Lemon & Herb Pasta

I love simple food - and this is pretty much, as simple as it gets!  Last night I made my little family (dad-in-law, in tow) some Fettuccine Alfredo with Tyson's Ready Made Grilled Chicken and Spinach.  The Alfredo sauce is too much points (Weight Watchers), and not worth it for me.  I decided to save some cooked pasta on the side for myself and created this simple and clean little pasta dish for dinner.  You can use my recipe as a guide, the flavor creations are ENDLESS!

Lemon and Herb Pasta

2oz cooked pasta, any type

1-2 tsp Olive Oil

Dried herbs, to taste (I used Basil, Oregano, Parsley, Lemon Pepper and a pinch of Garlic Salt)

Squeezed Lemon Juice (and zest if you'd like)

Combine olive oil, dried herbs and lemon juice (zest) in a bowl.  Add the pasta and toss to coat.  Enjoy, or sprinkle with some Parmesan cheese first!!  Add in halved cherry tomatoes, wilted spinach or even grilled chicken for a bigger flavor profile, extra vitamins and a punch of protein!

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Korean Chicken

Growing up in Hawaii, Kalbi (a Korean beef dish), is eaten probably once a month.  And  if you have a mom that LOVES Korean food, you've (I've) had your fair share!  I thought I'd give it a go and try my own Kalbi.  While this recipe doesn't feature the beef.  I made enough marinade, that after I made the beef - that came out pretty decent - I used the same marinade to marinate some chicken breasts.

My kalbi marinade recipe is adapted from Savory Sweet Life

*I only altered it, because I did not want to go to store, so I used what I had on hand.

1 1/2 cups shoyu (soy sauce)

3/4 cup white sugar

1/4 cup olive oil

5 cloves of garlic, pressed

3 large green onions, thinly sliced

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

I just marinated two chicken breasts since I was just cooking dinner for myself and the DB, but I'm sure you could fit at least 4 big chicken breasts.  The breasts marinated for 3 days in the fridge.  And I ACTUALLY didn't even cook the breasts.  The DB was feeling helpful, and let me take a load off when I got home for work and put cooked the breasts in a pan with some PAM, warmed up the corn and cooked the rice!

I'm still perfecting the kalbi beef.  I let it marinate just overnight, but it needs more marinating time (at work, the kitchen marinates theirs for four days.)  Once I perfect the kalbi beef I'll post the recipe, but here you are!  A nice korean chicken breast with rice and corn on the side!

Enjoy :)

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Pinterest Thursday #1

This is the first Pinterest Thursday!  AAAHHH!! Needed  a break from those recipes.. Though I love em!  So, with Valentine's on the way, I figured I'd feature one of the Valentine crafts I'm hoping to do for the love occasion!

These cute gifts are from Plum Adorable and I think they would be a cute whimsical little something for my co workers.  What great Valentine crafts have you seen around the web?

Quickie Spinny Artie Cups

2012 Pro Bowl and Super Bowl is officially here; which for women means getting in the kitchen and prepping a whole bunch of food for a bunch of hungry men (and family)!  So I'm sharing a recipe today that I came up with this past December.  It is super quick and easy.. I PRESENT

CHICKEN MAKAWAO CUPS (Quickie Spinny Artie Cups)

This recipe is a spin off of a local recipe called Chicken Makawao.  It is basically a chicken breast stuffed with a spinach and artichoke mixture and topped with a garlic cream sauce.

Refrigerated biscuits (10)
1 container of pre-made Spinach Artichoke Dip
1 16oz canned chicken
Pam or Bake n Joy Spray

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.  On the back side of a muffin pan, spray with PAM or your favorite non stick spray.  Stretch the biscuit dough onto the muffin tin to make 10 biscuit cups.  Bake till golden brown, about 7 minutes.  While the cups are baking, mix together the pre-made spinach and artichoke dip with the drained, canned chicken.  When cups are done, invert onto a cooling rack.  Let cool.  Spoon dip mixture into the cups.  Bake for an additional 7 minutes.  Serve warm.

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Yummo Weight Watchers Beef Broccoli

I was so excited when I came across this recipe on the Weight Watchers site.  I grew up eating a ton of Chinese food, so I was definitely thrilled to try this out ASAP!

