Thank goodness for Pinterest...

Kids were sick all last week with the flu...and now I have a lovely head cold. Ugh.  Would love to spend the majority of my life in bed but being a working Mom doesn't allow for that behavior much does it.  When all those balls are juggling up in the air and I am feeling nasty my creativity goes right out the window....then comes Pinterest!

Have to share something hilarious (especially if you live nearby).  I have seen a billboard nearby...

Did you do a double take too?? Every time I pass it I think that it is suggesting that Pinterest is a cure for depression, anxiety and other problems! Hilarious.  Pinterest does cheer me up usually! But I don't think it's a medically recommended treatment! (For those of you who aren't from west Michigan, Pine rest is a hospital and outpatient facility servicing psychological and emotional issues.)

Anyways Pinterest provided me with two different meals this week that I wanted to highlight and review because they were great and allowed me to be on "Auto-Pilot" while providing good food for my family.  Here they are:

Meal 1:

Brown Sugar and Balsamic Glazed Pork

(source here)

Ingredients:

1 (2 pound) boneless pork tenderloin (or regular pork loin)

1 teaspoon ground sage

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 clove garlic, crushed

1/2 cup water

Glaze

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

1/2 cup water

2 tablespoons soy sauce

Directions:

Combine sage, salt, pepper and garlic. Rub over roast. Place in slow cooker with 1/2 cup water. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. About 1 hour before roast is done, combine ingredients for glaze in small sauce pan. Heat and stir until mixture thickens. Brush roast with glaze 2 or 3 times during the last hour of cooking. Serve with remaining glaze on the side.

This was one of those recipes that is SO easy, house smells great all day, have practically all ingredients in your house all the time, the meat just fell apart so tender and it was easy peasy and DELICIOUS! How much better can you get!

Paired it with a loaded potato recipe from Pinterest, which were great and my kids scarfed but not much different from a million other loaded potato recipes you have seen so I'll skip that.  I also made these tomatoes...

Baked Parmesan Tomatoes

Ingredients

• 4 tomatoes, halved horizontally
• 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• Freshly ground pepper, to taste
• 4 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 450° F.
2. Place tomatoes cut-side up on a baking sheet. Top with Parmesan, oregano, salt and pepper. Drizzle with oil and bake until the tomatoes are tender, about 15 minutes.

From Eating Well Magazine, easy, yummy and healthy.  More for the husband and I because my children adhere to a strict no tomato policy - with the exception of ketchup which is just because I don't think they know! :)

For another night I made a ridiculously great salad!  Would also make a fancy schmanzy lunch for a friend!

BBQ Chicken Salad

(adapted from here)

Ingredients:

Chicken:
2 chicken breasts
1/4-1/2 cup of barbecue sauce to marinade (optional, but recommended)

Salad:
1 head bibb lettuce, washed & chopped
1 sweet potato, peeled & chopped and roasted

Succotash:
1/2 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
juice of 1 lime and zest
1 clove of garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili pepper
1/2 can black beans, drained & rinsed
1/2-2/3 cup frozen corn, thawed (unless you plan to let this thaw & marinade all day like I did!)
salt & pepper to taste

Dressing:
2/3 cup mayonnaise, light or regular
1/3 cup buttermilk, sour cream, or nonfat greek yogurt
2 Tablespoons milk
2 Tablespoons fresh cilantro, finely chopped
2 Tablespoons lime juice
2 teaspoons white vinegar
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
1 garlic clove, finely minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 to 1/3 cup BBQ sauce

Additional ingredients:
extra virgin olive oil or nonstick spray (to lightly coat the sweet potatoes before roasting)
extra BBQ sauce for drizzling and tricolor tortilla strips to top on finished salad

Directions:

Succotash:
Combine first 5 ingredients in a small bowl and whisk to combine. Add beans & corn, season with salt & pepper.  Saute in pan until slightly browned.

Chicken:
Marinate chicken in BBQ sauce about 6 hours (optional). Preheat grill, and cook chicken until done. Remove from heat and let "rest" for about 5-10 minutes. Chicken can even be made ahead of time & refrigerated.
Make dressing: Combine all the ingredients together and whisk (or shake, if using a jar) vigorously to combine. You could also run this through a blender to make it even more smooth. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Assemble lettuce, black bean & corn succotash, sweet potatoes, and top with chicken. Drizzle with additional BBQ sauce, followed by the Creamy Cilantro Lime Dressing. I also topped with these (not pictured, forgot until we were halfway done eating!)

Never would have thought of adding sweet potato to a salad.  So yummy.  Dressing: Delicious! Meal sounded kind of complicated but it was really relatively easy and so many flavors. Trust me if I can make it in like 30 minutes under the influence of DayQuil then it must be really easy.  Yum yum yummy!

So there are your Pinterest picks this week.  Certainly added a little pizazz to a dreary week filled with illness and cleaning so maybe Pinterest really is a cure for depression.  Look out Pinerest, Pinterest is coming for you....

Happy Birthday to me!

Wow, really? I haven't blogged since September! Hmmm...this explains A LOT.  I apparently stink at handling stress.  And I have had a lot.  In the last week and a half I have cooked once.  Yup once.  I have been eating though, don't get me wrong.  I have definitely been eating.  I shudder to think what I will find next time I weigh in.  Now that the worst of the stress is behind me I need to dig deep down within myself and find the gumption to get back on track.  As a first step to getting back on track I thought I would blog. After all the meal we had Sat night was worth blogging and I have already had multiple requests for the recipe so without further ado....

