Open-faced Chicken & Pesto Sandwich

By now you shouldn't be surprised that I was eager to use up some leftovers from yesterday's yummy Antipasti 'Pizza' Bruschetta! I threw together an amazing lunch in minutes using my leftovers. And thanks to my freezer I had some chicken to use, too!


Frozen chicken tips: Costco sells large packs of skinless-boneless chicken breasts that are humanely raised. But Costco-size packaging means a 2 person household can't necessarily eat it all in time. Not to mention a 1 person household. So I utilize a tip obtained from one of my colleagues: it's easy to cook a bunch of chicken breasts all at once. Just wrap the cooked chicken breasts individually in saran wrap and freeze them. Then you can transfer one into the fridge the night before you want it for lunch or dinner, and before you eat it just pop it in the microwave, saran wrap on, for 30 seconds (more/less depending on it's size) and it's ready to be sliced on a salad or used any way you'd like! Great tip for work time lunches. I also always freeze a couple raw chicken breasts so that I can marinate them once they're defrosted for more variety.

See my saran wrap chicken? Yum! You can kind of tell in the picture- I like to put a generous sprinkling of salt and cracked pepper then cook in a medium heat pan for about 6 minutes on each side. Don't touch it in between the flip to help make it golden.

Open-faced Chicken & Pesto Sandwich

• 1 Slice of nice bread, sliced 1/2 inch thick
• 1-2 Tablespoons pesto
• 1 Small chicken breast
• 1-2 Tablespoons good cheese, grated (I used Gruyere)
• Cherry or grape tomatoes sliced in half
• Arugula
• A splash of Balsamic Vinegar
• Squeeze of lemon (optional)

Toast the slice of bread, spread with a layer of pesto. Yesterday I threw in the extra marinated sun dried tomatoes into my pesto so it had a bit more flavor and texture.

Cover with slices of the chicken breast and top with a very thin layer of flavorful cheese. Using grated cheese means you can use a lot less than a slice would be. 

Top that with the sliced tomatoes to cover the whole sandwich and then put a handful of arugula on top.

I added a quick squeeze of  lemon on top just because I had it leftover from making the pesto. Give the arugula a couple good sprays of balsamic vinegar on top (or a teaspoon if you don't have a spray bottle). So, so good.

And guess what? I had extra pesto to make a super tasty plate of pasta for dinner...just add enough of the starchy pasta water after the pasta is done cooking to make it reach the right consistency and that's the only work you have to do for this! I added some bright sliced tomatoes for a nice contrast.

You can see a few of those marinated tomatoes in there!

Ta-dah!

Antipasti 'Pizza' Bruschetta with Homemade Pesto

I absolutely love this, it's a small portion bursting with flavor that will be sure to satisfy you! I will describe how I made it but this is one of those very flexible recipes and I really encourage you to use what you have. It's perfect to make after you've been entertaining if you have a variety of nice antipasti items leftover- nice cheeses, mixed olives, etc. As I mentioned in my last post, my friend visited over memorial day weekend and I always like to have things like this stocked in the fridge since it's super easy to whip together a big plate to enjoy. After my visit to Italy two summers ago I can hardly prepare a cheese plate without jam or chutney and honey on the side! A great tip to fill out your cheese and antipasti plate when entertaining.

Now, I made a big batch of homemade pesto for this even though it only calls for a tablespoon or so. But the pesto really takes the recipe to the next level. I've actually made this without pesto and it was good but really didn't compare (but if you must you can smear a very thin layer of Dijon mustard on the bread as a 'base' layer). I happened to have a large block of parmigiano reggiano that I needed to use up so it was an easy choice to make pesto, plus it stores well and will be easy to use in a recipe later this week. If I don't get around to it then I can always freeze it, too.

I was cooking for one, so adjust portions as needed. A lot of the topping portions are up to you based on what you have and how large your slice of bread is.

Brushetta

• Sun dried tomatoes
• 1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• Nice olives, pitted
• Small grape tomatoes
• 2-3 Types of nice cheese, shredded
• Large slice of nice bread- I used sourdough
• Olive Oil
• 1 Clove garlic
• 1 Tablespoon pesto- recipe below
• Arugula - optional

To start, cut the sun dried tomatoes in strips and soak in 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar (mine were dry, if yours are packed in oil then skip the olive oil and just soak in balsamic). These tasted SO GOOD I could use them on anything!

