A Delicious Day

Two posts this month!  I'm on a roll, baby.  

This week I'm cooking all kinds of fresh veggies.  In my refrigerator/freezer/pantry right now are:

• Corn on the cob
• Beets
• Mushrooms
• Brussels sprouts
• Tomatoes (grape and regular)
• Onions (pearl, red, and scallions)
• Broccoli
• Snap Peas
• Squash and Zucchini
• Carrots
• Red bell peppers

Last night, I made a good old favorite:

White Chicken Chili  (456 calories)

You can follow the directions on the seasoning packet, but I often like to make my own seasoning to save a little money (and lower sodium!).  If you've got the spices to do it, do it!  Different recipes offer up different spice suggestions... garlic, oregano, cumin, onion powder, etc.  I always add a touch of cayenne pepper to spice it up.

I will say that I also always use ground chicken because I know when it's cooked.  Cook it in a bit of EVOO.  This was organic ground chicken and I added a can of chickpeas, a can of cannellini beans, and a cup of water.  Bring to a boil, let it simmer covered 10 minutes, then top with a healthy handful of cilantro, a bit of shredded cheese, and a dollop of sour cream.  The calorie count above included the cheese, light sour cream, and cilantro... and it was a third of the entire recipe.  Hubs got to take the last third for lunch today.  Lucky punk.

On the side... this was about 1/2 a yellow squash and 1/2 a zucchini (both fairly small).  I sprayed my grill pan (do you have one???) with a bit of PAM and grilled them up.  Mmm...

Grilled Yellow Squash and Zucchini  (45 calories)

Tonight's dinner was a little more ambitious because it was a new veggie recipe using my grill pan (best thing ever) and I cooked chicken tenderloins instead (which scare me because it's harder to tell when they're cooked!).  

Success and success!

Chicken Tenderloins (110 cal for 2)

Grilled Yellow Squash, Zucchini, Red Bell Pepper,
Grape Tomatoes, Mushrooms, and Pearl Onions

Grill them all on the grill pan and then enjoy as much as you want!  Not a ton of calories for any of these veggies!!!  Have you ever had a pearl onion?  I hadn't had one before and they are a little bit sweet.  I like!

Summer Vegetables with Fresh Salsa

Okay, so I cheated a little bit with this recipe... I was going to make the Cherry Tomato Salsa that was recommended to go with the "Summer Vegetables", but I had fresh salsa in my fridge.  It included tomatoes, onions, and cilantro, so I just went with it.  Yum.

I seriously probably could have eaten the entire bowl of veggies.  They were that good.  Who knew that salsa would make them better?  Okay, maybe all of the veggies except for the bell peppers.  I don't really like bell peppers, but I ate them anyway in the attempt to get my little one to try some.  Hehe.  Fail.

Dessert, you ask?  Why yes, I did make some!

Pumpkin Pudding (Yes, that's a piggy whisk)

Pour into ramekins (1/4 Jell-O box is 130 cal if you use skim milk)

Add toppings!  Raisins?  Granola?  Fruit?  What do you like?

Today was a delicious day.  What did you eat that was delicious today?

Emily Bites!

I feel like I talk about Pinterest a lot.  Do I? 

 

I apologize if that's the direction my blog has gone.  I'm just in love with how easy it is to find recipes (and DIY crafts for that matter) there.  A while ago, I stumbled upon a great site called Emily Bites.  She basically takes recipes that she's either found in other places, or created herself, and makes them a little lighter (sometimes a lot lighter).  For those of us tracking P+ with WW, it's quite helpful because she's got it all laid out nicely.  

 

Emily, you rock.  I just think you should know that.  I've also been sort of stalking your site lately.  I hope you don't mind! 

 

Here are a few recipes I've made from her site recently.  I have plans to try many more.  :-) 

 

Mac & Cheese Muffins

I didn't use elbow macaroni for these, as you can probably tell.  I used Ditalini pasta!  First, because I didn't have any elbow macaroni and I figured any pasta might work.  Second, I wanted to make some Ditalini pasta for my little one to try (it's perfect for baby fingers). 