Fabulous Fall Slow Cooker Pot Roast

3-4 lb chuck roast
2-3 bay leaves
1 pkg dry onion soup mix
4 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
3 cups water
1 lb carrots
5-6 peeled potatoes or 8-10 red potatoes
2 Tbsp Italian seasoning
1 Sweet onion coarsely chopped
3 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp garlic salt
1 cup ketchup

Add all ingredients to crock pot and cook on low 8 hrs, than 30 min before finished add 2 cups frozen peas.  That's it, it's perfect.  (I should know I ate the leftovers for lunch a little while ago!)

And I paired it with my absolute favorite fall dish. 

Brown Sugar Acorn Squash Casserole

 

INGREDIENTS:
1/3 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 small can (5 ounces) evaporated milk
... 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 acorn squash (mashed)

TOPPING:
1/2 cup crisp rice cereal
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup chopped pecans (I swap out almonds, my preference!)
2 tablespoons butter, melted

Poke a bunch of holes in squash and bake at 350 on cookie sheet about 45 min to an hour until knife goes easily in all over squash with no resistance
Half squash remove seeds, scoop out squash and set aside
Mix butter and sugar
Beat in eggs, milk and vanilla
Stir in squash
Pour in greased 9 x 13
Bake uncovered at 350 for 45 min
add topping crust and bake for additional 5 min

Enjoy, it will soon be one of your favorites too

 

The perfect fall meal and it makes for really good lunch leftovers on this cold rainy day that happens to be my birthday!
Have some cake in honor of me tonight and I will drag myself from this slump and resume my health transformation! Cheers!

When the moon hits your eye like a big Pizza pie, that's amore!

OK I know I am a cheesy dork with all my song titles but it's my Daddy's fault.  He totally used to be silly like that, whatever ethnicity of food we were eating he did his best attempt at singing or talking as if he was from that country.  Heaven help us when we had Chinese take out! I love you Daddy!

So obviously I am sharing an Italian dinner with you today.  I told you I was chock full of tomatoes, especially the little guys, if you want some seriously come help yourself!  OK so my favorite way to eat tomatoes, Bruschetta!!! Yea! And we don't have to share with the kids because they don't eat tomatoes, Yea!!!

Balsamic Bruschetta

Ingredients

• 8 roma (plum) tomatoes, diced
• 1/3 cup chopped fresh basil
• 1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 loaf French bread, toasted and sliced
• Mrs Dash's Tomato Basil Seasoning - how could I not add this?

Directions

1. In a bowl, toss together the tomatoes, basil, Parmesan cheese, and garlic. Mix in the balsamic vinegar, olive oil, kosher salt, and pepper. Serve on toasted bread slices.

2 slices = 3 pts, I got the recipe from allrecipes.com, I have an app for that (I feel very technologically advanced since I entered the world of intelligent-portable communication devices aka Smartphones) The app is really nice for cooking and it doesn't go into screen saver mode because it knows that you obviously are trying to follow a recipe! So good, we used some of our tomatoes and our basil.  What to go with it????

Creamy Tortellini with Ham

1 pound refrigerated or frozen tortellini
6-8 slices diced cooked bacon (I decided instead to have the deli cut a thick 1/2 lb slice of ham and I cut it in cubes and browned it shortly in the frying pan)
1 pint half & half or heavy cream (I used fat free)
3-4 tablespoons tomato paste (this is about 1/2 of the small cans, I just used the whole thing for a little more tomato-y sauce)3/4 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning (horrifically I am out Italian seasoning but I used Mrs. Dash's Tomato Basil again)
I also tossed in some sundried tomatoes too, it was, after all, a tomato themed meal!

Cook diced bacon in skillet until crisp, drain on paper towels, set aside (again I just browned my already cooked ham slightly)

Cook tortellini according to package instructions, until pasta is done but still firm to touch. You don’t want it to be too soft or it will fall apart when you stir in remaining ingredients. The tortellini will normally float to the top of the water when it is done.

While tortellini is cooking, combine the cream or half & half with the tomato paste. This step is optional but you will avoid clumps of tomato paste if you mix it together before adding to pasta. Heat in microwave for a minute or so to soften the tomato paste and incorporate into the cream easier.

Drain water from tortellini, reserving 1/2 cup. Return pasta to pan and add cream mixture, peas, Parmesan cheese and Italian seasoning. Cook over medium low heat until bubbly and heated through. If sauce is too thick gradually add reserved pasta water until it reaches desired consistency.

Serve with additional Parmesan cheese grated on top if desired and with a tossed salad and bread (like Bruschetta!)

This made a big pot (about 10 servings) and that makes it about 6 pts a serving.  Now here I have to brag a little and at the same time reveal part of my menu-planning strategy. I used to participate in Dream Dinners a lot when we had one here. It really made me better in the kitchen, I learned to use more creative ingredients, less boring meals, expanded my horizons, and it made my husband a better griller too! Anyways, I developed a plan, perhaps tedious to some, but I enjoy it and it fits my type A personality well! Each month when DD comes out with a new monthly menu plan I copy and paste it to a Word document.  Then I take the title and the description of each meal and search the Internet to find a similar recipe and make any modifications that I need to, to make it diet friendly.  This recipe came from a page called asimplekitchen.net and when I plugged it in swapping the fat free half and half and the ham it worked out to only 6 pts.  And when I pulled up the nutritional info on Dream Dinners creamy tortellini....13 pts!!!! I felt very good about that difference!  Many of the dishes I have shared recently; the fish tacos, the teriyaki burgers and the forth coming buffalo chicken are all my adapted versions of those ideas from DD.  That gives you a little tip on how to come up with good diverse meal ideas if you have menu planning block!  Lately I am doing a few from there, a few from Jillian's book, a few from either Betty Crockers or Hungry Girl's weekly email and then some recipes that are my "classics" or recipes I have collected over the years. 

