Shrimp and Spinach Pasta

Erin: Another pinterest recipe! This was so healthy and so delicious and I can't wait to make it again! :)

Ingredients:

1/2 pound extra large shrimp, thawed, peeled and deveined
2 tsp lemon zest, divided
1 pinch crushed red pepper
1 sprig fresh thyme, leaves removed and chopped
1 sprig fresh oregano, leaves removed and chopped
2 basil leaves, torn
2 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved (I skipped the tomatoes)
4 cups baby spinach
2 Tbs. lemon juice
1/2 pound angel hair pasta
coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

Directions:

1. On a plate, toss the shrimp with the crushed red pepper, half the lemon zest, chopped herbs and a pinch of salt and pepper. Let it sit while you start the rest.
2. Heat the oil in a medium skillet over medium-high. Add the garlic and bloom 30 seconds. Add the tomatoes along the remaining lemon zest. Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper and saute for 2 minutes.
3. Add the shrimp in a single layer and sear on one side for 2 minutes. Flip and sear another minute, or until shrimp is cooked through. Keep tossing the tomatoes just a little bit.
4. In the meantime, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook the angel hair until al dente, maybe 5 minutes.
5. Drain all but about 1/2 cup of the pasta water and toss with the shrimp and tomato mixture, along with the spinach. Squeeze a lot of lemon juice right in.
6. Season with coarse salt and pepper. Add as much pasta water as you want to create a thin, glorious sauce.

7 Up Biscuits

EG: This past weekend was spent putting the final touches on the house and making Target/Ikea/Bed Bath and Beyond runs. It was beyond exciting. (Especially when the power went out in Target and they wouldn't let us out for 2 hours because of a "tornado warning"). Ugh! Anyway, that night I was planning to make Chicken with Rosemary Sauce, recipe below, and I was realllly craving some bread to go with it but it was pouring down rain and because of the tornado warning, I wasn't going anywhere. Just then, I found a recipe for biscuits that has 4 ingredients. FOUR! Andddd, I had all the ingredients on hand! Woo hoo! You bet your ass I decided to try it. And it was delicious.





Ingredients:
1. 2 cups of bisquick
2. 1/2 cup of sour cream
1/2 cup of 7 UP (I used sprite)
1/4 cup of melted butter

Directions:
1. Add sour cream to Bisquick and mix together. Add Sprite
2. Sprinkle additional biquick on the counter and gently pat the dough out to desired thickness
3. Place melted butter in 9X9 pan (I used my loaf pan and made a loaf of biscuits and it was still delish
4. Bake in a 450 degree oven for 8-10 minutes

Chicken Corn and Black Bean Quesadillas

Erin, you know how much I looooove quesadillas. I found this recipe on pinterest a while ago and because we just got a new quesadilla maker, I knew it was time to try this recipe. And it's so good. So so good. It's a must try!!

(It was so good, you can see I took a bite right out of it before I could get a picture)



Ingredients
2 tablespoon canola oil, divided
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups corn kernels
1 large chicken breast, cooked and shredded (I used about 2 cups of rotisserrie chicken
1/3 cup chicken broth
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1 can black beans
2 ounces cream cheese
2 cups Mexican blend cheese
4 large (burrito sized) flour tortillas


Directions
1. Heat 1 tablespoon of the canola oil in a large skillet, stir in the garlic and corn and cook until the garlic is fragrant
2. Add the chicken, broth, cumin, chili powder, oregano, and black beans and bring to a light boil.
3. Simmer for 5-10 minutes to let the flavors meld. Remove pan from the heat and stir in the cream cheese.

Use quesadilla maker or..

