Bruschetta Chicken with Avocado and Balsamic Drizzle

OMG was this good. This is a perfect example of how the right combination of super simple ingredients can produce something 100% fabulous. Brian and I loved this dish – a keeper!

Roasted Romaine: Caesar Style

I’m not sure where this craving came from, but I really wanted some sort of warm salad. Hot lettuce may sound like an odd choice, but I tell you, it was delicious. It may be my go-to salad from now on.

Spaghetti Squash and Meatball Boats

So we’ve been doing the low-carb thing for a couple weeks now. It’s recipes like these that keep me keepin’ on. I love so many things about eating limited carbs, except for the obvious lack of pasta. BUT, to the defense of this diet/lifestyle, there’s no shortage of cheese (hello, lover), meats, eggs, and veg – also many of my favorite foods. I actually feel a lot more energetic and “lighter” eating this way, so it’s all good.

Oh, and by the way, this dish is AMAZING. Tender (but still with a little bite) spaghetti squash with perfect meatballs, tomato sauce, and melted cheese? How bad could that be. It’s the first time spaghetti squash hasn’t pissed me off – that’s saying a lot since I’ve given it a lot of chances subbing for pasta. I used Mario Batali’s tomato sauce recipe which is my go-to recipe for quick-cooking tomato sauce. I also used my favorite meatball recipe for the meatballs (I subbed almond meal for the bread crumbs), but use whichever is your favorite. Same goes with the sauce. For this dish, instead of frying the meatballs, I just dropped them in the tomato sauce to cook for about 35-40 minutes. I did this, along with cutting and de-seeding the spaghetti squash, ahead of time on the weekend, so come weeknight, it was a very easy dinner to put together. Perfection.

Escarole-Stuffed Haddock with Sherry Tomato Sauce

This dish is perfect to start the year off on a flavorful note. Serve with pasta or some crusty bread for mopping up the yummy sauce.

Tomato-Almond Pesto over Seared Chicken

I saw Lidia Bastianich make this pesto with basil, tomatoes, almonds, and grated cheese and knew I had to make it. I loved that she served it over chicken instead of the typical pasta, so that’s what I did too. It is a fantastic way to fancy-up a simple piece of chicken!  Delicious!

Middle-Eastern Spiced Beans (Fasoulia)

I love eating beans with eggs for breakfast, so now that the temps are dipping a little lower, I thought now would be a good time to make a big pot of these Middle Eastern-spiced beans to eat throughout the work week for breakfast. Topped with a fried egg, of course.

The recipe calls for kidney beans, but I used a mixture of kidney beans, chick peas, and black beans to use up what I had on hand.

Lentil Soup in August

It’s the end of August and I made the best veggie lentil soup for you. Actually, I made the best veggie lentil soup for you and ten of your friends. This recipe makes a TON of soup. I plan on eating it everyday for lunch this week and freezing the other half. I love Ina, but I did change the recipe a wee bit. I added some curry powder and chopped kale to the recipe to veg it up a bit – other than that, it’s pretty close to the original. And it’s awesome.

Three Bean Salad

This recipe jumped off the page of my latest Cooking Light mag and I will be making it a lot. We’ve been buying big bags of trimmed haricot verts from Costco and I always have these other ingredients on-hand. Side dish no-brainer.

Orange-Chipotle Black Beans

I love to serve beans alongside mexican (ish) fare, and this was a great find. This recipe comes from weight watchers and is yummy and easy! I did make a few changes to boost the flavor a bit.

Grilled Rosemary Shrimp over Zucchini Noodles Aglio Olio

So at this point I am feeling a little bad for people who read this blog and don’t care for zucchini. But, given all of the deliciousness over here lately, I”m sorry I’m not sorrier

This dish is julienned zucchini which is cooked in an aglio olio sauce made of garlic, parsley, anchovies, and olive oil. To die. I’m a huge fan of anchovies, but if the furry little fishies bug you, you can leave them out. I guess. Don’t do that though – you’ll regret it!

