Mediterranean Chickpea Salad

Just thought I would stop into the ol' blog today and share what I had for lunch with you.  I opened up the cupboards today, threw some foods together that I love and this tasty salad was born.  It is light and refreshing and filling at the same time.  The flavor combination was wonderful and the best news is it's only 152 calories per serving.  Yes.  Yes.  YES!

Ingredients:

• 1 can chickpeas, drained
• 1 cup spinach, chopped
• 1 tomato, diced
• 1/8 cup feta cheese
• olive oil, drizzle or about 1 TB
• balsamic vinegar, drizzle or about 1 TB
• 1/2 tsp dried basil, or fresh to taste
• lemon pepper to taste

Directions:

1.  Place all ingredients in a bowl and give it a good stir.  Eat right away or allow salad to marinate.

Serves: 4

This salad could not be easier and it's super good for you too!  Check out the nutritional information below - hello protein and vitamins! 

 

 

The nutritional information was determined through the app MyFitnessPal which I have on my iPod.  It's a great app to track your dietary intake, exercise and progress as well as communicate and get encouragement from your friends.  It also lets you put in your own recipes.  I love it.  I need to use it more often.  You'd be surprised at how many calories you actually eat in a day.  My sister-in-law lost a good amount of weight from using it and it has started her on a pathway to healthy living (which she chronicles over at Lemon Living).  I'm not paid to brag about the app.  I just think it's a really good resource for those trying to improve their health habits. If you have the app you can locate this recipe by searching for Mediterranean Chickpea Salad - The Creative Vault.

Cran-Apple Spinach Salad

I want you to taste this salad.  It's so yummy.  I've had something similar to this before and I did my best to recreate it and it was a success.  The rich dressing, crunchy spiced nuts, salty feta and sweet apples and cranberries combine to create a delicious flavorful salad.  Perfect for any occasion.

Ingredients:

1 bag spinach
1 cup Craisins
1-2 Galla Apples, diced
1/2 cup feta cheese crumbles
1/2 cup cinnamon and sugar spiced pecans
1/3 bottle Briannas Poppy Seed dressing

Directions:

1. Place spinach, Craisins, and apple in bowl
2. Toss with salad dressing.
3. Top with feta cheese and pecans.
4. Serve right away.

Grilled Corn Salsa

I had some leftover grilled corn from dinner the other day and knew it needed to be made into a salsa because everything is better with salsa.  I mean, Jerry Seinfeld had an entire episode dedicated to it!

Grilling corn is super simple.  Just lay your corn (husks and all) on the grill.  Rotate occasionally.  I don't even bother to soak them or remove the little strings because there is enough moisture in the husk already and the strings either singe off or they are super easy to remove after it's been cooked.  I do however trim off the floppy outsides of the husk.  No sense in starting a fire with unnecessary extra husk.

It tasted great with tacos and quesadillas.  The sweetness of the corn made it perfect. 

Want the super simple recipe??  Here it is. 

Ingredients:

• 1- 1.5 ears of grilled corn kernels
• 1 cup diced tomatoes
• 1/2 medium onion, chopped
• 1/4 cup cilantro
• olive oil
• lemon juice
• salt
• chili powder

Directions:

1. Combine first four ingredients in a bowl.
2. Drizzle with olive oil and lemon juice.
3. Season with salt and chili powder.

Roasted Tapatio Chick Peas

A few weeks ago I made these salt and vinegar chick peas from Oh She Glows.  I found the recipe on Pinterest.  They are amazing.  This is the kind of snack that calls to me at all hours of the day and night, begging to be eaten.  Since then I've been experimenting with different flavors and the best one by a landslide is Tapatio flavor!

Now, I haven't decided on who I'm going to vote for for president yet but I'm considering this guy -

Tapatio is the greatest thing ever invented.

I have a confession:

I eat a liter of this hot sauce every month.

{Cardiologists around the world are having strokes as they read this.}

I just can't help myself, its so delicious it belongs on everything.  And I mean everything.  If it makes you feel better, I've cut down.  I used to eat 2 liters a month.

Ready for the simple recipe??

