Cooking Lighter :: Cheesy Chicken & Pepper Casserole

This is such a good recipe, and not to mention, a serving of it is only 357calories!

No lie, it's from Cooking Light Magazine, one of my true favorites even though we've only had it once now, I can see it becoming a part of our rotation quickly.

I searched high and low on the website for a link to this recipe, but couldn't find one!  It wasn't a featured recipe, but a part of a "swap" issue, where if you like "x" ingredient, then you'll love this dish-type article.

So, this one was, "if you love Velveeta..", ok so we don't love Velveeta, at all.  

And it actually freaks me out because it's so shelf-stable, but whatever, this is delicious, and can't be worse than any of the queso junk we ingest! Plus, at 357 cals for 1 1/2 cups, you can't go wrong (based on six servings).

Lots of veggies, brown rice and chicken makes this very filling.  Mine is adapted slightly because the original called for diced onions which we didn't have (bc of course i have to forget something at the store every time) so I used 3 types of peppers instead.

Ingredients list:

2 cups of cooked brown rice
1 red pepper, sliced
1 yellow pepper, sliced
1 green pepper, sliced
Olive oil, about 1 tablespoon
1 tablespoon flour
1 tablespoon ground cumin
3/4 c. low-sodium chicken broth
8 oz. of Velveeta Mexican queso or pepperjack (I got the queso b/c it's what the store had.)
About 1 1/2 cups of shredded chicken or diced, cooked chicken (We had leftover rotisserie chicken from my lunch chicken so we used that!)

2 oz. shredded cheese of choice

How to make it:

1.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Make your brown rice however you prefer to prepare it-stove top/microwave, just so it's ready.
2.  In a skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat.  I just used our Misto oil sprayer for this part.  Once the peppers are just slightly crunchy still, add in your flour, cumin, and chicken broth:

3.  Let this go with the broth for about a minute, and then add in your cubed Velveeta.  If you have a personal issue with processed cheese, take it up with Cooking Light please lol. Stir the cheese until the whole mixture is smooth.

5.  Take the pepper mixture off of the heat, and add in the chicken and brown rice, mixing it well.  Once you've mixed it, smooth the mixture evenly into a casserole dish of your choice.  The one below is from Ikea, I think it's about 10x6 or something.  Pretty small.

6.  Top with some cheese-we had some shredded Mexican cheese in the fridge so I added that on.  

7.  Cover with foil and bake for about 25 minutes or until the cheese on top is to your liking and the whole dish is hot! 

Enjoy it in your lap while still wearing your under armour workout gear! :) so tasty and reheats like a boss.

Linking with Taste of Tuesday!

Delicious Pork Tenderloin

Today's recipe is a delicious pork tenderloin we made last week, kind of from a recipe, but also on the fly a little based off of what we had in the kitchen.  We knew we wanted pork tenderloin, but we were like, "how do we make it so delicious we can't even stand it?"  So we googled all over the internets and we came up with a base idea of what to do.  We adapted most of it from This Mommy Cooks, you can see the similarities there from ours.

Ingredients:

• About 2 1/2 or so lbs. of pork tenderloin (we had 2.25)
• 1/4 c. brown sugar
• 1 packet of Italian dressing mix
• 1/2 c. teriyaki sauce 
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 3 tblspn olive oil
• Enough bacon to drape over just the top of the pork (we used our leftover bacon that was pre-cut in half from our jalapeno recipe!)

Directions:

1. Preheat that oven to 425 degrees.
2. Combine all of the ingredients minus the pork and bacon in a bowl so that they're mixed evenly.
3. Lay your pork in your baking dish, and cover with bacon.  Like I said, we just laid ours over the top versus wrapping it (which I would do if we were grilling it.)
4. Once the bacon is on, pour the marinade/sauce over the top of the tenderloins.  I also used a ladle to really cover it again.
5. Pop it in the oven for 20 minutes.  Remove and re-lade that sauce over the top of the pork again.
6. Back in the oven for another 20 minutes. (25 if not following the next step/hate crispy bacon.) Sidenote:: Use your meat thermometer! I'd like to think most people know this, but meat is about getting to a temperature, not cooking for a set period of time. For pork, you're looking to hit about 145-150 as prescribed by the USDA.  See here for more info on that.
7. Get that broiler ready, and pop it under the broiler for about 4-5 minutes or until the bacon is to your desired crispiness.
8. Once it's done there, take it out and let it rest for about 5-10 minutes before slicing it.

Then slice it up-thinly or thick like we did, and enjoy that awesomeness.

