Provencal Chicken

 This chicken is quite tasty, and easy to make. I think it takes about 15 minutes from start to finish and it is quite healthy. Hope you enjoy!

Ingredients:
Boneless skinless chicken breasts (pounded thin)
Salt and pepper
2 garlic cloves minced
1 half a lemon
1/4 cup of chicken stock
2 teaspoons of herbs de' Provence (Found on spice aisle)
1 pad of butter

Directions:
  Sprinkle chicken breasts with salt, pepper, and one teaspoon of herbs. Make sure and season both sides of the chicken. Heat about one tablespoon of olive oil in a pan on medium-high heat. Brown chicken on both sides. This is about three or four minutes per side. Then, remove the chicken from pan. Turn heat down to medium. Add garlic, and cook for 30 seconds. Then add chicken stock, remaining herbs, and lemon juice. Cook for about 3 minutes. Turn off the heat, and add one pad, or half a tablespoon of butter. Pour sauce over the chicken. Enjoy!

Healthy Chicken Tetrazzini

  I have been so busy with the holidays lately that I haven't had time to blog! I also haven't had much time to cook. However, the other night I pulled out one of my favorites that I had in the freezer. It is Cooking Light's version of a healthier chicken tetrazzini. It is pretty easy to make and it is delicious! It makes two full casserole dishes, so when I make it I serve one and freeze one. It is so nice to enjoy a few weeks later when you get home late, but want a home-cooked meal.

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 cup finely chopped onion
• 2/3 cup finely chopped celery
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 (8-ounce) packages presliced mushrooms
• 1/2 cup dry sherry
• 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 (14.5-ounce) cans fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
• 2 1/4 cups (9 ounces) grated fresh Parmesan cheese, divided
• 1/2 cup (4 ounces) 1/3-less-fat cream cheese
• 7 cups hot cooked vermicelli (about 1 pound uncooked pasta)
• 4 cups chopped cooked chicken breast (about 1 1/2 pounds)
• 1 (1-ounce) slice white bread

  Preparation

• Preheat oven to 350°.
• Melt butter in large stockpot coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add onion, celery, pepper, salt, and mushrooms; sauté 4 minutes or until mushrooms are tender. Add sherry; cook 1 minute.
• Lightly spoon flour into a measuring cup; level with a knife. Gradually add flour to pan; cook 3 minutes, stirring constantly (mixture will be thick) with a whisk. Gradually add broth, stirring constantly. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from heat.
• Add 1 3/4 cups Parmesan cheese and cream cheese, stirring with a whisk until cream cheese melts. Add the pasta and chicken, and stir until blended. Divide the pasta mixture between 2 (8-inch-square) baking dishes coated with cooking spray.
• Place bread in food processor; pulse 10 times or until coarse crumbs form. Combine breadcrumbs and 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese; sprinkle evenly over pasta mixture.
• Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove casserole from oven; let stand 15 minutes.
• To freeze unbaked casserole: Prepare through Step 5. Cool completely in refrigerator. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing to remove as much air as possible. Wrap with heavy-duty foil. Store in freezer for up to 2 months.
• To prepare frozen unbaked casserole: Thaw casserole completely in refrigerator (about 24 hours). Preheat oven to 350º. Remove foil; reserve foil. Remove plastic wrap; discard wrap. Cover casserole with reserved foil; bake at 350º for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 1 hour or until golden and bubbly. Let stand 15 minutes.

Apricot Pork

  I am a huge pork fan! This recipe is very easy, and it calls for pork tenderloin. Therefore, it's pretty healthy. It has a nice sweet and salty taste to it, which I love. It has five ingredients too, so this is a quick one:) I hope you give it a try. I like to serve it over rice.

Ingredients:
1 pork tenderloin trimmed and sliced into medallions (about 1 inch thick)
about half a jar of apricot preserves
about one cup of reduced sodium soy sauce
a few dashes of pepper and garlic powder

Directions:
 Sprinkle the pork with pepper and garlic powder. Then, brown in a hot pan with about 1 tablespoon of oil. Flip the pork after about 3-4 minutes. Cook for another three to four minutes. Then, add apricot preserves and soy sauce. Scrape the brown bits off the bottom of the pan. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and let it simmer for about five minutes. Flip the pork a few times during this process. Turn off the heat and the sauce will thicken after about two minutes. Serve over rice. (Also great with broccoli!)

Delicious Salmon

  I love salmon! It might be my favorite fish. It is so good for you, and there are so many ways you can prepare it. We are lucky because we live very close to a great fresh seafood market. It makes it so easy to cook fish when it is so easily accessible. Hope you enjoy!

