Grilled Summer Vegetable Kebobs: Zucchini & Yellow Squash with Pearl Onions

While I'm sure there's a recipe out there for this, I've never looked for one. I love zucchini, yellow squash and the grill, so there's my inspiration right there.

As with the recent grilling post, not much goes into it, but it's a great option for the grill. Since the goal for this blog is to offer people a variety of healthy eating options, this fits the bill. One of the biggest challenges in keeping with a healthy eating pattern is when we're pressed for time. So the next time you're grilling and you don't have much time to prepare, these vegetables along with the Cinnamon Ginger Grilled Boneless Pork Chop is an easy, quick solution.

Ingredients:

• 2 medium zucchini, washed and thickly sliced
  
• 2 yellow squash, washed and thickly sliced
  
• 6 oz. bag pearl onions, peeled
  
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
  
• 2-3 tsp. minced jarred garlic
  
• Salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Slice the vegetables (a bit thick so they are easier to skewer) and add to a medium to large size bowl. I halve the larger diameter yellow squash pieces.
   
2. Peel onion and halve a few of them against the layers (so they can still be easily put on the skewers) and add to bowl.
3. Add olive oil, garlic, salt & pepper and toss.
4. Thread onto skewers as desired (I did yellow squash, zucchini, onion). Be sure to go against the onion layers so they're not as likely to fall off.
5. Cook over a hot grill until done to your liking (we usually add them to the grill before it's quite hot enough for meat. They tend to take a bit longer to cook than meat).
   
6. De-skewer and enjoy!

Notes:

This amount of vegetables filled 3 large skewers. I also have a grill pan that sets directly on the grill. I've grilled them this way a number of times and they are just as good. For this I usually use large sweet onion chunks instead of pearl onions. You could also substitute them for the kebobs.

Nutritional Information:

Makes about 6 servings. Roughly per serving:

70 calories
4.7 grams of fat (.6 saturated)
1.9 grams of dietary fiber

About 1 WW point.

Cinnamon Ginger Grilled Boneless Pork Chop

Inspired from my sister, who came up with this great idea for a quick pork chop grill-side flavor boost!

This isn't as much of a recipe, per se, as it is a great idea to keep handy when in need of a quick option to throw on the grill. When everyone else is grilling up their full-fat hot dogs, hamburgers and brats, they'll be jealous of your awesome pork chop. It's quick and simple. Best part is that it's different from a marinade in that it can be prepared right before putting the meat on the grill vs. having to sit in the refrigerator for hours.

Ingredients:

• Boneless, skinless pork chops, thawed and trimmed of fat (as many as you want to grill)
• Olive oil cooking spray
• Ground ginger
  
• Ground cinnamon
  

Directions:

Trim fat off pork (I know, that's the good stuff, but trimming it is what makes the pork a great grilling option and a departure from chicken).

Arrange pork chops on a plate/platter.

Lightly spray each one with cooking spray (you don't need much - it's just to help the seasonings stick).

Sprinkle each pork chop moderately with ginger then cinnamon.

Add to a sufficiently heated grill (we use charcoal, so I'm not sure the temperature for gas), turn at least once and cook through.

Enjoy!

Nutritional information per 3 oz. serving:
*According to WebMD, a 3 oz. serving of lean meat is about the size of a deck of playing cards*

164 calories
5.7 grams of fat
1.9 grams saturated fat
0 grams dietary fiber

About 4 WW points.

Note: Pay attention to the meat size, as most boneless pork chops are greater than 3 oz. when purchased pre-cut. One way to keep portion control in check is to cook as-is and when the meat is cooked, cut one to be a similar size to a deck of cards. Keep the rest for leftovers or share with someone.

Aaaand, if you really want a picture, here you go. When this came off the grill the other night, I didn't have time to take a better one...bad layout and a bit blurry but you get the idea. The pork is not burned, the cinnamon just makes it darker.

