Recipe - Egg Beaters Omelet With Mushrooms, Cheese, & Chives

Here's a tasty and filling low calorie, low fat dinner! This is the second night in a row I had it. Read on after the picture for ingredients and preparation.

Ingredients & Calories:
1 cup Egg Beaters (120)
2 slices Louis Rich Turkey Bacon, diced (70)
8 oz sliced fresh mushrooms (50)
1 slice Kraft Fat Free Sharp Cheddar Cheese (25)
1 tsp Red Monkey Cajun BBQ seasoning
2 tbs chopped chives (2)
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp salt substitute
1/2 tsp Freshly ground black pepper
PAM spray
I Can't Believe It's Not Butter pump spray

With spices I'm going to call this 275 calories total. Quite a large omelet for so few calories! Note the plate in the picture is a full size dinner plate.

Substitutions: Of course if low calorie, low fat is not in your game plan, substitute 4 large eggs for the Egg Beaters, 1 slice Cheddar Cheese for the Kraft Cheese, and 1 tbs butter for the bottom of the frying pan instead of I Can't Believe It's Not Butter pump spray. Note though that this will triple the calories and add lots of fat. Honestly, this recipe tastes really good the way I prepared it.

Preparation: Lightly spray bottom of 10" frying pan with PAM, coat that with I Can't Believe It's Not Butter pump spray, and top that lightly with another coating of PAM.

Heat frying pan until water sizzles over medium high heat, and add mushrooms. Spray with I Can't Believe It's Not Butter pump spray and sprinkle Red Monkey BBQ Spice, cumin, paprika, pepper, and salt substitute. Toss every 30 seconds or so for several minutes until mushrooms are evenly browned.

Add diced bacon and continue to toss for another few minutes. Pour Egg Beaters into pan, reduce heat to low, and cover. Cook for 8 minutes or until surface of Egg Beaters is just set. Break slice of Kraft Cheese into quarters and place evenly down one half of the pan. Sprinkle chives over surface of pan.

Using a spatula carefully fold the omelet in half. Increase heat to medium and add 2 tbs of water to pan and cover. Cook for an additional 2 to 3 minutes flipping once until the water is gone.

Spray omelet light with I Can't Believe It's Not Butter pump spray, grind a bit of additional black pepper over the top and serve.

Recipe - Roasted Chicken & Corn on the Cob

Last week, I decided for Sunday dinner to make chicken, Cornish game hens in fact, and corn on the cob.

I decided to once again use my Thanes quartz cooker. I have had mine for several years and love to use it. The price has been considerably reduced since I bought it. A picture is shown below:

You can read all about it here on the product page. As the local supermarkets had none fresh I was forced to go with frozen (If I had fresh, I would have decreased the cooking time by about half).

This cooker can roast 4 rock hard frozen game hens to crispy juicy deliciousness in an hour flat!

Ingredients (for each game hen)
3 Tyson giblets removed frozen games hens (22 ounces average)*
Fat Free Olive Oil cooking spray (such as PAM)
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon Red Monkey Cajun Spice Rub
1/2 teaspoon Red Monkey Cajun Spice Rub
3 cloves garlic crushed

3 ears of corn on the cob

Preparation:
Rinse game hens and pat dry. Spray with oil spray and rub with crushed garlic. Sprinkle (evenly distribute on both sides) on sea salt, freshly ground black pepper, and Red Monkey Cajun and BBQ spice rubs. Place in cooker. Set for 400 degrees and 30 minutes cooking time.

Turn chickens over, and set for 400 degrees 15 minutes cooking time. Add corn on the cob and set for 400 degrees and 30 minutes cooking time.

Your meal is done, the chicken should be crispy on the outside, yet moist, juicy, and delicious on the inside! The corn, roasted instead of boiled will be very flavorful. See the picture below for an example, you can click it for a larger version.

A salad of your choice also makes a fine accompaniment to this meal.

The kids loved it, and so did I, choosing to add a bit of extra kick by mixing a tablespoon of Samball Olek into the drippings from my bird and using it as a dipping sauce.

* If you get frozen hens with giblets you most remove the giblets before cooking.

Triple Play Fajitas

The grill was talking to me yesterday; I could swear I heard it whispering "Fajitas!". Of course, I was mistaken! When I got closer, I could hear it was saying "Triple Play Fajitas"! So, even though this meal takes a bit of time and effort to prepare, I went shopping, acquired the ingredients, and began! Four people ate and loved these yesterday, if you try them I am sure you will NOT be disappointed!

