Healthy Chicken Skillet

I made this dinner two weeks ago. 

 I was looking for healthy recipes that I thought my one year old would also eat. 

I'm also a big fan of skillet dinners because I don't have tons of pans to clean when I'm done. 

This dinner didn't disappoint one bit.  

My daughter loved the chicken, quinoa, zucchini, black beans and peppers.  

Since all three of us enjoyed it, this recipe was a big win. 

I even made it again this past week.  

Definitely a must make if you're looking for a healthy recipe the whole family will love! 

Healthy Chicken Skillet 

Adapted from Ready, Set, Eat 

Ingredients: 

1 TBS canola oil

1 cup zucchini (cut into cubes)

1/2 cup diced green bell pepper

1 can black beans, drained (low sodium)

1 can diced tomatoes (14.5 oz)

1 (4.5oz) box quinoa brown rice blend (I buy Near East) 

3-4 chicken tenderloins 

salt and pepper to taste 

Directions: 

1. In a small saucepan, cooke quinoa according to the instructions on the box. 

2. While quinoa is cooking, heat oil in a large skillet and cook chicken.

 I cut mine in cubes before I cooked it.  

2. Once chicken is cooked, add zucchini and peppers.  Cook for 5 minutes. 

3. Add beans and tomatoes, cook for another 5 minutes. 

4. Once everything in the skillet is cooked and warmed through, add the quinoa brown rice blend to the skillet.  Stir well and remove from heat.  

5. Let cool for a few minutes and enjoy! 

Cinnamon Apple Pancakes {Toddler}

Now that my little one is eating anything and everything, it is important for me to make sure I'm feeding her healthy meals.  I try to make lots of things myself so I know what is going into her little body.  She also has a dairy allergy, which limits what she can and can't have.  Pancakes are something I've been wanting to make for a while.  The recipe below is changed slightly from the original, I omitted the butter and swapped the milk for soy milk. I was a little nervous about not having any butter but it really didn't make a difference.  I think the recipe make about 23 pancakes.  I kept half out for the week and froze the other half.  The little one love them.  She has 2 each morning and they are gone in no time!

Applesauce Pancakes

Adapted from Wholesome Toddler Food 

1 cup flour – 

1/4 teaspoon salt – 

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 

1/2 cup soy milk – 

1 beaten egg 

1/2 teaspoon vanilla – 

1 1/4 cups cinnamon applesauce 

a dash or two of cinnamon

Sift flour, salt and baking powder into a medium mixing bowl. Combine milk and egg. Stir into dry ingredients. Add vanilla and applesauce; beat well. Spoon batter into a hot, well greased griddle, enough batter to applesauce pancakes about 4 inches in diameter.

  **Freezes Well**

Dr Pepper BBQ Ribs {Crockpot Recipe}

One thing you won't find in our house is soda.  We don't drink very often.  If we do, it's on an out to eat night and a fountain soda.  A few weeks ago after AG's birthday party we had tons of soda leftover.  Since I knew we wouldn't drink it all, I decided to cook with it.  It had been over a year since I made ribs for dinner, so that is what i decided on.  I knew hubs would be thrilled with my decision. 

 I found lots of recipes for Dr. Pepper Ribs online but none in the crock pot that I had all the ingredients for.  I decided to create my own and I have to say, this one was a success. 

Hubs over and over again praised them while devouring every last bit.  He would take a bite, look at me and say "wow, these are really good". Over and over again.  My toddler even had her fair share.  Hubs has already requested these again, I'm sure we will be having our fair share this football season.  Enjoy! 

Ingredients: 

2 1/2 cups of Dr. Pepper

2-4 lbs of baby back ribs

1-2 cups of BBQ sauce (sweet baby rays is our go to)

salt, pepper, chili powder

Directions: 

Create a rub with equal parts of the salt, pepper and chili powder.  I used about 1/2 tsp of each.  Rub it on the meat. 

Cut ribs into sections of about 2-3.  

Place ribs in a crock pot (I make sure to spray with cooking oil first). 

Add 2 cups of the Dr. Pepper (reserve remaining 1/2 cup)

Cook on low for 7-8 hours.  

Drain the Dr. Pepper leaving ribs still in the crock pot. 

Mix the BBQ sauce with the remaining Dr. Pepper.  

