Jalapeno Sweet Potato Chicken Chowder

Jalapeno Sweet Potato Chowder
2 large sweet potatoes
2 tbsp butter
1 small onion diced
1 quart chicken broth
2 cups cooked chicken
1 can whole kernel corn
1 or 2 jalapenos minced (I used half a can of fire roasted diced green chilies instead)
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tsp salt
pepper to taste

Bake sweet potatoes until softened (I microwaved them). Scoop out flesh, discard skin and puree the flesh.
In a soup pot, saute onion in butter until softened. Add pureed sweet potato and broth (I didn't use the whole quart so it would be thicker). Bring to a boil. Add chicken, corn, jalapenos, heavy cream and salt/pepper.
Simmer for about 10 minutes. Enjoy!

Notes: I bought sweet potatoes from Costco on Sunday and there was a recipe card in the box that had this one and a few others in it. It was easy to make. I actually had a bag of the grilled chicken that is cut into strips and frozen (it’s on coupon at Costco right now) so I just used it after thawing it in the microwave and dicing it up. Quick and simple!

M.I.A

Sorry I have been M.I.A for a week. It is the GoldMedal basketball tournament so aside from watching games and hanging out with friends and Gerald's family I'm just trying to get through all my homework right now. I haven't cooked anything special or really worth blogging about. Saturday I made a yummy breakfast of egg beaters, chopped onion, peppers, spinach and garlic and some bacon. I also cooked some chicken breast in the crock pot (not recommended because it dries out!). I chopped it up and made a chicken salad for sandwiches with it. I stirred in some Greek yogurt, lots of mustard, onions, pickles and Mrs. Dash. We gobbled it up with the grain sprouted bread we're addicted to. Sunday, Monday and Tuesday we ate with friends/family. I did well limiting my portions even though not all the food was healthy. However, I have to confess that I did have a piece of cheesecake and REALLY enjoyed it!
Anyway, the bball tournament is over Saturday and things should be back to normal by Sunday....so look for blog updates next week!

"BBQ" Chicken

I have had a big craving for BBQ chicken lately. Because most BBQ sauce has a ton of sugar in it I have tried to resist...but let me tell you; if I could only have one condiment the rest of my life it would be Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce, I LOVE IT! To satisfy my craving I attempted to make some lower sugar BBQ sauce with tomato paste, sriracha, garlic, onion and some Splenda brown sugar blend. My warning to you if you use the Splenda brown sugar is to use it very sparingly...it is VERY sweet! You only need to use 1/2 as much as you would regular brown sugar. Anyway, I mixed those ingredients together with some water to thin it out. Then I cut three chicken breasts into smaller pieces and put it in the sauce. I made sure to cover all sides of the chicken with the sauce. Then I baked it for about 35 minutes on 350 degrees. Some of the sauce burned to the side of the pan, but it actually cooked quite nicely.
I also made a mix of yukon gold potatoes, carrots, onions, green peppers and garlic. I used 4 mini potatoes, 2 carrots (the full size kind for once!), half an onion and a whole green pepper. I cooked the potatoes and carrots in some olive oil on the stove until they started to get tender and then added the onion, green peppers and garlic. I knew the carrots and potatoes would take longer to cook so I didn't want the other things to be totally shriveled up. This was a good mix with lots of flavors!
Overall, it was a pretty good flavor. The tomato paste made the chicken a little more tomato flavored than the BBQ flavor I'm used to, but it was good. I'm thinking I will make it again but definitely play around with spices.

Crockpot goodness and Coleslaw

Since I knew I was planning to workout tonight I wanted something quick and easy for dinner. So what better thing to do than use the crockpot?
I came home on my lunch break this afternoon to throw it all together. I put three chicken breasts in the pot, added a can of petite diced tomatoes with jalapeno, 1/2 a jar of corn and black bean salsa, a can of diced green chilies, some lemon juice, some cumin and a bag of frozen corn that had black beans, onions and peppers in it. I put the lid on and turned it on high and went back to work. A little over three hours later when I came back the chicken was super tender. I shredded it all up and mixed it together and this is what I got:
Since Gerald wasn't home from work yet I decided to put on a pot of rice to serve with it. I also made some coleslaw. I had a bag in the fridge (I usually use it or broccoli slaw instead of lettuce) and thought I'd try my hand at making some dressing. It turned out great but I'm sure if I tried to duplicate it it wouldn't taste the same. I mixed together a little plain Greek yogurt, apple cider vinegar, a bit of Splenda and a small squirt of mustard. The Splenda made it pretty sweet so it definitely appealed to my taste buds!

