Happy Friday everyone! Here’s a fun Friday Quinoa fact for you:
2013 has been declared International Year of Quinoa by the United Nations (thank you Wiki Wiki Wack Wikipedia). Looks like we were one step ahead of the game with this Quinoa Bite series eh?
Ok, enough jib jab.
One of my favorite things is when you throw a bunch of stuff together, throw it in the oven and keep your fingers crossed that it will come out delicious and it does! That’s just what happened with these Southwest Quinoa Bites. I love me some southwest flavor, as you’ve seen in recipes like Southwest Chicken Burgers and Mexican Pizza.
So why not share the Southwest wealth with Quinoa Bites?
Southwest Quinoa Bites
INGREDIENTS
*yields 12 regular muffin sized bites
2 cups cooked Quinoa
1 cup shredded, cooked chicken
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1 cup cheddar cheese
1/2 cup pepper jack cheese
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup black beans
1/2 cup canned corn
1 medium red pepper, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
3-4 scallions, chopped small
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon chili powder
3 eggs, lightly beaten
salt & pepper to taste
ranch dressing for dipping
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2) Place your Quinoa, bread crumbs, cooked chicken and cheeses in a large mixing bowl and set aside.
3) Heat your olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Once the oil is heated, add your black beans, corn, red pepper, garlic, scallions, cumin and chili powder and saute for 3-5 minutes. The goal here isn’t to cook the vegetables through, but simply allow the flavor of everything to combine a bit before adding it to the rest of the mixture.
4) Add the veggie/spice mixture to the quinoa/chicken/bread crumbs/cheese and allow it to cool for a few minutes before adding the eggs (about 5 minutes). You can then add the beaten eggs and combine the mixture. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
5) Take a regular sized muffin tin (12 muffins) and spray with non-stick cooking spray. Add about 1/3 cup of the mixture to each muffin slot.
4) Bake in your preheated oven for 30 minutes. Serve with a side of Ranch dressing for dipping!
Since this was dinner, I decided to use a regular sized muffin tin vs. the mini-muffin tin, but these would certainly be great bite sized as well! Served with a nice side salad, it was a perfect, healthy and scrumptious dinner. If you wanted to add a little kick to these, you could always toss some crushed red pepper flakes in with the cumin and chili powder! I personally like when my lips aren’t on fire, but to each his own 🙂
We’re baaaa-aaaack! Were you nervous we had flown the coop? Well technically, I guess we did for a bit, now we’re back and ready to blog our socks off!
Where’ve we been for the last 2 weeks and change? Well I’ll tell you!
We spent a long weekend in Vermont with lots of:
1) Great friends & foliage:
2) Great Beer:
3) The wedding of a GREAT couple, our friends Maggie and Vinny! It was the picture perfect Vermont wedding, with every last detail covered, down to hand written notes from the bride and groom to every single guest at the wedding – my hand is cramping just thinking of it! What a great day it was.
4) A week in Chicago for the greatest metal show on earth (a.k.a – my ‘real life’ job as a metal tradeshow planning machine)
And all the celebrating, beer drinking and metal’ing has left me feeling a little under the weather with a headcold that hit me like a ton of bricks. That and the chilly fall air that has made it’s way to Boston, made me realize that it’s Chicken Chili time. It’s a great spin of that delectable Black Bean Vegetable Soup, with a few adaptations to make a little more ‘chili’esque’, while still being healthy.
Chicken Chili
INGREDIENTS
1lb 99% fat-free boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 packet of mild taco seasoning
2 tbsp. olive oil
2 large carrots, peeled and chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp. Chili powder
1 tbsp. cumin
2 cups chicken stock
2 – 15oz. cans black beans, rinsed and drained
1 – 28oz can crushed tomatoes
1 – 8.75 oz. can whole kernel corn
salt & pepper to taste
1) Coat the chicken breasts with taco seasoning. Cook both sides of chicken in a large saucepan over medium heat until just browned on either side, and set aside.
