Stuffed Poblano Peppers

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These peppers are delicious. I was at a friends house this past week and she made red and green stuffed peppers for lunch.They were so good. I had not made stuffed peppers in quite some time and having them at my friends inspired me to whip up a batch of my own. While I was at her house, I snagged a tasty tip for the peppers. Plain yogurt and dill as the topping. I eat dill and yogurt often, but I would have never thought to top my stuffed peppers with it. It is delish and really completes the meal.

Ingredients
1 lb lean ground beef or ground turkey
1 diced medium onion
3 cloves minced garlic
1/2 cup roughly chopped mushrooms
20 grape or cherry tomatoes, halved
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup brown rice
1/2 cup quinoa
3 cups chicken broth or stock
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp oregano
1 tbsp olive oil
8 poblano peppers
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 tsp dried dill

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Saute ground beef, onions, garlic, mushrooms and tomatoes together. Add salt and pepper to taste. Make sure to break up the ground beef. Set aside when browned.

Cook rice and quinoa in chicken stock. Cover and simmer over low heat for 25 minutes, rice should be slightly al dente.

In a large bowl mix ground beef mixture with cooked rice/quinoa mixture. Stir in onion powder and oregano. Set mixture aside.

Cut off the tops of the poblano peppers, remove seeds and white membrane from peppers. Next stuff peppers with rice/quinoa mixture. Set in oven safe dish and drizzle 1 tbsp of olive oil over peppers. Bake at 400 degrees for 40 minutes. Remove from oven, cover with foil or lid and bake additional 30 minutes. Let cool, top with yogurt and dill.

Serves 4. Serving size is two stuffed peppers. Approximately 530 calories and 14 grams of fat.

If you only eat one pepper you are looking at 256 calories and 7 grams of fat.

Simple Sweet and Spicy Chicken

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I really enjoy asian flavors. Sweet and spicy is one of my favorite combinations. I also value a meal that can be on the table in less than 30 minutes. I love this dish because it is easy to make, it doesn't take long and it is quite delicious. The chicken is so tender. If you don't like spice, consider lowering the amount of spice or omitting it and adding 2 tbsp of lemon juice to make a tangy and sweet sauce.

1 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp honey
1/4 cup light soy sauce
1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
2 tsp chopped fresh ginger root

3 minced cloves garlic

2 tbsp asian hot sauce (sambal or sriracha)                

4 skinless, boneless chicken reasts- cut into 1/2 inch chunks

1 tbsp wok oil (or vegetable oil if you don't have wok oil)

salt and pepper to taste

2 tbsp corn starch

1/4 cup sliced green onion for garnish

Preheat Wok or large skillet on medium/ high. In a small bowl whisk together brown sugar, honey, soy sauce, vingegar, ginger, garlic and hot sauce. Lightly salt and pepper the chicken breasts and toss in corn starch. Add oil to wok and then add chicken. Brown the chicken on both sides. Roughly one minute per side. Pour sauce over chicken, turn heat to low and simmer for 8-10 minutes. Garnish with green onions

Serve over rice with your favorite veggies. For a lower carb option serve with 2 servings of veggies. I like snowpeas and mushrooms.

Serves 4. Approx 250 calories and 7 grams of fat

Angel Hair with Arugula, Tomato, and Fresh Mozzerella

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A lot of the times I prep dinner when Sophia is taking her afternoon nap. That way, when the hubby gets home, dinner is ready and we get to maximize our family time. If it isn't a meal that heats up well, like chicken or most meats, I get all the prep work done and do the actual cooking when he is on his way home. Pasta is something you can typically prep a little ahead of time, because you can reheat it fairly easily and that is just what I did tonight. This pasta is vegetarian and so simple. It is similar to Capellini Pomodoro, but has lemon, arugula and little mozzarella balls in addition to tomato, basil and garlic. It tastes so fresh because of the lemon and you get a bit of that nutty delicious taste from the arugula. I whipped this meal up in less than 20 minutes and I am a bit ashamed to say, I already ate a small bowl of it. :/


16 ounces angel hair pasta
3 tbsp olive oil
4 garlic cloves minced
8 plum tomatoes seeded and diced in to 1/4 to 1/2 inch pieces
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 cups Arugula
1/2 cup fresh basil (chiffonade)
1/4 cup of fresh mozzerella, roughly chopped into small bits (I use the little ciliegine or bocconcini mozzerella balls)
Salt and Pepper to taste
1/4 cup pasta water reserved
1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.

