What's For Dinner?

I'm making Easy Roast Chicken for dinner tonight!  I found the recipe from Jenn at Wanting What I Have and just like she said, it's easy and delicious!  And, best of all, it looks very impressive to the Hubby!  Note: I add potatoes and carrots under the chicken in addition to the suggested onions.   Also, the butter is supposed to be spread on the chicken, but mine was not dry enough so it did not spread very well.

The chicken is a whole, organic chicken from Whole Foods.  They had them on sale last week - only $1.99 / lb.  I bought the customer limit, 10!  What in the world have I done with 10 whole chickens you ask?  I kept 5 and froze 4.  I gave away the other 5 to my Mom, sister, Mother-in-Law, and friend!  Doesn't everyone want raw meat as a little happy?  :)  Thanks friend for the heads up about the sale!

  Any suggestions on how to cook the other 4 whole chickens??  I need ideas!

Easy Roast Chicken

Roast Chicken is an easy favorite and looks so impressive! Plus, leftovers are great for soup and stock.

• 1 5-6 lb. roasting chicken
• salt & pepper
Let chicken (& some butter) rest at room temperature for 15-30 minutes. Rinse chicken, pat dry. Salt and pepper inner cavity.
• 1 lemon
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled
• fresh herbs (if you have them)
Quarter lemon lengthwise and add to cavity with garlic and herbs.
• 2 onions, sliced thick
• butter
Slice onions and place in pan or on rack. Set chicken on onions. Tie chicken legs together with twine and tuck wings under. Rub chicken with butter and salt and pepper. Roast at 400 degrees for 1.5 hours (about 180 degrees when measured in breast--don't touch the bone!). Rest chicken for 10-15 mins.

• 1 cup homemade or purchased chicken stock (for gravy)
  
After pouring off juices and skimming fat (use fat separator if you have one), pour back into pan, with onions and chicken stock, and heat med-high for 1 minute, stirring with wooden spoon. Strain and add a bit of butter for yummy gravy. (This step is optional!)

Tips:
*A free-range chicken is worth the extra money. I've found I only have to spend two to three dollars more.

*If they are a good price, buy an extra to freeze. Just take out 2 days ahead of cooking to defrost in fridge.

*Toss hardy veggies (potatoes, carrots ... just nothing cruciferous) in olive oil, salt, and pepper to cook alongside the chicken.

*Tuck ingredients under skin (lemon slices, herbs, butter, etc.)

*When dealing with leftovers and running low on time, shred the chicken and bag up the carcass (for stock) to toss in the freezer for a later date.

*Drop temperature if you need to roast longer than the 1.5 hours (like going to church!).

Going Green

For the past month or so I have been drinking a green smoothie every morning for breakfast! 

Emily started reading greensmoothiegirl.com so we have both jumped on this bandwagon.

She makes so much sense and is not a crazy health nut.  She follows the 80/20 rule and has a 12 step program to change your eating habits.  This seemed like a quick and easy change to make in my diet. 

(This is not for dieting purposes - its a lifestyle change).

Plus, a cold smoothie tastes so good on these hot days!

Here is a picture of my smoothie with just a few ingredients and before it was blended. 

You can see the spinach and kale on top.

I usually put spinach, kale, cucumber, green apple, banana, strawberries, blueberries, and peaches in mine.  Green smoothie girl has lots of recipes but this is one that I adapted based on the fruit I like. 

Sometimes my smoothie really does turn out green as shown below!

Yes, it took some getting used to in order to drink this, but it tastes like fruit!  I promise!

Oh, and I drink 34oz of it in the morning.  That's why its in my lovely, insulated "Bubba Keg!"

Most of the time my smoothies turn out purple in color because of the

blueberries and strawberries that I add!  Much better :)

You should read the greensmoothiegirl.com website to learn more about the health benefits of the green smoothies (especially of kale) as well as lots of very interesting health information regarding all sorts of topics including dairy.  I have also cut out a lot of diary from my diet - not 100% - but a lot of it.  

Let me know if you try this and what you think! 

Also, if you have a good green smoothie recipe, please share!

I Heart Turkey Burgers

Cheeseburgers are in my top 3 favorite foods of all time!  I can always eat a cheeseburger.  However, I have also come to love turkey burgers.  I think I even love them equally as much as a regular beef cheeseburger.

I have come up with a recipe that I love, but there are endless options for toppings that might suit you. 

