Balsamic Vinegar Chicken with Fresh Tomatoes

Gosh Katie, ANOTHER balsamic vinegar and chicken recipe?  – What can I say? I know what I like.

I’ve been eating this for several days because I made so much of it.  Granted, I did’t have anyone to help me eat it either.  I did tweak a couple of items just based on what I had in my pantry.  I do believe this caused somewhat a lack of flavor.  I wish I had the fresh ingredients like the recipe called far, but I digress.

First thing I changed, was the tomatoes.  I’d love to tell you that I bought some delicious tomatoes from the Farmers Market, but I used a can of diced tomatoes instead.  It was one of those fancy canned tomatoes that have garlic and stuff in it already.  Speaking of garlic, I didn’t have any garlic cloves so I used some minced garlic I had on had (eyeballed it).  Same goes for the basil.  I’m also not a big fan of mushrooms, so I left those out.  (“Gosh Katie, did you do ANYTHING from the recipe?”)

I used my Magic Bullet to blend the ingredients together.  I made more than originally called for because I had a bit more chicken than I was suppose to.  Any excuse to use that just makes me happy.  I was also glad I made more because that, plus the juice from the canned tomatoes, helped keep my chicken from drying out when I reheated it.

Despite not having the fresh flavors that I’m sure the original recipe has, this was a very yummy dinner (and lunch, followed by dinner, another lunch, and one more dinner in there).  Enjoy!

Balsamic Vinegar Chicken with Fresh Tomatoes – Shelly Heim.

Apricot Balsamic Chicken

This recipe is delicious.  I even took the leftovers to work and it reheated deliciously.  Now, this particular recipe is very similar to the Apricot Chicken and Hash recipe I posted about over a year ago (since they each call for apricot jam, why not buy a jar and make both?).

Things I did: added more oil to the onions and chicken to keep it from burning.  And the recipes has you removing the chicken but keeping it warm.  So I just turned the oven on low (I did 300°F) and placed the chicken in a glass baking dish until the sauce was ready. I also used sugar free apricot jam.

And OOOO that sauce.  I wish I made more of it.  I would even recommend making just a little bit more.  You don’t want to go nuts though.  I paired the chicken with a fresh, Summer salad and cooked carrots.  I bought some brown rice to serve with it, but completely forgot I did so until after we ate…oops.

Enjoy!

Apricot- Balsamic Chicken | Recipe Girl.

Nonfat Dill Dip

It was pointed out to me by a friend/co-worker, I have not posted in a while (Jan 15th to be exact).  The past several months have been crazy busy with a lot of work and only minimal play.  Well this past weekend, I convinced the boyfriend to have a lazy Saturday (didn’t take much convincing).  Any good Lazy Saturday is comprised of good food and drink.  This time, I prepared some Sangria, we had deer tacos (Side Note: deer is a very healthy alternative to beef as it has very little fat), and I made a dill dip to snack on while we watched movies (I’m not sure of time when Dill Dip is inappropriate).

“But Katie, Dill Dip typically has sour cream and mayo in it.  How is that ‘non-fat?’ “ you’re probably wondering.

Well my loyal followers, the secret to this recipe (and a lot of other ‘healthy version’ recipes) is Greek Yogurt.  I’m hot and cold about Greek Yogurt, but I gave this a try.  And to my relief, it was tasty.  So basic in it’s ingredients and preparation and it tastes very close to what one would expect of a classic dill dip.

As always, the best part of dill dip is you can customize your dippers to your taste.  I went with celery and carrots.  Enjoy!

Snack Attack: Nonfat Yogurt Dill Dip and Veggies.

Taco Casserole – Weight Watchers

First recipe of the New Year!  Woo hoo!

This was great for a lazy Sunday meal.  It only took a little prep and was super tasty.  I did adjust the ingredients a tad.  I was horrible at compiling the grocery list on this particular day and left off onions and garlic.  I also bought a pound and a half of chicken breast (recipe calls for one pound).  So I made do.

First I ended up cutting the chicken breast into 8 chunks.  That way I could place them evenly in the casserole dish.  Then when it was served, I just let my testers know to locate a chunk and that ultimately helped with portion sizes.  Side note: I bet this dish would also be delicious if the meat was shredded or ground.