Ingredients:

• 1 can chick peas, drained
• 1-2 tsp olive oil
• 1-2 tsp Tapatio hot sauce

Directions:

1. Place chick peas in a baking dish (9x9 works well)
2. Drizzle with olive oil and stir until all pieces are coated.
3. Bake in oven at 400 F for 30 minutes, stirring the chick peas occasionally to make sure they don't burn on one side.
4. Remove from oven and sprinkle with hot sauce, stir to make sure that the sauce coats the chick peas evenly.
5. Place back in oven and cook additional 10-15 minutes until dark golden brown.
6. Remove from oven again and toss more sauce on them.  They will be very hot and the sauce should bake right onto them without having to put them back into the oven.
7. Let cool and enjoy!
*** All ovens vary.  If they do not look like they are crisping up enough cook for longer.  But be aware that as they cool they will become slightly more crunchy. 

These are so crunchy, flavorful, and delicious with just the perfect amount of spice.  I store them in a container in my cupboard and it makes for a great snack packed with protein and of course, Tapatio!

Mango Salsa

Are you ready for an easy, fresh, delicious, chunky salsa to go with well... anything?

Ingredients:

• 1 fresh mango, diced  {Go HERE for How To Cut A Mango tutorial}
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 medium tomatoes, diced
• 1/4 c. chopped cilantro
• 1-2 Tb. olive oil
• 1-2 Tb. lemon juice
• salt
• chili powder

Directions:

1. Place first 4 ingredients in bowl.
2. Drizzle with oil and lemon juice.
3. Season with salt and chili powder to taste.

Told you it was easy.

You can put this on anything or everything. 

It's also yummy to just eat straight out of the bowl!

Here's how the Cutts Family {that's us} likes it:

On top of grilled steak tacos

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Red leaf lettuce salad topped with Siesta Chicken and Mango Salsa

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As a side to bacon wrapped BBQ baked chicken with basmatti rice

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Plain ol' chips and salsa

 

How To Cut Up A Mango

Sometimes I get sad when people say they love mango's but they can't figure out how to cup them up {because of that huge weird seed in the middle} so they don't ever get them.  Mango's are so delicious!  Don't deny yourself mango's anymore!  I will show you how to slice and dice to your hearts delight.

Step 1:  First things first - get a ripe Mango.  Too hard and the flavor won't be ripe.  Too soft and it will taste fine but will be stringy.  Pick one that is firm but still has a little give when you squeeze it.

Step two:  Turn your mango up so that the pointy tip is pointing toward the sky. Carefully {Don't cut yourself!} place the knife slightly off center and slowly cut downward {I use a slight sawing motion when I cut} following as close to the seed as you can.

 Should look like this when you are done.  See the seed on the one on the left?

Step 3:  Do the same thing you did in step 2 but with the other side.

And it now looks like this.  The seed is on the left.

Step 4:  Do the same thing you did in step 2 & 3 with the skinny sides around the seed. 

Step 5:  Don't let the seed go to waste.  For doing all the hard work you are now to reward yourself by scraping that baby clean.  You can use your teeth for that part.  See?  I even have some mango stuck in mine.  Go to town.

Step 6:  Being careful not to slice through the skin, score lines in the mango horizontally, then vertically.

Step 7:  Push on the back of the mango and flip it inside out.

Step 8:  Use your knife to shave off pieces into a bowl.  I cut it once and then cut it again just closer to the skin the second time.  This part will all depend on what size you want your pieces.

Step 9:  For the smaller pieces, score it the same way but you can lay these flat and fillet the skin off the mango.



Now you can stop being afraid of mangoes and embrace them in all of their deliciousness!

_______________________

I always put my mangoes in my super tasty, super fresh, super simple Mango Salsa. 

Be sure to go HERE to get the recipe.

South of The Border Chicken and Vegetable Soup

A simple, hearty and healthy soup. 

This soup is so yummy and the only way I can get vegetables into my 3 year old.

I created this soup for Christmas Eve one year and have been enjoying it ever since.  In fact, even though its 100 degrees outside I think I'm going to make a bowl of soup.  No amount of temperature can keep me from enjoying a good bowl of soup.

