Monthly Archives: July 2014

Creamy Tomato Pesto Pasta with Garlic & Chicken

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creamytomatochickenwithpesto

Tomato and pesto… and 1/2&1/2 ….  could this go wrong???? I don’t think so!!! Not with those ingredients!!!

YUM!

Basically my favorites all rolled into one. Except, no veggies except in the pasta, but this turned out great! I paired it with a salad (with BUTTER LETTUCE!!!)

Ingredients:

Marinade:

1/2 tsp minced garlic, olive oil, juice of 1 lemon, lemon zest and 2 TB of spaghetti sauce, oregano, 6 leaves of basil chopped up, salt and pepper
Cover the chicken with the above marinade, and let sit for 30 min at LEAST in the fridge (if not overnight)
1/4 cup Pesto (homemade… I’ve put the recipe on a previous post)
5-6 chicken tenderloins
1/2 tsp minced garlic
1/2 cup(s) chicken broth
8 ounce pasta of choice (I used Vegetable Radiatore)
8 ounce(s) Roasted Garlic Spaghetti Sauce
1/4 cup(s) half-and-half
2 tablespoon(s) parmesan (sprinkled on top after served)
2 tablespoon(s) Olive Oil

 

Directions:
Place chicken into bowl, cover with marinade, cover with plastic wrap (or similar) and place in fridge.

Boil water and start on noodles.  Pour entire batch of chicken, (with all juices from marinade) into skillet and cook chicken fully (the marinade will evaporate/cook down) for about 7-8 minutes per side. Remove the chicken, and put onto a plate off to the side. Add chicken broth and heat and thicken sauce, add tomato sauce and garlic. Place chicken back into sauce. Simmer in chicken broth until half has cooked down.  Reduce heat to LOW until barely simmering. Then add milk. Simmer for 5 minutes.  Toss pasta in. Add flour if it needs to be thickened.  Place chicken on top and serve. Drizzle with pesto over the top of the dish, and parmesan cheese.

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Egg Free, Dairy Free Pancakes!!!!

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dairyfreepancakes

1 cup all purpose flour (I like Lily Self-Rising Flour, makes them extra fluffy!)
1 cup soymilk (or rice milk)
1  tsp flax seed meal
1/4 cup applesauce
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (optional)
1 tsp vanilla

 

Directions:

1. Spray cooking spray on skillet.

2. Heat on medium.

3. Mix all ingredients in one bowl.

4. Use 1/4 measuring cup to drop pancakes into skillet.

5. Cook pancakes on skillet until bubbly in the middle and a bit dry around the edges.

6. Flip and cook 2 minutes more until done.

 

My kids are creatures of habit. A couple of years ago, when  my mom watched my kids when I was still working full time, they would usually have breakfast with her. She got them into a “toast” routine. Every single morning… I mean EVERY morning (whether we are out of town and at Panera for breakfast, or home) they want toast and bacon and juice for breakfast. That’s it. It’s crazy! The problem this morning is that I didn’t go grocery shopping yesterday, and realized this morning that I am out of bacon and bread. OOPS! So, my toast snob children were not happy. BUT, I whipped up these “Levi Friendly” (my son who has food allergies) pancakes and they DEVOURED them!!! At least I know what I can make now when I run out of bread!!!

 

Enjoy!

 

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Taco Tuesday!!!! (Low-Carb AND normal version!)

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CarbfreeoptionTacoTues tacotuesdaycarb

 

Ok, So I actually don’t make Tacos every Tuesday, as you can tell from the blog… BUT, my husband does love it when I make it a “Taco Tuesday”! So, for me I did the low-carb version, and for my husband (and kids) they had the hard shells!

I make my own taco seasoning, there are preservatives and other “things” in taco seasoning that’s packaged that I don’t always like. Some even still have MSG in them!! So, here it is:

1/2 cup chili powder
1 1/2 Tbs. garlic powder
2 Tbs. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. cayenne powder
1 1/2 Tbs. kosher himalayan sea salt
1  1/2 TB onion powder

Mix it up and put into an air tight container

Make tacos like normal!

