Chicken and Bean Quesadillas

Don't be fooled by what looks like a huge dollop of sour cream. It's actually greek yogurt! That and grain free tortillas are substitutions that make these quesadillas super clean.

Enjoy!

Ingredients: (serves 4)
8 oz ground chicken
1 15 oz can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
4 6-to-8-inch tortillas -or- homemade grain free tortillas
1/2 cup shredded Mexican-style cheese blend, Monterey Jack or cheddar cheese
1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
olive oil cooking spray
1/2 tsp chile powder
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 tbsp unsalted tomato paste
1 tbsp raw honey

Directions:Mist a medium skillet with cooking spray and heat on medium. Add chicken, beans, chile powder and salt and saute until chicken is no longer pink and cooked through, about 6 minutes. Add tomato paste and honey abd cook for 1 more minut
On a work surface, place tortillas and divide chicken mixture amount them, spooning mixture onto one half of each tortilla. Top chicken mixture with cheese. Fold each tortilla over. Wipe out skillet, mist again and heat on medium high. Working in batches add quesadillas and cook until golden brown on both sides and cheese has melted, turning halfway, about 3 minutes per side. Serve with yogurt.

Baked Chicken with Peaches

Part of me is ready for pumpkin and squash. But with this 100+ degree heat wave it's really hard to get in the mood for fall!

There were still tons of peaches left at Trader Joes yesterday and this recipe looked (and was) so easy and perfect for the hot weather. The chicken was moist and flavorful and the ginger complemented it well without being overpowering. Oh and the peaches were, well, peachy.

Enjoy!

Ingredients:
2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 fresh peach - peeled, pitted and sliced
1/8 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1 1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9 x 13 inch baking dish.
Place chicken in the prepared baking dish and sprinkle with 1/8 cup of brown sugar.

Place peach slices over chicken then sprinkle with remaining 1/8 cup brown sugar, ginger, cloves and lemon juice.
Bake for about 30 minutes in the preheated oven, basting often with juices, until chicken is cooked through and juices run clear.

Grilled Shrimp With Rosemary And Chives

I just returned from a vacation with my family where we ate so. much. good. food. Most of it was prepared at home so it was fairly healthy, and even the food I ate out wasn't typical "vacation eating" as evidenced by this salad :)

The prawns were so good I scoured the internet upon returning home to find a way to prepare them on the grill and I think I found it.

The marinade requires quite a few ingredients but the rest of the preparation is easy. Just be sure to refrigerate shrimp for one hour before grilling.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup dry white wine
2 tablespoon Fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp chopped chives
2 tsp chopped fresh rosemary or 1 tsp dried rosemary
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme or 1/2 teaspoon dried crushed thyme
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
1 tsp minced garlic
¼ teaspoon Tabasco pepper sauce
1 pinch salt
1 pinch black pepper
1 ½ lb large shrimp

Directions:
In a large bowl, combine all the marinade ingredients.

Peel and de-vein the shrimp, leaving the tails on. Place the shrimp in the marinade, cover the bowl, and refrigerate the shrimp for at least 1 hour.

Start the grill. When the grill is hot, place the shrimp on a mesh grate that has been sprayed or brushed with the vegetable oil (or thread the shrimp on skewers), and grill the shrimp for about 3 minutes on each side.

Zucchini Enchiladas

Don't be fooled... this is a Mexican dish, not an Italian dish! But since I loathe cilantro I had to find something else to top it with. And of course I have plenty of oregano :)

This recipe is a little more time consuming than it would lead you to believe. I would advise cooking this one in two nights... night 1: cooking and shredding the chicken and night 2: adding the chicken to the rest of the preparation.

Enjoy!
Ingredients:
4 medium zucchinis, cut in half lengthwise
1 tablespoon oil
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon cumin, toasted and ground
1 tablespoon chipotle chili powder or to taste
1 cup cooked and shredded chicken
1/2 cup corn
1 teaspoon oregano
1 1/2 cups enchilada sauce
1/2 cup cheddar, shredded
1/2 cup mozzarella, shredded
Directions:
Place the zucchini halves in boiling water for a minute, remove and let cool.
Hollow out the zucchini halves with a small spoon reserving the removed flesh.
Heat the oil in a pan over medium heat.
Add the onion and saute until tender, about 5-7 minutes.
Add the garlic, cumin and chili powder and saute until fragrant, about a minute.
Add the reserved zucchini flesh, chicken, corn, oregano, 1/2 cup of enchiladas sauce and cilantro, cook for a few minutes and remove from heat.
Spread 1/4 cup of the enchilada sauce over the bottom of a large baking dish, place the zucchini in the dish, stuff them with the filling and top with the remaining enchilada sauce and the cheese.
Bake in a preheated 350F oven until the zucchini is nice and tender and the cheese has melted, about 30-40 minutes.

