Do you Adobo?

So I recently friended a girl named Claudia. Claudia is Mexican and man she COOKS like a Mexican. Her food is amazing and we're always swapping recipes. I noticed she uses this stuff called Adobo seasoning in almost everything. Guacamole, meats, salsa, whatever. So I grabbed some. Tonight I made tacos, simple but with the right seasonings, amazing.

1 lb ground turkey(way better than beef in my opinion)
1 packet taco seasoning
2 Tbsp of Adobo seasoning
1 tbsp of chili powder

Fry in a skillet, add your favorite toppings. Viola! Oh and we use whole wheat taco shells since they're better for you. :)

Asian Glazed Chicken

Well, it wasn't so glazed. LOL. I think I used to much water and didn't wait long enough for it to reduce down to a "glaze" per say. I did however put some of the left over "sauce" in a small bowl and just dunked the chicken in it. Even without that, there was plenty of flavor in the chicken. I got the original recipe here

I used breasts instead of drumsticks since that's what I had on had so my nutrition facts may not match hers.

* 4 medium chicken drumsticks, skin removed
* EVOO
* 1 cup water
* 2 tbsp Sriracha hot sauce (more or less to taste)
* 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
* 1/2 cup soy sauce(I use Gluten Free soy sauce)
* 4 tsp Sugar
* 3 cloves garlic


In a heavy large saucepan(make sure you have one big enough!!!), brown chicken on high for 3-4 minutes with EVOO. I put the following ingredients in a bowl while the chicken browned then added it all at once (water, balsamic, soy sauce, agave, garlic, ginger, hot sauce.) Add to the pan and cook on high until liquid comes to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer, covered for about 20 minutes. Remove cover and bring heat to high, allowing sauce to reduce down, about 8 minutes until it becomes a thick glaze, turning chicken occasionally. (Keep an eye on glaze, you don't want it to burn when it start becoming thick) Transfer chicken to a platter and pour glaze on top or add "sauce" to a small bowl if you're like me and have issues with the glaze, lol.

I'm back! With a menu!

So, I'm out of school for the next few weeks, I'm getting back into cooking and cooking low cal meals! For those of you who didn't know, I recently started weight watchers in an attempt to get my eating back under control. So far it's gone well, I've already lost 4 lbs, put 2 lb back on. But now I know what I can and can't get away with. So, a lot of my new recipes will be either WW, South Beach, or just low cal. I'm also training for my first 5K(Nov 2nd), I've been doing Couch to 5K(C25K) for 3 weeks now and I'm making progress. So, anyway, enough blabbing. Menu for the week!

One of my new favorite blogs is by a gal named Gina. Her blog is skinnytaste.com You can find her on my roll up. I'm going to make her

Asian Glazed Chicken

Turkey and Black Bean Enchiladas

From my friend Kristan's blog, Stuffed Bell Peppers which I've made before and they're amazing!

Salsa Chicken in the crock pot.

And I'm still searching for a good fish recipe. I may let the hubs make his yummy swordfish in a clam juice marinade. It sounds gross but I swear it's amazing!

Here's to a healthier week!

MMMM.....BBQ Pulled Pork!

Ok, I know, I know, it's been, like, forever. But, in my defense I work 0700-1630 then go to school from 1830-2000 or later, so I haven't been cooking anything fabulous lately. But I had a craving for BBQ Pulled Pork. So I found a crock pot recipe and it. was. amazing.

I sort of winged it/went off the McCormick recipe but here's mine.

6 lb pork shoulder
1/2 C Brown Sugar
2 packets of McCormick BBQ pulled pork spices
1/2 C. Red Wine Vinegar
1/2 C. White distilled Vinegar
1/2 C. Ketchup

Put everything in the crock pot and cook on low for 6-8 hours. High for 4-6. I cooked it over night and let it sit on warm all day. It's amazing. Seriously. Enjoy!

I. Hate. Salmon.

So I've been searching for a recipe that made it taste less salmon-y. LOL. So I did some research of recipes and made my own.

In a bag with salmon fillets I put
1/2 soy sauce
1 tsp garlic
1 tsp honey

Measurements are approximate since I'm terrible at measuring things. Let it sit for an hour then baked it at 350 for 25 minutes. Pretty good, I impressed myself, lol. Give it a whirl!

Sorry it's been a couple days

I've been super busy, but I have a few recipes for ya!

I've been getting tired of mexican flavored dishes(which I never thought was possible) I am in love with the website www.sparkrecipes.com. It's where I got my last two recipes.

Chicken Parmesan
It was ok. I'm not a huge chicken parm fan anyway. Next time I will add more Parmesan for more flavor. But it was super easy and tasted good.

Ingredients

1 Egg white
3 Tb Parmesan Cheese
1 1/2 c Cornflakes, crushed
1/4 tsp ea Salt & Black Pepper
1 tsp dried Thyme
4 bnls/skls Chicken Breasts



Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Beat egg white until frothy. In another bowl mix Parmesan cheese, cornflakes, salt, pepper, and Thyme. Dip each chicken piece in the egg white and then dip into the cornflakes mixture, patting well to ensure the mixture adheres to the chicken. Place the chicken on a lightly oil sprayed pan. Bake about 25 mins or until internal temperature reaches 165 degrees F.

For a side I made these asparagus. I loooooove fresh asparagus so I always look for a new way to spice it up.

1 lb. fresh asparagus (medium width)
2 tsp. olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Lemon wedges, as garnish



Directions
1. Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Rinse asparagus and break off tough ends.

2. In shallow roasting pan, place asparagus and coat with oil. Sprinkle with garlic and salt and pepper, to taste.

3. Roast uncovered for 6-8 minutes (depending on width of spears), shaking pan occasionally. Serve with lemon wedges.

Makes 4 servings (approx 4 medium spears each.)

Printed with permission from the American Institute for Cancer Research. The American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) is the cancer charity that fosters research on diet and cancer and educates the public about the results.

Enjoy!

Honey Balsamic Chicken

I had a bit of time to cook tonight between work and my class so I found an easy chicken recipe. The recipe itself was *eh* I personally would have used more balsamic vinegar but I like vinegar-y(is that a word) tastes. It was a bit sweet for me and K even said all he tasted was sugar. So I kinda give this a 3 out of 5. If you like things that are sweet and sour/tangy you will enjoy this. Original Recipe HERE

1 1/2 tsp of dried thyme
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 tsp olive oil
1lb chicken breast
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp honey



Directions
Combine first 3 ingredients; sprinkle over both sides of chicken.

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken; cook 7 to 8 minutes on each side or until chicken is done.

Transfer chicken to a platter; keep warm. Reduce heat to medium-low; add vinegar and honey to pan. Simmer 1 minute or until glaze thickens; stir constantly. Pour glaze over chicken. Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 chicken breast half).