Sauteed Summer Vegetables

Another awesome veggie side from Skinnytaste!




Click HERE for the recipe!

Cajun Pumpkin Soup in a Bread Bowl

Not the best picture, but this was SO good. My kids brought home a pumpkin from their teacher's garden (YUM!) and so we had tons of fun cooking it up and making muffins, soup, and pasta with it! I decided this would be super yummy in a bread bowl. Click HERE for the recipe.

Zucchini Pasta with a Creamy Lemon Sauce

Another site I've come to love is the Novice Chef. This was delicious and a perfect side! You can find the recipe HERE.

Black Bean and Mango Salsa Chicken

I LOVE Skinnytaste. Another hit from her site! You can find the recipe HERE!

Chunky Monkey Pancakes

YUMMY!! We have the best peanut butter ever- and you can actually order it HERE- the coconut peanut butter is amazing!! If you want an easy way to make it- just mix some coconut oil into your peanut butter and it's pretty close! There is no real recipe on this meal- we make our pancakes using the bisquick recipe on the back (the fluffy one!) and then I coat it in our coconut peanut butter, apple bananas, and granola (I've been buying the organic chia granola with coconut flakes!). So good... try it out!

Salsa Verde Enchiladas

Broiled Lemon Parmesan Tilapia

This was SO good!

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese
1/4 butter, softened
3 TBL Mayo
2 TBL lemon juice
1/2 TBL Garlic, Minced
1/4 tsp basil
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/8 celery salt
1/8 onion powder
2 lbs tilapia fillets

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat your oven's broiler on low. Grease a broiling pan and arrange fillets in a single layer. Broil 2-3 minutes per side. In a small bowl, mix remaining ingredients. Remove fillets from oven and cover them with the parmesan mixture. Broil for an addition 2-3 minutes until the topping is browned and the fish is flaky. Enjoy!

Baby Squash

Yum! They were selling a bag of these baby squash at Costco, and I was so happy with how they turned out! I just sauteed them in little olive oil, salt and pepper and put some feta cheese on top. Super easy and super yummy!

Kuala Pork

Hawaii is famous for it's Kuala Pork... so when I asked the hubby what he wanted to for dinner- he asked me to try a kuala pork recipe! I have to be honest that this was back in July and I don't remember exactly which recipe I used. I know it'll come back to me as I'm searching through my 'internet recipe box', so until then I leave you with this mystery. But it's really good. Especially with some rice, corn on the cob and green papaya salad!

Green Papaya Salad

If you've ever had this at a Thai Restaurant, you'll know it is DELICIOUS! We have a ton of Papaya growing in our yard, so I thought it'd be fun to make the salad before they ripened. My kids had a ton of fun picking the papayas fresh for me, too (they LOVE getting my herbs and any garden pickin' I need... so helpful!)

I used THIS recipe (thanks Bobby Flay), but I subbed pine nuts for peanuts!

Acai Bowl

These are SUPER popular in Hawaii- and they are delicious! Filling enough to be a meal- but they taste the best after a hot beach day or a good, long workout! Acai is a major super food- so it's also really healthy!

INGREDIENTS:
Acai (I buy the packets frozen from Costco- but you can order them on Amazon if you can't find it locally)
Papaya (if you don't have this- use orange juice or apple juice)
Banana (I use apple banana)
Toppings:
Granola
Fruit (I like raspberry, strawberry, blueberry, bananas and mango!)
Coconut/Chia Seeds/Hemp/Any Addition You Choose!
Honey or Agave Nectar

DIRECTIONS:
Put the frozen acai packets into a blender and add in papaya and banana. Blend until a nice, thick puree. Add toppings and enjoy!!

Papaya Bowl Chicken Salad

Since living in Hawaii, we have Papaya a plenty! One fun way to eat it is to make a fruit bowl with mango, apple bananas and pineapple in it. I discovered another way- fill it with chicken salad! (Also you could fill an avocado with chicken salad, which would be super yummy, too!!
I made Pioneer Woman's Chicken Salad with Blueberries and Corn and put it in a Papaya! YUM!!

Fresh Herb Pizza

I made this to go along with the Chicken, Feta, Blueberry Salads!! Perfect!!


Click HERE for the recipe!

Chicken, Blueberry and Corn Salad

YUM! I saw this on Pioneer Woman's cooking show and had to make it- the perfect summer dinner!!

Click HERE for the recipe! (I served mine over butter lettuce bowls!)

Beet Salad

So, I accidentally grabbed 4 (really large!) beets at the store instead of turnips (oops!) and didn't want them to go to waste. I love Skinnytaste's recipes, so I thought I'd give this one a try! It wasn't something I would probably die to have again, but if you are looking for something to replace traditional potatoes, here's a good option! HERE is the link!