Zucchini Noodles with Lobster

Still loving my vegetable spiraler! Especially now that the weather has warmed up and cool, light dishes are more appetizing than warm heavy ones.

If you've missed my previous posts about zucchini noodles here's a quick primer. If you don't have a spiraler you can also use a Julienne peeler and it doesn't take too much longer.

Now for the really fun part....the lobster! Depending on how many you're serving you may want to use imitation lobster as the real thing can be pricey (around $13 for one tail at my grocery store!) Imitation lobster is mostly Alaskan Pollack which is very sustainable so not to worry:) And as the garlic sauce is very flavorful you could probably substitute just about any white fish.

Enjoy!

Ingredients:
4 zucchini, trimmed
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 lemon, zested and juiced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup lightly packed coarsely chopped fresh dill
1/2 cup lightly packed coarsely chopped parsley
3 tbsp olive oil
Fresh found black pepper, to taste
2 cups multicolored baby tomatoes, halved
2 cups coarsely copped cooked and cooled lobster meat (about 10 oz)

Directions: (serves 4)
Working 1 piece at a time, secure zucchini into a spiraler and crank long strands that resemble spaghetti noodles. In a bowl toss noodles with 1/4 tsp salt and transfer to a colander for about 15 to 20 mins to drain excess water.
Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine lemon zest, garlic, dill and parsley. Add oil and lemon juice and mix until combined.
Arrange noodles on a large tray lined with a clean, dry towel. Cover with a second towel and gently pat to absorb any excess water. Add noodles to bowl with herb mixture and toss gently to combine. Season with pepper and additional salt. Transfer to a serving bowl and top with tomatoes and lobster.

Grilled Island Chicken Kabobs

I've been craving something like this lately with the surprisingly good weather (June in SoCal is usually a real bummer) and even though I'm not a fan of hot pineapple it was too pretty to forego! Plus Dave likes it so he got the skewers with hot pineapple and I got all the pieces that fell off on the way to the grill ;)

One thing to note is that the chicken should be marinated for several hours if not all day.  So please don't do what I did and excitedly return from the grocery store with all of the below ingredients expecting to make these kabobs for dinner an hour later. Also, wooden skewers should be soaked for 15-30 minutes.

Ingredients:
2-4 chicken breasts, cut into large bite-size pieces
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup lemon juice (from about 1-2 lemons if want want to use fresh juice)
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 clove garlic, finely minced
½ teaspoon dried oregano
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 large red onion and 1 large green pepper, cut into large chunks
1 pineapple, cut into large chunks


Directions:
Combine vegetable oil, lemon juice, soy sauce, garlic, oregano, salt, and pepper in a large ziploc bag. Place chicken in bag and make sure all pieces are covered. Put chicken in fridge and let marinate for at least 3 hours but as many as 8-12 hours
If using wooden skewers, let your skewers soak in water for at 15-30 minutes to prevent burning. Skewer chicken, onions, peppers, and pineapple on your sticks until you run out of ingredients.
Turn on grill to medium heat. Place skewers on grill and cook for 7-8 minutes per side or until chicken is no longer pink in the middle (if using a meat thermometer, make sure it registers 165 degrees).
Remove from grill and serve!

Pizza Fish

It's always hard coming home from vacation. But especially when that vacation was a total carbfest involving endless pizza and pasta (and I don't mean the zucchini crust and spaghetti squash types.) I'm not going to beat myself up over all the wine because 1) I was in ITALY and 2) It's part of my regular lifestyle. Hehe. However, I can certainly eliminate or at least significantly cut back on starch and grain.

That said I am still craving Italian style dishes so I searched for something reminiscent of the food I was eating on vacation but that wouldn't leave me feeling heavy and bloated. Which is a perfectly acceptable and even welcomed feeling when you're, say, sailing to Capri with a Peroni in hand but not so much when you're back to your "real life." Sigh.

Ingredients:
1lb white flaky fish (cod, haddock, halibut, bluefish)
4 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp fresh basil
1 tbsp fresh oregano
1 tbsp fresh rosemary
2 cloves garlic
4 oz fresh mozzarella, sliced (or 1/2 cup shredded)
1/4 cup grated parmesan
black pepper

red pepper flakes

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350
Place fish in a pre-greased glass baking dish
In a food processor, blend tomato paste, garlic, basil, oregano and rosemary. Add water to create the desired consistency.
Spread tomato sauce over fish evenly
Top with fresh mozzarella and parmesan
Bake for 10-12 minutes, until fish is flaky

Top with black pepper and red pepper flakes