Ingredients:

• 1 can cooked chicken breast
• 1 can tomato sauce
• 1 can beef broth
• 1 can water
• 1/2 large onion, chopped
• 3-5 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 carrot, small chop
• 1 stick celery, cut in half lengthwise and chopped
• corn from one cob or 1/4 cup kernels
• 2 tomatoes, chopped
• 1/4 cup cilantro
• 1-2 Tb. olive oil
• salt
• lemon pepper
• cumin powder
• chili powder
• cayenne pepper

Directions:

1. In pot, heat olive oil.  Saute onion, garlic, carrot and celery until soft.
2. Add tomato.  Saute additional 3-5 minutes.
3. Add tomato sauce, broth, chicken and water.  Cook until boiling.
4. Add spices according to taste.
5. Serve with grated cheese, sour cream or tortilla chips.

Serves approx. 4

Fat Free Potato Chips

This is my new favorite snack.  I crave these constantly.

And guess what??

Just 75 calories.

Yeah,  you heard me.  75 calories.  0 grams of fat.  100% delicious.

The naturalness of these chips is what makes them so good.  They are done in the microwave so anyone can make these.  So simple.  So good.  Another tasty variation is to use sweet potato instead of regular potato.

Ingredients:

• Potato
• Pan spray
• Salt

Directions:

 Step 1:  Slice potato as thin as possible.

 Step 2:  Spay a large plate with pan spray and lay potato slices onto plate.  Sprinkle with salt.


Step 3:  Since all microwaves are different I can't just give you a time to cook them.  You need to play around a little until you find out what works for your microwave.  I cook mine starting at 6 minutes.  I then add minutes as I need to (usually 2 minutes at a time) according to how the potatoes look.  You know when they are ready when they start to crisp up and get a golden brown look to them like in the first picture.  Potatoes will get crunchier as they cool so color is a major factor in determining doneness.

Serve with a dip of your choice or eat alone.  Serving size is one potato.  Calorie information taken from My Fitness, calculations using My Recipe. 

Creamy Tomato and Garlic Pasta

This is a great vegetarian pasta.  I'm not a huge pasta fan but I have to admit I got seconds on this one.  The baby and toddler cleaned their plates too.  As for the hubs?  He enjoyed it too but maybe some grilled chicken on the side next time.

Ingredients:

• About one box pasta, cooked.
• 1 jar Classico Roasted Garlic Alfredo
• 1 cup milk
• 1 TB olive oil
• 2 cups diced tomatoes (I quartered grape tomatoes)
• 5-6 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 TB dried parsley
• 1 tsp dried basil
• salt to taste

Directions:

1. In large saucepan, heat oil over medium heat.
2. Saute tomatoes, garlic, basil, parsley and salt until soft.  The tomatoes will cook down and a nice juice will form.
3. Add Alfredo sauce.
4. Pour milk into empty Alfredo jar, replace lid and shake.  This will get the rest of the sauce from the jar.  Pour into saucepan.
5. Stir constantly on medium low heat until it is warmed all the way through.  The longer you cook it the more the flavors will combine.
6. Pour over cooked pasta.  Serve warm.





Breaded and Baked Zucchini

Tried a new way to make zucchini and it turned out great.  The baby scarfed down 5 of them and theb3 year old even said, "Nummy!  Nummy!".  That's a first!  (I'll admit I did tell her they were "chips".)

Ingredients:

• 1 zucchini, sliced into 1/4 inch rounds.
• 1 egg, beaten or 2 TB melted butter
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
• 2-3 TB ranch dressing powder

Directions:

1. Mix bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese and ranch powder in bowl.
2. Dip zucchini slices in egg or butter.
3. Dip slices into bread crumb mixture.
4. Spray cookie sheet with pan spray and lay breaded zucchini slices flat.
5. Bake at about 375 F for about 15-20 minutes, until crumbs are golden brown.
6. Serve warm.

We ate these with Creamy Tomato and Garlic Pasta but they would also make for a great snack with a dip.