roasted red pepper sauce

We had this on pasta, but you could stick it on eggs or spread it on bread or eat it straight out of the container...

Ingredients:

• 4 or 5 red bell peppers
• 4 cloves garlic
• salt & pepper
• dash of red pepper flakes
• 2 T red wine vinegar or similar

Heat your toaster oven to broil and roast the red peppers, turning occasionally when the skin starts to pucker and brown.

After about 20 minutes, take them out and seal them in a lidded glass dish or a plastic bag. Let steam for 15 minutes.

Take them out of the bag and score each one with a knife to let out steam and extra water.

After they're cool, peel and seed the peppers.

Put everything into a cup and use your immersion blender to puree. Eat!

muesli

I love me some muesli. This recipe was a good starting place... I made some modifications below. Warning: It makes a TON -- J & I both ate it for breakfast several days in a row. 

 

The recipe thinks it only lasts 2 or 3 days, but I may or may not have eaten it an entire week after I made it and it was still fine.

• 3 cups whole milk (I used low-fat)
• 2 cups plain whole yogurt (I used some of TJ's vanana yogurt)
• 1 cup apple, skin on, grated (2 apples)
• 3/4 cup yellow raisins (I added some dried cranberries too)
• 1 ripe banana, sliced (I skipped because I thought it would make the muesli go bad too quickly)
• 9 tbsp cracked wheat or bulgar wheat (I used bulgar. warning: do not toast this... I stuck it in the toaster because I'd already mixed it with the next two ingredients, but it burned a bit.)
• 9 tbsp rolled oats, toasted
• 9 tbsp wheat germ, toasted
• 1/4 cup honey (I skipped because the yogurt was sweet... but I do think this mixture needs a little sweetness to it or else it would resemble very hearty brick mortar)
• 1/4 cup dates, chopped (6 dates)
• 2 tbsp flax seeds, ground
• 2 tbsp millet
• 1 tbsp chia seeds or poppy seeds (I skipped this)
• pinch of kosher salt (I skipped this too because it didn't make sense to me)
• seasonal fresh fruit for topping (you don't really need this)

Stir everything together in a large mixing bowl. Cover tightly and refrigerate overnight.

Mango and Avocado Salsa

From: Gina's Skinny Recipes

I served this with the Salsa Verde Chicken and it was quite delicious.  Would also be good with fish or grilled chicken.  Maybe pork, too?

• 1 mango, peeled and diced
• 1 avocado, peeled and diced
• 1 plum tomato, diced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 jalepeño, seeded and diced
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 2 tbsp fresh lime juice
• 1/4 cup chopped red onion
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• salt and fresh pepper to taste

Combine all the ingredients and let it marinate in the refrigerator 30 minutes before serving

Crockpot Salsa Verde Chicken

From: Gina's Skinny Recipes

Recipes with 2 ingredients are about all I have time for these days.  I took this to a pot-luck at work today and everyone really liked it.  We had leftovers for dinner in the form of quesadillas.  I took her advice and tried Archer Farms brand from Target and we liked it.


Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 lbs raw skinless chicken tenders
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1/8 tsp oregano
• 1/8 tsp ground cumin
• salt, to taste
• 16 oz roasted salsa verde

Ingredients:Season chicken with garlic powder, oregano, cumin and salt and place in the bottom of the slow cooker. Cover with salsa verde, cover and cook HIGH 2 hours.
Remove chicken, shred with 2 forks. Remove 2/3 cup of liquid from the slow cooker, and discard (unless you want it over rice). Place shredded chicken back into the crock pot with remaining salsa, adjust seasoning to taste if needed and keep warm. Makes about 3 cups.

avgolemono & quick-ish coq au vin

H. and I are both kind of in love with Dinner: A Love Story, and we've made two recipes over the last few weeks that have floated our respective boats: avgolemono soup and quick-ish coq au vin. Game-changers!

chocolate cherry muffins

Adapted lightly from this recipe, which is genius.


1 1/4 c all-purpose flour
1/2 c white sugar
1/4 c cocoa powder
2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1/3 c canola oil
1 egg
1/3 c milk (I used skim)
1 t vanilla
1/2 c plain yogurt (fat-free works fine)
1 c cherries, cut in half (I used those jarred morello cherries from TJ's)
1/2 c chocolate chips (more! I used chunks, and they were good.)

Preheat oven to 400F. Lightly oil a 12 cup muffin tin.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. In a small bowl, mix the oil, egg, milk and vanilla together. Pour the wet into the dry and use a wooden spoon or spatula to gently stir everything together.

Fold in the yogurt, cherries and chocolate chips. Spoon batter into prepared muffin tin and bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the muffin comes clean.

Let sit in the tin for 5 minutes and then use a knife to loosen the muffins, remove from tin and let cool on a wire rack.

Makes 12 muffins.

chicken stroganoff

You guys, I really love mushrooms. Sometimes I don't even recognize myself anymore...

A variation on this recipe.