So my whole dinner was only 9 pts, which I really needed after I had gone to the fair earlier that day and had part of an Elephant Ear and Fri night at the Metro Cruise I had cotton candy! Yikes!



So if Julia Child had Mastered the Art of Italian Cooking, she would probably say...

Salute!! Buon Appetito!

Miss Me???

Hey all, I have a couple I O U's to fullfill.  I was way too ambitious thinking I could have got to this prior to leaving for vacation and although I have been home for a week, would you believe there has been no time??

I will give you the recipe I made for my parents before I left today and maybe tomorrow or Sunday I will give you a recipe we had while up North that was super yum.  Plus I need to do a new menu plan! Much to do!!!

Before we left I had food I needed to use up and I wanted to visit my parents so, wah-la, dinner party!

Citrus Marinated Fish Tacos

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup fresh orange juice
• 1 large garlic clove, minced
• 2 canned chipotle chiles in adobo, stems discarded, seeded and thinly sliced, plus 1 teaspoon of the adobo sauce from the can (OK here is the skinny on this - I only used 1 can and I was very careful to seed them and wash them and it was SO spicy! I can't imagine using 2 cans, I have worked with these little guys before so I knew they are seriously hot.  So needless to say the kids were crying "Too Spicy" throughout dinner. If you have kids, skip this ingredient and maybe just add a little chile pepper or red pepper, if no kids and you like spicy give it a try!)
• 2 tablespoons of fresh lime juice
• ½ cup cilantro
• 1 1/2 pounds shelled and deveined large shrimp
• 1 1/2 pounds skinless meaty fish filets, such as snapper, bass, tilefish or cod, cut lengthwise into 1-inch strips - I used 3 fillets of fresh Walleye my hubby caught thank you very much, good job honey!1 large sweet onion, cut crosswise into 2 thick slabs
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
•  Sliced onion
• 1 tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil
• 14 corn tortillas
• Sliced oranges, Mild salsa, lime wedges, shredded lettuce and diced avocado, tomato and onion, for serving

Preparation

1.     In a medium bowl, combine the orange juice with the garlic, adobo sauce, cilantro and 1 tablespoon of the lime juice. Add the shrimp and fish, season with salt and pepper; let sit at room temperature for 10 minutes.

2.     In a large nonreactive skillet, warm the oil over moderately high heat. Add the fish and shrimp cook until whitened but still opaque in the center, about 2 minutes per side. Add the onion and garlic, reduce the heat to moderate and cook, stirring, until the onion is wilted and the fish breaks into large flakes. Season with salt and pepper and set aside.

3.     Add the sliced oranges, chipotles, cilantro and the remaining 1 tablespoon lime juice. Season with salt and pepper.

These little guys were for my hubby, who ALWAYS orders fish tacos at Mexican restaurants and I always thought weird but I saw this recipe and thought, that sounds about my speed and so I went for it, plus I got to use his fish.  Sweet.  However they were definitely not sweet they were SPICY!!!  3 pts each though, awesome, eat 2!  I paired them with...

Black Beans with Cilantro

 Literally take a can of black beans, heat up and through in fresh cilantro and garlic salt and eat, yum!

My Cilantro Lime Rice

‎1 Tbsp olive oil
1 cup basmati rice (its worth making the switch to the more exotic rices, they are yummy or for more healthy choice go brown!)
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
2-3 cloves minced garlic
2 Tbsp fresh lime juice
zest from one lime
1/2 cup fresh chopped cilantro
1 tsp salt

Add oil to sauce pan and heat on low. Add garlic and rice and saute for 2 min stirring frequently. Add the chicken broth, salt, lime juice and bring to a boil. Cover and cook on low for 15 minutes or according to rice directions. When the rice is done, add lime zest and chopped cilantro and stir to mix in. Serve immediately.

And a little something new

Lemon Herb Coolers

Ingredients

• 2 cups water
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 cups (packed) basil leaves and small sprigs
• 1 cup (packed) cilantro leaves and small sprigs
• 1 cup (packed) mint leaves and small sprigs
• 2 tablespoons tarragon leaves
• 2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• Diet Sprite
• Lemon twists and mint sprigs or lime wedges, for garnish

Preparation

1. In a medium saucepan, combine the water and sugar and bring to a boil, stirring with a wooden spoon until the sugar dissolves. Reduce the heat to moderate and simmer for 5 minutes; let the sugar syrup cool.

2. In a blender or food processor, combine the sugar syrup with the basil, cilantro, mint, tarragon, lemon zest and lemon juice and puree. Let stand for 1 hour, then strain through a coarse sieve, pressing on the solids with the back of a spoon to extract as much liquid as possible.

At this point it looked like this

To which my dad said, Ewww I am not drinking that.  But then I took a can of diet sprite added 3-4 tbsp of green sludge and a lemony herby delicious and refreshing beverage for 1 pt.

3. For each drink, pour 3-4 Tbsp of the fresh herb syrup over cracked ice and fill with diet sprite. Garnish the drinks with a lemon twist and mint sprigs and serve.

