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Hi Friends!

In case you’re still playing catch-up from the weekend, here’s a few things of note:

-Be sure to check out yesterday’s post to see if you’re interested in becoming a Foodie Penpal!

-Check out my Sweet Potato & Black Bean Tacos that were featured on Good Life Eats! I won an amazing giveaway involving a 6 ingredient recipe challenge! You can find the original recipe that I posted on The Bean in December by clicking here.

Moving on….

Last night I had a little adventure in the kitchen as I made chicken thighs for the first time. I’d been thinking about them ever since I saw them in last month’s issue of Bon Appetit. They looked so good in the photographs that I just wanted to eat them right up! Then Tessa posted about them after she saw the article and it just made me want them even more!

Last time I was at the grocery store, I finally picked up a package of thighs. They were pretty cheap compared to chicken breasts! After work I hauled out my cast iron skillet and got busy.

There’s really no recipe, per say….just some instructions that I followed exactly from the Bon Appetit article.

Here’s what you do:
Season the thighs with salt and pepper. (I used very little salt and added some paprika).
Put them skin side down in a hot skillet and cook for 2 minutes.
Reduce the heat to medium high and cook for another 12 minutes, moving the thighs around occasionally.
Transfer the pan to a hot oven (the article said 475 degrees, I went with 425) for another 12 minutes.
Flip the thighs over and cook another 5 minutes.
Let rest 5 minutes before serving.

Here’s the deal- I probably won’t be making these again…and here’s why:

-Grease everywhere. Most of the things I cook are lean and don’t release a lot of fat so I don’t have a splatter screen or anything like that. Consequently, these got grease all over the stovetop and inside of the oven. It splattered on my shirt, and on my arms when I was trying to move the thighs around
-The skin stuck! I was trying so hard to get a nice crispy skin that would look pretty and on half the thighs, it stuck to the bottom of the pan. Annoying.
-Hard to eat. Hubby and I both agreed it was a lot of work to eat these and you don’t get very much meat for your effort

On the other hand, the flavor was good and the meat stayed nice and moist, so it wasn’t a total loss.

What I’m saying is, if someone else made these for me….I might be inclined to eat one 🙂 But only if they cut it up nicely for me.

I spent most of my dinner focusing on the orzo and veggie salad I made as a side. Bok choy, red peppers, carrots, zucchini and onion lightly sauteed. Add a drizzle of balsamic vinegar and a squirt of italian dressing and you’re good to go 🙂

All together now:

How do you feel about chicken thighs? Do you have a favorite recipes that might convince me to give them another try?

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–

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Last night I made one kick-ass dinner. *Not to toot my own horn or anything…* But seriously, it was really good! Let’s recap, shall we?

We picked up some ribs at the grocery store earlier this week. This is important 1) Because I’ve never bought ribs before. 2) Because I’ve never made ribs before and 3) Because I don’t even eat them that often. HOWEVER, I did grow up in Kansas City- hellooo BBQ – so I’ve eaten some pretty good BBQ in my time. In addition, my mother-in-law makes great ribs, which the hubby is used to eating, so….

I felt like I had some major shoes to fill and I’m not gonna lie, I was a little nervous about it.

A while back, Tina posted this recipe for Crockpot BBQ Ribs and I immediately bookmarked it because I generally feel that even if it’s something I’m not familiar with, if it’s done in the crockpot, I can handle it.

After talking to the hubby about it, he expressed his concern that sometimes meat cooked in our crockpot gets a little dried out. AND it just so happened that my crockpot was already in use yesterday because I was making some crockpot granola (recipe coming soon!). So, I decided it would just be better for everyone if I started the ribs in the oven.

After a quick text to the MIL for a time and temperature check, I got to work. Besides subbing the oven for the crockpot, I pretty much followed Tina’s recipe.

I made some of her BBQ spice rub, but I cut the recipe in half and made a few slight adjustments. Here’s the recipe I used. It made about 1/2 a cup of rub and I only ended up using about half of it and saving the rest.