One package boneless, skinless chicken breast
2T paprika
1 medium onion, diced
16 oz. pkg. of sliced, mixed baby bella and white mushrooms (you could even use more than this. mushrooms for everyone)
1/3 c white wine, sherry or vermouth
1/2 c stock (I used veg, could be anything)
2T tomato paste
1/4 c plain, nonfat Greek yogurt
1/4 c light sour cream (you could probably skip this, but it would be sad)
8 oz. egg noodles
a bit of chopped parsley


Heat a skillet with some olive oil and cut the chicken with scissors directly into it. (Fewer gross chicken dishes!)

Sprinkle with paprika, salt and pepper, mix, and saute until cooked through. Remove from the pan and throw into a bowl.

Saute the onions and mushrooms, with a bit more oil if necessary, until everything gets nice and brown, about five minutes. Remove from the pan and throw into the same bowl as the chicken.

Somewhere in here, boil your egg noodles before you forget.

Add your alcohol and deglaze the pan, if anything is stuck. Let it cook for a minute and then add the stock and tomato paste. Cook until everything is dissolved together, then throw the chicken and mushrooms back in.

Turn up the heat and stir everything around. The sauce was supposed to thicken in this step; mine didn't (maybe because I skipped the flour from the original recipe), so I ignored it. Maybe yours will.

Turn the heat back down and stir in the yogurt and sour cream, and cook for a little while longer. Taste to see if you need more salt and pepper.

Sprinkle with parsley and serve over noodles.

Cheesy Spaghetti Squash

adapted from:  Skinnytaste

Ok, so I looked at this recipe and then made a lazy version with different veg that I needed to use up from the CSA box.  So, basically I just baked one med-size spaghetti squash, scooped out the strand, put that in a bowl.  Then I chopped up some portobello caps and roasted those in the oven, and then added that to the squash.  Then I made a cheese sauce - didn't measure, just roux, milk, shredded cheese, pinch of aleppo pepper, a couple of twists of TJ's spice blend with sea salt, black pepper, onion and garlic.  Then I chopped up some baby swiss chard, threw it into the cheese sauce to wilt for a few minutes, and then I added the cheese sauce to the squash and mushrooms, and stirred the whole thing together.  That's where I stopped, but the original calls for baking the whole thing with some parmesan on top.  I'm sure that's even more delicious, but I didn't have the time or energy for that.  Anyway, here's the original recipe below, which is probably better than mine, but my version works, too. 


Ingredients:

• 5 1/2 cups cooked spaghetti squash (from about 2 small)
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/4 cup minced onion
• 1/4 cup flour (use 2 tbsp corn starch for gf)
• 2 cups skim milk
• 1 cup fat free chicken broth (vegetable broth for vegetarian)
• 8 oz Sargento 2% reduced fat mild cheddar
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 4 cups (about 4 oz) baby spinach
• 1/8 cup grated parmesan

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375ºF.
Cut the squash in half lengthwise; remove and discard seeds. Place squash on a baking sheet. Bake until tender, about 1 hour. Separate the strands of squash with a fork and place in a medium bowl; discard shells. Maintain the oven temperature.
Heat butter and oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onions and cook about 2 minutes. Stir in flour. Reduce heat to low and cook, stirring continually 3 - 4 minutes.Add milk and chicken broth and continue whisking, raising heat to medium-high until it comes to a boil and becomes smooth and thick, about 2 minutes stirring; season with salt and pepper.
Once it becomes thick, remove from heat, add cheddar cheese and mix well until cheese is melted. Adjust salt and pepper to taste, add cooked spaghetti squash and baby spinach, pour into a baking dish and sprinkle parmesan cheese on top. Bake until bubbly and golden 25 to 30 minutes.Makes 7 cups.

baked spinach and artichoke dip

I didn't have the right ingredients for the skinny artichoke dip, so I tried Alton Brown's instead, with some significant alterations.

• 1 package thawed, chopped frozen spinach
• 1 can artichoke hearts, chopped
• 6 ounces light cream cheese
• 1/4 cup Greek yogurt or sour cream (I used light sour cream)
• 1/4 cup light mayonnaise
• some amount of shredded cheese (I used Parm and Romano) 
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• a few grinds of black pepper

Preheat oven to 350.

Put spinach and artichokes in a colander and squeeze out as much water as possible.

Put cream cheese into an 8x8 baking dish. Microwave for a minute or two, until soft. Stir in all other ingredients.

Sprinkle a bit more cheese on the top and bake until it's all bubbly and hot, about 20 minutes.

buckeye brownies

These were Shannon's find, and delicious. Just make sure you don't overcook the brownies in the first step... apparently I can bake some fairly complicated things, but I can't manage to make out-of-the-box brownies without burning them. Oops.

19-1/2 oz. pkg. brownie mix
2 c. powdered sugar  
1/2 c. plus 6 T butter, softened and divided
8 oz. creamy peanut butter
6 oz. (approximately) semi-sweet chocolate chips [I used the Ghiardelli dark chocolate baking chips, and I think they're the best]

Prepare and bake brownie mix in a greased 13" x 9" pan, according to the directions. Let cool. 

With a mixer, combine powdered sugar, 1/2 cup butter and peanut butter. Mix well and spread over cooled brownies. Chill for one hour. 

Melt together chocolate chips and 6 T butter in a saucepan over low heat, stirring occasionally. Spread over brownies. Let cool; cut into squares. Makes 2 to 3 dozen.