Portabello Pizzas

This is a great snack or light meal when served with a salad or some veggies! Serves 2.

What you need:
-2 large portabello mushrooms
-2 T. pizza sauce
-1 oz. shredded mozzerella cheese
-fresh basil (optional but highly recommended)
-veggies of your choice-I used a bell pepper and pepperoncinis

What to do:
-Preheat oven to 375.
-Use a spoon to gently remove the gills from the mushrooms,and cut off the stem. Wash.

-Spray pan and both sides of mushroom with cooking spray. Cook for about 35 minutes, turning halfway through.
-When mushroom has reached desired doneness, remove from oven and turn it up to broil. Put 1 T of pizza sauce and half of cheese on each mushroom. Top with desired veggies.

-Put back in oven on top rack and cook for 1-2 minutes, until cheese is melted. Remove and top with chopped fresh basil. Enjoy!

Nutrition Info:
WW Points: 3
South Beach Friendly: Yes, all phases

Turkey, Pumpkin, Bean Soup/Chili!

After I read this original recipe on Gina's Skinny Recipes, http://www.skinnytaste.com/2011/10/crockpot-turkey-white-bean-pumpkin.html, I knew I'd have to try it! Since I love black beans, had all ingredients on hand, AND people in the comments wondered how to make it with dried beans instead of canned, I decided it was worth posting my adaptation. I've made it twice so far and it's hearty, filling, and healthy. Also, I've had pureed pumpkin in my freezer with nowhere to go for who knows how long. Also, you really can't taste the pumpkin at all, but I'm pretty sure it's good for you. Here it is!

What you need:

• A little olive oil
• 1.25 lb. of ground turkey
• 1 can of dried beans, presoaked overnight.  I used 1/2 cup of Great Northern beans and 1/2 cup of black beans. Forget to soak your beans ahead of time?
• 2 C chicken broth/stock
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1 can of pureed pumpkin. NOT PUMPKIN PIE MIX. Just plain old pumpkin!
• 1 4-oz can diced green chilis
• 1-2 chopped bell peppers (I added an extra red pepper after I took the picture.)
• 2 tsp. of minced garlic, or 4 minced garlic cloves
• 2 tsp. cumin
• 1 tsp. chili powder
• 1 tsp. oregano
• 2 bay leaves

Optional toppings:

• Sour cream or Greek yogurt
• Green onions and or cilantro.

What to do

• Soak beans overnight or quick soak, using the method above. Try not to be alarmed by the purple beans greeting you in the morning. Rinse.
• Brown and drain ground turkey.
• While the turkey is browning, dice onion. Add beans, broth, pumpkin, green chilis, and spices to the crockpot. (You can also dice the peppers, but won't add them yet)
• Add browned turkey to crockpot, and cook on low for 7-8 hours, or high for 3 1/2-4 hours.
• I don't care for super soggy peppers so I added them in at the end., about 1/2 hour before serving.
• Serve with sour cream or Greek yogurt, green onions, and cilantro.

Verdict:
Yum! You could even add some more broth if you want this to be "soupy" but I liked the thick consistency. Add more chili powder if your family likes some kick! I liked it just the way it was.

Coconut Bison (or Beef) Curry with Vegetables

It's a cool, drizzly day and I've had some bison stew meat in the freezer for awhile. I was sick of the typical stew: meat, potatoes, carrots. This creation is what I came up with! It definitely doesn't fall under the "quick & easy" or "5 ingredients or less," but if you have the time, it's so worth the effort!

You don't HAVE to make the coconut rice, but it takes care of the "what to do with a 1/2 can of coconut milk?" question.

This is versatile as far as vegetables go. Use what you've got, and let me know what was good in the comments!

What you need:
For the curry:
1.5 cans (3 cups) light coconut milk
1 can beef broth
3 T/3 minced cloves garlic
3 T green curry paste (I actually intended to use red but green is all the store had!)
1 lb. stew meat: I used bison but beef would work Note: This turns out to have a LOT more vegetables than meat-so it's good if you're trying to stretch your meat, but you may want fewer veggies or 2 lb. meat if that's your style!
3 T lime juice
zest of 1/2 lime
1/2 t turmeric
1/4 t salt
1 T soy sauce
 2-3 cups chopped veggies. I used a parsnip, a turnip, 2 carrots, a bell pepper, green beans, and snow peas. Broccoli, cauliflower and sweet potatoes are good in curries too!
2 T each of chopped cilantro and basil leaves
toasted coconut

For the rice:
1 C basmati rice
1 1/4 C water
1 C (1/2 can) coconut milk

What to do:
Chop up veggies and, if not already cubed, meat
Bring coconut milk and broth to a boil, lower heat and let simmer for a few minutes
Add curry paste and garlic and let simmer a few more minutes
Add stew meat and bring back to a boil
Add lime juice, lime zest, turmeric and salt
Add vegetables
Lower heat to a simmer and cover

Start rice: put all rice ingredients in a pot, bring to a boil, remove from heat, cover, and let sit for about 20 minutes.

