Mozzarella, Tomato and Avocado Salad

This was so simple, yet so delicious.  It has 3 of my favorite foods: cheese, lusciously sweet grape tomatoes, and rich creamy avocado.  The original recipe calls for fresh herbs, but I only had dried, so that's what I used.  My local supermarket carries BelGioioso (LOVE!) mozzarella "pearls", which are the perfect size for this dish.

I made just enough for a single serving for me, but this dish is very easily made in medium batches for a family, or big batches for a party.  

Mozzarella, Tomato and Avocado Salad
Taken from this recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1 oz. mozzarella "pearls", drained
• 1 small handful grape tomatoes, halved
• 1/2 avocado, diced
• juice of 1/2 a small lime
• a couple dashes of salt and black pepper
• a dash of dried basil
• a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil

Directions:

• Toss everything together in a bowl.

You can cover and refrigerate for 1 hour to let everything marinate, or do as I did today (last-minute-like) and eat it right away.

Crispy Baked Chicken Strips

A staple in our house; I just can't believe I haven't posted this yet. (Or maybe I have and am missing something?) I love the parmesan-panko crust.

You can also use this recipe to make crispy baked fish sticks.  Just use slices of red snapper, tilapia, halibut, or even salmon instead of chicken.

Crispy Baked Chicken Strips

Ingredients:

• cooking spray
• 1 pound chicken tenders or boneless, skinless breasts cut up into strips
• a few tablespoons whole wheat flour
• 2 eggs
• water
• whole wheat panko
• shredded parmesan cheese
• Tastefully Simple Seasoned Salt

Directions:

• Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F.  Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray and set aside.
• Create a dredging station with 3 shallow bowls:  Put a few heaping tablespoons of whole wheat flour in the first bowl.  In the second bowl, whisk the eggs with a couple tablespoons of water.  In the third bowl, combine equal parts whole wheat panko and shredded parmesan (about 3/4 cup each), along with a few dashes of TSSS.
• One by one, dredge each chicken strip into the flour, shake off excess, dip into the egg, let excess drip off, then dredge in the panko/parmesan mixture.  Place in a single layer onto the sprayed baking sheet.
• Bake in pre-heated oven for about 20 minutes until crispy.  (You can flip the strips halfway through the cooking time, but I don't bother.)

Creamy Chicken Rice Soup

Today was drizzly and chilly, so what better meal to accompany it with than a warm, creamy, hearty soup.  I used this recipe as the springboard, then I messed around with the ingredients and quantities based on what I had on hand.  I used uncooked chicken breasts, increased the vegification factor, and used brown rice.  Yummy for my tummy!

Creamy Chicken Rice Soup
Adapted from this recipe.

Ingredients:

• olive oil
• 1/2 yellow onion, chopped
• 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
• Tastefully Simple Seasoned Salt
• Tastefully Simple Garlic Garlic
• 2 large carrots, diced
• 3 large ribs of celery, diced
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 carton (32 oz.) reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 1/2 cup uncooked brown rice
• 3 tablespoons whole wheat flour
• 1 can (12 oz.) nonfat evaporated milk

Directions:

• In a large dutch oven, heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat and saute the onions for a few minutes until translucent.  Add the chicken, TSSS and TSGG and continue to cook, stirring often, until chicken is browned and just cooked through, 5 - 7 minutes.  
• Add the carrots, celery, dried herbs, chicken broth and rice.  Increase the heat to medium-high and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, covered, for about 30 - 40 minutes until the rice is cooked.
• In a small bowl, whisk together the flour and evaporated milk.  Add to the soup pot and stir.  Bring to a simmer, stirring often, and cook for a few minutes until soup thickens.  Add TSSS and freshly-ground black pepper as necessary to taste.

Italian Peasant Soup with Cabbage, Beans and Cheese

This soup is simple and delicious. Instead of one big slice of bread in the middle, I cubed mine into crouton-size pieces.  And I had regular green cabbage on hand, not savoy.  And I used chicken broth instead of vegetable broth, again because that's what I had in the pantry.

I bet this would also be very satisfying with some shredded rotisserie chicken added in.

Italian Peasant Soup with Cabbage, Beans and Cheese
Taken directly from this recipe.

Ingredients:

• 2 15-oz. cans cannellinii beans, washed and drained
• olive oil
• 1 medium onion, thinly sliced
• 1/2 medium head of cabbage, shredded
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 clove garlic, halved
• 5 cups vegetable or chicken broth (I used chicken)
• Tastefully Simple Seasoned Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• slices of toasted crusty bread (I used sourdough)
• parmesan cheese

Directions:

• Mash half the beans and set aside.
• In a dutch oven, saute the onions on medium heat in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes.
• Add the cabbage and garlic.  Cook for a few minutes, stirring often, until the cabbage wilts.  Add in the beans (both mashed and whole) and broth.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, partially-covered, for about 15 minutes until the cabbage is tender.  Season with TSSS and black pepper.
• Arrange bread in soup bowls.  Ladle the soup over the bread.  Grate some parmesan cheese over the top and drizzle with a little extra virgin olive oil.  Serve immediately.

