Broccoli Chicken Stir Fry

It seems like I have lots of stir fry dinners on Saturday nights! I was feeling like some more vegetables, so Saturday night became a stir fry night again! I guess I'm calling this a stir fry recipe, but what exactly constitutes a stir fry?

Regardless of what the correct name for this recipe is, it's super easy and tastes great! I think I say that every recipe of mine is super easy, but really, I don't ever make anything complicated. I don't think eating healthy has to necessarily involve huge ingredient lists or tricky instructions...just focus on eating fruits and vegetables and reasonable amounts of lean protein and you'll be fine. 

Anyway, enjoy this simple stir fry (or whatever it is)!

Ingredients:

1/2 boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into 1" pieces

1 broccoli head, chopped up into small florets

1/3 C chopped red onion

1/3 C canned pineapple chunks

1 T Asian Toasted Sesame dressing

salt and pepper to taste

chopped peanuts (optional)

1. Steam broccoli until it's almost all the way cooked.

2. Cook chicken with red onion in a medium-sized skillet.

3. Add broccoli to chicken and onion when chicken is mostly cooked.

4. Add pineapple.

5. Add dressing and mix everything together.

6. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

7. If you want, top with chopped peanuts.

And after eating up this nice and healthy dinner, my sister and I proceeded to eat a large amount of Lindor chocolates. Ah well, balance is key!

I hope you have a wonderful day!

Go-To Breakfast

All summer long I loved drinking a smoothie for breakfast. It was relatively easy to throw ingredients in a blender and my smoothies usually tasted great. I had time to chop up fruits and time to clean the blender. Since school started, I don't think I've made more than one or two smoothies for breakfast, mainly because I don't have as much time anymore to spend prepping or cleaning with the smoothie process. Excuses, excuses, I know! Along with practicality issues, I'm also just not in the mood for a smoothie since it's gotten colder here. Instead of an ice-cold drink for breakfast, I want something warm and comforting for those chilly mornings when I'm making breakfast at 6:30. So lately I've been gravitating toward oatmeal! 

Oatmeal is super-fast to make. Just put some oats in a bowl with some liquid and microwave for 90 seconds or so and you have a bowl of warm, creamy goodness. 

I used to think that oatmeal was bland and gross, but then I started playing around with different add-ins that take the flavor up about ten notches. Lately I've become obsessed with almond butter (just like every other healthy living blogger out there), so that's been the flavor base of my oatmeal. Here's the recipe for this morning's breakfast:

-2/3 C rolled oats

-1 C almond milk

-2 spoonfuls almond butter (probably about 3-4 tsp)

-1 Tbsp brown sugar

-1 tsp mapleine

-1 Stevia packet 

Combine all ingredients, microwave, stir up a little, and enjoy!

Do you have a favorite add-in for your oatmeal? 

Simple Sweet Potato Wrap

Yesterday started out great when I actually got to sleep in! It seems like this entire fall I've had things going on almost every Saturday morning, so I haven't gotten the chance to sleep in very much. For me, sleeping in is at its best when I don't have anything to set an alarm for, and I'm able to wake up whenever my body pleases. So yesterday was quite nice!

After waking up, I went for a little 4-mile run on the Eagle section of the Boise greenbelt. If you're ever in the area, I highly recommend going for a run or even a walk on it, especially during the fall. This part of the greenbelt isn't really paved, so it feels somewhat like trail running. Right now the changing leaves on the trees are beautiful.

I've been doing P90X for the past few weeks, which I intend to keep doing, but I'd like to start incorporating some more runs into my workout schedule. I realized this week that I really miss running! Since daylight savings happened, it's not really an option for me to run most evenings, since it's already dark by the time I'm done teaching piano. Luckily, I do have a couple days in the week that I can fit a run in, so I'm going to start doing that more. I'm really enjoying the strength aspect of P90X, but I miss running as my form of cardio.

By the time I got back from my run, it was lunchtime, so I threw together some vegetables put them in a wheat tortilla. It turned out pretty well! Here's the recipe:

  
Ingredients: 
1 medium sweet potato
1/2 green pepper, chopped
1/4 C red onion
1 large carrot,chopped
3 T corn
1-2 T garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste
grated parmesan cheese

1. Peel sweet potato and chop into medium-sized pieces
2. Put chopped sweet potato into a tupperware with a little bit of water and steam in the microwave for about 2 minutes, or until somewhat soft (they don't need to be totally cooked at this point)
3. After sweet potato is done, steam chopped carrot as well (same as the sweet potatoes, they don't need to be totally cooked - this just speeds up the cooking process)
4. Spray a medium-sized skillet with non-stick spray and put on the stove on medium to high heat
5. Add vegetables, garlic powder, salt and pepper and saute for 5-10 minutes or until sweet potatoes and carrots are as soft as you would like them

6. Serve in a whole-wheat tortilla and top with parmesan cheese. Wrap your tortilla up however you choose!

Makes enough to fill 2 tortillas

I think that overall it doesn't matter a ton how you combine vegetables. Sure, some combinations taste better than others, but you're pretty safe in cooking and serving a bunch of vegetables together. My go-to quick lunch or dinner usually involves some combination of veggies thrown together in a pan with some seasonings, and it usually turns out decently!