Ingredients:
1.5 pounds flank steak
3 large chicken breasts
1 pound large shrimp (cleaned with tails removed)
3 large Onions cut in large wedges
2 red, 1 yellow, and 1 Green large Bell Peppers sliced6 cloves garlic, crushed
6 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon salt
1.5 teaspoons ground cumin
1.5 teaspoons smoked paprika
1.5 tablespoons Samball Oelek
3 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon Red Monkey Cajun Spice Rub
1 teaspoon Red Monkey Mango Habanero Rub
1 teaspoon Red Monkey BBQ Spice Rub
2 limes cut in half

On the side:
Salsa
Fat Free Sour Cream
Shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
Shredded Lettuce
LA Tortilla Factory Tortillas

Misc:
Wooden skewers
Non-stick cooking spray
3 large Ziploc freezer storage bags

Preparation
Roll out flank steak flat and with a tenderizer mallet pound both sides of steak across entire surface. In one of the freezer bags add 1 teaspoon chili powder, 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika, 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin, 1 teaspoon Red Monkey BBQ Spice Rub, 1/2 tablespoon Samball Oelek, 2 cloves crushed garlic, 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground back pepper, 2 tablespoons olive oil, and the juice from 1/2 a lime. Mix well and add steak removing excess air from bag before sealing and then insuring steak is well covered in marinate. Place in fridge.

In one of the freezer bags add 1 teaspoon chili powder, 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika, 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin, 1 teaspoon Red Monkey Cajun Spice Rub, 1/2 tablespoon Samball Oelek, 2 cloves crushed garlic, 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground back pepper, 2 tablespoons olive oil, and the juice from 1/2 a lime. Mix well and add chicken breasts removing excess air from bag before sealing and then insuring chicken is well covered in marinate. Place in fridge.

Now the really fun part; take the shrimp and place on skewers. I make sure each shrimp is pierced by the large neck area and about half an inch from where the tail was (thus getting a skewer of shrimpy letter C's - this insures the shrimp do not move around while grilling or fall off of the skewer) As each skewer is completed break off or cut off the sharp end of the skewer to avoid puncturing the marinate bag. Once all the shrimp has been skewered, in the remaining freezer bag add 1 teaspoon chili powder, 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika, 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin, 1 teaspoon Red Monkey Mango Habanero Rub Rub, 1/2 tablespoon Samball Oelek, 2 cloves crushed garlic, 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground back pepper, 2 tablespoons olive oil, and the juice from 1/2 a lime. Mix well and add skewered shrimp removing excess air from bag before sealing and then insuring shrimp is well covered in marinate. Place in fridge.

For best results marinate at least several hours, turning the bags over every hour.

Spray a large frying pan liberally with non-stick cooking spray and place on medium heat. Add sliced peppers, cover and cook three minutes. Stir well, and spray surface of peppers with non-stick spray. Cook covered another three minutes. Remove cover spraying surface of peppers with non-stick spray and stir, and sprinkle 1/8th teaspoon freshly ground back pepper on top. Continue cooking until peppers are at your preference for fajitas; some like a bite to them, some like them soft so this can vary from a couple of minutes to another 6 minutes or so. Remove peppers to large disk and cover with plastic wrap. Do NOT clean frying pan, the remnants of the peppers cooking will give the onions an excellent flavor.

At this point your grill should be lit and allow to pre-heat to a temperature of 550 degrees. I used a gas grill. The meat will take about 8 to 9 minutes to cook, so time it with the onions preparation below.

Spray frying pan liberally with non-stick spray and and place on medium heat and add onions, sprinkling a half teaspoon of salt over the surface. Cover and cook three minutes. Stir well, and spray surface of onions with non-stick spray. Cook covered another three minutes. Remove cover spraying surface of onions with non-stick spray and stir, and sprinkle 1/8th teaspoon freshly ground back pepper on top. Continue cooking until onions are at your preference for fajitas; some like a bite to them, some like them soft so this can vary from a couple of minutes to another 6 minutes or so.

On the grill place the chicken breasts and cook three minutes. Add the flank steak and shrimp skewers and cook an additional three minutes. Squeeze juice from the remaining half lime over the meats and shrimp before turning and then squeeze the remainder over the top. Cook an additional 2-3 minutes until at done. Remove to cutting board and slice chicken and steak. Serve shrimp skewered on each plate.

That's it! Ready to eat! I like mine with all three types of meat, peppers, onions, fat free sour cream, cheese, lettuce, and either some hot taco sauce or additional Samball Oelek! This recipe serves four to six people depending on how hungry they all are. Other than various pasta dishes, this is my favorite non-pasta food.

Canjun Style Turkey Bacon Rollups with Zesty Sauce

Yet another fine recipe from the Chris Falco kitchens! This one is fairly simple, yet very delicious, and utilizes two of the Red Monkey Spice Rubs that I enjoy so much!

