Chocolate Banana Parfaits

Little one enjoyed his dessert!

I am happy to share Valentine’s Day dessert – four months late. Not sure why it’s taken so long to share this but better late than never right? I really don’t like going out for dinner on Valentine’s Day. I’d rather make a nice dinner at home and enjoy spending the day of love with the man I love than competing with everyone in town for a table at a restaurant. This year wasn’t any different. I made a tasty dinner for three (I have two men I love now!) and we enjoyed quality time together at home.

This year I had fun making dessert. It uses only three ingredients and takes a few minutes to whip up. I decided to make it more Valentine-y by putting all the ingredients in red glasses. What I really like about this dessert is how versatile it is. Try any pudding and fruit combination to make this dessert work with any meal you are making. The original recipe called for lite/fate-free/sugar-free ingredients. I went full-fat on everything. I’m a rebel.

Enjoy!

1 pkg. (1.4 oz.) JELL-O Chocolate Instant Pudding

2 cups cold milk

2 bananas, sliced

¾ cup thawed Cool Whip

Beat pudding mix and milk with whisk for two minutes. Spoon half the pudding evenly into four dessert glasses then cover with layers of bananas and half the Cool Whip. Top with remaining pudding and Cool Whip. Chill for one hour before serving.

Adapted from www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/low-fat-chocolate-banana-parfaits-51211.aspx?cm_mmc=eml-_-rbe-_-20120410-_-1074&cm_lm=4D7D535C64198320269D1D91F8C91141

Kickin' Chicken Marinade

We are still working on that grilling thing. I know that I said before that we would be using our grill more but sadly that just hasn’t happened. While we were renting the town home, before buying our new house, we didn’t use our grill at all. It was on our deck and neither husband or I felt comfortable grilling that close to the house. So all grilling plans were put on hold.

I am thrilled to report that we have been grilling since moving into our new house. Last night was the third time we grilled dinner since moving in and I am loving it! Husband mans the grill and plays with little one while I get the table set and all of side dishes ready. It’s such a joy to split some of the cooking responsibilities with Husband. To make sure that we continue with this grilling thing I have been scheduling one day a week to grill dinner. Once a week may seem like hardly anything in the summer, but we’re taking this nice a slow.

This recipe was a hit at the dinner table. I was a little nervous about the chicken tasting too much like a basket of buffalo wings. I do love buffalo wings but that was not what I going for. Thankfully the chicken had a nice little kick without having an overwhelming buffalo wing flavor. Even little one was able to eat the chicken. I put a bottle of Ranch dressing on the table just in case he needed it but he was fine without it.

I did adjust some of the amounts used in this recipe but the originally posted recipe says that there are no rules. I used chicken tenderloins because they were on sale and really help with getting the right serving size. I cut back on the Frank’s and the amount of chicken. I didn’t want to cook three pounds of chicken as an experiment. We will be cooking this again. The marinade is crazy easy and would be great when cooking for a crowd.

Enjoy!

2 lb. chicken tenderloins

¾ cup Frank's Red Hot Original

¼ cup olive oil

¼ cup lime juice

2 garlic cloves, minced

In a large glass container mix Frank’s, olive oil, lime juice and garlic. Add chicken and submerge in the marinade. Marinade for at least four hours in the fridge. Remove chicken from marinade and grill.

The chicken is great with fresh lime juice squeezed on top!    

Adapted from www.sweetlittlebluebird.com/2013/05/tried-true-tuesday-kickin-chicken.html

Green Chili Chicken Enchiladas

I have been facing an interesting cooking challenge lately. Little one has to avoid acidic foods, at least until he’s potty trained. Since he typically eats what we eat that means I have had to adjust my menu items to exclude anything with a high acid level. Sadly, this means no tomatoes and no lemons which just happen to be two items I found myself putting in just about everything.

I’ve been scouring my recipe books, Pinterest and the binder for low acid foods that are similar to our favorite recipes. Mexican food has been my biggest challenge. It seems like just about any recipe I find has some sort of tomato base. I’ve tried quite a few recipes and I haven’t been successful at finding a recipe that was right for our family. That is why I was so excited when I came across this recipe. It had a lot of potential.

I was very happy to see that this recipe had easy ingredients. The original recipe called for ten four tortillas but after I laid all the tortillas out and started to fill them with the chicken mixture I realized that the number of tortillas should be cut back to eight (if you don’t add the beans). I added some peppers that my dad jarred last summer. These added a little extra color and some more flavor. I think next time I make these I may throw some beans into the chicken mixture as well.

My family loved these! LOVED! Little one gobbled them up. Husband and I had to resist the urge not to finish the pan. I paired these with a side of refried beans and Spanish rice. The sauce has such a great flavor. To maximize the flavor in the sauce I highly recommend not draining the chilies before adding them to the sauce. The only challenge I am going to have with this recipe is resisting the urge to put it on the menu each week!

Enjoy!

10 soft taco shells

2 cups cooked, shredded chicken

1/3 cup sweet peppers, sliced thin

15 oz. black beans

2 cups shredded Monterrey Jack cheese

3 Tablespoons butter

3 Tablespoons flour

2 cups chicken broth

1 cup sour cream

4 oz. diced green chilies

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13 pan. Mix chicken, peppers, beans and one cup of the cheese. Lay out all the tortillas on a flat work surface. Evenly divide the chicken mixture between all the tortillas. Roll up tortillas and place in pan seam side down.

Melt butter in a sauce pan, stir in flour and cook for one minute. Add broth and whisk until smooth. Heat over medium heat until thick and bubbly. Stir in sour cream and chilies and heat through. Pour over enchiladas and top with remaining cheese.

Bake for 22 minutes or until bubbly. Place under a high broiler for three minutes to brown the cheese.

Adapted from http://joyful-mommas-kitchen.blogspot.com/2011/09/white-chicken-enchiladas.html

Power Salad

It’s June but it feels closer to early spring or early fall. I’m confused about what to cook. Nice, easy, no cook meals like salads or hearty, creamy, comfort foods like enchiladas? Making my menus has been a real pain since I never really know what to expect from the weather outside. My saving grace on the days that I make salad on a chilly day is the jars of soup I keep in the freezer.

I made this salad on a chilly day. Chilly day or not this salad is amazing! I found inspiration for this salad on Pinterest. The original salad had a few things in it that I personally don’t care for so I made a few substitutions. You could really add anything you want to this salad but I think there are a few items that need to stay to make sure it stays “powerful.” Keep the spinach, avocados, nuts and low-cal flavorful cheese. From there on out anything you add is a bonus. The dressing that goes along with this salad is pretty awesome. Husband really liked it

and I loved that it was easily thrown together with things in the pantry. I think that this salad will be making quite a few appearances at our dinner table – as long as avocados stay in season anyway.

Enjoy!

8 cups chopped spinach

1 ½ cups chopped cook chicken

1 avocado, diced

½ cup feta

¼ cup sliced almonds

½ cup dried cranberries

3 Tablespoons white wine vinegar

2 Table spoons olive oil

1 Tablespoon Dijon

Toss together the spinach, chicken, feta, almonds and cranberries. Top with avocados.

Pour the vinegar, olive oil, Dijon and a small amount of salt and pepper in a small jar. Shake until completely mixed together.

Serve salad dressed or with the dressing on the side depending on whether the salad will be eaten in one sitting or not.

Adapted from www.recipegirl.com/2012/04/02/spinach-salad-with-chicken-avocado-and-goat-cheese/