Our go to healthy dish is what hubby likes to call zucchini surprise. I don't know the exact calorie count but I imagine its pretty low in calories, not the prettiest looking dinner but it tastes good and you can eat a bunch and not feel too guilty.
Ingredients:
2-3 chicken breasts - can be boneless or bone-in depending on preference
1 onion diced
1 green pepper diced
1- jalepeno (can be omitted if you don't like spicy food)
1- small can tomato paste
1- 14oz can diced tomatoes
6 -8 small zucchini cut into half circles about 1/2 inch thick
chicken stock
2 cloves garlic or garlic powder
pinch of red pepper flakes
olive oil

Directions:
In large pot add heat olive oil and brown chicken breasts. Add onion, jalapeno, (if using) and green pepper. Saute veggies for a few minutes. Add garlic saute 2 minutes more (if using garlic powder I wait till I add tomatoes) Add zucchini and enough chicken stock to just barely cover. Add tomato paste, diced tomatoes, salt, pepper, and pinch of red pepper flakes. Cook on medium heat for about an hour. You are looking for the zucchini to really break down and become soft and obviously for the chicken to be cooked. Also the sauce should have reduced and not be soupy. Hubby likes to pull the chicken out, shred it and throw back in. If using boneless skinless you can also cube the chicken before or after cooking. Check dish for seasoning before serving and if you like you can serve with a bit of grated Parmesan.

Strawberryhill-

Good idea. I'm always looking for new recipes in this category.

If you like the Honey Walnut Crunch, you may also like "Sweetly Spiced Crispy Pecans" - recipe at the link below (I've also made the recipe with almonds and walnuts, but we like pecans the best).

This recipe improves the nutrition of the nuts because they are soaked and dehydrated. Soaking makes nuts easier to digest (for anyone who gets a bellyache after eating too many nuts), and their nutrients are more readily available. So soaking them improves the nutrition. Another nutritional plus - palm sugar is a nutritional improvement because it's low-glycemic (doesn't raise blood sugar like granulated sugar) and a nutritional profile that is far and above a better choice than brown sugar (you can see a comparison chart here: http://coconutpalmsugar.com/Nutritional_Information.html)

Another plus.... No burned batches because they are dried in a dehydrator.

FYI: Walnuts contain large amounts of triple unsaturated linolenic acid and are more susceptible to rancidity, so you can do a couple things to improve the shelf-life - soak them in lightly salted water overnight and dehydrate until they are crispy dry; and always store them in the refrigerator or freezer. As soon as I get walnuts home from the store I soak, dehydrate, and freeze them. High heat will cause the walnut oil to go rancid much faster.

I make all our snack foods: microwave sweet potato chips, baked whole-grain "chips" (nothing more than freshly-milled flour, water and seasoning/s of choice - baked on a cookie sheet), dehydrated zucchini and cucumber chips, dehydrated apple slices, granola (especially good with a dollop of homemade coconut milk kefir), gluten-free crackers made with almond pulp, sprouted and seasoned lentils dehydrated until crispy, Lentil Granola Bars (made with sprouted lentils, unsweetened coconut, cacao nibs, chia seeds), homemade "KIND" bars (good for traveling)...

At least once a month I make a gelatin-based snack from an assortment of recipes found on-line. Lots of health benefits in gelatin. One recipe is made with blueberries, another is made with fresh orange and lemon juice, "Pumpkin Jello" was good for Thanksgiving week, there are a few coffee-flavored ones that are nice, and in December I made one that was very fudge-like. So "Knox Blocks" can be for adults too ;-).

COCONUT-PINEAPPLE GUMMIES
1/2 c. coconut milk, full-fat or light (I use reconstituted powdered coconut milk or make my own with unsweetened coconut)
1/2 c. pineapple juice (I also use pineapple/orange juice)
6 T. gelatin powder
2 T. raw honey (or palm sugar nectar or agave nectar)
1/2 t. vanilla

Before heating, combine all ingredients in a pan and stir until lumps are gone. Heat on med-low 5-minutes until gelatin dissolves. Pour into an 8x8-inch glass dish. Cool in refrigerator until it sets. Cut into 1-inch blocks.

Perhaps homemade sugar-free marshmallows will be my next use for gelatin now that we are in the middle of cocoa season.

-Grainlady

Here is a link that might be useful: Savouring Today - Sweetly Spiced Crispy Pecans

Thank you, Melissa, for that healthy recipe of chicken & zucchini stove-top. I like the order that you cook the ingredients, it all make sense: chicken 1st, then veges, then fresh garlic, and tomato last.

Thank you, Grainlady, for that recipe of crispy pecans. Great tip of soaking the nut overnight in water. I should had done the same with oatmeal flakes ... perhaps oatmeal will be more tender in granola ... I'll test it the next time.

The bag of RAW walnut was from Sam's club, bought more than a year ago. I never opened it, plus I stored in the dark basement. When I opened it, it's 5 months past the expiration date. I made honey-walnut-crunch, and it was still delicious, just as good as fresh walnut. In contrast, the raw walnut stored in my pantry upstairs (already opened) was rancid.

Just a note: My recipe called for baking the honeyed walnut in 250 oven for 30 minutes ... since I want sticky walnut. But I bake it an extra 15 minutes to make the honey less sticky, so my husband doesn't get sticky finger at work. Below is a picture of our favorite snacks: fresh pomegranate, honey walnut with cranberries, and Mott's No-sugar peachy apple sauce.

This post was edited by Strawberryhill on Sat, Jan 11, 14 at 13:00