Chicken with Peanut Sauce & Sweet Potatoes

What's better than a fast meal? The CLEAN UP! I love tinfoil dinners. 

 They are so easy to clean up, I think...why should I NOT cook like this more? 

We were reading in a magazine called, "CLEAN EATING" and found this recipe.
~Chicken with Peanut Sauce and Sweet Potatoes~

Ingredients:

1/4 cup unsalted natural peanut butter (use almond or sunflower nut butter if you are strict Paleo)

1/4 cup light coconut milk

2 tbsp. rice vinegar

2 tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro leaves, plus additional for garnish

1 tbsp. raw honey

1 tbsp. fresh lime juice

1 tbsp. minced ginger

1 tsp. Braggs liquid aminos

1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes

1 clove garlic (I actually use 3 in mine, but it's because I LOVE garlic)

Olive oil cooking spray

12 oz. green beans, trimmed

2 sweet potatoes, peeled and diced into 1/2" cubes (NOTE: make sure to dice potatoes as directed so that it will cook at the same rate as the chicken)

1 red onion

1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1" pieces

SERVES: 4

HANDS-ON time: 20 min

TOTAL TIME: 45 min

• Preheat grill to medium-high or preheat oven to 450 degrees.
• Combine first 10 ingredients in a bowl and set aside
• Trim green beans and then dice the remaining ingredients.
• Make sure to season the chicken with a little salt and pepper
• Cut 4 (12x16 in.) pieces of large tin foil and mist with cooking spray
• Put all veggies and chicken in the center and divide the peanut mixture among all four piles of veggies/chicken.

Bring short edges of the foil together, then fold inward a few times along each long edge to seal.
Seal up the sides and place foil packets directly on the grill or on a large rimmed baking sheet in the oven.
Grill or bake for 25-30 min. 

Transfer contents of packets to serving bowls and garnish with additional cilantro.
1 serving (packet) contains 335 calories, Total: Fat: 10g  Carbs: 30g and Protein: 33g

This is like a "packet full of happiness" because it's just ANOTHER
creative way to eat the almighty chicken and sweet potatoes.

Source: www.cleaneatingmag.com

Thai Turkey Skillet (lettuce wraps)

If you like Thai food with hints of heat (spice) along with a slight nuttiness of nut butters, then you'll LOVE this! Josh made it last night for dinner and I seriously DID NOT want my serving to end!

It was spicy, nutty, tangy and colorful too!

Ingredients:

1 lb. Lean ground turkey

2 red bell peppers, thinly sliced

1 Tbsp. minced or grated fresh ginger (original recipe calls for 2 Tbsp)

3 garlic cloves, chopped

1 tsp. red pepper flakes

3 Tbsp. peanut butter (preferably natural)**

2 Tbsp. lime juice

2 Tbsp. soy sauce

1 Tbsp. sesame oil

1/2 cup cilantro, chopped

8 cups spinach (original recipe calls for 8 romaine lettuce leaves to use for lettuce wraps)

Brown the ground turkey in a large non-stick skillet or wok; drain the grease.
Add the peppers, ginger, garlic, and red pepper flakes.
Cook over medium-high heat about 4 min, or until the peppers have softened slightly.
Meanwhile, whisk together the peanut butter, lime juice, soy sauce, sesame oil, and cilantro.
Remove the skillet from the heat and add the peanut butter mixture to the skillet; mix well.
Serve 1 cup of the meat mixture over a bed of spinach (2 cups).

**This dish would be considered paleo if you use an almond butter.

Recipe courtesy of: The book, FIT2FAT2FIT by Drew Manning p. 146

Chinese "Fried Rice"

We have enjoyed reading a book called, FIT2FAT2FIT

by Drew Manning and within this book are some amazingly delicious and clean recipes. Also, it's a book that describes Drew Manning's experience of being a fit, very lean trainer, to overweight and unhealthy, back to being fit again. It's quite an amazing story! Great book Drew!

We decided to try out some of the recipes from his book.
This one was a HIT! It honestly tasted like an indulgent and rich Chinese dish.
But, YOU be the judge.... I think it was a spectacular knock off dish.

Chinese "Fried Rice"

Ingredients:

10 ounces fresh cauliflower (about 1/2 medium head)

cooking oil, (we used coconut oil)

3 green onions, sliced (and roughly separated into green and white)

1 clove garlic, minced

dash of ginger, optional

3 Tbsp. soy sauce

Few drops of sesame oil, to taste

16oz. raw chicken, cut into 1 in. pieces

3 eggs beaten

(makes 4 to 6 servings)

Grate the cauliflower using either the largest holes on a hand grater or the grating blade in a food processor. The results should resemble cooked white rice--hence the recipe's name.
Weigh out 10 ounces of the grated cauliflower.
On medium high heat, heat enough oil to cover the wok or skillet.
Quickly stir fry the garlic and the WHITES of the onions. (Watch closely so as NOT to burn)
Add the cauliflower; fry about 4-5 minutes, stirring constantly, until it begins to color a bit. (Don't overcook or it will get mushy)
Stir in the Ginger, soy sauce, sesame oil, onion greens and shrimp. Stir fry chicken until cooked through.
Push the "rice" mixture to one side of the wok.
Pour the eggs into the other side; scramble and cook until moist.
Mix the eggs into the "rice", breaking up any large chunks of egg.