Overall, it was super easy and pretty darn cheap to make this meal...and we have enough for both of our lunches tomorrow! Normally if I just make chicken breast, I will eat a small one and Gerald will eat two whole ones. So to be able to stretch these three this far by mixing in other things is pretty impressive! Now I have three more chicken breasts in the fridge from the family pack to cook tomorrow...not sure what I will do with them yet! My goal is to not grocery shop until Friday or Saturday so I'm going to try to make do with the things I still have in my kitchen.

My favorite salad for dinner and Split Pea Soup for lunch

My favorite salad is inspired by a taco salad. However, as most of you know, those big taco shells are deep fried and super unhealthy! The good thing is, I don't really miss the shell when I make this salad.
Ingredients:
Broccoli Slaw
Extra Lean Ground Turkey
Taco Seasoning
Kidney Beans (I usually use black beans but didn't realize I am out)
Onions
Cilantro
Corn
Olives
Salsa
Cheese

This is super easy to throw together. Brown the turkey and add the taco seasoning once it is done. Then build your salad...tada! I love using the broccoli slaw as opposed to lettuce because it is really crunchy, full of fiber and fills me up. Not to mention, it doesn't get wilted or soggy if I make a salad at night for my lunch the next day (which is what I did for tomorrow).

Last night I made split pea soup in the crockpot so we could have it for our lunches at work today. I can't take credit for this recipe because I found it online: http://southernfood.about.com/od/crockpotsoup/r/bl17c5.htm

Cook Time: 8 hours
Total Time: 8 hours
Ingredients:

* 1 (16 oz.) pkg. dried green split peas, rinsed
* 1 meaty hambone, 2 ham hocks, or 2 cups diced ham
* 3 carrots, peeled and sliced
* 1/2 cup chopped onion
* 2 ribs of celery plus leaves, chopped
* 1 or 2 cloves of garlic, minced
* 1 bay leaf
* 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped, or 2 teaspoons dried parsley flakes
* 1 tbsp. seasoned salt (or to taste)
* 1/2 tsp. fresh pepper
* 1 1/2 qts. hot water

Preparation:
Layer ingredients in slow cooker in the order given; pour in water. Do not stir ingredients. Cover and cook on HIGH 4 to 5 hours or on low 8 to 10 hours until peas are very soft and ham falls off bone. Remove bones and bay leaf. Mash peas to thicken more, if desired. Serve garnished with croutons. Freezes well.
Serves 8.

The reviews for this recipe are great. However, I personally thought it was a little bit bland. I will probably make it again but add more spices. Gerald enjoyed it, but added salt to his. I didn't add anything to mine and just ate it with a slice of grain sprouted flour-less bread. As my mom would say "It'll make a turd!" :)

Rouladen, Mashed Cauliflower and Brussel Sprouts

I've been eating Rouladen as long as I can remember. My Oma makes it and so does my mom. They both make it a little different from each other, and I make it even different from that. However, the end result is always delicious!
Start with some thin sliced top or bottom round. Usually if you tell a butcher that you are making rouladen, they will know how to cut it. I tell them it is about as long as a slice of bacon, as wide as a small pickle and almost as thin as they can slice it without shaving it.
Lay the slices out on a cutting board (or a clean countertop), spread some yellow mustard on each slice, sprinkle them with pepper, lay down a slice of bacon (I bought reduced fat and sodium--I know this is exactly healthy!), then put some diced onion and a dill pickle spear (or some diced pickle)at the end. Roll them up starting with the end with the onion and pickle. Poke each one with a toothpick to hold it together. Then brown them on a hot skillet. The next thing I do is mix together one packet of Onion Soup mix with about a cup and a half of water. I put this is a small baking dish and add the browned meat to it. Cover it with foil and bake for about an hour in 375 degree oven.

