deconstructed caprese salad
Recipe week taught me a lot. Mainly that I eat a lot of unblog-worthy food. Yogurt messes for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch and usually a boring dinner. Throw in a Think Thin Bar or some fruit and my days are completely unnotable. I blame this on productivity. You see every Sunday Keith and I do the weekly food prep. We wash and chop all our vegetables, we grill several pieces of salmon, cod or mahi mahi, chicken breasts and thighs and I make some easy salads. Like this or this. So then during the week nights it easy for us to throw together a salad with chicken or eat salmon with a quick side dish. While this may be super simple and easy for us it leaves me with not really much to share on the food front. Whew, good thing I’m not a food blogger (said as she wipes her brow in relief).
But I do have one last one to share with you this week. And yes, on my blog a week is only Monday thru Friday. I can’t imagine posting 7 recipes in one week. Who do think I am? Her? 🙂
Deconstructed Caprese Salad
2-3 tomatoes
slices of fresh mozzarella
fresh basil
fresh cracked pepper
olive oil
balsamic vinegar
Thinly slice the tomatoes and layer them on a platter. Place sliced mozzarella on top of tomatoes. Sprinkle with fresh basil and cracker pepper. Then drizzle with balsamic vinegar and olive oil.
I love this recipe because it is impressive enough to serve at a party or casual enough to eat on a weeknight along side the grilled chicken we have. 🙂 And it gets better with time and taste equally as good the next day for leftovers. Now that is my kind of recipe.
an apple a day…
I love apples! I eat one every day and usually two. So when Keith suggested making apple chips in the dehydrator I was more than game. These make the perfect snack and Keith and I are gobbling them like crazy!!
Cinnamon Apple Chips
6 apples of choice (I used pink ladies)
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 cup water
cinnamon
Peel the apples, if desired. Cut the core out, using the apple corer or a knife.
Slice the apples into thin rings about 1/4 inch thick.
Add lemon juice to water in a large, shallow bowl. Dip the apple slices into the water and lemon. This will prevent the apples from turning brown. Pat the excess moisture from the apple rings with paper towels.
Lay the apple slices in a single layer in your food dehydrator, according to the manufacturer’s directions.
Sprinkle the cinnamon on top of the apple rings. Dehydrate the apple rings for 8 to 10 hours at 135 degrees F, or until they are crispy.
chinese food makes me smile
One of my favorite food genres is Chinese food. I wish Keith liked it too. He doesn’t. He tolerates it. He is a good sport though and 99.9% of the time will eat whatever I put in from of him. He’s a smart man. He picks his battles well. So imagine my surprise when he claimed to like this recipe. I was shocked and asked him several times if he was serious. I think he finally got annoyed with my twentieth “you really like it?” I loved it, obviously, but Keith was the real test. So chinese food that is Keith approved is a recipe that must be shared, duplicated and made immediately.
Honey Orange Chicken
4 boneless skinless chicen breats or 8 thighs
1 Tbsp. grapeseed oil
1 clove garlic, crushed
4 green onions, chopped
3 Tbsp. honey
4 Tbsp. orange juice concentrate
1 orange, peeled and segmented
2 Tbsp. wheat-free tamari
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place chicken in a baking dish; set aside.
Heat oil in a small skillet and saute garlic and onions until soft but not browned, about 2 minutes. Add honey, orange juice, orange segments, and soy sauce, stirring evenly until honey is completely dissolved.
Pour sauce over chicken. Bake, uncovered, for 45 minutes, basting once or twice, until chicken is cooked through. Serve over 1/2 cup brown rice and steamed broccoli, then drizzle extra sauce on top! Makes 4 servings.
attack of the green monster
I love a big green smoothie. It makes me feel like I have gotten away with something. Sneaking spinach into a smoothie and liking it. Score one for the home team! And I should mention that I like my smoothies thick! Like I want to eat it from a bowl with a spoon and I want it to taste like ice cream. I don’t think this is too much to ask.
But here’s my issue, I (and by I, I mean my stomach) doesn’t like xantham gum. It makes my stomach hurt literally within minutes of ingesting it. It bloats me up in about two seconds flat and causes some not so feminine noises. So what to use? CHIA SEEDS! Yes…chia seeds give me a nice thick smoothie with healthy fat and no funny tummy business. I’ll say it again, score one for the home team!
Eat From A Bowl Green Monster
1 cup almond milk (or coconut milk, rice milk, soy milk, hazelnut milk or just milk…you get the idea)
large handful of spinach
1-2 T. chia seeds (the more you use the thicker it gets)
protein powder of choice (I am a vanilla girl)
1 frozen banana (this is NECESSARY in my opinion to get that creamy factor)
handful of ice
Throw everything in your blender (or Vitamix for some of you lucky ones) and let it rip. The longer it blends the thicker it will get.
And there you go…a thick, eat from a spoon, in bowl, with no xantham gum smoothie! I won’t tell if you lick the bowl. Promise.
What Kelly Said 