Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

This recipe is from a Nutrition Action Magazine I used to have a subscription to.

Ingredients (to serve 4)

4 sweet bell peppers (red or yellow), halved lengthwise and seeded
3/4 cup quinoa well rinsed
1 cup low sodium vegetable broth
1 15 oz can no salt added diced tomatoes
10 oz baby spinach
1 small garlic clove
1 oz (about 6 TBSP) parmesan cheese
Pesto to top (make your own or buy a jar!)

Directions:
1. Put the peppers, skin side up, on a lightly oiled baking sheet and broil on high until slightly charred and starting to soften, about 10 minutes. Remove the peppers from the oven and set aside.
2. While the peppers are roasting, simmer the quinoa with the broth and tomatoes in a medium pot for 10 minutes. Stir in the spinach in batches.
3. Spoon quinoa mixture into the peppers.
4. Top the filled peppers with the pesto and garnish with crushed pistachios if desired.

Crock Pot Peanut Butter Chicken

This one is courtesy of Stephanie over at Crockpot365

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken, cut in chunks *

1/2 cup natural peanut butter (creamy or chunky, your choice)

1 red bell pepper, seeded and sliced

1 large onion, coarsely chopped

1 tablespoon ground cumin

1 lime, juiced

1/4 cup soy sauce (use gluten free--La Choy or Tamari wheat-free)

1/2 cup chicken broth

The Directions.

Use a 4-quart slow cooker. Put the chicken into the bottom of your pot and add the peanut butter. Toss in the vegetables and cumin. Squeeze in lime, and add soy sauce and chicken broth. Stir as well as you can to combine (the peanut butter will be clumpy, and that's just fine). Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours, or on high for about 4 hours. Serve over rice or quinoa.

Raspberry Crisp

This was incredible!

Ingredients:

1 qt. raspberries
1/2 c. sugar
1/4 c. butter
1/3 c. flour
3/4 c. oatmeal
1/2 c. brown sugar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Wash raspberries and put in a 9 x 9 inch baking dish. Sprinkle the 1/4 cup of white sugar over the berries. Stir butter into brown sugar, flour and oats and sprinkle the mixture over the fruit. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

French Dressing

Ingredients:

• 1 squirt of mustard
• 1 Tablespoon tomato paste (organic)
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup white wine vinegar
• 1 Tablespoon of honey (optional)
• 1/2 tsp onion powder or small chunk of fresh onion

How to Make It:

1. Put all ingredients in a small blender and blend until smooth.

Great with: any type of salad (I like it on chef salads), kids like to dip things in this dressing.

Balsamic Vinaigrette

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
• one clove of garlic, finely minced
• small squirt of dijon mustard
• 1 Tablespoon honey (optional)
• salt, pepper and basil to taste

How to Make It:

1. Mix all ingredients in small jar or blender.

Great with: any type of salad or as a marinade on beef, chicken or pork.

Raspberry Vinaigrette

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup white wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup fresh or frozen raspberries
• 2 teaspoons honey

How to Make It:

1. Put all ingredients in blender or food processor and blend until smooth.

Great with: salad with feta and cashews, grilled chicken salad, marinade on pork.

Sweet Asian Dressing

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 3 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 2 teaspoons soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons honey
• pinch of dried ginger or 1/2 tsp fresh zested ginger root (preferable)
• spices to taste

How to Make It:

1. Put all ingredients in small jar with lid and shake vigorously. You can also mix in blender or small food processor.

Great with: Sesame chicken (as a marinade and dipping sauce), on a spinach salad with cashews, on cauliflower fried rice.

Tangy Greek

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar
• small squirt dijon mustard
• 1/2 tsp each of oregano and marjoram
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 clove crushed garlic
• 1/2 tsp lemon juice

How to Make It:

1. Put all ingredients in small jar with lid and shake until well mixed.

Great with: dark lettuces, feta cheese, olives, and cucumbers. Also a good marinade for a cucumber and onion salad.

