BBQ Green Chili Chicken

Here is Oregon, we were treated to some pretty good weather over the weekend which gave me the itch for BBQ. I love BBQ, I love the sweet tangy sauce and the act of cooking outdoors. However, BBQ sauce in the traditional sense is full of sugar and salt which is a big no, no on the PINK method. When I got around to it this week, I decided to try to create my own BBQ sauce that is PINK friendly. Unfortunately, by the time I got around to making a BBQ sauce, it was raining again here in Oregon so I had to cook indoors and come up with a Tex-Mex BBQ fusion which turned out great.

PINK Friendly BBQ Sauce (makes about 2 cups)
1/2 sweet onion chopped
3-4 medjool dates
3-4 garlic cloves chopped
1/2 cup water
1 6 ounce can tomato paste
3 tbsp yellow mustard
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
2-3 tbsp liquid smoke (I use the Stubb's brand, mesquite flavor)
Salt and Pepper to taste
water to thin the sauce if needed, I ended up adding about 3/4 cup

Method

Add the chopped onions, Medjool dates, garlic and 1/2 cup water to a bowl and microwave for about 3 minutes until the onions and dates soften.

Add the onion and date mixture to the blender and blend until a smooth puree is formed

Add the onion puree, tomato paste, mustard, liquid smoke, apple cider vinegar, salt and pepper to a sauce pan

Stir to combine, at this point if the sauce is super thick, add more water to it until you get a BBQ sauce consistency, like I said above I added about 3/4 cup of water but only add 1/4 cup at a time because you don't want it to get to soupy. At this point if you like a super sweet BBQ sauce, you could add a few stevia drops, I like mine more tangy so the sweetness from the dates was a perfect sweetness level for me.

Turn heat on medium and cook the sauce until it has thickened slightly and all the flavors have married. Turn off the heat and let cool. At this point you can put it in the refrigerator and save for about a week, using it whenever you BBQ.

BBQ Green Chili Chicken (Serves 5)
5 boneless skinless chicken breasts weighing about 4 ounces each (truth be told mine were about 5 1/2 ounces)
1/2 sweet onion sliced
1 can roasted green chilis
1/2 cup PINK Friendly BBQ sauce

Method

Trim your chicken breasts of any fat and using a knife you are going to cut into the chicken breast as if you were filleting it but do not cut all the way through, you just want to create a pocket to hold the onion and green chili mixture.

When the chicken is prepped, add the onion and green chilies to a saute misted with a little olive oil.

Cook until the onions have softened and browned slightly.

Take the onion/chili mixture and stuff it into the pockets you created in the chicken breasts.

Brown the stuffed chicken breasts in the pan you sauteed the onions in.

Top the chicken breasts with a smear of BBQ sauce

Bake in a 350 degree oven until the chicken has cooked all the way through, about 15 minutes or so depending on how thick your chicken breasts are.

I served mine along side some mashed baked sweet potato, steamed broccoli and carrots.

Enjoy!

Company Worthy Stuffed Chicken Breasts

This is one of those meals that sort of came together with the last of the produce hanging out in my refrigerator. For it being bottom of the barrel, use what you got on hand, it was excellent, even company worthy if I do say so myself. I happen to have a few mushrooms, a few mini bell peppers and 1 yellow squash hanging out in the produce bin but use what you have. If you only have a zucchini use that, no bell pepper, try a carrot. I really would have loved onion in this also but I was all out. Do you get what I'm saying, use what you have.

Company Worthy Stuffed Chicken Breasts
1 boneless skinless chicken breast
3 white mushrooms
3-4 mini bell peppers or half of a large one
1/2 yellow squash
1/4 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp minced garlic
Dash of Balsamic Vinegar
Dash of salt
Dash of pepper

Method

Start by filleting your chicken breast but stop before you cut all the way through. You want to form a pocket of sorts.

Chop your vegetables in your food processor until fairly fine, it will hold together better if it is a fine chop but you certainly don't want a paste.

Saute your vegetables in a mist of olive oil

When they start to soften add in your thyme, garlic, salt, pepper, and balsamic vinegar and let cook a minute or so longer just so the flavors meld

Take your filling and stuff your chicken where you created your pocket

Fold over your chicken so that the stuffing is sandwiched between your chicken

Return the stuffed chicken breast to the pan and saute until both sides are lightly brown (I totally got busy helping with homework and burned the snot out of my pan but the chicken was saved, just a little more brown than most people like)

Then place in a oven safe dish and finish baking your chicken breast in the oven at 375 degrees for about 15 minutes. I also added some brussel sprouts to my pan with a dash of balsamic vinegar and allowed them to roast right along side my chicken.

Remove from the oven and enjoy!