2. In a saute pan add olive oil, tomatoes, and garlic. Saute together on medium- low for 6 minutes.

3. While your sauce is cooking, prepare pasta according to package. Strain noodles and reserve 1/4 cup pasta water. (DO NOT RINSE NOODLES)  To your sauce add cooked pasta, reserved pasta water, arugula, lemon juice, basil and mozzarella. Toss together and simmer on low for 1 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.


***Make sure to salt your pasta water and for better flavor season your sauce as you cook. Seasoning with salt and pepper throughout the cooking process helps build the flavor.


Serves 6. Approx 426 calories and 11 grams of fat

Easy Entertaining: Grilled Caponata Bruschetta (Vegetarian)

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I learned this recipe last month at our very dear friends’ Rick and Megan’s rehearsal dinner. She had such a fun dinner at a wonderful place in Reno, called Nothing to It. It is a small little restaurant that also hosts cooking classes. When we arrived at Nothing to It, we were told that we'd be breaking up in to groups and preparing appetizers. Naturally, I was thrilled and could hardly wait to start cooking! The appetizer my table prepared was Grilled Caponata Bruschetta. While, I didn't take the recipe home with me, I remember the ingredients pretty well and made this the other night when the newlyweds came over for dinner. Rick, the groom, actually hadn't gotten to try the bruschetta that night, so it was the perfect item to make. These bruschetta are to die for. They are seriously amazing and the perfect appetizer to entertain guests with. There were only four of us for dinner that night, but I still made a larger quantity of the bruschetta topping. We didn't use it all that night, but the next morning my hubby and I baked some crostini and made the bruschetta for breakfast. We could hardly wait to get out of bed to eat it that morning.

1 eggplant, peeled and sliced in to ¼ inch rounds

1 white onion, peeled and sliced in to ¼ inch rounds
¼ cup olive oil
1 baguette, cut at an angle in  ¼ inch to ½ inch slices
¼ cup kalamata olives, chopped
2 tbsp capers, chopped
3 roma tomatoes seeded and diced
1 clove garlic, minced
¼ cup basil, chiffonade
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp salt (some to sprinkle on eggplant and onions, the remainder goes in the mixture)
1/2 tsp pepper
6 ounces goat cheese


Preheat your grill. Salt the eggplant and onion rounds. Next brush the eggplant and onions with olive oil, reserving the leftover oil. Grill on medium low on the middle rack, turning every 4 minutes for about 16 minutes, until eggplant is soft and somewhat transluscent. While the onions and the eggplant are cooking, slice the baguette. Brush the baguette with the remaing olive oil on one side. Place the baguette slices on the grill, oil side down. Let the bread crisp for a minute or two, just until there is a little crunch on the side with the oil.

Remove eggplant, onions and bread from grill. Let cool for a few minutes. Dice the eggplant and onions into 1/4 inch pieces. In a large bowl combine eggplant, onions, kalamata olives, tomatoes, capers, garlic, basil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. Stir together until fully incorporated.

Next smear goat cheese on to baguette slices and top with bruschetta mixture.


Serves about 6 people. Serving size is 6 pieces per person. 250 calories and 10 grams of fat.

Single Dish, 6 Ingredients: Rosemary Garlic Chicken with White Beans and Mushrooms

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Do you ever have those nights where you really don't have time to cook? I do! My daughter sometimes has what I like to call the 5:00pm blues. There are nights where she gets extremely fussy around this time and I have to devote 99% of my attention to her. That is where meals like this come in to play. I can throw all of my ingredients in to one dish and toss that sucker in the oven. This meal is quick, easy and delicious.

Tip: Do you feel like buying herbs can be expensive? I do! Mostly, because I rarely use all of what I buy. I'll just need a little rosemary, or a little thyme for a recipe and the rest usually goes to waste. The fix, plant a small herb garden. Herbs are easy to care for. Plant your herbs where they will get plenty of sun and clip them as you need them. You can start them from seedlings in April or May, depending on where you live or you can buy the small potted kind for less than $5.00. It is the gift that keeps on giving and personally saves me money and waste. In the winter, bring them inside and keep them near a sunny window.

