Italian Chicken

So the picture that goes with this post has been sitting in my drafts since the beginning of October... Whoops! Just goes to show that I really do need to blog more often.  Also, I need to not ignore the super awesome recipes that I've tried! Sakief and I have eaten this a few times. It's simple, cheap, but very flavorful.

Italian chicken:

4 4 oz chicken breasts

1 can artichoke hearts (I use quarters)

Tomatoes

Olive oil

Shredded mozzarella

Fresh basil

Salt

Pepper

Generously salt and pepper the chicken breasts. Place in greased glass dish. Drain artichoke hearts. Cut up tomatoes of your choice (pictured is cherry, but I've also used Roma, whatever I have on hand). Mix tomatoes, artichoke and about 1tbsp of olive oil together. Spread this mixture around the chicken breasts. Cover each breast with approximately a quarter cup of mozzarella. Bake at 375 for approx 30 mins. Sprinkle basil over the top and continue baking 15-20 mins until chicken is fully cooked. 

If you have enough veggies in the pan, this doesn't really need a side dish. Otherwise it goes well with just about anything. The original post suggested serving with pasta. I always suggest more green veggies!

My inspiration came came from here:http://aaronandjillw.blogspot.com/2011/08/italian-chicken.html

Spicy Guacamole Chicken Enchiladas

I have so many recipes to post, and I've been such a slacker.

This is a recipe that I can't believe I haven't posted before, because it's a new favorite in our home, and we've eaten it on multiple occasions. Since we had it again last night I made it a point to take a picture so that I could post it...finally! This is another Pinterest inspired recipe, though we tweaked it quite a bit for our needs.

Ingredients:

Rotisserie chicken (hand shredded)

2 large avocados

2 Roma tomatoes (diced)

Shredded Mexican cheese (or cheese of choice)

Low carb tortillas (8)

Diced onion

Cumin

Salt 

Pepper

1 cup chicken broth

1 cup salsa verde

1/2 cup sour cream + dollop for guac

Cilantro

Serrano or jalapeño (1 or 2 depending on desired spice level)

Minced garlic

Garlic powder

Butter

To make guacamole:

Mash together avocados and dollop of sour cream. Mix in cumin, salt, pepper, garlic powder and diced tomatoes. Add diced jalapeño and cilantro if desired. Set aside for enchilada construction.

To make sauce:

Sauté jalapeño/Serrano pepper and minced garlic (to taste) in medium sauce pan with butter. Whisk in chicken broth and add cumin, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat and whisk in salsa verde and sour cream. 

Preheat oven to 375. Grease large glass pan. Spread approx 1/3 cup sauce across bottom of pan. 

To construct enchiladas:

Layer guacamole, shredded cheese, onions and chicken on a tortilla. Roll tightly leaving ends open. Place into glass pan. 

After all enchiladas are in the pan (approx 8), pour the rest of the sauce over the top. The open ends will allow the sauce to integrate into the enchilada. Sprinkle more cheese and cilantro over top. Bake 15-20 minutes until bubbly. Serve hot with any left over guacamole on top.

Sakief and I each eat two for a meal and that's more than enough. Delish!

Breakfast cups

I'm down another 3lbs! And we are now less than a month from Corrie's wedding, and just days from her shower and bachelorette! Ah! I am so beyond excited!

I have found recently that as much as I love my breakfast quiche, if I don't switch up my breakfast routine, it just gets old.

I got my inspiration for these from Pinterest, of course, but as with the Hawaiian burgers I made awhile ago, I had to use pictures without directions, so it required a little creativity.

Ingredients:

12 slices of your favorite lunch meat 

Shredded cheese of your choosing

4-5 eggs

Foil cupcake liners

Cupcake pan

Preheat oven to 375. Place liners in cupcake pan. Put one slice of meat in each liner. Sprinkle a tiny bit of cheese into the slice of meat. Beat eggs (I used a two cup pourable measuring cup so it was easy to pour the egg into the cups). Pour a tiny bit into each slice of meat. Top off until all of the egg is used. Bake for 15 minutes.

I have now used both jalapeño turkey and honey ham for the cups. I recommend that the meat not be sliced too thick or it's hard to get the cheese and egg into the cup. I eat three cups for breakfast, along with avocado slices, and it's plenty. The also keep well, so it's a nice make ahead meal, which I love during the work week.

I listened to Sakief and remembered to take pictures of some of the food that he made in the past week. Since he cooked it, I'll need him to sit down with me to write out the recipe, but I'm looking forward to sharing his tasty food!

Spinach and Artichoke Chicken

I got the chance to cook last week and tried another new recipe from my Pinterest boards. Sakief keeps griping that I don't ever document his successes, so I'm going to try to do a better job of that, but for now, I'll stick with mine!

This was a very yummy win. It's basically just chicken topped with spinach and artichoke dip. Yum! It's also really simple!