Applesauce Stuffed Pork Tenderloin

I saw a beautiful pork tenderloin on sale at Sprouts today and just had to have it.  I didn't want to do the same old same old, so I thought I'd stuff it.  With applesauce.  And raisins.  It was a little messier than I expected, mostly due to the applesauce oozing out while I was trying to roll up the pork.  But it was yummy.  Next time when I have more time, I'll cook up some sliced apple pieces until tender and roll the pork with those instead of the applesauce.

If you want to be completely SBD-compliant, use your own home-made applesauce (no sugar added) and replace the raisins with diced dried apricots.

Applesauce Stuffed Pork Tenderloin



Ingredients:

• 1.5 pound pork tenderloin, all visible fat removed
• 1/4-ish cup applesauce
• 2 tablespoon-ish raisins
• Tastefully Simple Seasoned Salt
• Tastefully Simple Garlic Garlic
• olive oil

Directions:

• Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F.  Spray a baking sheet with oil.
• On a cutting board, slice the pork tenderloin length-wise (like you're unrolling a cinnamon bun) a few times until you get an open rectangle of meat that is about 1/2-inch thick.  Pour the sauce and sprinkle the raisins on the pork.  Roll it back up.
• Place pork seam-side down onto the baking sheet.  Sprinkle the top and sides with TSSS and TSOO.  Drizzle with olive oil and rub it into the meat.
• Roast in pre-heated oven for 45 minutes - 1 hour.  Remove from oven and let stand for 5 minutes before slicing.  Spoon any "escaped" sauce from the baking sheet onto the sliced pork.

Chicken and Biscuits with Gravy

For some reason I was craving this yesterday, so I had to try to make it today.  I've never made chicken and biscuits before, so I just winged it, and it turned out pretty yummy.  Is it bad that I slathered so much chicken and gravy on that it completely covered the biscuit in my photo?  Nah.  It was so good.

Chicken and Biscuits with Gravy

Ingredients:

• olive oil
• 1 package (8 oz.) crimini mushrooms, sliced
• Tastefully Simple Seasoned Salt
• 1 pound chicken breasts, thinly sliced into bite-size pieces
• Tastefully Simple Garlic Garlic
• large pinch of thyme
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1 cup nonfat milk
• a couple heaping tablespoons of whole wheat flour
• 100% whole wheat biscuits

Directions

• Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a skillet and saute the mushrooms with some TSSS.  When they soften, add the chicken breast pieces, TSGG and thyme.  Saute until the chicken is no longer pink, then add the chicken broth.
• In a small cup or bowl, whisk together the milk and whole wheat flour until smooth.  Add to the chicken skillet and bring to a boil, stirring often.  Reduce heat to low and simmer for about 10 minutes.  The gravy will thicken.  If you want it thicker, whisk a little more flour into a little more milk and add to the skillet.
• Serve hot over some 100% whole wheat biscuits.

Crispy Anise Cookies

I love biscotti, how they're light, crispy and crunchy, how they're not too sweet, and how they're perfectly dunkable in a mug of hot coffee.  But oh how I hate the time and effort (and mess!) it takes to bake them twice (because, you see, biscotti = twice baked).  So I decided to try my basic biscotti recipe as a drop cookie.  Genius, isn't it?  Ok, maybe not genius, but it is delicious and oh-so-dunkable.

My basic recipe uses just anise for flavoring, but you could easily mix it up with all sorts of add-ins.  How about chocolate chip almond cookies (replace anise extract and seeds with almond extract and mix in 1 cup of toasted blanched almond slivers and 1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips)?  Or cranberry orange cookies (replace anise extract and seeds with vanilla extract and mix in 2 tablespoons orange zest and 1.5 cups of dried cranberries)?  Or peppermint cookies (replace anise extract and seeds with peppermint extract and mix in 1 cup of crushed candy canes)?  I'm drooling already.

Crispy Anise Cookies
Yields approximately 4 dozen.