1) In a large saucepan or dutch oven, heat olive oil over medium heat; cook onion, carrots and garlic until onion is softened (about 5 minutes). Season cooked veggies with salt and pepper.
2) In the meantime, take the crushed tomatoes and 1 can of black beans and puree them together in a food processor. Set aside.
3) Add chili powder and cumin to onion/carrot/garlic mixture and cook stirring for about a minute.
4) Add the chicken stock, 1 can of black beans and can of kernel corn and bring to a boil.
5) Once the veggies have come to a boil, add the black bean and tomato puree and browned chicken breasts to the pot. Reduce heat, cover chili, and simmer for about an hour. After an hour, the chicken will be fully cooked which will allow you to shred it using 2 forks. You can remove it from the chili to shred or shred right in the dutch oven. If you shred it outside, make sure to return the chicken back to the chili. Simmer on low heat for another 1-2 hours so the shredded chicken can absorb the flavors.
This is great for Sunday Funday, or even divvy’ing it up into individual containers for lunch during the week. It also freezes really well too, in case you have left overs.
I hope these last couple weeks have been as good for you guys as it’s been for us! But – it’s good to be back 🙂
Ok, Labor Day has come and gone – September is in full swing – and I know that techincally it’s still summer, but I think it’s safe to start sharing some “fall-ish” recipes.
I’m a brown-bag lunch kind of gal (even though my ‘brown bag’ is actually a plastic grocery bag that hasn’t been used to pick up dog poop). And after doing the math, I realized that I may actually eat more meals at the office than I do in my own home! Augh – sighhhhh.
It’s real easy to get real bored with lunch from week to week. There are only so many lunch meats and 100-calorie snack packs to be rotated. So soup can really put a spring in my lunch step! And this Black Bean Veggie Soup is a keeper – it get’s an A++++++, because not only is it:
a) pretty
b) easy to make
c) lasts for an entire week’s worth of lunch
It’s healthy, and only 4WW points per serving!
Black Bean & Veggie Soup
*Adapted from Allrecipes.com
INGREDIENTS
*1 serving = 1.5 cups
yields about 6 servings (9 cups total)
2 tbsp. olive oil
2 large carrots, peeled and chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp. Chili powder
1 tbsp. cumin
2 cups chicken stock
2 – 15oz. cans black beans, rinsed and drained
1 – 28oz can crushed tomatoes
1 – 8.75 oz. can whole kernel corn
salt & pepper to taste
1) In a large saucepan or dutch oven, heat olive oil over medium heat; cook onion, carrots and garlic until onion is softened (about 5 minutes).
2) In the meantime, take the crushed tomatoes and 1 can of black beans and puree them together in a food processor. Set aside.
3) Add chili powder and cumin to onion/carrot/garlic mixture and cook stirring for about a minute.
4) Add the chicken stock, 1 can of black beans and can of kernel corn and bring to a boil.
5) Once the veggies have come to a boil, add the black bean and tomato puree to the pot. Reduce heat, cover soup, and simmer for about an hour. Add salt & pepper to taste.
I think the longer you simmer, the better, but I would advise atleast an hour. It really gives all the flavors a chance to really meld together.
This is also a great base for a chilli – I often times will add chicken or lean ground beef to this to make it a more hearty stew vs. soup, but regardless, you’re used plastic grocery bag will be happy 🙂 And so will your belly!
My gals pals and I had our Fantasy Football draft the other night.
Three years ago, we thought “heck, wouldn’t it be fun to make our own Fantasy Football team and pick all of our players based on 1) cuteness 2) level of hot body’ness?” Well, let’s just say that this strategy didn’t get us too far in terms of winning anything. But, it was a great excuse to sit by the T.V. every Sunday hooting and hollering alongside the men – although we were hooting and hollering at tight camera shots of bums and other body parts vs. touchdowns and field goals.