Here are a couple variations I would try:

• Mix the marinade and let it really soak in for a couple days or at least overnight in the fridge.  
• Ours got pretty well done, but was still really tender and juicy, make sure to watch that internal temp!
• Swap teriyaki for soy sauce
• Grill it rather than use the oven! (Hopefully we will have a grill for our balcony again at the new place!)
• Try it without the bacon and just marinade for a long time instead.

Linking with Taste of Tuesday of course! And My Thirfty Chic and Sapphire Bee for the Anything & Everything Blog Hop! AND my favorite northern belle, Lisette.

Nom :: Bacon-Wrapped Chicken & Cheesey Pepper Sauce

This is one of my go-to recipes mostly because I have it memorized.  We don't have this all that often, but I've been making it since college & everyone who has ever had it has loved it.  Warning :: This is not a skinny recipe. It is just delicious & that is all.

Ingredients:

About 1 lb. of chicken breast tenderloins or chicken breasts, sliced into tenders (below are about .8 lbs.)
Bacon--enough slices to wrap around your chicken
1 can of condensed cheddar cheese soup
1/4 c. skim milk
1 tsp. red pepper flakes OR 1 can of diced green chiles (adjust this to your tastebuds and how hot you like things!)

Steps:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Do any trimming of your chicken, and spiral wrap a piece of bacon around each tender.  It should look like this:

perfect wrapping done by b

2.  Once you pop your chicken in the oven, set the timer for about 15 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.  This will vary depending on how large your tenders are cut/if you cut them yourself from chicken breasts.  Usually 15-20 minutes is right on the money.

3.  With your timer going, begin the sauce.  In a small saucepan, combine the cheddar cheese soup, milk, and red pepper flakes or green chilies over low heat (3-4).  You want this to slowly meld the pepper/chile flavor and cheesey goodness together, so leave it on low and adjust as necessary.

4.  Once the timer goes off, take your chicken out and preheat your broiler to high or in my case, 500 degrees.  When the broiler is hot, the chicken goes back in so the bacon can crisp up!

:: I can't emphasize enough how much the time will vary on this part ::

I broiled mine for about 5 minutes on each side, maybe 6 or 7 sometimes if we thought it wasn't crispy enough.  In other ovens where I've made this recipe, it's been more like 3-4 minutes.  Bottom line is just to keep an eye on it at this point.

5.  Once the bacon is crispy perfection, take it out of the oven, and serve 3-4 tenders covered in delicious cheesey pepper sauce!

my #1 husband pleasing meal (bacon+cheese+spice=love)

Linking up for Taste of Tuesday!

Nom :: Skinny Chocolate Chip Banaynay Bread

So, I lied when I recapped my weekend. 

I also made this perfect chocolate chip banana (banaynay) bread.  

And yes, banaynay is real thing--in college, a few of us were extras in a commercial at Wrigley Field.  And one of the guys took a banana from the kraft table at lunch and carried it around all. day. and it got so disgusting.  And somewhere in there, "the naynay" began.  We all took pics with it, etc.  Ok, anyways, the recipe.

The recipe comes from Skinny Mom, and of course, I found it on Pinterest:

a lot of times, i screenshot pins i want to try so they're in my album and stay fresh on my mind! try it!

I followed the recipe exactly, with one change-up.  The recipe calls to make it in two loaf pans.  I had every intention of doing this, but when I poured the batter in, it wasn't very high-and maybe that's part of what keeps it low-cal.  Because the slices don't look very high in the photo.....?? Mystery to be solved.

But anyways, I put it all in one, and baked it at 330 (which is the recommended temp.) for about 50 minutes.  For the last 25 minutes, I covered it with foil to prevent over-browning.  Mine still browned a little more than in her photo (hence why I have no good photo of mine!) but it is delicious nonetheless!

This is honestly the best banana bread I've ever made, including ones with full eggs, oil, and regular flour.  This recipe really sold me on subbing in applesauce--others I've tried have turned out dry, and this bread is rich, dense, and tastes like it has 0 shortcuts in it!

Nom :: Cashew Chicken

And today, the recipe for cashew chicken.  Like I said yesterday, this is a pinterest recipe--and it comes from the blog of MommaChelle.  When I wrote it down, I must have auto-adapted it slightly, so what you'll read here is a slightly adapted version.

Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts (we had a little under a pound)
2 tbl. low-sodium soy sauce (really, use low-sodium.  there is a lot of soy in this recipe and it would definitely be salty if you used regular)
1/4 c. oil.  (I used more like 2 tbl. and a few spritzes from my Misto sprayer)
1 tsp. red pepper flakes (or to taste)
3 green onions diced (I used the top, more green parts, and I just cut about 1/4 down on the whole bunch)
2 cloves of garlic (we both agreed 3 would maybe be tastier)
1/2 tsp. sesame seeds
1/2 c. cashews, unsalted or lightly salted

Sauce:
4 tbl. low-sodium soy
1 1/2 tbl. cornstarch
4 tsp. sugar
2 tsp. white vinegar

Steps:

1.  Cut chicken into small pieces and toss in the 2 tbl. of soy in a small bowl.  Let it marinade a bit while prepping other ingredients.

2.  Whisk the sauce ingredients together and slice up green onions if you haven't done so yet.  Heat your oil in a wok and add tin the red pepper flakes and garlic.  Saute for about 1 minute and then add in the chicken.

3.  Cook the chicken until it is just done, and then add the cashews and remove it from the heat.  Then pour in the sauce mixture and coat the chicken and cashews.  Finish by sprinkling sesame seeds and green onions on top. Enjoy over rice, quinoa or whatever you choose!

the sauce thickened a little more after this 

Nom :: Tomato Tortellini Soup

Last night I made the most delish and easiest soup!  I pinned this one a long time ago from Mrs. Schwartz's Kitchen, and it got rave reviews from the hubstigation too.

Here is a photo of the finished product in our bowls:

And here is the recipe, as adapted from Mrs. Schwartz's Kitchen:

2 cloves of garlic, minced/pressed
2 tblspns of olive oil
1 lb. or less of low-fat ground beef (I used 90/10)
4 cups of chicken broth
2 cups of fat free half and half
2 cans of reduced-sodium tomato soup
1 can of crushed tomatoes
1 1/2 cups of skim milk
1 tblspn of sun-dried tomato paste
1 tsp. italian seasonings
2 tsp. onion powder
a couple of shakes of salt
9 oz. cheese tortellini (we used the fresh tortellini from Buitoni)
Shredded Parmesan cheese to taste

Steps:

1.  Pour olive oil into bottom of stockpot and add in minced garlic.  Brown garlic.
2.  Add in broth, half and half, soup, crushed tomatoes, milk,and tomato paste.  Also add in the seasonings, onion powder, and salt.
3.  Brown ground beef in a separate pan (hint here--I think adding a little diced onion in would add good flavor to the soup, but I didn't try this!) and once browned, add into stock pot.
4.  Once the soup is bubbling and simmering a bit, add in the tortellinis and cook according to the package directions (mine took about 8 minutes)

Serve in a bowl topped with parm! We had it with the "Biggest Loser White House" salad and crusty bread! Bc I love carbs, and make no apologies.  I run so I can eat carbs! Enjoy!

Nom :: Pepper Steak

image via


We received this cookbook at one of my bridal showers-it was one I registered us for at Crate and Barrel, and they still have it!  You can find it here.  We have made several recipes out of this book, and most have been hits!

Last week, the hubstigation made the Pepper Steak recipe from the book---it was delicious!

Ingredients:

1 tblspn dry sherry or rice wine (we used rice wine)

1 tblspn water

2 tsp cornstarch

1/2 lb. thinly sliced beef (we used about 3/4 lb. or a little over of flank steak)

2 tblspn soy sauce (we always use low-sodium soy)

1 tblspn chicken broth or water

1 tsp dark soy or molasses (we didn't have either and just added a little extra regular soy in)

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper

3 tblspn vegetable oil

1 tblspn chopped garlic

2 tsp chopped fresh ginger (we didn't have this, so we just left it out!)

2 cups thinly sliced green bell pepper strips (we used a green pepper, red pepper, and yellow pepper)

Instructions:

1. Combine the sherry/rice wine, water, and cornstarch and stir to dissolve cornstarch.  Add beef & toss to cover evenly.  Set aside.
2. Combine soy sauce, chicken broth, dark soy, salt, sugar, and pepper, and mix.  
3. Add one tablespoon of oil to a large skillet/wok and then add the garlic and ginger.
4. Add in peppers to the skillet and let them cook until they just begin to soften, then remove back into a bowl.
5. Add more oil, if needed, and then add your beef in. Let it cook until it's no longer pink, and then add the peppers back in.  
6. Add the soy sauce/broth/salt/sugar mix and toss the beef and peppers in it until it is coated. Peppers should be tender but not limp, and the beef should be cooked through when you pull it off to serve.  
7. Time to nomnomnom!  We ate this over half a cup of brown rice in a bowl and it was perfect!

our version