On that note, I would strongly recommend NOT using Ditalini pasta for this recipe.  I think using another kind might get the muffins to stick together a little better.  Don't get me wrong... these were delicious, just a little messy!




Bacon Cheeseburger Wraps

 

I know what you're thinking... 'That's not a wrap, Alissa!'  You're right.  It's not.  I didn't have any in the house the first time I made these.  They actually were more like Bacon Cheeseburger Sloppy Joes.  Not too shabby!  I was sure to get some for the second time (see below).  :-)  I didn't toast them because I'm generally not a fan of toasting... is that weird?  I do think that when I make them again I may try toasting just for fun. 

 

Actual Bacon Cheeseburger Wraps

Cheeseburger Pizza

You may also have noticed a theme... we were kind of on a little bit of a cheeseburger kick.  Cheeseburgers might be one of my all-time favorite foods.  A friend of ours suggested putting a fried egg right on top of that pizza.  So, I guess you could do that.  It would certainly add to the points, though!  ;-) 

Here are a few other recipes that caught my eye:
Cincinnati Chili - If you follow my blog at all, you already know this is my favorite chili of all time... I'm interested to try this version and see how it is!
Banana Pancake Bites - Uh... yum?
Buffalo Wing Hummus - Yeah... I might try this really soon.

Seriously, folks... Emily Bites just looks delicious every time I go there. 

Cincinnati Chili

As you may or may not know, I'm a big fan of chili.  It's a staple in our house.  I generally make it using chili packets of seasoning and pretty much always follow the same recipe.  It's not tough. 

However, my favorite kind of chili is not exactly convenient to make.  I used to be able to find Cincinnati chili packets, but they no longer sell them around here.  The packets were convenient because you just add them to some meat and cook away.  Without the packets, the chili has to simmer for a looooooooong time to get all of the spices and flavors going.  If you follow my chili link above, it will take you to where you can actually order the packets.  OR... you can just try this recipe.  I crockpotted it up.  Yep, I made a new word there. 

I think the main difference with Cincinnati chili is that you serve it over spaghetti noodles.  Oh, and you put chocolate and cinnamon in it.  Sounds crazy, but it's amazing!  Mmm... as I was cooking it, the house smelled terrific and it brought back all kinds of good memories.  :-)

All spiced up in the crock.

Simmering meat...

Dump it all in and cook!

Cincinnati Chili

Now, I think if I make it again, I may try it without the kidney beans.  I know that you usually put beans in chili, but the way I remember having Cinicinnati chili is without them.  Kidney beans have never been my favorite anyway... although they apparently have all kinds of health benefits. 

Yummy!

What's your favorite kind of chili?

Happy birthday! :-D

And then there was dinner!  Yummy, yummy, dinner. 

Neal came over tonight for a pre-birthday dinner and Glee-ness since I didn't have class tonight and he got off work a little bit early.  It's been a while!  Here's what I made:

Chili-Corn Casserole

It was amazing.  I actually used my own leftover chili from over the weekend and it was pretty fabulous in this casserole.  Here are a few pre-cooking pics so you can see what's underneath all that pretty cheese:

  

   

I heart casserole!

THEN... I made these for dessert:

Red Velvet Whoopie Pies

Yeah, they were pretty much as good as they look.  Happy birthday to the best brother in the whole wide world.  <3  (I have to say it early because I'll be asleep pretty much as soon as I'm done blogging!)  Night blogosphere!

Chili, again?!

Before I actually leave the house today... (I know, right?), I thought I'd blog about dinner last night.  It's really not all that impressive and I could have definitely done some things differently, but I totally experimented and made my own meal.  Here are a few pictures:

What?  Are you surprised that it again looks like chili?  You shouldn't be.  We like chili here.  It was actually a combination of Confetti Spaghetti, Turkey Tetrazzini, and several kinds of chili... and it sort of came out to be reminiscent of a casserole made by Hamburger Helper. 

