Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Fantastic recipes lately

Blake and I have been doing so good on our life-change lately!  We've incorporated exercise into our lives and healthy eating.  I can't praise Bobay Fitness (www.bobayfitness.com) enough for their great ideas and inspiration.  Here are some yummy recipes we've tried that have worked really well on our meal plans:

Fajitas
-frozen chicken breasts (2)
-1/2 onion, sliced and can use a zucchini and yellow squash or slice bell peppers; brown in skillet on medium high heat, sprinkle with Lawry's season salt
-mostly Defrost the chicken in the microwave, then generously coat both sides with Lawry's seasoning salt.  Then cook on George Foreman grill at 360 for 9 minutes.  Don't use tortillas if you're really wanting to keep your carbs low.

Omelets
1 full egg
3 egg whites
diced onions, bell peppers
1/2 cup chopped spinach (estimated amount)
shredded lunch meat
-Spray your cold pan with olive oil.  Put eggs in it and turn stove on to medium heat.
-As you see the eggs start to become opaque, add your filling ingredients to the lower half of your omelet and generously add salt and pepper and any other spice that sounds good.
-Once the eggs look mostly cooked, use your spatula to fold the omelet on top of itself, cook a little longer on both sides until lightly browned

Chicken Tortilla Soup (without the tortillas)
2 or 3 large frozen chicken breasts (or using unfrozen takes less time)
1 can corn, undrained
1 can diced tomatoes with green chiles, undrained
3 spoonfulls of salt
1 spoonfull of pepper
-Start frozen chicken breasts in crockpot and fill with water until about an inch above the chicken.
-Cook on high for 4 hours
-Check to make sure chicken is cooked through, then shred it in the crockpot.
-Add corn, tomatoes and seasonings to crockpot
-Cook on low another 2 hours.  Taste the broth, dilute with 1/2 cup water at a time if the spices are too strong.  Serve with lowfat cheese. (These are estimated cooktimes...as long as the chicken is completely cooked, you can eat it at any time)

My mom says this one is excellent-->
Maple Glazed Squash Slices(from "Food and Fitness Magazine winter 2011", Serves 4)
1 medium acorn squash (about 1 1/2 lbs)
1 Tbsp unsalted butter (i used less)
3 Tbsp real maple syrup (not pancake syrup)
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp ginger
pinch of nutmeg
 - Preheat oven to 425 degrees
 -Slice ends from squash and halve lengthwise. Use spoon to hollow out seeds. Slice       
     squash into 1/2” slices and transfer the slices to a large bowl.
- In a small saucepan melt butter. Stir in syrup and spices. Pour some over the squash 
     slices and toss to coat.
- Arrange the squash on a baking sheet and pout the remaining syrup mixture over the    
    slices. (I line the pan with foil for easy cleanup).
- Bake the squash slices for 15 min, flip, and bake another 5-10 min until squash is  tender.
(You can also cook it in the crockpot on high for 2 hours, or low for 3 hours)


Turkey Chili
-3 cans tomato paste
-2 lbs ground turkey

-1 can black beans
-1 packet ranch dressing mix
-1 packet taco mix
-1/2 diced onion
-black olives
-add water to desired thickness
-drizzle honey across top as it simmers, to desired sweetness 
-toss all ingredients in crockpot and cook on high 4 hours, or low for 6 or more hours.  Can also just brown the turkey first and simmer on stovetop until it's heated through.

Addictive Sweet Potato Burritos
(Makes over 2 dozen burritos)
4 cups cooked and mashed sweet potatoes
12-24 (10 inch) flour tortillas, warmed
8 ounces shredded Cheddar cheese
6 cups canned refried beans, drained
1 ½ cups frozen corn
2 cups water or less (or chicken bouillon)
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
2 Tbsp garlic, minced
2 Tbsp chili powder
1 ½ tsp ground cumin
4 tsp prepared mustard
1 pinch cayenne pepper, or to taste
3 Tbsp soy sauce
DIRECTIONS
--Heat oil in a medium skillet, and saute onion and garlic until soft. Stir in beans, and mash.
--Stir in beans, sweet potatoes and mash.  Add corn.
--Gradually stir in water, and heat until warm. Remove from heat, and stir in the chili powder, cumin, mustard, cayenne pepper and soy sauce.
--Divide mixture evenly between the warm flour tortillas.
--Top with cheese. Fold up tortillas burrito style.
--Heat another skilllet on med-high with olive oil. Add 1-2 burritos at a time and sear each side in the skillet until tortilla is medium brown.