BBQ Baked Beans & Smoked Turkey Sausage

Adapted from EatingWell

I love the Eating Well website...I just type in the ingredients I have and delicious recipes pop up. I made this into a 4 ingredient dish which is about as easy as it gets. Something simple when you don't have a lot of food at home.

Ingredients:
14 oz smoked turkey sausage
15 oz can of ranch style pinto beans
1/4 cup smoked BBQ sauce
8 oz frozen chopped spinach

Directions:
Chop the turkey sausage into bite size pieces and cook in a skillet on medium-high heat until brown. While the turkey sausage is cooking, thaw and drain the frozen spinach of any water.

Once the turkey sausage pieces are browned add the pinto beans (drained, but not rinsed), the thawed spinach and BBQ sauce. Cook on medium heat until heated through, about 1 minute.

Quick Chicken Cordon Bleu

Adapted from EatingWell

Picture from EatingWell website

Ingredients:
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast cut in halves horizontally (so the breasts are thinner)
1/3 Gruyere or Swiss cheese
2 tbsp reduced-fat cream cheese
1/2 cup dry whole-wheat breadcrumbs
1 tbsp chopped parsley
1 tbsp & 3 tsp olive oil, divided
1/4 cup chopped ham or bacon or Canadian bacon
Salt & Pepper to taste

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350.

Season both sides of each chicken breast half with salt & pepper. Combine cheese and cream cheese in a bowl. Combine bread crumbs, parsley and 3 tsp olive oil in another bowl.

Heat the 1 tbsp olive oil in a large ovenproof non-stick skillet over medium heat. Cook the chicken until browned on both sides, about 1 minute per side. Move chicken to center of skillet so all pieces are touching. Spread with cheese mixture, sprinkle with ham and top with breadcrumb mixture.

Bake until the chicken is no longer pink in the center, about 7 - 10 minutes depending on the thickness of your breasts.

Traditional Black Beans

Adapted from the recipe on Bush Black Beans - Seasoned Recipe can

This makes for a great side dish. We served it with mixed sautéed veggies and nicely grilled steaks thanks to my husband.

Ingredients:
1 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 small green bell pepper, chopped
1/2 can italian chopped tomatoes (not drained)
1 can black beans, seasoned recipe (drained, but not rinsed)
1/2 tsp thyme
1 tsp garlic salt

Directions:
In large skillet, heat olive oil. Cook onion and green pepper until tender on medium-high heat. Stir in tomatoes, beans, thyme, and garlic salt and cook for an additional 10 minutes on medium heat (or until most of the liquid is gone).

Franconia Brewery - McKinney, TX

Nothing like a brewery tour to start off your Saturday! The Brew Master behind Franconia is Germany born Dennis Wehrmann. He hosts tours every Saturday at 11am. Today was a beautiful day in Texas around 75 degrees and a lot of people came out for the tour. I estimate there were around 100 people that showed up which seemed like a lot since I anticipated only around 10. The brewery is pretty small, so it was difficult to fit everyone in the building in each room at once, but we managed to make it happen.

The tour begins the best way in can...Dennis introduces himself and shows us the way to the beer! Franconia has three main brews; a larger, wheat and dunkel. We were able to try large glasses of all three kinds (that's right they definitely aren't stingy when it comes to trying out the beer).

The wheat beer tasted like you would expect, with slightly sweet flavors. The lager was smooth and had more flavor than a lot of lagers out there. The dunkel was interesting. It's a dark brew lager that was much more drinkable than it looked. I really wish I would have taken pictures of the beer...oh well, I guess that just means I will need to go back! Anyways I could smell and taste coffee and chocolate flavors and it was quite nice.

Dennis did a great job explaining the process of brewing the beer and all the ingredients and work that goes in to each barrel. He has a great personality and made the tour very enjoyable. If anyone lives in the area I highly recommend checking this place out if your a beer drinker! They currently don't sell bottles of their beer YET, but are working on it. For now you can enjoy a glass at local pubs in Mckinney, Frisco, Plano and other surrounding cities.

Interesting Fact: Franconia is one of the only two breweries in the DFW area. It's a shame, I know. The other one is Rahr in Fort Worth.

 

100 Calorie Packs

Hey guys, sorry no new recipe today...instead I'd like to vent a little about all the 100 calorie packs of snack food...especially the ones you find on the cookie/cracker aisle or bread aisle. 