Swedish Meatballs

I am back on reset before I start phase 3 of the PINK method...I never thought I would stick to it this long but it truly has become a lifestyle change for me. In all honesty, I still walk by all the awful stuff in the grocery store and think, "Oh, I bet that would taste good or Oh, I used to love those" but it doesn't really go beyond that. I no longer feel deprived or find myself craving things like I did in the beginning and I can easily walk away and be okay. I will admit I do like to sniff things occasionally, yesterday at Costco it was the cinnamon swirl bread, I picked it up, sniffed it and walked away, that is okay right? It is a good thing sniffing doesn't add calories because I sniffed that bread a good long time.

Now that you are all grossed out by my sniffing habit, back to reset. I started reset on Friday and made up a huge batch of meatballs and have pretty much been living off of them the last few days. I know I have shared with you my meatball recipe before in my very first post but I have since tweeked it ever so slightly and I don't think I have ever done a step by step picture tutorial so I thought I would share again. I also made up a big batch of marinara sauce and had spaghetti and meatballs for lunch or dinner at least 3 times over the weekend. Come Sunday night, I needed a change to my meatball routine and my sweet hubby suggested I make a swedish style meatball using my vegan alfredo recipe. He is a genius I tell you...Thanks for the inspiration!

Turkey Meatballs
1 package lean ground turkey (I got mine from Costco and it was about 1 1/2 pounds, in the standard grocery store they are usually about 20 ounces so just over a pound)
1 cup loosely packed spinach
1/3 large red onion
2 carrots
1/2 red bell pepper
Dash of Original Mrs. Dash
Dash of  Pepper
1 tbsp Bragg's (you could omit, or simply sub in a little low sodium soy sauce, it adds a little flavor to the meatballs)
1 tsp minced garlic

Method

Start by dicing up your vegetables in your blender of food processor until they are finely diced

Add your vegetables to your ground turkey along with your seasonings, Bragg's and garlic to the meat

Stir to combine...I always use my hands it just works better to incorporate it all.

At this point we need to do a little math to figure out what a serving is. Here is how I figure it out. Start by looking at your package to see how many ounces there are. In my case it was 1 pound 8 ounces. There are 16 ounces in a pound so the 16 plus the 8 gives me 24 ounces. I know that on PINK I am allowed 4 ounces of protein so if you divide 24 by 4 I should get 6 servings out of my meat/vegetable concoction. You can now start forming your meatballs to whatever size you want, just know that you need 6 equal portions if you have 24 ounces of meat, if you have a standard 20 ounce package you would get 5 servings. I like a smaller one bite size meatball so I ended up making 48 small meatballs which gives you 8 meatballs per serving. If you want bigger meatballs, make them bigger and aim for 6 meatballs per serving in which case you would want to get 36 meatballs. Again remember, I had a larger package of ground turkey so if you are using the standard 20 ounce package, you will only get 5 servings not six. I hope that helps.

Form small meatballs using your hands and place on a lined baking sheet. I use a silicone baking sheet but parchment paper would work fine also or you could just spray your pan with some olive oil. As you will see, the vegetables give off a lot of juice and the meatballs will want to stick so use something.

Bake in the over at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes, again the time will vary depending on how large you make your meatballs. I also like my meat very well done so to some of you, you may say they look burnt to me they are perfect.

These freeze great and are great to have on hand for a quick meal. I've used them for my protein in a salad, made zucchini noodle spaghetti and meatballs and last night I made a quick vegan alfredo/white sauce to make Swedish meatballs that my entire family ate without complaint not know how healthy their dinner was. Here is the link to the alfredo/white sauce recipe.

Simply make the white sauce add to a pan and heat until it thickens. I added a little more almond milk to my sauce last night because I didn't want it as thick.

When your meatballs are done, simply add them to the sauce pan, stir to coat with sauce and you are ready to serve. I served mine with cauliflower mash and a little vegan summer squash gratain, made by smearing some of the vegan alfredo/white sauce on the bottom of the pan, laying out your squash and drizzling over a little more sauce and seasoning and baking in the oven along side the meatballs. My husband and kids had normal mashed potatoes and the gratain.

Enjoy!

Sweet and Sour Chicken

I must confess,  I made this for dinner the other night and didn't think it would turn out so I didn't bother taking pictures until after it was complete. I tasted it and ended up kicking myself for not taking the step by step photos of the recipe. Lesson learned and things turned out okay since  I ended up liking it so much, I made it again the next day minus the quinoa for my lunch and took the pictures then.

I must note that this recipe has arrowroot powder which is a thickening agent. It is not listed in the PINK method book as an accepted item, I however did ask Cynthia about it when I used it in this alfredo recipe and she said that it was fine to use as a thickening agent.

