Blackened Chicken w Avocado Sauce

Steve enjoys a good blackened chicken salad so I thought I'd give this recipe a try. He didn't like it!! WHAT?! He said it was too spicy...yet I had two servings!! I thought it was delicious. :)

Find the recipe here. The only changes I made was the amount of chicken (I used four smaller chicken breasts) and I used a whole avocado instead of half.

Ingredients:

• 4 — 4 oz boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1 cup quinoa
• 2 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice, divided
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp cumin
• ½ tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp onion powder
• ½ tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• ¼ cup plain non-fat Greek yogurt
• 1 avocado
• ½ tsp garlic powder

Instructions:

1. In a medium size sauce pan, bring the chicken broth to a boil. Add quinoa, turn heat down to low, and simmer for about 15-20 minutes, covered. When it’s finished cooking (no liquid left), stir in scallions and a 1/2 Tbsp of lemon.
2. In a small bowl, mix paprika, cumin, cayenne pepper, onion powder, salt and pepper. Rub all over chicken breasts.
3. Spray a large frying pan with non-stick cooking spray. Over medium-high heat, cook chicken for 7 minutes on each side, or until cooked through. Tip: cover the pan while cooking.
4. Meanwhile, mix Greek yogurt, remaining lemon juice, garlic powder and avocado in a food processor.
5. To serve, place the chicken on a bed of quinoa and drizzle the sauce on top.

I had tons of quinoa left over that I used for my next recipe!

Quesadillas

Cinco de Mayo!! We celebrated the American-Mexican holiday by eating quesadillas for dinner. We love all kinds of ethnic foods in our house! Of course I had to make them with a healthy twist. :)

Ingredients:

• 6 Ezekiel Tortillas
• 1/2 pepper, chopped
• 1/4 onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup mushrooms
• 1 can diced tomatoes, no salt added, drained
• 1/2 cup shredded cheese
• 2-3 cups spinach
• 4-5 chicken tenderloins
• 1-2 Tsp taco seasoning (I made my own)
• Salsa
• Avocado, diced

Directions:

1. Add the onions, peppers, and mushrooms to a pan over medium-high heat. 
2. While the vegetables are cooking, grill the chicken and sprinkle the taco seasoning over it.
3. After the veggies are tender, remove them from the pan and add the spinach. Cook just a few minutes until the leaves are wilted. 
4. In a clean pan and hot pan, add 1 tortilla round, sprinkle with cheese, add the spinach, veggie mix, cut up chicken, a little more cheese and the other tortilla round. Cook for a few minutes over medium heat and then flip.
5. Top with salsa and avocado.

Enjoy!

Homemade Granola

I tried making a healthy granola bar per Steve's request but it didn't stick like it was supposed to but it turned out to be his favorite cereal ever. My mom likes it, too!! I enjoy it with my yogurt. Check out the original recipe here.

Ingredients

• 11/2 cups quick oats
• 1 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/2 cup sliced almonds
• 2/3 cup coconut
• 1/2 cup honey or maple syrup
• 3 tbsp light brown sugar
• 11/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1-2 cup puffed rice cereal
• 1/4 cup raisins or crasins
• 2 Tbsp chia seeds

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with heavy duty aluminum foil.
2. Spread the oats, walnuts and almonds onto prepared baking sheet. Place in the oven and toast for 7 minutes. Add coconut and toss well, then place back in the oven to cook about 6-8 minutes more. Keep an eye on it towards the end; you want the coconut to turn golden but not burn.
3. In the meantime, combine the honey, brown sugar, vanilla extract and salt in a small saucepan and place over medium heat. Stir with a whisk until the brown sugar is completely dissolved. Turn off heat and set aside.
4. Once the oat mixture is done, remove it from the oven and reduce heat to 300 degrees. Combine the the oat mixture, honey mixture and rice cereal in a large bowl and toss well. (Reserve aluminum foil.)
5. Use the reserved foil to line a 9 x 13-inch baking dish, then spray foil with nonstick cooking spray. Turn granola bar mixture out into the prepared baking dish and spread evenly, being careful not to press down too hard. Bake for 20 minutes (be sure heat is reduced to 300 degrees). Remove from the oven and cool completely, about 1-1½ hours. 

