Cold Zucchini Cucumber Dill Soup

Friends, I am sharing one of my mom's famous recipe's with you today. Before she shared this recipe with me, she would visit in the summer time and bring a giant mason jar of this soup for our lunch. Only 95 calories per serving and it has no cream. We would end up drinking it out of a coffee mug for lunch, snacks, or dinner until it was gone. It's just that good.

My sweet husband helped me bring my favorite white table to our front porch where I have the best light. I dusted off my 50mm 1.4 lens and took the best pictures I've taken in months. Sometimes when you walk away from something for a bit, you realize whether it's right for you. I realized on this beautiful overcast day that this blog is a great joy to me, and I hope to bring you a couple more special recipes this summer. 

Cold Zucchini Cucumber Dill Soup

recipe yields 8 cups and serves 6. Only 95 calories per serving! 

4 Tbsp oil

2 cups (about 2 yellow onions), coarsely chopped

2 pounds zucchini, washed with ends removed, coarsely chopped

4 cups (2 cucumbers) washed, seeds removed, skin on, chopped

1/4 cup chopped fresh dill

3 cups chicken broth (I use Better than Bouillon)

Salt and pepper to taste

Garnish - finely chopped cucumber, tomato, and a few sprigs of dill

1. Cook onions in oil until soft. Add zucchini and cucumbers and cook for about 15 minutes until soft. Use medium heat and stir a few times, do not let them brown.
2. Add broth and cook for 15 minutes more. Let it cool, then add the dill and process the soup in a blender or food processor until smooth. Pour in a bowl and refrigerate.
3. Prior to serving, may add a dollop of sour cream if desired and garnish with cucumber, tomato, and dill sprigs.

Zesty Lime Shrimp & Avocado Salad

Summer has arrived, and with the heat comes simple fresh meals served with tart lemonade and buckets of beer. I adore summer evenings, sitting outside and watching the fireflies light up the yard, and nibbling on my favorite tomato basil mozzarella salad with a glass of crisp white wine and a chunk of fresh baguette. Summer is a season of simplicity, with days at the pool followed by evenings on the patio. Charlie checks out for bedtime at 730, and Josh and I move out to the deck to enjoy the evening hours. It's divine.

I've been fixing us my go-to summer salads, and tossing them with bright acidic dressings and freshly chopped herbs. This avocado shrimp salad is new to my summer repertoire, and pairs perfectly with a corona light and a few tortilla chips. 

Zesty Lime Shrimp & Avocado Salad
from Skinnytaste

1/4 cup chopped red onion
2 limes, juice of
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt and black pepper to taste
1 lb jumbo cooked and peeled shrimp, chopped
1 medium tomato, diced
1 medium hass avocado, diced
1 jalapeno, seeds removed, diced fine
1 Tablespoon chopped cilantro

In a small bowl, combine the red onion, lime juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. Let the onion marinate for 5 minutes to mellow the flavor. 

In a large bowl, combine chopped shrimp, avocado, tomato, and jalapeno. Add the red onion mixture and cilantro and gently toss. Adjust salt and pepper to taste.

Healthy Buffalo Chicken Dip

 Somewhere along the way I embraced the mindset that dinner is supposed to be a sit down affair: one meat and two sides. Tilapia over quinoa with roasted veggies. Steak with roasted potatoes and asparagus. Pasta with a salad. I love to light tea candles, use real napkins, open a bottle of wine, and play a nice pandora station like Steely Dan or Dizzy Gillespie. This was the time in our lives we casually refer to as BC (Before Charlie). 

When you have a little baby that demands much attention, you can throw all dinner rules out the window! It's quite fun actually. A few of our new dinner favorites are gourmet popcorn, fresh market rotisserie chicken salad, chips and salsa, or Barbara's peanut butter puffins. Annie's shells and white cheddar mac & cheese pairs perfectly with a nice Cab. I know all the mom's out there are laughing because they can totally relate.

I can now thank one of my besties, Amy, for the inspiration for dip night. Tell me you would not love to have buffalo chicken dip for dinner with tons of celery and tortilla chips.  I'm pretty sure Josh was in dude heaven when I told him what I had in the crock pot. I'm not even going to feel guilty about it since this lightened up version is heavy on chicken and greek yogurt. It's thicker than most other chicken dips I've tried, so you can really get a good amount of dip on all your celery bites. I modified the original recipe and used more chicken (3 cups) and half the cream cheese - still delicious. 