Since I forgot the onions and garlic, I mixed up some minced onion, onion powder, and garlic powder and coated the chicken with it before cooking the chicken.  I also used some of the onion/garlic mixture in the seasoning packet and taco sauce mixture.  I’m sure it wasn’t as flavorful as actual onions and garlic, but it still gave it some good flavor.

I didn’t cover the dish with salsa when it was done, but rather let my testers have control over it for their portions.  This dish also used a whole bag of chips.

Overall, this dish was yummy, easy, and kind of fun to make.  There is just something very satisfying about breaking tortilla chips into small pieces. I was also surprised to find out that it reheated well.  I would recommend adding a couple broken chips to it so it’s not too soggy and adding on the salsa after you reheat (if you didn’t add it originally).  Enjoy!

Weight Watchers Taco Casserole | Shine Food – Yahoo! Shine.

Making Peace and Resolutions

I’m a little embarrassed that I haven’t written a post since October.  But I’m here now and that’s what matters.  Tomorrow is New Years Eve and everyone and their mothers will be making New Years Resolutions that they’ll likely only keep up for a couple weeks and then eventually let fall aside.  Last year, I made a resolution to better myself, personally and professionally.  I was only a couple months into my weight-loss activity, I was working as an intern with no full-time job prospects, and I really needed something to change.  I started this blog on January 4th, 2012 as  a way to keep me in check with my healthy eating.  It worked very well, as for a while, I made a new dish every week.  Admittedly, I slacked at times.  But with the new year approaching, I hope to jump back on the horse.

My roommate and best friend has recently lost an amazing 30 pounds simply by controlling her food intake and watching her calories.  This has just reminded me how far away I am from my own original goal and how far my personal eating habits have fallen.  Her achievement has given me mixed feelings.  I am so proud of her and I’m so happy we can both have a similar achievement to share.  But it’s also reminded me that I’m not to my goal and that just makes me feel like a failure.  I’m just about halfway there and I’ve done nothing about it since my latest trainer-time ended in early November.  So I’ve now convinced myself that my 45 pounds is nothing great and I’ve been guilt tripping myself over not finishing.  This is where the making peace needs to come in.

To start making peace with my progress and current position, one habit I need to get back in to is a workout routine.  I know this is what most people do for their resolutions, but it needs to happen.  While eating healthy can help to lose pounds and some size, it never did much to change my shape.  The exercise and cardio is what helped me to tighten, smooth, and tone.  This is what I want to see happen.  I don’t want to be the same shape only smaller.  I want to be a new, more attractive, shape.  I’m trying to return to the mindset that it isn’t my weight that should be my goal.  But rather my dress size or my physical endurance.  I was a size 18/20 when I started in October 2011 and I’d like to get to a healthy 8/10.  So I plan on getting my ass to the gym so I can get my ass in a hot little dress.

I hope my upcoming posts of delicious recipes will help many of you with your healthy resolutions.  I also hope I can be there with words of encouragement, or words to know you’re not alone in your struggle.

Have a happy and healthy new year and may your heart (and ass) be light!

Southwestern Slow-Cooker Chicken

I really like this recipe because you can adjust it to fit your tastes.  You can add and remove ingredients to your hearts’ desire.

There were only two of us eating the dish so we did four chicken breasts instead of six (leftovers!).  And we both love corn, so we kept the two cans.  We nixed the black beans because neither of us are a fan of them.

We also were adventurous with our salsa choice.  We chose a peach mango salsa instead of a “traditional” salsa.  It turned up an interesting concoction.  And with the fewer pieces of chicken, there was plenty of the goodness left.  It made me really want some tortilla chips to scoop it all up.

I did follow the writer’s advice and seasoned the chicken before hand.  I have a southwestern spice mix that I purchased a while ago that I used to coat both sides of the chicken before adding it to the crock pot.  It gave the dish just that much more flavor.  So yummy.

Skinny & Delicious Southwestern Slow Cooker Chicken.

Candy Corn Parfait

If you’re not a fan of candy corn, have no fear.  There are no pieces of candy corn in this dessert.  It just looks like candy corn.