What is your favorite combination of vegetable to eat?

Soy Sauce Chicken Stir Fry

For dinner last night, I ended up throwing things together in a saucepan. Lately I've been trying to eat more protein, and chicken sounded good, so that became the base of my dish. I recently started the P90x workout series, and the nutrition plan that goes with it recommends a lot of protein in order to build more muscle, so that's been my focus for my diet as of late.

Basically, you could do this with any vegetables and meat you have on hand. If you want a more Asian-tasting dish, you could leave out the tomato and put in some broccoli instead.

Soy Sauce Chicken Stir Fry

Ingredients:
6-7 oz. chicken breast, cut into small pieces
1/4 tsp rice vinegar
1 1/4 tsp soy sauce
1/2 green bell pepper, diced
1-2 mushrooms, diced
1 small roma tomato
garlic powder (probably about 1/2 to 1/4 tsp., but I didn't measure)
onions (I used a sprinkling of dehydrated ones, but fresh onions would taste great too. Just add as much as you feel is necessary!)
salt and pepper to taste

1. Cook the chicken in a medium-sized saucepan with 1/2 tsp soy sauce
2. Add the bell pepper, mushrooms, garlic powder, onions, and rest of the soy sauce
3. Cook for 5 or so more minutes, or until peppers are as cooked as you'd like them
4. Add tomato and cook for another 30 seconds or so before removing from heat
5. Add salt and pepper and enjoy! 

Healthified Chocolatey Oatmeal Cookies (With Optional Raspberry Topping)...a baking success!

I have a love-hate relationship with "the healthy cookie." I've tried a recipe or two that was too dense and wasn't as sweet as a normal cookie. I've also tried the famous banana-oat cookie, which I'm really not a fan of. As much as my healthy instincts want me to like it, I just can't handle the overpowering banana taste. Does anyone else have this problem? Warm, gooey banana...yuck.

One of my favorite cookie recipes is oatmeal chocolate chip. So this afternoon I set out to healthify that recipe. There was only one issue: I had no idea what the essential components of a cookie actually are. Yeahhh, slight problem.

So I took my oatmeal chocolate chip recipe and searched the internet for things to replace the unhealthier ingredients (shortening, brown sugar, etc.). After a lot of Google searches, and lots of pencil marks on my recipe, I came away slightly overwhelmed. The substitution values for ingredients differed a lot from site to site, and I wasn't sure which websites had the best information.

I ended up just going at it in the kitchen, throwing in different ingredients that seemed like they would work, based on all the healthy cookie recipes I've seen. My goal, however, was to make these taste like mostly normal cookies, and not like a banana food-substance.

The end result? SUCCESS! While still using bananas, I was able to mask the banana flavor. The rest of the ingredients somehow combined to form something that actually tastes like a cookie. That may or may not be due to the large amount chocolate chips and cocoa powder I put in. I added the raspberry part last-minute. The cookies still taste good without it, but I think the raspberry taste is a nice complement to the chocolate.

If you're a little more health-conscious, you can use dark chocolate chips (vegan ones would be even better), or less chocolate chips, or even no chocolate chips at all. You can also try adding in nuts for some extra crunch, or some raisins if you're an oatmeal raisin cookie kind of person.

If you make this recipe, let me know how it goes! Tweet me pictures at @tessabrynnk! Let me know what add-ins you used in your rendition. 

Side-note: After combining my random assortment of ingredients, I got smart and searched the internet for a website to help me create a legit cookie. I came across this great post that I'll definitely turn to the next time I want to make my own cookies.

Ingredients

Cookie:
2 bananas
2 C rolled oats
1/4 C unsweetened applesauce
3/4 C whole wheat flour
2 egg whites
2 stevia packets
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/8 C honey
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 C cocoa powder
3/4 C semisweet chocolate chips

Raspberry Filling:
2 C raspberries
1 stevia packet

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Combine all ingredients (just for the cookie dough) in a mixer.
3. Spoon dough onto cookie sheet covered with parchment paper.

