recipe: Queso Fundido and Southwestern Salad

Good morning!

It rained all day yesterday, and only reached a high of 72 degrees.  Queso fundido was the perfect meal for a rainy day.  My husband loved it, and is already talking about putting it on chips to make nachos.  Sounds good to me!

Queso Fundido

Stats: ~123 cals
Serves: 12

12 oz chicken sausage (I used Jalapeno Cheddar)
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 cup pepperjack cheese, grated

Remove the casings from the chicken sausage and cook in a medium-large pan, crumbling as it cooks.  Once it's halfway cooked, add the onion and bell pepper.  Stir frequently until sausage and veggies are fully cooked.  Sprinkle the cheese on top and let melt.

Serve on a corn tortilla.

Southwestern Salad (Corn and Black Bean Salad)

Stats:  ~72 cals
Serves: 12 (1/2 cup serving)

1 (15.5 oz) can of black beans, rinsed and drained
9 oz frozen corn, thawed (or if you have time, grill a corn on the cob and scrape the corn off!)
1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped
1/3 c. chopped cilantro
1 tomato, chopped
2 TBS olive oil
juice of 1 lime
salt and pepper
1/4 c. red onion, chopped

Combine all ingredients and let marinate in the fridge for 30 minutes.



Last night, I made a meal of a salad with 1/2 cup Southwestern salad, and one taco with Queso Fundido and a little more of the salad.  After I finished my taco, I put a little more meat on top of my salad and ate most of that.  So cheesy!

It's raining again today, but everyone is in good spirits around town because the OKC Thunder won a conference last night.  I'm pretty sports illiterate, but my husband (and everyone else on my Facebook and at work!) is pumped because of the win.  Maybe that means free cupcakes??

recipe: Fresh Pomodoro with Grilled Chicken

Although pomodoro is a hot dish, the only time I really love to make it is during the summer.  It's just not the same without fresh tomatoes and fresh basil!  The sauce is so flavorful you'll find yourself eating it with a spoon...  or at least, I did!

Fresh Pomodoro with Grilled Chicken

Stats: ~241 cals (not including grilled chicken)
Serves: 6 medium portions

9 oz. pasta (linguini, angel hair, spaghetti)
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups fresh tomatoes, diced (roma/plum, cherry, heirloom, whatever you've got!)
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
14.5 oz can low-sodium chicken broth
crushed red pepper to taste
freshly ground black pepper to taste
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil (use however much you like... I think it could have used more, but I LOVE basil!)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (not included in stats)  
Optional:  veggies (I used about 3 cups broccoli florets)

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 minutes or until al dente; drain. 
Boil broccoli in a separate pot for a few minutes, just until bright green.

Pour olive oil in a large deep skillet over high-heat. Saute onions and garlic until lightly browned. 

Reduce heat to medium-high and add tomatoes, vinegar and chicken broth; simmer for about 8 minutes. 

 
Stir in red pepper, black pepper, basil, broccoli and cooked pasta, tossing thoroughly with sauce. Simmer for about 5 more minutes and serve topped with grated cheese. 

 I added about 1.75 lbs of boneless skinless chicken breast that I marinated all day.  I cooked them on the George Foreman and then sliced them up to add to the pasta.  If you're looking for a vegetarian meal, try adding cannellini beans and mushrooms.  

It was a wonderfully light and refreshing pasta dish...  Reminds me of why I just love summertime!  And check out that gorgeous basil... I have a bush of it in the garden, and then a couple container pots of Genovese and Greek basil on the back porch.  Soon I'll have enough to make homemade pesto... yum!

dinner: 5-17-2012: recipe for Roasted Chicken Sausage and Vegetables

I had to have a quick meal planned out for tonight.  I start teaching music lessons at 5:15/5:30 on Thursday evenings and don't finish up until close to dark, and I like to have something to eat before I begin lessons.  A lot of the time, we have something in the crockpot.  This evening, I threw together SkinnyTaste's Roasted Chicken Sausage and Vegetables.

Thankfully, I had a little extra time in at work so I was able to leave at 3:15 instead of 3:30, my normal Thursday clockin' out time.  I picked up Bella and rushed home.

Chop! Chop! Chop!  I rushed to get my veggies chopped up and the sausage thawing.  Since I was running late this morning, I totally forgot to put the chicken sausage out to thaw during the day.  Luckily, the sausage generally thaws out very quickly so I wasn't too worried about it.

While the potatoes and peppers were cooking, I cleaned up the kitchen and the living area where I teach.  After Bible Study and choir practice last night, my husband did a work out in the living room.  I guess he crashed after that (I was asleep) because when I got up this morning, the living room still looked like a home gym.  Anyway, I had to hurry up and get it back to normal before my students started showing up.

