Taco Salad

Ok, I know everyone knows how to make Taco Salad, right?  Right.  But like I said before this blog is mainly for me to archive all my favorite recipes so when I'm looking for something to make, it's right there in the salad section!!!  I'm sure everyone has a favorite way to make their taco salad as well, but if your interested, here is my favorite:

Tortilla Chips
1 lb ground beef
1 Taco Seasoning (low sodium) Packet
Shredded Cheese
Salsa
Sour Cream
Lettuce
Avacodo
Green Onions
Tomatos
Catalina Dressing (light is great)
Just brown your ground beef, drain fat, then add in your Taco Seasoning and 3/4 Cup water.  Return to a boil then turn down and simmer for 5 min.  Then start with your tortilla chips on the bottom and start layering your favorites!  I like mine layered in the order listed above.  And for some reason I think the CATALINA DRESSING is a MUST for taco salad!  It just enhances the dish!  Love it!

Peanut Ginger Chicken with Mango Salsa and Coconut Rice

I love that I have friends that email me recipes that they think I would love, especially when it involves peanut butter.  This fancy looking dish is Fan-tabulous!  And let me tell you, the coconut rice, is a must!!  It is soooooo soft and sweet and delicious, and I'm not normally a rice lover!    This recipe comes from on of my original food blog stalking days:  The Sisters Cafe!  Love them!!

The Pretty Salsa:

 Just throw your marinated chicken on a foil lined broiling pan, and throw it in for easy clean up!

It looks a little intimidating with all the steps, but I promise it comes together really easily if you follow these steps!!

Step 1 – make the marinade the night before or that morning and put the raw chicken in it.

Step 2 – chop up the mango and cucumber and mix up the salsa that afternoon.

Step 3 – just before dinner, put the rice on to cook.

Step 4 – cook the chicken.

Peanut-Ginger Chicken Marinade

6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (I prefer using most of a 3-lb bag of defrosted chicken tenderloins)
½ cup boiling water
½ cup creamy peanut butter
¼ cup bottled chili sauce
3 T. soy sauce
2 T. olive oil
2 T. vinegar
1 T. grated fresh ginger or 1 t. ground ginger (I use fresh)

In a medium mixing bowl, gradually stir water into peanut butter. (The mixture will stiffen at first.) Stir in chili sauce, soy sauce, olive oil, vinegar, and ginger. Add chicken; stir to coat it with marinade. Chill in refrigerator for at least 12 hours.

Mango Salsa
1 cup chopped fresh mango
1 cup peeled, seeded, and diced cucumber
3 ½ T. sugar
1 T. canola or olive oil
1 T. vinegar
1 T. lime juice
½ c. fresh cilantro, chopped

In a medium mixing bowl, combine chopped mango, cilantro, cucumber, sugar, olive oil, vinegar, and lime juice. Cover and chill in refrigerator for at least 1 hour or up to 2 hours.

Coconut Rice
2 c. coconut milk
1 ½ c. white rice
1 c. water
3 ½ T. sugar
½ t. salt

Combine the coconut milk, rice, water, sugar, and salt for the rice in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, stir once, then cover and cook for 18-20 minutes, or until rice is tender. Fluff with a fork, cover, and keep warm until serving. (You can also use your rice cooker.)

To Serve
At dinner time, grill the chicken. Or, in my case, I layered the chicken in a broiler-safe pan lined with tin foil (I spooned the excess marinade over the chicken) and put it 10-12 inches under the broiler for 5-7 minutes on both sides. The chicken should have slightly blackened edges.   Chicken baked this way always turns out moist and tender for me. Serve chicken with the mango salsa over the hot coconut rice. Makes 6 servings.

BBQ Cilantro Lime Dressing

This dressing is Fabulous.  I've been eating one of my favorite salads (BBQ Chicken Salad) with plain old ranch forever and I thought it was just fine!  UNTIL, my good friend Megan told me about this BBQ cilantro Lime Dressing that is a must on this salad.  So I finally gave it a whirl, and will never turn back!  It's fabulous!  And soo easy to make!

 And enjoy it on this salad:  BBQ CHICKEN SALAD

1 Cup Mayonnaise
1/3 Cup milk
1/3 buttermilk
2 Tblsp fresh cilantro, finely chopped
1 Tblsp fresh lime juice
1 tsp white vinegar
1 tsp white sugar
1 garlic clove finely minced
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1/8 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/4 to 1/2 cup BBQ sauce ( I like sweet baby rays)

Combine all ingredients in blender and blend until smooth.  Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Lettuce Wraps

You know what I love about Pinterest?  I can pull up a few of recipes for the same dish, side by side and pick and choose the ingredients I want in my dinner!  I have options!  I love it.  And this combination of two PF Chang Lettuce Wraps is no different.  I loved the combination I put together!  So enjoy!!

1 tbls coconut oil or olive oil

1lb ground chicken breast

1/2 medium onion, minced

1/2 green bell pepper chopped

salt & pepper, a dash of each

2 large cloves garlic, minced

1 inch nob fresh ginger, peeled & minced or 1/2 tsp ground ginger

1 Tablespoon sesame oil

2 1/2 Tablespoons soy sauce

1/2 Tablespoon water

1 Tablespoon natural peanut butter

1/2 Tablespoon honey

1 Tablespoons + 1 teaspoon rice vinegar

2 teaspoons chili garlic sauce (or more if you like it hotter) or 1/2 tsp chilli powder

dash of fresh pepper

3 green onions, chopped

1/2-8oz can sliced water chestnuts, drained & chopped - optional (I didn't use)

1/4 cup peanuts, chopped - optional

10-12 large outer lettuce leaves, rinsed and patted dry

Directions:

1. Heat a large, non-stick skillet on high with oil.  Add your chopped onion and pepper and saute until crisp tender.  Then add garlic and cook one minute.  Add chicken, salt & pepper, and cook until chicken is nearly done, stirring often to break up the meat.  Add ginger, and continue cooking until chicken is no longer pink.

2. Meanwhile, in a microwave safe bowl, combine sesame oil, soy sauce, water, peanut butter, honey, rice vinegar, chili garlic sauce and pepper. Microwave for 20 seconds, then stir until smooth. Add into the skillet and stir to combine. 

3 Add green onion and water chestnuts into the skillet then cook for 1-2 minutes until the onions are soft and the water chestnuts are heated through. 

4. Sprinkle with chopped peanuts, and serve with cold lettuce leaves.

YUMMY!  And LIGHT!!!

Peanut Butter Banana Bread Muffins

Darn Pinterest.  Darn, Darn, Darn.  There is WAY too many things posted on that site and it makes me want to make it all!  Today I had 3 ripe bananas sitting on my counter so I pulled up Pinterest and the first thing that caught my eyes were these because the word PEANUT BUTTER was  right next to the word Banana.  And if you know anything about me and Peanut Butter, we are like best friends!!!  One of my most favorite treats in the world is yes, Peanut Butter!  So what's even better?  A warm banana bread muffin with peanutbutter chips soft and gooey inside!!!  Plus these have no oil or butter my friends!

Peanut Butter Banana Bread Muffins

adapted from allrecipes

makes 12-15 muffins

1 cup sugar  ( I used a natural sweetener xylitol)

1 egg

2 cups all-purpose flour ( I used 1 1/2 cup white, 1/2 cup white wheat)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

3 ripe bananas, mashed

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup peanut butter morsel

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place muffin cups in muffin tins

Mix sugar, applesauce, and egg until creamy and light yellow. Add bananas and vanilla. Add flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir until completely smooth. Fold in peanut butter chips. Spoon the batter into the muffin tins.

Bake for 25 minutes, until toothpick poked in center muffin comes out clean.

MICKEY MOUSE!!!

In light of my recent trip to Disney Land with my boys, I had to make these Mickey Mouse Sugar Cookies!  I couldn't resist not buying the cute little cookie cutter when I saw it!  See I even think about food on vacation! It's pathetic!  But heck!  These turned out sooo yummy!  For the black frosting, I actually went to the bakery at Lee's Grocery store and bought a little baggy of their black gel for $0.25 so I could make my frosting REALLY black, an it definitely paid off!  Then I bought a red gel tube so I could draw Minnie's bows!  This is my favorite sugar cookie recipe and frosting just in case you haven't tried it before!!!

Moms Sugar Cookies!!!

Egg In a Hole - Another Breakfast option

Everyone has cut a hole out of their bread and cracked an egg into the hole before right?  We love doing that at our house.  Especially my seven year old.  But I know what it's like when you are looking for a low carb breakfast.  Pinterest is a dangerous thing when you love to cook because I seriously skim over everything until I see a picture of food, then I pin it to my most popular board "Recipes I want to try".  And most of them are probably peanut butter desserts.  Anyways, long story short, I found these yummy eggs in a Pepper ring and thought what a wonderful idea and gave it a try.  They were soooo yummy!  And for those little people out their that really need some substance to get them through school, just put a piece of toast under it for them!

All you do is cut a Green Bell pepper so it keeps it shape.  Heat a saute pan on med and spray with non stick pam spray.  You want to make sure your pan is heated before you crack your egg otherwise it will run all over the place.  Put your pepper on the pan and crack your egg into the pepper.  Sometimes you will need to apply a little pressure on the pepper so it doesn't leak out.  Sprinkle with Salt and Pepper and Parmesian Cheese.  Once it's cooked Really good on the once side, go ahead and flip it and cook to your desired consistency.  Yum!

Peanut Butter Toast with Cottage Cheese

Ok, please don't think I'm weird for this one.  This yummy snack goes back to my college days when I was needing to satisfy my peanut butter craving yet in a healthy option!  I loved this as a go to snack time after time!  And I have plenty of friends always asking what I eat to snack on.  To be honest this is a snack, re-born again.  And it depends if I'm strict paleo or not.  And apparently this day, I was not :)  But enjoy!

Just pop a piece of whole wheat toast (my FAVORITE  honey whole wheat bread is from Aspen Mills, which I get from Rosehill Dairy.  The bakery is actually down in Ogden though)  My husband whines every time we run out and we have to use a store brand.  

Then spread your favorite peanut butter or almond butter and top with a Low Fat Cottage Cheese.  It's as easy as that!!!

  

Italian Veggie Meatball Soup

Well hello there.  I have been a vacationing fool this past month with not a lot of time to cook.  We just got back from Disneyland this go around and had a ball with our 2 older boys!  And let me tell you, eating Paleo was NOT an option when you had to pack in 2 peanut butter sandwiches a person to avoid paying over $100 day on a food!!!!  But hey, it was fun!  This is a CROCKPOT recipe which I know a lot of you look forward to!  Since my boys don't love veggies you want to know what got my oldest boy to actually eat some of this soup, those big fat meatballs in there that he loves so much!  And the noodles (which are totally optional)!!  This had tons of flavor, and look at all those veggies!

1 package 12 ounces frozen fully cooked Italian Meatballs
1 Can diced tomatoes, undrained
3 Cups beef broth
1 Can Kidney Beans, drained and rinsed
1 Medium Zucchini, sliced and quartered
1 Cup Fresh green beans, cut into 1 inch peices
1 Cup Water
2 Medium Carrots sliced
1 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp minced garlic
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp dried oregano
1/8 tsp pepper
3/4 Cup uncooked elbow macaroni
1/4 Cup minced fresh parsley

In a 5 qt crock pot , combine all ingredients except the macaroni and parsley.  Cover and Cook on low for 5-6 hours.  30 minutes or more before you are going to eat, add the macaroni and parley and cook until noodles are tender.  Yummy!!!