Brush sauce mixture over ribs and cook for another 30-45 minutes.  

Affiliate link used in this post.

Slow Cooker Cranberry- Orange Pork Roast

I feel like most of my dinner recipes lately are pork recipes.  Like I've said before, I usually make it once a week.  MOst of the time in the crock pot.  It's just so easy and makes enough for dinner and lunch the next day. 

 So yes, I make pork a lot.  

This recipe was in the most recent Kraft foods magazine.  If you don't already subscribe, you should consider it.  It's a quarterly magazine.  Every time I get it, I find tons of new recipes.  They are all simple recipes with not too many ingredients.  My kind of recipes for sure! 

THis meal screamed fall, which is why I made it immediately.  Maybe I thought if I made it, fall will come sooner.  One can dream, right? Anyhow, the only change I made was how I cooked the meat.  I accidentally put my crockpot on high and by the time I realized it, it was two hours into cooking.  I turned it down to low for the remainder of the time (praying it wouldn't be over cooked).  And it was perfect.  Tender enough but not completely falling apart.  The sauce was my favorite part of this dish, sweet and savory.  definitely worth making and will be made here many times this fall. Enjoy! 

Slow Cooker Cranberry- Orange Pork Roast

Adapted from  Kraft Foods 

Ingredients 

2

Tbsp.  oil

1

 flat boneless pork loin roast (4 lb.)

1

can  (14 oz.) whole berry cranberry sauce

1/2

cup  KRAFT Classic CATALINA Dressing

1

Tbsp.  less-sodium soy sauce

1

Tbsp.  cornstarch

1

tsp.  zest and 1/4 cup juice from 1 orange

directions

HEAT oil in large skillet on medium-high heat. Add meat; cook 4 to 5 min. on each side or until browned on both sides. Transfer meat to slow cooker.

MIX cranberry sauce, dressing and soy sauce; pour over meat. Cover with lid.

COOK on HIGH for 2 hours then turn to LOW for another 2-3 hours.  Remove meat from slow cooker, reserving liquid in slow cooker. Cover meat to keep warm. Whisk remaining ingredients in small bowl until blended; stir into liquid in slow cooker. Cook, covered, on HIGH 10 min. or until thickened.

SLICE meat; place on platter. Drizzle lightly with sauce. Serve with remaining sauce
.

Drunken Pork Tenderloin

I was going through my pictures and realized I never posted this recipe.  

I made it months ago and completely forgot about it. 

This recipe isn't as easy as the recipes I usually make. 

Most of my pork recipes are thrown in the crock pot but I had a half of bottle of wine and decided to give this recipe a try.  

Results: Good.  Not fabulous like I say about a lot of my recent pork recipes, but good.  The meal was full of flavor and I love the added mushrooms and onions.  I wasn't crazy about the gravy/sauce.  Maybe it was the wine I used or the fact that I'm not a huge gravy fan. Hubs like it and ate it, which always makes for a successful dinner in my book.  With fall quickly approaching, this would be a good recipe to try on one of the first cool nights.  

Robyn's Drunken Pork Tenderloin 

Courtesy of Robyn's Online World 

Robyn’s Drunken Pork Tenderloin Recipe

Ingredients:

• 2 lb (or so – I use one packaged pork tenderloin which has two pieces in it) pork tenderloin
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 large white onion, thinly sliced
• 1 bottle red wine of choice (I’ve used merlot, burgundy, and zinfandel and like them all in this recipe. The zinfandel is my favorite though) **I used half a bottle**
• 1 package brown gravy mix

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°. Remove the pork tenderloin from the package and trim off any silver skin – this is a shiny fat type piece that may (or may not) be on part of the tenderloin. Honestly though if you don’t take it off now it is not a big deal, you can cut it off the cooked pork as you are eating it if you need to. Sprinkle the garlic powder, salt and pepper (to lightly cover) over all sides of each piece of pork. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and add the pork tenderloins. Let the pork sit without moving for about 3 minutes. Before that it will seem like they are “stuck” to the pan, but after 3 minutes or so the pork tenderloin pieces should release. Rotate the pork tenderloins so that you get each of the outside surfaces browned nicely. Remove the browned pork tenderloin from pan and place in a rectangular baking dish.

