This curried tuna salad is the perfect combination of sweet, sour, and salty! It has just the right amount of crunch and sass. We love to serve it on whole wheat bread with arugula and tomato slices. It is also lovely served along side a fresh bowl of orange slices or fruit salad. Perfect for a luncheon or baby shower! Continue reading Curried Tuna Salad
Category Archives: Meats
Lemon Chicken Quinoa Soup
This Lemon Chicken Quinoa Soup is light, bright, and deliciously satisfying. Loaded with both flavor and nutrition, you can’t go wrong with this one! Our children rarely all like the same meal, but they all give this one an enthusiastic thumbs-up! Start with an organic, pasture-raised chicken and home-made stock. You will be setting yourself up for an incredibly wholesome meal, minus the bad stuff that usually comes with chicken soups. Who really needs MSG in their soup anyway? The tumeric is what gives this dish it’s beautiful yellow color. The addition of quinoa gives a hearty and nutritional bonus. This is truly a delicious, satisfying meal! Continue reading Lemon Chicken Quinoa Soup
Bulk Chicken Pot Pie with Mashed Potato Crust
This recipe is not difficult, but it does take a lot of time. I usually divide the prep into two separate days. I make the chicken and stock on the first day. On the second day I make the mashed potatoes and use the stock and chicken from the first day to create the creamy chicken vegetable mixture. Then I assemble the casseroles and freeze. It’s a major investment of time but it yields five 9×13 pans of delicious, quick dinners you can grab out of the freezer and throw in the oven for a yummy, hearty meal at the end of a long, hard day. Continue reading Bulk Chicken Pot Pie with Mashed Potato Crust
Cowboy Beans (Frijoles Charros)
The first time I had these Cowboy Beans I was blown away. They are the perfect combination of hearty, comforting, and tasty! Nutritionally, they are packed with a load of protein and fiber . They even have a hefty bit of veggies added. To keep things as healthy as possible, use organic, nitrate free bacon and chorizo sausage. Even better, use a chicken or turkey version of the bacon and sausage if you can find it (although the flavor will be somewhat different). These beans are absolutely lovely and the most satisfying when served with the suggested toppings. If you want to make this dish even better, pair the beans with Sweet Whole Grain Corn Muffins with Jalapenos. I dare you to try this. You’ll never look at beans the same way again! Continue reading Cowboy Beans (Frijoles Charros)
Organic Chicken Soup from Scratch
This is a delicious, wholesome variety of homemade organic chicken soup that contains nothing artificial. There are no boxed broths or msg-laden boullions involved (will be even better when I can use our own farm-raised chickens). It is truly lovely to indulge in bite after bite of everything that is good and nothing that is not. Although this recipe has many steps and is a two day endeavor, all of the steps are easy. If you try this even once, I am sure it will go to your list of favorites. Continue reading Organic Chicken Soup from Scratch
Fruited Whole Wheat Tabbouleh with Goat Cheese
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 1 hour, 20 minutes
I distinctly recall the very first time I tried tabbouleh. It was in Morocco.
Okay… it was in Epcot’s Morocco. It was way back when we had only two little ones to cart around Disney. We had stopped at one of the little sidewalk restaurants for a little respite from the sun and to have a little snack. At the time I had never even heard of the word tabbouleh. The entry on the menu board piqued my interest, and I just had to sample the salad with such an unusual name. As soon as that first spoonful crossed my lips, I was instantly grateful. The bright, flavorful mixture of herbs, grains, and citrus was intriguing. What a fresh new taste!
I have had many tabbouleh variations since then, and they have all been good. However, I recently decided to create a tabbouleh that even my kids would like. This is what I came up with.
Ingredients
- 1 cup whole grain quick-cooking whole wheat bulgur
- 1 cup boiling water
- 1 pound cooked chicken breast, chopped
- 1 pound pineapple, diced
- 8 oz strawberries, diced
- 1/2 cucumber, seeded, peeled, and diced
- 1 shallot, finely minced
- 1 0z. mint, cut into thin ribbons
- 1/4 cup garlic rice wine vinegar
- 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
- 1/4 cup teriyaki sauce
- 2 TBSP honey
- 1 TBSP Sugar in the Raw
- 1/2 cup Goat Cheese
Instructions
- Pour boiling water over bulgur and let sit at least one hour.
- In a large bowl or serving platter l, toss the chicken, pineapple, strawberries, cucumber, shallots, and mint together.
- In a separate container, whisk the vinegar, lime juice, teriyaki sauce, honey, and sugar together until mixed well.
- Pour over bulgur mixture and stir until evenly distributed.
- Garnish with goat cheese and strawberry slices if desired.
- There you have it. Simple. Fresh. Healthy. And the kids loved it!
Whole Wheat Carmela’s Chicken
Carmela’s Chicken. Sounds innocent enough, right? That’s what was on the lunch special at Macaroni Grill one day after a quick dentist appointment with the kids. I thought I’d try it.
OH! MY! GOODNESS!
I wasn’t prepared to be whisked away into foodie nirvana on a Thursday at noon. Whole Wheat Carmela’s Chicken is a heavenly concoction of tender chicken, mushrooms, caramelized onions, and pasta – all perfectly doused in a Marsala cream sauce. I wasn’t expecting such decadence. I simply had to produce this in my own kitchen. The biggest change I wanted to make was to substitute whole grain pasta for the processed variety found at Macaroni Grill. Here is a cleaner eating take on the dish:
Ingredients:
- 3 large onions, cut into very thin slices
- 1 stick butter
- 1 TBSP olive oil
- 8 ounces fresh mushrooms, chopped OR 1 oz dried mushrooms (reconstituted according to package directions, chopped)
- 10 cloves of garlic, finely minced
- 16 ounces raw chicken breast, thinly sliced
- 1 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tsp Sugar in the Raw
- 8 oz Marsala cooking wine
- 16 oz heavy whipping cream
- 16 ounces whole wheat pasta (prepared according to package directions)
- 2 ounces Parmesan cheese
- 1/4 cup of fresh basil, sliced into thin ribbons
- 1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes (optional)
Directions:
1. First, caramelize the onions. Place the onions in a large saute pan and cook over low to medium heat for about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. The onions will become a rich, deep brown. You may splash a little water in from time to time to prevent any scorching. This is also a sign that you might want to turn the heat down a bit. Low and slow. That is the key to perfectly caramelized onions.
2. Remove the onions to a separate bowl. Add the butter and the olive oil to the pan and swirl until all of the butter is melted. Add the mushrooms and saute over medium heat for about five minutes. Add the garlic and saute two minutes more.
3. Add the chicken, salt, pepper, and sugar to the hot pan and saute for about five minutes, or until all of the outer pink has disappeared.
4. Add the wine and bring to a low simmer. Allow chicken to simmer in the wine for three minutes.
5. Add the cream.
6. Add the onions back to the sauce pot. Bring mixture to a low simmer.
6. While keeping the sauce at a very low simmer, prepare the pasta in a large, separate pot according to package directions.
7. Drain the pasta. Dish up the pasta into individual serving bowls. Ladle the cream sauce on top of each serving. Garnish with Parmesan Cheese, Basil, and Sun-dried tomatoes, if desired.
8. Sit down and be prepared to enjoy some of the most heavenly pasta on the planet. You’ll see!
