Southwest Bacon and Chicken Wrap

Looking for a quick dinner? This is fast, tasty and if there are leftovers, makes for a great lunch the next day too.

Ingredients:

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 packet of taco seasoning
8 slices center cut bacon
lettuce
salsa
light sour cream
red onion, sliced thin
flour tortillas

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Wrap desired amount (will work for 4-6 wraps) of flour tortillas in foil and set aside. In a small baking dish, place chicken breasts and coat with taco seasoning.  Bake for 20-30 minutes (depending on thickness of chicken breasts).

2. Immediately after removing chicken from the oven, shred with two forks. Place the flour tortillas (that you already wrapped in foil) into the oven while you do this. When finished shredding the chicken, set aside. Cook bacon and cut veggies as it cooks.

3. Build your wrap by placing 1/4 Cup shredded chicken, 1-2 slices bacon, lettuce, salsa, sour cream and onions in warm tortilla. Wrap it up and enjoy!

This would also be yummy with fresh cilantro and avocado slices!

Spicy Black Bean Burritos

This recipe was based off one I found on Allrecipes, however, I didn’t have the exact same ingredients. So here is my version. Unless you have children who like heat, they most likely will not like these. The ingredients don’t sound like much to write home about, but the flavor is out of this world good! I’d pay $5.00 for one of these burritos, hands down.

Spicy Black Bean Burritos

Filling for the burritos

Serves: 4 (2 each)
Ready in: 25 minutes or less

Ingredients:
8 (10-inch) flour tortillas
2 Tablespoons EVOO
1/2 small, white/yellow onion, finely chopped
1/2 green bell pepper, finely chopped
1 small can chopped green chilis (undrained)
1/2 cup grape tomatoes, sliced/diced
1 heaping Tablespoon jalapeno peppers (I used the jar variety), chopped
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
4 oz low fat cream cheese
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 heaping teaspoon Adobo
1/4 teaspoon chipotle chili pepper

1. Heat oven to 350. Wrap tortillas in foil and place in oven to warm; roughly 15 minutes.

2. In a medium skillet, heat EVOO on medium heat. Add onion and bell pepper and saute 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add green chilis, tomatoes, jalapenos, beans and spices. Cook 3 minutes.  Cut cream cheese into cubes and add to skillet. Cook 2 minutes or until cheese is thoroughly melted and combined.

3. Remove tortillas from oven and spoon mixture down center of tortilla, fold each end up, then wrap tightly. Serve immediately and YUM!!!!!!

Simple final result with an amazing taste!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Side Notes:

Adobo Seasoning (the variety WITH pepper)

• If you’ve never seen Adobo, don’t worry, I haven’t found it in a grocery store in St. Louis yet either. I am sure I need to go to a Mexican specialty market to get it. I just happen to have gobs of it on hand thanks to my BFF who lives in WA (where it is readily available everywhere).
• If you don’t have the spices on hand I mentioned, click on the original recipe I linked to from Allrecipes. That one calls for cumin, chili powder, fresh garlic and salt.
• If you have cilantro on hand, I bet it would be divine in these burritos!
• If you want a bigger more restaurant-style burrito, get the big tortillas.

 

Black Bean Soup 1

Apparently, I like black bean soup seeing as there are two recipes for it here! But hey, a girl can’t help changing it up sometimes.

Author: Tiffany
Serves: 6-8
Prep & Cook time: 20 minutes total
Ingredients:

Simple and delish!

1 can fat free refried BLACK beans
1 can black beans
1 can chopped green chilis
1 can chicken broth
1 can Mexican diced tomatoes
1 cup diced ham

1. In a large sauce or soup pan, place black beans, green chilis, broth and tomatoes. Stir. Slowly add the refried beans stirring to loosen and incorporate into the other ingredients. Bring to a low simmer, then add the ham.

Serve with sour cream, tortilla chips, jalapenos and cheese! YUM~

P.S. My kids LOVE this.

Baked Lemon and Pesto Chicken

Knorr has some great pasta sauce mixes. One of my favorites to have on hand for a fast dinner is their Pesto sauce mix. You only need to add water and EVOO for a delightful dinner.