Tip: This dish stores and reheats well.

Recipe courtesy of: FIT2FAT2FIT by Drew Manning p.140 (but we changed the protein to chicken, the original recipe calls for shrimp)

Veggie baked Mac-n-Cheese

I've been on the hunt for a good veggie filled "Healthier" homemade mac-n-cheese recipe, and I finally found one that I really like.  I switched up the recipe a little bit and added in different veggies, then I BAKED it to give it that yummy crispy casserole crust.

Ingredients:

• 8 ounces shell noodles, (2 cups)
• 1 half cauliflower finely chopped (you can use broccoli too)
• 3 cups baby spinach or baby kale chopped
• 2-3 cloves fresh garlic, minced
• 1 3/4 cups whole milk (divided; set 1/4 c milk aside)
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 cup shredded extra-sharp Cheddar cheese
• 1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard 
• 1/4 cup Panko Bread crumbs
• Optional: 1/8-1/4 tsp crushed red pepper (to give it some kick!) 

Preheat oven to 350.  Boil up the shell noodles as directed.

In a separate pan, saute cauliflower and fresh garlic in a little bit of olive oil.  Once the cauliflower is soft, add in the spinach and saute til it wilts.

In a small bowl, mix flour, garlic powder, salt, and pepper, then whisk in 1/4 cup milk, mix well and set aside.

In a pot, slowly simmer 1.5 cups of milk on medium heat.  Once it starts to boil whisk in the flour/milk mixture and stir for 2-3 minutes or until milk mixture has thickened up.  Add in cheese and Dijon mustard.  Once cheese is melted, add in cauliflower mixture and add in shell noodles.  Mix well.

Pour mixture into a 9x13 baking pan. Sprinkle Panko bread crumbs on top.  Bake in the oven for 10 min. then broil it for 3-5 min. or until the bread crumbs are golden brown. 

Take it out, let it cool for 7-10 minutes.  Serve it up and ENJOY!

*recipe courtesy of "The Picky Eater Blog"

**For lower fat - substitute whole milk for 1% or non-fat and use low fat cheese

Butternut Squash Soup

Okay, okay.... Don't laugh. I was reading "RedBook" magazine 

and I stumbled upon the recipe section within the magazine. 

I quickly skimmed through the ingredients of "Kelly's Butternut Squash Soup"

and realized just HOW easy this soup could be. 

I also noticed the base was a vegetable stock and coconut milk. 

Even better!

Ingredients:

4 tbsp Olive Oil

4 garlic cloves, minced

2 medium onions, diced small

2 large butternut quash (2 lb), peeled, seeded and cut into 1-inch cubes

4 medium carrots, peeled and chopped

2 small yukon gold or russet potatoes, cut into 1-inch cubes (I used 4 small yukon)

8 cups vegetable stock or water (I actually used chicken stock)

2 cups canned coconut milk (I used lite)

salt and pepper to taste

This recipe makes 12 servings. Each (1 cup serving): ~210 cal.

Heat oil in a large stock-pot over medium-low heat.
Add garlic, onion and a pinch of salt, stirring until translucent, 3 to 5 min.

Add squash.

Add carrots and potatoes.

Add stock.
Bring to a BOIL.
Lower heat to a simmer and cook 25-30 min,
or until vegetables can be easily pierced with a fork.
Remove from heat and add coconut milk.

Puree soup with a blender. 

Season with salt and pepper.

I garnished my bowl of soup with 4 oz. grilled chicken.
This is a great soup.
Easy. Simple and very delicious!

Recipe courtesy of: Redbook Magazine p.24; Kelly Osbourne, "Kelly's Butternut Squash Soup"

Roasted Garlic Chicken & Alfredo Pizza

My kids LOVE pizza. A lot.

I feel like I'm trying to come up with new creations because WE LOVE IT TOO!!! However, I LOVE HOME-MADE pizza, crust and all... 

I decided to take a stab at homemade pizza crust using the Homemade bread Recipe. 

 Read on....you'll see if it worked out! (Kind of a loaded statement...huh? Of course it did, or I wouldn't be posting this)

So first...you need an elephant garlic bulb.
You'll cut off the top to be able to expose the garlic cloves,
Then drizzle a little bit of olive oil over the entire bulb and sprinkle salt and pepper over everything.
Wrap completely in foil. Place on cookie sheet and bake.
Bake at 350 for 50 min.