Now add the onions to the same pan you used to brown the pork tenderloin and saute them for about 5 minutes. Then carefully add about 1/4 bottle of the wine to deglaze the pan. It will steam up a lot and you need to take a wooden spoon and scrape the bottom of the pan right away to loosen up all of those nice browned bits – they are full of pork flavor! Once you have the bits scraped up, add the rest of the bottle of wine and bring to a boil. Let simmer for 3 minutes. Now pour the onion and wine mixture over the browned pork tenderloin in the baking dish. Now place in the oven and bake for approximately 35-40 minutes. Use your meat thermometer to make sure the pork is at 145° in the thickest part. Remove from the oven and place the pork tenderloins on cutting board to rest. Now pour the liquid from the baking dish into your skillet on high heat and whisk in one package of brown gravy mix. Cook on medium for about 3 minutes to thicken and reduce. Slice your roasted pork tenderloin, after it has rested for about 10 minutes, into about 1/4” thick slices and serve with the onions and top with the red wine gravy.

Penne with Herbs, Tomatoes and Peas

Penne with Herbs, Tomatoes and Peas

Adapted from Cooking Light 

• Ingredients: 
• 8 ounces uncooked veggie penne pasta
• 1 cup frozen green peas, thawed
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 6 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 3 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 pkg of turkey sausage, sliced

• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons italian seasoning 
• 
  

Directions: 

1. Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Add peas during last 2 minutes of cooking. Drain.

2. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-low heat. Add oil; swirl to coat. Add garlic and sausage; cook 4 minutes or until garlic begins to brown and sausage is heated through, stirring occasionally. Increase heat to medium-high. Add tomatoes to pan; cook 1 minute. Add pasta mixture, salt, and pepper to pan; cook 3 minutes or until thoroughly heated, stirring occasionally. Stir in seasoning.

Rosemary Apricot Pork Tenderloin

There aren't many pork tenderloin recipes I pass on.  I always have one tenderloin in the freezer, we usually make it once a week.  There are just so many recipes you can try and we always end up with a good amount of leftovers.  This recipe looked perfect for a summer dinner.  It was easy to make and was really good.  The pork was full of flavor, I couldn't get enough of the apricot sauce.  Hubs also gave it two thumbs up and asked for it to be added to our monthly rotation.  Enjoy!

Rosemary Apricot Pork Tenderloin

Courtesy of Taste of Home 

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons minced fresh rosemary or 1 tablespoon dried rosemary, crushed
• 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 2 pork tenderloins (1 pound each)
• GLAZE:
• 1 cup apricot preserves
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 garlic cloves, minced

Directions

• In a small bowl, combine the rosemary, 1 tablespoon oil, garlic, salt
• and pepper; brush over pork.
• In a large ovenproof skillet, brown pork in remaining oil on all
• sides. Bake at 425° for 15 minutes.
• In a small bowl, combine the glaze ingredients; brush over pork. Bake
• 10-15 minutes longer or until a meat thermometer reads 160°,
• basting occasionally with pan juices. Let stand for 5 minutes before
• slicing. Yield: 8 servings.

• \

Italian Style Shrimp- Clean Eating

This is one of my go to clean eating recipes. 

It's a quick and easy dinner that is perfect for any weeknight.  

It's filling enough that you don't miss the carbs, but if you really wanted you could add brown rice to the mixture.  

Enjoy!

Clean Eating Italian Style Shrimp

Courtesy of Gracious Pantry

*I made a few changes to the recipe, noted in red. 

Ingredients:

• 1 pound frozen, pre-cooked shrimp
• 1 tablespoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 3 tablespoons tomato paste, no sugar added
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• *1 package of turkey sausage 

Directions:

1. Place all ingredients in a skillet and cook until the shrimp and sausage are warmed through, stirring regularly.

Garlic Lemon Shrimp

One thing I always have in my freezer is frozen cooked shrimp.  

It's quick to thaw and can be used for lots of healthy recipes.  

Last night, the day got away from me. 

It was 5:00 by the time I looked at the clock and I didn't have anything out for dinner. 

I had already played the breakfast for dinner card this week,  I needed something different.  

So, I pulled out my shrimp and by the time it was thawed I had found a recipe. 

Dinner was ready by the time hubs was home. 