This recipe is more of a guide than anything else. I’ve tried this multiple different ways and so has my best friend. She’s actually used Costco’s prepared pesto for this dish and said it turned out amazing. So you have some play here.

Before it went in the oven

Ingredients:

2-3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (Or 1 package of boneless, skinless tenders)
1 packet of Knorr Pesto sauce (or your favorite Pesto sauce)
1 lemon

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350.

2. If using boneless,  skinless chicken breasts, slice them in half horizontally so that you end up with 2 thin cutlets out of each breast. Season with salt and pepper and arrange in a baking dish.

3. Mix the pesto according to the directions. Pour over the chicken cutlets. Slice a lemon and place the slices on top of the chicken. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until cooked through (depending on the thickness of the chicken).

Pesto Chicken with Parmesan Risotto and Edamame!

This is delicious served with risotto!

Notes: You can also make these in individual foil packs for less clean up, or you can grill the foil packs!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffies

Technically, these are “cookies” but they have such a cakey texture that I think they should be called “Muffies”. I love these treats. The dark chocolate morsels absolutely make the recipe stellar. I didn’t have the supplies on hand to healthify this recipe, but after the original recipe, I posted how you can lower the calories and add a few more vitamins, you know…if you feel so compelled. Enjoy!

Fall Pumpkin-Chocolatey goodness

Ingredients:
1 Cup Canned Pumpkin (*NOT Pumpkin Pie Filling!!)
1 Cup white sugar
1/2 Cup vegetable oil
1 egg
2 Cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon milk
1 Tablespoon vanilla
2 Cups Hershey’s Special Dark Chocolate Chips

Directions:

1. Combine pumpkin, sugar, oil and egg. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Dissolve the baking soda with the milk and stir in. Add flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture and mix well.

2. Add vanilla and chocolate chips.

3. Drop by spoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 15 minutes or until lightly brown. You don’t want to undercook these because remember, they are more like cake than a cookie. They will be gross…trust me.

Healthified Swaps:

substitute 2 Cups of whole wheat flour for the all-purpose
substitute 1/2 Cup of applesauce for the vegetable oil
substitute 1/4 Cup of EggBeaters for the egg

Chicken “Fried” Rice

I made this last week and it was SO good. It isn’t really fried of course, and I added some vitamins by using brown rice.

Author: Martha Stewart
Serves: 4-5

Ingredients:
1 cup long-grain rice (I used brown)
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (12 oz total) *I used a rotisserie chx
salt and pepper to taste
1 T EVOO
2 large eggs
8 scallions, trimmed and thinly sliced on the diagonal
1 T fresh Ginger, trimmed, peeled and thinly sliced *don’t skimp on this or use ground/dried
1/2 C diced red pepper
2 T soy sauce
1/2 t sugar
1/2 C chicken stock
1 C snow peas, trimmed

1. Cook rice according to package directions; set aside.
Pick the meat from the rotisserie chicken; set aside.

2. Heat 1 T EVOO. Add eggs when hot (not smoking) and just as whites begin to set, stir to scramble. Add scallions and ginger; cook 1 minute. Add reserved bell pepper and rice; cook 2 minutes. Stir together soy sauce, sugar and stock; add to skillet. Add snow peas and reserved chicken, cook until heated through, about 3 minutes.

This was a tasty dish! Very light and bright. Don’t skimp on the fresh ginger-it really makes the dish. In fact, add more if you like it!

Fun Filled Fact Courtesy of Star Bucks

DID YOU KNOW

Salty and sweet flavors are called “appetitive” where bitter and sour flavors are called “aversive.”

Fall Baking Re-Stock

Spring and summer are my favorite seasons by far. But when fall rolls around, one things is sure; I want to bake!

I love pie!!!!!!!!!!

I dream of so many delicious things when the weather starts to cool. I don’t just like to bake either, I like to cook…and eat. And gift-away my treats.

Some of my favorite things to make are Shepherd’s Pie, Beef Stew, Chicken and Dumplings, Pie, Apple Butter, Quick breads, Muffins and Cookies!

However, my pantry is looking very sad and deficient these days. I went through a cook book recently to help jog my memory about what spices and ingredients I like to have on hand in the fall. I ended up filling an entire page of paper with all the things I need to stock up on!

