Green Curried Chicken and Spinach Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms

This is an awesome and simple meal that’s full of flavor and a heat, a good heat… not too long lasting but just right.  This is a good dish to prep early in the day and cook later on for dinner!

It’s under 400 calories (about 375 ), approx: 19 grams of fat, 40 grams of protein, 4 grams of fiber, and under 10 carbs (mainly complex).

Prep Time: 20 min

Cook Time: 10-25 min

Serves: 2

Ingredients:

• 1/2 lb Ground Chicken Breast
• 2 Large Portobello Caps
• 1 Cup Organic Spinach Packed (Fresh or frozen will do).
• 1/4 Cup Onion, diced
• 1 Garlic Clove, minced
• 1/3 C. Organic Coconut Milk
• 1/2 tsp. Celtic Salt
• 1/2 tsp. Fresh Pepper
• 3 tsp. Green Curry Paste
• 1 tsp. Organic Coconut Oil
• 5 Cashews, chopped

Preparation:

1. Steam Portobello caps for 6 min. Pat dry with paper towel and set aside.
2. In medium skillet on medium high, add coconut oil, onion, and garlic. Cook for 30 seconds.
3. Add ground chicken breast and cook until 90 % done or so.
4. Add curry paste and coconut milk and reduce heat to low, simmering for 10 min. Stirring often.
5. Place a mound of the chicken mixture onto each cap. If you are cooking immediately preheat oven to 350F and bake for 10 min. If you are cooking later, place meal in fridge until ready to cook, when ready, preheat oven to 375 F and cook for 20-25 min or until hot.
6. Top with a pinch of chopped cashews.

Serve with green beans or a salad. 🙂

Tempura Veggies with Awesome Sauce and Voting Polls are Open

We had a sushi night last Saturday and it was amazing! I’m doing a 40 day yoga challenge and one of my commitments was to NOT eat meat… so I haven’t had any meat but some occasional seafood. I’m halfway through it and doing well. 🙂 See the end of post for details on how to vote for my Marx Foods entry!

These tempura veggies are a light and tasty snack or side to a meal.

Serves: 4

Prep: 10 min

Cook: 4 min or until lightly golden

Ingredients for batter: 

• 1 C. Flour
• 1 TBS Corn Starch
• 1 1/2 C. Club Soda
• 1 tsp. Salt
• Peanut oil

Veggies:

You can use what ever veggies you would like. I like sweet potato, bell peppers, Carrots, and Brocoli. Make sure you don’t slice too thick.

Awesome Sauce:

• 1/2 C. Soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp. Sesame oil
• 1 TBS. Green onion
• 5 Thin slices of ginger, fresh
• 1/2 clove of garlic, minced
• 1 tsp. Lime juice
• 2 TBS Rice wine vinegar

Instructions:

1. Slice veggies and make sauce.
2. Heat fryer oil to 375 degrees.
3. Coat veggies in batter, shake off remaining batter and fry for 3-4 min.  Doing small batches at a time.
4. Place on paper towel. Repeat until done.
5. Serve with sauce.

Please vote for my submission to Marx Foods, I made a Chile, Yuzu, and Jasmine Tea Granita, it was DELISH!  The voting polls close Thursday evening! Thank you so much for the support!

Farm Tomato, Hummus, Mozzarella, and Arugula Sando

Arugulaaaa it’s a VEGET-A-BLE 😉

This sandwich is healthy, filling, and delicious. As an added bonus it’s under 300 calories,  254 cals to be exact, high in protein and fiber.I love simple sandwiches like this, especially when I’m tired of the same ole meat and cheese.

Nutrition Info:

• Calories: 254
• Fat: 10 grams
• Carbs: 31 grams
• Protein: 15 grams
• Cholesterol: 30 mg
• Sodium: 386  mg
• Net carbs: 24 grams
• Fiber: 7 grams
• Sugars: 2 grams
• Calcium: 30%

Prep Time: 5 min

Serves: 1

Ingredients:

• 1 Orowheat Sandwich Thin
• 1.5 oz Fresh mozzarella, sliced
• 1 Tomato (small), sliced
• 1 TBS Hummus, I like to make my own.
• .5 C. Arugula

Spread the hummus on the lightly toasted thin, then add tomatoes, mozzarella, and arugula. Done!

Bacon, Kale, and Duck Egg English Muffin Sando

Some mornings call for a “special” breakfast, more than just the typical bowl of cold cereal 🙂 These are easy to make and are sure to please. 