I liked it, he liked it. 

Success.  

Garlic Lemon Shrimp

Courtesy of Taste of Home

4 ServingsPrep/Total Time: 20 min.

Ingredients

• 1 pound uncooked large shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves, sliced
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
• Hot cooked pasta or rice

Directions

• In a large skillet, saute shrimp in oil for 3 minutes. Add the
• garlic, lemon juice, cumin and salt; cook and stir until shrimp turn
• pink. Stir in parsley. Serve with pasta or rice. Yield: 4 servings.

Spiced Pork Chops with Apple Chutney

Before the days of Pinterest, I used to subscribe to lots of cooking magazines.  I would look forward to them arriving each month.  Once they did I would spend mornings flipping through the pages, ripping out recipes, all while enjoying my morning coffee.  Of course those were the days before motherhood as well.  Now, I pull up my computer sometimes just minutes before dinner hoping I have the ingredients for a somewhat decent meal.  

Last weekend, I decided to pull out the recipe binder I created with all the recipes I had ripped out from years past.  Hubs was home, the baby was napping and I was enjoying my coffee.  I was determined to not only meal plan for the week but plan some healthy yet delicious meals.  This recipe was one of the first I ripped out.  Hubs loves apples with pork chops, I knew he would love this recipe.  

Results:  Amazing.  Absolutely delicious.  Not hard to make.  The tartness of the cranberries paired with the sweetness of the apples made the perfect topping for the pork.  The only change made to the recipe was an addition of 2 teaspoons of cinnamon to the apple cranberry topping.  We had leftover pork and topping so the next night we made sandwiches with it.  We blended the apple cranberry topping in the Magic Bullet to create a spread.  We put it on top of the pork on a roll, hubs also added cheese to his.  It was a sandwich that reminded me of Thanksgiving.  I have a feelings hubs will be asking for this meal again very soon!

Spiced Pork Chops with Apple Chutney 

Courtesy of Cooking Light 

Ingredients

Chutney:

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 5 cups (1/4-inch) cubed peeled apple (about 3 apples)
• 1/4 cup dried cranberries
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons cider vinegar
• 2 teaspoons minced peeled fresh ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1/8 teaspoon all spice 

• Pork:
• 3/4 teaspoon ground chipotle chile pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 4 (4-ounce) boneless center-cut pork loin chops, trimmed
• Cooking spray 

Preparation

1. To prepare chutney, melt butter in a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add apple; sauté 4 minutes or until lightly browned. Add cranberries and the next 6 ingredients (through allspice); bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 8 minutes or until apples are tender; stir occasionally.

2. To prepare pork, while chutney simmers, heat a grill pan over medium-high heat. Combine chipotle and next 4 ingredients (through black pepper); sprinkle over pork. Coat grill pan with cooking spray. Add pork to pan; cook 4 minutes on each side or until done. Serve with chutney.

Slender haricots verts are a pretty and quick-cooking complement to the meal. Heat 2 teaspoons olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add 12 ounces haricots verts to pan; cook 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/8 teaspoon black pepper, and 2 thinly sliced garlic cloves; cook 5 minutes or until garlic is lightly browned.

Meatloaf Muffins with Barbecue Sauce

I'm back on the meal planning wagon and I have to say, it's so nice.  My nights run so much smoother when I know what we're having for dinner and all the ingredients are already at home.  Last night, hubs was home early so we were able to cook together. We talked about our days as we cooked, enjoyed guacamole while it was all in the oven with a glass of wine as the baby sat quietly in her highchair and ate {rare}.  It was a perfect night. 

 For dinner I chose this mini meatloaf recipe from Rachael Ray.  I've never put celery and peppers into my meatloaf and thought it looked really good.  The recipe calls for onions as well but I left those out because hubs doesn't like it unless it's sautéed.  Something I would do differently next time is use a brush for the sauce on top.  I just spooned it over and thought it would spread a little. As you can tell from the pictures, that didn't happen.  I used a large scoop to put the mixture in the muffin pans and next time I need to push the mixture down and fill it all the way.  That would give them more of a muffin shape instead of the oversized meatball look I have going here.  We will be enjoying these again tonight for dinner since we had so many leftover.  I'm sure they would also freeze well. 