So there you have it a lemon inspired menu (there was a jello item too but that sort of didn't go as planned so I spared you my packing for vacation mayhem that this item fell victim to!)  Hope you see something you like. 

It's good to be back...

Good stuff from the garden, the best stuff of summer!

Well I am off on vacation on Saturday and as much as I would love to blog while I am gone the wilderness areas of the North don't tend to be too conducive to wireless connections! So while scrambling around to pack and plan this week I will also try to get a few good meals out to you.  Tonight's dinner was yum-tastic. (When food is really good regular words don't seem good enough to describe it and you have to opt for fun made-up words.) And some of the ingredients were fresh out of my garden, isn't that the best!

The two main recipes are from Jillian's cookbook Master Your Metabolism again! The first one has some of my faves in it like:

And if you have never bought a pomegranate before they are really kind of fun to open and eat.  I learned how at a cooking class I went to a few years ago and now I love to do it.  I came across a tutorial the other day on another website here and she explains it a lot more eloquently than I could so check it out! (Just don't fall in love with her super awesome blog and not come back! I did think it was funny though today she did the mango quinoa that I did the other week, it's sweeping the nation!)

Baby Spinach with Avocado, Pomegranate, and Toasted Sunflower Seeds Serves 6 to 8 as a side salad

1/2 teaspoon grated orange zest
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
1/2 teaspoon grated lime zest
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 large shallot, quartered (I used a quarter of a sweet onion, quartered)
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 pomegranate
10 ounces baby spinach leaves, cleaned and patted dry
2 tablespoons sunflower seeds, toasted

1 avocado, pitted, peeled, and thinly sliced (yeah I just chunked it!)
In a blender, place the orange zest and juice, the lime zest and juice, the shallot, the olive oil, the chili powder, the salt, and the black pepper. Blend until smooth. Set aside.  (Thank you magic bullet, you are very magical indeed, I love making homemade dressing!!)

Remove and drain the pomegranate seeds (see above tutorial link), discarding the membrane. Set aside.

In a large bowl, place the spinach, all but 2 tablespoons of the pomegranate seeds, the sunflower seeds, and about 1/4 cup of the dressing. Toss gently to coat. Transfer the salad to a platter or individual plates.

Pit and peel the avocado and slice it thinly. Arrange the avocado slices on top of the salad. Sprinkle the reserved pomegranate seeds on top. Drizzle with the reserved dressing and serve.

Calories 136.7 kcal
Fat 8.6 g
Protein 2.9 g
Carbohydrates 15.5 g
Sodium 159.2 mg

I did 6 servings and it was 4 pts each.  I didn't toss everything together but kept everything separate so for leftovers I won't have the wilty mushy gross version but can make it again fresh!

Then I raided my garden for some of my favorites for the main dish (OK I don't grow baby bellas but they are one of my favorites but the basil and the heirloom tomatoes are all mine!):
 
Broiled Tilapia with Fresh Herbs, Mushrooms, and Tomatoes
Serves 4

Olive oil spray, for the baking sheet
3/4 cup fresh basil leaves
3/4 cup fresh parsley leaves (I skipped the parsley and did a full 1.5 cups of basil because I have a ton! Made it more pesto-ish without the fat!) 4 garlic cloves
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
8 cremini or button mushrooms, each about 2 inches across ( I used baby bellas - a little fancier than button)
2 cups grape or cherry tomatoes
4 (4-ounce) farmed tilapia fillets, rinsed and patted dry
Spray a rimmed baking sheet with olive oil. Arrange a rack 6 inches from the broiler and preheat the broiler to high.

In the work bowl of a food processor, place the basil leaves, the parsley leaves, the garlic cloves, the olive oil, the lime juice, and the salt and pepper. Process until uniformly chopped and well combined.

Remove the stems from the cremini mushrooms: in one hand hold a cremini by the cap. With the forefinger and thumb of your other hand, twist the stem off so the hollowed cap is left. Repeat with the remaining mushrooms. Discard the stems (or freeze them for vegetable stock. Fill each mushroom cap with about 1/4 teaspoon of the herb mixture. Place them on the prepared baking sheet.

Arrange the tilapia fillets on the baking sheet and spread half of the remaining herb mixture over them. Turn the fillets over and spread the remaining herb mixture over them, making sure that they are completely covered. Scatter the tomatoes on the baking sheet around the fish.

Broil until the fish is firm when pressed and flakes easily, the tomatoes are charred in spots, and the mushrooms are bubbling and soft, about 10 minutes. Place 1 tilapia fillet, two mushroom caps, and a few tomatoes on each of 4 plates and serve.

(Here's the whole gorgeous plate together, the asparagus I made is hiding!)

A couple more angles, I am working really had at my food photography skills! I can't keep up with those powerhouse food bloggers like Pioneer Woman, don't ask my how they snap photos while cooking! Doesn't work for me!

Calories 236.7 kcal
Fat 12.9 g
Protein 25.3 g
Carbohydrates 6.6 g
Sodium 131.8 mg

So for four servings only 5 pts and the fish was so light and fluffy (Oh man my college friends are laughing at that description! But really that's how I describe perfectly cooked fish!)  One thing I would like to add about these mushrooms.  My husband took me to the Olive Garden for date night last Friday and Friday is the day I tend to splurge and I had such an awesome weigh in that morning I was feeling like I could enjoy myself a little.  I calculated my points today.  32 pts for just dinner on Friday.  That is practically my entire day's budget.  But you know what, I am just proud of myself for counting it all up.  But one thing my husband and I often do is get that sampler appetizer because I absolutely adore the stuffed mushrooms and he loves the calamari so we each eat are own thing and we're good.  That little appetizer (just my mushrooms) was 8pts, that is almost the entire value of my dinner tonight! And these mushrooms (while granted weren't stuffed with crab and breadcrumbs) were stuffed with what tastes like pesto and were really really good so hey, it's always nice to find healthy alternatives. 