For mine, I cut the mini-bell peppers in half, topped with cheese and baked at 350 for 10 minutes. Then just topped as I’d like!

Enjoy!!! TACOS!! 🙂

 

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Light Summer Lemon-Yogurt Pasta with Veggies and Shrimp

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shrimplemonyogurtpasta

Adapted from Jillian Michaels’ “The Master Your Metabolism Cookbook”

Light Summer Lemon-Yogurt Pasta with Veggies and Shrimp

Serves 4 (calories: 323 per serving)

  • 8 OUNCES WHOLE WHEAT LINGUINE (OR YOUR PASTA OF CHOICE)
  • 1/2 CUP NONFAT PLAIN GREEK YOGURT
  • 1/2 SWEET ONION CHOPPED
  • 1/4 CUP GRATED PARMESAN CHEESE
  • 1 TEASPOON GRATED LEMON ZEST plus the juice of 1 lemon
  • 1/4 TEASPOON SALT
  • 1/4 TEASPOON GROUND BLACK PEPPER
  • 1 TABLESPOON OLIVE OIL
  • 3 MEDIUM (8-OUNCE) ZUCCHINI, CUT INTO THIN STRIPS (3 INCHES LONG AND 3/4 INCH WIDE, LIKE A BIG STICK OF GUM)
  • 2 GARLIC CLOVES, THINLY SLICED
  • 1/2 PINT GRAPE OR CHERRY TOMATOES, HALVED LENGTHWISE
  • 20 medium shrimp (peeled and de-veined and baked at 400 w/oil and salt and pepper for 8-12 min depending on size of shrimp)
  • 1 red bell pepper sliced

 

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  1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the pasta, and cook about 9 minutes, or according to the package directions. Drain the pasta. Set aside.
  2. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, stir together the yogurt, Parmesan, lemon zest, lemon juice and salt and pepper. Set aside.
  3. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the zucchini, and cook just until wilted, flipping them over occasionally with a spatula. (The zucchini will be soft and somewhat see-through.)
  4. Use a spoon or spatula to push the zucchini aside so a space on the bottom of the pan is clear. Add the garlic, and onion and cook for 15 to 30 seconds, until golden but not really brown.
  5. Mix the garlic into the zucchini.
  6. Stir in the tomatoes and bell pepper and cook until softened, about 2 minutes.
  7. Transfer the zucchini mixture to the yogurt mixture, and stir to combine. Add the drained linguine, and toss gently to combine. Divide among four bowls and serve.

 

 

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Grown Ups Grilled Cheese with a Quick Corn Chowder

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grwnupgrldchseandchowder

This was a quick dinner, in total took me about 25 minutes start to finish. Not too shabby since I had no clue what I was going to make when I walked into the kitchen!! I was going to make a type of sandwich and doctor up some soup I had from Trader Joes… but I found out it was expired. OOPS!! So, here’s what I came up with!

Chowder

Ingredients:

1 strip of bacon chopped into small pieces
4 small yukon gold potatoes diced into 1/2 inch pieces
1 1/2 cups of milk (I used organic PLAIN coconut milk)
1 TB PLAIN (not vanilla!!) yogurt
1/2 tsp minced garlic
1/4 onion chopped
1/4 cup water
salt and pepper to taste
dash of hot sauce (to desired spiciness)
3/4 cup of corn (I used frozen)
Parmesan Cheese as garnish

Directions:

In a large pot (soup size) place the bacon pieces and start cooking to sizzling. Once starting to brown, add the onion and potatoes. Once the onions have started to brown, turn down the heat to 2 (simmer… med/low). Slowly add the milk, not allowing it to boil and then add the water. Cover with a lid and let simmer on low until the potatoes start to soften. Then, add the garlic and the remaining milk and whisk in the yogurt. Add the hot sauce, corn and the salt and pepper to taste. Let simmer on low. When serving, add shredded parmesan cheese as garnish on top to add a salty-peppery cheesiness.

