Melts: The Sophisticated Sandwich

Portobello, Broccoli, and Red Pepper Melts (Serves 2)
Inspired by a recipe found here.

I love mushrooms. Bryan had a weird thing with mushrooms or something when he was younger so he kind feared eating them (past tense!) I wanted to make a mushroom dish that has all the wonderful flavors of mushrooms, but also incorporated things I knew Bryan would like. I found this recipe on one of my favorite blogs. It’s great for a quick, low-maintenance weeknight meal or when you want something more than PB&J for lunch. I especially love that this melt is a hearty vegetarian sandwich that is sure to satisfy.

Ingredients:

• 1 small head broccoli, cut into small florets
• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• Salt and black pepper
• 3 portobello mushrooms (stems removed), sliced ½-inch thick
• 1 large red bell pepper, seeded and sliced ½-inch thick
• ¼ cup light mayonnaise
• 1/2 tsp. minced garlic
• 1/2 shallot, minced
• 4 slices of good bread, I used Ezekiel 4:9
• Shredded cheese for sprinkling

Preheat a broiler with a rack placed 4 inches from the heat source.  Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil.  Place the broccoli on the baking sheet, drizzle with the olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Toss to combine.  Broil until the broccoli begins to brown, tossing once or twice, about 4-6 minutes.

Add the sliced mushrooms and peppers to the pan with the broccoli and toss to combine.  Broil, tossing once or twice, until the vegetables are tender, 8-10 minutes more.  Set aside.

Meanwhile, combine the mayonnaise, garlic, and shallot in a small bowl; season with salt and pepper.  Place the slices of bread on a work surface.  Spread each slice of bread with 1 tablespoon of the garlic-mayo mixture.  Top with the cooked vegetables, then the cheese.  Line the baking sheet with a new piece of foil.  Transfer the assembled sandwiches to the baking sheet.  Broil until the cheese is melted and lightly browned, 2-4 minutes.

:: Ashley

It’s so sad that it’s gone.

Creamy Stuffed Chicken
Inspired by this recipe

When I saw this recipe, I just knew that it was going to be good. Ashley says that it’s the best thing I’ve made yet. This is really the kind of recipe that you pull out when you have dinner guests. There are lots of flavors in this dish, and they all blend perfectly to make some of the best chicken you’ll have. This one is a keeper.

Ingredients

• 2 large chicken breasts, flattened as much as possible.
• 4 oz. Cream Cheese, softened
• 3 green onions, thinly sliced
• 1 Tbsp.  chopped fresh parsley
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/3 cup  Annie’s all natural organic barbecue sauce
• 3 Tbsp. apricot preserves
• 1/4 tsp.  hot pepper sauce

Pre-heat oven to 375ºF.

Mix cream cheese, onions, parsley and garlic; spread down centers of chicken breasts. Roll up, starting at one short end of each. Place, seam-sides down, in single layer in shallow pan.

Mix barbecue sauce, preserves and hot pepper sauce; brush 1/4 cup evenly onto chicken.

Bake 35 min. or until chicken is done (165ºF), brushing with remaining barbecue sauce mixture the last 5 min.

To quench a Chinese take-out craving, just add Braggs.

Asian Turkey Meatball with Lime Sesame Dipping Sauce (serves 4)
Inspired by a recipe found here.

I stumbled upon this gem of a recipe exactly when I needed it– while I was craving some not-so-good-for-you Chinese take-out. I never heard of an Asian meatball before. Let me tell you, it’s delicious. The meatballs don’t really need any extra sauce. I would recommend cutting the sauce recipe in half unless you’d like a lot of extras. The meatballs themselves are moist, tender, and full of flavor.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup panko crumbs
• 1-1/4 lbs
• 1 egg
• 1 tbsp ginger, minced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 3 scallions, chopped
• 1 tbsp Bragg’s Liquid Aminos
• 2 tsp sesame oil

For the Dipping Sauce:

• 4 tbsp Bragg’s Liquid Aminos
• 2 tsp sesame oil
• 2 tbsp fresh lime juice
• 2 tbsp water
• 1 chopped fresh scallion

Preheat oven to 500°F. Mix ground turkey, panko, egg, salt, scallions, ginger, cilantro, 1 tbsp soy sauce, and 2 tsp oil and mix with your hands until combined well. Shape 1/4 cup meat mixture into a ball and transfer to a baking dish. Repeat with remaining mixture. Bake until cooked through, about 15 minutes.For the dipping sauce mix together lime juice, water, soy sauce, and remaining 2 teaspoons of oil in a bowl. Add scallions. Serve meatballs over brown rice. Stir sauce, then drizzle meatballs with 1 tablespoon sauce. Serve with remaining sauce.::Ashley

Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it.