So recently my work bought a bunch of "healthy" snack foods to give out for client appreciation and St Patricks day. Well all I can say is they are addicting...and I decided to buy some to keep at home. BIG MISTAKE. I'm the type of person that can't keep many snacks at home, especially things like this b/c I will eat too many of them! I want to try them all, UGH! 

Also I believe the 100 calorie packs are just deceiving. Yes they are portion controlled and convenient, but are they really healthy? They actually offer very little nutritional value and are still loaded with sugar, flour and other not so good ingredients (when eaten in abundance). Before my big mistake of partaking in the recent purchase of portion control packs, I had been eating fruits, veggies, nuts and an occasional string cheese for snacks and I have to tell you I felt MUCH better then. On top of that I wasn't near as tempted to overeat. So I'm going to have my hubby take all the snack packs we have left at home to his work and get them out of my sight! LOL

So you may be asking yourself what got me so worked up about this, huh? Well as embarrassing as it is I will tell you. I bought the snack packs on Wednesday and it is now Friday. I have had 3 packages each day. Yes 3. I don't think that's what your supposed to do lol. Well I got home from work today and my Friday night plans had been canceled so I was a little bummed...so I decided to eat. Yes I'm an emotional eater. 3 snack packs later (b/c that's the only thing sweet we had in the house) I was felling pretty miserable. I sat on the couch reading a weight-loss book and thinking oh what have I done. I finally talked myself into going to the gym...FINALLY a good decision! 600 calories burned later I feel better, but still pretty ridiculous of my recent snack choices. 

So basically the moral of the story is choose your snacks wisely! :)    

Lemony Orzo-Veggie Salad with Chicken

Adapted from CookingLight

Nice light lunch or dinner. I think I prefer it warm (which I included instructions for), but it's nice cold as well. Only around 300 calories per serving and it makes 4 servings.

Ingredients:
1 cup uncooked orzo
6 tbs fresh lemon juice
1 tbs extra-virgin oil oil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp honey or agave nectar
1 tsp black pepper
1 1/2 cup shredded rotisserie chicken breast (skinless)
1 cucumber, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1/3 cup sliced green onions
1/2 cup (2 ounces) crumbled goat cheese

Directions:
Cook orzo according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain and rinse with cold water; drain and place in large bowl.

While orzo cooks, combine lemon juice and next 5 ingredients (through black pepper), stirring well with a whisk. Drizzle juice mixture over orzo; toss to coat. Add chicken, cucumber, bell pepper and onions; toss gently to combine. Sprinkle with cheese.

I ended up adding a little extra salt & lemon pepper to my plate, but it all depends on your taste.

Hot Method: Do not rinse orzo. Lightly saute red bell pepper, cucumber, and chicken in skillet with cooking spray until warm. Toss with orzo and juice mixture (warmed in the microwave); then sprinkle with cheese.

Spicy Apricot-Lemon Chicken

Adapted from MyRecipes

I like sweet and spicy so I thought this chicken recipe was pretty tasty. Another easy recipe I will surely make again. I served the chicken with steamed broccoli (seasoned with lemon pepper & salt) and baked sweet potato fries. Yum!

Ingredients:

4 - 6 oz skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

1/3 cup apricot preserves

2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

2 tbsp water

1 tbsp olive oil

Red pepper flakes

Pepper

Salt

Directions:

Sprinkle both sides of chicken with salt, pepper & the red pepper flakes (to taste).

Place large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat and heat the olive oil.  Cook chicken until done, about 5 minutes on each side. Remove chicken from pan and keep warm.

Add apricot spread, lemon juice, and water to pan, stirring until smooth and heated through. Spoon sauce over chicken. Serve over a salad or with sides.

Spinach Tomato Pizza

Just like most people I LOVE pizza. Unfortunately most pizza you buy from places like Pizza Hut or Papa Johns contains a gazillion calories! So I try to limit my pizza intake to only when I'm in group gatherings where pizza is my only food option. BUT in between those group gatherings when I'm having pizza cravings, I make my own! You can add pretty much any ingredients you want to it and personalize it however you want. It's much healthier for you and it satisfies the pizza craving. Even better is the pizza dough mix I purchase is only 44 cents per package!

