Weddingbee boards

Yay, I love food posts! Friday, I made chicken tortilla soup that was pretty much like this (from Tyler Florence):

Ingredients

* 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

* 2 medium white onions, diced

* 2 garlic cloves, minced

* 2 jalapenos, seeded and minced

* 3 ripe medium tomatoes, chopped

* 1 quart chicken stock

* Salt and freshly ground black pepper

* Canola oil, for pan-frying

* 8 corn tortillas, cut into 1/8-inch-thick strips

* 1 1/2 cups shredded cooked chicken

* 2 avocados, halved, pitted, peeled, and diced

* 1 cup shredded Jack cheese, optional

* 1/2 cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro leaves, for garnish

* 1 lime, cut in wedges, for serving

Directions

Place a stockpot over medium heat and coat with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Add the onions, garlic, jalapenos, and tomatoes; cook, stirring for 15 minutes until the vegetables are cooked down and pulpy. Pour in the stock, season with salt and pepper, and simmer for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat 1-inch of canola oil in a skillet over medium-high flame. When the oil begins to smoke, add the tortilla strips in batches and fry until they are crisp on all sides. Remove to a paper towel-lined platter and sprinkle with salt while they are still hot.

Ladle the hot soup into 4 soup bowls and put a pile of shredded chicken on top of each. Top with the diced avocado and fried tortilla strips (and cheese if using). Garnish with cilantro and serve with lime wedges.

I've been picking up the frozen bags of stir fry veggies more regularly.  They're not exactly exotic, but you can have dinner ready in 10 minutes, and it's a little different.  The last time I added a lot of fresh ginger and lime to one of those bag mixes and it was great!

We eat a lot of chicken and I've found a few really great recipes to shake things up.

Honey Balsamic Chicken:

http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=555389

Garlic Brown Sugar Chicken (don't let the brown sugar scare you, you don't use that much):

http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=376900

I'm going to post more in another comment. (I'm really getting into cooking these days.)

We also cook a lot with ground turkey instead of ground beef. One of my favorite things to make are turkey burgers:

1 lb ground turkey

1 egg

Half package of powdered ranch dressing

Bread crumbs (I just sprinkle them in until I get the desired consistency.)

-Combine all ingredients. Form into patties. Grill, pan fry, or bake until the juices run clear.

One of FI's favorite things I make are sloppy joes:

EVOO

1 lb ground turkey

1/2 finely chopped onion

1 Tbsp steak seasoning

1 Tbsp chili powder

3 Tbsp brown sugar

3 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1 14.5 oz can tomato sauce

-Brown the turkey in EVOO. Add chopped onion, cook until soft. In a bowl mix spices, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, and tomato sauce. Once meat is brown and onions are soft, add the tomato mixture. Simmer for a few minutes to let flavors combine. Enjoy!

One more thing that we're really into lately: making our own pizza! It's sooo easy. I just buy a whole wheat Boboli crust and put whatever I want on it. Lately we've made it with this:

Brush crust with EVOO and garlic

Add mozzerella cheese

Top with diced chicken breast, roasted red peppers (can buy in a jar. Soo yummy), and black olives. Baking instructions are on the crust package.

You can seriously put anything on a pizza.

Last night's dinner: 9 grains with asparagus and Parmesan toast. We bought the 9-grain rice and grains mix from the bulk bins at Whole Foods. FI then put it in a pot of water and cooked it like her does brown rice (about 30-40 mins?). For the asparagus, We rolled it in olive oil, sprinkled on fresh cracked black pepper, did a light dusting of garlic powder, and soaked them in lemon juice before baking at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. The Parmesan toast was 1/8 of a loaf of french bread slice in half, buttered and covered in Parmesan before being broiled for about 3-5 minutes.

Tonight's dinner: Large, fresh salad of romaine leaves, cherry tomatoes, half and avocado, and radishes with just a hint of ginger miso dressing. That was followed by roasted sweet potato fries (cut sweet potatoes into thin, french fry sized pieces, roll in olive oil til all are covered, cover with spice blench of 1/2 tab each of coriander, paprika, oregano, cumin, and kosher salt. Bake without letting pieces touch on cookie sheet 15 minutes, flip, bake another 15-20 minutes until golden brown. I also made homemade honey-lime dipping sauce- 6oz plain yogurt, 1 tab low fat mayo, 1 tab honey, and 1/2 a lime. Mix together well (i used our 1 cup veggie chopping machine thingy). You can also add in things like cilantro or any spices you use on your fries to add to the flavor. I also made Q-orn Chik'n patties- FI's was goat cheese and cranberries and mine was Gruyere cheese (these are vegetarian patties we bought pre-stuffed and ready to bake at Whole Foods).