Taco Stuffed Zucchini Boats

For a summer spin on taco night, try these zucchini stuffed with ground turkey, seasoned with cumin and spiced and topped with a blend of Mexican cheese – cheesy goodness!!

I actually got the inspiration for this dish from a comment I read on my sausage stuffed zucchini boats, I love when you guys give me new ideas! They turned out so good, and will be a part of my summer rotation.

As part of the Target Inner Circle, I got this very large casserole dish from Target's FEED USA collection. Target partnered up with FEED USA, and with every purchase you make from them, you help provide meals to children and families across America – such a great cause! By purchasing this dish you will provide approximately 20 meals for children and families across America. I always try to do my part and donate to the food pantry at my local church and to other organizations, but this another great way to help. They have everything from bags, to lunch bags, t-shirts, jewelery and lot of great kitchen items I want to go back and purchase. Back to the recipe – these are low-carb and gluten free, and made with nothing but clean ingredients so you can enjoy two pieces without the guilt!

Click Here To See The Full Recipe...

Eggs and Tomato Breakfast Melts

I'm in love with these easy open faced breakfast sandwiches made on a whole wheat English muffin with egg whites and scallions, then topped with heirloom tomatoes and melted cheese - mmm!

Tomatoes, eggs and scallions are always a winning combination for me - especially now when summer tomatoes are at their sweetest! If you can't find heirloom tomatoes, red grape tomatoes or cherry tomatoes would be just as great.

Click Here To See The Full Recipe...

Sauteed Julienned Summer Vegetables

Zucchini, yellow squash and carrots cut into spaghetti like strands and sauteed with garlic and oil. I make this side dish ALL summer long – not just because it's low-carb, gluten-free, clean and paleo friendly, but because it's delicious, good for you and also happens to be my husband's favorite way to enjoy zucchini!

This goes great with anything you grill, but I especially love serving this as a side to fish. It almost feels like you're eating noodles, maybe you can call them "zoodles".

The trick to quickly cutting the vegetables into thin long strips is to use a mandolin with a julienne blade. You could also do this with a sharp knife if you have serious knife skills, but I say splurge on a mandolin. My mandolin is from OXO, I've had it a few years and I get so much use out of it. I basically run the vegetables through the mandolin until I get the center where the seeds are, then I turn it. The carrots are a bit tougher to cut, so sometimes I just buy a bag of pre-shredded carrots. Once the cutting is done, it takes less than 4 minutes to cook, or vegetables that are tender crisp like al dente pasta.

Click Here To See The Full Recipe...

Eggplant Panini with Pesto

My friend gave me eggplants from her garden, and I used it to make this delicious hot pressed sandwich. If you can find a whole wheat baguette, even better! A perfect summer panini made with eggplant, tomatoes, mozzarella and skinny pesto on crispy French bread. Make this for one, or for the whole family.

I love, love, LOVE Panini night in my house because everyone is happy and they are so easy to make. If you're capable of making a grilled cheese, then you can make a panini, that's how simple and you don't need a fancy panini press to make it. Prior to owning my panini press, I used my George Forman grill or made them on the stove in a grill pan with an iron skillet on top to press it down.

I grilled the eggplant right on the panini press, so there's no dirtying extra pans. A perfect Meatless Monday dish, and even the meat-lovers in your house will enjoy this sandwich. 

If you're a newbie to Skinnytaste, check out my tip on how to make a larger sandwich for less calories. If you are making this for one, simply divide the ingredients by four.

Click Here To See The Full Recipe...

Creamy Corn Soup with Queso Fresco and Cilantro

I love this soup, and this is the perfect time of year to make it with summer corn at it's sweetest! The temperatures we were having last week were in the high nineties and soup was the last thing on my mind. But finally we are back in the eighties, and a bowl of soup is always comforting to me.

Inspired from a Colombian soup called Crema De Mazorca from the Andean region of Colombia, this soup is sweet and creamy, made with fresh summer corn. I didn't use any cream, instead it's simmered in low fat milk and thickened with a potato, once pureed it's thick and velvety. Then I finished it with some crumbled queso fresco and fresh cilantro with gives it that sweet-savory finish that we love in my home!

If you can't find queso fresco in your area, try another salty cheese like cotija, ricotta salata or a mild feta.

Sure, you could probably make this from frozen corn, but I don't think it would taste nearly as good so for best results, make this with fresh corn while it's in season. This is a great meatless soup, perfect for vegetarians and it also happens to be gluten free!

Click Here To See The Full Recipe...

Chipotle Lobster and Avocado Wrap

Chipotle lobster salad with avocado, scallions, cilantro and lettuce on a whole wheat wrap – fabulous!!

A few weeks ago I grabbed a bite at Lenny's clam bar with my husband and daughter and we ordered the special – the chipotle lobster avocado burrito. It was SOOO good I HAD to recreate a lighter version of it myself.

I don't eat lobster often because it's not cheap, but I love it and like to treat myself once in a while, especially in the summer. I went to my local fish market and bought a 2 pound lobster and had them steam it for me (I personally don't love cooking live lobsters). All the fish markets near me steam them for you for the same price as buying it live. This yielded enough lobster meat for 4 servings.

Then I tossed the lobster with lemon juice, a little light mayo and yogurt to make it creamy and added some chipotle peppers in adobo sauce to give it a little kick. Tossed in some chopped scallion and fresh cilantro and the lobster salad was delicious.