Prep: 10 min

Cook Time: 6 min

Makes: 1 Sando

Ingredients:

• 1-2 Slices of cooked bacon, nitrate free, broken in half
• 1 English muffin, sliced and toasted
• 1 Duck egg
• 3-4 pieces of kale
• 1 TBS yuzu juice
• 1 slice of cheese, your preference or omit all together.
• Salt and pepper
• 1 tsp Butter

Instructions:

1. Heat medium skillet on medium high with butter, crack duck egg into skillet and cook for 2-3 min on each side deppending on how runny you like it 🙂 placing cheese on second side for the remaining 3 min until melted.
2. Wilt kale in yuzu juice for about 2 min tops in separate skillet.
3. Assemble sando, muffin, egg,cheese, bacon, kale, and muffin top 😉

Enjoy and Cheers!

Zesty Black Bean & Chicken Nacho Mammas

I’ve been craving nachos lately, good nachos, not the nasty greasy restaurant kind (although there is a time and place for those as well). 🙂 I figured I’d make us this today for a good Saturday lunch at home. It’s super easy and ALMOST impossible to f’ up! 😉  

Prep Time: 10-15 min

Cook Time: 15-20 min

Serves: 2-3 (Pictured: is just one plate, it makes two).

Ingredients

• 1 Chicken breast, cubed and cooked in the seasoning of your choice. I do a chili powder, granulated garlic, salt, pepper, and cumin. Lime is nice too.
• Tortilla chips
• Cheese, your choice. I like a blend.
• 1 C. Black beans, cooked
• 1/2 C. Tomato, diced
• 1 Serrano, sliced (you can use japs if you like less heat).
• 1/4 C. Onion, diced
• Green onion, chopped
• Limes

The rest is simple:

1. Preheat oven to 375 F.
2. Cook chicken until done.
3. Lay out chips on an oven proof plate or pan. Sprinkle lightly with cheese, add beans, chicken, and more cheese.
4. Bake for 10-12 min.
5. Top with veggies and squeeze lime on top.
6. Serve with your fav sauce or crema.  We used our friends award winning Salsa Verde, she was in the Taco Experiment with us and placed first audience pick, and for good reason! 

Enjoy and Cheers!

Snowballs for Santa… Friends and Family in Texas!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of my foodie friends! I hope you all have tons of great food and drinks with your families! We are packing up the house as I speak, but still finding time for good food and family time. Tonight I’m making quail,  risotto, and brussel sprouts. My Dad’s making shrimp cocktail to start off the meal 🙂 Of course we will be having these little snowball cookies for dessert, if Santa is lucky there may be a few left for him…

These are great and easy little cookies that are great for Christmas time!

Prep: 10 min

Cook: 20-25 min

Servings: 45-50 cookies

Ingredients:

• 2 C. Butter
• 2/3 C. Sugar, granulated
• 4 tsp. Vanilla extract
• 4 tsp. Water
• 4 C. Flour
• 2/3 C. Powdered sugar
• 1.5 C. Pecan pieces

Instructions:

1. Pre-Heat oven to 325 F.
2. Cream butter and sugar until fluffy with hand mixer.
3. Add vanilla and water and cream again.
4. Add Four and pecans and mix well with a spoon or hands.
5. Roll into little balls with hands and keeps as balls.
6. Place on cookie sheet and bake for 20-25 min or until done.
7. Let cool for 15 -20 min and roll in powdered sugar.

Enjoy! Cheers!

Grilled Chicken Club with Sweet Potato Chips AND Give-Away Winner Revealed!

I’ve been on a sandwich kick lately, it’s easy and the possibilities are endless. I knew there was a slight chance we would have some trick-or-treaters last night so I didn’t want to get too busy in the kitchen just in case… Well we had 2 groups, about a total of 8 kids so it wasn’t very eventful. Evan and I ate more candy than we gave out… as suspected 🙂 Below I’ll post what we dressed up as over the weekend!

Prep: 15 min

Cook: 15 min (depending on thickness of chicken).

Serves: 2

Ingredients:

• 2 Free range chicken breasts, pounded flat with a mallet to desired size.
• 4 Slices of cooked natural bacon, nitrate free.
• 4 Slices of nice bread, your choice ( I used a 9 grain).
• 1 Sweet potato
• 2 TBS Olive oil mayo
• 1 Lemon, juiced into mayo
• 1 tsp ZBD Fine Herb Blend
• 1 – 3 TBS butter for bread toasting and cooking chicken
• Purple onion (however much you like)
• Roma tomato (however much you like)
• Spinach (however much you like)
• 1 TBS Olive oil to brush on potato slices
• 2 Slices of sharp cheddar

Instructions:

1. Pre-Heat oven to 400 F. Slice sweet potato on a mandolin, very thin into rounds. Line rounds on a greased foiled tray and lightly baste with olive oil, sprinkle with sea salt. Cook for about 15-20 min or until done. Once almost done add cheese to melt onto chicken.
2. In some butter cook chicken breast in large skillet on medium, season with salt and pepper.
3. Slice produce that goes on sandwich.
4. Toast bread lightly then add sliced to a large skillet with a bit of butter to finish the bread off.
5. Mix up a quick aioli with mayo, lemon juice, and ZBD fine herb blend.
6. Assemble sandwiches bread, chicken, cheese, onion, tomato, spinach, bacon, bread. Stick a tooth pick in it and there you have it!
7. Pull chips from oven and serve with sandwich, we like to dip our chips in a yogurt based dressing like caesar or ranch.