Sweet and Sour Chicken
2 tbsp tomato paste, no added sugar
1 tbsp Bragg's Aminos or low sodium soy sauce
1/2 tsp arrowroot powder
1/4 cup white vinegar
1.4 cup water
1-2 medjool dates pitted
8 ounces boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into chunks
2 cups assorted vegetables chopped (I used mushrooms, zucchini, peppers, onions, carrots)

Method
Start by browning your chicken until cooked through

While your chicken is cooking make your sweet and sour sauce.

Add the tomato paste, Bragg's, Vinegar, Arrowroot powder, water and dates to your blender and blend until smooth.

Note: You may want to chop your dates first, I added my pitted dates whole into the blender and they didn't chop very well. Everything worked out once I cooked the sauce because the dates just kind of dissolved when heated.

Once the chicken is cooked add your vegetables and saute until they are soft.

When the vegetables are soft, Pour your sauce into the pan and let cook until it thickens. It shouldn't take very long.

Taste your sauce, I ended up adding just a dash more Bragg's to mine but I didn't want you all to try it and get overwhelmed by the taste so you be the judge.

Note: this picture was my husband's meal,  it has pineapple added, I don't think pineapple is PINK approved , at least it isn't listed as a slow fruit,  so just leave it out and you should be sitting PINK

Serve over quinoa or brown rice.

Enjoy

Vegetable Lasagna

I spend a lot of time thinking about food...not sure that is a good thing, maybe that is why I got to the place where I am now, desperately needing to lose weight for my health. Food is just something I tend to always have bouncing around in my head however now that I am on PINK, instead of thinking about bad food, I have shifted to thinking about good foods and how I can prepare them in new and exciting ways. Well this is one of those foods I had bouncing around in my brain.

It all started when I made this Roasted Butternut Squash Pasta Sauce. Prior to PINK, I had made a fabulous lasagna using a jarred butternut squash sauce, ricotta cheese, mozzerella cheese and of course pasta. It was great but totally off limits with my new healthy eating plan. I wondered if I could somehow recreate the dish without cheese and it just popped into my head, "What if I used pureed cauliflower instead of the ricotta, it sort of has the texture of a creamy ricotta." I knew I was on to something and I had to try it out. The results were great.

Vegetable Lasagna (makes enough for 2 servings)
1/2 cup roasted butternut squash pasta sauce (could sub marinara sauce also)
2 small zucchinis sliced lengthwise
3/4 cup cauliflower puree
1 cup chopped spinach
1/2 cup chopped onions
1/2 cup chopped mushrooms
1 egg (I used to in the pictures and had way more puree than I needed)
Italian seasoning
Salt
Pepper

Method

 Start by cutting up and steaming your cauliflower (if you have left over puree, use that instead)

Puree your cauliflower in a blender or food processor

Add in your desired amount of salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning to the cauliflower puree

Note, I made way to much cauliflower puree than is needed, only use one egg or you will have a runny mess with tons left over

Let the cauliflower cool slightly then add in your egg to the ricotta and stir to combine. Make sure your cauliflower isn't to hot or else you will end up with scrambled eggs, you don't want that. The egg will act as your binder and help to hold the dish together.

While the cauliflower is cooling, prepare your spinach and mushroom filling.

Saute your spinach, mushrooms and onions in a mist of olive oil. It will cook rather quickly, you just want the spinach to wilt slightly and the mushrooms and onions to soften.

Thinly slice your zucchinis lengthwise, these will take the place of the traditional pasta.

Assembly


You will assemble just as you would a normal lasagna, just in case you haven't made one before, I'll walk you through it and give you some alternatives.

Begin by spreading some of your butternut squash pasta sauce (or marinara) on the bottom of you pan. I used to individual size spring-form pans but use what you have, a loaf pan would work great also.

Layer your thinly sliced zucchini on top of your sauce

Spread your cauliflower mash on top of your zucchini

I totally forgot to take this picture, use your imagination to sprinkle some of you spinach mushroom filling on top of the cauliflower (you could also use lean ground turkey or beef as a filling, especially if you are using marinara, this would make for a more traditional lasagna)

Top with more pasta sauce and repeat your layers over and over until your pan is full making sure to top everything with a little more sauce.

Bake at 350 degrees about 30 minutes

Remove from oven and let cool for about 5 minutes before serving. This helps to keep your lasagna from being to runny.

Enjoy.

Note: I am putting this under primary recipes because I believe the squash sauce would be considered a carb however if you were to sub marinara sauce for the squash sauce, I believe it would be reset friendly. I also considered the egg in the cauliflower mash my protein but since it was split between two servings, I really should have added more protein to this meal.