So nine total pts for dinner is nothing to snuff your nose at.  And I am about to go running now that I am digested and earn me some extra activity points.  I am on week 5 of the Couch to 5k and this week is the scariest.  Stay tuned to find out how I do.  Maybe it will be the perfect stress reliever during the pre-vacation madness this week.  Talk to you later, alligators!



Aki Chicken

Warning: A parent is about to think something her kid said was adorable and cute and it may or may not be so but this is that parents blog, so deal with it.

So I came home from work today at lunch and made one of the side dishes for dinner tonight and then later I called my husband and was giving him instructions on how to finish up preparations over the phone (he is good like that!) and I could hear my 2 year old wreaking havoc in the kitchen "I want chocolate milk!", singing the "potty song" loudly (not that she will go on the potty or anything but she sure likes that song), I could almost hear her more clearly than my husband who I was talking to.  So I started telling my husband about how he had to cook the Teriyaki Chicken and he repeated, mumbling "teriyaki chicken" and I heard my toddler exclaim without missing a beat,  "I want Aki Chicken, I want Aki Chicken!!" which sounded a lot like she was enthusiastically requesting disgusting food.  So there is my cute parental anecdote for the day. So guess what we had....

Teriyaki Chicken

You know what totally rocked about this meal, it was made FOR me! This was another one of my freezer meals from my exchange group. Score! It was so yummy and convenient.  Can't wait till we do another exchange next week!

1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 teaspoons vegetable, canola, or sesame oil
1 small minced garlic clove
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger OR 1 teaspoon fresh minced ginger (duh - like that's a choice!)
1-2  pounds chicken legs and thighs (we had 10 pieces)

Mix soy sauce, sugar, vinegar, oil, garlic and ginger to make marinade. Freeze chicken in marinade in a 1-gallon bag.
When preparing to serve, thaw chicken. Pour chicken and marinade into a baking dish. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. Makes five servings (2 pieces each) 7 pts each

So then I delegated my husband to make some of these to go with it:

But uh,  what to put on them because I was at work giving instructions over the phone so I just kind of had to make it up as I went along and tell him what to throw together.  So when he cut up the pineapple to put on the kabobs I had him take the juice leftover in this:

and add 1/8th cup teriyaki sauce, 1/8th cup soy sauce, 1 tsp minced ginger, sprinkle or two of garlic salt.  Then he poured it over the kabobs and let them soak for an hour before grilling.  They were awesome!

Lastly, what I made on my lunch break was a recipe from the Biggest Loser's Ali Vincent herself, and one of my favorite words, say it with me, Quinoa!! But in order to make it I had to launch into unknown waters and face this foreign creature:

I have never ever bought or cooked with a mango.  Ever.  I haven't really eaten very much mango before.  I always wanted to.  It seems like a cool trendy fruit.  Since I have no hope of being cool and trendy in my style I would at least like to be cool and trendy in the kitchen.  So I read the recipe. I was enticed because you know how I love me some quinoa.  And it was phenomenal.  Here you are:

Mango Quinoa Salad 

1 1/2 cups uncooked quinoa
1 cup lite coconut milk
2 cups chicken broth
1 14 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
2 medium mangoes, peeled and diced
1 roasted red bell pepper, diced
6 green onions, thinly sliced
1 handful chopped cilantro (about 1/2 cup)
I added one ear of grilled corn cut off the cob! Because why not!
4 tablespoon red wine vinegar
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (whoops, I made this on my lunch break and was rushing hard core and just realized I forgot this, my husband and I agree it didn't really need it!)fresh lime juice of one lime and lime zestkosher salt
freshly cracked black pepper
*Cook quinoa in coconut milk and broth.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat and cover, simmer for about 15 min or until liquid boiled off.  Chill quinoa until cooled. Place cooked quinoa in a large bowl.  Add mango, red pepper, green onion, black beans, and cilantro.  In a small bowl combine vinegar, olive oil, and lime juice.  Whisk until smooth and pour on top of salad.  Toss to combine and add salt and pepper to taste.  Chill for at least one hour before serving. Makes at least 12 servings, 5 pts each (oil didn't effect points)

OK so my kids, and all right my husband and I too, were literally gobbling every morsel of this meal, my kids were calling out "More quinoa, more chicken" and I actually had to cut them off.  This meal was a big hit.  Thanks Sara for the chicken.  Thanks Ali Vincent for getting me to be brave and try mango and add another quinoa recipe to my repertoire.  Interesting note, my husband just discovered that the pit of a mango, when accidentally ground up in a disposal opens like a clam shell and causes your disposal to need a little attention.

Whoops, sorry honey!

So rave reviews from my family on tonight's food. 

Also fun this evening, the first fruits of my gardens labor...

Anyone want any cucumbers???

Gonna go drink like a million glasses of water now, tomorrow morning, me vs my new scale.  Night Y'all.

Everyone should try this fish!

In the interest of giving people what they want, I did the fish recipe tonight from my menu plan and it was spectacular, thank you very much Jillian Michaels.  So lets get right to it. 