Now slice your olives. Use what you have, but I wouldn't recommend the little green ones with pimiento nor canned black- just use freshly marinated, whatever variety you prefer! I had a mix of 'Spanish tapa' olives, seed in, leftover so that is what I used. It's pretty easy and fast to slice them even with a pit in, just cut the four sides off, laying the olive on it's newly flat cut side with each slice.

You can see the pits in the bottom right, just four quick slices and you've got most of the 'meat' off the pit!

I had adorable tiny little grape tomatoes so I just cut them in half. If yours are larger you can quarter them, just be sure they are really ripe. I'm all for using what you have but I really prefer mini-tomatoes for this vs. a diced large tomato because the small ones heat up really nicely and almost burstswith flavor. If you find them reasonably priced it's fun to do mixed colors, yellow and red grape tomatoes, for a nice presentation.

Shred the cheese. It's nice to use 1-2 sharp, hard cheeses (for a salty bite) and maybe 1 soft and mild cheese (something that will melt really nicely). I used aged gouda and parmigiano reggiano for the hard & sharp cheeses and st. nectaire for the mild(er) soft(er) cheese. Mozzarella would work nicely for this too. You can slice the softer cheese into strips if that is easier than shredding.

St. Nectaire, it was really good but I will probably try a milder soft cheese next time since the two hard cheeses had such great, strong flavors

Cut a slice of bread, about 1/2 an inch thick and brush both sides with olive oil.

Heat for a few minutes on each side in a grill pan, on the grill, or toast in the oven at 400 degrees for 4 minutes on each side. I used a grill pan because I STILL don't have air conditioning set up and there is no way I'm turning on my oven with this 90 degree weather! Slice a clove of garlic in half at an angel and peel, then rub the top of the warm bread with the cut slice of garlic.

Now you start the building process based on your taste preferences! Start by spreading with a tablespoon (more or less depending on size of bread) of pesto on the grilled bread.

Then sprinkle a thin layer of a sharp cheese- I used the aged gouda for this layer. Top with olives and a generous amount of the marinated sun dried tomatoes and fresh tomatoes.

Cover with a small amount of the soft cheese and a small sprinkle of hard cheese- parmigiano reggiano is nice on top.

I toasted this in the toaster oven until it was nice and melted, but if your oven won't turn your entire apartment into an inferno you can bake this at 400 degrees for 5-10 minutes, just keep an eye on it. Top with a few fresh slices of basil, left over from making pesto, and you are in for a REAL treat! I ate this with lightly dressed arugula (just a squeeze of lemon and a drizzle of olive oil) but I've also served with soup which is heartier and equally delicious. In fact if you serve with soup don't be afraid to just top the brushetta with the arugula. This was so good I could have easily eaten two, YUM!

** Side note- do NOT add any extra salt to this! You'll get plenty from the sharp cheeses, olives and pesto.

Pesto

• 1/4 Cup pine nuts
• 1/2 Cut shredded parmigiano reggiano
• 2 Cups basil, packed
• 1 Tablespoon lemon juice (about 1/2 a lemon)
• 1/2 Teaspoon salt
• 1/2 Teaspoon Pepper
• 1 Cup minus 3 tablespoons good olive oil- add slowly, as much as needed. I preferred a thicker texture for this recipe

Just throw this all into a food processor and blend!

Add the olive oil slowly. I like adding lemon for a bright touch. I didn't add garlic but you could always throw in 1 peeled clove. This is so good, you'll be really happy to have left overs.

You can get creative with your pesto if you want to, too! Add some olives, some sundried tomatoes, less nuts, a variety of herbs, see what happens...

New Obsessions: Yucca Fries and Matzo Ball Soup

One of my close friends from college visited over memorial day weekend and we went on a serious food tour of Manhattan. We had lots of amazing meals but I just had to share two things I had somehow never tried before and I now know how much I've been missing out. Yucca fries and Matzo ball soup (don't worry- not at the same time!). Thank goodness Alison had a craving for Matzo ball soup one night after...a few drinks...and it was a welcome change to my typical weekend late night gorge on french fries. We went to a 24 hour diner on the way home and I fell in love with this soup right away- it's as simple as warm chicken broth with two large round dumpling-like pieces of perfection resting in the center of a shallow bowl, only partially emerged in the broth. It is divine. Unfortunately there is no picture because we split one bowl and couldn't stop in time to photo it.

