Low Carb White Chicken Chili

Chili has always been a favorite of mine. When looking for healthier options for some of my favorite meals, I discovered White Chicken Chili. Actually after I started making this I have pretty much decided not to go back to regular ground beef chili unless I just really have a craving for it.

Low Carb White Chicken Chili
Ingredients:
3 15 oz. cans white beans
1 pound chicken breast
1 5 oz. can green chiles
1 15 oz. can tomato sauce
1/4 cup chili powder
1 tsp of coriander
4 cups reduced sodium chicken broth
2 cups cheddar cheese, grated
Salt and Pepper to taste

The best way I have found to cook chicken breast is in the crock pot for 3-4 hours on high. By the time it is finished, it will be falling apart--a great sign to good chicken! Shred the cooked chicken and combine with beans, chiles, tomato sauce, chili powder, coriander and broth in large pot. Stir ingredients well and place on stove on medium-high heat until contents begin to boil. Add cheese and cut heat down to low. Once the cheese is melted, it's ready to serve!

Enjoy!

Healthy Baked Ziti

Love me some pasta. But I also love me some skinny jeans. Decisions, decisions.

Luckily, this dish doesn't have me squeezing into my stretchy pants after I eat a couple of servings. It's fairly light and even the pasta is good for you. Read that again...pasta...good for you. Nom, nom, nom.

Healthy Baked Ziti

1 14 1/2 oz box whole wheat penne pasta

1 pound ground beef (or ground sausage for GREAT flavor, but also adds more fat)

1 tsp. Italian seasoning1 15 oz container fat-free ricotta cheese4 cups finely shredded reduced-fat mozzarella cheese (save one cup for topping)1/2 tsp. garlic powder4 cups of a low-fat, low-sodium marinara sauce6 oz. grated reduced-fat Parmesan cheese (save three tablespoons for topping)Salt to taste

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. Bring pot of water to a boil and add pasta. Cook until soft, set aside. Brown ground beef or sausage in pan. Combine pasta, meat, seasoning, ricotta, three cups of mozzarella, garlic powder, marinara, salt and all but three tablespoons of Parmesan cheese. Mix well. Place mixture in a 9x13 casserole dish and cook for approximately 15 minutes or until ingredients begin to bubble. Remove and top with remaining Parmesan and mozzarella. Return to oven for 5 minutes.

Enjoy!

Grilled Salmon and Sauteed Veggies

Getting a home cooked meal on the table some days is difficult. Getting a healthy meal on the table is almost laughable. I really do strive to give my family the healthiest meals but there are times when a drive-thru run or something with the word "nugget" in it is about all I can do.

This weekend I made a great grilled salmon and sauteed veggies that were incredibly easy and didn't take a lot of time. First, I warmed my grill to about 375 degrees. While I waited, I wrapped about four ounces of salmon in aluminum foil. If you don't have a scale, four ounces is roughly the size of your palm. I did four ounces for each person. After the grill was warm I placed the wrapped salmon on the grill and left it for about 25 minutes. We left our salmon "naked," but you can certainly add your favorite spices or a few squeezes of lemon. Diced tomatoes are also a great addition!

While the salmon sizzled on the grilled, I sliced up one zucchini and several mushrooms. In a medium frying pan I circled some EVOO around the pan twice and set to medium high heat. Once the pan was warm, I sauteed the veggies for about 5-10 minutes. I like my veggies cooked pretty well so mine are a little dark, but you can always go a little lighter if you prefer.

I was pretty stuffed just from this but a sweet potato would have been a great healthy starch to add for those with a bigger appetite.

Better Than Cracker Barrel Hashbrown Casserole

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Burger Seasoning

Warmer weather means one of my favorite things gets to come out to play: the grill. So far we're keeping it simple with burgers and hot dogs, but ribs and bratwursts are sure to follow later this summer. Friday night I tried out this burger seasoning and oh. My. Goodness. I actually skipped putting mustard and ketchup because of the flavor in this bad boy. Most of these seasonings are probably sitting right in your spice rack. No need to purchase expensive pre-made seasonings or many (if any) additional spices.

Burger Seasoning
1/8 cup salt
2 tablespoons paprika
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon garlic salt
1/2 tablespoon cumin
1/2 tablespoon pepper
1/2 tablespoon dried basil
1/2 tablespoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon chili powder (Note: this gives it a bit of a kick. If you've got kids that are not a fan of spicy stuff, you may want to omit this or cut it in half.)

Mix all ingredients in something you can seal--a sandwich bag, Rubbermaid/Tupperware container, etc. Shake well. Sprinkle conservatively over meat and fold in well, continuing to add mixture as you go. You can also use one of these to combine seasoning and meat. Cook to your liking and enjoy! : )

Copycat Chick-fil-A Nuggets

My almost four-year-old, Thomas, could eat his body weight in CFA chicken nuggets if I would let him. At four bucks per kid's meal, that gets a little expensive, not to mention with some of the added stuff in fast food meals, I really don't like to give it to him that often. I was thrilled when I found a recipe online that seemed pretty healthy. The only prob: peanut oil. Since Brian and Dylan are mildly allergic to peanuts, I try not to take too many chances when it comes to peanut stuff and since we all eat the same meals, I wanted to make sure it was something we could all eat. The following recipe doesn't taste exactly like CFA because, well, I'm not CFA, BUT I personally think they taste better and are a bit healthier since they are cooked with canola oil.