At this point I'd like to say "Honey, it's okay.  Don't worry about it!"  He will read this and feel awful about not picking up his weights and putting the furniture back, but it wasn't a big deal.  I needed an excuse to show off my brute strength, anyway.

This recipe was ready at 5:00 on the dot.  It took a little longer to cook than usual because I was trying to take pictures...  Normally it takes 35 minutes, but it took closer to an hour today. 

This meal is wonderful for when you don't have much to work with in the pantry or fridge.  All you need is a pound of chicken sausage (or Italian pork sausage would probably work!) and some vegetables.  Or you could just roast the veggies and serve them along some protein, but it's delicious if you can add the chicken sausage... the potatoes and other veggies soak up the little bit of fat in the sausage, and it's just wonderful.  *drool*

As you can see, I used different veggies than Gina did in the original recipe...  I used up what was about to go bad in the fridge.  A few bell peppers (3 medium-sized), 6 medium red potatoes, and a pint of grape tomatoes.  I was out of onions.  We definitely need to make a trip to the grocery store ASAP!

When using grape or cherry tomatoes, I throw them in for the last 15 minutes.  They get so juicy, and just *burst* in your mouth.  I can't get over how much flavor they add to the dish.

Also, be careful not to let the veggies overlap.  They need to be spread out, or you'll end up with nasty, slimy, half-way-steamed bell peppers instead of nice, charred, well-cooked bell peppers.  I've made that mistake, and believe me, I WON'T do it again.  One way to get around that is to use two baking sheets.  It gives you ample room to spread everything out.  I stick foil over them so I don't have to do a bunch of scrubbing later.  I'm all about convenience, yo!

It's 5:05 and I'm going to stuff my face eat a bite before my students arrive.  Later gators!

Roasted Chicken Sausage and Vegetables

Adapted from Gina's SkinnyTaste

Stats: Depending on vegetables, amount of meat, and amount of oil; for mine tonight, ~325 cals per serving
Serves 6

1 pint grape tomatoes
16 oz mild Italian chicken sausage (or whatever flavor you have!)
6 medium red potatoes
3 medium green bell peppers (or whatever color)
1 medium onion, pelled and quartered with layers separated (omitted because I was out!)
Note: You can also add other chile peppers (like poblano) for a smokey flavor that isn't too spicy, or any other veggie you have laying around; I've used carrots, broccoli, peppers, etc.
A few sprigs of fresh rosemary or other herbs
Sea salt and ground pepper
Cooking spray

1.  Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees F.  Line your baking sheet(s) with foil and spray generously with cooking spray.

2.  Chop potatoes into chunks about 1/2" by 1".  Try to get them all a similar size so they cook evenly.  Chop bell pepper and onion into similar sizes.

3.  Place on baking sheet, taking care not to overlap vegetables.  Spray with cooking spray and sprinkle with sea salt, pepper, and herbs (I also used dried parsley).

4.  Bake on middle rack for 15 minutes.

5.  While this is cooking, remove the casings from the chicken sausage (unless you prefer to chew through rubber!) and chop or crumble into bite-sized pieces.  Add to baking sheet and use a spoon to toss everything together.  Bake another 15 minutes or so.

6.  Add the cherry or grape tomatoes, and toss again.  Bake for another 15 minutes or until potatoes and tomatoes are cooked.  Keep an eye out so nothing burns.

 

7.  Serve!

recipe for Quick Veggie Fajita Tacos

Good morning all!

Running behind this morning so picked up a yummy breakfast at Starbucks:

Bacon & Gouda on Ciabatta, NF iced mocha

A little more calories than I normally consume (Bacon and Gouda Sandwich: 350 cals; Non-fat Iced Mocha, no whip, extra shot: 170 cals) but I figure I'll eat light the rest of the day to make up for it.  Actually, I probably won't but I'll feel better about myself if I have "good intentions".  A girl needs a hearty breakfast, you know.

I am still trying to wake up this morning, so I'll just get right to the recipe I'd like to share.  I'll try to come back later with a little more zest for life...  right now I just need to chug that coffee (thank God for the extra shot, I think I need it!) and wake up.  Normally I'm a morning person, but I think I am still hungover from a Benadryl I took last night.  This could get interesting, actually...

Right, the recipe.

Last night I tried something new, Everyday Food's Veggie Fajitas.  I switched up a few of the ingredients, but overall stuck to the general recipe.  We LOVED them!  It was definitely a keeper recipe.  Perfect for summer and very budget-friendly.  I think we'll be having these soon, especially once my garden starts producing lots of zucchini and poblano peppers.