Updated Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip bread

Sorry to my RSS readers! I accidentally posted the bread while editing. It's now finished! I also updated to have the correct calories. I couldn't figure out why I was getting such a high calorie content but then realized I was only including one loaf in my count instead of three! It's now fixed.

Low Fat Oatmeal Banana Chocolate Chip Bread - No Oil, No Butter!

Inspired from this recipe for Low Fat Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Muffins.

Sorry for the posting delay - went on a quick vacation!

Ingredients:

• 3 large ripe bananas, mashed*
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1 tsp. vanilla
  
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
  
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup instant oats
• 1/2 tsp. salt
  
• 1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1/3 cup chocolate chips (mini chocolate chips recommended)

*Mine were frozen, so I thawed and mashed. When I have uneaten ripe bananas, I peel and freeze in a ziplock bag. Works great for baking with bananas.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350.

In a medium sized bowl, mash bananas with a fork. Add sugar and stir. Add beaten egg and vanilla. Mix and set aside.

In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, oats, salt and cinnamon.

Add the dry ingredients to the banana mixture, mix well and then add the applesauce.

Stir in the chocolate chips.

Spray three small loaf pans with cooking spray and distribute batter evenly between them, filling each about 2/3 full. This would likely make one large loaf and one small loaf as well.

Bake at 350 for 30-35 min., until golden brown on top. Stick a toothpick in the middle of one of the loafs to be sure they're baked through.

Let bread cool in pans for a few minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack and let cool 10-15 minutes more.

Each loaf yields 10 thin slices.

Review: This bread ROCKED. I made it during a very busy week and it was awesome to grab a slice of this and some fruit for breakfast as I ran out the door. It definitely cures a chocolate fix. I highly recommend using the mini chocolate chips, as it distributed the chocolate flavor throughout the bread.

I find it hard to believe a recipe can be this good and has no butter and no oil! That's a winner in my book. Sometimes I find baking can be dry when aiming for a lower fat content but the amount of bananas and applesauce in this recipe alleviate that for sure. And it doesn't TASTE low fat, which is even better.

We will definitely be repeating this recipe. The only issue is self-control when a loaf of bread is sitting out!

We ate the first one and froze the other two and they were just as good frozen and thawed as the freshly baked loaf.

Yum!

Nutritional Information:

Serving size 1 slice, at 10 slices per loaf:
70 calories
1.2 grams of fat
1.3 grams of dietary fiber


1 WW points

At 8 slices per loaf:
83 calories
1.5 grams of fat
1.6 grams of dietary fiber

1 WW points (I'd probably count as 1.5)

Weight Watchers Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies - 1 pt. each

Adapted from Weight Watchers.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour*
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder OR dark chocolate powder (I used Hershey's)
• 2 large egg whites
• 1/3 cup mini chocolate chips
• Cooking spray

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Spoon the flour into a cup, level off, pour into a medium-sized mixing bowl
3. Add baking soda and salt - stir
4. With a mixer in a separate bowl, beat butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy
5. Gradually add sugar and beat well
6. While still beating, add cocoa and egg whites
7. Once combined, slowly add flour mixture until blended
8. Stir in chocolate chips
9. Spray baking sheet and drop by teaspoons onto sheet
10. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes
11. Cool on pans a couple of minutes until firm and then transfer to cooling racks

Makes 40 cookies (see review). *Do not go over 1 cup flour. There isn't a ton of liquid in this recipe and if there's extra flour, they likely won't turn out as well.

Review:

I love these cookies. They are a GREAT option when needing a chocolate fix. I made two batches - one with regular unsweetened cocoa powder and one with dark chocolate. Since I'm a big dark chocolate fan, I do like those ones a bit more, but both are good. It would be easy to make these cookies to bring to a party or to serve to guests without them even knowing it's a healthier cookie recipe. I seriously need to make these more often. Yum!

The key to keeping these cookies low in calories is to count the number of cookies dropped on the sheet. I count to make sure I have 40 cookies. Then I know the serving size is correct.

Nutritional information per cookie:

53 calories
1.8 grams fat
.3 grams dietary fiber