I wrapped it on a whole wheat tortilla with avocado and lettuce (you can lower the carbs and make it gluten free by turning this into a lettuce wrap) and had myself a fabulous lunch over a bed of greens.

If you want to make a lunch to impress or even a light dinner, this is the perfect wrap!

Click Here To See The Full Recipe...

Baked Eggplant Sticks

Strips of eggplant, breaded and baked until golden and served with a quick marinara sauce. Serve these as a snack, appetizer or side dish. I'm making these tonight with an eggplant I bought at the farmer's market and figured I would revive the recipe from the archives. Enjoy!

I can vividly remember the day when my picky daughter, who was in middle school at the time, told me she liked eggplant.  

Eggplant? Really? She was eating dinner at a friend's and they were having breaded eggplant for dinner and she loved it. Kids are always more willing to try new food when they are eating over their friends'. I was delighted she liked a new vegetable and I made breaded eggplant for her at least once a month, only I baked them instead of making them fried.

Eggplant is probably not for everyone, but if you like eggplant, or want to try introducing them to your family and don't know how, this is a good place to start. There are many varieties of eggplant, Japanese eggplant is a bit sweeter and milder. If you have a farmer's market near you, you will find a lot of varieties is season right now.



Click Here To See The Full Recipe...

Chilled Watermelon Cucumber Feta Salad

Chilled watermelon and chunks of cucumber are tossed with feta cheese, Kalamata olives, fresh mint and a drizzle of balsamic glaze. It's that salty-sweet thing going on here that's so good – and will keep you cool as a cucumber during these dog days of summer.

This is the ONLY salad I want this week; temperatures are going to be in the high 90's all week long here in New York. During these sultry months, I usually make my watermelon salad with arugula, feta and red onion, but I loved this new combination with cucumber, mint and olives for an alternative, and a great way to use up any cucumbers you may have lying around.

You can double this to make a big bowl for a crowd, or cut it in half if you want to serve two. This makes a great side dish to grilled chicken, or seafood.

Click Here To See The Full Recipe...

Savory Zucchini Asiago Tomato Scones

Light and biscuit-like savory scones made with a blend of whole wheat and white flour, shredded zucchini, sun dried tomato, Asiago cheese and fresh rosemary. Almost smells like pizza when it comes out of the oven!

I was at the farmer's market in Long Beach this past weekend and bought lots of zucchini and tomatoes. I also came across a stand selling savory scones, a concept I fell in love with. Rather than my usual scones that I make with fruit, these are made with seasonal summer ingredients – perfect for brunch, lunch or with dinner. Today I had a scone for lunch with a beautiful heirloom tomato salad from the tomatoes I bought over the weekend. I'm thinking the leftovers would be perfect for dinner tonight with my homemade tomato bisque using the rest of the tomatoes I have.

Scones are usually made with double the amount of butter, to lighten them I have been having great success replacing butter with whipped butter in my baked recipes which is a lighter since it's whipped. I also use half the amount of butter used in traditional scones, and adding the zucchini really helps give the scones lots of moisture. The scones come out tender and soft with lots of wonderful flavor.

Click Here To See The Full Recipe...

Simply Obsessed Frozen Coconut Mango Pops

Frozen popsicles made with coconut milk and pureed mango, so good!!

We're having a heat wave here in New York. The kind of heat that you don't want to be outside, unless you're in a pool or sprinkler keeping you cool. I won't dare turn my oven on this week, even grilling is out of the question until things cool down.

But these ice pops... I'm obsessed!! I'm making these all summer long, I can't even begin to tell you how delicious they are. I don't think any of my other ice pops come close. And since so many of you asked about what popsicle mold I use, I linked the popsicle maker from Progressive available on Amazon here.

Click Here To See The Full Recipe...

Sausage Stuffed Zucchini Boats

Hope you all had a happy July 4th!! With zucchini season in full bloom, I thought I would revive this from the archives - one of my absolute favorites!! Enjoy!!

Summer zucchini hollowed out and stuffed with lean Italian sausage, then topped with marinara and cheese.

OMG! You guys are going to love these!

I've had this concept in my head for a while, but now that zucchini is in full season and my friend gave me some fresh from her garden, I put my idea to the test. The results were simply amazing, thumbs up all around, especially from my picky teen!

One boat fills me up, but you can enjoy two and still be in good shape. I love Polly-O part-skim mozzarella because it melts beautifully as you can see in the photo. I'm pretty picky about my Italian sausage, but I love al fresco's sweet Italian chicken sausage, you forget it's chicken while you eat it and it's 75% less fat that pork sausage, and it's gluten-free. Hope you enjoy.

Click Here To See The Full Recipe...

The Best Grilled Portobello Mushroom Burgers

I set out to make a great tasting grilled portobello mushroom burger that even a meat lover would love. The mushrooms are marinated then grilled and topped with melted Swiss Cheese, grilled red onion,  tomatoes, spinach, and avocado – yum!!

The only thing my husband said would make these burgers better is adding bacon... maybe next time.
I wanted to give the mushrooms a meaty flavor, so I marinated them with balsamic, soy sauce and Montreal steak seasoning. These were so good, perfect for meatless Mondays or any night of the week.

Click Here To See The Full Recipe...