Last year, it got a little more competitive – my friend Erin took over the roll of commissioner. By day, Erin is this cute little CPA who works for the IRS – on Sunday’s during football season though, she’s a crazed, football-jersey-wearing maniac that screams at the television and sits with her legs open staring intently at the television holding her breath to see what the next play brings (ok, maybe I’m exaggerating at the sitting w/ her legs wide open part – everything else is 100% true!). With Erin as commissioner, we started to take things a little more seriously, and really started to care about more than how long Tom Brady’s hair had gotten or if the camera’s shot to our favorite celebs in the stands during games. We actually like, paid attention – and made changes in our roster every week – and like, kind of knew what was going on!
And this year’s draft was a nail biter, probs the most stressful hour and a half that I’ve had in a while. While we may be ladies Monday through Saturday, on Sundays, the claws will be out. But we need sustenance to keep ourselves going during hours and hours of football watching.
Delicious food goes hand in hand with football season – chilli – wings – dips of all kinds – which is what we have today! I’m a huge Spinach dip lover, so this is a Skinny version of a great Sunday Funday snack, made with Kale and Feta Cheese (you could easily use spinach too, I just wanted to shake things up a bit) and homemade pita chips! I am OBSESSED with the Josephs© line of sandwich wraps. They have pita bread, wraps and lavash that are all only 2 WW points each! And, they made amazing home made pita chips!
Kale & Feta Dip with Homemade Pita Chips
INGREDIENTS
*yields about 1 cup of dip and 16 pita chips – serving size is 1/4 cup of dip and 4 pita chips
For Kale & Feta Dip:
4 cups chopped kale
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 cup fat-free cream cheese
1/2 cup fat-free sour cream
1/4 cup fat-free feta cheese
juice of 1/2 lemon
2 tbsp. grated parmesean cheese
salt and pepper to taste
For Pita Chips:
Non-stick cooking spray
2 whole Josephs Pita Breads
(the large size, not the smaller sandwich size ones)
Salt and Pepper
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2) In a medium sauce pan, sautee minced garlic and chopped kale over medium heat until it shrinks to about 1/2 it’s original size.
3) Place cooked kale in a large mixing bowl and add cream cheese, sour cream, feta and lemon juice and mix until combined. Add salt and pepper as needed.
4) Place in an oven-safe baking dish and sprinkle grated parmesean cheese on the top. Cook for about 10 minues, or until bubbly.
5) Slice the pita breads into 8 triangles (16 total). Spray with non-stick cooking spray and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake in oven about 5 minutes on each side, until chips reach desired level of crunchiness.
TOUCHDOWN! A delicious dip, that can be served hot or cold, that is only 3.5 WW points per serving. So if you were so preoccupied with the action and ate the whole thing by mistake, it wouldn’t be so bad!
Have a great Labor Day weekend everyone 🙂
It seems like ice cream sandwiches have been around since the dawn of time – other frozen novelties have come and gone from the shelves of your local grocery store, but the simple combination if vanilla ice cream perfectly sandwiched between two soft and chewy chocolate cookies has been a crowd pleaser for generations.
I like ice cream – I actually love it. And biting into an ice cream sandwich might be one of the best tastes of summer – especially when the soft cookie gets stuck to the roof of your mouth – love that.
So how can you fake out your taste buds and save yourself a few cellulite dimples?
See below 🙂
Skinny “Ice Cream” Sandwiches
INGREDIENTS
*yields 4 sammies
4 full Chocolate Graham Cracker sheets
8 tbsp. Fat-Free Cool Whip
Rainbow Nonpareils
1) Line a cookie sheet with wax paper.
2) Snap each full graham cracker sheet in half and lay out on the wax paper.
3) Place 2 tbsp. of fat-free cool whip on one of the 2 graham crackers and then top with the other.
4) Sprinkle with rainbow nonpareils (or any ‘decoration’ of your choice – nuts, chocolate chips, the options are endless!)
5) Place in the freezer for about an hour in order for cool whip to freeze.