As I cooked this meal, Ashley told me how gross it looked. Every holiday season Wawa has their turkey gobbler sandwich. I absolutely love this, and it’s quite often my cheat meal every holiday. Perhaps it’s all of this apple cider that’s put me into a fall mood, but I was really craving a Wawa gobbler. For those of you who don’t know, it’s a hoagie that contains turkey and gravy, cranberry sauce, cheese and stuffing. Everyone always tells me it sounds disgusting, but you really have to try it, it’s one of my favorites. Wanting to make a healthy version, I decided I would combine these flavors into a casserole. I used chicken instead of turkey, simply because we get a great deal on chicken and have a lot of it to spare. I made Ashley a believer, and now I hope to convert some others.

Holiday Casserole

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lbs cooked and cubed chicken or turkey
• 1 can of gravy
• 1 can of jellied cranberry sauce
• 1 can of cream of chicken or cream of mushroom soup
• 8 ounces cooked green beans
• 1/2 white onion (sauteed beforehand)
• 5 slices Ezekiel bread (torn up into roughly 1 inch pieces)
• 4 ounces Mozzarella cheese

At the bottom of a casserole dish, mix the onion, Ezekiel bread, and gravy. Use just enough gravy to get all of the bread moist and mushy. Level it out evenly on the bottom of the pan. Layer the cubed chicken evenly on top, and then mix the green beans and soup together, and layer that on top of the chicken. Slice the cranberry sauce thinly, and layer over the casserole. Now sprinkle the cheese evenly over the whole thing. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes uncovered, and then switch to broil and watch closely until cheese is browned to your liking.

– Bryan

An apple a day.

Every Sunday the park next to our house hosts a farmer’s market. At this farmer’s market is a stand that sells apple cider slushies and an apple butter that has become somewhat of an obsession of mine. This has really put me in the mood for apple cider, so of course I had to make a meal out of it. This is a really unique and flavorful dish that brings back lots of great fall food memories, even if I’m eating it in the summer.

Apple cider chicken
Inspired by this recipe

Ingredients

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, (1-1 1/4 pounds total)
• Salt & freshly ground pepper
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, divided
• 2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and thickly sliced
• 1/4 cup finely chopped shallots
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 cup apple cider
• 1/2 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 1 tablespoon reduced-fat sour cream
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

Season chicken on both sides with salt and pepper. Heat 1 1/2 teaspoons oil in a large heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken and sear until well browned on both sides, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer chicken to a plate and tent with foil.

Reduce heat to medium. Add the remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons oil to the pan. Add apples, shallots and thyme. Cook, stirring, until softened, 2 to 3 minutes. Add cider and broth; bring to a simmer. Cook until slightly thickened, about 3 minutes.

Return chicken and juices to pan; reduce heat to low. Simmer until chicken is cooked through, about 4 minutes. Transfer chicken to a warmed platter. Stir sour cream and parsley into sauce. Season with salt and pepper and spoon over chicken.

-Bryan

 

The whole enchilada … is tasty

Chicken enchilada

Inspired by this recipe

I recently stumbled upon a recipe for coconut flour tortillas, and I knew that I needed to try it. I first considered a taco, but decided that I wanted to do something a little more exciting. The enchilada is just that … exciting and delicious. The sauce in an enchilada is enough to make my taste buds start doing a dance around a sombrero to the mariachi music that I suddenly start hearing in my head. I was very happy with the way the dish turned out, especially using the coconut flour tortillas for the first time.

Tortilla recipe can be found here

Ingredients

 

• 1-1/2 cups (12 ounces) reduced-fat sour cream
• 1 can (10-3/4 ounces) reduced-fat reduced-sodium condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted
• 1 can (4 ounces) chopped green chilies
• 1 can (2-1/4 ounces) sliced ripe olives, drained
• 4 cups cubed cooked chicken breast
• 8 ounces mexican cheese blend, divided in half
• 8 coconut flour tortillas

Mix the sour cream, soup, chilies and olives. Set aside 1-1/2 cups for topping. Add the chicken, and 4 ounces of cheese blend to the remaining soup mixture. Spoon evenly into the tortillas, and wrap. Place seam side down into a pan and spoon remaining soup mixture over the top of the tortillas.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes uncovered, and then sprinkle with remaining cheese and bake for another 15 minutes. 

– Bryan

What did the tortilla say to the pepper? My fajita killing me.