Healthy Buffalo Chicken Dip

4 ounces reduced-fat cream cheese (room temp) - original recipe called for 1 package 

1 cup (0% fat) greek yogurt
1 cup mozzarella cheese

1 Tbsp dry ranch seasoning

2/3 cup Franks red hot sauce

2 to 3 cups cooked shredded chicken OR 1 large can of chicken

Put all ingredients in crockpot, set on low for 3-4 hours and stir every hour.

You can also set oven to 350 degrees, combine ingredients in glass baking dish, cover with foil and bake for 25-30 minutes. 

Spicy Shrimp

Ree Drummond has never let me down. She's cool like that. She can be trusted. And this recipe, my friends, is MAGNIFICENT and requires zero chopping or effort whatsoever.

                     

                                        beautiful Shauna Niequist print from Lindsay Letters

Last Monday was a long day. I was flipping off night shifts, we had a very sad family funeral, and yet I wanted to actually fix us dinner and sit outside since it was a pretty night. I needed to take comfort in good food and my people. I get why happy people love to eat, and why grieving people love to eat. My amazing friend Cindy came over, Charlie went to sleep early after his nighttime bottle, and we sat outside, drank wine, and devoured these shrimp. We put the baking sheet right on the table, tore off chunks of baguette and soaked up the rich sauce. Josh kept our wine glasses full as we sipped on a cold Viognier. It was so simple and so good. Just what we needed after a long day. This meal was really a great big hug, and sitting under the stars with my people reminded me that everything was going to be OK.

Since it was dark, I didn't even take a picture, but I'm telling you, these shrimp are GOOD.

Spicy Shrimp
from the Pioneer Woman

3 pounds unpeeled shrimp (more or less)
1/2 cup olive oil
Salt and Pepper, to taste
3 whole lemons (juice of)
1/4 cup (to 1/2 cup worcestershire) sauce
Tabasco
1 stick butter

Rinse raw shrimp with shells still on (21-26 count) and place on a large baking sheet in a single layer. Drizzle shrimp with olive oil. Generously sprinkle black pepper over the top of the shrimp and follow with kosher salt. Lots of pepper!

Squeeze the juice of 3 lemons over top of all the shrimp. Generously drizzle Worcestershire over the shrimp and then Tabasco. Cut stick of butter into pats, and place the pats on top of the shrimp as evenly spaced as possible. 

Place the pan under the broiler for 10 minutes until the shrimp are no longer translucent. Serve with a crusty French baguette to dip in the glorious butter lemon sauce!

Roasted Sweet Potato and Quinoa Salad

This quinoa salad is my new obsession because it's easy, healthy, and delicious. My friend Lexi made it for me on one of our fun baby play dates, and I've made it twice the last few weeks. We both decided that the recipe needed to be on the blog because it's AMAZING and ready in 30 minutes. 

The sweet potatoes, black beans and quinoa are a great combination with the cilantro and lime juice. It tastes like summer, and I like to eat it hot or cold. I brought it for lunch at work today and snapped this picture before the contained disappeared. 

One of my favorite Gretchen quotes that is ringing true in my life every single day is "Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good". This photo was snapped my iPhone in a Tupperware container that I packed the salad in. Maybe, hopefully, one day I will get back to snapping Saveur worthy pictures of my recipes, but for now I am just cooking, figuring out how to make the perfect pizza dough in my mixer, and muddling mint for mojitos. Let me just tell you - add a little cucumber to a mojito and muddle it with the limes and mint - so fresh and delicious! Right now, I am embracing the good, the wabi sabi. If you haven't heard of WABI SABI, look it up, right now! 

Roasted Sweet Potato and Quinoa Salad

2 sweet potatoes, peeled and diced into 1-inch cubes
1 cup quinoa
2 cups chicken broth (I love Better than Bouillon paste)
2 cans black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can rotel tomatoes
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
Juice of 2 limes (use 1 lime for more subtle flavor)
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander
1 Tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper, to taste
Avocado - for topping

- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Toss sweet potatoes in olive oil, salt, and pepper and roast for 30 to 35 minutes or until done. 
- Cook 1 cup of quinoa in 2 cups chicken broth.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine rotel tomatoes, black beans, lime juice, coriander, cumin, and cilantro. Add quinoa and stir well.

To serve, top quinoa salad with roasted sweet potatoes and avocado.

