Garlic and Herb Chicken with Pasta

I apologize for the lapse in posts, we had family in town for two weeks and both Zac and I are working on our masters thesis projects. Also, I am training for a marathon, so the free time has been eaten up by other things and cooking and blogging about cooking fell low on the priority list. However, the other day I made a specialty of mine that I should post. My garlic and herb chicken. It's an easy recipe and best served with pasta; this time I served it with gnocchi (as shown in the picture) which is amazing. I tried to make my own gnocchi a few weeks back and it was a complete disaster! So I just bought this from the store, which was hard to find! We finally did find some at Glondo's, which is a specialty italian sausage store in Cle Elum. Yay! Anyway, here is the chicken recipe:

Garlic and Herb Chicken

Ingredients

4 chicken breasts

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

2 tbsp garlic powder

1 tbsp italian seasoning

1 tbsp Mrs. Dash garlic and herb seasoning (optional, but it's REALLY awesome)

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

If desired, chop chicken breasts into bite sized pieces, or cook as a whole breast. Pour olive oil into a large fryinig pan and place on the stove on medium heat. Add chicken to pan. If cooking as a whole breast, cover the chicken in 1/2 of the seasoning, fry for a few moments, then flip the chicken and cover the other side in the final 1/2 of seasoning. If cooking in pieces, add all seasoning, covering chicken thoroughly. Fry chicken in olive oil until cooked thoroughly and to desired brownness.

Notes:

So yummy! Serve over pasta, with sauce, or alone.

Healthy Cranberry Walnut Oatmeal Cookies

I have been craving oatmeal cookies but wanted to do a healthy version. I found a recipe on Mom's Who Think and made some changes adding dried cranberries and walnuts.

These are not flat, chewy oatmeal cookies, they are fluffy and cakey. They also cut out quite a bit of fat and calories by using Splenda and applesauce instead of sugar and oil.

Healthy Cranberry Walnut Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 c Splenda/sugar/sweetener of choice

1/2 c brown sugar

1/4 c unsalted butter

2 eggs

1/2 c applesauce

1/4 c skim or low-fat milk

2 c whole wheat flour

2 c quick rolled oats

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 c dried cranberries

1/2 c walnut pieces

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray cookie sheet with non-stick cooking spray. In a large bowl mix margarine, sugar, egg, applesauce, and milk. Mix with an electric mixer on medium until well blended (2 or 3 minutes.) Add flour, oats, baking soda, and cinnamon. Mix on low speed for one minute. Add cranberries and walnuts. Fold in with a spoon. Drop teaspoons full on to cookie sheet about 2 inched apart. Bake until lightly browned about 13-15 minutes.

Cafe Rio-Inspired Mexican Pork Salad

This is our version of a Cafe Rio pork salad. It is NOT the exact Cafe Rio Recipe, but it is our own healthier and easier to make version. Also, it is REALLY YUMMY! We stared making it this year when we moved a 12-hour drive away from the nearest Cafe Rio (I got Zac hooked during the little time he was in Utah last year).

Now, this isn't a health food recipe. Especially the pork, as you will notice, has a lot of fat, sugar, and calories. But this recipe does cut down a lot from the original Cafe Rio recipe, especially in the dressing and rice.

Cafe Rio-Inspired Mexican Pork Salad

In a round tin pan, bake a tortilla sprinkled with cheese. When melted, add beans, cilantro rice, and sweet pork on top of tortilla. Fill tin with chopped red or green leaf lettuce. Top with cheese, sour cream, lime, guacamole, tortilla strips (we use crushed tortilla chips), salsa (see our recipe for fresh salsa) and creamy tomatillo dressing.

Sweet Pork

Ingredients:

One Medium to Large Pork Roast

1 c Coca-cola

1 c red enchilada sauce (ketchup or tomato sauce also works)

1 c light brown sugar

2 tbsps minced garlic

salt

pepper

Directions:

In the morning, rub the pork roast with salt pepper and garlic. Put in a crockpot with the 1c coke and cook 4-5 hours or until cooked through and starts falling apart. At this point, pull pork roast from crockpot to a baking sheet or cutting board. Pour out coke and wash out crockpot. With two forks, shred pork back into crockpot. Add the enchilada sauce and brown sugar to the pork. If you want it sweeter, you can add another 1/2 c. of brown sugar. Mix together and let warm in crockpot for another hour or so.

Cilantro Rice

Ingredients:

2 c brown rice

1 smal fistfull (appx. 1/4 c) of chopped fresh cilantro or 2 tbsp dried cilantro

3/4 c green enchilada sauce

1 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

1/4 tsp chili powder

Directions:

Cook brown rice according to package. When rice is thoroughly cooked, stir in enchilada sauce, cilantro, and spices.