I’ve actually made this a few different ways already.  The first time, I made it with vanilla pudding and put some pineapple chunks with it.  The second time, I used just lemon pudding.  Each pudding was sugar free/fat free and the fruit was canned each time.  I can promise you that fresh fruit would taste better, but the canned fruit was still delicious.

The author of this recipe talks about the original recipe from the food network and how she tweaked it so her children could eat it.  I’m sure the original one is amazing as it calls to soak the oranges in orange liqueur.  But this is a blog about healthier choices.  So I’m advocating the adjusted recipe.

This dessert is such a fun dish to make and consume.  It’s so light and fresh.  I plan on making these a few more times this year.  Enjoy!

Butterfly Jungle: Its Candy Corn Season! Yippee!.

One Year Later: Slightly Frustrated

Before: September 2011. After: October 2012

October 2011, I started my weight loss adventure. I had the original goal of losing 70-80 lbs (or ate least four dress sizes) in one year, so I could be back to my high school weight/size. The idea was to be “as skinny as I was when I thought I was fat.”

One year later, I’m not to my goal. Six months into my journey, I moved 200+ miles away and took more time than I should have to get settled and back in the gym. I didn’t start up again until August and that really set me back on my goal. I’m still close to where I was in April and I’m kicking myself for it.

Today I had an evaluation with my current trainer. I was weighed and he took my measurements. I was frustrated to see that my weight wasn’t much different from my weight in August. However, my measurements showed that progress was indeed being made.

Fall 2005; Senior Year of High School. From the RSHS Production of “Mr. Fixit”

My trainer has asked me to type up a “report” so to speak about my weight loss journey and how it has changed since I started last year. He’s looking for the differences between his techniques and my old trainer’s techniques, what I like/don’t like, how the location of the gym effects my motivation, etc. I’m also suppose to come up with short term goals. In the words of my trainer “You can’t win the war without strategizing each smaller battle.”

So today I took my new “after” photo. And looking at a picture of me from high school (very few left on Facebook for me to grab), I feel like I’m close. What’s frustrating is that looking at the numbers, I’m two dress sizes and about 30 more pounds away from my high school size. It’s becoming a mental game and I feel like I’m suffering from an acute case of body dysmorphia. From those who knew me before, I get compliments. To those who know me now, I’m unimpressive. I’m smaller than what I was, but not small enough.

I need to keep reminding myself that I’m 42 pounds down. Forty-freaking-two! I’m so proud of my number, but I’m not done yet. I have so much more work to do and I’m struggling to find the time and motivation to do it. So my message to you all, is to keep working and keep your eyes on the prize. To reference a quote I saw online:

No matter how slow you go, you are still lapping everybody on the couch.

Baked Oatmeal

This is one that I love because you can tweak it based on your preferences.  I skipped the orange zest, Chinese five spice, and the walnuts.  However, I added in some Apple Pie spice I had along with some cinnamon.  I love strawberries, so I made sure there was a lot of them along with some blue berries I had.  And I may or may not have added in a lot more chocolate chips than I should have…

No matter what fruit or spices you add or subtract, I’m certain you will highly enjoy this recipe.  I would advice caution when using the oven as it gets hot.  I was re-taught this when I burned myself on the side of my oven while taking the pan out when my glasses fogged up.  I’m just awesome like that.

If you’re looking for something to take this up a notch, I topped it with some powdered sugar.  Granted, that makes the recipe not so healthy.  But it also made it more delicios.  Use your best judgement.

Baked Oatmeal with Strawberries, Banana and Chocolate with Recipe Video

Mexican Meatloaf

Once again, I found another draft of a recipe post that I have tried, but not put here for you to enjoy. This one was amazingly simple.  Make sure to stick to extra lean beef (or try ground turkey!) and low fat cheese.  Otherwise it’s just not as healthy.

This was delicious and super moist.  There were three of us eating it and it was devoured with no leftovers.  I’m sure there’s a way to cook this in a regular meatloaf pan as well if you don’t have a crockpot (or don’t want to cook it for 3.5+ hours).  But we did it in the crockpot.

And if you’re feeling creative, ditch the taco seasoning and create your own spice mix.  Maybe you have some new spices from the market you’re dying to try (see Spicing it Up for more spice stories).

¡Buen provecho!

Mexican Meatloaf | Pepper Scraps.