And then my second discovery, thanks to Alison again, is yucca fries! Which, for the record, are pronounced you-kah not yuck-ah (whoops). For some reason whenever I order Mexican I never crave fries but boy I missed out. These are starchy, fried perfection. The first time we ordered them was at Taqueria Cascabel on the Upper East Side. They have a great happy hour with a bunch of little $4 tapas- radishes with fresh herbs and a light vinaigrette, boiled/toasted large corn kernels (I don't know exactly how they make these but they're wonderful), yucca fries, etc. They also happen to have fantastic $6 watermelon basil margaritas, though I'm not a fan of their other three variations.

Bottom right you'll see the Watermelon Basil Margarita- fresh watermelon pulp and muddled basil...so tasty!

However, La Esquina, located on Kenmare between Lafayette and Cleveland, take the prize for 'best in show' yucca fries. They were very thick cut with rough edges as if they had been boiled and torn apart in large pieces before being fried, and they had a seasoning that just set them apart from anything else. They looked like they had paprika on them and tasted almost tangy as though they had some sort of lime seasoning. They were served with a creamy yogurt/sour cream type sauce.

See the perfect Yucca Fries in the center of the table- so good!

We also had very fresh grilled fish tacos and amazing grilled corn at La Esquina. Almost more notable is the fact that we luckily happened across this little gem which happens to be basically three restaurants rolled into one. We were stopped in our tracks seeing people eating at small two-seater metal tables outside of a little taco stand with a mini deli stand inside- the food smelled great. We walked inside the very, very casual shop and there was a way over-dressed man in a black suite with a radio 'guarding' an employees only door. Turns out they have somewhat of a speak-easy downstairs dining room. We ended up turning the corner and going into the second public entrance (around the corner from the taco shop, with essentially the same menu but higher prices) and got a table inside a cute, tiny dinning area. The decorations were great with a large floor to ceiling bookshelf lining the back wall. Such a unique set up for a restaurant that I had to share!

Roasted corn with cojita cheese, spices, cabbage and lime

Marblehead, MA & Lots of Lobster

Well, I haven't posted a recipe for a while but it's because I was busy stuffing my face with seafood in Marblehead, MA to celebrate my parent's 30 year anniversary. I think that is a halfway decent excuse! So since I wasn't able to cook for myself I made sure to eat as much delicious food as possible and document it every bite of the way.

My sister and I put together some healthy afternoon snacks for us to enjoy, which is easier said than done when you just have a butter knife from the B&B to cut veggies and fruit!

The first restaurant we went to was Jack Tar, and it was incredible. We started with a crab and lobster egg roll which was basically an egg roll stuffed with crab cake and chunks of lobster. It was served on a bed of crisp coleslaw that was tossed with a sweet and sour sauce. What a genius idea! No dipping sauce, you just ate the egg roll with the dressed slaw and it was fantastic. I ate this too fast to take a picture so my sister had to remind me to take pictures for the next two courses.

We shared seared scallops and edamame risotto for our main, it was fantastic. The scallops were super fresh, I can't wait to makes some at home!

For dessert we had creme brulee with strawberries which was wonderful but I think could have used some vanilla bean in the custard.

And the winning dessert for the night- chocolate lava cake with vanilla ice cream. Perfection.

We decided to get Italian one night and were not disappointed. We were started off with the best bread rolls we've ever had at a restaurant. Perfect crisp crust with a doughy inside that almost reminded us of a pretzel.

Pear, blue cheese, walnut and prosciutto salad was delicious. I took off most of the prosciutto but left a couple of the crispy beauties on top, whoops.

And the main dish was linguini and clams, can you believe this was a half portion? It just goes to show that portion control is easy if you just restrict what you put on your plate in the first place! This was super tasty because the clams were local and fresh, though the dish could have used some more parsley and garlic, and maybe a little heat. I saw some red pepper flakes, just couldn't taste them!