Ingredients:
About 1 pound of salmon sliced into to filets
Spice rub- Combine 1teaspoon of all of the following: salt, pepper, paprika, brown sugar, garlic powder, and onion powder
1 table spoon of olive oil

Directions:
 Completely cover the top of fish in spice rub. Pat it pretty good. Then, heat the olive oil in a pan on medium-high heat. Add the salmon, spiced side down. Brown for about three minutes. Then, flip the fish, and immediately put into the oven. Cook for about four minutes for medium rare, about six minutes for medium, and about eight or nine minutes for well-done. My husband makes fun of me because I like to eat mine with a little tartar sauce. It is also delicious with a squeeze of lemon. Hope you enjoy it.

Beef Bourguignon

   I know I just posted yesterday about red meat, but the filets from the night before came in a pack of four in my freezer so I had to hurry up and use them. This recipe is SO good! When I first got married this was my go-to "special" dinner I made for my husband. I still love it as much now as I did back then. In the past, I have also made this recipe with whole filets of beef. Last night, I cut them into pieces to speed up the cooking process. I know beef tenderloin filets can be expensive, so I think you could easily substitute another cut of meat if you want.

Ingredients:
1- 1/2 pounds of sliced beef tenderloin (about 1/2 inch thick)
1 yellow onion
4 carrots
about 8-10 mushrooms sliced
2 cloves of garlics
1 tablespoon of fresh thyme chopped
1 tablespoon of tomato paste
1 1/2 cup of red wine
2 cups of beef stock
2 teaspoons of salt
1 teaspoon of pepper
1 tablespoon of flour
2 tablespoons of butter
1 tablespoon of olive oil

Directions:
  Season pieces of meat with half a teaspoon of salt and pepper. Heat a large pan with the tablespoon of olive oil. Brown meat on both sides for about 2 minutes per side. Set meat aside. Add garlic and onions to the same pan, and cook for 30 seconds. De glaze the pan with the wine. Scrape the bits of the bottom of the pan. Cook for about 2 minutes. Then, add the tomato paste, thyme, beef stock 1 teaspoon of salt, and one teaspoon of pepper. Let this cook for about five minutes. Then, add the carrots. Let this cook for about 20-25 minutes. Meanwhile in a separate pan, brown the mushrooms for about 10 minutes in a tablespoon of butter. Add the mushroom to the sauce. Mix the remaining tablespoon of flour and butter together in a bowl, and then add it to the sauce to thicken. Put the meat back into the pan, and let it all cook together for about 3-5 minutes. Serve and enjoy!

Marinated and Grilled Filets topped with Blue Cheese

  I love this steak. It is pretty simple to make, and it is packed with a ton of flavor! Filets are a very lean cut of red meat, which means they are healthier, but they also are lacking in the flavor department. So, my solution marinate them. The marinade is easy, and I recommend letting them marinate over night if you can. If not, at least try and put them into the marinade in the morning before you grill them that night.

Ingredients:
2-4 beef tenderloin filets
1/2 cup teryaki sauce
1/4 cup of soy sauce
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
crumbles of blue cheese ( I used Roquefort this time.)

Directions:
 Whisk the teryaki sauce, soy sauce and honey together in a bowl. Then, add the garlic and onion powder. Pour over filets in a zip lock bag and leave to marinate over night or at least 6 hours. Remove filets from bag and dry them off with a paper towel. Heat grill or grill pan on high heat. Cook for about 6-7 minutes on each side depending on thickness. Mine were pretty thick, and I like it medium rare. I f you like it more done, cook it longer. I also rotate the steak every three to four minutes to get the hash marks. For the last four or five minutes of cooking, I put the blue cheese crumbles on top to melt. Let the steaks rest for about 8nminutes before you cut into them and eat them. I promise these are full of flavor and delicious!

Tasty Chili

 It finally has gotten chilly outside and I love it! What better food to cook when it is cold than chili? So, that is what we did this weekend. My "we" is my husband and me:) He loves to cook just as much as I do! Our chili turned out delicious, and I really think the key to good chili is cooking it for a very long time. I think we cooked ours for about four hours. We had to stir it every five minutes or so, and add more liquid as it reduced. Trust me, it is totally worth the effort!

Ingredients:
1 pound of 95% lean ground beef
1 pound of 90% lean ground pork
1 yellow onion
2 garlic cloves
1 green bell pepper
1 jalapeno pepper (I took out the seeds.)
1 15 oz. can of tomato sauce
1 15 oz. can of water
1 1/2 beers of your choice
any brand chili seasoning packet (The one I used had a lot of cayenne pepper and chili powder)
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
  Brown both meats in about one tablespoon of olive oil with salt and pepper. Drain fat. In the same pot, saute onions, bell pepper, jalapeno, and garlic with about a teaspoon of salt and pepper. Add the meat back in, and add the tomato sauce, water, and beer. Then, add the seasonings. Simmer, stirring every few minutes and scraping the bottom of the pan. After about and hour, or an hour and a half when the chili has gotten too thick, add one more can of water and half of a beer. Continue to cook on low for about another hour or hour and a half. Taste to make sure it is seasoned properly, and enjoy it with some melted cheese and a dollop of sour cream.