic to pan; sauté 1 minute. Stir in chicken broth and vinegar, and cook 2 minutes. Add whipping cream; cook 1 minute. Serve sauce with the chicken. Sprinkle with parsley.

Note: I liked this a lot. The small amount of cream and butter is just enough to develop a rich, creamy sauce, but not enough to cause too much damage to your waistline/diet/healthy lifestyle. I served this with mashed potatoes–and the sauce was great on the potatoes too!

I used fresh parsley, and I think it was worth it. It really brightened the flavors of the sauce, but if you don’t have fresh parsley on hand, I’m sure other fresh herbs would work, and of course, dry herbs will work in a pinch. Remember, if you’re making substitutions:  you don’t need anywhere near as much of a dried herb as you do a fresh one.

I know I say this about a lot of things, but I’m sure we’ll have this again. Everyone was pleased.

I know, I know. It sounds strange. Stranger than Pizza Casserole. Stranger than me liking broccoli. But really, it’s not so unheard of to use cola in a recipe. In the south, you’ll often find ham glazed with Dr. Pepper. I’ve heard of cola burgers, and cola cakes, and root beer barbecue. With all of that in mind, let me introduce you to Diet Coke Chicken.

The recipe is simple, and the way we do it only calls for a handful of ingredients. But the chicken comes out tender, moist, and flavorful. The crazy-simple sauce, similar to a barbecue sauce, is tangy and sweet, and delicious over rice or pasta. I paired the chicken with a brown rice pilaf and some corn, but really, anything to soak up the sauce (pasta, rice, or bread) will work just fine. I like to eat the chicken as it is, but you could also shred it for barbecue sandwiches. And if you want to dress it up a little, I’ve heard peppers and onions make a tasty addition, but I don’t really like those, so I stick with the basics.

Diet Coke Chicken

• 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1 cup of ketchup
• 1 can of diet coke
• salt and pepper

1. Place chicken breasts in a non-stick skillet in a single layer. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Pour ketchup and can of Diet Coke over the chicken breasts.

2. Cook the chicken and sauce covered, over medium heat until chicken is cooked through, about 25 minutes. Remove the cover and reduce until sauce thickens.

3. Serve over rice or pasta, or shred and make barbecue sandwiches. Both ways are tasty!

I know, I know. It sounds weird. But if you’re feeling adventurous, you should really give this a try. It’s easy, and tasty, and pretty healthy as well. If you dont have Diet Coke, I bet Coke would work, though naturally, the calorie count goes up. I’ve also tried it with Diet Dr. Pepper, which worked great, though it was a little sweeter than the original.

I enjoy cooking, but sometimes I want something quick and easy and this definitely qualifies. It’s simple, but it really hits the spot for a pizza craving, and the way I make it, it’s a lot healthier too. It’s delicious as it is, but if you’re not very health conscious, you could certainly use higher-fat ingredients. I don’t think you need to, though.

Bubble Up Pizza Casserole

• 1 pound 96% lean ground beef
• 1 onion, chopped (I skipped the onion)
• 16 oz. low-fat pizza sauce
• 15 oz can tomato sauce
• 1/2 tsp dried basil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp Italian seasoning
• 17 slices Turkey Pepperoni
• 15 oz. refrigerated breadsticks or biscuit dough
• 2 c. part skim milk mozzarella cheese, shredded
• Veggie Toppings (feel free to add any vegetables you’d put on pizza: mushrooms, olives, whatever. I personally skip the veggies on my pizza, so I skipped them here too)

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. In skillet, brown beef and pepperoni over medium heat until browned, stirring to crumble. Drain beef and return to skillet. Stir in onion, tomato sauce, Pizza sauce, basil, garlic and Italian seasoning.

2. Add veggies, if using. Add quartered biscuits; stir gently until biscuits are covered with sauce. Spoon mixture into a 9×13 inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Bake for 25 minutes. Sprinkle with cheese, and bake an additional 10 minutes or until biscuits are done. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Note: I’ve made this one before, and I’m sure I’ll make it again. I like it better with breadstick dough than with the biscuit dough, but it was good both ways. The directions may sound strange, but the dough pieces puff up from inside the dish to take the place of pizza crust. It’s really good.

This recipe is another one of those healthy ones–it’s from the most recent Weight Watchers Magazine. The recipe calls for chicken drumsticks, with the skin removed, but I used boneless, skinless chicken breasts; it’s pretty much all we stock around here. I also substituted “Mustard Girl” American Dijon Mustard (a very nice, flavorful mustard we found at Whole Foods on our last trip there–I’m anxious to try some of the other flavors), for the whole grain Dijon mustard the recipe called for. The mustard actually makes a pretty good substitute for a traditional breading. The chicken was crispy, in part due to the mustard (which in addition to being healthy and tasty, didn’t make the breading soggy at all) and in part due to the panko bread crumbs.

If you’ve never used panko before, they’re a special kind of japanese bread crumb that are more like bread flakes. They’re extra crunchy, and you can find them at just about any grocery store. They’re working their way towards mainstream, so you might find them with the stuffing and other bread crumb items, but if you don’t see them there, check with the asian foods. I’ll bet your store stocks them.

Easy Chicken Dijon
Adapted from Weight Watchers Magazine

• 8 chicken drumsticks, skinned (about 2 lbs) — (I used 1 pound of boneless skinless chicken breasts instead)
• 3 Tbsp. whole-grain Dijon mustard
• 2/3 c. panko bread crumbs
• 1 1/2 tsp. dried herbs (such as tarragon, oregano, or thyme) — (I used oregano)
• salt and pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or foil and lightly spray with nonstick spray.

2. Brush the drumsticks with the mustard. Mix the bread crumbs, herbs, salt, and pepper in a large zip-top plastic bag, add the drumsticks. Squeeze out the air an seal the bag, turn to coat the drumsticks.

3. Place the drumsticks on the prepared baking sheet and lightly spray with nonstick spray. Bake until browned and cooked through, 35-40 minutes, spraying the drumsticks with non-stick spray halfway through the baking time. Let stand about 5 minutes before serving.

Note: Be sure the chicken is dry (just pat it down with a paper towel) before you try to bread it, otherwise, it might get soggy on you. This recipe is mostly a method and could be changed quite a bit by changing up the seasonings. I skipped the whole shake and bake routine and just put out the crumbs in a pie tin to bread the chicken, but I guess the ziploc bag method will save you a dish or two.

This actually turned out a lot like that Paula Deen “Chicken Sticks” recipe but was much, much healthier. Nothing earth-shattering here, but I might make it again. It was certainly quick and easy! Next time, I might add a little bit of honey to the mustard before breading the chicken.