Ingredients:
Pizza dough mix (or pre-made pizza crust)
Pizza sauce
Baby spinach leaves
2 tomatoes, thinly sliced
Italian cheese blend

Directions:
Prepare pizza dough as directed from the package. Add sauce, spinach, tomatoes and cheese. Bake until crust is done and cheese is melted (crust package normally has cooking directions with oven temp).

The amount of toppings depend on 3 things; how large your crust is, how you typically like your pizza, and how calorie conscious you are. Add as little or as much as you like.

Edamame Succotash with Shrimp

Adapted from EatingWell

As I'm sure many of you have noticed already I love the EatingWell recipes! The website has tons of healthy and delicious recipes and the majority of them that I've tried have turned out great. To be honest I'm not really sure what a "succotash" is (I'll have to look it up), but it turns out I like it. This recipe was light, fresh and satisfying. The only disappointment was I didn't really taste the bacon. It's a sad thing I know lol ;)

Ingredients:
2 slices turkey bacon
1 tbsp olive oil
1 bunch scallions, sliced, or 1 medium onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
2 clove garlic, minced
1 1/2 tsp thyme
10 oz frozen shelled edamame, thawed
10 oz corn (canned or frozen, thawed)
1/2 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 tbsp cider vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
1 pound raw shrimp (26-30), peeled and deveined
1/2 tsp lemon pepper
1/4 tsp paprika

Directions:
Cook bacon in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until crisp, about 3-4 minutes on each side. Leave drippings in the pan, transfer bacon to a plate lined with paper towels; let cool.

Add oil to pan. Add scallions (or onion), bell pepper, garlic and thyme and cook, stirring, until softened, about 3 minutes. Stir in edamame, corn, broth, vinegar and salt. Bring to a simmer; reduce heat to medium-low heat and cook for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile toss shrimp with the lemon pepper & paprika. Scatter the shrimp on top of the vegetables, cover and cook until the shrimp is cooked through, about 5 minutes. Crumble the bacon and sprinkle on top.  

4 servings - only about 300 calories a serving!

Black Bean Soup

I'm a big black bean fan, but I've never actually tasted or made black bean soup before now. This is a simple recipe and I think it turned out pretty well. Serve with some cornbread and your set!

Ingredients:
2 - 15 oz cans black beans (only rinse one can)
1 medium onion, chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tbsp paprika
1/2 tbsp chili powder
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 cup low sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup salsa
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tbsp lime juice
Cilantro (optional)
Scallions (optional)
Reduced-Fat sour cream (optional)

Directions:
Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring, until beginning to soften, 2 to 3 minutes. Add paprika, chili powder and cumin, stirring for an additional minute.

While onions are cooking, pour the rinsed can of beans into a food processor with the salsa and a small handful of cilantro (optional). Pulse for 30 seconds or until well blended (not perfectly smooth).

Pour chicken broth, un-rinsed beans, blended mix, salt and lime juice into the pan. Bring to a boil, then let simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. To serve, top with a dollop of sour cream and scallions.

Banana Corn Fritters

From EatingWell

I really like cornbread and I tend to like it on the sweeter side. I was hoping with the bananas these would turn out pretty sweet, but they didn't taste quite like I thought they would. They have potential, but I think they need some tweaking. Maybe I will add corn to them next time and change up a couple other things...I'll have to think on this. If anyone has suggestions let me know!

5 servings, 2 cakes each

Ingredients:
3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4-1/2 tsp ground chipotle chile, or cayenne pepper
1 1/4 cups roughly mashed bananas (about 3 medium)
1 large egg
2 tbs milk, or buttermilk
2 tbs canola oil, divided

Directions:
Preheat over to 400 F. Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray.

Whisk cornmeal, flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and chipotle (or cayenne) in a medium bowl. Mis banana, egg and milk (or buttermilk) in another medium bowl. Add the cornmeal mixture to the banana mixture and stir until just incorporated.

Heat 1 tbs oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium; using 2 tbs of batter for each, space 5 fritters evenly in the pan. Cook until golden brown, 30 seconds to 2 minutes per side. Transfer to the prepared baking sheet. Cook a second batch with the remaining oil and batter, adjusting heat to prevent burning.

Transfer the fritters to the oven and bake until puffed and firm to the touch, 8 to 10 minutes.

243 calories per serving (5 servings)