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BBQ Spice Rub
2 Tbsp Cumin
2 Tbsp Brown Sugar
2 Tbsp Paprika
2 Tbsp Chili Powder
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 Tbsp kosher salt
1 tsp ground Black Pepper
1 tsp Garlic Powder

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and stir until well mixed.

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Next, I followed her directions to doctor up some regular BBQ sauce. Normally I would have been lazy and just used all KC Masterpiece BBQ sauce…but I was running a little low and her way seemed like a good way to bulk it up a little bit!

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Doctored Up BBQ Sauce
1 cup bbq sauce
1/2 cup ketchup
1/4 cup mustard
1/4 c white vinegar

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and mix well.

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With my rub and my sauce ready to go, I took the ribs out of the fridge and got busy. I patted the ribs dry with paper towels and then liberally rubbed the spice mixture all over both sides. Even with my liberal application, I still only used about 1/4 c of the spice rub and I think that was plenty. So, if you don’t want any leftovers, you could halve the recipe above. *Also note that I only had one rack of ribs, about 2.4 pounds. If you had two racks, 1/2 c of spice rub would probably be just the right about.

Next, I covered a jelly roll pan in foil. I laid out two more pieces of foil and transferred the ribs to the foil. I poured half the sauce on the ribs and used a brush to spread it all over one side. Then I carefully flipped them over and poured the rest of the sauce on the other side. Finally, I wrapped the loose foil around the ribs to make a rib packet of sorts. I put the foil packet on the foil covered tray (for easy cleanup in case any sauce leaked out of the packet) and put the whole thing in the oven at 300 degrees for 3 hours.

After three hours, I took the ribs out and unwrapped the foil packet. Then it was time to finish them on the grill. I timed it so that the hubby could light the grill about 1/2 an hour before the ribs were ready to come out of the oven. Then I just unwrapped them, pulled them into sections for ease of flipping and put them on the grill.

I grilled them for a few minutes, flipped them and then flipped them twice more (only about 10 minutes total on the grill since they’re already cooked) and then I transferred them to a nice big platter.

Just before serving, I brushed on another layer of KC Masterpiece sauce. These were delicious! The meat was fall-off-the-bone tender and had great flavor. The hubby said, “My only complaint is that you only bought one rack.” That’s a win in my book, friends 🙂

Oh and if you’re wondering about that nice little potato hash you see on the side there, that was another winner! Stay tuned for the recipe 😉

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–

LEARN HOW FOOD AFFECTS YOUR BODY.

Get my free Table Talk email series where I share bite-sized nutrition information about carbs, protein, and fat, plus bonus information about snacks and sugar!

This week we’re focusing on simple dinners. 1) Because they’ve become a necessity in my life and 2) Because they’re awesome.

In case you haven’t looked at the calendar lately, it’s already May! You know what that means? Cinco de Mayo is coming up! I thought I should whip up a Mexican-inspired recipe to get you guys in the mood.

Last week I threw some chicken breast in the crockpot with some broth and let them cook on low for 6 hours. Then I shredded them with two forks, froze half the chicken and stuck the other half in the fridge. (Side note: Katie calls these chicken boobs. Literally made me laugh out loud when I read her post the other day.)

When I got home from work today, I took some chicken out of the fridge and added some barbeque sauce. Then I pulled some black beans out of the freezer, defrosted them and mixed them with some corn and about 1 Tbsp of chopped cilantro.

Next, I soaked a spring roll wrapper in warm water until it was soft. Then it was time to build the roll! I started with the bbq chicken, added the corn and beans and topped it off with a little bit of Mexican cheese and some avocado slices. I would have added tomatoes too but I was fresh out! Then I carefully rolled everything up, tucking in the ends as I went.

Slice in half and enjoy! It’s not the prettiest thing to look at but it sure tasted good. I loved the flavor of the fresh cilantro with the bbq sauce.

I enjoyed mine with some green beans and an orange….not Mexican in the slightest 🙂

These could easily be made with regular tortillas….I’m just kinda obsessed with spring roll wrappers. 

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–

LEARN HOW FOOD AFFECTS YOUR BODY.

Get my free Table Talk email series where I share bite-sized nutrition information about carbs, protein, and fat, plus bonus information about snacks and sugar!