Thai Green Curry Barramundi ( What the world is a barramundi, this isn't California Jillian, she also suggested halibut as an alternative, at least I had heard of that but Meijers didn't have that either, I grabbed some tilapia which is the only other fish I have cooked besides salmon, and in the end, it didn't matter!)

1 Tbsp coconut oil (Really? Dream on Jillian, try olive oil or at best sesame oil)
1 cup diced onion
1 cup diced carrots
1 tbsp green curry paste
2/3 coconut milk (I used lite, it made a two point per serving difference!)
4  (4 oz) fish fillets
1/4 cup cilantro chopped
Lime cut into 4 wedges
1 tsp garlic salt

In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat over medium heat.  Add the onion and carrots and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is softened. 

Stir in the green curry paste and cook for 1 minute.  Stir in the coconut milk and bring to a simmer. 

Lay the fillets skin side down in the pan, moving the vegetables to the side to make room as you add each fillet.  Pile the vegetables on top of the fillets, cover the pan, and simmer for 10 minutes, until the fish is opaque and flakes easily with a fork. Sprinkle with garlic salt.

Place a fillet on each of four plates and spoon the vegetables and sauce over the fish.  Sprinkle the cilantro over each serving and garnish with lime wedges.  Serve.  Each fillet is 4 pts. And so flavorful, light and delicious.

Some of you inquired about the technique of cooking fish as it is delicate and sometimes difficult to master.  Prior to this we had only ever made fish in one of these and that was our trick. 

The problem with grilling fish is that it flakes, falls apart, difficult/impossible to flip, etc.  Well these baskets completely eliminate that problem so if you like fish I highly suggest getting one. As to the timing, I am sure it depends on a lot of things, the key is when it is opaque and flaky.  This is usually pretty easy to tell but when I said "we", I really meant my husband, he is the grill master in our house.  So when this fish called for alternative cooking means I was concerned.  What if I screw it up, my readers were looking for the magic fish secret, what if I can't deliver?  Well I am going to tell you that all I did was exactly what the recipe said and it was perfect.  I was very skeptical as I was putting the fish in the pan because there was so much juice and although I did my best to make room and pile the veges on top like they said I wasn't sure it was a perfect fit and if all fillets had equal access to the hot pan.  So when I pulled the lid off exactly 10 min later and started poking at them with my fork I was so pleasantly surprised, opaque white flakes.  But the big pay off was in the first bite.  So yummy.  And if you think that the ingredients sound weird, or your kids won't like them or it's too ethnic for you, really it tasted so simple and yummy, my husband said multiple times "Amazing, the fish is melting in my mouth", it really was a big hit, I think my 5 year old felt especially sophisticated squeezing her lime on her fish. Hey whatever gets them to try new things.

(As I introduce my side dish scope out the gorgeous fish flaky goodness on my fork)

Amanda's Ginger Lime Green Beans

Mmmmm, I am making myself hungry for leftovers!

OK so green beans, I steamed them in this:

If you know anyone who sells Pampered Chef and you don't have one, go get one, I use it daily, perfectly steamed veges in the microwave! Yea.  So I did a whole lb of fresh green beans (it is summer after all, I couldn't help but think of my Grandma as I was snapping the ends off, she always made green beans and she would get us all involved in snapping off the ends. Nostalgic moment, sigh.) which took two turns in the microwave, I really need to get the bigger size steamer.  After they were perfectly cooked, I wanted to add a little pizazz without the butter (face it, I used enough yesterday) so I used 2 of these:

 I did about a tsp of ginger and a tbsp of cilantro.  Then a capful of lime juice (what is that like a tsp?).  And some garlic salt, yup I said some, it was just a sprinkle, what can I say I was making it up as I went along.  It made at least 6 servings. 1 pt.  When something tastes that good and is only 1 pt I just sit back and laugh.  I don't even want to know if  you have bought any of these tubes of gourmet garden herbs yet, they are so great, I don't really know how I ever lived without them.  Seriously, as if I don't plug Meijer's enough already but I have to tell you what happened to me the other day. If any of you in my area go to the Rivertown Meijers you know that they are having "issues" these days. The entire store is under overhaul and every time you go in there everything is in a different place and there is construction tape everywhere. When I was in there when the construction first started (like April or May) I rather flippantly said to the cashier, "this is such a pain, how long is this going to last for?" expecting that this massive inconvenience would be about 2-3 weeks.  The cashier very seriously came back with "Oh they are supposed to be all wrapped up by September or October." WHAT?!?  This store is only a few years old and they are completely redoing the whole thing.  Sounds a little like my employer, they also like to do wasteful, unnecessary construction and remodeling.  OK well all this griping is to say that they had completely moved everything, yet again, when I was in there this weekend.  And you know the long wall of produce in every store that has the built-in misting system.  All empty and torn apart.  All the produce, out in the aisle cases.  Hey lady, where in the world are my herbs?  OK I didn't speak to her that way, actually I said, "Do you know what happened to the squeeze tubes of herbs?" She said they likely didn't have any where for them during the remodel.  She could have left it at that.  I would have shrugged and been disappointed but went on my way and found time to do a separate trip to another store for the herbs.  But then she said "Which one are you looking for?" and she went in the back and hunted around for 5 minutes and brought me my Ginger and Cilantro in a tube.  Wow, customer service is not dead after all.  Thanks Meijers produce stocker lady. 

So Fish, good.  Green beans, good.  Leftover roasted potatoes that only needed to be warmed up (even though they don't really fit with the flavor theme), good.  But this dinner desperately needs a little sweetness. Hmmmm.....how about

Amanda's Watermelon Lime Spritzers

I saw this at Meijers the other day too:

I thought, that sounds super delicious so it jumped excitedly in my cart.  Tonight I took 1 cup of this juice, 1 cup of Limeade (prepared), 1 cup of Diet Sprite (or your preferred lemon lime soda) and 3-4 cups of ice.  Blend.  Serve with a sprig of mint. Delicious, big glass 3 pts! Nice.  And I dare say if you added a little something "grown-up" to them that would taste awfully nice too!

So if fish is not your forte but you like it, try this, it really was easy.  If you hate fish with a passion, use chicken and do it up with the green beans and spritzer.  So good you don't want to miss these recipes just because you aren't a fish person.   Now to go get a run in after these kids are in bed.  Night everyone.

Sunday is a great day for comfort food

Who says comfort food has to be bad for you?  Nothing like comfort food on a sleepy Sunday afternoon.  Normally I wouldn't be up for working on a hot kitchen when it is 87 degrees outside but today I was in the mood to cook and with our little window air conditioner chugging away to the kitchen I went.  Now you may have already heard about our upcoming menu items.  I had to start with the item that spoils the fastest and that is apparently asparagus, I was told that can only be in your fridge 2-3 days tops.  Crazy. That's always the trickiest thing for me, I like to plan out enough meals to last a few weeks but you have to cook non-stop to get them all made before any of the food goes bad.  Challenging.  So today's menu was crazy good but before I get to that I must share a few things.

After the thrill of the 5k died down I got right into the business of training for another one.  I couldn't let myself have any sort of "break" because knowing me that would have stretched out for weeks with all sorts of excuses and I wanted to keep my momentum going.  I want to stick with this thing.  I want to become a runner.  To feel like I can actually say that with confidence.  So I am doing the couch to 5k program, I just finished Week 1 and I hope to be ready for a 5k by September.  If you are on the verge of a similar decision I beckon you to do it and we can run together in a 5k. Take the plunge, it feels great, you won't be sorry!

Another piece of business, weight.  My scale is on the fritz which really sort of infuriates me because I spent a bunch of money to get a nice one and it lasted, what, 2 months?  I am crossing my fingers that Bed Bath and Beyond takes it back because not weighing in leaves me less motivated, especially in the food area.  I have been so bad for the last few weeks.  Now that I am home for a few weeks and cooking again I am a reformed woman.  Two days of counting everything that went in my mouth feels good, back to normal.  OK so what went in to my mouth today...

The theme of today is Herbs, Butter and Carbs! Herbs (in particular Rosemary, Basil and Tarragon) make me feel so happy.  I all but started whistling as I was clipping them out of my herb pot and washing, plucking, and dicing them. And butter.  Oh man, butter.  Real butter is SO good, even my pastor went on a tangent about butter in his sermon today.  I use either light or whipped butter these days but if you use your butter the right way, a little goes a long way and it is oh so good.  My family and I often do our Julia Child voice and call out "I love butter!" as demonstrated by Ms. Meryl Streep in Julie and Julia.  So true, Julia, so true.  Oh and carbs.  I made this meal and realized that I had three major carb items.  But really I don't care.  I ate enough of each to be delightedly happy but not add up to outrageous points and I have never claimed to be a supporter of the Atkins diet, bring on the carbs. 

First things first, the protein. 

Marinated Flank Steak with Roasted Red Pepper and Herb Butter

First the flank, once upon a time there was a lady named Molly, she was a nice sweet young mother who went through life living a rather normal existence.  And then one day she made an interesting mix of six ingredients on meat and her whole life changed forever.  See, she gave this recipe to her friend who in turn shared it with her family and friends and this mixture became forever immortalized as Molly's Marinade.  And what happened to Molly? As far as I know she is still living her normal life out in Seattle but now she is forevermore known as "the Molly of Molly's Marinade."  Seriously life-changing stuff.  Now these 6 ingredients are relatively ordinary but when thrown together on literally ANY type of meat, poultry or fish they become EXTRA-ordinary.  Please keep these in your cupboard or fridge at ALL times, you never know when you want to marinate something.  Do it now.  And don't thank me, thank the genius Molly.  Thank you Molly, wherever you are, you are eating some yummy food I am sure.

Put your flank in a Ziploc bag, add these 6 ingredients in approximately equal amounts :
1. Olive Oil
2. A1 steak sauce
3. Soy sauce
4. Teriyaki sauce
5. Worcestershire sauce
6. Minced garlic
(Now seriously go marinade something)
Grill until desired doneness, for medium rare for about 10-12 min, my husband reports he initially does about 1 min on each side to sear it and then does less than 5 min on each side after that.  Slice in long thin strips with the grain of meat. 1 pt per ounce of flank steak you desire to eat.  This is my absolute favorite steak cut in the world, I never ate steak much until my parents starting cooking flank a lot when I was young. If you haven't tried it before please do, it's so yummy!

For Roasted Red Pepper and Herb butter
Mix:
1 stick of butter softened
1 roasted red pepper peeled and sliced
2 tbsp fresh chopped basil
1 tbsp chopped tarragon
1 tbsp fresh chopped rosemary
1/2 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp fresh chopped chives
1 tbsp minced garlic
Add to a food processor and pulse until well blended. Serve 1 tbsp topping on each serving of flank steak for 1 additional pt.