Black Beans

Ingredients:

2 cans black beans

1 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp chili powder

1/4 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp paprika

Directions:

Heat black beans in a pot on medium heat. Stir in seasonings.

Creamy Tomatillo Dressing

Ingredients:

1 c mayonnaise (I recommend using light)

1 c sour cream ( I recommend using light)

1/2 c milk ( I recommend using skim, it works just fine)

1 small fistful (appx. 1/4 c) of chopped fresh cilantro or 2 tbsp dried cilantro

3 tomatillos

3 seeded jalapeños

1 limes, juice of

1-2 tsp salt

2 garlic cloves

1 packet fat-free original ranch dip mix

Directions:

Place all ingredients in blender and mix until smooth. Refrigerate. You can also replace the cilantro with 1/4 cup of your favorite salsa. Leave seeds in 1 or all of the jalapeños to add spice. Pour over salad as dressing.

Notes:

I made these salads this week to take to a friend who just had a baby so we got to eat it as well.... and had enough for leftovers. This recipe will make about eight salads. It is also well worth all the trouble it is to make it. It's AMAZING!

Strawberry Smoothie or Smoothie Pops

Zac came up with this simple recipe. It makes for a great smoothie, or popsicles if you freeze them.

Strawberry Smoothie or Smoothie Pops

Ingredients:

2 c milk

2 c frozen strawberries

1 large banana

1 c lowfat vanilla yogurt

3 tbsps honey

1 tsp vanilla

2 tbsps sugar/Splenda/sweetener of choice

Directions:

Blend all ingredients in blender until smooth. If you have a disabled blender, like we do, you can add the strawberries a bit at a time as you blend. If you want to make them into smoothie popsicles, pour them into popsicle forms or ice cube trays and freeze.

Strawberry Pancake Topping

This is the topping I use for pancakes. It is great!

Strawberry Pancake Topping

Ingredients:

2 c frozen strawberries

2 tbsps whole wheat flour

1 tsp sugar/splenda/ sweetner of choice

Directions:

Let strawberries thaw just a bit, then cut them into quarters. Place all ingredients in a saucepan and over medium heat. Let simmer. If it gets too thick, add a tbsp or two of water to desired consistency.

Whole Wheat Banana (Nut) Pankakes

I get some of my recipes and inspiration from different blogs and webistes. One of my favorites is www.greenlitebites.com . This morning I took her recipe for banana pancakes and mophed it a little bit into my own. I also took her recipe for blueberry topping and changed it into stawberry topping, since I only had frozen stawberries, not frozen blueberries. I will put this recipe in a separate post. I mention this blog because I always want to give credit where credit is due. Not all of these recipes are my own of course.

Whole Wheat Banana Pancakes

Ingredients:

1 large very ripe banna

3/4 c skim milk

1 large egg

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

3/4 c whole wheat flour

1/4 c whole oats

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 c walnuts or pecans (optional)

Directions:

Cut banana is into small pieces and, in a large bowl, mash them. If you like some chunks (like I do) leave some chunks; if you don't, mash the banana completely. Add milk, egg and banana and wisk. In a separate bowl, mix dry ingredients. Slowly wisk dry ingredients into wet ingredients. Cook on a griddle sprayed with non-stick spray at 325 degrees or on a skillet on medium heat.

Notes:

Makes about 6 meduim-sized pancakes.

* I took a pic, but can't get it off the camera right now so when I can or make them again I will post a picture.

Zac's Seriously Good, Seriously Fresh Salsa

Last fall, Zac spent about two days in our kitchen chopping, dicing, mixing, blending, and tasting different salsa recipes to create a perfect salsa. I think he totally found it. This is embarrassing, but over the winter, we made this at least once a week and always finished it off in less than three days. And it makes A LOT of salsa. You should really try it.

Zac's Seriously Good, Seriously Fresh Salsa

Ingredients

10 roma or 8 regular tomatoes

1 medium white onion

3 jalapenos

1 green bell pepper

1 bunch (about 2 fistfuls) cilantro

1 tbsp minced garlic

1 1/2 tbsps chili powder

2 tsps cumin

2 tsps paprika

1/2 tsp dried red pepper flakes

1/2 c white vinegar

3 tbsps lime juice

salt

Directions

Finely dice all vegetables. When dicing, cut off cilantro stems and core the tomato and the jalapeno (you don't want the seeds of the jalapenos or the slimy guts of the tomato). First, mix all green and white veggies in bowl. Second, add tomatoes, seasonings, and vinegar, lime juice and lightly mix again. If you mix the tomatoes too much they get mushy. Salt to taste.

NotesYou can chop the onions and peppers in the food processor, but we chop everything else by hand while watching TV shows on Hulu. It takes quite a while, but it makes for the best consistency.