4. If using raspberry filling, mash raspberries in a bowl.

5. Add stevia packet and mix together.
6. Make an indentation in each cookie with a spoon.

7. Spoon raspberry mixture into the indentation.

8. Bake for 10-12 minutes.

Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

Nutrition (without raspberry filling)
Calories: 94 | Fat: 2.6 g | Sodium: 83 mg | Carbs: 16.7 g | Protein: 1.9 g
Serving size: 1 cookie

Chickpea Turkey Wraps

We're finally going grocery shopping this morning! Our poor fridge is all white and bare inside.

Eating meals that aren't boring can get tricky when you're getting down to the end of your groceries. On Monday I really didn't want to just eat an apple and some random snacky items for lunch, so I dug around and scrounged up some ingredients for something more interesting. This is what I came up with!

Ingredients:
1 tortilla (wheat is best, but we didn't happen to have any wheat tortillas on hand)
2-3 T hummus
2 romaine lettuce leaves
1 slice turkey
2-3 T chickpeas
1-2 T feta cheese

1. Spread hummus on tortilla.

We buy our hummus in powdered form in bulk at WinCo, then add some water and olive oil to reconstitute it. It doesn't taste any different than normal hummus.

2. Tear up lettuce and turkey and put on tortilla.

3. Add chickpeas and feta cheese.

4. Roll up and enjoy!

*Note: I made this again yesterday for lunch and added olives, which tasted great too!

Question of the Day:
What are your favorite wrap fillings? 

Peanut Butter Coconut Oatmeal

The other day I whipped up this oatmeal to eat after a run. I haven't used peanut butter a lot in my oatmeal, and I was pleased by the result!

Ingredients:
1/3 C rolled oats
2/3 C water
1/4 C vanilla almond milk
2 T coconut
2 T PB2 (still in the powdered form)
1 packet Stevia

Microwave oats and water for about a minute and a half. Stir in other ingredients. 

Feel free to add more PB2 if you want!

Fiesta Lettuce Wraps

Yesterday for lunch I felt like experimenting. I was in the mood for something on the spicier side, so I threw some ingredients together with some taco seasoning and put it in some lettuce. Simple enough! It turned out pretty good, so I thought I'd share my recipe!

I'm not such a pro at the lettuce wrapping part, but I promise it still tastes good! 

Ingredients

1/2 C chickpeas

3/4 C black beans

1/4 C frozen corn, thawed

1 roma tomato

2 T chopped cilantro

1/4 C chopped onion

1 1/3 T taco seasoning

Romaine lettuce leaves

Combine all ingredients except lettuce. Spoon into lettuce and wrap up! Makes enough for about 6 or so wraps.

Zesty Avocado Salad

This summer I've had lots of salads for lunches. They're easy and filling and the possibilities are endless! Here's the salad that I've made the most this summer.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 C chopped romaine lettuce

1/2 avocado, cut into cubes

1 roma tomato, chopped

1/3 C frozen corn, thawed

1/2 T Parmesan cheese

1/4 tsp Good Seasons Italian Dressing Mix 

Combine all ingredients and enjoy!

*With the corn, you may want to chill it a little after it's thawed, just so your salad is a bit more crisp.

Curry and Sweet Potatoes

Yesterday, the weather here finally started to cool down a little. We had some rain, and then some large gusts of wind in the evening. I was hoping for a thunderstorm, but, alas, my wish wasn't granted. The different weather was a nice change at least from the continually hot temperatures we've had lately. As it neared dinnertime, I turned on Pandora and got started on making my kitchen smell delightful!

I'm a big fan of using curry to season recipes, so I thought I'd use it in my experimentation. This recipe was inspired in part by a curry recipe I've made in the past from a cookbook, but I pretty much did my own thing. 

Curry Chicken and Sweet Potatoes

Ingredients

4 medium-sized sweet potatoes, peeled 

4 large carrots, peeled

4 roma tomatoes, roughly chopped

1 small onion

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

olive oil

curry powder

garlic powder

salt

garlic salt

*Again, when I make my own creations, I don't do a lot of measuring, so a lot of the ingredient amounts listed are approximations. I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing, though, because it encourages you to adapt it to your own tastes and take a more active role in your cooking. To those of you who are trying to cook more meals yourself, the more you cook and experiment in the kitchen, the more aware you become of your own seasoning and ingredient preferences. This will help you when you have fresh produce in your house and want to make something from off the top of your head.

Makes 6-8 servings

1. Cube sweet potatoes and carrots

2. Steam carrots. I put them on the stove on low so they would steam slowly as I cook the rest of the dish.

3. Slice chicken into 1" strips. Rub about 1 1/2 tsp. curry powder into chicken. Sprinkle about 1/2 tsp. or more garlic powder and rub it into the chicken. Cut up the chicken the rest of the way into 1" cubes. Put chicken into a pan with a little bit of olive oil and cook. When it's done, drain any excess liquid and set aside. Like the carrots, I also put the chicken on a lower heat setting so they'd slowly cook while I worked on the rest of the recipe (just so I wouldn't have to concentrate on it so much). 