Once frozen, the cool whip takes on a soft, chewy texture that takes you to your Ice Cream happy place, without all the guilt. And for only 2 WW points per sammie, well, you could even have two 🙂
It’s the last week of summer (I know – sniff, sniff). That means there is one week left to:
1) Strut around in your bikini (or one-piece with conservative coverup) while the weather is still nice
2) Capitalize on the freshest produce of the year!
And these next recipes will be nothing but bikini friendly. In only a couple short weeks, it’ll be time to stuff ourselves in sweaters and shovel in the chilli w/ cheese, sour cream and fritos while watching Sunday football. HOWEVER, until then, let’s keep it on the skinny, shall we?
This Summer Bruschetta is SOO freaking delish, a take-off on that delightful Tomato, Cucumber & Feta Salad. I think I’ve made it about 7596943 times this summer. It’s easy – it’s healthy – and there’s no better way to showcase one of summer’s star veggie-fruits than with bruschetta.
Summer Bruschetta
INGREDIENTS
1 large package of heirloom tomatoes, chopped or pulsed a few times in the food processor (about 2 cups)
(I like to use the different colored ones, but all red would do too)
1 tbsp. lite italian dressing
1 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 cup fat-free feta cheese
8-10 large basil leaves, chopped
1) Chop tomatoes into small pieces or pulse in the food processor a few times until they reach your desired size. Place in a mixing bowl and set aside.
2) In a small mixing bowl, whisk together italian dressing, balsamic vinegar and minced garlic. Pour mixture over the chopped tomatoes and fold with a spatula.
3) Add fat-free feta cheese and chopped basil and fold into tomato/dressing mixture.
4) Let the mix sit for at least 1/2 hour. I personally like letting it sit at room temperature (cold tomatoes = yucka) but you could also chill it in the refridgerator.
5) Serve on sliced french bread or crackers!
You can adjust this recipe as you see fit, adding more/less basil & feta cheese, but the ENTIRE bowl of bruschetta (minus the bread/crackers) is only 3 WW points – 3. Whole thing. Chilli can wait!
It’s been way too long since Buffalo Chicken has showed it’s mug here. So happy Buffalo Chicken Monday to all!
While most of the Buffalo Chicken recipes on this Blog have been pre-meditated, this one was purely by accident. Yesterday morning, while still half asleep, I reached my hand in the freezer, did an “eenie, meenie, miney, moe” and pulled out what you could call the ‘pandora’s box’ of the freezer – ground chicken. For some reason, I continue to buy this at the store, and then when faced with doing something with it, always seem to be left scratching my head. Last time I was faced with this was back in April, when Southwest Chicken Burgers were born. And last night, almost 4 months later, a new ground chicken master piece was born, and Buffalo Chicken Tacos was it’s name! You could use rotissere chicken or shredded chicken breast for this as well.
Buffalo Chicken Tacos
INGREDIENTS
1 lb. ground chicken
(I used the 93/7 mix)
2 stalks of celery, diced small
1 carrot, shredded
1/2 onion, diced small
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 cup Frank’s Hot Sauce
1/4 cup Ranch dressing (or blue cheese, depending on your preference)
(I used a light version, but you could use full fat or fat free too)
2 tbsp. crumbled blue cheese
6 (or so) corn tortillas
1) Cook celery, carrot, onion and garlic over medium heat in a non-stick skillet until translucent (about 5 minutes)
2) Add ground chicken to vegetables and sautee until cooked through.
3) Take the Frank’s and ranch dressing and whisk together in a small dish, then pour the mixture over the vegetable/chicken mix. Add blue cheese and stir until melted.
4) Let simmer over low heat for 5-10 minutes, until some of the sauce has absorbed.
5) Cook corn tortillas over direct flame until char marks appear, then flip and repeat on the other side.
6) Top with minced celery and carrot and sprinkle some blue cheese and ranch or blue cheese dressing.
Do you ever have those moments where something happens and you’re like “Woahhh – WEEEEIRD” – coincidences always blow my mind!