Let curry cook until meat is cooked through and vegetables soften: 20-30 minutes. Stir in basil and cilantro

Serve over rice. Top with toasted coconut (to toast coconut, a few minutes before you're done, put shredded coconut in a dry pan over low heat and watch it like a hawk until it's lightly browned!)

Verdict/Changes for Next Time:



This was very delicious! I loved the coconut flavor of the rice! A few small changes: I'd use a red pepper if photographing, better colors. :) And it ended up quite liquid-y, even with a bit of corn starch added in. I think I'd let the coconut milk/broth mixture reduce down a bit more before adding the other ingredients. But, overall, it was really, really tasty and I can't wait for the leftovers tomorrow!

My new favorite shrimp recipe!

Thanks again to Kalyn's Kitchen for this delicious shrimp recipe! I've been eating it a couple times a week since I found it, and actually looked online to see if you can get sick from eating too much shrimp (you know, like tuna with mercury?). Good news: you can't! The great news is this takes about a minute to prepare and 8 minutes to cook-love it!


http://www.kalynskitchen.com/2010/02/recipe-for-quick-and-easy-spicy-broiled.html

You'll have to excuse my lousy cell phone picture, I was too eager to eat to bother with my real camera!
*It turns out I'm not able to upload from my cell phone at the moment. Check out Kalyn's pictures, they're mouth-watering!*

Easy Crockpot Chicken Taco Soup/Chili/Taco Filling

It's not exactly a soup. It's not exactly chili. It could be put in a taco shell or burrito, served over rice, or on top of a salad. Whatever it is, it's delicious and SO easy! I love to make something like this on a Sunday night because it can be made into many different meal during the week!

What you need:

-3 chicken breasts (I threw mine in frozen)
-2 cans black (or any) beans, drained
-1 can diced tomatoes, undrained
-1-2 cans diced green chilis
-1 cup frozen or canned corn
-1 T. chili powder, to taste.
-1 T. taco seasoning, to taste
-2 t. cumin, to taste.


-grated cheese and cilantro to top

What to do:
Dump. Cook. I put the chicken in the bottom to make sure it was covered by the other ingredients. Cook on high for 4-5 or low for 8-10 hours.  I cooked mine on high for 4.5 hours. Thawed chicken would take less time. Before serving, pull out chicken and shred with a fork, then mix back in.

Garnish with cheese and cilantro, and serve. Or use it to stuff tacos or tortillas, or have it in a salad...the possibilities are endless! How did you use your leftovers?

Link for Chicken with Garlic Mushrooms

So simple and SO good! A great weeknight go-to. It's chicken strips topped with garlicky mushrooms in a white wine sauce. I made a side of steamed broccoli and cauliflower. Thanks, Gina at Skinny Taste! Loved it!

http://www.skinnytaste.com/2011/03/chicken-and-mushrooms-in-garlic-white.html

Moroccan-style Squash, Red Lentil, Peanut, Chickpea Stew for the Crockpot

I got a couple of kabocha squash in my produce box last week and really didn't know what to do with them. I found this recipe online, played with it a little, scaled it down to my crockpot size, and here is the result! It's more time- and ingredient-consuming than many of my recipes, but worth the effort!

Ingredients (for 4.5 qt. slow cooker)
-2-2.5 lb. of kabocha or butternut squash-this could be 2 small or 1 large kabocha squash. I used 3 lb. but it was too much to fit in my crockpot!
-2 cups cooked or 1 cup dry chickpeas, presoaked overnight
-1 cup dry red lentils
-4 carrots, chopped
-1/2 C peanut or almond butter
-4 cups vegetable broth
-4 T. tomato paste
-1 onion, diced
-1 inch hunk of ginger, peeled and diced
-1-2 cloves of garlic, diced
-1/2 t. cinnamon
-1 1/2 t. cumin
-salt & pepper to taste

for later:
-cilantro
-lime
-lime juice: ~1/4 C
-peanuts: unsalted, roasted, chopped (mine were salted so I added less salt. Putting in a ziplock bag and using a rolling pin is a good way to "chop" them)

What to do:
-If you're using dry chickpeas, presoak them overnight or quick-soak them like this. I happened to have a couple cooked cups in the freezer.
-For the squash: stick it in the microwave for 3 minutes to soften it up a little. Cut in half, scoop out the seeds, and peel with a regular vegetable peeler. Then dice into 1-1/2 inch chunks. I was surprised by how little squash was left after I seeded them! I used 2 squash but only ended up putting 1 1/2 in the stew-due to my crockpot size.

-Chop the carrots into about 1-inch chunks. Dice the onion and mince the ginger and garlic. Dump the first 10 ingredients into the crockpot. Turn on low.

-If you're using raw chickpeas, it will probably take about 6 hours for them to get soft. Red lentils cook quickly and will sort of dissolve into the stew.
-If your chickpeas are cooked/canned this will cook much more quickly, and it's up to you how soft you want everything to get. You're going to be looking for the squash to get soft. I cooked mine for exactly 5 hours and it was perfect.
-Before serving, stir in lime juice
-Garnish with peanuts and cilantro. If you like heat, you might also like some red pepper flakes.
-Eat carefully. I liked this so much I repeatedly burned my tongue.