Cheers!

The Random Subscriber Winner is…

Rufus’ Food and Spirits Guide!  Congrats!

You won a jar of ZestyBeanDog Fine Herb Blend before you can buy it! Message me with your shipping address, jendaugherty2010@gmail.com

Halloween Fun… can anyone guess who we were? I sewed Evan’s costume from scratch very last min…about 5 hours before the party, talk about last min!!! 🙂

Fancy Pants Capicola Grilled Cheese with an Arugula and Kale Salad

So I’m on a grilled cheese kick if you haven’t noticed, so simple and so good… How could you not LOVE fancy pants grilled cheeses (I guess if you didn’t care for cheese *GASP*)? 🙂

Prep: 3 min

Cook: 5 min

Serves: 1

Ingredients:

• 2 Slices of 9 Grain bakery bread
• Butter, or substitute like Earth Balance
• 2 Slices of cheddar cheese, I did use 2% milk cheese, regular cheddar is great too! 😉
• 1 Slice of Capicola
• 1 Pinch ZestyBeanDog Fine Herb Blend (coming VERY soon for purchase 🙂 ).
• 1 Handful of kale (stems removed) and one handful of arugula
• Your favorite dressing, I made a lemon herb cesar to go with mine.

Instructions:

1. Heat small skillet to medium high, butter bread on one side of each slice, layer : Bread, cheese, capicola, cheese, bread. Cook for 2 min on each side or until golden, sprinkle with ZBD fine herb blend and kosher salt.
2. Enjoy with your kale and arugula salad!

Cheers!

Grilled Cheese on Rosemary Bread with Sauteed Kale

Easy Sunday Lunch!

Prep: 5 min

Cook: 5-1o min

Serves: 2

Ingredients:

• 4 Slices of rosemary bread from local bakery
• 4 slices of provolone cheese
• Butter or butter substitute like Earth Balance
• 1 tsp Zestybeandog Fine Herb Blend
• 1 Bunch of kale, chopped (remove stem).
• 1 Garlic clove, minced
• 1 Shallot, minced (or 1 TBS shallot).
• 1 TBS Olive oil
• 1 Lemon, juiced
• Salt and pepper

Instructions:

1. Heat 2 large skillets on med high.
2. Butter bread and place 2 slices of provolone in between, grill until golden brown on each side and sprinkle with ZBD herb blend.
3. While cooking grilled cheeses: Add olive oil to other skillet and saute garlic and shallots for 30 sec, add kale and lemon juice and cook for about 5-10 min, salt and pepper at end (a pinch of each).
4. If you are feeling saucy and want to take your grilled cheese to the next dimension… add a pinch of black truffle salt (a decent quality salt) to the grilled cheeses!

Enjoy!

Chicken, Spinach, and Arugula Cesar Salad with Homemade Croutons

Easy and delicious salad (that even dudes like).  I’m not a huge fan of romaine lettuce so I used baby spinach and arugula and it was great!

Prep: 5 min

Cook: 10-15 min

Serves: 2

Ingredients:

• 2 Chicken breasts, raw
• 2 C. Arugula
• 2 C. Spinach
• 1/4 C. Parmesan cheese, grated
• 1/4 Loaf of french bread, frozen or a few days old is best, so it’s hardened
• 2 TBS Olive oil
• 1/2 TBS Zestybeandog Fine Herb Blend
• Sea salt, pepper, and extra herb blend for chicken.
• Cesar dressing, I use Annie’s Naturals Cesar Dressing and add more lemon juice, pepper, salt, and parmesan to taste. Or you could make your own, I was going to BUT I’m fresh out of anchovies… 🙂

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Cut up bread into crouton sized chunks, take olive oil and “baste” on to bread, sprinkle with herb blend and salt. Bake until golden (5-8 min) watch them!
3. Season chicken breasts with herb blend, salt, and pepper. Cook in medium skillet on medium with olive oil or butter (not much about a TBS) until done.
4. Mix up arugula and spinach and separate into two bowls. Add cooked chicken, croutons, and dressing to top of salad. Sprinkle top of salad with parmesan cheese and fresh ground pepper. Enjoy

Cheers!