 I'm looking forward to making these again.  Enjoy!

Meatloaf Muffins with Barbecue Sauce 

Courtesy of Rachael Ray 

Ingredients:

1 2/3 to 1 3/4 pounds ground sirloin
1 medium onion, cut into chunks
2 ribs celery from the heart of the stalk, cut into 2-inch pieces
1 green bell pepper
1 large egg plus a splash of milk, beaten
1 cup plain bread crumbs
2 tablespoons grill seasoning (recommended: Montreal Steak Seasoning by McCormick)
1 cup smoky barbecue sauce
1/2 cup tomato salsa
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
Vegetable oil or extra-virgin olive oil
Micro-way-cool Bacon and Green Beans, recipe follows
Smashed potatoes and cream cheese, recipe follows

Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
Put ground beef into a big bowl. Put onion and celery into a food processor. Cut the bell pepper in half, rip out the seeds and throw them into your garbage bowl. Cut the pepper into a few pieces and add to the food processor. Pulse the processor blades to finely chop the vegetables into very small pieces then add them to the meat bowl. Add egg, beaten with milk, bread crumbs and grill seasoning to the bowl. Next, mix together the smoky barbecue sauce, the salsa and the Worcestershire sauce. Pour half the sauce mixture into the bowl with the meatloaf mix. Mix the meatloaf together with your hands. Wash up. Brush a 12-muffin tin (1/2-cup each) with vegetable oil or extra-virgin olive oil. Use an ice cream scoop to help you fill meat into a each tin. Top each meat loaf with a spoonful of extra sauce. Bake about 20 minutes. Cut open 1 muffin to test that the middle is cooked through.

Read more at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/meatloaf-muffins-with-barbecue-sauce-recipe/index.html?oc=linkback

Peanut Butter Oatmeal White Chocolate Cookies

This past week we had some friends over for dinner.  I had intentions of going to the store the day of to grab something to make for dessert but it rained all day.  Trying to go to the store with a baby in the rain just doesn't mix.  So I searched for a quick cookie recipe that I could make with ingredients I had at home.  Thankfully peanut butter was BOGO the week before and I had enough for this recipe.  

Results: By now you should know that I am all about quick recipes.  Especially now since my baby girl is on the move and I don't have much time in the kitchen unless she's eating.  I was able to get these made during an hour nap.  The batter took no time and I decided to make the cookies with my medium sized scoop, so the recipe yielded about 26 cookies for me.  The cookies didn't have an overwhelming oatmeal taste and the perfect amount of peanut butter.  I decided to add white chocolate chips to mix in and added just over a half of a cup. Enjoy! 

Peanut Butter Oatmeal White Chocolate Cookies 

Courtesy of Averie Cooks

Ingredients:

1/2 c butter

1/3 c peanut butter

1 c brown sugar

1/2 c white sugar

1 egg + 1 yolk

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/4 c all-purpose flour

1 c old fashioned whole oats

1/2 tsp baking soda

3/4 c white chocolate chips

1/2 c peanut butter chips (or use butterscotch chips, chocolate chips, toffee bits, raisins, nuts, seeds, etc.)

Directions:

In a medium-sized microwave safe bowl, melt the butter and peanut butter together.  Power on for 30 seconds, take out, stir.  Repeat.  Should take no more than about 90 seconds.

Add the brown & white sugar to the melted butter & peanut butter mixture and stir.  Set this is the freezer for a couple minutes.

Remove from the freezer (or just wait for the mixture to come to room temp on it’s own) and add the egg + yolk (you just don’t want to add eggs to that hot mixture.  We don’t want scrambled eggs here), add the vanilla extract, and stir.

Then add the flour, oats, baking soda and stir.  You should have cookie dough consistency dough and if you don’t, either add a touch more flour if it’s too wet or a touch more peanut butter if it’s too dry.

Finally, add the white chocolate chips and peanut butter chips and stir.

Roll or spoon out golf ball sized balls onto a cookie sheet, about 2 inches apart.  They spread but not tons.

Bake at 325F for approximately 10-12 minutes.  (I like very underdone and soft cookies so I baked for 10 minutes)  The cookies will look pretty raw even at 12 minutes and that’s ok.  Take them out and let the sit and cool well before eating.

Yields: 22 to 24 cookies