Contest #3

tonight i made shrimp fajitas from scratch, and as they were extremely healthy, i do not think i prepared them right, they didn't go over very well. It was salsa verde , lime ,cilantro and garlic.. these ingredients sound wonderful but for some reason...it was just not good-

So I have decided to "spring" the next contest on everyone!

Here is the contest with rules:

This is only open to current followers.

With summer around the corner, I know I personally have been thinking about vacation, shorts and the dreaded..swim suit~!! With this said, for this contest I am looking for a low fat, low calorie, healthy dish.  It has to be something that can be served "as" dinner, so main dish, one dish, casserole, etc..

I would like for you to enter this recipe "blog ready" include a picture, and have nice clear directions. Please keep in mind cost is an issue as well, so budget friendly is a plus.

Onto the prizes!

you will have your choice of ONE the following

A set of 4 quilted place mats (your choice of color and these are machine washable)
An apron great for cooking and BBQ'ing
A cookbook with your choice of favorite recipes from this blog!
OR-
a new set of (4)kitchen Hand Towels (again your choice of color)  and a handful of cooking utensils


Please submit your entries to me Hardwick.carolyn@zoho.com by April 15, 2011. I know most of you are my friends on Facebook so if you wish you can send them there. Same goes with any questions you may have.

On a side note, I would really like to see some new followers join, does anyone have a suggestion on how to get some more folks interested..if so call me, or email me, or text me !!

below are a few picture of the place mats I made for my kitchen:

Greek Pasta Salad (cheat meal)

Dinner was good tonight, I kinda feel bad for eating the pasta, but this was the one "cheat" meal. I hadn't made this before, I am pleased with it. I think this pasta dish would work great with grilled chicken or fish.

 

 

 

3 cups uncooked penne pasta- ( I used Ziti)
2 cups cherry tomatoes, quartered- (tonight I only had 2 Roma tomatoes)
1 cucumber, halved lengthwise, sliced
4 green onions, sliced thin
1/3 cup Kalamata olives, pitted, halved
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup lemon juice
2 tbsp. fresh snipped basil (didn't have fresh, had..dry and only used 1 tsp)
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
4 tsp. minced garlic from a jar
1/4 tsp. each salt and pepper
1 cup reduced-fat Feta cheese, crumbled

 

 

Cook pasta as directed on package; drain. Rinse under cold water, drain. In a large bowl, toss together pasta, tomatoes, cucumber, green onions, and olives. In a mason jar, combine oil, lemon juice, basil, oregano, garlic, salt and pepper. Cover, shake well.
Drizzle over pasta mix. Toss to coat.
Cover, chill for 2 hours to allow flavors to blend. Add Feta cheese, toss.
Serve!!
 
I made some home made applesauce, and had some great garlic bread with it!

Chicken kabobs (Healthy meal #5)

Tonight I used 3 Chicken breasts pounded a bit and then cut into chunks. Then I marinated them in a Grill Mates seasoning pack (Montreal steak)

The vegetable  kabobs are:
greenpepper, whole mushrooms, red and vidalla onion. all cut into chunks, I did pour alittle of the prepared seasoning mix over them!

I like to grill my chicken and vegtables on separate skewers- I had 4 skewers ALL chicken and then 4 skewers ALLvegtable. I also like to give my chicken a head start.

For the grill, lite charcoal wait for it be grey, and then grilled the chicken kabobs, about 8 minutes aside (or until done) After I turned them once, thats when I added my vegetable kabobs.

Aaron and the kids wanted refried beans (100 calories a serving) so i made them some topped with a little mozzarella cheese..

We walked the zoo today, but now I think I'm going to take a dog for a walk! It important to me that I keep up with the exercise yo!

Tuna and Salad (Healthy meal #4)

First let me say i wasn't very excited about dinner, until I ate!! Tonight's dinner was so easy and had wonderful flavor, and.... very healthy!

It's the following:

I took 2 cans of tuna (50 calories a serving) and mixed it with 2  tbl of lite mayo, 2  ribs of celery chopped, and a couple of pickles chopped. salt and pepper to taste.

The salad was lettuce, green onion , and Roma tomato.

I served each person a hard boiled egg (78 calories).

Now, in the picture is Aaron's plate he didn't want his tuna on the salad, I however did have mine on top and then just a little bit of Italian dressing It was wonderful!!

I gave the kids celery sticks with peanut butter, each of my children ate surprisingly well tonight, maybe this salad thing is starting to catch on, or it's just that they LOVE ranch dressing haha!

Chicken Nuggets & Asparagus (Healthy Meal #3)

Tonight's dinner simple, and if you do some planning ahead you could make these after work, the nuggets only take 20 minutes in the oven. Tonight was probably the 5th time making them. I honestly can't tell you how easy and GOOD they are enough!!


Fruit salad  is a can of mixed fruit (no sugar added)  it has no fat and 50 calories a serving, I added a sliced banana and a chopped apple!

Chicken nugget Links:

http://chucklesgrill28.blogspot.com/2011/03/spicy-chicken-nuggets.html

http://chucklesgrill28.blogspot.com/2011/01/make-your-own-chicken-nuggets.html

I put the nuggets on paper towels, to remove any extra oil.

For the asparagus- You snap the ends off, rinse them and then boil for 4 minutes.

Next:
In a skillet heat tbl butter and saute seasoned with salt and pepper (until they reach desired softness). There is a video available it shows how to make asparagus, it is how I learned last summer. I will try to find it to share with you.

Time to go for my walk- have a great night everyone, and HAPPY St. Patrick DAY!