We all know I’m a big fan of stirfrys. And for some reason, right after I go to the grocery store, I can’t help but crave one! I think it’s because my fridge is stuffed so fun of delicious looking vegetables and they’re all I can really think about eating.

But yesterday I took my stirfry to a whole new level. First of all, I had a plethora of peppers. I picked up a poblano and cubanelle pepper this week just because they looked good….and yellow peppers were on sale for $1 each so you know I buy at least 4 every time I’ve been in the grocery store since that started! Add a red pepper and you’ve got yourself a pepper explosion!

Before I went to work, I chopped up all of my peppers, along with some broccoli, onion, green beans and carrots. I put them in a tupperware with some garlic and threw them in the fridge. Then I sliced up a leftover chicken breast from our weekend grilling. When I got home from work, all I had to do was heat up the pan and toss everything in.

I wanted to change things up a little bit and a peanutty sauce was sounding really good. I wasn’t sure how it was going to turn out, but I thought I’d give it a whirl.

I added 1/4 c peanut butter and 1/2 c vegetable broth to a small pan, along with some soy sauce and ginger and heated it up, stirring until smooth. Then I added a little cornstarch to thicken it up. First taste test? Blah. It definitely needed something else. I added a little more vegetable broth, a pinch of brown sugar and a splash of orange juice and voila! Deliciousness.

You could also pour the sauce over the stirfry before serving, but I’m a control freak when it comes to sauces so I like to serve mine on the side.

After the veggies cooked to crisp tender, I added the chicken to warm it up. I also added some chopped cashews for a nice nutty crunch!

Serve the stirfry over brown rice and top with peanut sauce.

I didn’t really measure stuff as I was adding it to the sauce, but here’s my best guess as to the amount of each ingredient I used:

Nutty Pepper StirFry Sauce

by Lindsay L

Cook Time: 10 min

Ingredients (1 cup)

• 1/4 c creamy peanut butter
• 3/4 c low sodium chicken or vegetable broth
• 2 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce
• 2 Tbsp orange juice
• 2 tsp grated fresh ginger
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 Tbsp brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp corn starch

Instructions

Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan over low heat until thickened.

Serve over stirfry.

Powered by Recipage

Enjoy!

–Lindsay–

LEARN HOW FOOD AFFECTS YOUR BODY.

Get my free Table Talk email series where I share bite-sized nutrition information about carbs, protein, and fat, plus bonus information about snacks and sugar!

Normally I’m pretty good at managing my time. In fact, I’d even go so far as to say I’m great at it. I’m a  busy girl, and I do a pretty good job of getting everything done on time, and in an organized fashion.

I’m also slightly obsessive. Obsessive compulsive when it comes to things like checking three times in a row to make sure my alarm is set, or that I did in fact put my keys in my bag. Other times I get obsessive about ideas. Like the time I decided, despite the fact that I had just started 3 weeks of vacation, that my office need to be cleaned and organized at one o’clock in the morning. Or the time I decided I needed to scrapbook an entire year of  photos in 2 days. Or the time I found a wallet that I was in love with but was too cheap to pay for and I decided I needed to find one at half the price they were selling it in the stores. You get the idea…

So yesterday, when I decided that I HAD to make homemade nutrigrain bars, nothing was going to stop me. Did I have other things I should have been doing instead? Yes. Do I have a huge biochem test next week that I should be studying for? Absolutely. Am I supposed to be writing a dietary menu for a renal patient and doing a 9 page case study for my practicum? Yep. Did any of that stop me? Absolutely not.

It all started on the bus ride back to my car after class. I don’t usually eat Nutrigrain bars because they higher in sugar and they have a super long list of what I view as unnecessary ingredients. But occasionally I buy them for the hubby because he likes to have things to snack on. Yesterday I was a little out of sorts and running behind and I grabbed one of the bars on my way to class. As I sat there on the bus eating it, I started thinking about fig newtons. And how they were sort of similar. And how I loved them as a kid. And how I want to try this recipe for them. Sidetracked.  And how I loved them. See what I mean about being out of sorts? What it boils down to is that I decided that I was quite capable of making my own version of homemade nutrigrain bars and that’s what I spent my evening doing. (After I took a 3 hour nap because I am feeling pre-sick and am trying to fend it off…but let’s not talk about that).