Ingredients:

4 chicken breasts

1 block frozen spinach (thawed and drained)

1 13-14oz can artichoke heart quarters (drained)

2 shallots, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 cup Greek yogurt

1/2 cup mayonaise

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup shredded mozzarella

Salt/pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375. Spray or grease baking dish. Place chicken breasts in baking dishand salt and pepper each side. Bake 15 mins. While chicken is baking mix together the other ingredients. Spread over chicken and bake an additional 20-25 mins. 

Sakief and I both agreed that the dip on its own was awesome, and I'm planning to try it during football season. I kept it healthy with low fat mayo and cheese. Each serving was about 350 calories, with the chicken. I honestly can't wait to try it again!

Spiral Slicer

In the past few weeks I've started following several of the blogs that I have been stealing recipes from. It's nice to read others' stories and struggles with the low carb lifestyle. And other than recipes, these blogs give me tips on new ways to below carb.

I have been wanting to try a veggie spiral slicer for awhile now, as I've seen it all over these blogs, as well as constantly popping up when I search "low carb" on Pinterest. I bought the GEFU spirelli spiral cutter off amazon for about $30. I've only used it once and I'm already in love!

There are basically two reasons to use a spiral slicer. 1) to make fancy veggies for your salad and 2) to make veggie "noodles".

I used it for noodles last night. Sakief and I had spaghetti with zucchini noodles for dinner. It couldn't be more simple to make the noodles either. I read a few reviews saying that the slicer was difficult to use, but they clearly don't know what they're doing. All you do is pop whatever veggie you want onto the twist cap, insert into either end of the slicer (two settings, thin and less thin, haha), and twist the cap. It took me less than 10 mins to slice 3 zucchini, and it only took that long because I was playing.

To make the zucchini a better consistency for noodles, I steamed them. They were pretty al dente, but zucchini isn't an overwhelming flavor, and they were twirlable! I think Sakief and I both agree that zucchini noodles are better with spaghetti than spaghetti squash (but I still LOVE my spaghetti squash). 

I'm excited to try the slicer with other veggies like carrots, cucumber and yellow squash, yum!

30 day challenges complete!

It was definitely a struggle, but I am pleased to say that I successfully completed both the squats and abs 30 day challenges. By the end I did 250 squats, 125 sit-ups, 200 crunches, 65 leg raises, 120 seconds plank (in one day). Sakief is the only reason I was able to finish. Every time I wanted to give up, he was there to get me back in it. He didn't just hold my feet while I did sit ups, but encouraged me the whole way. 

While you can't see a lot of changes, I can really feel it. Under my padding there are definite abs. Not a six pack mind you, but if I can keep up ab exercises, I know I'll have a nice flat stomach when I lose the rest of this weight. My thighs seem to have slimmed a bit, but more than anything I actually noticed a reduction in cellulite. The main thing that I noticed is the reduction in what I call "my lump". When I fell in February, I caught the back of my left thigh on the corner of the chair. I had a small cut, but seemed to do more soft tissue damage than anything else. It's still tender to this day. Anyway, a lump formed, and won't go away, but the squats have definitely helped.

My plan is to continue with 100 squats, 50 sit-ups, 50 crunches, 25 leg raises, and 30 seconds of plank 3-4 times a week. 

Losing weight is still a struggle, but it's coming off!

I managed to get the most ridiculous sunburn on my face yesterday, so I'm just taking it easy and applying aloe. I do plan to get my exercises in today though :)

Shrimp fried spaghetti squash

That's right, I went there.

Recently I found a recipe for sesame spaghetti squash with edamame (which I have yet to try), but it got me thinking about other Asian inspired foods that I miss, and fried rice came to mind immediately. So why not try? The worst thing that could happen is that Sakief and I hate it and we never eat it again.

Turns out that subbing out the rice for spaghetti squash is actually quite good. We will absolutely eat it again.

Ingredients:

1lb shrimp (I used uncooked, but you can use precooked)

1 medium spaghetti squash

2 cups mixed vegetables (frozen)

2 large eggs

4 Tbsp olive oil

4 Tbsp soy sauce

Garlic

Wok and baking sheet

Preheat oven to 375. Cut spaghetti squash in half lengthwise. Scoop out seeds. Place upside down on baking sheet and bake for 45 mins or until squash is easy to scoop out (typically you can poke the skin with a fork and it will pierce with little pressure).

If you're using uncooked shrimp, cook in wok with 2 Tbsp olive oil. Set aside (including any left over juice). In a hot wok, add 2 Tbsp olive oil and the soy sauce. Add veggies and cook until defrosted. Scoop out squash into wok. Stir. Add garlic and eggs. Stir constantly until eggs are cooked. Toss in shrimp. Cook until most of the liquid has evaporated. 

I hope you enjoy this as much as we did!