BBQ chicken (healthy meal #1)

Tonight i took 3 chicken breasts pounded them out a bit, and then cut them long ways.. put some mayo on them and stuck them in the fridge for a couple hours.

I lit the grill waited for the charcoal to be grey, and cooked the chicken on skewers covered about 10 min a side, I did not add the BBQ sauce until the very end and then it was just 2 min a side, turning to "heat" the BBQ sauce.

The sugar free jello- easy enough!! And this jello has ZERO FAT and only 5 Calories per serving, not bad!

now for the cucumber i peeled it and then cut it in slices- put them in a bowl with sliced red onion and then poured an olive oil and vinegar dressing over them and let it sit in the fridge for an hour. before i served i add just a little  feta cheese. I made my own dressing with the thought that it had to be healthier than the Italian dressing i have in the refrigerator

Dressing:

1/4 cup olive oil
1/3 cup vinegar
1 tsp crushed garlic
salt..and pepper
dash of sugar
and tsp of basil


Chicken on grill:

Dinner was great tonight lots of flavor and most important HEALTHY!- after dinner we all went for a walk, I just can't tell you how happy I am right now that Spring has arrived!

spicy chicken nuggets

My husband LOVES heat! He loves spicy wings, and those spicy nuggets from Wendy's. Tonight I made the kids chicken nuggets, and reserved a chicken breast for him, good thing because by the time he got home the kids had eaten (i helped) all 32 nuggets.

Sooo i made him a spicy batch and good Lord they turned out great!

Breadcrumbs I make my own :http://chucklesgrill28.blogspot.com/2011/02/bread-crumbs-101.html
- and then  I added:

cayenne pepper
sea salt
garlic powder
sage

I cut the chicken breast into chunks and put it in a bowl with mayo and some Texas Pete hot wing sauce gave it a good mix and then rolled in the bread crumbs. Put these guys on a cookie sheet with a cap and half of oil oven set at 425 cooked 20 minutes turning half way through

I can't give you exact measurements on the spices.. it is all going to be according to YOUR taste. I can tell you that they are crunchy and absolutely fantastic, probably the best part is they are not deep fried and they didn't come from a restaurant!

Crab Soup- by Dink

I have had the pleasure of the company of a good friend here from VA- And tonight he is making a crab soup! First I am grateful that he is cooking!! And second he is making something that i have never made.

here is what you will need:

2 celery ribs chopped
chicken broth 32 oz
1/2 qt half and half
1 tbl flour
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 c red cooking wine
1 pound crab meat (imitation is what we used tonight- since he DIDN'T bring ANY from VA)
sea salt and ground pepper to taste
dash of cilantro
dash of bay leaf
1 tbl + of old bay

in a cold pot you add ALL ingredients  bring it to a simmer and let it go 15 minutes, and then serve. Very simple. It has a nice flavor, crab isn't overpowering.. not too rich and pretty healthy!

Here is the soup just starting to simmer:



Shrimp Stir Fry w/ chow mein noodles

I used a sun-bird  stir fry seasoning pack and followed package directions for the sauce.

snow peas (1 bag)
shrimp (1 pound)
chow mein noodles
ginger (1 tsp minced)
oil
mushrooms (sliced)
cabbage *i had a bag of coleslaw so that's what I used* (and I only put maybe 1 cup of it in)
green onion\ (about 3 chopped)
broccoli (1 bag)


directions:

first I mixed the sauce and set it aside. then I took about 3 tbl of oil heated it in a large skillet ( I do not own a wok) Once the oil was hot I put the  ginger, broccoli  and snow peas in and gave them a little head start about 3 minutes next I added the cabbage, and green onions. about 2 minutes. then I added the mushrooms, and shrimp and I covered to "steam" the shrimp. when the shrimp was cooked i added the sauce  and let it simmer until thick.

the noodles cooked in three minutes directions are to boil for 3 minutes and then rinse with cold water.

At the very end I dumped the shrimp mixture over the noodles and tossed, then served.

Chinese Take Out done right at home!!



Aren't these fresh ingredients PRETTY!!

Grilled Chicken Ceasar Salad, Loaded potato skins

60 degrees in Omaha today!! Another great grilling adventure took place? OH YEAH!!

Onto the potato skins, I know you all have seen these guys in the freezer section at the store for 8 bucks, you don't have to go that route you CAN make these at home.

Tonight I had a good meal, let me tell you! This is what i did:

I took two potatoes, cooked them in the microwave until done, then I halved them. Took a spoonful of the center out and mixed it with a little bit of butter, salt and pepper- then i took a shallow baking dish put a cap full of oil in it- placed the potato skins in and then put a teaspoon of the filling in smoothed it, then a little shredded cheddar cheese topped with real bacon bits. cooked in the oven for about 15-20 min at 350.

*alittle side note- if you like the salted skins a red lobster then add sea salt to the oil in the dish and rub the skins around a bit., thats what i do!!

For the salad i had two chicken breast i pounded them thin sprinkled them with a little sea salt, and some oil- I lit the grill and waited until the coals were all grey, I cooked the chicken covered about 12min a side.

when the chicken was cooked i put it on a cutting board and cut it then mixed it with Cesar dressing.

the lettuce was chopped romaine, along with a little Parmesan, and some croutons.

so for this meal you need:

oil
1 tbl butter
salt
Caesar dressing
2 chicken breast
croutons
romaine lettuce
Parmesan
shredded cheddar cheese
bacon bits
2 potatoes....

and a grill!