I also made some mashed cauliflower as the alternative to mashed potatoes. Oma almost always serves her rouladen with mashed potatoes and gravy...yum! This time I didn't put any potatoes in the mashed cauliflower. I just cut up the head, put it in boiling water and boiled the hell out of it until it was tender. Then I drained most of the water, mashed it with a potato masher, stirred in some chopped parsley, Mrs. Dash table blend, pepper and a little plain Greek yogurt.

Last but not least, I steamed some frozen brussel sprouts. These aren't my favorite, but I do like them once in a while as long as they have lots of pepper on them!
My food choices this weekend weren't great but they weren't horrible either. It was hard, but I resisted the burgers and steaks at the brewery and at the Chena Hot Springs restaurants. I had a jalapeno chicken salad (and didn't eat the taco shell) from the brewery and a spinach chicken salad that had walnuts, tomato, red onion, mandarin oranges and Gorgonzola cheese from the hot springs. We're pretty darn tired after our trip, but we had a great time. I'll leave you with a pic of me in the ice phone booth at the Ice Festival....there sure were some amazing ice carvings there!

Sorry...

Sorry no posts for a couple days. Last night was busy so we had Subway with lots of veggies for dinner. Tonight I was trying to wrap up some homework and get packed for our trip to Fairbanks in the morning so we just gobbled up the last of the leftovers (soup and Shepherd's pie) for dinner. We head out bright and early and won't be back until Sunday night so I won't be posting until at least Monday. Here's hoping I shiver so much that I burn lots of calories...and find the will power to make healthful choices at meal time this weekend away from home!

Shepherd's Pie

This is Gerald's favorite meal...I guess it's probably because it is kind of a comfort food. I originally got the recipe from Weight Watchers but I have since adapted it to my own. I probably make it a little different each time I make it, but every time Gerald just can't get enough! I've made it with ground venison, ground turkey or ground sirloin. The meat you pick is totally up to you, just make sure it is lean.

Shepherd's Pie
I start by browning ground meat. Add in some diced onions, minced garlic, diced carrots, diced red peppers and diced tomatoes until the carrots are tender. Then stir in some chopped spinach and zucchini. I'm not a fan of really mushy zucchini, so that's why I don't add it in earlier. You can also stir in whichever spices you would like to use. We like this with a bit of spice to it, so I used some extra spicy Mrs. Dash, a bit of chili powder and some basil. Stir this up and put it in the bottom of a casserole dish.

The topping for this is mashed potatoes. I was too lazy to make real mashed potatoes tonight so I used one of those pouches of garlic flavored instant potatoes. The quantity is perfect for this dish. Spread the mashed potatoes over the meat and veggie mixture and bake it in the oven for about 20 minutes on 375. You can also add some cheese between the meat and potatoes....that makes it super gooey and good! One time that I made it, I put pepperjack cheese in there and let me tell you...HEAVEN! But, if you are watching calories, adding cheese might not be the wisest choice.

As a side, I just steamed some fresh cauliflower and broccoli. You can see by this picture that it really is one of Gerald's favorites. There usually aren't much leftovers. But if there is leftovers, it is great the next day for lunch as well. The possibilities of veggies for this dish are endless. You could use cubed squash, lots of peppers, corn, peas, beans or whatever your heart desires.

"This Looks Healthy"

I often kick Gerald out of the kitchen while I'm cooking...tonight he didn't enter it until I told him dinner was ready. After taking a look around, he said "man, this looks healthy!" I was wondering if that meant he was thinking I was feeding him bird food and was afraid to eat it. However, by the end of the meal he was telling me that I should be a chef...so I think I'll take that as a compliment.
Sun Dried Tomato Stuffed Chicken
2 decent size chicken breasts
1/2 small container of plain Greek yogurt
small handful of sun dried tomatoes-chopped
fresh basil
fresh mozzarella
garlic
Mrs. Dash
This is pretty similar to the stuffed chicken I made a week or two ago. However, I used sun dried tomatoes, fresh basil and mozzarella instead of spinach and feta. I like the sun dried tomatoes that are in the bag rather than the jar because generally the ones in the jar have olive oil in them. Since I use olive oil for many other things, I don't really need the added fat in the tomatoes too.
Anyway, mix together half a small container of plain Greek yogurt, a spoon of minced garlic, some diced sun dried tomatoes, chopped fresh basil, a little bit of cubed fresh mozzarella and some Mrs. Dash. Butterfly the chicken and spread the mixture in the middle. Bake for about half an hour at 350. In case you hadn't noticed, I'm a HUGE fan of Mrs. Dash. If you ever want to buy me a small gift that costs under $5, buy me a new bottle of Mrs. Dash! LOL. There are so many flavors and it doesn't have salt in it so I don't feel guilty using lots of it. My collection of flavors is slowly growing. Since I've been cooking a lot, I've been trying to buy one new bottle of a new spice each week when I go to the grocery store. My cupboard is starting to overflow but it gives me lots to choose from!