Quick Veggie Fajita Tacos 

(adapted from Everyday Food's May 2012 issue)

Stats: ~ 229 cals each taco, using all listed ingredients; ~170 cals, leaving out sour cream and cheese
Serves 8 tacos

8 corn tortillas (6-inch; can use flour but calories will be higher)
1 cup refried beans (canned or homemade, we used homemade)
2 TBS canola oil
1 large white onion, sliced (I only had half an onion)
2 large poblano chiles, halved, seeded, and cut crosswise into 1/2-inch slices (we only had jalapeno available, but I think it would be even better with poblano or another smokey-tasting chile)
2 medium zucchini, cut into 1/2-inch half-moons
2 cups frozen corn (10 oz), thawed if frozen
Coarse salt and ground pepper as needed (we didn't use any)
1/2 cup salsa (we used Peach Mango from Target's Archer Farms brand)
1/2 cup sour cream if desired
2 oz shredded cheese (1/2 cup) if desired
lime wedges

1.  In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high.  Add onion and chiles and cook until softened, 10-15 minutes.

2.  Add zucchini and cook until crisp-tender (oh, that's explanatory...), about 6 minutes.  (I added a couple minutes because my zucchini half-moons weren't quite softened enough).

3.  Add corn and cook until warmed through, about 3 minutes.

4.  Using an ungreased skillet, heat tortillas on each side at medium heat.  They will be come slightly puffy when it's time to flip them over and heat the other side.  You can do this instead of heating them in the oven or microwave...  they come out fresher and crisper.

5.  To serve, spread beans on tortillas (about 1 or 2 TBS) and top with vegetables; serve with salsa and other condiments (sour cream, cheese, lime wedges, cilantro, etc.)

Dinner: one veggie fajita taco, a couple spoonfuls of beans, 1/3 or 1/2 cup Latin Yellow Rice

I would have a couple outfit posts for you, but I need to do some major laundry and ironing...  and my iPhone doesn't take good outfit pictures.  My husband is looking at getting us a real camera (nothing fancy!) this summer so we don't have to use our iPhones for everything.  I love my iPhone and the convenience of the camera, but we'd also like a camera to take pictures while on vacays or whatever.  Any suggestions?

Oh!  And, chin up...

credit: http://www.socialmedialogue.com

It's almost the WEEKEND! 

dinner, Target, veggin'... this is the life: 5-15-2012

I had big plans last night.  I was going to go home, cook veggie fajita tacos, clean the house, do the laundry, plant my seedlings, and exercise.

Want to know what I actually ended up doing?

Around 1:00 or 2:00 in the afternoon, my body physically crashed.  I left work at my regular time and picked up Bella at my parents' house (she does doggie daycare).  At this point, I was so tired I could only think "NAPNAPNAPNAPNAPNAP".  I walked in the house, grabbed a handful of Cajun potato chips (don't judge!) and laid down.  I only intended to lay down until 5:15, but 6:00 rolls around and I'm still sleeping. 

You know you've done it, too.

At this point, Bella is starving.  She starts gently pawing my head, and then licking my ear until I wake up to feed her some dinner.  Bella has priorities, yo.  Anyway, my husband walks in the door about that time.  He looks about as beat as I feel, so we both climb back into bed for another half hour to rest.  He asked me if I wanted to cook or go out..  so we went out for dinner.

We ended up at the Stuffed Olive.  I ordered a half Mediterranean Chicken sandwich and a half spinach salad.  My husband ordered the Sicilian sandwich and a full side of balsamic pasta salad.  This stuff is to DIE FOR.  If I can ever recreate it, I will definitely share the recipe.

Feast your eyes...

Mediterranean Chicken Sandwich: roast chicken, olive salad, feta, romas, spinach, provolone, basil vinaigrette

 

and Spinach Salad: feta, spiced nuts, onion, raspberry vinaigrette

Sicilian Club: ham, salami, caramelized onion, romas, provolone, toasted

and the famous Balsamic Pasta Salad: our popular house recipe topped with feta

 

proof that I was exhausted... see those bags under my eyes?  it's a fabulous look.  watch for it in Lucky magazine, next month!

my hubs...  isn't he just adorable?  <3

 

 Towards the end, we ended up trading sandwiches.  I got the last few bites of his man-wich, and he got the last few bites of mine.  Best of both worlds, yep!  Loved the man-wich.

And we had a cookie, that was supposed to be dessert but ended up as an appetizer.  A monster cookie.  Mmmm-mmmm.  No picture of that because we scarfed it down in about 0.7 seconds.  Record time.

