Pineapple Fruit Salad Bowls

Since the pineapple I used was smaller, it doesn't look as much like a bowl, but I found this idea on Pinterest so I decided to try it out.

Pineapple Fruit Salad Bowl
Take a fresh pineapple, slice off the top, and then slice the pineapple in half length-wise.

Cut out the pineapple and scoop out the remains.

Fill it with the pineapple as well as colorful fruit and voila! You've got a couple of yummy fruit salads.

Southwest Stuffed Bell Peppers

This is one of my favorite recipes. These bell peppers are addicting, so be careful! I pulled this recipe from this page: http://www.ourbestbites.com/2011/01/southwest-stuffed-bell-peppers/ and honestly, they give a much better explanation on how to make these step by step with awesome pictures. So, if you so desire, you can take a glance at my blog and go to their link for a better explanation with a picture for each step. Even though this recipe has a longer list of ingredients and has a few more steps, I can promise you that these peppers are amazing!!!!

Southwest Stuffed Bell Peppers

4 very large or 6 medium sweet peppers (red, yellow, or orange)
1 Tbs salt
1/2 C white rice (or  brown if you want to take the time to cook it), quinoa also works
2 Tbs olive oil
1 onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 – 1 jalapeno, minced (or you could sub a small 3oz can of mild green chilies)
1 14oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup frozen corn kernels
2 green onions, sliced
1/2-1 tsp chipotle chili powder (you can start with 1/2 and add more to taste)
1 tsp kosher salt, plus more to taste
1/4 black pepper, plus more to taste
1 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes, preferably fire roasted
1 1/4 C jack or pepperjack cheese, divided
3-4 Tbs chopped fresh cilantro
tortilla chips, just a handful and more for serving if desired.
Preheat oven to 350.  Prepare peppers by washing, slicing tops off, and removing insides.  Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil and add 1 tablespoon salt.   Boil whole peppers for about 3-4 minutes, until they begin to soften.  Remove from water with tongs and place on paper towels to drain.
Add rice to boiling water and cook until tender, about 13 minutes.  Drain thoroughly.
Heat oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat.  Add onions, garlic, and jalapeno (or chilies) and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.  Add corn, beans, green onions, chipotle chili powder, kosher salt, and pepper. Stir until corn and beans are heated through, about 5 minutes.  Place peppers in a baking dish.  Remove skillet from heat and add rice, tomatoes, 1 cup cheese, and cilantro.  Stir to combine well and give it a taste.  Add additional salt, pepper, and chipotle powder to your liking.  Then evenly divide mixture between peppers.

Top peppers with remaining 1/4 cup cheese (or more if you can fit it on there :) and crushed tortilla chips.
Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes.

Slow Cooker Chicken and Dumplings

This chicken and dumplings recipe was the bomb diggity. I'm not kidding! I pulled this recipe from pinterest, not sure of how it would turn out by looking at the original picture. However, I was impressed with this recipe as it turned out to taste more like a creamy chicken noodle soup, with dumplings instead of noodles. It is a must-try.

Slow Cooker Chicken and Dumplings

(from http://www.bubblecrumb.com/2010/02/14/crock-pot-chicken-and-dumplings-recipe/)

 

4-6 boneless skinless chicken breasts (I used 2 very large ones)

2 tablespoons butter

2 cans cream of chicken soup (I used Campbell's healthy choice 98% fat free)

1 can chicken broth

1 onion diced

1 Cup chopped carrots and celery, if desired

1 tablespoon dried parsley

4 grands flaky refrigerator biscuits

Place chicken breasts in the crock pot, then add the butter, cream of chicken soup, chicken broth, onions, other vegetables if wanted, and parsley. Turn the crock pot onto high and cook for 4-6 hours. After cooking time has elapsed, remove chicken and chop it up. Place back into crock pot. 

Cut up the 4 biscuits into 9 pieces. Stir into the hot chicken mixture, turn the crock pot back on to high, and cook for another 30 minutes. Continue adding more chicken broth as necessary. Enjoy!!

The Best Way to Cook Corn on the Cob

Ready for it??

Turn the oven on at 350
Once the oven is preheated, stick the corn cob in, with the husk on, and cook for 30 minutes.

That's it!! Trust me, I was unsure about it when I first heard of this trick, but the corn husk traps in the moisture, keeping the corn tender, and then the husk peels off much more easily once it's cooked. Plus, you don't have to worry about water squirting in your face once you bite into it if it were boiled. This is a perfect summer treat, especially when the corn is on sale at the grocery store for 3 or 4/$1.