4. Chop up onion and sauté with a little olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. After 3-4 minutes or so, add sweet potatoes. Cook for about 5 more minutes. 

5. Add tomatoes to the saucepan. Cover and let cook for about 10 minutes, or until sweet potatoes are getting soft. 

6. Add carrots, which should be about done by now. It's actually better for them to be a little less than fully done, since they'll be cooked a little more with the sweet potatoes and tomatoes. 

7. At this point, I added some salt (probably about 3/4 T), garlic salt (probably about 1/2 T), and curry powder (about 1-2 T). This is where the measuring was the most sketchy, since I was rushing a bit to finish and I didn't want to bother measuring. I just put the seasonings on, mixed it up, tasted a sweet potato chunk and added more if I felt like it needed more. Trust your own tastes here! Cook for another 3-5 minutes or so, or until sweet potatoes are all the way cooked. 

8. Add chicken, stir up, and serve! 

I ate this plain; however, it would also taste great served with some brown rice or quinoa. Bon appetit! 

Strawberry Protein Smoothie

I am a total fan of smoothies; I'm pretty sure I could eat one every day! I love experimenting with different ingredients and trying different combinations of fruits in my smoothies. Here's the general recipe for my favorite smoothie to make. It's creamy, delicious, and healthy at the same time! I don't usually measure when I make smoothies, so these amounts are close approximations. Also, I like my smoothies fairly thick, so you may want to put in more water or almond milk to thin it out. Feel free to add more or less of any other particular ingredient to your own taste!

Ingredients

5 oz. Greek yogurt (I used the peach flavor from Dannon)

1/2 frozen banana

3 frozen strawberries

2 ice cubes

2-3 strawberries (unfrozen)

1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder

approx. 1/4 C almond milk

approx. 1/8 C water

Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend on high.

Enjoy the deliciousness of your smoothie!

 

Calories: 225/ Carbs: 29g/ Fat: 2g/ Protein: 25g/ Sodium: 120mg/ Sugar: 20g 

Scrambled Egg Lunch

This was originally supposed to be my breakfast, but waking up a little late left me with less time to work out and eat breakfast this morning before teaching a piano lesson. Breakfast today was some instant oatmeal, a couple handfuls of Honey Nut Chex, and a homemade granola bar...so not too fancy. Lunch was a bit more put together, but was still super easy to make.

Vegetable Scrambled Eggs

Ingredients
-about 1/2 C coarsely chopped spinach leaves
-1 roma tomato, chopped
-about 1/4 green onion
-2 egg whites
-1-2 T. water
-salsa and/or hot sauce
-salt and pepper to taste

1. Spray small skillet with non-stick cooking spray
2. Combine egg whites with water and stir together
3. Cook egg whites in skillet on medium heat, stirring frequently (just scramble your eggs)
4. When eggs are almost done, add spinach and green onions and stir around for a minute or so
5. Turn off burner and mix in tomato (just so it's heated up with the rest of the dish)
6. Salt and pepper to taste
7. Top with salsa and/or hot sauce. I put the hot sauce on top, with salsa on the side. For some odd reason, I prefer some bites with salsa and some bites without.

Here's the finished product!

To go with the eggs, I re-heated some steamed broccoli that we had leftover from dinner last night. It kind of looks like a Christmas dish, with the red plate, tomatoes, salsa, and hot sauce, and the green broccoli, spinach, and onions! The picture doesn't quite do the eggs justice, but they were quite delicious! 

Greek Yogurt Creamsicles

Today I tried making something new: a Greek yogurt popsicle! I've seen recipes like this all over the internet, so I thought I'd try it out. It's super-simple, takes about 5 minutes to put together, and tastes great.

Ingredients:

1 container Greek yogurt (I used Dannon Light & Fit in the peach flavor)

3-4 strawberries

1 packet Stevia sweetener 

1 paper cup (except for glass, any kind of cup would be fine)

1 popsicle stick (I actually used a plastic Ikea knife since we happened to be out of popsicle sticks)

1. Chop up the strawberries into small pieces. The tinier you can chop them, the better, since they'll be easier to mash up.

2. In a small bowl, combine strawberries and Stevia packet. Use a fork to mash the two together into a jam-like consistency. 

3. Spoon about half of the Greek yogurt into the paper cup. Add about half of the strawberry mixture to the top of the yogurt. Add the rest of the yogurt over the strawberries and top it off with the remaining strawberry mixture.

4. Insert the popsicle stick in the middle of the popsicle and freeze.

                                   

5. When you are ready to eat the popsicle, remove it from the freezer and hold the cup under running hot water for a minute or two until the popsicle slides out easily. 

Enjoy!