Slow Cooker Thai Chicken Soup

As new moms, my friend Lexi and I often laugh about our pre-baby lives. We are just in awe of what we did with our tremendous amount of free time! I was recently reading my blog looking for a recipe, and realized that I used to make new recipes every week, take pretty foodie photos, and watch Ina Garten's cooking show. Now, I change diapers, make baby food, snap photos with my iPhone, drink way too much coffee, and fall more in love with Charlie every day. Can you believe he's almost 6 months old! 

Every life has different chapters, and I'm soaking up the baby chapter. Soaking it up like pancakes drowning in maple syrup. Babies are just the most fascinating little creatures. Last weekend my mom came to visit, and we sat on the floor and watched Charlie for hours. I think our guys thought we were a little bonkers, but they knew better than to say anything. Women love babies. 

This weekend I did pull out my slow cooker and made a new recipe, this really easy and DELICIOUS thai coconut chicken soup that I had to share. It's on my top five list of slow cooker favorites. I also love that my crock pot has a keep warm setting, so dinner can be at 630, or 7, or 730, which allows us a little spontaneity for an evening walk or happy hour. Also, can I tell you how much I love blue japanese bowls? I found these on sale at TJ's and snatched them up! 

Slow Cooker Thai Chicken Soup
from Foodie Crush (one of my favorite bloggers)

2 Tablespoons red curry paste
2 (12 ounce) cans coconut milk
2 cups chicken stock
2 Tablespoons fish sauce
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
2 Tablespoons peanut butter
1-1/2 pounds chicken breasts, cut into 1-1/2 inch pieces
1 red bell pepper, seeded and sliced into 1/4 inch slices
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 heaping tablespoon fresh ginger, minced
1 cup frozen peas, thawed
1 Tablespoons lime juice
Cilantro for garnish
Cooked white rice (I used thai noodles)

Mix the curry paste, coconut milk, chicken stock, fish sauce, brown sugar and peanut butter in a slow-cooker bowl. Place the chicken breast, red bell pepper, onion, and ginger in the slow cooker, cover, and cook on high for 4 hours.

Add in the peas and cook for 1/2 hour longer. Stir in lime juice and serve with cilantro and white rice. Top with peanuts and lime wedges before serving. 

*If you are planning to freeze this recipe, I would not add the peas to the frozen batch. They get soft and taste better if you add them when reheating the soup. 

Curried Chicken Salad

I could eat chicken salad every single day, and most of my girlfriends feel the same way.  My go to easy appetizer when I am in a hurry is Fresh Market rotisserie chicken salad on miniature croissants. YUM. But, as always, if you have the time it's often cheaper, healthier, and more fun to make it yourself. Here is my favorite variation on chicken salad, a curried version that's sure to please! 

As always, take this recipe and make it your own. Add celery, substitute a crunchy apple for the grapes and mango, or use almond slivers instead of cashews. Add green onions or diced red pepper, whatever suits your fancy. 

I like mine on a bed of greens or wrapped up in a lettuce wrap, and I like to add celery and a fuji apple for extra crunch. 

Curried Chicken Salad
adapted from Epicurious

1 3/4 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/4 cup mayo
3/4 cup plain yogurt
3 teaspoons curry powder
1 Tablespoon fresh lime juice 
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 medium red onion, finely chopped (1 cup)
1 firm mango, peeled, pitted, and chopped
1 cup seedless red grapes, halved
1/2 cup salted roasted cashews, coarsely chopped

Bring 4 cups water to a simmer with chicken broth in a 3 quart saucepan. Add chicken and simmer, uncovered, for 6 minutes. Remove from heat and cover, then let stand until chicken is cooked through, about 15 minutes. Transfer chicken to a plate to cook 10 minutes, then chop into 1/2-inch pieces. 

While chicken is cooling, whisk together mayonnaise, yogurt, curry powder, lime juice, ginger, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Add chicken, onion, mango, grapes, and cashews and stir gently to combine. 

* if making in advance, add the nuts just before serving to keep the salad crunchy.

White Turkey Chili

This has been a tough week in our house, as we said goodbye to our oldest boxer Heidi after almost 11 years of life. She was the sweetest, most endearing old soul and we all loved her dearly. To us she represented love. She loved strongly and completely, and asked for just a little in return. She saw us through our best and worst times, and always looked at us with kind eyes.

So what do you do when you lose someone you love? I have realized that you have two choices: you can sit and cry, or you can stay busy and try to remember the good times. You still cry, but you also continue to live. Life is full of joy and pain. You can't have one without the other.  I realized that #2 was the better option, so I washed the dog beds, the sheets, the floors, and I made big pots of comfort food. I chopped and filled the house with the smell of onions cooking in olive oil. I made my first Marcella Hazan recipe and we filled our empty hearts with pasta and red wine. I also made this chili. 