Coconut flour tortillas

This is a really great find. These tortillas can be used for all sorts of things, they can also be made thicker to make a flatbread or pizza crust, and can probably be done real thin to make chips (I have yet to try that). They can be used in place of a tortilla for Mexican food, in a wrap, or even as a crepe. They’re incredibly healthy, and super low calorie. I plan on using these often in the future.

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon coconut flour
• 1/16 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 egg whites
• 2 tablespoons water or coconut milk*
• coconut oil or spray can of olive oil

Mix all of the ingredients except the oil in a bowl until there are no more clumps. Use the oil to grease a pan well over medium high heat. Pour the mixture onto the pan and rotate around to spread thin like a tortilla. Once it starts to firm up and brown on the bottom, flip until other side is browned. Once they’re done, let your creativity decide what to do with them.

– Bryan

I watched The Frog Princess and was inspired.

Jambalaya Bake (serves 6)
Inspired by a recipe found here.

I recently saw The Frog Princess for the first time. What a great movie! I wasn’t sure it could contend with the classics, but Disney really did a great job with the movie. It’s modern, but timeless and I just really loved it (probably more than Natalie.) Anyway, I wanted to make jambalaya. This is a gluten and dairy free version, and I altered the recipe to include chicken instead of bison and omitted some things I just didn’t have on hand. It’s a nice warm meal that would have been paired nicely with a nice fresh, crispy baguette if it wasn’t for Bryan and his pesky aversion to bread… 🙂

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp coconut oil
• 1 lb chicken breast
• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 1/2 tsp minced garlic
• 28 oz can of diced tomatoes with juice
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 1 large green pepper, diced
• 3 stalks celery, diced
• 3/4 cup brown or par-boiled rice
• 1 tbsp fresh parsley
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp braggs soy sauce
• 3/4 cup water
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper

Preheat oven to 400F. In a large frying pan, combine coconut oil, chicken, onion, and garlic. Cook on medium heat until meat is no longer pink. Combine all remaining ingredients in a 2.3L casserole dish. Add chicken and mix. Cover and cook for 75-80 minutes, or until rice is cooked and water is absorbed.

A simple breakfast idea.

Somewhere in our house is a cable to plug the camera into the computer. I have a suspicion that the resident baby has taken it hostage.  We made a pretty great dinner today that we will have to post sometime soon. For now we offer you this really simple breakfast side dish that tastes incredible. Don’t let the simplicity fool you, it’s full of flavor.

Yam Homefries

Ingredients

• Yams, peeled and sliced into 1/8 inch thick slices
• Coconut oil or olive oil to grease the pan

All you do is put the yams into a pan with a thin layer of the oil and cook over medium heat. It will take awhile, but you will know they are done when they really start browning and crisping up. They taste great plain, but they’re also good with seasonings. Some of my favorites are cinnamon, onion and herb blend, or chili powder. You’ll really be surprised by how delicious something so simple is.

– Bryan

Pancakes, the new healthy breakfast

Protein Pancakes

Of all of the recipes in my arsenal, this particular one is the one that I am the most proud of. This is my own recipe that I invented, which makes it very special to me. They’re also incredibly delicious and healthy. Your average stack of 10 pancakes (yes, I said 10) is about 1200 calories, and contains pretty much no nutritional value whatsoever. It’s all just flour, which is one of the worst things for you. This recipe, which makes about 10 pancakes, is somewhere around 500 calories, and over 50 grams of protein for the whole batch. It took me many mornings of dry, awful pancakes before I perfected this recipe, but now I feel that it is even better than normal pancakes. Without further ado, I present to you my protein pancakes recipe. Enjoy.

Ingredients

• 3 egg whites and 1 whole egg
• 3 tbsp milk
• 1 tbsp cinnamon
• 1/2 cup oats
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 whole banana
• 1 scoop vanilla protein powder (I use dymatize elite xt brand. I’ve tried optimum 100% whey and it didn’t come out right, so I would suggest a casein or blend protein rather than a whey)
• coconut oil

Combine all of the ingredients, excluding the coconut oil, in a blender or food processor. I use a personal blender like this …

Blend all of the ingredients until the chunks are gone, and then pour onto a greased pan in pancake circles. Cook over medium heat, flipping when each pancake starts to bubble on the top. It won’t take long at all for them to cook.

I like to drizzle them with a little bit of coconut oil to serve, although I’m sure many maple syrup advocates would stone me for that. They taste so good that I don’t think they need syrup, just a little coconut oil. Those wanting a maple syrup taste may want to experiment with maple syrup extract flavoring. These pancakes are a regular occurring breakfast in our house. I absolutely love them.

– Bryan