Grown up Grilled Cheese

2 slices of sourdough
1 slice aged swiss
1 slice gouda cheese
tomato
Fresh Basil
thinly sliced avocado
(butter on the undersides of the bread for in the skillet).

GrownupGrilledCheese

I put the buttered side down, and then added the cheese. When the cheese was melted, I added the toppings, melted a bit more and made sure the bread was sufficiently toasted, and then made into a sandwich and plated. YUM!

Enjoy!!

 

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Leftover “Crustless Pot Pie”

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Wasn’t even sure what to call this… It started out as me trying to use up leftovers and extra veggies unused in my refrigerator before I go grocery shopping again. Then, as I sat down to eat it… it tasted like pot pie filling… but no crust… and the pieces of chicken were still full tenderloins. Hmmm…. Well? Why not!?

LeftoverCrustlessPotPie

(This will make 3 servings or 4 small servings)

Ingredients:

1/2 bag of fingerling potatoes
1 lg carrot
3 chicken tenderloins
1 cup low sodium free range chicken broth
1 TB olive oil
1/4 tsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp Mrs. Dash
salt&pepper to taste
1/2 onion chopped
juice and zest of 1 lemon
1 cob of corn (I used leftover) with kernels removed from cob
1/2 of a zucchini
Grated Parmesan Cheese (sprinkled on top at the end)

Start out by putting the potatoes in a skillet w/the olive oil and carrots chopped. Stir, and add onions and garlic. After about 5 min add the chicken broth, lemon zest and juice, and seasonings. Drop in the chicken. (Mine was still frozen, but yours can be frozen or thawed). Simmer with lid on for about 15-20 minutes until chicken is cooked through and potatoes are soft and easily cut through with a fork. Sprinkle in the zucchini and corn, stir and put lid back on pan, and remove from heat. Let sit for 5 min. Remove lid, sprinkle with cheese and stir. Add any salt&pepper to taste.

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ENJOY!

I also made a quick little dessert. I used cherries, brown sugar, raw organic sugar, lemon juice, oatmeal, flax meal and butter. Stirred it all together and baked covered w/tin foil for 30 min. Voila! 🙂

DSC_0622(before baking)

 

Spaghetti Carbonara with Shrimp and Grape Tomatoes

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SpaghettiShrimpCarbonara

THIS is a new FAVORITE!!! I gotta say, this is one my hubby said “I WOULD ORDER THIS IN A RESTAURANT!!!”

This is an Italian Staple. I have seen so many different adaptations and recipes for this! I did my own adaptation of this recipe: http://www.food.com/recipe/jamie-olivers-pasta-carbonara-351138

I did change more than 3 things, so it’s MY recipe… but I can’t guarantee that noone else made my version because Carbonara is so popular! But… oh man… SO GOOD!

Warning***** I CANNOT tell you that this was under 500 calories… bacon fat was used… FYI. BUT IT WAS YUMMY!!! 😉

Ingredients:

This is for 3 -4 (small) servings

1 Lg. handful THIN spaghetti pasta
1 egg
1 cup white wine (or if you prefer, chicken broth)
sea salt
fresh ground black pepper
4 slices smoked streaky bacon (I use antibiotic, nitrite and nitrate free), roughly sliced
1 cup fresh chopped mint and parsley
1/2 small container of grape tomatoes (about 20)
1/4 chopped onion
1 tsp minced garlic
1/2 cup hot pasta water (don’t dump all of it!!!)
8 pieces of fresh, wild caught, shrimp
sprinkle of freshly grated parmesan cheese

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1

Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil, add the spaghetti, and cook according to the packet instructions. Cook 2 pieces of the bacon in the oven on a cookie sheet lined with foil at 400 degrees for 18 minutes. When you remove from the oven, put bacon on paper towel, and leave bacon fat on tin foil.
2
Whisk the egg in a bowl with the wine, salt and pepper. and then put the shrimp onto the pan with the leftover bacon fat, turn over until coated in fat. Bake at 400 degrees for 12 minutes. (for LARGE shrimp frozen)
3
Put the remaining 2 pieces of bacon into a second pan and cook until crispy and golden. Then, add garlic and onion, and 1/4 of the wine. Once onions start to look translucent, add the tomatoes.
4
When the tomatoes start to sear, add a bit more of wine, put lid on, and cook until the tomatoes burst.
5
When cooked, drain pasta in a colander, saving a little of the cooking water.
6
Add the pasta to the bacon mixture in the skillet and stir in most of the mint and parsley, finely sliced – if the pan isn’t big enough, mix it all together in a large warmed bowl.
7
Now add the the hot pasta water to the egg and wine (or broth) mixture. Once beaten, add to the pasta mixture. What’s important here is that you add it while the pasta is still hot. This way, the residual heat of the pasta will cook the eggs, but not so that they resemble scrambled eggs. Then add in the shrimp. (I cut up the shrimp into approx. 1 inch pieces and tossed in)
8
The pasta will actually cook the egg enough to give you a silky smooth sauce.
9
Toss together and loosen with a little of the reserved cooking water if necessary.
10
Season with salt and pepper, sprinkle with the Parmesan and the rest of the mint and parsley leaves, and serve as soon as possible.

Read more: <a href=”http://www.food.com/recipe/jamie-olivers-pasta-carbonara-351138?oc=linkback”>http://www.food.com/recipe/jamie-olivers-pasta-carbonara-351138?oc=linkback</a&gt;

ENJOY!!!!!!!

Long Day… no cooking, just tips!!

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So, today was quite a long day, and cooking was just not going to happen. So, leftovers it was! So, instead of a recipe tonight, I will give cast iron grill pan tips instead, especially as requested by my friend Katie! 🙂

I really liked the advice given here: http://www.thekitchn.com/good-question-how-do-i-clean-m-57802

What it basically says is, unless it’s quite dirty, it’s best not to use soap to clean cast iron, because it can strip the seasoning. So, the best way to clean it is to fill it with water after it’s been cooled down, and boil. That should remove all that’s been left on the pan. Once you’ve scraped it off, you can add more water, and boil to sterilize.

IF it’s quite dirty, and just not cooking well, you can use some light soap to get everything out, especially with a well seasoned pan, it should be ok. If it strips the seasoning, just go through another seasoning “cycle”. http://www.thekitchn.com/technique-seasoning-a-brand-new-cast-iron-skillet-6719

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You can also CLEAN your cast iron grill pan with some coarse sea salt and a coarse sponge.

Here are a few other tips: http://www.wikihow.com/Use-a-Grill-Pan

http://www.thecitycook.com/cooking/advice/general/000011

GRILLmid

The thing that I really love about cooking with a grill pan is that you don’t put oil on it to cook on it.

Here’s how I usually cook with it.

Step 1:  Season with coarse sea salt (just a little sprinkle)

Step 2: Pre-heat the pan- usually med. high to high. Until if you drop a bit of water, it sizzles.

Step 3: Place frozen or thawed meat (veggies, shrimp, fruit, lamb, pork, etc) directly onto pan! (I also have a press that I place on top of thicker cuts of meat)

Step 4: Certain meats, after seared, can then be placed into the oven, while still on the grill pan, to finish cooking.

 

After cooking, you then clean! That’s it!!! Not too hard huh???

 

Last link: http://www.lodgemfg.com/useandcare/seasoned-cast-iron

 

Have fun cooking!

Chicken Fajitas!!

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fajitas

Yeah yeah yeah… sensing a theme here?? We LOVE Mexican food!! Tex-Mex especially. I’m gonna try to get better at cooking it to!!

This one was quick and easy… start to finish: 20 minutes! Easy right??

Fajitas Ingredients:

Seasoning:

1 TB chili powder
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. garlic powder
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper powder
1/4 tsp. onion powder

(mix in a small ramekin or bowl)

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Other ingredients:

4 chicken tenderloins (I cooked for 2 people, add to this as needed)
2 Bell peppers (or 5 mini sweet peppers)
1/2 onion
4 small taco size tortillas

Heat your grill pan (or grill??) and salt. While the pan is heating up, take chicken (or other meat… doesn’t really matter) and drizzle w/light amount of oil. I used olive oil… it’s my favorite.. but you can use canola also. Then, cover with 3/4 of the seasoning, until thoroughly covered each piece of chicken. Put onto grill pan, cook for approximately 6-8 minutes per side, until when you cut it open, there is no pink. Should still be tender and juicy.

While the chicken is cooking, cut up your onion and peppers into thick slices and put into skillet w/1 TB of oil. Sautee. When almost done, sprinkle with the remaining fajita seasoning. Sautee until the peppers start to soften, and the onions are translucent. (If needed, put about 1 TB water into skillet, and cover for 3 min.)

Serve! I served it with leftover rice and corn (from Copy Cat Chipotle bowls made over the weekend) and some sour cream… YUM!

Pork “Carnitas” Tacos and Cajun Shrimp Tacos… mexican caribbean theme!!

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carnitasandshrimptacos

My husbands close friend came and visited, and went on vacation with us!! So, the night he arrived, my hubby had a request for Mexican-Caribbean themed dinner. One of our all-time favorite restaurants is “Salsas” which is Mexican-Caribbean. So… Here’s what I came up with!!!

(Oh, and I tried to make home-made tortillas… it was a fail. I will be re-attempting at a later time. They tasted like flour… crackers. Yeah… lol!)

“Jerk Shrimp”

Ingredients:

1/2 pound of shrimp (or more, but you’ll have to increase recipe) I use WILD CAUGHT red Argentinian shrimp from TJ. I am kind of particular about not purchasing farm raised shrimp.
1 TB allspice
1 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tsp. Himalayan pink sea salt
2 TB sunflower oil (or olive oil)
1/2 tsp. ground cumin

Put all dry ingredients in a large bowl and stir together. Add the oil and make sure all of the seasonings are wet. Then add the shrimp and toss until well coated. Then, put into the refrigerator to marinate. Mine marinated for 45 min. That would probably be the minimum, up to over night. When ready to cook the shrimp, from frozen or raw, bake at 400 degrees for 12-15 min until cooked through. (Depending on the size of the shrimp).

(adapted from here: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/aaron-mccargo-jr/jerk-seasoning-recipe.html)

The rest of the recipe for the Shrimp Tacos came from here: http://www.closetcooking.com/2013/08/jerk-shrimp-tacos-with-pineapple-salsa.html

SOOOO GOOD!!! It’s jerk shrimp tacos with pineapple “crema” which helps with the heat, with a fresh grilled pinapple salsa and slaw to top it. One of my top favorites!!!!!!! Check out the link!!
You need a can (or fresh) of cored sliced pineapple, crushed pineapple, greek yogurt, and a can of coconut milk. For the pineapple salsa it’s also got red onions, cerano peppers, etc.

“Carnitas” with Pork Tenderloin

1 pork tenderloin (mine was about 2 lbs)

2 tsp chili powder

1 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp onion powder

1/4 tsp garlic powder (I personally  used 1 tsp minced garlic)

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp ground himalayan sea salt

1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper

1 bottle of light german beer (my addition)

I got this recipe for the rub here: http://www.eatliverun.com/crock-pot-beef-carnitas-tacos/

 

I just put the tenderloin in the crock pot, drizzled w/about 2 TB of olive oil, made sure the rub covered the pork tenderloin on top and on bottom. I then poured the bottle of beer over the top, and closed the lid. I cooked it on LOW for 7 hours. DELISH! It fell apart it was so tender!!!

I then put out the tortillas (store bought… phew!), chips, guacamole, slaw, pineapple crema, pineapple salsa, salsa verde, greek yogurt, and fresh onions…. and put out the 2 protein options and dug in!! This was a light and satisfying feast!!! 🙂