Here is what I do:

Ingredients:

1 lb Jennie-O Ground Turkey (not turkey breast - its too lean)

Salt & Pepper

Lemon Juice

Smoked Gouda Cheese

Honey Crisp or Fuji Apple Slices

Jellied Cranberry Sauce (in the can)

Hamburger buns

Mayo

Directions:

Make four 1/4 lb patties by adding salt & pepper and lemon juice to the ground turkey. 

Cook patties over the stove in a skillett with a pat of butter on each pattie. The butter keeps these moist since they can get dry.  Keep the skillet covered at all times.

Let the patties cook on medium to medium-high heat for about 15-20 minutes total.  At some point, you will want to flip the burgers to cook both sides.   A lot of juice will cook out of the burgers but don't drain it from your skillet.  Again, the burgers will re-absorb some of the juice and that will keep them nice and juicy.

You will know your burgers are done when the juice from inside the burger runs clear and there is no more pink in the center.  Don't over cook these or they will be very dry.

Finally, just as they are done, turn off the heat, add your Gouda cheese, cover, and let the cheese melt! 

If the burgers are too juicy at the end of cooking, I will put mine on a paper towel to absorb some of the extra grease off the bottom before I put it on my bun.

Serve with your desired choice of toppings.

I put mayo on the bun, a few very thinly sliced apple slices, and a little bit of cranberry sauce. 

I also serve with Sweet Potato Fries!

Hope you enjoy!!

Homemade Frozen Yogurt

So, my friend Jackie from college and I just discovered each other's blogs!  As I was reading through hers, I found this great reciepe for heathly, homemade frozen yogurt!  Thanks for sharing Jackie!  Now I just need to find a Cuisinart and give it a try!

Here's what Jackie said:

So, you can imagine my excitement when I saw one of my favorite bloggers Healthy Tipping Point make a reference to a post titled "This Post Will Change Your Life" written by one of her favorite bloggers, Choosing Raw.

Why will that post change your life, you might wonder? Because it is a recipe for healthy ice cream/frozen yogurt. And it couldn't be more simple!

Start with some bananas (I've been doing three - I don't think it matters how many, but one of those posts says doing just one doesn't work very well).

Peel them, cut them into chunks, put them in a plastic baggie or tupperware, and put them in the freezer to freeze thoroughly (like, overnight freeze).

Once frozen, put all the chunks in your food processor. (You should note that the food processor is pretty necessary for this because a blender's motor isn't designed to run for 5 minutes straight.)

Set a timer for five minutes, just because when you're mixing, it seems like you're doing it longer than you actually are. Five minutes is maybe slightly generous - but you don't want to give up until you've reached the full fluff potential, so having a reference time is good.

And then just mix them for about 5 minutes, stopping occasionally to scrape stuff down with your spatula. The original recipe doesn't call for anything other than bananas, but I've found that after maybe a minute or so, a pretty thick, clumpy ball of banana forms like this.

At this point, I usually add a little bit of vanilla soymilk to help break it up. This is not called for in the original recipe, but I also like that it adds a little vanilla flavor to the mixture.

So after around 5 minutes, you'll noticed the mixture has about tripled in size, and what you have is this.

It's basically the exact texture of frozen yogurt. Only it's 100x more filling because it's a banana and has all that fiber.

If you love frozen yogurt, try this! It's such an interesting idea, I think. I've also been thinking of all the cool things you could do to it... You could throw in a few pieces of other frozen fruit to mix up the flavor. You could throw in some spices like cinnamon or nutmeg. You could mix stuff in after it's been made (like maybe nuts or chocolate chips). You could top it with chocolate syrup/caramel sauce/melted peanut butter/etc. The possibilities are endless! I'm wondering what would happen if you froze some Greek yogurt in an ice cube tray and tossed a couple of those in... (One small disclosure, this is never as awesome the next day. Even if you set it out to warm up a little, the texture is really at its peak fresh out of the Cuisinart. I would imagine you could re-food process the frozen mixture the next day [but really, I hate cleaning the cuisinart as is, so I just deal with the fact that it isn't as froyo-ie the next day.])

20 Weeks

Here is my belly shot at 20 Weeks (a little blurry)!!  Halfway there!!  I think it grew between yesterday and today!

In honor of the halfway mark, here is a progression of my belly shots so far starting with week 11, the first week I took a belly picture, up to last week!  Apparently, I didn't take a belly pic during week 12.  This line up makes it very easy to see the growth!  

As you can see, there is a big difference between weeks 18 and 19 since my belly barely fits in the picture!! 

Thank you Kat for making these line-ups for me...I couldn't have done it without you!!  

  

I have had another good week and am so thankful for the way I feel!  I feel like I am at full-speed and will run with it as long as it lasts!   I have been back to the gym twice (a big step!) and have been walking a lot!  Baby Girl is very active and moves around all the time which I love! 