On our last night we wanted to be sure to have some steamed lobster to help celebrate my parent's big 3-0 anniversary. But I also saw oysters on the menu and couldn't pass them up. My sister and I decided to get them steamed and the waitress had never heard of such a thing! Poor northerners must not know what they're missing without southern oyster roasts. She gave us melted butter and said she was clueless on what she was supposed to serve the steamed oysters with! We let her know cocktail sauce, vinegar, lemon and saltines are perfect. These oysters were fresh and incredible.

Lobsta! I actually prefer their meat chopped up and nestled in a bun, but I think that is mostly because they freak me out a bit. I'm a crab legs kind of girl!

There was a local shop that had amazing lobster rolls for just $15, it was so good we went there twice for lunch on the trip! My sister made me share one with her, that was my only complaint.

Classic Black Bean Soup

Maybe it's because I've just been in Manhattan for a few months after several years in sunny South Carolina, but I still enjoy these cool, rainy May days.  It's the perfect excuse to make a big batch of soup. I am a huge fan of making homemade soup. It's one of the easiest way to make  a big meal full of flavor that tastes even better the second day... a perfect one pot meal that provides delicious leftovers!

I've probably made this soup more than any other recipe. It's full of protein and packed with vegetables, and the ingredient list isn't going to break the bank especially because it relies so heavily on your pantry. This is the first time I've ever measured the seasoning, and I typically tweak it depending on what I have, adding more gradually in layers as I taste the soup.

Black Bean Soup

• 2 Onions
• 2-3 Carrots, peeled and trimmed
• 2-3 Salks of celery, trimmed
• 3-4 Cloves of garlic
• 1 Heaping teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 Teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 Teaspoon salt
• 1/2 Teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 Teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2-3 Bay leaves
• 1 Veggie Bouillon Cube
• Water (or broth, but don't use the bouillon cube if you use broth)
• 3 Cans of black beans
• 1 Can of black-eyed beans
• 1 Can diced tomatoes

Dice the onion, carrots and celery. Saute the onions for a few minutes in olive oil until they start to get soft, then smash the cloves of garlic to peel them, then smash them a couple more times until they're almost broken apart and add to the onions. Add the celery and carrots and cook a couple more minutes. Then add the seasonings and stir, let the mixture cook a couple more minutes. I like my onions soft and the other veggies a little crunchy in this soup.

Pour the beans into a strainer and rinse thoroughly with water until it no longer bubbles- nobody likes gassy beans. I just had black beans in my pantry so I ended up just using 3 cans of black beans. I like flexible recipes! Add the beans and tomatoes to the sauteed vegetables and pour water until it covers the bean and vegetable mixture completely. Let simmer for 20 minutes or so. Be sure to taste to see how the seasoning is, and add more as needed.

I really enjoy eating this with fast garlic toast. I typically always have sliced wheat bread or bagels in the freezer and that works perfectly for this. Just take a frozen (or not, of course!) piece of bread or half a bagel and put straight in a toaster oven. Once it's golden take it out, drizzle it with good olive oil and a generous pinch of salt, fresh ground pepper and garlic powder. Now, this doesn't compare to oven-made garlic bread with fresh garlic and herbs but I'll save that for another day. This was an easy day and this garlic toast hits the spot!
If I get sick of eating the same thing after a couple days I'll freeze the rest of the soup individually in single-serve tupperware so it's a fast and easy lunch for another week.

Mother's Day Brunch

One of my best friend's scheduled her bridal shower and bachelorette party for this weekend, which was wonderful timing because it meant I not only got to see my close friends but I also got to spend mother's day with my Mama! Now, unfortunately the bachelorette party was the night before, but staying busy is a pretty effective hangover cure. I should have made a bigger brunch.

I love, love cooking in my parent's kitchen  these days since it's an open layout and it is most certainly not a tiny corner kitchen like mine! My mom also has an affinity for collecting fun dishes and so it's easier to make a nice presentation here than it is at my apartment with my boring white plates. I also really loved grocery shopping here, I had no idea it could be so cheap to eat so well! All of the groceries for this feast just cost $20, plus a $10 bottle of Riondo prosecco, my go-to cheap bubbly.

From-Scratch Bellinis

• 1 Bag frozen peaches (no sugar added, just peaches)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• Champagne, Prosecco or Cava

Heat the sugar and water on the stove top, stir until the sugar is dissolved. Add in the frozen peaches. If you let them thaw first then you can take it right off the heat, but if you forgot to leave the peaches out you can just heat them for a couple minutes in the simple syrup so that they're not rock solid. Use an immersion blender to blend this concoction into a peach puree and keep it cold in the fridge. Just add 2-3 heaping spoonfuls into a glass of something sparkling and delicious and you've got a hand crafted bellini! They will be kind of pulpy but I like them that way.

Oh theses bellinis looked so good but I couldn't bring myself to drink one, not today. But Ma and Pa said they were very refreshing! As you can see this makes a ton of peach puree and unless you're hosting a big party you probably won't get through all of it in one brunch, so I would definitely recommend freezing the leftover peach puree in ice cube trays. Then you can add them to champagne for a great way to keep your drink super cold and super delicious- it's fun to have different shaped ice cube trays for a neat presentation! You can also use the peach ice cubes in sparkling water, or in white wine if you add some club soda to make a spritzer. They'll also be great to add to a smoothie (if you're hungry use my Greek yogurt healthy smoothie recipe as a guideline, or if you want something lighter you can skip the yogurt and stick with ice and fruit!).

Kitchen Sink Roasted Potatoes

• 6-8 Red skinned potatoes
• 2-3 Sprigs of rosemary
• 3 Cloves of garlic
• 1/2 Teaspoon red pepper flakes
• Lots of salt & fresh cracked pepper
• Olive oil

The name sounds unpleasant the more I think about it, but I like it because you can add anything to these potatoes and they just keep getting better! I've made roasted potatoes with just garlic, salt and pepper and they're great, and if I have more fresh herbs I'll sometimes add those in, too! Rosemary and thyme are wonderful together if you have them both. If you just have your pantry you're working with you can just use salt, pepper, garlic powder and red pepper flakes and this will still be great.


Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Rinse the potatoes and quarter them. Mince the rosemary and chop the garlic. Line a pan with tin foil (makes cleanup a cinch!) and pile the potatoes in the middle and cover with the herbs, garlic, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes and cover with olive oil so that each potato is coated once you toss them. Spread them out on the pan and roast for at least 45-50 minutes, turning once. If they're sticking you can add olive oil when you turn them. They should get nice and crisp and golden beautiful, leave them in until they're nice and brown. These will make the house smell absolutely heavenly while you cook the rest of the meal!

Grapefruit Salad

•  2 Ruby red grapefruits
• 1 Teaspoon fresh mint
• 1/2 Teaspoon sugar

This is easy to put together, is really refreshing and gives a nice pop of color on the plate. Use a sharp knife to cut the skin off of the grapefruit so that you can see the flesh (sorry for the graphic-sounding references). You want to try to cut off as much white pith as possible. You'll see the dividing veins in the grapefruit separating the sections; use a small paring knife to cut the grapefruit segments out and place them in a bowl. Top with a little sugar and chopped mint and toss so that it's evenly coated. If you have oranges it would be really nice to add those, prepared the same way. Keep cold in the fridge until just before you serve it.

ART Benedict - Avocado, Rocket & Tomato Benedict

• English muffin (or toast- you could cut it in a heart shape for a special occasion)
• Tomato
• Arugula - also known as Rocket to my lovely Australian family :)
• Avocado
• 2 Eggs
• Vegemite (optional)

TJ and I are big brunch fans. I don't know that we've spent a weekend together without either going out to brunch or making it at home, and quite honestly it would be hard for me to pick which I like better! Brunch is the one meal where I can find TJ in the kitchen and he makes a mean avocado egg stack by mashing avocado with a squeeze of lemon, piling it on a piece of toast with either spinach or arugula and adding a poached egg on top. For some reason I hadn't thought about using Arugula on eggs benedict before but it's perfect because the hot egg wilts it just slightly. One weekend we were visiting my sister and her husband in Nashville and I got the Bel Air Benedict which had avocado and tomato which I loved. So between TJ and that restaurant, the ART Benedict was born! I think this would be really great if you added some crisp bacon too, a play on a BLT sandwich. The nice thing about this benedict is that it has so much flavor you won't miss the butter sauce, I mean, hollandaise sauce.