Sometimes I feel like a kid in a candy store when I start looking for new recipes to try – there are just SO many creative, fun and absolutely delicious recipes out there. People’s imagination with food makes my head spin (in the good way!)
Last week, I was cyber-stumbling over all these great looking recipes that I wanted to try. One of them being from Erin at Naturally Ella for Roasted Tomato and Corn Salsa. I love fresh salsa, especially in the summer time. I could eat it with a spoon, a fork, a knife, but prefereably with nice salty tortilla chips and frosty margarita. The salsa sounded delish, and the blog post associated with it was even cuter, as she dished to readers about her surprise engagement! Love engagement stories! So I added it to the recipe ‘que’.
Then yesterday, who popped up right next to me on Tastespotting? Erin and her Roasted Tomato and Corn Salsa! Weeeeeird right? So I took that as a sign and while there were no chips or margharitas to accompany it, it was a perfect accompanyment to an otherwise unexciting piece of grilled chicken. Modified it a tad (mostly to save on time) but it was awesome. Thanks Erin and congrats on your engagement! Let the wedding planning begin 🙂
Roasted Tomato & Corn Salsa (the quick version)
*Adapted from Naturally Ella
INGREDIENTS
12 oz package of heirloom tomatoes, chopped
(or just plain roma – I personally like the orange and red combo)
3 tomatillos, husked, rinsed and diced
1 ear of sweet corn
(remove corn from cob)
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 cup of cilantro, chopped
1 tbsp. chili powder
juice of 1 lime
1 tbsp. olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
1) In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add minced garlic for about a minute, until fragrant, then add chopped onion and cook for about a minute more.
2) Add the tomatoes and tomatillos to the onion & garlic and sautee for 2-3 minutes, until tomatoes become tender, but not cooked through.
3) Add the corn to the mixture last, and sautee for about a minute more.
4) Transfer the tomato/onion/corn mixture to the food processor. Add cilantro and pulse until you reach your desired consistency.
5) Transfer the pureed salsa mixture to a large mixing bowl. Let cool for about 10 minutes. Then season with chili powder, lime juice and salt and pepper.
Oh boy was this yum! By sauteeing the vegetables, I saved a little bit of time vs. roasting them in the oven, but was still able to get that ‘roasty’ flavor vs. when you make the salsa with the vegetables in their raw form. It’s crazy the difference in taste between the two!
I was so preoccupied with Salsa, I didn’t even see my little buddy getting himself stuck underneath the shelf – someone apparently doesn’t know just how big he’s getting!
There’s a real disconnect in our house regarding dessert – I live for it – Dave can live without it. Has it sent us to marriage counseling? Not yet – yet being the operative word. I don’t know about any of you out there, but I’m kind of a follower when it comes to dessert, because after you’ve finished a huge meal, dessert really can be excessive. But even if it’s just a little bite of chocolate, or scoop of ice cream, it just makes the meal complete! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve said to Dave “Let’s go get ice cream” (LET’S go get it) and we get to the ice cream shop, wait in line, and we get to the counter and Dave says “Oh I don’t want anything, but you get what you want!” and I don’t know why this makes me angry, maybe because Dave just doesn’t have it in his genetic code that being done with dinner means what’s for dessert? Or that I feel like a fattyboomblatty being the one in the party of two that gets a double scoop of mint chip in a chocolate dipped waffle cone. But, nevertheless, dessert is like the 6th food group for me.
My friend/former roommate Leslie introduced this to me the first week she moved into our apartment. She’s gorgeous – tall – thin – beautiful skin – nicest person you’ll probably ever meet in your life, and she has some amazing healthy eating tricks up her sleeve. I rememeber coming home one night, and the smell of brownies was wafting through our apartment, and I thought YES! BROWNIES! Then Leslie told me that not only are they brownies, they’re healthy brownies. And I said “Get out of town”. So I ate one. Man, was it good. I couldn’t see how a brownie that tasted so good could be healthy. And then she told me that she made them with two ingredients: a box of brownie mix and a can or pureed black beans. And after I lifted my jaw off the ground, I shoved another brownie in my mouth, because hey! They’re healthy! Why not!