Zesty Italian Dressing

Ingredients:

• 3 Tablespoons white wine vinegar
• 1 small squirt of Dijon mustard
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1-2 cloves finely minced garlic
• 1/2 tsp each of thyme, basil and oregano
• salt and pepper to taste

How to Make It:

1. Pull all ingredients in small jar and shake vigorously.

Great with: any salad or as a marinade.

Healthy Caeser Dressing

Wellness Mama, a blogger I read, has a series of salad dressings on her blog, ways to make our favorite dressings a lot healthier than they come in the bottle.

Ingredients:

• One egg yolk at room temperature (very important it is not cold!)
• 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1/2 tsp mustard or mustard powder
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 2 garlic cloves, finely crushed
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire
• 2 Tablespoons Parmesan cheese
• salt, pepper and spices to taste.

How to Make It:

1. Whisk egg yolk with whisk or blender on low speed.
2. Once creamy, add vinegar and other ingredients and blend until creamy.
3. Slowly add oil, stirring constantly until incorporated.
4. If it doesn’t incorporate well, your egg might still have been too cold!

Great with: Dark lettuces, chicken dishes, or on asparagus.

Spinach Artichoke Dip

I love artichoke dip of any kind, but I know it's made out of terrible things for our bodies (hello cream cheese!) Cooking Light has this recipe on their site that I've tried and is remarkably good, and a tiny bit healthier.

Ingredients

• 2 cups (8 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided
• 1/2 cup fat-free sour cream
• 1/4 cup (1 ounce) grated fresh Parmesan cheese, divided
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 (14-ounce) can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
• 1 (8-ounce) block 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened
• 1 (8-ounce) block fat-free cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained, and squeezed dry
• 1 (13.5-ounce) package baked tortilla chips (about 16 cups)

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°.

Combine 1 1/2 cups mozzarella, sour cream, 2 tablespoons Parmesan, and next 6 ingredients (through spinach) in a large bowl; stir until well blended. Spoon mixture into a 1 1/2-quart baking dish. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup mozzarella and remaining 2 tablespoons Parmesan. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until bubbly and golden brown. Serve with tortilla chips.

Bruschetta Chicken

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup egg substitute
• 4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (4 ounces each)
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup dry bread crumbs
• 1 tablespoon butter, melted
• 2 large tomatoes, seeded and chopped
• 3 tablespoons minced fresh basil
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
  

Directions

• Place flour and eggs in separate shallow bowls. Dip chicken in flour, then in eggs; place in a greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish. Combine the Parmesan cheese, bread crumbs and butter; sprinkle over chicken.
• Loosely cover baking dish with foil. Bake at 375° for 20 minutes. Uncover; bake 5-10 minutes longer or until a meat thermometer reads 170°.
• Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine the remaining ingredients. Spoon over the chicken. Return to the oven for 3-5 minutes or until tomato mixture is heated through. Yield: 4 servings.

Mediterranean Orzo Salad

Oh my word, this is AMAZING!

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 1/4 cups salad and about 1 tablespoon cheese)

Ingredients

• 1 cup uncooked orzo (rice-shaped pasta; about 8 ounces)
• 2 cups bagged prewashed baby spinach, chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped drained oil-packed sun-dried tomato halves
• 3 tablespoons chopped red onion
• 3 tablespoons chopped pitted kalamata olives
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 (6-ounce) jar marinated artichoke hearts, undrained
• 3/4 cup (3 ounces) feta cheese, crumbled and divided

Preparation

Cook the orzo according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain; rinse with cold water. Combine orzo, spinach, and next 5 ingredients (through salt) in a large bowl.

Drain artichokes, reserving marinade. Coarsely chop artichokes, and add artichokes, reserved marinade, and 1/2 cup feta cheese to orzo mixture, tossing gently to coat. Sprinkle each serving with remaining feta cheese.