Since I've been trying to eat more tomatoes, I decided to make something resembling a Caprese salad tonight. Sliced ripe tomatoes, thin slices of fresh mozzarella, fresh basil leaves and some balsamic vinegar. Yum!

And the final side dish was some asparagus. I found that my favorite way to cook it (and probably the easiest way) is to put it in a microwaveable dish, drizzle it with a little olive oil and sprinkle it with, you guessed it, Mrs. Dash! I cook it for 3 minutes and it is just about perfect. I HATE mushy asparagus, so over cooking it is the worst!
Please excuse the living room picture of my dinner...our big light burned out in the kitchen so I had to carry the plate to the living room to get some good lighting! Gerald is stopping at the store on his way home from basketball to get some light bulbs!
Oh, and I would like to thank you all for reading/viewing my blog! Holy cow, I started it 4 weeks ago today and I think I'll break the 700 views mark tonight! That is insane to me! And let me tell ya, it makes me want to keep on cooking because I know someone is out there enjoying what I'm posting! Thank you!

Sunday morning cooking

I spent the morning destroying my kitchen by doing quite a bit of cooking. I've been dreaming of the day I can afford a large kitchen with plenty of counter and cupboard space and tons of cool kitchen gadgets...until then, I make do with what I have.
I made two different kinds of soup and some black bean hummus to go with a veggie tray for a potluck today.

Black Bean Hummus
I got this recipe from a search engine online. I don't like tahini so I've been looking for a good hummus recipe that doesn't use it. I think this turned out pretty good...Gerald said "yuck" when he tried it though...

* 1 15 ounce can chickpeas, drained (garbanzo beans)
* 1 15 ounce can black beans, drained
* 2 cloves garlic
* 1 tbsp olive oil
* 2 tbsp lemon juice
* 2 tsp cumin
* 1 tbsp dried parsley
Blend all ingredients in a food processor and refrigerate to chill. It's that simple!
I know everyone won't like hummus, so I also mixed up some ranch using plain Greek yogurt as the base instead of sour cream. I think this hummus would be really great with pita chips or as a spread in a pita sandwich. You could play with the flavor by adding different spices. Next time I think I will add some jalapeno and cilantro for an extra kick of flavor.
I figured that if all these veggies don't get eaten at the party today I will just take them as snacks to work this week or steam some for dinner.

Chicken Veggie Soup
I baked a whole chicken yesterday for us to have for lunch. I love using the carcass and making chicken stock for soup, so that is what I did after we ate some of the meat from the chicken.
I put the chicken carcass with some meat still on it in the crock pot on low with some water for about 5 hours. Then I picked the chicken off it and tried to fish all the bones out. I added a bag of stir fry veggies with noodles, the other half of the bag of frozen peas and carrots that I had from the other night, some more stir fry veggies from the big Costco bag I had, some onion, garlic and soy sauce. I let that cook in the crock pot for about an hour or until it was hot all the way through. I also stirred in some pepper and some extra spicy Mrs. Dash.
This soup doesn't have a ton of flavor but I also didn't want to add a bunch of salt to it. You could definitely add some more soy sauce or other seasonings to falvor it up some more. Overall, it is pretty good though. The noodles in the one bag of veggies are a nice compliment instead of it being just shredded chicken and veggies...yet it didn't add a ton of carbs since there aren't a lot in the bag.

Lentil Soup
Lentil soup has always been one of my favorites. I don't like the runny version you find in cans...I prefer it thicker like stew. This is really easy to make too. It is delicious to use smoked ham hocks as well. Or, you can easily make it vegetarian by leaving out the meat and using vegetable broth instead of the beef broth.