After doing some googling and not finding any recipes that I deemed super healthy, I made up my own but these two gave me a starting point: Jenna’s Fig Newtons and Carrie’s Almost Nutrigrain Bars.

Here’s what I came up with:

Combine some greek yogurt and brown sugar. Add an egg and some vanilla. Stir in some flour and oats, baking powder,  baking soda and cinnamon.

Freeze the dough for a little bit and then press it out into nutrigrain sized rectangles (Yes I’m aware that that’s not very precise…deal with it!) Use a knife to cut off the scraggly edges.

For my fruit filling, I used the leftover blackberry jam I made back in December when I was making these blackberry oatmeal bars and had stored in the freezer until now.

You could also make your own by mixing some frozen berries with a little bit of sugar and letting it boil away 🙂 Or just use store bought.

Spread some fruit on the rectangles, fold the dough over the top and pinch the seams to seal.

Bake and enjoy! I literally closed my eyes when I opened the oven because I was afraid the blackberries would have leaked out everywhere, but they didn’t! This was as bad as it got!

I did learn, however, that if you’re going to put a little dough patch over a place where the dough split when folding, you should spend a little time making it blend in instead of just slapping it on there, or it will look like a tumor after baking:

The result? They’re not bad guys! Considering I didn’t use any butter or oil and very little sugar! They puffed up a bit more than i thought they would, but that’s ok. I thought I was putting too much filling in, or that the filling would be too watery but it stayed put! The shell is chewy. It’s been my experience that using greek yogurt in baking makes things chewy. And the shell doesn’t have as much flavor as if I had used some butter or a little more sugar, but i’m used to doing that with my baking so it tastes pretty good to me!

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Homemade Nutrigrain Bars

1 1/4 c whole wheat flour
1 c oats
1/2 c plain Chobani greek yogurt
1 egg
1/4 c brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Directions:
1) Mix the yogurt and brown sugar on medium for 1 minute.
2) Add the egg and vanilla.
3) Stir in the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon.
4) Shape dough into a ball, cover with plastic wrap and put in the freezer for 30 min.
5) Divide the dough in half, put half back in the dough back in the freezer.
6) Roll or press the dough into a rough rectangle. Trim off the sides and cut into squares that are approximately 3 or 4 inches by 4 inches.
7) Spoon some fruit onto the square, fold dough in half and press seams to close.
8 ) Repeat with the rest of the dough.
9) Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

*Makes 8-9 bars

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So tell me, how would you tweak this recipe but still keep it healthy?!

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–

LEARN HOW FOOD AFFECTS YOUR BODY.

Get my free Table Talk email series where I share bite-sized nutrition information about carbs, protein, and fat, plus bonus information about snacks and sugar!

Last night, the hubby and I put together one of the best dins we’ve had in a while. We finally went grocery shopping, so we’re all stocked up! While I’m not a big red meat fan, the hubby does love his steak. Since I never make it for him, he picked up a steak for himself and was quite excited about making it.

He wanted me to let you all know that while he is a Weber enthusiast, he was not enthused about heading out to light the grill when it was 10 degrees outside, so he cooked his steak on the Foreman…. don’t judge him 🙂

We also bought some baby bok choy which we really enjoy, but the past several weeks we’ve tried to buy it, it has not looked its best. Today we scored a great looking bunch. Although we like it, we really haven’t cooked it all that often, so the hubby did a little google research and then got to work sauteing it with some bacon, onions and garlic.

While he was working on that, I got to work on my dinner. I’m not a fan of traditional stuffed peppers but I thought putting this stuffing in a pepper would be delicious! I started by cooking some quinoa, and popping my red pepper in the oven.

And yes, that is another sweet potato but I’ll have you know that the hubby requested it tonight because he wanted potatoes with his steak 🙂

I  chopped up two of my Cranberry Corn Muffins and put them in the oven as well.