I am remembering all my memories with Heidi, and one of my favorites was sitting in our yard in Catawba on a towel with my camera and photographing the two of them sprinting, rolling in the grass, and lounging. They loved that great big yard, and they taught me how to use shutter speed priority to get shots like this one. 

This recipe is from my mom's friend Pat, and we are all crazy for it. She always makes a double batch because it freezes so well. She filled our freezer with this chili when I was home on maternity leave so we could have a real meal at night with no effort. This has become my favorite chili, and so I've decided to share the recipe today. We all need comfort food sometimes, to celebrate the joy and survive the pain of life. Please remember Heidi today, and remember that to love is to live. 

White Turkey Chili
from my mom's friend Pat Burton

1/4 cup vegetable oil 
1 cup chopped onion
2 Tbsp minced garlic
1 Tbsp ground cumin
1 pound boneless turkey or chicken breast, cut into 1/4 inch cubes
1 pound ground turkey
6 cups chicken stock
2/3 cup pearl barley
1 Tbsp chopped jalapeno peppers
1 tsp dried marjoram
1/2 tsp dried summer savory
2 cans garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
1 1/2 Tbsp cornstarch dissolved in half cup of water
Chopped green onions
2 cups grated monterey jack cheese

Heat oil in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and saute until tender, about 5 minutes. Add cumin and stir until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add cubed turkey breast and ground turkey. Saute until no longer pink, 4 minutes.

Add the chicken stock, pearl barley, chickpeas, jalapeno, marjoram, and summer savory to turkey mixture Cover and simmer until barley is almost tender, stirring occasionally, about 45 minutes. Stir in cornstarch mixture, and simmer uncovered for 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve topped with cheese and scallions. 

*this is the original recipe from my mom's friend. I used olive oil, increased the barley to 1 cup and skipped adding the cornstarch to thicken. I also used pepper jack cheese and added several dashes of Tabasco to the pot for a little heat. 

*when my mom makes this recipe to freeze, she adds the cheese at the final step so it melts into the chili. 

Chinese Night!

Who doesn't love a fun theme night? We've always been fans of Mexican night (with katie-ritas), breakfast for dinner, and homemade pizza night. I decided to start a new theme night, and I wish you could have see Josh's smile when I told him my plan! 

Who doesn't love Chinese take out? My only complaint - the grease, the sodium, and the swollen fingers - YUCK! I feel terrible the day after, what I've dubbed the "chinese hangover". Why not make good Chinese food at home? I started out by making Alton Browns baked brown rice (here is the link) - it's easy and the rice is perfect every time. 

Here are a few other tips I found to make great fried rice:

1. A hot wok - flick drops of water on your wok, beads of water should evaporate in 1 to 2 seconds when the wok is heated. Add the peanut oil to the wok initially OFF the heat and swirl the oil around on the wok. If the wok smokes like crazy then it's too hot - start over. Otherwise, add aromatics first (ginger, garlic, red pepper flakes, red chiles) off the heat so the aromatics do not burn. Return the wok to heat and add veggies. 
2. Leftover cold rice - at least a day old
3. Preparation/Organization - cut all your ingredients to a uniform size before your wok is hot and have them organized around your wok. 
4. Ground white pepper 
5. In China fried rice is peasant food and a way to use up leftovers, so there are no rules. Have fun, be adventurous, and use what's in your fridge or garden. 
6. HOT wok! 

Chinese Chicken Fried Rice
3 large eggs
peanut oil
4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves, cut into thin strips
2 tsp sesame oil
kosher salt 
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup peas and carrots, thawed (I used a frozen bag)
4 cups cold, cooked rice (I use brown rice and followed this cooking method)
6 green onions, thinly sliced
1/2 tsp ground white pepper
2-3 Tbsp soy sauce
Sriracha

Beat 3 eggs with a whisk and add salt and pepper. Heat a splash of peanut oil in hot wok and make an omelette using half the beaten eggs. Turn onto a plate and repeat with remaining eggs. Place one omelette on top of the other and coarsely chop. Set aside. 

Toss chicken strips with 1 teaspoon sesame oil and season with salt. Heat 2 tablespoons peanut oil in hot wok and stir-fry the chicken strips until lightly golden, about 2 minutes. Add the onion, garlic, peas and carrots and stir-fry for 2 minutes or until onion has softened. Pull mixture into bowl with chopped egg and keep beside wok. Add 2 more tablespoons of peanut oil and 1 teaspoon sesame oil to hot wok, and then add the cooked rice and green onions, tossing and mixing until very hot. Sprinkle with soy sauce and mix together. Return chicken, vegetable and egg mixture and mix well. 