Let me tell you.  This tastes as good as it looks.  It is sooooo flavorful.  Personally, a tad bit too salty for me.  Next time I'll cut down the shoyu (soy sauce) content.  Be sure to check out the original recipe.  Below is the rendition I did!

Beef Broccoli:
3 tbsp cornstarch, divided
1/4 tsp garlic salt
1# uncooked, lean beef sirloin, thinly sliced
2 tsp olive oil
1 - 14.5z can of FF chicken broth
6 cups uncooked broccoli florets
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup of water

Take the beef out of the fridge while you prep the rest of the ingredients.  On a plate combine 2 tbsps of the cornstarch and garlic salt.  If you need to, cut the broccoli into florets.  Mince the garlic and prep the rest of the ingredients.  Heat the oil in a deep pan or pot.  Dredge beef in cornstarch mixture and add to pot.  Once cooked through remove the beef from the pan and pour in half of the chicken stock.  Loosen any bits from the pan.  Add in the broccoli and cook till crisp and tender.  Add garlic (and ginger - I didn't have any), and cayenne pepper, let sit for 2 minutes.  Add in rest of chicken stock and soy sauce.  Mix rest of the cornstarch in a little cup with just enough water to dissolve.  Add to the pot and stir.  Bring to a simmer and let  cornstarch the liquids.  Add the beef back in to the pot and give it a stir.

Enjoy! :-)

Turkey Taco Lettuce Wraps

Turkey Taco Lettuce Wraps with Tomato and Avocado Salsa

So I found this amazing recipe on Kalyn's Kitchen.  I follow by email.  I prefer following blogs that way.  Saves alot of space in my bookmarks, and the emails "remind" me to check out the blogs!! ANYWAY - side tangent

Kalyn made these amazing mexi style lettuce wraps that looked so pretty with all the colors and featured some of my favorite flavors that I just had to give this recipe a try.  Needless to say it was a little messy, but super AMAZING!  The DB loved it!  I finished the rest of it "salad" style - which ended up being less messy!!

The Avocado ups the point factor for Weight Watchers, but it didn't do too much damage to my points.  Even at that, its better than extra points for greasy fries, right?!

Skinny Taste's Double B Baked Oatmeal

DOUBLE B= BLUEBERRIES AND BANANAS

These power foods are full of FIBER, VITAMINS AND GOOD OL NATURAL SWEETNESS!

I added a pinch of nutmeg to the recipe, and instead of measuring out 1 1/2 cups of blueberries, I just bought a pint at the store and used the whole pint.

Click here to get the recipe from Gina on Skinny Taste. Her site is amazing!!

Happy Eating!

5 Speed Burritos

My DB loves his street truck food.. And apparently nothing screams construction worker food like 5 Speed Burritos! So to help him kick off the NFL Playoffs I made some homemade 5 Speeds!

I cooked up all the ingredients: bacon, breakfast sausage, hash browns (I used shredded) and eggs. Shredded the cheese and warmed the tortillas, then assembled. Since his family was coming over and to avoid extra dishes, I wrapped the burritos in foil to: 1) help hold them together, and 2) easy cleanup :-)

Needless to say they were a hit with the family, while I chowed down on my healthy strawberries and cottage cheese!!

Veggie and Turkey Bacon Frittata

My darling boyfriend (the DB), loves BREAKFAST, especially Breakfast for Dinner! So usually once a week, I make eggs for dinner. This week I created a super tasty frittata in a pan.

Ingredients:

Spinach
Diced Tomatoes with Green Chiles
Black Olives, Sliced
Turkey Bacon, Crumbled
Eggs
Milk
Muenster Cheese

First I crisped the turkey bacon in the microwave while I cooked a side of potatoes. When I was ready to assemble the eggs I heated a teaspoon of olive oil. Then added spinach until it started to wilt. Next I added a handful of diced tomatoes with green chiles (canned, aka: ROTEL), sliced olives and crumbled turkey bacon. Once everything had a chance to heat up, I added 3 eggs whisked with a little bit of milk. Once the eggs were just about finished I flipped the frittata over to finish the leftover runny eggs. Once the frittata was out of the pan I let some Muenster Cheese melt over the frittata. Enjoy!