Next, I chopped up some garlic, onion and celery and put them in a saute pan. While those cooked, I diced up a chicken sausage, half an apple and some craisins and added that to the pan as well. I also used a little bit of curry powder and paprika but didn’t want to add too much because I like the flavor of the chicken sausage.

When the potatoes were done, I took everything out of the oven and put the pepper on a bed on quinoa. Then, I added the muffin bits into the sausage mixture, along with a little chicken broth and mixed everything together.

About this time, the hubby put his steak on the “grill”. He added some bacon for flavor and discarded it when it was done cooking.

I added the stuffing mixture to my pepper and we were ready to go!

We both thoroughly enjoyed our dinners. My stuffing had great flavor and and the pepper was cooked just right! The hubby added a little blue cheese to his steak and loved every bite.

So tell me, which one do you think looks better?

The hubby also enjoyed one of his favorite beers 🙂

Cornbread Apple & Sausage Stuffed Peppers

by Lindsay L

Prep Time: 20 min

Cook Time: 30 min

Keywords: bake saute entree healthy quinoa chicken sausage apple cranberry

Ingredients (Serves 2)

• 2 red bell peppers
• ½ c celery, diced
• ½ c onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 apple, diced
• 1/2 tsp curry powder
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 2 corn muffins, roughly chopped
• handful of Craisins
• 1/2 c low-sodium chicken broth
• 2 fully cooked chicken sausages, diced
• 1 cup cooked quinoa

Instructions

-Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

-Slice the top and bottom off the peppers and stand them on a baking sheet. Bake until tender, approximately 30 minutes.

-Roughly chop corn muffins and place on a baking sheet. Bake until slightly browned and crispy.

-Saute onion, celery and garlic until soft. Add apple and sausage and continue to cook until apple softens slightly. Add seasonings to taste.

-Add the Craisins and corn muffins to the sausage mixture along with chicken broth. Stir to combine.

-Place ½ cup quinoa on each plate and top with peppers.

-Spoon stuffing mixture into peppers and serve warm.

Powered by Recipage

Enjoy!

–Lindsay–

LEARN HOW FOOD AFFECTS YOUR BODY.

Get my free Table Talk email series where I share bite-sized nutrition information about carbs, protein, and fat, plus bonus information about snacks and sugar!

These Curried Sweet Potato & Black Bean Tacos make a hearty meatless meal any taco lover will adore!

Hi Friends!

I’ve got a good one for you tonight, my friends! As you may know, I have a plethora of sweet potatoes in my pantry right now. I also have a large stock of frozen black beans in the freezer. The two go well together, as they did in our dinner tonight. I was originally inspired by these sweet potato enchiladas but they just weren’t quite what I was in the mood for, so I did my own thing. Here’s who to do it my way:

First, dice up a sweet potato (skin on please!), season it with curry powder and red pepper, and throw it in the oven to roast at 425 degrees for 20-30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. I used about 3/4 tsp curry powder and 1/4 tsp red pepper.

Meanwhile, add a little olive oil to a pan and saute 1/4 c onion. If your black beans are frozen, add them at the beginning so they can thaw. If they’re not, add them after a few minutes.

When the potatoes are roasted to your satisfaction, remove them from the oven and add them to the bean and onion mixture.

Portion into whole wheat tortillas and top with diced tomato and a sprinkle of low-fat Mexican cheese. You could also add other toppings like ground meat, salsa or spinach!

Curried Sweet Potato & Black Bean Tacos

by Lindsay L

Prep Time: 10 min

Cook Time: 30 min

Keywords: roast saute entree healthy vegetarian black beans tomato sweet potato Mexican

Ingredients (Serves 2)

• 1 large sweet potato, diced
• 3/4 tsp curry powder, or to taste
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper, or to taste
• 1 c black beans
• 1/4 c onion, diced
• 1 medium tomato, diced
• 4 whole wheat tortillas
• low-fat Mexican cheese

Instructions

1. Dice sweet potato, with skin on, and mist with olive oil. Sprinkle spices and stir to coat.

2. Roast at 425 degrees F for 20-30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.

3. Saute the onion in a pan over medium heat, adding the black beans at the beginning if frozen and at the end if not.

4. Add the sweet potato to the bean and onion mixture.

5. Portion on to tortillas and top with tomatoes and cheese.

Powered by Recipage

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–

LEARN HOW FOOD AFFECTS YOUR BODY.