Garnish with scallions and serve with Sriracha. 

Robin's Super-Healthy Lentil Soup

I was bent on getting in my kitchen over the weekend and chopping. Discovering the action of cooking again - with a sharp knife and cutting board, my favorite pandora station, and a glass of cab, all the while shimmying around the kitchen in my Ugg slippers. I'd been looking forward to an afternoon off, a little "me time" in the sanctuary that is my kitchen. 

I've been on a Shauna Niequist kick lately, and just ordered two more of her other books from Amazon Prime (cold tangerines and bittersweet). My very favorite is Bread & Wine, and it holds a special place in my heart. When I'm in a funk, a couple of chapters will get me back on track, and remind me that we are all human and we all struggle. She tells us to open the front door, bring in friends, drink bubbly champagne, laugh, cry, and be our real selves. Be present over perfect. Such solid advice. 

one of my favorite quotes on canvas - for sale on Lindsay Letters

I decided that I wanted to chop mirepoix - a fancy word for a mixture of chopped onions, carrots, and celery, which is the base of every hearty lentil soup. Shauna just so happens to have a recipe for lentil soup in Bread & Wine, so I called it serendipity and made a loaf of homemade rye bread on the side. Remember to add the splash of balsamic at the end! 

Robin's Super-Healthy Lentil Soup

from Bread & Wine (p. 137)

3 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

2 cups onions, chopped

1 cup celery stalks, chopped

1 cup carrots, chopped

2 garlic cloves, chopped

6 cups chicken or vegetable broth

1 1/2 cups lentils

1 (14.5) ounce can diced tomatoes in juice

Balsamic vinegar

Salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil in a large heavy saucepan over medium high heat. Add onions, celery, carrots, and garlic; saute until vegetables begin to turn brown, about 15 minutes.

Add broth, lentils, and tomatoes with juice, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low, cover, and simmer until lentils are tender, about 35 minutes. Season with salt, pepper, and a splash of balsamic vinegar. 

Greek Spaghetti Squash Boats

Spaghetti squash boats are so easy! I buy my spaghetti squash at Walmart, but am set on growing them in my garden this spring. They are so versatile, and in the past I have stuffed them with a traditional bolognese sauce or Cincinnati chili. One of my favorite easy sides is spaghetti squash with a little olive oil, salt, and parmesan cheese. 

This week, I wanted to mix it up and found this recipe with my favorite Greek toppings - artichoke hearts, feta, pine nuts, spinach, and kalamata olives.  We absolutely loved this recipe, as the flavor is so bright and fresh. 

In my favorite parenting book, Bringing Up Bebe, there are chapters devoted to introducing children to the joy of food. There is no culture that takes cuisine as seriously as they do in France. It's normal to step into the neighborhood creche (French daycare) and find 3 year olds eating manchego with slices of ripe pears. They assume children are young adults with the ability to appreciate amazing food. Parents strive to make their children's plates colorful and flavorful. It is my goal to bring Charlie up as a baby foodie, and one day I hope he will love my colorful spaghetti squash boats! 

Greek Spaghetti Squash Boats

serves 2

Spaghetti squash

2 chicken breasts, grilled and diced (I seasoned with Cavender's greek seasoning) 

1 Tbsp olive oil

1/4 cup kalamata olives

2 cloves garlic

1 medium onion, diced

2 cups spinach

3 Tbsp pine nuts, lightly toasted

1/4 cup feta cheese

1/2 cup artichoke heart, roughly chopped

10 cherry tomatoes, diced

Roast spaghetti squash (cut in half, scoop out seeds, roast at 400 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour, then scrape out inside). Save shells for serving. 

In a dutch oven or skillet over medium heat, add olive oil. Once hot, add garlic and onion and saute for about 5 minutes. Then add spinach and cook until wilted. Add artichoke hearts, tomatoes, and kalamata olives. Add spaghetti squash and chicken, and stir well. 

Scoop spaghetti squash mixture back into shells, and top with pine nuts and feta cheese. Serve while hot. 

Curried Short Ribs

In care you hadn't noticed, I took a mini sabbatical from the blog after following my own advice and focusing on what really mattered. It's been a whirlwind of mostly joy and a few melt downs, though nothing that couldn't be fixed with a hug, a dose of mommy's medicine (a dirty vodka martini, one olive) and a good pep talk. Charlie is thriving, I am back to work and we are ready to find our state of calm. 