Basically, it's ground turkey, onions, chili seasoning, tomato sauce, kidney beans, chickpeas (yay!), garlic salt, pepper, and onion powder mixed up, cooked, and served over whole wheat noodles.  Add mozzarella cheese, a dollop of sour cream, and some cilantro to garnish it.  The boys ate it!  Keep in mind, that may not be saying much about my cooking.  I'm pretty sure at this point that they'll eat anything. 

Boys playing "Portal"

The Chickpea Invasion...

I'm gonna need some good chickpea recipes.  Send them my way if you have some!  :-)  I think they might be my new favorite thing.  Quite by accident, mind you.  I don't even know what they really are... are they peas?  Beans?  Garbanzos?  Chicks?  They better not be ground up chicks.  Chickpeas.  Go.  Whatever they are, they're delicious.

Look what I made:


Yes, that is indeed White Chicken Chili... but it has chickpeas in it!  I may have accidentally opened a can of chickpeas instead of cannellini beans.  Then I proceeded to freak out about whether or not I should use the chickpeas in the chili or not... and then I tried one.  Yum! 

So, in went the can of chickpeas as well as the cannellini beans.  It made for some awesome chili.  fyi. 

Since then, I've been eating chickpeas in lettuce wraps.  Here's one such creation:

Besides the chickpeas, there may be some Roasted Pine Nut Hummus, light sour cream, RF cheddar cheese, and mushrooms on that wrap.  It may sound a little weird, but don't knock it til you try it. 



I added chickpeas to my fish tacos tonight. 

I may have a problem.

In the meantime... what else can I add chickpeas to?  Hmm.  :-)

(Chickpeas Continued...)
Okay, so I wrote this chickpea blog a few days ago.  I thought I'd add on some other things that I added chickpeas to tonight!  Did I mention how delicious chickpeas are?  How did I not know about them?!  I linked the captions back to my original blog about them... just add chickpeas! 

Chili Cheese Chickpea Corn

Guacamole Chickpea Burgers

Here's my latest concotion:

Chickpea Breakfast Mess

1/2 c. Egg substitute
Shredded cheese
Mushrooms
Spinach
Chickpeas
Garlic
Pepper
Old Bay
*You can add just about anything to this combo, so I figured why not chickpeas? 


Check back often for more chickpea updates!  :-)

Chili!

Birthday countdown = less than 2 days!  :-D

Tonight was a grilled cheese and soup night.  Mmm, it was scrumptious!  (I taught my kiddos that word today because we were learning about the letter Ss.)  On that note, I've used "scrumptious" several times naturally today... kinda strange.  Silly.  Superb! 

Anyway, the other night I made this:

Super Spicy Turkey Chili

I love me some chili.  I usually just follow the directions on the seasoning packet for chili... but I've gotten a little more bold with spicing things up.  I wasn't sure about using ground turkey for chili (I prefer beef) and so I spiced the heck out of it.  Serioulsy, this turkey chili was about to set our mouths on fire.  I'm not kidding. 

I also made these awesome Oklahoma biscuits!  They were a favor from a wedding we went to last month and they were tasty.  :-) 

"Shawnee Mills" Buttermilk Biscuits (Thanks Kimberly and Dan! <3)

I think good old regular chili is still my favorite though... using the packets directions, plus a little extra spice.  It's even better if you use taco-seasoned meat.  Plus light sour cream and RF cheese.  :-) 

Regularly Awesome Chili

...and I've recently become a fan of white chicken chili.  Also, spiced to perfection.  It's pretty good with cilantro on top. 

White Chicken Chili

Whoa whoa whoa... I almost forgot to mention the best chili of all time.  That would be Cincinnati Chili.  Unfortunately, seasoning packets are not available around here, so you have to follow really difficult directions to make it (unless you live near Cincinnati).  I have yet to attempt the recipe without the use of a packet, but I'll let you know how it goes when I do.  It might be worth it just to order the packets!!!  Mmm...

Which kind of chili do you like best?  Do you have a good non-packet chili recipe?