* 1 small diced onion
* diced carrots (I'd guess it is about 2 big ones, I use a handful of baby carrots)
* 2 stalks celery-diced
* 1 large tomato diced
* 2 tbsp olive oil
* 1 bag of lentils
* diced turkey ham (optional)
* 2 SMALL Yukon potatoes-diced
* reduced sodium beef broth-1 quart
* water
* cumin
* coriander
* pepper
* maggi
* vinegar
Heat the oil in the bottom of a pot. Add the onion, celery and carrots. Cook until tender (4-5 minutes). Add the rest of the ingredients (except the vinegar and potatoes) and a few cups of water. Bring to a boil. I usually boil it hard for about 10 minutes, but keep stirring it and watch the water level to it doesn't all disappear. Reduce the heat, cover and continue cooking for about half an hour. Stir in the potatoes and cook for another half an hour. Once it is about done, stir in some vinegar to taste...it really brings out the flavor, so don't skip this step!

Faux Fried Rice and Stir Fry

I made this recipe a year or two ago and really liked it so I'm not sure why I haven't made it again. But for some reason, fried rice has sounded good lately and I recalled making this and thought I'd see what the bf thought of it too.

Faux Fried Rice
1 head of cauliflower
1/2 bag of frozen peas and carrots
1 bunch green onions
2 eggs
ginger
soy sauce

1. I've heard you can grate the cauliflower with a cheese grater but I think it is much cleaner to use the food processor. Cut the head of cauliflower into a few chunks and put it in the food processor with the grating blade in it. Make sure it all gets grated into tiny pieces somewhat resembling rice.

2. Put a little bit of olive oil in a hot pan and stir fry it until it starts to get tender. Add the chopped green onion, peas and carrots, ginger and a couple tablespoons of soy sauce.

3. Once the veggies are tender, push them to the side of the pan. Scramble two eggs and cook on the empty half of the pan. Once they are cooked, mix them into the cauliflower mixture. Enjoy!

For the stir fry, I marinated some thin cut top round steaks in Mrs. Dash (salt free) Spicy Teriyaki marinade for a couple hours. Then I sliced it up and cooked the meat until about done. I stirred in some frozen stir fry veggies and cooked until tender. I also added garlic. Yum! It looks like fried rice doesn't it? But there isn't a single grain of rice on that plate!

No Posts for a few days...

Gerald is out at the mine so I'm trying to finish the leftovers (chili and meatloaf) I have in the fridge before I leave for Seattle tomorrow after work. I will be gone for a few days and probably won't cook again until Friday. Let's hope that doesn't mean I will get totally derailed from healthy eating while I'm away! I'm still working on learning how to cook smaller amounts of things so I don't have to eat so many leftovers (or throw out so much food when it goes bad). Anyway, I hope you all have a great week....look for updates this weekend!

Puffy Apple "Omelet"

I'm not sure why they call this an omelet (hence the quotations in my title). At any rate, I got this recipe from from a magazine rack recipe card book I picked up last week "Taste of Home Comfort Food Diet." I love apples so I thought I would give it a try. The original recipe calls for sugar and all-purpose flour but I substituted Splenda and whole-wheat flour.

Puffy Apple Omelet
3 Tbsp. flour
1/4 tsp. baking powder
2 eggs, separated
3 Tbsp. fat-free milk
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
3 Tbsp. sugar (or substitute)
TOPPING:
1 large tart apple thinly sliced
1 tsp. sugar (or substitute)
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

1. In a small bowl, combine flour and baking powder. In another small bowl, whisk the egg yolks, milk and lemon juice. Stir into dry ingredients, mix well and set aside.

2. In another small bowl, beat egg whites on medium speed until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in sugar 1 tablespoon at a time on high until stiff peaks form. Fold into yolk mixture.

3. Pour into a shallow 1-1/2 qt. baking dish coated with cooking spray. Arrange apple slices on top. Combine sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle over apples.

4. Bake uncovered at 375 degrees for 18-20 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Serve immediately.
Makes 2 servings.

Surprisingly, this was REALLY GOOD! It wasn't super sweet like most apple things. I'm pretty sure you could get kids to eat this too. I'll be making it again sometime for sure!

Bison-Veggie Loaf

I've used Bison in place of ground beef in the past, but I've never made a meat loaf with it so I thought I would give it a try.
Bison Veggie Loaf
1 lb. ground bison
1 egg
1 slice grain sprouted bread
shredded carrots
chopped green onions
chopped spinach
chopped red & yellow peppers
minced garlic
chili powder (I used a heaping teaspoon)
Worcestershire sauce (I'm guessing I used a Tbsp)


Preheat oven to 350. Mix all the ingredients together and form it into a loaf. Put in a pan and bake for about 35 minutes or until done. Adding veggies to a meatloaf is a great way to eat more veggies and to feed them to your kids without them really noticing. If you are going to use carrots that are chopped rather than shredded, you will want to cook them a little before mixing them into your meat mixture or else they will still be crunchy...I learned that the hard way once before. However, shredding carrots isn't the easiest task in the world for keeping the skin on your fingers either....However, my veggies were still a little bit crunchy so if you don't want them to be firm, you will definitely want to saute them a little before mixing them with the chopped bread, egg and meat.

This meatloaf turned out great! I ate it with a small baked sweet potato and some steamed broccoli. I almost didn't even miss the BBQ sauce I normally put on my meatloaf...the chili powder gives a nice little kick of flavor that kind of replaces the BBQ though.

Chicken Chili

First I would like to say THANK YOU Alberta for sharing this recipe. This is the white bean chicken chili recipe I had a couple weeks ago and fell in love with. When Alberta made it, it was probably the best soup I've ever eaten. I'm not sure what is different or if she adapted the recipe when she made it, but mine didn't taste like hers. This is the original recipe:
Richard's Chicken Chili
3/4 c. chopped onions
1-2 Tbsp. minced garlic
lg can garbanzo beans
lg can white corn
lg can cannellini beans
black beans (optional)
1 lb. cubed chicken breast
1 Tbsp. cumin
1 tsp. crushed red pepper, cayenne or chili powder
1 can chicken broth
small can of diced green chilies

Put a little oil in a pot and saute the garlic and onions. Add the cumin and the pepper/cayenne/chili powder. Add the rest of the ingredients, cover and cook over medium heat for 40-45 minutes stirring often.
You can top the soup with fresh cilantro (THIS IS DEFINITELY A MUST!). You could also add sour cream, cheese or tortilla chips but keep in mind all these things are calories!

One thing I know she did differently was used shredded chicken (I think she had cooked a whole chicken and shredded it off the bone). I used boneless, skinless chicken breast and I definitely think it was better when it was shredded. I'm also pretty sure that one can of broth would not have been enough. I buy the cartons, not cans, and I definitely used more than would have been in a can. I'm going to need to talk to her to see what else she did differently because although this turned out good, it wasn't nearly as good as hers...but then again, I very rarely follow a recipe so I can't expect that someone else does either!

I have some bison burger laid out for tonight so I'm currently trying to decide what I'll make with it....

Smoked Salmon and Veggie Frittata

I'd like to say this turned out AMAZING, but I think I ruined it with the salmon. Normally, I'm pretty sure it would have been good but there was a really fishy gross taste to this salmon that didn't sit well with me. So it is a good thing I didn't use much of it. This was also my first attempt at making a frittata so those of you who are experts don't laugh at me!

The first thing I did was chopped up a SMALL Yukon gold potato into tiny squares. I put it in the pan with some olive oil and put the lid on. I cooked it until the potato was tender (have to flip a time or two). While that was cooking, I chopped some green onion, tomato, spinach and the smoked salmon. Once the potatoes were tender, I added the veggies and salmon along with garlic and pepper. Let that cook for about a minute. I scrambled 3 Omega 3 brown eggs and a splash of milk. I poured that over the top of the veggies and put the lid back on the pan until the egg firmed up and was done.

I would caution you to be VERY careful if you have a flat top stove. I hate mine and wish I had a gas range, but I don't. The heat stays really high on the stove I have so I have to be extra careful. I was also cautious to make sure I used a non-stick pan. Eggs can be a mess if you don't use the right pan! Anyway, I ate half of the frittata with a slice of grain sprouted bread (flour-less). Now I have the other half for breakfast before work! Tonight was my first time trying this specific brand of grain bread and it is so good! I used to eat Ezekial 4:9 bread but I didn't like how dry and cardboard-like it was. This brand is great though! It is chewy and tasty and I think I may have found a new love!