4. Heat another large pan over medium-high heat, brush pan surface with canola oil. Place a flour tortilla onto the hot pan.
5. Build a quesadilla by layering a handful of cheese, 1/4 of the chicken mixture and another handful of cheese on one half of the tortilla.
6. Fold tortilla in half and apply pressure to top to create a sear on the bottom of the tortilla and to make everything stick together.
7. Once the bottom of the tortilla is browned flip over and brown the other side, once again applying pressure to the top to help the browning process.
8. When both sides are browned remove quesadilla from pan and cut into 4 even triangles with a sharp knife or pizza cutter.

Repeat process with remaining tortillas, brushing pan with canola oil before each quesadilla.

Chicken with Rosemary Sauce

Erin: I found this great recipe in a new issue of Cooking Light magazine. It's super healthy (and easy to make). And I was surprised how good it was! I paired the chicken with some fresh veggies and a glass of pinot noir.  Delish!

Ingredients: (Serves 4)

1 teaspoon olive oil
4 (4-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary
1/2 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup half-and-half

Directions:

1. Heat olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. 

2. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. 

3. Add chicken to pan; cook 3 minutes on each side. 

4. Add green onions, wine, and rosemary; cook 30 seconds. 

5. Stir in broth; cook 2 minutes. 

6. Add half-and-half; cook 2 minutes (or until chicken is cooked through)

Chocolate Protein Bars

So it's been a longgg time since I last blogged. I'm sorry! I've been so so busy but I wanted to add a new recipe I recently discovered. It's a little different from what we usually blog about, but I wanted to post anyway. You know how much of a health freak I have recently become, and I found a recipe for homemade protein bars. They are really easy to make and taste really good. You should eat one serving (2 bars) as a midmorning snack and one in the late afternoon. Let me know what you think!

What you will need:
Oat flour (I will admit, this was difficult to find. Whole Foods did not carry it. I actually ended up finding it at Kroger in the health food isle. You can also make your own by putting oats in a food processor until it is fine)
4 egg whites
2 scoops vanilla whey protein powder (you can find this almost anywhere: grocery stores, academy, health food stores, GNC, ect.)
1/2 cup splenda or truvia (I use truvia, but I think splenda has less carbs)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
8 oz berry flavored baby food (I used organic apple blueberry-they usually come in 4 oz so buy 2 jars)
3 tbsp baking cocoa
4 oz water (I used the empty baby food jar to measure this)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Mix dry ingredients (flour, protein, baking soda, salt, cocoa)
3. Mix wet ingredients in separate bowl (egg whites, splenda, baby food, water)
4. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix together
5. Spray cooking dish with non stick butter spray and add batter to dish

Makes 16 squares, serving size is 2 bars

Crock Pot Chicken Fajitas

Chicken fajitas always intimidate me. I don't have a grill (except for our Foreman grill) and they always look super hard and time consuming. The soultion? CROCK POT CHICKEN FAJITAS. Yes, brilliant idea -- I know. I prepared everything the night before and all I had to do the next morning was combine the ingredients in the crock pot and turn it on before I left for work. I love coming home to dinner already made! Woo hoo!





Ingredients:
1 yellow onion, sliced
3 bell peppers, sliced ( I used red, orange, and yellow)
3 or 4 boneless chicken breast or thighs
½ cup chicken broth, depending on preference
½ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons cumin
1 ½ tablespoons chili powder
Squirt of lime juice
Tortillas
Fajita fixings (sour cream, avocado, cheese)

Directions:
1. Combine sliced onion and peppers in the bottom of a greased crockpot.
2. Lay chicken breasts on top of veggies. Pour chicken broth over top.
3. Sprinkle everything with cumin, salt, and chili powder.
4. Give a nice quirt of lime juice over the top.
5. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours (or on High for 4-6 hours). When meat is done, shred with two forks and stir back into juices. Serve meat mixture with slotted spoon on tortillas with your choice of fixings.

How easy is this?? You can thank me later.. ;)

Chicken, Corn & Black Bean Quesadillas

We have a bit of an obession with quesdillas. So much so, that I actually bought a quesadilla maker. Don't judge me, it's amazing! I found this lovely recipe on pinterest and it's super healthy and super delicious. I served it with some avocado and tortilla chips and it was ah-mazing! ;)




Ingredients:
2 tablespoon canola oil, divided
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups corn kernels
1 large chicken breast, cooked and shredded or cubed
1/3 cup chicken  broth
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1 can black beans
2 ounces cream cheese
2 cups Mexican blend cheese
Tortillas (I used flour but next time I think I will use corn)

Directions:
1. Heat 1 tablespoon of the canola oil in a large skillet, stir in the garlic and corn and cook until the garlic is fragrant.
2. Add the chicken, broth, cumin, chili powder, oregano, and black beans and bring to a light boil.
3. Simmer for 5-10 minutes to let the flavors meld.
4. Remove pan from the heat and stir in the cream cheese.
5. At this time, I just put the chicken mixture and cheese on a tortilla and put it in the quesadilla maker -- if you don't have one then heat 1 tablespoon canola oil in a saucepan over medium heat, place tortilla onto the hot pan, and layer handfuls of cheese and chicken mixture on one half of the tortilla. Fold in half and flip when necessary ;)

Rotisserie Chicken Salad

Soooo, I have a lot of chicken left over. Haha! I decided to make chicken salad that Sam & I could take it to work this week but I didn't think rotisserie chicken would work with my favorite chicken salad recipe because it's so sweet. Hence, my new chicken salad recipe!

Ingredients:
5 cups diced chicken
1 1/4 cup of chopped celery
1/2 cup of diced onion
2 TBS parsley
1/4 cup milk
3/4 cup of miracle whip
salt and pepper to taste

1. Place the diced chicken, celery, onion, and parsley in a large mixing bowl.
2. In a medium sized bowl, combine the miracle whip and milk. You will need to stir the miracle whip and milk for 1-2 minutes to make sure it's completely combined.
3. Add this mixture to the chicken and other ingredients in the large bowl. 

;)

Crock Pot Rotisserie Chicken

Erin: I usually just pick up a rotisserie chicken at the grocery store for quick meals but Trader Joe's had whole chickens for sale and I was having a lazy Sunday so I decided to make one myself. I found an easy recipe at busy-mommy.com (haha!) and decided to try it. It was really good and easy. It took little preparation and I just popped it in the crock pot and went about my day until it was ready. When it was done, we ate it with roasted garlic potatoes and I was able to make dinner using leftovers for the rest of the week. Win-win!

Ingredients:
1 whole chicken

2 Tbsp Paprika

1 1/2 tsp onion powder

2 Tbsp garlic powder or 3 cloves garlic

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients (minus the chicken) into a bowl and stir in water by the teaspoon until a paste forms

2. Spray crock pot with PAM

3. Coat the chicken inside and out with the paste

4. Cover and cook on low for 5-6 hours or until the thickest part of the thigh registers at 180 degrees

Woo hoo!

Toasted Ravioli with Marinara Sauce

Erin: This recipe is quick and easy and fabulous. Ravioli is a staple around here so this was a nice change from the regular ravioli and tomato sauce. It's a bit messy but totally worth it ;)

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons whole milk
1 egg
3/4 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
salt & pepper to taste
1/2 (25 ounce) package cheese ravioli
2 cups vegetable oil for frying
1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese
Marinara Sauce

Directions:

1. Combine milk and egg in a small bowl.
2.Combine breadcrumbs and seasonings in a shallow bowl.
3.Dip ravioli in milk mixture, and coat with breadcrumbs.
4. In a large saucepan, heat marinara sauce over medium heat until bubbling. Reduce the heat to simmer.
5. In a large heavy pan, pour oil to depth of 2 inches. Heat oil over medium heat until a small amount of breading sizzles and turns brown.
6. Fry ravioli, a few at a time, 1 minute on each side or until golden.
7. Drain on paper towels. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and serve immediately with hot marinara sauce.