Spicy Lime Chicken Salad

Spicy Lime Chicken Salad

Ingredients:
1 pound chicken, grilled and diced
3 oz plain greek yogurt
2 cloves garlic
diced red onion (I used about 1/4 cup)
1 tablespoon sriracha sauce
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
dash salt
diced tomatoes (I just used a little bit of chunky salsa since I didn't have a tomato)

Combine everything, good warm or cold.

Serve on a slice of tomato or avocado instead of a piece of bread or sandwich if you want to make the meal healthier.

Homemade Peanut Butter Dog Biscuit Treats

My mom's dog Max, who we all love, had to have a major surgery about 1.5 weeks ago. He had to have our equivalent to a knee ACL repair, and it left him in a lot of pain, like 30 staples, and a large incision.

It has been a bumpy road with my mom having to take him back to the vet - and I have been feeling so bad for him! So I decided to make him some homemade treats! And for my first time, they turned out well.

Peanut Butter Dog Treats

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 tablespoon molasses
1 cup peanut butter (I used low fat)
1 cup milk
1/2 cup oatmeal

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

Combine all ingredients and add more flour if needed. You want to be able to roll this out, so then you can cut it into treat sizes.

After you've rolled out the dough, use a cookie cutter if you have one, or just cut them into fun shapes. I had a cat cookie cutter, so I figured that was perfect. I also had a little leftover so cut into tiny triangles to use for cat treats.

Place them on cookie sheet sprayed lightly with cooking spray.

Bake for 10 minutes, flip, and bake for another 6-8 minutes.

Then give them to your favorite dog, or mail them if your favorite dog isn't close enough :)

Quick Caramel Popcorn with Coconut and Chocolate Drizzle

I have made several attempts in the past at caramel popcorn, but it has never turned out well. The caramel has always been a little gritty, and I could never get the popcorn stirred in correctly to coat the pieces. Don't get me wrong, I still ate it all, but I thought I could do better.

In previous tries, I made caramel on the stove top, so I decided I wanted to make a 'quick' version. I was able to make this in about 10 minutes, mostly staring at the microwave.

I got a basic recipe for microwave caramel and went from there.

Quick Caramel Popcorn with Coconut and Chocolate Drizzle
1 bag microwave popcorn
1/2 stick butter (or margarine)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda

Pop a bag of popcorn, and put aside in a large bowl.

Microwave the sugar and butter for 5 minutes on high, stirring halfway through. Make sure you're using a microwave safe bowl (or it will melt)!

Add in the vanilla and baking soda, and stir completely. The mixture will bubble.

Stir the caramel into the popcorn, and microwave another 45 seconds. Stir again, and then spread out on wax paper. Be careful, the hot caramel can burn you. Sprinkle some coconut on the popcorn if you'd like.

Melt the chocolate chips with a little bit of crisco (1/2 teaspoon) for 2 minutes in the microwave. Stir until the chocolate melts, and then put the mixture in a sandwich bag. Cut the tip from the bag, and drizzle the popcorn with chocolate.

Store in a cool place!

Healthy General Tso's Chicken

I went and checked out Saigon Market yesterday, our local asian grocery store. There were so many things that I had never heard of. I think in the future it would be fun to pick something, and try to cook with it. I plan to go back there often, things like sriracha sauce, sesame oil, soy sauce, mirin, sweet chili sauce, etc are very affordable there. For example, I picked up a larger bottle sesame oil for under half the price that I pay at Walmart.

Anyway, I felt inspired to make something chinese, but didn't want to bread and deep fry anything. OK I wanted to, but I chose not to.

Healthy General Tso's Chicken Recipe (serves 2)
3/4 lb chicken breast, diced
1 bunch green onions
1 teaspoon corn starch

Sauce
1/4 cup mirin (cooking rice wine)
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons sriracha
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
1 teaspoon rice vinegar
1 clove fresh garlic

Throw the chicken in a bag and shake it around with the corn starch, this will allow the chicken to brown and crisp. Get the skillet really hot, and add a little bit of sesame oil (1 teaspoon-ish). Brown the chicken on both sides and compile the sauce while you wait. Then add the sauce to the pan, and let it cook down until it bubbles and thickens, and adheres to the chicken. Garnish with green onions, don't cook them, they will get brown and gross.

Then you could serve this over rice, or eat as is. I roasted some asparagus in the oven (toss with a dash of sesame oil, salt and pepper, 400 degrees, 15 minutes)

It turned out really well! I think I will take this basic recipe and add some orange concentrate for orange chicken.

Healthy Sweet Potato Salad

This weekend I was craving potato salad, after seeing some deviled eggs on Food Network (I am thinking the connection was hardboiled eggs). So while at the grocery store, I decided I was going to make potato salad, but use sweet potatoes instead of regular ones, and use some greek yogurt to tone down the amount of mayo.

Here is what I came up with, it was wonderful!:

Sweet Potato Salad Recipe (4-6 servings)

Ingredients:

2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and diced

4 eggs

1/3 cup plain greek yogurt

3 tablespoons mayo

1 bunch green onions, chopped

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

1 teaspoon garlic salt

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon yellow mustard

To start, get the water boiling for your sweet potatoes. Add the sweet potatoes and get them cooked.

Get your eggs in a pot of water, and get that boiling as well. When the water is boiling, turn the burner off and cover the eggs. Let them sit on the warm burner for 13 minutes. I just learned the tip of cooking the eggs for only 13 minutes, it prevents the greenish-blue tint on the outside of the yolk. Then drain the water and peel the eggs. Cut up the white, and throw it in with the potatoes. We will add 2 of the yolks to our dressing mixture. You can disgard the rest to get rid of a few calories, or throw them in.

Add all of the remaining things together and combine in a small bowl. Then toss the dressing with the potatoes. This recipe is good served warm or cold.

I would suggest eating it with something grilled :)

The nice thing I noticed with the leftovers is that the sweet potatoes didn't completely soak up the dressing as I have seen when making regular potato salad.

Grilled Chicken Spaghetti Squash "Pasta"

Spaghetti squash is extremely healthy, about 50 calories in a cup of it, so I decided to try it out as a pasta!

It was delicious, spaghetti squash is a little bit sweet, it was just right! Here is how I made it:

Ingredients (2 servings):
1 large spaghetti squash
2 chicken breasts
1 serving Philadelphia Cooking Creme
Green onions
Parmesan cheese
Sriracha sauce

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut squash in half. Bake the squash for about 25-30 minutes. Use a fork to scrape the squash from the shell. Set aside.

Grill the chicken breast, seasoned with sriracha sauce and salt/pepper. Cut the chicken into strips.

Warm the Philadelphia Cooking Creme, and mix in the chicken. Add a little sriracha sauce, to taste.

Compile the squash/chicken/sauce, and top with green onions and parmesan cheese.

Yum!

Morel Mushrooms on April Fool's Day

I was visiting my mom on 4/1/12, and we went for a walk in the county park. That morning, I spent about 1.5 hours searching my local woods, and came up with nothing.

She has a few spots that she sees mushrooms in every year, that are not in very wooded areas. We decided to check them, since people have been reporting finding morels in Iowa.

I couldn't believe my eyes when we found 10! Some were growing right in the grass. I wish I had her luck!