And a little off topic, but a few other things I've been doing lately. The first is using a smaller plate (salad plate). Most of the time I'm totally satisfied after eating from a small plate. If I eat a bunch of salad with my meal then I will still use a big plate, but I'm trying to be sure that even when I use a big plate that I don't fill it. Water has also been critical for me. This water bottle has helped me drink so much more water! I'm not sure what it is about drinking through a straw but it makes the water go down so much easier. This is a 24-ounce bottle and I fill it at least 4 times but usually 5 times a day....that is almost a gallon of water! I've cut back to only drinking coffee one or two days a week. So aside from hot tea, water is pretty much the only thing I drink nowadays.

I've got History class tomorrow night and a Biology test to take at lunch so I likely won't be cooking tomorrow. I'll try to think of something good for you guys to cook over the weekend...it's almost here! Yay!

Leftovers for lunch

It took every ounce of willpower I have to not go to McDonald's for lunch today! Someone had something at work that smelled like french fries and it made me salivate. I got in my car thinking I was going to go to McDonald's and get a kid's meal for lunch. But by the time I got to the intersection towards my house I had talked myself out of it. I decided to come home and make do with what I already had here.

Most of the ingredients are self explanatory by looking at the picture. In the little container is the rest of the Greek yogurt from yesterday that I made ranch out of. I just stirred in a little bit of the powdered Hidden Valley ranch dip until it tasted good. I spread that on the inside of the pita and added the spinach, tomato, onion and 1/2 the chopped up chicken breast from last night. I ate it with a mandarin orange. Yum! I'm glad I found the willpower to skip McDonald's!

Spinach and Feta Stuffed Chicken

I've been looking for more ways to use spinach because I know how good it is for me. But quite frankly, when it is cooked and slimy (think canned or frozen) it makes me want to vomit. I love spinach salads and I don't mind chopping up fresh spinach and putting it in things. You still can't get me to eat a blob of it by itself though...its all about the texture for me! Anyway, I found a recipe that looked good but needed tweaking (as in it used mayonnaise and bacon) so I started with it and adapted it into this:
Spinach and Feta Stuffed Chicken Breast
3 chicken breast (or however many you want to make)
1/2 a cup of plain, low fat Greek yogurt
1/4 cup feta (I like the flavored ones)
garlic
onion powder
Mrs. Dash (Tomato, Basil & Garlic)
Spinach--chop up a handful


I started by mixing together the yogurt, feta, garlic powder, onion powder and Mrs. Dash in a small bowl. Once that was thoroughly mixed I added the chopped spinach. Then I butterflied the chicken breast. This would have been a lot easier to do if the chicken breast was thicker or still a little frozen. I purposely chose smaller breasts because I figured it would cook more evenly. The best thing is to just try and make sure you cut it pretty close to the mid point and don't cut yourself...or cut all the way through! Don't cut it into 2 fillets, make sure you leave it connected a little on the one side. Once the chicken was cut, I spread some of the filling on one side. After closing it up I sprinkled it with some more Mrs. Dash and garlic. Then I sprayed a small glass casserole dish with olive oil and put the chicken in it. I cooked it for about 35 minutes in a preheated 375 degree oven.

For sides I chopped up a really firm roma tomato and sprinkled it with salt and pepper (once again, I'm still trying to force myself to like tomatoes again...slowly I'll get there!). I also sliced a small zucchini and very thinly sliced some red and yellow pepper. I cooked those in a little bit of olive oil with more garlic and pepper. I don't like my zucchini overly cooked so I was sure to keep the peppers really thin so they would cook in the same time as the zucchini. I would guess I cooked the combo for about 4 minutes before taking it off the heat.

Seriously, my taste buds are in heaven after eating this meal! You should try it and I guarantee if you like the ingredients, you will love this meal. The original recipe used mayo instead of the Greek yogurt and then also wrapped the chicken in a slice of bacon. As you can see, I left that out to make it healthier. I look forward to making this again in the future and I'm really glad I have leftovers! I think I will chop up some of it to eat in a pita with more raw spinach tomorrow for dinner! YUM!

Roasted Pepper-Sweet Potato Soup

I bought peppers from Costco this weekend and since Gerald is gone this week at the mine I wasn't sure what to do with them. I figured I should try something new. I searched for some recipes for soups but didn't find one that totally suited my taste so I took the base of a few of them and meshed the recipes to come up with my own. It turned out quite good actually (even though it looks a lot like baby food!).