Broccoli and Cheese Stuffed Chicken

Well, I haven't been keeping up with this blog lately as often as I should, so be ready for some new recipes coming very soon :)

Anyways, this recipe from www.skinnytaste.com/2009/04/broccoli-and-cheese-stuffed-chicken.html that I adapted was very tasty, not to mention it was another easy and healthy recipe. I recommend that anyone who is reading this should try it!

Broccoli and Cheese Stuffed Chicken

 Ingredients:

• 3 (24 oz total) large chicken breast halves
• 1 large egg
• 2 tsp water
• 3/4 cup whole wheat seasoned breadcrumbs
• 2 cups broccoli floret, cooked, chopped small
  
• 5 slices reduced fat Swiss cheese (I actually used Provolone cheese, which was still delicious)
  
• salt
• pepper
• dried minced onion
• parsley
• spray oil
• toothpicks

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°. In a small bowl, combine egg, water and a little salt. Beat with a fork to make an egg wash. Set aside. Fill a second bowl with breadcrumbs.

Slice chicken breast halves into thin cutlets. I usually get 3 thin cutlets out of one breast half. Pound them to make them thinner if you wish. This helps when you wrap the cutlets.

Cut each slice of cheese in half. Place a 1/2 slice cheese in the center of the chicken and top with a little broccoli. Wrap chicken around to completely cover cheese, using toothpicks to secure (I actually didn't need toothpicks, so if you don't have them, just make sure the open part of the chicken is face down in the pan).

Dip chicken into egg wash, then breadcrumbs. Spray cookie sheet with oil and place chicken on cookie sheet. Lightly spray chicken with oil (or use butter for more flavor), season with salt, pepper, dried minced onion, and parsley, and bake about 25 minutes, until cooked.

Berry Spinach Salad with Roasted Vanilla Pecans

 Berry Spinach Salad with Roasted Vanilla Pecans

I decided I had to post this because it's delicious. I have experimented a bit for good, candied pecans for a salad, and this way works great. There's no specific recipe to it since it's a simple salad, but all you need is:

Fresh green spinach
Berries of your choice. I used strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, and raspberries
Crumbled Pecans

To roast the crumbled pecans, preheat the oven at 375. Sprinkle vanilla extract, cinnamon, and sugar onto the pecans. Place them on top of a small sheet of aluminum foil and curl up the edges to make a small bowl so they won't spill out. Bake for 10 minutes (while cooking, you will notice the house will start smelling really good--a baked, vanilla smell :)

Once the pecans have cooled, mix together with the berries and spinach. You can serve with raspberry vinagarette, however, I usually just mash the berries, making it healthier and keeping it sweet. Serves great as a side or as a healthy meal after being sick of junk food.

Lasagna Roll Ups

Lately I have become I fan of freezer meals. This recipe right here is great for the left overs to be put in the freezer for later on, since they are in individual servings (very nice for college students, like this one here.)  I didn't realize that making lasagna is a little more time consuming than I imagined, but it wasn't too bad. One very nice thing about this recipe is that it's not too saucy! You know what I mean, when the noodles and everything are falling apart because there's so much sauce?! These don't have that problem. Hope you can try this sometime--don't even think about opening that box of Stoufer's.

Lasagna Roll-Ups 
(Adapted from http://cookingclassy.blogspot.com/2012/02/lasagna-roll-ups.html)
makes 12

Ingredients:
4 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil, divided
1/2 lb lean ground beef
1/4 cup finely chopped yellow onion
1 (28 oz) can crushed tomatoes (I'd recommend Contadina Brand)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 Tbsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried oregano
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste


1 (15 oz) container Ricotta Cheese
1 large egg
1/3 cup fresh flat leaf parsley (aka Italian Parsley, its about 1 small handful), chopped
2 1/4 cups freshly grated Mozzarella Cheese, divided
3/4 cup freshly, finely grated Parmesan Cheese, divided
1/3 cup freshly, finely grated Romano Cheese
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper


12 uncooked lasagna noodles (you can use oven-ready if that's all you have, just don't boil them! Soak them in water instead. Details are below.)