So, in my attempt to get back on the band wagon after NC Calorie Fest 2012 (as Buddy coined it), here are these delicious and nutritious Brownie Bites made with Black Beans.
INGREDIENTS
*yields 36 brownie bites or 24 regular sized brownies
1 Box of your favorite brownie mix
1 can of black beans
1) Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2) Rinse the black beans and then return them to the can, filling it up with fresh water.
3) Dump the water and black beans into a food processor and pulse until fully pureed.
4) In a large mixing bowl, combine brownie mix and pureed black beans/water until mixed (will appear a bit lumpy).
5) Spray a 13×9 baking dish, or mini-muffin pan with non-stick cooking spray. Fill the baking dish with the brownie batter, or if you’re using a mini-muffin pan, fill each slot with 1/2 tbsp. of brownie batter.
6) Bake for about 10 minutes (in mini-muffin tin) or designated baking time on back of the brownie box for 13×9. Let cool for about 10 minutes in the pan, as they will be a bit dense and hard to remove when hot.
Ohhhh my these are tasty – they’re low fat, full of fiber and protein, you get your chocolate fix, and they’re so cute! Thank-you Leslie for turning me on to this amazingly awesome little “secret” recipe. And my hips thank you too 🙂
Hey folks! Been a few days, I know. Charlotte was a blast – we ate, we drank, we boated – and now that my ankles have de-swelled from all the beer, Chick fil’a, barbecue and mexican food, I think it’s time for some healthier alternatives for a bit. The south is definitely a GREAT place to visit (as long as you’ve got a nice pair of drawstring pants with you!).
It’s now summer, fo’ real, so summer grilling can fully commence! I’ll admit that I rarely make Kabobs, and honestly I don’t know why – they’re easy – they’re pretty – you can do so many different things with them – it’s one compact little meal on a stick! How can you beat that?
I’ve really been loving lime juice lately for a lot of things (not just margaritas) and this marinade for the chicken in the kabobs was delicious and practically calorie free! It had a little tang, but the brown sugar cut it just a bit. Delish.
Lime Grilled Chicken Kabobs
INGREDIENTS
1 lb 98% fat free chicken boneless breasts, cut into 1″ pieces
juice of 8 limes
4 small – medium garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp. chili powder
2 tsp. cumin
2 tsp. light brown sugar
salt and pepper to taste
10 (approximately) bamboo sticks, soaked in water for about 1/2 hour
Veggies of your choice, cut into 1″ pieces
(I used a zuccini, yellow squash and red pepper)
1) Cut chicken breast into 1″ pieces – set aside.
2) Whisk together lime juice, minced garlic, chili powder, cumin, brown sugar and salt and pepper. This will yield about 1/2 cup of marinade. Separate into 1/4 cup for the veggies and 1/4 cup for the chicken.
3) In a large ziplock bag or bowl, pour the marinade over the chicken pieces and let marinade for at least 1/2 hour, up to overnight (the longer the better – this was a post-work recipe so naturally we didn’t have as much time to marinade as I would have liked). Then do the same with the veggies.
4) Soak your bamboo sticks in water for at least 1/2 hour, so they don’t burn on the grill.
5) Assemble the kabobs alternating chicken/veggie/chicken until all kabobs are made.
6) Cook on grill over medium heat for about 10-15 minutes, alternating sides every few minutes. Serve with a yummy starch like rice or potatoes!
I have to admit, I cheated and used our stove-top grill pan as we have a charcoal grill and sometimes it seems to take foreverrrrr to light – as mentioned in a previous post, I get pretty hangry (Hungry + Angry) if I have to wait too long for dinner, but they were equally as delish on the stove top grill!
So gentlemen (and ladies) start your engines (and your grills!)
And They Cooked Happily Ever After 