Here’s my list:

butter flavored shortening (for pie crust)
walnuts
pecans
lemon juice
lemon and orange extract
dried apricots
coconut
cinnamon
corn syrup
sweetened condensed milk
dried dates
poppy seeds
instant coffee
dark cocoa
ground flaxseed
yeast
unsweetened chocolate
lime juice
crushed pineapple
whole wheat flour
ground flaxseed
applesauce

What are your go-to, must make fall recipes you are itching to make?

Banana Bread

I don’t know about you, but I’m picky about Banana Bread. Really picky. I feel it is completely necessary that something is on top of the bread for starters; a crumble crust, some sort of sugar/cinnamon combo, etc. I also feel it should not be rubbery or dry. I mean, it’s baked with bananas for crying out loud!

I’ve been on the hunt for a really solid recipe for years and this weekend, I found it!

Yummy Banana Bread

Its out of the same book as those amazing and giant chocolate chip cookies I made a few weeks ago, “A Passion for Baking” by Marcy Goldman. This book is becoming one of my favorites. Everything is just so good! So here ya go, one of the best recipes I’ve made…and I’ve tried a LOT of ‘em.

Old-Fashioned Fragrant Banana Bread

Ingredients:
1/2 Cup unsalted butter, softened
1 Cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 Cup mashed very ripe banana (I used exactly 2 bananas)
1/4 Cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 Cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

*1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
*1 Tablespoon sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously spray a 9×5 inch loafpan with nonstick cooking spray. (I used my nylon loaf pan and loved the results!) Place pan on a parchment-lined baking sheet.

In a small bowl, combine 1/4 cup sour cream with 1/2 teaspoon baking soda; stir and set aside. (This was a step that is not in the original recipe book. I just love the results…)

In a mixer bowl, cream butter and sugar until well-blended. Add eggs, banana, sour cream/baking soda mixture and vanilla. Fold in flour, baking powder and salt, scraping bowl often. Mix on low speed.

Spoon batter into pan. Combine cinnamon and sugar in a small bowl, then sprinkle ALL OF IT on the top of the bread. (This was also not in the original recipe…just trust me!) Bake until bread springs back, 50-55 minutes. It may have a crack in the center. It’s ok…If bread seems not quite done, reduce temp to 325 and give it an additional 10-15 more minutes. **I did NOT need to do this but I think that depends on the pan you use**

Cool for 20 minutes before turning out on a wire rack to continue cooling.

P.S. Marcy recommends adding walnuts and even chocolate chips…but I’m a purist. Do what you will!

“Marcy’s Legendary Chocolate Chip Cookies”

I stink at making beautiful cookies. It’s getting better as I learn more…and these cookies are evidence of the fact!  This recipe is from a book my sister gave to me several years ago called, “A Passion for Baking” by Marcy Goldman. I am pretty sure I’ve never made anything from this book. It’s a total travesty but you see, these recipes are so very bad for you. Whew people….I don’t even want to KNOW the calorie content. Decadent, amazing…sinful. These are the recipes in this book.

While reading this book the other night, I learned about “spread”. This is how your cookie bakes basically and spreads out. I loathe it when my cookies get all flat as pancakes. I’ve heard to up the flour content by a few tablespoons and to chill the dough. I tried both with this recipe today. Check ‘em out! Think “bake-sale-worthy-giant-cookies”.

Ingredients:

1 Cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 Cups firmly packed brown sugar (I used dark)
1/4 Cup white sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla (I used 2)
2 Large eggs
1 egg yolk
2 1/2 Cups all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 Cups semisweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 Cups Lindt chocolate chips (I just used what I had on hand for chocolate chips)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Arrange rack to upper third position.

2. Cream butter and sugars until well blended. Add vanilla, eggs, and egg yolk. Fold in flour, baking soda, salt and chocolate chips. If batter seems soft and greasy, add 2-4 Tablespoons more flour. You can also chill the dough for 10 minutes.

3. Scoop into large balls of dough (7-8 oz each or 1 cup each) and place 2-3 inches apart.

4. Bake 20-24 minutes or until cookies are nicely browned on top and set-up looking. Let cool 15-20 minutes.