It seems that my sweet tooth has kicked in this past week.  I have had TCBY, Krispy Kreme doughnuts, and chocolate ice cream!!  Oops!  And I have been craving honey mustard.  I made grilled chicken salad with honey mustard dressing twice, honey mustard pork tenderloin, and have put honey mustard on my turkey sandwiches.

I am working on the nursery but don't have anything picked for sure yet.  We also have a first name for our baby girl but are still working on the middle name!  I will post her full name once we have it figured out!

In other news, I made Easy Crock-Pot Beef Stroganoff from her blog this week!  It was delicious and Brad said I should add it to the regular rotation!  Any recipes you love?  I love blog inspiration for dinner!

Squash Casserole

Recently, I made squash casserole for something different!  It was delicious!  

Here's what you will need and how to do it.

Ingredients:

6 squash

Onion

Shredded Cheddar Cheese

Ritz Crackers

Butter

Milk

Eggs

Salt & Pepper

Directions:

First, wash and slice the squash into thin slices.

Chop the onion.

Combine squash and onion into a pot full of water.  Bring to a boil and cook until squash is tender.

Drain. Get all of the water out so that the casserole is not watery. 

Chop squash into small pieces.  Place into round casserole dish.

Add:

 1 1/2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese

1/2 - 3/4 cup of milk

2 eggs, beaten

salt and pepper

Add caption

Cover casserole with Ritz crackers and a little melted butter.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes until golden brown and bubbly.

Enjoy!

Pesto Chicken Pita Pizza

One of my favorite, family, summer recipes is Pesto Chicken Pita Pizza!! I think my mom and sisters and I made this one up!!!

It is very simple, fast, healthy, and delicious!

Here's what you will need:

• Chicken tenders marinated in Kraft Zesty Italian marinade and dressing (or your favorite marinade)
• Whole wheat pita bread
• Olive oil
• Cherry tomatoes
• Pine nuts
• Shredded mozzarella cheese
• Pesto sauce (My favorite is Alessi brand. It is usually on the pasta aisle with all the other sauces)
  
  
  
  
  

Here's how to make it:

1. Grill chicken tenders.

2. Take whole wheat pita bread and either keep it as it is (two layers thick) or cut it in half to make it less "doughy" depending on how crispy you like your crust! I prefer mine very thin and crispy so I cut it in half.

3. Sprinkle olive oil over the crust

4. Bake it in the oven at 350 degrees for a few minutes until the pita is slightly crispy.

5. Spread a thin layer of pesto sauce over the pita.

6. Cut up tomatoes into halves or quarters and spread out over the pita evenly. The more the better in my opinion!

7. Cut up chicken tenders into bite size pieces and add to pita.

8. Add pine nuts.

9. Cover everything with mozzarella cheese and put it back in the oven! Broil until the cheese is melted.

10. Eat and enjoy!!

Orzo Salad with Tilapia

My friend, Kat that I work with shared a delicious new recipe that we tried tonight!! Brad wasn't so sure about it when I got started. Some recipes are a little too "girlie" as he says! But, by the end, I think he was sold and said I could make it again (which is his seal of approval)! It was wonderful!! I would describe it as the perfect summer recipe! So fresh and very healthy!!

Here's the recipe from Frank Stitt's Bottega Favorita:

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups orzo
About 1 tablespoon olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
1 cup corn kernels (from about 3 ears of corn)
1 cup quartered cherry tomatoes
1 shallot or 1/4 red onion, minced
1/4 cup pitted Kalamata or Nicoise olives, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup basil leaves, torn into little pieces or cut into chiffonade, plus 4 small sprigs for garnish

Directions:
Bring a large pot of generously salted water to a boil. Add the orzo and cook until al dente, 5-7 minutes. Drain and transfer to a large bowl. Toss with a splash of olive oil.

Stir the corn, tomatoes, shallot or onion, olives, torn basil, and salt and pepper to taste into the orzo. Add the vinegar, drizzle in the extra virgin olive oil, and toss to coat. Taste for seasonings and adjust to your liking.

Notes:

1. I sauteed the onion because I don't like fresh onion!

2. I omitted the olives because I don't like them!

3. I added edamame and pine nuts per Kat's suggestion! They were perfect!

4. I put lemon pepper and fresh lemon juice, basil, rosemary, oregano, and parsley on fresh tilapia and baked it at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes. Fish is done when its white and flaky!

5. I squeezed just a little bit of fresh lemon juice over the entire dish!

Thanks Kat for the new recipe!