Directions:
      Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Drizzle one tablespoon olive oil into a large non-stick fry pan.  Heat over medium high heat, crumble ground beef over oil, add chopped onions and cook mixture stirring occasionally and breaking up meat, until browned.  Drain fat from beef and chop up the mixture into small pieces.  Add crushed tomatoes, minced garlic, basil, oregano and 1 tablespoon olive oil and stir.  Season sauce with salt and pepper to taste then cover with a lid and simmer over low heat while preparing pasta and cheese mixture.
      Cook lasagna noodles in a large pot of boiling water along with 1 tsp salt and 2 tablespoon olive oil to al dente according to directions listed on package. (If you are using oven-ready, then soak them in a bowl water for about a half hour, or until they are tender enough to roll up--but don't boil them if they are oven ready because they will fall apart. Be very careful peeling them apart.)  Once noodles are cooked, drain and immediately line noodles in a single layer on waxed paper, Seran Wrap, or cookie sheets.  
      Prepare cheese mixture (I did this while pasta is cooking) by stirring together Ricotta cheese, egg, 1/4 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper with a fork in a large mixing bowl until well combine.  Stir in chopped fresh parsley.  Add in 1 3/4 cups grated Mozzarella Cheese, 1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese and 1/3 cup Romano Cheese, stir mixture until well combine.
  Spread 1/4 cup cheese mixture evenly onto each cooked lasagna noodle, then spread 1 heaping tablespoon meat sauce along the top of cheese covered noodle.  Roll noodles up jellyroll style and arrange seam side down in baking dish.  Cover rolled noodles with remaining meat sauce (about a heaping 1/8 cup over each) then sprinkle remaining 1/2 cup Mozzarella Cheese and 1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese evenly over roll ups.  Tent lasagna roll ups with foil (don't allow foil to rest on cheese or it will stick you just want to loosely tent to prevent the cheese from browning) and bake for 35 minutes in preheated oven.  Serve warm garnished with additional chopped fresh parsley. 

Favorite Steak Marinade/Grilled French Fries

Here it is! Here is the best steak marinade recipe. It is also a family favorite :)

Steak Marinade

1/2 tsp ginger
1 green onion, chopped (optional)
1 clove garlic, minced
3/4 cup oil
1/4 cup soy sauce
3 Tbsp honey or sugar
2 Tbsp vinegar or lemon juice (I like to use lemon juice)

Combine ingredients in a large plastic bag or bowl with a seal. Roll steaks in your choice of marinade for at least 20 minutes, but the longer, the better (but no longer than 2 hours for an inexpensive cut of meat. Twenty minutes is usually perfect for me.) While marinading, rotate it every once in a while.
You can broil at 400-450 degrees until desired done-ness, however, I have been raised by watching how broiling has started a fire every time at my house, so I just use my little George Foreman :)

Grilled French Fries

Once again, I just use my mini grill to make these. All you need:

Desired amount of potatoes, 1 per person
Olive oil
Water
Salt

Slice up potatoes and place onto grill. Add 1/4 cup water every few minutes between opening and closing the lid to soften the potatoes. Once they become much softer, spread olive oil onto the top and bottom of the inside of the grill, close again, and cook for a few minutes. Top with salt and serve with ketchup or fry sauce.

Banana Snack Wraps

Here is one of my favorite things to eat as part of lunch or as a delicious snacks. All you need:

a banana
a whole wheat tortilla
about  1-2 Tbsp peanut butter

Spread the peanut butter onto the tortilla, place the banana on top, and wrap it up. Now you have one very delicious healthy snack. You can even slice it up to make it into a "sushi" type of food.

Chicken Enchiladas

Here is one of my favorite chicken enchilada recipes, which I learned how to make in a cooking class I took as a kid. They are very easy to make and a family favorite.

Chicken Enchiladas

1 lb chicken (boneless and skinless)
4 oz can green chilis
1 bunch green onions, chopped 
1 cup low-fat sour cream
8 oz cheddar cheese (about 1 cup)
1 can enchilada sauce
6-8 flour tortillas (wheat are my favorite)
opt:
black olives--optional
2 tbsp cilantro, chopped
1 medium tomato, chopped
2 Tbsp minced onion
pepper
extra cheese

Cut chicken into small pieces (1/2 inch thick). Heat frying pan, then add a little oil and add the chicken. Stir until cooked through. Remove from heat and mix in a bowl with the chilies, grated cheese, and sour cream. Put a spoonfull on a tortilla and roll it up. Place in a greased baking dish, top with enchilada sauce as well as desired toppings such as green onions, cilantro, olives, tomatoes, and extra cheese. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes.