Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Alabama Chicken

Last night we had this chicken!  It was delicious! It says to serve over rice which we did but we thought you could serve over pasta too!  Josh and I were talking about when you make a home made sauce that normally you don't get enough flavor like those store bought kinds, but this was not the case here!! We all loved it and for the first time ever Jackson ate the rice instead of spitting rice back out at me!  I would say it was a huge success! Leftovers for dinner tonight :)

Ingredients
  • 4 chicken breasts
  • 1/3 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon paprika
  • Salt and Pepper to taste
  • 3 Tbsp Olive Oil
  • 1/4 cup chopped onion
  • 2 cups chicken broth, low-sodium
  • 1 cup half and half, fat free
  • 1/4 teaspoon lemon juice
  • Hot cooked rice
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
  2. Coat chicken with mixture of flour, paprika, salt, and pepper.
  3. Brown in 2 Tbsp olive oil. Set in a baking dish.
  4. Saute onion in remaining olive oil for 5 minutes. Stir in excess flour from coating chicken.
  5. Add chicken broth. Cook and stir until thickened. Add half and half and cook until smooth and thick. Add lemon juice; blend well.
  6. Pour sauce over chicken. Bake 1 hour, uncovered, at 325 degrees F or until chicken is tender. Serve over rice.
Notes
Calories: 193; Fat: 12g; Carbs: 9g; Fiber: 1g; Protein: 18g



Sunday, July 29, 2012

Cheesy Spinach Frittata

Ingredients
  • 3 eggs, lightly beaten
  • 3 egg whites
  • 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried basil leaves
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon pepper
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1 teaspoon canola oil
  • 6 cups (loosely packed) fresh spinach, torn into bite-size pieces
  • 5-6 cherry tomatoes, sliced
Instructions
  1. In a small bowl, mix beaten eggs and egg whites, cheese, garlic powder, basil, salt pepper and nutmeg; set aside.
  2. In a nonstick skillet with sloping sides, heat oil over medium heat. Add spinach; cover and cook 2 to 3 minutes, stirring once or twice and watching carefully to prevent burning, until spinach is slightly wilted.
  3. Spread spinach evenly in skillet; top evenly with tomato slices. Pour egg mixture over top. Reduce heat to low; cover and cook 12-15 minutes or until egg mixture is set but still moist on top. Cut into wedges and serve.
Calories: 130 Fat: 8g Carbohydrates: 4gr Fiber: 2g Protein: 12g
 
This is yet another recipes from http://myhealthymealplans.com/  and no surprise here, it was delicious!! Both Josh and I really liked it.  I got to sleep in this morning so Jackson had already eaten breakfast so he had a bite but it came back out... who knows if he liked it or hated it. 
 
I had to use frozen spinach because for unknown reasons 2 days that I went to my little grocery store there were no bags AT ALL of fresh spinach, but it turned out just fine, I think I just added a little more than necessary!  I also left out the nutmeg because I didn't have any.  Those were my only alterations!  This could be an easy dinner recipe as well!!!

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Strawberry Crepes

I am not really a person to make breakfast but this sounded delicious and I thought why not give it a shot!  It was another great recipe from http://myhealthymealplans.com/



Ingredients
    CREPES
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 1/4 cup low-fat milk
  • 1/3 cup water
  • 1 tablespoon Canola oil
  • 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon sugar
  • 1 pinch salt
  • FILLING
  • 1 cup sliced fresh strawberries
  • 1/2 cup low-fat vanilla yogurt
  • 1/2 cup whipped topping
Instructions
  1. In a large bowl (or blender), beat together egg, milk, water and oil. Beat in flour, sugar and salt until smooth.
  2. Heat a medium, nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Place a ladleful of crepe batter into center of pan, tilting to coat the bottom. Cook until golden brown on one side, turning once, 2 to 5 minutes. Continue with remaining batter.
  3. In a small bowl, combine yogurt and whipped topping.
  4. To assemble, place a line of overlapping strawberries down the center of the crepe, top with whipped topping mixture. Roll it up. Repeat with remaining crepes.

We all loved this, well Jackson loved the crepe and the strawberries, just not the yogurt sauce on it! Otherwise this was a great breakfast, fast and easy again! This makes 4 crepes

Friday, July 27, 2012

Peach Breakfast Smoothie

So I came across this amazing website that I fell in love with called http://myhealthymealplans.com/
It has tons of great recipes and if you want you can sign up for their meal plan and they have ideas for all meals and snacks for every day of the week!!! I am in LOVE! This is the second thing I have made from the meal plan and both things have been delicious!! The main goal is to have healthy meals and snacks for your kids without having all the added sugar, so we are going to try it out and see if we can follow along with the plan at least most of the time. You can expect to see some other ideas from this website at least for a while :)

Fresh Peach Smoothie
 
Author: My Healthy Meal Plans
Prep time: 5 mins
Total time: 5 mins
Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • 1 1/2 cups low fat milk
  • 2 cups fresh sliced peaches
  • 1/4 cup orange juice
  • 1 Tbsp honey
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • Handful of ice cubes
Instructions
  1. In a blender, combine all ingredients. Blend until smooth.
  2. Serve immediately.
Calories: 143 Fat: 4g #lblCarbs#: 23gr Fiber: 2g Protein: 5g
 
I cut the recipe in half because it was just Jackson and I for breakfast this morning.  It was awesome both he and I ate it all up!  I think Jackson even ate more than I did!  It was so simple, I say this was a winner and I plan to make it with other kinds of fruit too!

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Watermelon yogurt popsicles

I got this recipe from the website www.onceamonthmoms.com in their daily email.  Summer has finally arrived here in the Netherlands at least for this week so I thought why not try it out!

2 cups yogurt (I used vanilla)
1.5 cups watermelon (pureed)
.5 cups raspberries (pureed)
2 tbsp honey (if desired)

Mix all ingredients together and pour into your popsicle mold, freeze until solid.  I didn't use any honey because the yogurt I bought already had sugar in it. I tasted this before it was frozen and it was really good, so I can imagine what it will be like frozen :) a great afternoon treat!

Monday, July 23, 2012

Garlic Chicken

4 chicken breasts
3 tsp olive oil
4 cloves garlic, diced
4 tbsp brown sugar

Saute the garlic in a small sauce pan using the olive oil until brown.  Remove from heat and add the brown sugar.

Place your chicken in a lightly greased baking dish and coat with the garlic and brown sugar mixture. Bake at 500 degrees for 15- 20 minutes.

I served this with egg fried rice and it was delicious!!! So easy with so few ingredients!! I love it and will definitely make it again!

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Ranch Chicken

We eat alot of chicken in our house so it's nice to change it up every once in a while.  This is super easy and tastes great if you like ranch dressing.  (It's a staple in our house).
4-6 chicken breasts
1 Hidden Valley Ranch packet
3-4 tbps olive oil

Mix the ranch packet together with the olive oil in a medium sized bowl.  Dip each chicken breast in the mixture to coat, the place in the oven at 400 for about 20-25 minutes. 


Monday, July 2, 2012

Chicken Salad

6 cups chopped cooked chicken 
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard  
1/2 cup light sour cream  
1/2 cup light mayonnaise 
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice  
2 cups chopped celery  
2 tablespoons poppy seeds  
2 cups red seedless grapes, sliced lengthwise  
Salt and pepper, to taste  
1/2 cup pecans  
Whole-grain crackers, optional  
In a large bowl, combine chicken, Dijon mustard, sour cream, mayonnaise, fresh lemon juice, celery, poppy seeds and grapes. Stir well and season with salt and pepper. Cover and chill until ready to serve. Just before serving, fold in pecans. Enjoy with whole-grain crackers, if desired. 
I didn't add poppy seeds because I have not found them here.  I also left off the pecans. I made this a day ahead for a pot luck so I didn't want to worry about any allergies. I am planning to make this again and will have it with croissants! YUM, I love this type of salad in the summer!

I found this recipe on www.myrecipes.com