After satisfying our munchies, we ended up at Target to grab a few things.  I had to exchange a part of my baby shower gift this weekend (got the wrong size!), and my husband needed a battery operated fan and some flip flops.

Let me tell you about this battery operated fan.  My husband, God bless his little heart, drives a car with no A/C.  We are trying to pay off some student loans, thus, a new car isn't in the cards right now.  It's already 85+ degrees (F)... and only mid-May!  So we decided to get him a little fan to stick on the dashboard of his car to help cool him down.

And if that doesn't raise our status on the "cool-meter", then I don't know what will.  When I said that we're just twenty-something newly-weds trying to figure out married life on a Dave Ramsey budget...  I meant it!

What, I didn't mention the Dave Ramsey part?  All in good time, all in good time.

After a quick trip to Target (and by quick, I mean less than two hours) we headed home and vegged out on the couch until 9:00 pm, and then I lumbered off to bed.

So tonight I'm going to make the Veggie Fajita Tacos and save what I originally planned (Skinny Alfredo and Broccoli) for next week.  We have a summer party in my kids' class at church tonight, so I have to get ready for that.  I'm bringing my hula hoop, a Bop-It toy, and cookies.  The kids will love me. 

Oh yeah, and I have a dreaded doctor's appointment this afternoon.  Dreaded.  Dread, dread, DREAD.  Why don't they offer massage chairs in the waiting room?  Or something to relax?  I can only read so many articles in a parenting magazine before my eyes start to melt and my brain explodes.  I've got a few Everyday Food magazines, a Lucky, and a Real Simple magazine to read...  what do you do while in the waiting room for a dreaded appointment?

dinner: 5-14-2012 & exercise

Good morning!

Just stopping in to share a recipe from dinner last night.

When I cook, I try to use as little preservatives/chemicals/etc. as possible...  which means that a lot of my marinades are homemade with all natural products.  It only takes a few more minutes (and by a few, I mean like FIVE minutes) to make a simple marinade instead of using something from a bottle.

Lemon Garlic Rosemary Chicken (adapted from Annie's Eats Lemon Garlic Chicken Kabobs)
Stats: ~260 cals for 1/8 of recipe

2 lbs chicken breast (or whatever kind of chicken you have available)
1 TBS minced garlic
1 TBS sriracha sauce (you can leave out if you don't like any spiciness)
zest of 2 lemons (you need the zest of one lemon per pound of chicken)
3 or 4 rosemary sprigs, chopped
4.5 TBS olive oil
sea salt
fresh ground pepper

1.  Zest your lemon.  I like to use a peeler to have big chunks of lemon zest, but you can zest it however you like.

2.  Trim the fat off the of the chicken.  Chop into smaller servings sized pieces of chicken, or into kabobs.

3.  Mix garlic, sriracha sauce, lemon zest, rosemary, olive oil, sea salt, and fresh ground pepper into a bowl.  Whisk it to mix it well.

4.  Stick chicken in a Ziploc bag and pour marinade in there.  Mix it well so all the chicken is coated.  Let it sit anywhere from 20 minutes to 8 hours.

5.  Grill the chicken and serve!

Dinner is served!

salad of mixed greens with olive oil and raspberry balsamic, 1/2 cup watermelon chunks, small piece of lemon garlic rosemary chicken, broiled artichoke (it was a FAILURE!), 1/3 cup spinach tortellini with some shaved parmesan, 1 oz of ciabatta bread drizzled with olive oil, and homemade Passion Tea Lemonade a la Starbucks.  also, please ignore the wet spot next to my drink where I moved it over...  it kind of ruined the pretty picture!

As I mentioned in the caption, the broiled artichokes were a complete and utter FAILURE.  We tried so hard to eat them (I paid a dollar each for FOUR of them!) but, alas, we couldn't force ourselves to eat them.  They were rubbery and chewy...  maybe I didn't pick ripe artichokes?  I think I need to find a YouTube video or a better recipe with more clear explanation (and pictures!) of how to broil/roast/grill a whole artichoke.  If you have any, PLEASE share.

So that was our dinner...  and it was pretty wonderful!  You'll see some chicken and tortellini leftovers for lunch soon.

After we cleaned up from dinner, we dropped off some library books and headed over to the local walking track.  We ended up doing intervals (1:30 min brisk walking, 0:45 min running) for 3.85 miles and then a cool-down walk until we hit 4.09 miles (~53 minutes).  I felt so bad that we didn't take little Bella that we took her on a little walk when we got home, about 0.93 miles in 15 or 16 minutes.  Not bad!  The scale was down this morning so I was a happy camper.