I started out by halving a red pepper and two orange peppers and scraping out their seeds. I then put them on the ickiest baking sheet I had and under the broiler on high. While these were roasting, I chopped up two small sweet potatoes. I put the sweet potatoes in the pot and just barely covered them with reduced sodium beef broth and turned them on high. I let them boil until tender. I also chopped up two tomatoes and half an onion and added those to the potatoes when they were about done.


I flipped the peppers about halfway through (I put the skin side down for a while first so the meat of the pepper would get cooked). I finished the peppers with the skin side up and started to blacken them. Once they were good and tender I pulled them out, let them cool for a while then scrapped the skin off of them. If they are done enough, the skins should come off relatively easily. I then sliced the peppers and added them to the potato mixture.


I turned off the stove and put the whole mixture in the food processor and pulsed it until it was smooth. I realized that it was probably a tad thicker than I wanted it to be so once it was fairly smooth I put it back in the pot and added a little more broth. I also stirred in some cumin, pepper, garlic powder and Sriracha. I tasted it once then decided to add a little more cumin (I wanted to make sure I didn't overdo it!). I heated it back up and ta-da! It was quite flavorful!

And for those of you that are readers but aren't my Facebook friends, I lost 2.6 more pounds this week for a total of 8.3 in the last 3 weeks! This healthy eating and exercise thing really works! I'm now a firm believer that you don't need to go on a "diet" to lose weight...you merely need to make sensible, healthy choices and cut out the processed junk that we all love so much!

Slacker over the weekend!

Sorry readers, I was a slacker over the weekend and never turned on my computer...and I wasn't about to post a blog using my iPhone because it would be filled with type-o's!
Anyway, Friday we had a Costco run and a trip to Fred Meyer to do and since I hadn't grocery shopped in over a week I didn't have much fresh food. So, we had Subway for dinner. It sure was delicious but then I started to worry about eating the bread and how I have such an addiction to it....
Saturday, my other half made me scrambled eggs with red and yellow peppers, onions and spinach and some turkey sausage. Yum!
We had his family over for dinner on Saturday and I was scrambling to have everything ready so I forgot to take a picture of my plate or the cooking process. So for that, I apologize, the pictures are of the leftovers...definitely not pretty! Someday, I will invest in a super sweet camera that can even make leftovers look good...until then, you are stuck with what I show you!
The menu consisted of crock pot pork tenderloin in apple cider, mashed potato/cauliflower/carrots and spinach salad.


I LOVE pork cooked in apples! I started by chopping up 3 apples and putting them in the bottom of the crock pot. Then I chopped half an onion and put that in there too. I browned the tenderloin on the stove top before putting it in the crock pot. Then I poured in about half a bottle of apple cider (not the sparking kind like Gerald thought I was talking about!...the kind that looks like apple juice!). I cooked it on high in the crock pot for about 4 hours then turned it down to low for 2 more hours. Mine was actually in there for longer than that due to a power outage for an hour in the beginning but it hadn't gotten hot yet when the power went out so I'm not sure how to account for that time!. Anyway, as you can see, it was so tender it totally shredded before I could even get it out of the crock pot....DELICIOUS!


The mashed potato/cauliflower/carrot recipe is one I had previously gotten from Weight Watchers but I no longer remember that one exactly. I use 4 Yukon gold potatoes (peeled), a large head of cauliflower) and about 1/2 a bag of baby carrots chopped small. Cut up and peel the potatoes just as you would for making mashed potatoes, cut the cauliflower into flowerettes and chop the carrots. Add it all to boiling water and boil the hell out of it until it is all tender. Then you can either put it in the food processor if you like it really smooth, or just mash it with a potato masher. I added some Butter Buds, chopped green onions, garlic, pepper, salt, chives and a little fat free milk before mashing it. Gerald's mom really enjoyed these....not sure about his brother but he isn't much of a veggie eater (so I'm pretty sure he would wither away if he lived with us!).

I also made a spinach salad and a green bean salad. You can see the spinach salad recipe in a prior post but the green bean salad is french cut canned green beans (chilled), diced onions, oil, vinegar, maggi, salt, pepper, lemon juice, and some other random seasonings.



We also got some super delicious fruit that was probably the best part of our night after going to see Just Go With It for the second time!