OK so we are just getting started. First side dish is:

Garlic-Herb Grilled Corn

 This was fun and yummy and I got it from weight watchers so it's is very official.  We had never grilled corn before and when my husband dropped a little of the steak marinade on the corn they burst into flames momentarily, pretty exciting stuff. 

6 medium ears of corn, still in their husks

3 sprays of cooking spray

1 Tbsp butter

1 Tbsp olive oil

1/2 Tbsp fresh chopped basil

1/2 Tbsp fresh chopped rosemary

1/2 Tbsp fresh chopped tarragon

1 tsp minced garlic

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

- In a large pot filled with cold water, add unshucked ears of corn; soak for 10 minutes.

- Preheat grill

- Remove corn from pot; pull back husks (be careful to leave husk attached to corn) and remove as much of silk as possible. Coat kernels with cooking spray; cover corn with husks again.

- Grill corn, turning every few minutes, until husks are blackened and charred and corn is tender (about 15 to 20 minutes)

- Meanwhile, melt butter in a small dish, stir in oil, herbs, garlic, pepper and salt.

- To serve, pull back husks to expose corn and use husks as handles.  Place on serving platter and brush butter mixture over corn. Yields 1 ear per serving, 4 pts per serving.  (First carb, very worth it, nothing says summer like corn on the cob!)

Then I roasted asparagus and potatoes using all the same flavors as the other recipes.

Roasted Asparagus

1 lb asparagus

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

Salt, pepper, minced garlic and fresh herbs to taste

Roast in 400 deg oven 20 min, 4 servings 1 pt each

Roasted Fingerling Potatoes

I do not know if you have seen these before but I love these little beauties. Meijers carries little bags of them made by Green Giant. I have two daughters and I jump at the chance to awe and delight my little girls by serving them purple food.

I mean really, with girls, you can imagine the excitement cutting into a potato and seeing that purple gorgeousness!

1 lb potatoes

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 Tbsp minced garlic

Salt, pepper, and fresh herbs to taste

Roast in 400 deg oven, 30-40 min, 6 servings 2 pt each

And just because I was carb happy I made these too (don't worry I didn't have a full serving of everything!)

Herb Butter Dinner Rolls

Take 16  Rhodes Frozen Dinner Rolls and let rise per bag instructions (takes 3-5 hrs), take 2 rolls each and roll into 3 balls and put in each compartment of a muffin tin sprayed with cooking spray.  Makes 8 rolls. Bake per instructions (about 30 min at 350).  Repeat butter from corn recipe above and brush on warm rolls. Rolls are 6 pts each but oh so worth it. 

OK so you are thinking, she must be done now, right.  Wait we haven't had our dessert yet.  Thank you hungry girl.  What is more of a comfort food than apple pie right? I admittedly have never made an apple pie by myself.  Then hungry girl put this recipe on her show and I thought, hey I can handle that. 

Awesome Apple Pie-lets

Ingredients:
1 tbsp Splenda

1 tbsp. granulated sugar
2 tsp. cornstarch
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
1/8 tsp. salt
3 cups peeled and chopped apples (preferably Fuji)
6 large square egg roll wrappers (found in the refrigerated section of the supermarket with the other Asian items)
18 sprays non-stick cooking spray

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium unheated pot, combine Splenda, sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, vanilla extract, and salt with 1/2 cup cold water. Mix until the ingredients dissolve. Add apples and stir. Bring to medium-high heat on the stove and, stirring frequently, cook for 7 - 10 minutes, until apples are softened.

Remove the pot from heat and very lightly mash the apples in the pot with a potato masher or a spatula. (You don't want applesauce. It should remain chunky.) Return to low heat on the stove, and cook for 1 - 2 additional minutes, stirring often, until the mixture is thick and gooey. Remove from heat and set aside. This is your pie filling.

Prepare a large baking sheet by lining it with foil and/or spraying it with nonstick spray. Set aside.

Lay two egg roll wrappers flat on a dry surface. Set out a small dish of water. Dip your finger into the water, and run it along all of the wrapper edges. (Repeat as needed while preparing your pockets, as it will help seal them.) Starting 1/2 inch from the bottom, place about 1/3 cup pie filling along the bottom half of each wrapper, leaving a 1/2-inch border on the sides. Fold the top half of each wrapper over the filling, so that the top edge meets the bottom and the filling is encased with a border on three sides. Dab each border with water, and fold each inward about 1/4 inch to lightly seal. Press firmly along the borders with the prongs of a fork to seal completely. Carefully transfer to the baking sheet. Spray the top of each pocket with 3 sprays of butter. Repeat this process twice with remaining wrappers and filling, leaving you with 6 pie-lets.

Bake in the oven for 15 - 18 minutes, until edges begin to brown. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before digging in!

MAKES 6 SERVINGS, 3 pts each, add a little a la mode for extra pts. 

And if you don't know about these little beauties:

I love these things. They make wonton size too. You can obviously make egg rolls or wontons with them.  You can also make your own stuffed pasta. You can make cannolis or pies or blintzes (as I am going to do later).  Remarkable little things, it seems you can get just about anything these days. Especially at Meijers! Their website has lots of cool and yummy sounding recipe ideas, check it out: http://www.nasoya.com/index.html

So that's it, crazy comfort food right? It was a good day, Sunday's always are.  Sunday's are nice and relaxing in the summer, my husband is actually sitting next to me watching a movie, that is unheard of during the school year.  I am soaking up every second of summer.  I hope you are too! Now to get that scale replaced and stay on track this week...