Anyway, you use a mandoline or a julienne peeler to make the zucchini ‘noodles’, and then briefly saute them in the aglio olio. I found that I really only sliced the 4 sides of the zucchini as it got too seedy in the middle. Smaller zucchini that naturally have fewer seeds is your friend in this recipe. Over top, there are grilled shrimp that were marinated in rosemary and garlic. These are SO GOOD, so good that I may have eaten a leftover shrimp or two before 8 this morning. YUM.

Noodle-less Veggie Lasagna

This clever lasagna uses thinly sliced zucchini and eggplant in place of traditional lasagna noodles, and to be honest, I could barely tell the difference. I made a quick marinara, but store-bought could easily be used to make this a bit faster. Also, you really need a mandoline for this recipe to get nice, uniform, thin slices on the veg. Invest in one – I love mine and use it all the time!

Massaged Lacinato Kale Salad

I am OBSESSED with this salad. Obsessed. To be fair, I love kale, but I’m convinced someone not familiar with kale would love this too. This is the first time I’ve ever tried kale raw, and now I would like to eat a gallon of this salad every day. Dressed simply with a lemon and garlic dressing, this salad is a perfect side dish for summer as it requires virtually zero cooking.

Tuna and White Bean Salad

I’m always on the look out for healthy lunches that can be made with ingredients I always have. This salad is a perfect example — delicious!

Roasted Brussels and Sweet Potatoes

I asked Brian what he would like to say about this veggie side dish and he said “oh, that it was a great combination. Firm and soft…sweet and salty…” Dirty old man. And even though his description doesn’t really make sense, it really was a good combination. Yum!

Ina’s Chicken Chili

I definitely have a love/hate relationship with foodnetwork.com. First, the website is generally awful and it’s often impossible to actually locate a recipe you might have seen on any given show. They have a knack for naming them something totally different than that on the show itself. Am I right? Second, and I admit that this is largely my own fault, I am often convinced into changing the recipe from how it was originally written based on user comments. Which is kind of dumb, since I don’t know these people and virtually any person can write a comment. After reading lots of reviews that said this chili was super bland as written, and that many people tripled the spices, etc., etc., I caved and decided to double the spices and take it from there. Let’s just say I should have trusted Ina (who I love anyway), because it was way too spicy! I can only assume that those commenters have really old, weak spices because I think it would be very flavorful as written (and that’s how I’ll write it below, except for my addition of white beans, which I really liked).

Overall, the recipe is very tasty and light, but just be careful not to overcook the chicken during the roasting process as it will continue to cook in the stew.

Bean, Sausage, and Spinach Soup

I’m a big fan of a veggie (and usually sausage) filled soup — especially for a weekend lunch. Make a big batch on Saturday or Sunday and then have the leftovers in the fridge when you need a little snack or an impromptu lunch to bring to work. This soup is creamy and oh-so-healthy.

Spanish “Rice”

I’m trying to avoid carbohydrates for a while, and have been curious about some of the faux-cauliflower recipes out there. This faux-rice is kind of awesome! I mean, if someone fed you this blindfolded, you wouldn’t necessarily know it was rice, but it sure looks like it! And you can flavor it however you like. To go with my stuffed peppers tonight I wanted a mexican/spanish flavor, so I went with some onions, peppers, salsa, tomatoes, and taco seasoning. I will definitely be using this method again…probably this weekend to go along with beef and broccoli for the kids! Let’s see if the kids will buy it…that will be the true test.

Roasted Peppers Stuffed with Pulled Pork Chili Verde

Oh, man, this chili is good. And even better inside a roasted pepper underneath melted cheese with a little avocado and red onion and some sour cream if you like…oh boy, this was good.

Clean Eating Pulled Pork Chili Verde

I’m sure I join many people in starting the new year with healthy, real food after so much holiday junk. This chili is definitely different from the chilis I’ve made before, but it might be my new favorite. Essentially it’s a big bowl of delicious limey pulled pork with beans and it’s absolutely awesome. Serve it with a nice big salad and you’re good to go.

Eggs on a Cloud with Bacon and Chives

I yanked this recipe out of my Rachael Ray mag yesterday (no judgment) and knew that I would make it right away. At first I thought it was an egg perched on a biscuit (nothing wrong with that), but as I read the recipe, I realized the yolk was atop a pile of whipped egg whites. Egg whites! Brilliant.