Copycat Chick-fil-A Nuggets
1 egg
1 cup skim milk
1 pound boneless chicken breast
1 1/2 flour
2 1/2 tablespoons powdered sugar
3 teaspoons salt
2 1/2 teaspoons pepper
Canola Oil

Combine egg and milk in a medium bowl. Cut chicken into nugget-sized pieces and drop into milk mixture. Place chicken and mixture in refrigerator for a minimum of one hour. Longer is better, but one hour will work. In a one gallon bag, mix flour, powdered sugar, salt and pepper together. Shaking it should mix it pretty well and can be a simple way to get the kids involved in meal prep.
After the chicken is done marinating, place chicken in bag with flour mixture. Shake well and make sure all nuggets are coated with flour. If more flour is needed, sprinkle more into bag and add small increments of sugar, salt and pepper as well.
Place canola oil in medium to large and bring to medium high heat. I usually wait about 10 minutes and then place one test piece of chicken into the oil. If it starts to fry, it's ready. Continue to place chicken pieces in one at a time and be incredibly careful while doing so. Young kiddos should be far away from the frying station. The nuggets do not take long to fry so even while you are placing uncooked nuggets in, you will need to pull golden brown nuggets out.
Allow to cool before serving. These are very hot straight out of the fryer.

Enjoy! : )

Homemade Salsa

I always love heading to any of our local Mexican restaurants in the area, but feeding two adults and three kids gets super expensive. So we occasionally opt for the tacos or enchiladas out of the box (don't judge me) and toss in some store-bought tortilla chips and salsa for some extra yummies. To me there is nothing better than the real stuff in the restaurant so when I got my hands on this recipe from my aunt, I couldn't help but make it in bulk, freeze it and thaw it out when we need some. This is the original recipe, but you can double, triple, etc. if you prefer to prepare in bulk or have a large party.

Homemade Salsa
Two 10 ounce cans diced tomatoes and green chiles
One 28 ounce can whole tomatoes with juice (You can also use diced tomatoes since everything will be blended together)
1/2 cup cilantro leaves
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1 whole jalepeno, chopped (with or without seeds--depends on how spicy you want it!)
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 lime, juiced

Blend ingredients together in blender or food processor. Note: Even this recipe makes A LOT of salsa. Make sure you have a large food processor before starting or split into two mixtures in a blender or small food processor.

Cream Cheese Pie

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Use mixer to cream the cream cheese, add condensed milk and then lemon juice and vanilla slowly (mixing whole time) so you don't get lumps. Pour into graham cracker crust and smooth with spoon or spatula. Chill in refrigerator until set. Overnight is best, but I have thrown it in the freezer when I was short on time.

Best Steak Marinade

Meat is good. Meat with flavor is even better. I love a good, simple steak from time to time, but sometimes my mouth waters for something a little more. This is actually my dad's concoction, but I hope you will enjoy it!

Best Steak Marinade
3/4 bottle of Moore's Original Marinade
1 cup Zesty Italian dressing
Montreal Steak Seasoning

Rub steaks with seasoning. Use pretty liberally for the best flavor. Combine Moore's and Italian dressing in a container or gallon sized Ziploc bag. Place two steaks in marinade for 4-5 hours in refrigerator.

That's it. It's THAT easy. Now grill to your liking, add some awesome sides and enjoy!

My sides:

Bacon Wrapped Asparagus

Ruth Chris' Barbecue Shrimp

Cheddar Bay Biscuits 



Mexican Chicken Casserole

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Enjoy!

Low Carb Taco Soup

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Tomato Basil Soup

The weather has been completely insane in our area lately. First, a snow "storm" hit that completely crippled Atlanta and Birmingham for two days. A few days later I was outside in a t-shirt and flip flops. Two days after that I was bundled up in my house in a sweatshirt and the fire roaring.

For days like the latter, I love a big bowl of soup. This recipe is one of my favorite types of soup. I used to buy the canned stuff, but this recipe kicks those cans' butts and is fairly easy to make.

Tomato Basil Soup
4 fresh tomatoes
4 cups tomato juice
3 teaspoons basil leaves
1/2 stick unsalted butter
1 cup whipping cream
1/4 teaspoon cracked pepper
Salt to taste

 

First, bring a pot of water to a boil. While the water is heating, core four tomatoes. Once the water is bubblin', place tomatoes in pot for about 10 minutes. You should start to see the skins of the tomatoes begin to fall off. Drain and remove the remaining skins.

 

Using a utensil of your choice (I use this from Pampered Chef), mash tomatoes to a consistency of your choosing. You can also dice them but it is pretty messy!

 

 

Combine tomatoes with other ingredients in a pot and bring to a low boil, stirring thoroughly. This recipe makes quite a bit of soup so save room in your refrigerator for leftovers. The great thing is that a day or two later the soup is even better as all the ingredients have continued to fuse together. Yum!

Grilled cheese, tomato basil soup and broccoli

Chicken Tortilla Soup

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