Ingredients:
8 slices Oscar Meyer/Louis Rich Turkey Bacon
2 tsp Red Monkey Cajun Spice Rub
1/2 tsp Red Monkey Mango Habanero Rub
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
3 tbs fat free sour cream
2 slices Kraft fat free Cheddar cheese
2 Flatout lite original wraps
1 cup shredded lettuce
1 vine-ripened tomato cut into six slices
Cooking spray like PAM

Preparation:
Spray the bottom and sides of a non-stick saucepan with cooking spray and add turkey bacon and Red Monkey Cajun Spice Rub. Toss well to evenly distribute spice. Cover, and cook over a very low flame for 10 minutes, tossing turkey bacon slices every three minutes.

While bacon is cooking, layout the wraps and cover each with 1/2 cup of shredded lettuce.

Remove bacon from pan letting any drippings drain back into the pan. If you cooked this over low heat as described above you should have a couple of tablespoons of drippings.

Place four slices of Turkey bacon atop the shredded lettuce on the wraps and then place three slices of tomato on top of the bacon.

With the heat off, add to sauce pan the fat free sour cream and Red Monkey Mango Habanero Rub. Using either a plastic whisk or rubber spatula mix together into an even color and apply low heat. Add the two slices of fat free cheddar cheese and when melted add the freshly ground back pepper. stir and then pour half the sauce over each of the wraps.

ENJOY! Serves two for lunch or one for dinner! Rough calories for each wrap is about 300 with very little fat and much fiber.

Garlic Basil Shrimp with Rotini Pasta and Mushrooms

Wow! Another excellent recipe from the Chris Falco Kitchens. And, can you believe it, a recipe that DOES NOT USE RED MONKEY SPICE! I am as shocked and flabbergasted as the rest of you!

Note however, that while this recipes does not use the aforementioned spice, it does use just a spoonful of Sambal Oelek for zest, but, it is not at all hot to the palate. My daughter and I made it this evening and it was delicious!

Be advised that I will soon post a grilled shrimp recipe that I enjoyed last evening, but, I need to tweak the honey cream dill sauce first. That recipe DOES use Red Monkey Spice!

Chris Falco's Garlic Basil Shrimp with Rotini Pasta and Mushrooms

Serves Four
Preparation time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
8 cloves garlic, sliced or flattened
1/2 cup of fresh basil leaves
1 tablespoon Sambal Oelek
3 tablespoons tomato paste
8 ounces fresh sliced mushrooms
1 pound Jumbo Shrimp, tails removed
8 ounces of Dreamfiled Rotini Pasta

Preparation:
Place pot of water to boil for pasta. Spray one frying pan with Pam Olive Oil no-stick spray and place over medium heat. Add the mushrooms, stirring every couple of minutes until mushrooms are lightly browned. Remove from heat and leave covered. As soon as water is boiling add pasta and cook for 11 minutes, stirring every few minutes.

While pasta and mushrooms are cooking add to another frying pan the olive oil, basil (which should be torn or chopped into small pieces), and garlic. Cook over medium high heat until garlic begins to lightly brown and add shrimp, stirring frequently until they are just lightly browned.

Add Sambal Oelek and reduce heat to low and cover for about 5 minutes. Pour in mushrooms from first frying pan. Add tomato paste and stir well, if there is not enough moisture in the pan to form a thick sauce add a few tablespoons of water.

Drain pasta, mix in with shrimp and mushrooms, and serve with your favorite Parmesan or Romano cheese grated on top.

The Right Stuff (Food for thought!)

I am sure you have heard sayings like "All Aspirin Is Not Alike", "You Get What You Pay For", Accept No Imitations!", and, "The Right Stuff". After I describe what happened yesterday below, you'll understand why today I have new respect for these.

Regular visitors will know I have been mentioning Red Monkey Spice and jarred chopped chili peppers in some of my recent recipes. For the Red Monkey Spice I have posted the link where you can order it.

First off, the jarred chili peppers are called Sambal Oelek and I use the ones distributed by Conimex, a place in Holland and I learned a valuable lesson about them! I had gotten them at Forest Hills Foods (though they have been out of stock for over a week).

So, yesterday I went to the big Miejer store to look. You could easily fit six Forest Hills Foods into this place and their international food selection is almost as big as the aforementioned store. Sadly, I did not find the Conimex brand but found some oriental brand that looked the same.

Happy and Giddy with my (seeming) success I brought them home and made dinner, only to find much to my surprise that they were nowhere as good as the Conimex brand. Where the Conimex has such a myriad of incredible flavors to it while being very spicy, the oriental brand was just pure tasteless heat. Bleech! Were it not for the liberal application of Red Monkey Spice to my dinner last night, the flames shooting out of my mouth would have been pointless, though no less entertaining to the children I suppose!

Needless to say, though obviously I will say it, I was most disappointed! I have just sent an e-mail to Forest Hills Foods asking them to restock the Conimex Sambal Oelek. buying it locally would be much more economical than mail ordering it here, though, I will mail order it if I have to. This stuff is like the Nectar of the Gods as far as spicy foods go!