After it's done roasting, remove from foil and it's ready to use in recipes.

Then, open this "Homemade Bread" tab and prepare your bread and let it rise.

Once the bread is done rising in the bowl, get all your other ingredients and tools ready.

Ingredients:

Flour

Corn meal

Bread dough

Tools:

Rolling pin,

flat surface

Cooking stone (works the best)

or cookie sheet with parchment paper laid on it.

Punch Bread dough down, until all AIR is out of dough.

Take a big chunk of the dough (about half of it) and place it on a lightly floured surface.

As you can see, I took about half the dough and will make the pizza crust from the dough. The remaining dough I will make into homemade dinner rolls. 

Roll out the bread dough to a very THIN pizza crust.

Place some cornmeal on the back and gently rub it in.

As you lift up the bread dough, the remaining cornmeal will fall off.
Cover your cooking stone with cornmeal (or cover your parchment paper with cornmeal)
and lay bread dough over stone.

Cut the hanging dough using a pizza cutter and trim the edges.

Trim the edges, so it fits perfectly on the stone.

VOILA! Pizza crust.
DONE!!!

Place immediately into refrigerator.
 (or it will start rising again)

Next, grab your pizza ingredients.

Ingredients:

1 Roma tomato

5 green onions

1 elephant garlic, roasted

2 c. Mozzarella cheese

1 c. Colby Jack cheese

1-2 c. Rotisserie Chicken

Pizza Seasoning grinder (I LOVE this grinder)

1 jar pizza sauce

1 jar of alfredo sauce

1/2 package of turkey pepperoni

First, place 3 roasted cloves in a food processor, or blender.

Pour in 1/2 the jar of Alfredo sauce.

Pour in 1/3 jar of pizza sauce.

Blend.

Pour over pizza crust.
(My kids love the good ol' fashioned pepperoni pizza, so for the rest of these pictures it will be a half and half pizza)

You may choose to do a half and half pizza or the full garlic chicken alfredo pizza.
Place original pizza sauce on one side and the garlic-alfredo on the other.
Place rotisserie chicken on the garlic-alfredo.

Place topping over the areas you wish to have them.
Grind the pizza seasonings over the entire pizza.

Cover entire pizza with mozzarella cheese.
Place onions and tomatoes on the garlic-alfredo side.

....and DONE!

Preheat oven to 425.
Bake for 15-19 min.
Check after 10 min for big bubbles in dough to develop.
Make sure those bubbles are popped with a fork.

Remove from oven and let cool for about 5-10 min.

Hope you enjoy our spin on semi-homemade garlic alfredo and chicken pizza!

Chicken and Ham Creamy Parmesan Lasagna

Another one of OUR favorites. Go ahead, I dare you to not fall in love with this combination. 

The flavors are unexpectedly perfect together. 

Ham, fresh parsley, chicken broth..... go on, keep reading....or salivating.

Ingredients:

2 C. Chicken Broth

1/2 tsp. Freshly ground black pepper

3 1/4 C. Skim Milk

1/3 C. + 1 tbsp. Flour

1 1/2 C. freshly grated parmesan cheese

1/4 C. chopped parsley

12 no-cook lasagna noodles,divided

1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breast, cooked and chopped up, divided (I've used rotisserie chicken in the past, but that increases the sodium, FYI)

8 oz. ham, divided

1 cup thinly chopped asparagus, divided

1 cup Pepper Jack cheese, divided

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place broth and 1/4 tsp. pepper in a large pot over medium high heat.
Bring to a boil.

In a blender, combine flour, milk and remaining pepper together.

Mix thoroughly.

Add milk mixture to broth in pan.

Stir CONSTANTLY over medium-high heat.

Bring to a boil.

Let cook for ONE minute, stirring constantly.

Remove from heat,
Add 1 C. Parmesan cheese.

Add parsley.

Stirring until cheese melts.

You can use one 9x13 pan
or two 8x8 pans.
Be sure to spray PAM on your pans.

Spread a little sauce over the bottom of the pan(s). 

Layer the "oven ready" noodles over sauce.

Layer the Asparagus, Chicken, Ham & Pepper Jack over the noodles.

Noodles again.

Spoon a little more sauce over the noodles.

Add some chicken, ham, asparagus and pepper jack cheese.

Then noodles and sauce, again.

Last layer of Chicken, Ham, Asparagus and Pepper jack.

Follow up with the final layer of noodles.
Add a pinch of fresh parsley (if you still have some left over) and the rest of the Parmesan cheese on top.

Cover with foil that's been sprayed with Pam as well.
Cook for 30 min

Remove from oven and let it cool for about 10-15 min.
It allows the lasagna to set up.

Then, serve alongside a hearty salad or veggie of your choice.

It makes a great meal, and what do you know....green veggies are even inside!
Eat up!

This was for dessert!
Boy, oh boy....I love cooking for my little family!