Toast the english muffin or bread and butter it. I love adding a little smear of vegemite. Even if people think they hate vegemite, they can't hate it like this. It just adds a nice salty bite and I love it. Put a small handful of arugula on the bread (or spinach if you have it instead) and top with one slice of tomato and two slices of avocado (and bacon if you want). Add the poached egg on top (see instructions below) and finish with fresh ground pepper and salt.

To poach your eggs, fill a large sauce pan with water and bring to a simmer (if you just have a pot just be sure to not add more than 2 inches of water, you want it to be shallow). Add a splash of vinegar and a pinch of salt, I used apple cider vinegar since that's what I found most readily in my mom's expansive pantry. Crack the eggs and gently drop them straight into the water, be gentle so you don't break the yolk. Once you've added the eggs be sure to turn off the heat completely, put a lid over the pan and let the eggs sit for 4 minutes. This is the "Lindsay's Perfect Poached Eggs" technique and it works every time! I had 6 eggs in the pan at once and thought they'd need a few extra minutes to cook because of how many there were, but don't make the same mistake I did. I ended up over cooking them so the yolks weren't nice and runny like I like them. So, moral of the story is stick to the rules, 4 minutes that's it and you'll have perfectly poached eggs!

Healthy Sweet Treats & Savory Snacks

Ooh how I love a good snack, especially when it's filling, healthy and of course delicious. I'm always one to choose savory snacks over sweet, and let me tell you I have a weakness for french fries which is unfortunate. So I try to regulary snack healthy to help make up for my french frie splurges. On the other hand, TJ has a major sweet tooth, so together the two of us can really do some damage. Anyways, I have a couple very satisfying treats up my sleeve that can satisfy your cravings whether they're for a savory snack or a sweet treat!
My favorite sweet treat to make is a frosty delicious fruit smoothie. I use plain Greek yogurt because it has a thick texture and has lots of protein to fill you up. In fact, one of my favorite afternoon snacks is a 'deconstructed smoothie.' That's my unnecessarily fancy way of saying, plain Greek yogurt with fresh berries and a tiny bit of honey- perfect snack to curb severe afternoon hunger when you're in the office without ice cubes and a blender.

Guiltless Fruit Smoothie

• 3/4 Cup plain Greek yogurt
• 1 cup fresh fruit (strawberries, 1/2 banana, blueberries, mango, whatever you have)
• 1/2 - 1 cup ice cubes
• splash of orange juice or milk (optional)
• 1-2 Tablespoons honey

Ok, confession. Per usual I didn't actually measure this recipe but I pretty much adjust the proportions each time. Sometimes more ice for an extra cool treat, sometime a splash of OJ or milk to make it thinner, more or less honey depending on how sweet the fruit is that you're using. Overly ripe is good for this! If you only have frozen berries then use less ice, but you'll probably have to use more honey. Just roughly chop the fruit and put it in a blender or use an immersion blender to mix in the rest of the ingredients. I think one of my favorite combinations is strawberries with a 1/2 banana. This is so satisfying, refreshing and filling and really guilt free. If I have extra sometimes I'll freeze in an ice cube tray for an extra cold treat later on.

A delicious frozen treat!

Next! Savory snack time. Now, I know healthy microwave popcorn is no new invention. But I love dressing it up with a few easy tweaks to make it a lot more fun and flavorful.

Dressy Popcorn

• Popcorn
• fresh ground sharp cheese
• 1 Tablespoon fresh minced herbs
• 1 Tablespoon fresh ground pepper
• 1 Teaspoon salt

I like to use Pop Secret 94% fat free brand popcorn. Actually, that's a lie. I love Pop Secret Homestyle but it is super bad for you so I let TJ buy the healthy stuff for us, which kind of tastes like cardboard unless you dress it up. And there are plenty of ways to do that without using butter! I prefer microwave popcorn simply because it's easier but it's super tasty if you pop your own- just heat a little oil in a pan and pop your own kernels (you'll need to have the lid on your pan and shake it constantly, yum! I like to add a TON of fresh cracked pepper and some extra salt. It doesn't get better than adding fresh herbs; rosemary, thyme and/or sage. Fresh herbs are perfect with freshly grated parmigiano reggiano on the popcorn. That's my favorite cheese pick for this because it's got a strong flavor so you don't have to use as much to get a strong punch of flavor. Plus popcorn has fiber so it should fill you up. Enjoy!