I have seen the Grail! I will never again be fooled by imitators! The following picture is what you must seek if you wish to truly enjoy any of my recipes that use this as an ingredient! You must! (Oh, add a little freshly squeezed lime juice and some fresh chopped cilantro and this makes an awesome salsa perfect for dipping tortilla chips into!)

Spicy Nectar of the Gods!

Recipe - Spicy Stuffed Cheeseburger Roll Ups

Spicy Stuffed Cheeseburger Roll Ups - Serves Two

This evening I was wondering what to do with my Red Monkey Spice Rubs when I fondly remembered my recipe for Spicy Cheeseburger Roll Ups. After pondering these for awhile I decided I could certainly improve on this with my creation called Spicy Stuffed Cheeseburger Roll Ups.

Ingredients:
1 pound 92% ground beef
1/2 teaspoon Red Monkey Spice Rub - Cajun Spice
1/2 teaspoon Red Monkey Spice Rub - BBQ Spice
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons jarred chopped chili peppers (Sambal Oelek)
2 ounces Shredded Chipotle Cheddar Cheese (I used Sargento)
2 Flat Out lite Original Flat breads
1 cup Shredded lettuce
4 thin slices white onion
6 slices vine ripened tomato
2 tablespoons Fat Free Miracle Whip

Preparation:
Preheat your grill (I used a propane grill) to 550 degrees.
Mix first four ingredients together. Split ground beef mixture into four parts and make four thin patties. Note a large lid can be used as a template, though I did it by hand.

On two of the patties put a tablespoon of the chopped chili peppers and spread leaving at least an 1\8th of an inch all around the edge of the patty free of the mixture. If you do not do this the burgers will fall apart or leak while they are being cooked.

Next, again keeping the edges clean, add 1 ounce of cheddar cheese to each of the two patties on top of the chopped chili peppers.

Place the other two patties carefully on top of these patties. Press firmly around the edges to seal. Spray tops with non-fat cooking spray (such as PAM) and put the oil side down on the grill.

Cook three minutes, turn, and cook an additional two minutes. Remove from grill.

I placed half each of the lettuce, onion, tomato and Fat Free Miracle Whip on the two flat breads along with a burger. ENJOY!!!!

Note that this is, even with the whole cheese, still an excellent low calorie, low carbohydrate, and high fiber meal. It is also spicy and delicious.

Why does Chris love the Red Monkey Spice?

Why does Chris Love Red Monkey Spice? Hot Peppers, Hot Sauces? All things firey?? Did I mention I love Red Monkey Spice Rubs????

Well, for those who did not know I used to model print adds and baby products when I was quite younger. Below is a picture from one of those early ads where, years later, they are still using my picture on the jar!

I consumed many jars of this fine product during those early years!

You may click the picture for a larger version in a new window!

Recipe - Chris' Spicy Cheeseburger Rollups

Last night I used the last of the Chris-squared (the new name my son came up with) hot sauce he and I made last Friday by making spicy cheeseburger roll ups. For those wishing to try this recipe the link the post with the sauce recipe, which will open in a new window, can be found here.

Ingredients:
1/8 teaspoon Red Monkey Spice Rub Cajun Spice
1/8 teaspoon Red Monkey Spice Rub BBQ Spice
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 pound 92% Lean ground beef
1/2 cup finely diced onions
1/8 to 1/4 cup Chris Squared Hot Sauce
2 Original Light FlatOut flat bread roll ups
2 slices fat free Kraft Cheddar processed cheese
non-stick oil spray
1 cup shredded lettuce
6 slices vine ripened tomato
4 slices Clausen Hearty Garlic Dills
Your choice of condiments (mine are listed below)

Preparation:
In a bowl combine first 6 ingredients; chill for 30 minutes. After 20 minutes preheat your grilling surface to 550 degrees (I used a propane grill)

On each of the two flat beads place 1/2 cup shredded lettuce, 3 slices tomato, 2 slices garlic dills, 1 tablespoon fat-free Miracle Whip, 1 teaspoon mustard, 1 teaspoon low-carb ketchup.

Remove the meat mixture from the fridge shaping it into one burger sized to one inch wider than the width of the flat bread.

Spray one side of burger with non-stick spray. Grill covered (oiled side down) for 3 minutes and flip, cook for a minute. top with cheese and cook until cheese is melted. Remove burger and cut in half lengthwise and place a half burger on each flat bread. Enjoy!

This is typical of a main meal for me; it is a lot of food, yet has little calories, about 650 for the whole shebang! Compare that to a Whopper or a Quarter Pounder with cheese. It is also QUITE delicious and has protein, fiber, and is low in carbohydrates and fat.