I promised to make a comeback this week, and this recipe is going to be hard to top. OMG. Talk about setting the bar high. The crock pot does all the work and your house will smell amazing all day. 

If there is one thing I have learned during the last few months of sleep deprivation, it is that food can SLOW you down. Eat simple carbs or sugar and feel tired and sluggish all day.  If you are late to the cauliflower rice, spaghetti squash, or zoodle revolution, it's not too late. These "mock" cauliflower mashed potatoes  are my new favorite side with a steak, and they were perfect with these short ribs.  If you don't get up close, they even look like potatoes! 

Curried Short Ribs
from Against All Grain

2 Tbsp coconut oil
4 lbs bone-in beef short ribs, cut into 3-inch pieces
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 can coconut milk
1/3 cup tomato paste
1/3 cup red curry paste
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp fish sauce
2 tsp fresh lime juice
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 yellow onion, sliced
1 pound carrots, peeled

1. Place the oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Season both sides of the short ribs with salt and pepper. Place in the pot and sear on all sides, about 6 minutes.
2. Place the coconut milk, tomato paste, curry paste, garlic, fish sauce, lime juice and ginger in a bowl and whisk to combine. Add the sauce and onions to a crock pot. Place the short ribs on top, spooning some sauce over the meat.
3. Cook for 8 hours on low, basting the ribs once.
4. Skim off and discard all of the fat that has accumulated at the top of the pot. 
5. Add the carrots and continue cooking for 1 hour more. 

Cookie Dough Greek Yogurt

As long as I can remember, Ben & Jerry's chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream has been my favorite. A waffle cone with two scoops used to be the ultimate treat, saved for straight A's on report cards and the like.

Fast forward a few decades, and here I sit looking for healthy nutritious snacks to keep me fueled while I'm nursing Charlie. Unfortunately, ice cream is not on that list, but this greek yogurt dip is perfect! I love honeycrisp apples, and this dip is so good I hid it in the fridge so as not to be discovered by other household members. 

Cookie Dough Greek Yogurt 
from Family Fresh Meals

1 cup plain Fage greek yogurt
1 tablespoon nut butter (peanut butter or almond butter)
1 tablespoon sweetener (maple syrup or honey)
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon mini chocolate chips
dash of sea salt

Mix ingredients together and stir well. Enjoy on it's own or as a dip for apple slices.

Skinny Chicken Parmesan

If I could only visit one blog every day, it would be Skinnytaste. While I love cooking recipes from Ina Garten and my family cookbook, I try to balance those with healthy recipes that I make for us most of the time.  When we splurge, we take off the brakes, but the truth is that we feel better when we eat more vegetables and lean proteins and less carbs and ice cream. AHEM. Says the 40 week hormonal pregnant lady. 

And then this BEAUTIFUL cookbook arrives at my doorstep. That's right, Gina of Skinnytaste has published a cookbook and the recipes and photographs are glorious! Tonight I made her Skinny Chicken Parmesan over spaghetti squash with my favorite sauteed kale with garlic. I already have three more recipes bookmarked! 

Skinny Chicken Parmesan 

from Skinnytaste cookbook
serves 6

Cooking spray or oil mister

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (8 ounces each), fat trimmed

3/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 cup seasoned whole wheat bread crumbs

3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

2 teaspoons melted unsalted butter

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 cups marinara sauce (homemade or store-bought)

9 tablespoons part-skim mozzarelle cheese

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Lightly spray a large baking sheet with oil.

Slice the chicken breasts in half horizontally to make 6 cutlets. Season both sides with salt.

In a shallow bowl, combine the bread crumbs and Parmesan. In a small bowl, combine the butter and olive oil. Brush the butter oil on both sides of the chicken, dredge the chicken in the bread crumb mixture, and put the chicken on the prepared baking sheet. Lightly spray oil on top of the chicken.

Bake until golden on the bottom, about 20 minutes. Turn the chicken over and bake until the center is cooked through, about 5 to 6 minutes. 

Meanwhile, in a large, deep covered skillet, cook the marinara sauce until heated through, 2 to 3 minutes.

Place the baked chicken in the skillet and top each piece with 1 1/2 tablespoons of the mozzarella. Cover the pan and cook until the cheese melts, 3 to 4 minutes. Serve hot.

*I served my chicken over spaghetti squash*