Ingredients:

• scant 3.5 cups all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 large eggs
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons anise extract
• 2 teaspoons anise seeds

Directions:

• Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
• In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
• In another bowl, beat the eggs and sugar on high speed until it becomes light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.  Beat in the anise extract and seeds.
• Add in half of the dry mixture and mix until incorporated, then add in the rest of the dry mixture and continue to mix until incorporated.
• Drop by teaspoonfuls onto the parchment-lined baking sheets.  Bake for 20 - 22 minutes until lightly golden.
• Remove from oven.  Once the cookies are cool enough to touch, transfer them to a wire rack and let cool completely.  Store in an air-tight container.

 Left: cranberry almond cookies (2 teaspoons vanilla extract, 1 cup toasted slivered almonds, 1 cup dried cranberries)

Right: chocolate chip almond cookies (2 teaspoons almond extract, 1 cup toasted slivered almonds, 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips)

Chicken Stuffed with Black Beans and Cumin

Earlier this week I was making a batch of Brown Rice and Lentil Soup when I realized how much I love cumin, and how I really don't cook with it enough.  Then I remembered seeing a recipe for Cumin Chicken with Black Bean Stuffing.  It looked delicious, but I wanted something a little simpler, easier and quicker for a weeknight meal.  If you've been following this blog for a while, you'll know that I love stuffed chicken breasts; so easy, so versatile, and it makes plain ol' chicken breasts fun.  So I figured, why not stuff chicken breasts with black beans seasoned with cumin?  Sounds weird, right, to stuff chicken breasts with beans?  But it is SO good!  Don't omit the spritz of lime at the end, it's killer!

Chicken Stuffed with Black Beans and Cumin

Ingredients:

• cooking spray
• approximately 1.5 teaspoons ground cumin, divided
• Tastefully Simple Seasoned Salt
• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, butterflied
• 1 can (15 oz.) black beans, drained and rinsed
• Tastefully Simple Onion Onion
• small lime wedges

Directions:

• Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.  Spray a baking pan lightly with cooking spray.
• In a bowl, combine 1 teaspoon of cumin with about a teaspoon of TSSS.  Rub onto the outside of each chicken breast.
• In a separate bowl, combine the beans, the remaining 1/2 teaspoon of cumin, a few dashes of TSSS and a few dashes of TSOO.  Mash briefly with a fork.  Divide the bean mixture into fourths and stuff into the chicken breasts.
• Place the stuffed chicken breasts in a single layer in the sprayed baking pan and into the pre-heated oven.  Bake for 20 - 25 minutes until cooked through.
• Spritz lightly with lime wedges before serving.

Roasted Root Vegetables with Fennel

You can make this with whatever root veggies you like.  Today I used yams and parsnips (SBD phase 3), but it's also delicious with carrots, turnips (SBD phase 3), red or white potatoes (not SBD-legal), and even beets (SBD phase 3).  I've also added butternut squash in the past; even though that's technically not a root veggie, it's still delicious in a roasted medley.

Roasted Root Vegetables with Fennel

Ingredients:

• 1 large yam
• 1 large parsnip
• 1 medium fennel bulb
• a couple tablespoons olive oil
• Tastefully Simple Seasoned Salt
• freshly-ground black pepper
• a pinch of dried thyme

Directions:

• Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees F.
• Peel and cut the yam and parsnip into 1/2" cubes.  Wash the fennel, cut off the frond section, and slice the bulb into 1/2"-thick wedges.  Place the veggies onto a baking sheet, drizzle with a couple tablespoons of olive oil, sprinkle on TSSS and black pepper to taste, and add a pinch of dried thyme.  Toss until evenly coated.
• Roast in the pre-heated oven for 45 - 60 minutes, until the veggies are soft.

Creamy Chicken and Mushrooms

Today was bright and sunny, beautiful, really.  But for some reason I was in the mood for comfort food.  I had some chicken tenders and mushrooms in the fridge, so here's what I did with it:

Creamy Chicken and Mushrooms

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds of chicken tenders or boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• a couple tablespoons of olive oil
• Tastefully Simple Seasoned Salt
• Tastefully Simple Onion Onion
• Tastefully Simple Garlic Garlic
• 1 pound small whole crimini mushrooms
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 can (12 oz.) evaporated skim milk
• 2 heaping tablespoons of whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup frozen peas

Directions:

• Cut the chicken into bite-size pieces.   In a large skillet, brown the chicken in a little bit of olive oil, some TSSS, TSOO and TSGG.  Add in the mushrooms and stir for a minute.  Add in the chicken broth and bring to a boil, scraping up all the brown bits.  Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes (stirring occasionally) until the chicken is cooked through and the mushrooms soften.
• In a separate bowl or cup, whisk the flour into the evaporated skim milk until smooth.  Add to the chicken skillet.  Bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer.  Add in the peas and simmer for 5 minutes.  Check seasoning and add more TSSS if necessary.
• Serve over brown rice.