Hot Mini Sandwiches

I made some Bunco Buns a couple years ago that I thought were pretty good- and I was looking for something to go along with my soup, so I was excited to try these (I always see the fun sandwich dressings by the deli, but have never bought them until now!). These are SO good... thanks Pioneer Woman! Click HERE for the link.

Acorn Squash Soup

From: Carrie

I love ginger so when my friend made this for a Wine Night, I could have licked my bowl! I was looking for something different to make for the family, so this was perfect. Although soup in the summer doesn't always sound good, this was really yummy. Here's the basic recipe from Carrie (with some of my notes included):

1. Bake the squash. I only used 1 for this soup but if I did it again I would probably use 2. The baking directions are on the sticker label on the squash. Plan for about 30 minutes. (My sticker label said to microwave it, so I did... and it took about 5 minutes!).

2. Chop up some onion, garlic, Ginger, or whatever vegetable you want in the soup. This is just your decision on how much flavor of each thing you want. This is where you can get creative/make other kinds of soups (Potato? Bell Pepper?)

3. Couple tablespoons of oil (I use grape seed oil these days, but feel free to use olive)... put into a large sautee pan and turn heat on to medium-ish.

4. Throw in your veggies and sautee for about 5 minutes.

5. Next add your broth - either chicken or veggie- and your squash. I would either use almost all of a carton size or 3-4 cans. 

6. Turn heat to low and let the vegetables and broth simmer for around 20 minutes. This is where you can season it too, using salt, pepper, cardamom, etc.

7. Have a blender ready. After all has cooked, put it all into the blender and puree:)

8. Taste it and determine if you want to make it creamy. If so I would add a tablespoon or so of butter and maybe about a cup of heavy cream. You can also add more seasoning in this step, too, if needed. (I put in some coconut milk!)

9. And that's that! There's a recipe using bell peppers and tomatoes and onions that is the same process, and when everything is being blended, you're to add 1/2 cup Almond Butter. It's real good!

Ugly Costco Pasta

I found this in our Costco Magazine. It is a super simple, easy dinner that has become a go-to with our rotisserie chicken for days that we need a quick dinner or we've ben out late grocery shopping!

Ingredients

1/2 rotisserie chicken
1 package "rainbow" cheese tortellini
2 Tablespoons olive oil
2 cups sliced mushrooms (I leave these out because the hubs doesn't like them!)
1 Tablespoon minced garlic
3/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes
2 cups half and half
1 cup chicken broth
Cajun seasoning to taste
2 Tablespoons dried basil
Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions

Shred leftover chicken and set aside. Prepare tortellini according to instructions on package and set aside.
Add olive oil to a large saute pan over medium heat. Saute mushrooms for 3 to 5 minutes and then add garlic. Add sun-dried tomatoes and chicken, and saute until mixed thoroughly. Add half and half, broth and seasonings.
Add tortellini. Simmer over low heat for 30 minutes to reduce liquid and blend flavors. If you need to add liquid, add half and half and chicken broth in a 2:1 ratio.
Serves 6.

Garlic Shrimp in Coconut Milk, Tomatoes and Cilantro

Another Skinnytaste Success!! Click HERE for the link.

Skinny Chicken "Fried" Chicken, Mashed Potatoes and "Fried" Okra

SO, we were hungry for some of our favorite comfort Southern food from good ol' Georgia. This was a good compromise!!

Here is the Chicken: (I just used breast fillets instead of the other parts of the chicken) http://www.skinnytaste.com/2009/07/oven-fried-chicken.html

Mashed Potatoes: http://davisfamilydining.blogspot.com/2012/03/mashed-cauliflower.html

(White Gravy came from a Seasoning Packet at the Store)

Okra: http://cookincowgirl.blogspot.com/2012/03/oven-fried-okra.html

Crock Pot Sesame Chicken

I am loving my crockpot these days!! Skinnytaste has a lot of recipes for my trusty friend, and I've loved a lot of them...this was a good variant, but not my favorite. Click HERE for the link.

Quinoa Breakfast

I wanted to try a healthy breakfast that might stick with us longer. My kids LOVE oatmeal, so I was hopeful for this. My husband and I liked it, but that was about it! Click HERE for the recipe.

Crockpot Chicken Nachos

This was a HUGE hit. Love it! Click HERE for the recipe for the Santa Fe Chicken... then just throw it over nachos, cheese, add some sour cream, avocado and jalapenos!

Ham and Beans

Deluxe Mac and Cheese

I have been so bad about taking pictures of our new recipes, and then of course haven't been putting them up on the blog! Trying to turn that around... so the pictures may not be the best quality, but at least I'll have the recipes to share!

I tried this off pinterest- my daughter LOVES mac and cheese, and I thought this would be a fun way to make it a little more healthy. It didn't turn out to be my favorite, but the family ate it up! Click HERE for the link!