If you used only 1 cup of cereal it may become more of a granola bar. I use more so it's more of a granola for cereal. The last time I made it, I had to break it apart a bit but still had the same great taste!

Crock Pot Pasta - Healthy!

My kids love noodles so I knew they'd enjoy this meal. They think they are eating normal noodles, little do they know that its actually rice. :)

I had a busy day - one fitness class, assisting in Colton's classroom, two clients, and t-ball practice. Not much time to prepare a healthy meal. I found this recipe and made a few changes. The whole family LOVED it.

Look at all that is leftover after serving four of us!

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground turkey
• 1 chopped onion
• 2 chopped peppers
• 2 chopped celery stalks
• 2 cans diced tomatoes, no salt added
• 1 can red kidney beans, drained
• 1.5-2 cups of veggie or chicken broth
• 1.5 Tsp oregano
• 2.5 Tsp parsley
• 1/2 Tsp Red Pepper Flakes
• 1 Tbsp Garlic powder
• 1 cup organic Spaghetti sauce
• 8 oz noodles (I used Hodson Mill Brown Rice Pasta - Gluten free)

Directions:

1. Brown meat with half of the garlic.
2. Put all ingredients, except for the noodles, in the crock pot and stir.
3. Cook on low for 7-8 hours or high for 4 hours.
4. During the last 30 minutes, add the noodles. Or you can cook the noodles separately and add if you want it to be more like a soup. 

Breakfast Muffins

Colton had Muffins for Moms on Wednesday and I am "that Mom" who takes her own muffins. I am happy to know that my child and I had a healthy version of a muffin - and they were delicious! I made the batter the night before and threw the muffins in the oven after my morning run then continued to get ready for work. Made me feel like Super Mom. HA!

Here is the original recipe.

Ingredients

• 2 eggs or flaxseed meal/water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups applesauce, unsweetened
• 1 chopped apple (with or without skin)
• 2 bananas, mashed
• ½ cup honey
• 5 cups quick oats
• 2 tablespoons flaxseed meal
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 3 teaspoon baking powder
• 2¼ cups unsweetened almond milk
• Optional toppings: raisins, cranberries, walnuts, chocolate chips, coconut, etc. 

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix eggs (or egg substitute), vanilla, applesauce, banana and honey together in a bowl.
3. Add in oats, flax, cinnamon, baking powder, salt and mix well with wet ingredients.
4. Finally pour in milk and combine. Mix in chopped apple.
5. Spray a 12 and 6 capacity muffin tin with cooking spray or use cupcake liners. Pour mixture evenly into muffin tin cups.
6. If using toppings add them onto the tops of muffins now. If using fresh or frozen fruit, drop it right into the batter.
7. Bake 35 minutes until a toothpick in center comes out clean.
8. Cool and enjoy or freeze them in gallon freezer bags.

Slow Cooker Pineapple Chicken

I made this recipe a long time ago. I don't know I don't make it more often. It's super simple...and it's in a crock pot!

Clean Eating Slow Cooker Pineapple Chicken

(Makes 4 servings)

Ingredients:

• 2 large chicken breasts, boneless and skinless
• 1 (12 ounce) jar of your favorite clean salsa (See my salsa recipe here)
• 4 small raw zucchini, halved, quartered, then sliced (shredding works too)
• 1/4 medium, fresh pineapple

Directions:

1. Turn on slow cooker to the low setting and put in the chicken and salsa. Cook for about 4-6 hours. Slow cookers vary, so base the time on that. The chicken should fall apart easily when finished.
2. Shred the chicken using two forks and mix in your raw zucchini and fresh pineapple.

Salsa

One of my favorite snacks, and often part of my meal, is salsa. I love it! I haven't made my own salsa but I claim I do. I cheat and use "Simply Salsa" by Tastefully Simple (I know a cool consultant if you need one!).

• 1 cap full of Simply Salsa
• 1 can of no salt added diced tomatoes
• 1 chopped onion
• 1 chopped pepper
• 1 can of low sodium black beans (rinsed)

Let it chill for an hour. It's that easy! It's low in sodium and has just enough kick.