Tuscan Lemon Muffins ~ Light & Airy

Keeping in line with our new lighter and "better for us" menu, I subscribed to Cooking Light and was so pleased to find this recipe in their latest edition.  Muffins are super great for us with hubby being up and at 'em so early in the A.M. for the Army.  He can grab one, a glass of milk and a piece of fruit and he's ready to go.  So when I found a lemon muffin that was moist, tender and in the end good for you, I had to make them.  It was a no-brainer.

These muffins roll in at only 186 calories with 6.2 grams of fat.  Not bad!  And it uses part skim ricotta and heart healthy olive oil.  It is has a wonderful, light taste thanks to its lemon rind and fresh squeezed juice.  Crispy on top, tender in the middle - it became the perfect breakfast muffin in our house. Best part is, your family will never be able to tell these are "healthy" or "light".  They are seriously THAT delicious.   Hope you enjoy them as much as we did.  Here's to keeping it light and healthy!  *cheers*

Lighter Spicy & Creamy Chicken Enchiladas

Wow has it been awhile!  Its also been 12 pounds, 3 inches off my waist, 2 inches off my thighs and 1 inches off my arms ago!  YAY to healthier eating and exercising!  I thought I would start posting again....this time using some lighter fare for those of you who are battling the bulge like me!

One thing I thought about diet food - it was generally pretty yucky.  Reduced fat or low fat can be bland, rice noodles can get gloopy (it's a word - promise!) and skim milk is just like drinking badly flavored water.  I am NOT a diet foodie.  However, if you disguise diet food with spicy ingredients - it's winner.  I am not a fan of reduced fat cheese.  I think it had less flavor BUT in this format, it works really well, especially since cheese isn't the main flavor.  It's subtlety is nice and lends to the creamy, cheesy texture you're after.

I wouldn't dare call this diet food - as it does use a canned soup mix but it is LIGHTER than what I would normally make and I used reduced fat sour cream (you could even use Greek yogurt here instead), brown rice, white breast meat, low carb whole grain tortilla shells and reduced fat cheeses.  This in itself has been the mainstay of my diet - changing up what I can, when I can.  Making better choices where I can without sacrificing taste or texture.  Let's face it - if you can't bear to eat lighter foods because of the way they taste, you're going to turn to bad things to eat instead.

I hope you enjoy these ..we have them about once a week now.  They're amazingly good, cheesy, creamy, spicy and lighter than normal.  Perfect on all accounts.