Ingredients

3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 10 ounce package of baby bella mushrooms, quartered
2 cans of navy beans or great northern beans, rinsed and drained
3 tbsp fresh rosemary, chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
4 chicken breasts
salt and pepper to taste

In a large baking dish toss together garlic, mushrooms, white beans, rosemary (reserve two pinches) and olive oil. Place chicken in dish, sprinkle with rosemary and try to coat in a little mixture, salt and pepper to your liking. Bake covered at 400 degrees for 20 minutes, remove cover and bake addition 20 minutes or until chicken is fully cooked.

Serves 4. Approx 350 calories and 9 grams of fat

Fusion Tacos: Asian Style Beef Tacos

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I love fusion cuisine. Today I am combining two of my favorite style foods: Asian and Mexican. These tacos are absolutely delicious. They are very easy to make, however you need at least 4 hours of marinate time, so plan ahead. The beef in these tacos feature bold Asian flavors like garlic, ginger, soy sauce and sesame oil. I always use fresh garlic and fresh ginger. The flavor cannot be matched by powders or minced garlic in a jar.  If sesame oil and soy sauce are not staples in your pantry, they should be! They keep well, and are essential in Asian cuisine. They both give that authentic Asian flavor and are great in stir fry’s,  Asian dipping sauces, ramen, etc.

Here is a fantastic tip for grating ginger: after you buy the ginger, peel off the skin, place in a Ziploc bag and put in the freezer until you are ready to use. When you are ready to use it, grate it on a micro plane and place the unused portion back in the freezer. This will keep the ginger fresh and accessible. Also, frozen ginger is extremely easy to grate.

For the Marinade

1 lb flank steak

3 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 tbsp sesame oil
1/4 cup minced green onions
2 tbsp minced garlic
1 tbsp ginger
2 tbsp honey
3 tbsp lite soy sauce

Marinade flank steak in vinegar, sesame oil, green onions, garlic, ginger, honey and soy sauce for 4 hours.

When ready to cook, grill on high heat for 6 minutes per side. Remove from grill. Allow meat to rest for 5- 10 minutes. Slice meat in strips about ¼ inch thickness.

Sriracha Sauce

1/4 cup low fat mayonaise (the kind with a green lid and one gram of fat)
1 tbsp sriracha
1 tbsp water

Mix together.

Slaw and Tortillas

1 1/2 cups sliced red cabbage
1/2 cup green onions
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 tsp sesame oil
8 corn tortillas


In a medium sized bowl combine cabbage, green onions, vinegar and sesame oil. Toss together and set aside.

When you are ready to assemble your tacos, place your tortillas in the microwave for 45 seconds.

To compile  taco add beef to tortilla, top with slaw and sriracha sauce.Serves 4. Approx  510 calories and 17 grams of fat for two tacos.

Baked Panko Macadamia Nut Chicken Fingers with Mango Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce

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For those of you who follow my blog, you've probably noticed I have been using macadamia nuts in my recipes lately. I've also been using a lot of mangoes. About a week ago my husband and I decided we really needed to work on our baking. We didn't want Sophie's friends to tell her our cookies sucked. We've made a few batches of chocolate chip cookies (sucessfully, might I add!), but we also bought ingredients to make White Chocolate Macadamia Nut cookies. My husband banned me from making cookies until we get back from our beach vacation in Cabo, so I decided to use the nuts in my cooking. As for the mangoes, the store I shop at has had them for $1.00 each. I a huge sucker for tropical fruit, like pineapples and mangoes so I have been loading upon them when they go on sale.

Baked Panko Macadamia Nut Chicken Fingers

4 chicken breasts
2 eggs
1 ½ cups panko bread crumbs
½ cup flour
¼ cup crushed macadamia nuts
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
A few sprays of non stick cooking spray.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Pound chicken breast to ¼ inch thickness. Cut each chicken breast in to four strips.  Whisk two eggs together in a bowl.  In a separate bowl mix together panko, flour, macadamia nuts, salt and cayenne pepper.

Dip chicken in egg batter, then coat chicken in panko mixture and place on a lightly greased baking sheet and spray each strip with a little cooking spray.

Bake chicken at 425 for 12- 15minutes, until cooked through with light golden exterior.

Mango Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce

½ cup diced mango
¼ cup course ground mustard
3 tbsp honey
1 tbsp canola or vegetable oil

Process all ingredients in a blender until smooth.

Serves  4. Approx 316 calories and 8.5 grams of fat.