Get my free Table Talk email series where I share bite-sized nutrition information about carbs, protein, and fat, plus bonus information about snacks and sugar!

Hi friends-

Starting a food blog is something I’ve been thinking about doing for a long time. I’ve been avoiding it because I am lazy, scared and pretty much unconvinced that there’s anyone out there that would actually care enough to read it. But I finally got tired of people telling me to start one, so here goes.

Let me start by saying a few things:
1) I picked blogger.com for no good reason other than the fact that I recognized the bright orange “B” logo that goes along with it from some of the other blogs I have read in the past.
2) I started by googling “how to start a food blog”…the results were a little overwhelming and all I really found were lots of instructions telling me to “do this” and “don’t do that”…After reading a few of these sites, I decided that I don’t really care if I make the same “mistakes” that other beginning bloggers did, so I quit wasting my time reading the “how-to’s” and just dove right in.
3) A lot of the things I make don’t have recipes…I’ll do my best to tell you how much of each ingredient I put in, but if you require exact measurements…you may get somewhat frustrated with me! And I’m ok with that…no one is making you read this!
4) Some of the things I make don’t turn out well…that’s not going to stop me from posting them. In fact, I consider those the greatest opportunity aspect of this blog…those are the recipes where I need suggestions from you! Read what I did, and then tell me what you would do differently…one of us with eventually get it right!
5) I’m not here to impress anyone. If you get bored reading my blog, quit reading it…you won’t hurt my feelings.
6) I’m not making any promises about how often I will make new posts…I’ll get to it when I get to it…and if I don’t, well then this blog will probably come to an end 🙂

As many of you know, I’ve been posting food pics on facebook for a while now. My first few posts will probably be me trying to figure out how to get those pictures onto here, and then seeing if I can remember the recipes. We’ll see how it goes!

–Lindsay–

LEARN HOW FOOD AFFECTS YOUR BODY.

Get my free Table Talk email series where I share bite-sized nutrition information about carbs, protein, and fat, plus bonus information about snacks and sugar!

Hi friends-

Starting a food blog is something I’ve been thinking about doing for a long time. I’ve been avoiding it because I am lazy, scared and pretty much unconvinced that there’s anyone out there that would actually care enough to read it. But I finally got tired of people telling me to start one, so here goes.

Let me start by saying a few things:
1) I picked blogger.com for no good reason other than the fact that I recognized the bright orange “B” logo that goes along with it from some of the other blogs I have read in the past.
2) I started by googling “how to start a food blog”…the results were a little overwhelming and all I really found were lots of instructions telling me to “do this” and “don’t do that”…After reading a few of these sites, I decided that I don’t really care if I make the same “mistakes” that other beginning bloggers did, so I quit wasting my time reading the “how-to’s” and just dove right in.
3) A lot of the things I make don’t have recipes…I’ll do my best to tell you how much of each ingredient I put in, but if you require exact measurements…you may get somewhat frustrated with me! And I’m ok with that…no one is making you read this!
4) Some of the things I make don’t turn out well…that’s not going to stop me from posting them. In fact, I consider those the greatest opportunity aspect of this blog…those are the recipes where I need suggestions from you! Read what I did, and then tell me what you would do differently…one of us with eventually get it right!
5) I’m not here to impress anyone. If you get bored reading my blog, quit reading it…you won’t hurt my feelings.
6) I’m not making any promises about how often I will make new posts…I’ll get to it when I get to it…and if I don’t, well then this blog will probably come to an end 🙂

As many of you know, I’ve been posting food pics on facebook for a while now. My first few posts will probably be me trying to figure out how to get those pictures onto here, and then seeing if I can remember the recipes. We’ll see how it goes!

–Lindsay–

LEARN HOW FOOD AFFECTS YOUR BODY.

Get my free Table Talk email series where I share bite-sized nutrition information about carbs, protein, and fat, plus bonus information about snacks and sugar!