The Star’s Santa Fe Chicken is another way to get the delectable crispy crunch of fried chicken while skipping the fat (and mess) of frying. Multigrain tortilla chips provide a crumb crust while low-fat buttermilk helps the pieces adhere to lean, skinless, boneless chicken breasts.
Choose sustainable swordfish for your health and the health of the environment. The Star’s Grilled Swordfish Rolls are an excellent source of selenium, niacin and vitamin B12, as well as a good source of zinc.
Too often served drenched in butter or hollandaise sauce, mild, earthy asparagus is just as suited to lighter preparations. The Star’s Asian Marinated Asparagus bathes the spears in a mixture of low-sodium soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, ginger and lemon.
Pulled pork, a popular barbecue staple, is usually made from the shoulder of the pig, also referred to as Boston butt. But The Star’s Low-Fat Pulled Pork uses tenderloin, a much leaner cut of pork instead.
Despite being processed, pearled barley is a nutritious choice because some of the bran remains. The Star’s recipe for Slow Cooker Shrimp and Barley Risotto is a great way to add fiber to the diet while enjoying the creamy risotto consistency.
Many recipes for Cabbage and Noodles melt in a fair amount of butter, and some top the noodle nest off with a liberal sprinkling of bacon crumbles. The Star’s version uses just a tablespoon of olive oil and substitutes leaner turkey bacon.
Until basil days are upon us once again, The Star’s alternative Red Pepper Pesto Pasta is a nutritious and delicious variation for the winter months. A new wave of pestolike sauces made from parsley, cilantro, mint, arugula and even olives or red peppers can easily be whirled up with the pulse of a food processor.
Since the pear is the real star of the show, The Star’s updated version of Caramelized Pears With Dark Chocolate Sauce bumps up the cocoa content because dark chocolate has been found to contain more antioxidants than milk chocolate. It also replaces the cream with fat-free half-and-half.
The Star’s Hot and Sour Soup uses a combination of low-sodium chicken broth and reduced-sodium soy sauce to whittle the sodium to a more moderate 310 milligrams. Yet there’s still plenty of flavor, thanks to the seasonings: ginger, garlic, red pepper flakes, rice vinegar and sesame oil.
These cakes are small but still glamorous, especially when drizzled with a bright lemony glaze, and are low in calories and fat.
Despite Center for Science in the Public Interest’s dire warnings, restaurant menus still offer plenty of rich pasta dishes for those who crave the smooth mouth feel of cream. If you share my weakness, The Star’s recipe for Chicken Cajun Pasta with a slightly spicy, Alfredo-type cream sauce has just 5 grams of total fat.
Sure, you can also stuff zucchini, eggplant or mushroom, but the bottom “cup” of a bell pepper is the easiest to fill and one of the most nutritious, too. Taco-seasoned fillings are common. Most recipes call for stuffing the pepper with a beef mixture, then topping it with a sauce and cheese, but The Star’s Taco Pepper Cups are vegetarian.
There are probably as many variations on Italian Wedding Soup as there are Italian nonnas.
Posole is a Mexican soup from the Jalisco region that is traditionally served at Christmastime. But there is no reason to serve this hearty soup just once a year. The Star’s Lighter Chicken Posole With Spinach combines the flavors and textures of the classic while tweaking several ingredients to make them better fit a contemporary diet and lifestyle.
Paula Deen’s breakfast casserol calls for a pound of sausage and 3 cups of cheese. A recipe posted at Food.com called for no fewer than a dozen eggs. Other recipes went a step further, adding random sticks of butter, or a can of soup and a pint of sour cream. Wake up instead to The Star’s Overnight Breakfast Casserole.
Chances are you already have Hungarian paprika in your spice rack, but a recent fascination with tapas has an increasing number of chefs and home cooks clamoring for the Spanish variety, which gives The Star’s Smoked Paprika Chicken Stew its smoky flavor.
Although a fine snack to get the creative juices flowing, pimento cheese is not necessarily kind to the waistline. But The Star’s Guilt-Free Pimento Cheese Spread makes some strategic substitutions, including protein-rich Greek yogurt and light whipped cream cheese in place of the mayo and a much smaller amount of reduced-fat shredded cheese.
The Star’s Egg White Crepes provide a healthy, low-calorie wrapper for a variety of fillings. For a main dish, fill with a low-fat chicken or tuna salad. For a healthy snack, spread a prepared crepe with peanut butter, then fill with sliced bananas or apples. For dessert, fill with nonfat frozen yogurt and top with fruit and toasted, chopped walnuts.
Got a few ripe bananas threatening to spoil the whole bunch? You could bake them into banana bread, but think Bananas Foster instead. The Star’s Baked Custard With Bananas Foster Sauce cuts the fat, sugar and substitutes orange juice for alcohol. The sauce is drizzled over a silky custard made with skim milk and egg whites.
Choosing a tall, cool glass of skim milk is a smart move that can significantly reduce your saturated fat intake over time. But when it comes to a cream-based soup, skim milk just doesn’t have enough heft. The Star’s Potato, Leek and Cheese Soup relies on fat-free half-and-half to cut the fat yet maintain a silken texture that glides over the tongue.
The Star’s Balsamic Glazed Pork Chops With Blueberry Wine Sauce combines fresh or frozen blueberries with red wine. Like blueberries, red wine is naturally high in resveratrol, a powerful antioxidant that may lower bad cholesterol, protect against heart disease and slow age-related memory loss.
Can’t seem to fill up on salad? Skip the skirt steak and try portobello mushrooms instead. The Star’s Guaca-Bella Fajitas are a fiesta of grilled mushrooms and peppers topped with a homemade avocado mash that is low in calories yet loaded with heart-healthy fats.
For The Star’s Smoked Salmon and Cucumber Salad With Dill Vinaigrette, we cut the carbs by ditching the bagel for a bed of salad greens. Then we swapped the high-fat cream cheese for a simple vinaigrette. Finally, we used the smoked salmon sparingly, almost as a garnish.
If multitasking has become a way of life for you, shouldn’t your recipes be willing to do double duty? The Star’s Cinnamon-Scented Granola is a two-in-one recipe: You can serve it with milk for breakfast or sprinkle it over nonfat yogurt for dessert. Or why not serve it as a Breakfast Apple Crisp — for breakfast or dessert?
Cheese soup is so comforting until you take a good look at the nutritional analysis. The Star’s Vegetable Cheese Soup starts out with a base of reduced-fat cheese and fat-free half-and-half. Add low-sodium chicken broth, and you can take the sodium way down. Chopped celery, carrots and onions add fiber and flavor.
