Tomato, Basil and Parmesan White Beans.

Tomato, Basil and Parmesan White Beans.

This is a favorite of ours for a few reasons;

it is 250 calories per serving (1 cup), it takes 15 minutes total to make AND it is delicious. 

Picture a favorite pasta dish with creamy white beans instead of pasta.

INGREDIENTS:

1 Tbsp. Olive Oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 cans Great Northern, drained and rinsed

(or other white beans, but Great Northern are my favorite, hands down)

2 cans, tomatoes, petite diced

(any type works but I prefer the Italian-style or the kind with chili peppers to add some spice)

*when fresh tomatoes are available you can ALWAYS substitute fresh for canned

1 tsp Italian seasoning or Basil

*substitute fresh Basil if you can get it.

½ cup Parmesean cheese, grated (or the kind in the can)

1 Tbsp lemon juice

Directions:

1.In a skillet, sauté the garlic in the olive oil.

2. Add beans, tomatoes and seasoning. (I don’t drain my canned tomatoes)

3. Cook for 7-10 minutes. Stir occasionally.

4. Add Parmesan cheese and lemon juice and stir until fully mixed/melted.

Serve with wheat crackers or a baguette. Fresh veggies or a salad make perfect sides.

This dish makes excellent leftovers too, which is a big deal around here.

Enjoy!

This recipe is based on one of our favorite dishes from Zonya’s Lickty-Split Meals. A cookbook we use more than most. Her meals are quick, healthy and easy. (win-win-win) I highly recommend picking this one up, we got ours on Amazon.

sautéed chicken, jalapeño and mushroom salad. (with some sugar, spice and everything nice…)

 We generally have a salad for at least one dinner a week, so we are always looking for ways to switch it up. This one was one of the best we’d made in a long time…delicious.

Salad Ingredients:

1/3 head romaine lettuce, chopped

feta cheese, crumbled on each serving, to taste

1-2 chicken breasts

1 jalapeño pepper, chopped

1 green onion, chopped

2-3 white mushrooms, thinly sliced

½ apple, chopped

¼ cup caramelized pecans:

¼ cup pecans, chopped

1 Tbsp. salted butter

½ cup brown sugar

poppy seed vinaigrette salad dressing (recipe here)

Whenever Kevin cooks it’s off the cuff so…I tried my hardest to get him to nail down what went into the chicken marinade for this salad.

Chicken Marinade Ingredients:

2-3 Tbsp. brown sugar

1-2 garlic cloves, minced

dash of salt

½ cup apple cider vinegar (or enough to cover chicken)

*for later:

1 Tbsp. olive oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

Directions:

1.Mix up marinade in a Ziploc bag and add chicken. (Mixture should cover chicken when laid flat on it’s side…add apple cider until it does.)

*let marinade at least an hour

2.Caramelize about ¼ cup chopped pecans. (make more or less depending on how much you like this sweet element…)

Put about 1 Tbsp salted butter and ½ cup brown sugar in a pan. Once they’ve begun melting and mixing, add the chopped pecans and stir until the nuts are golden brown. Let cool on parchment paper.

3. Chop apple, green onion, jalapeño (remove seeds), set aside.

4. Slice mushrooms, set aside. (wash or remove the top layer)

5. If you don’t keep a supply of this dressing in the fridge, (like I do) make it now.

6. Chop lettuce, set aside.

7. Thinly cut the chicken breasts and sauté in olive oil with freshly minced garlic until about half cooked then add the chopped jalapeño and sliced mushrooms.  Sauté until chicken is cooked through.

8. Fill bowls with lettuce and top with sautéed chicken, mushrooms and jalapeño, green onion, caramelized pecans, apples, feta cheese and dressing.

Enjoy!

lunch lifesaver. best dressing in the world.

I'm always trying to find ways to keep it healthier in the food department at our house and having a salad most days for lunch has been really successful for me.

With my two boys under two...(okay, two boys under one and a half) quick meals are a necessity during the day. But I still like my food to taste delicious.  For all these reasons, this salad is my go-to lifesaver.

For me the key is an old family recipe for a poppy seed, oil and vinegar dressing;

2/3 cup sugar  
2/3 cup white vinegar
1 cup olive oil (original recipe calls for vegetable oil)
2 tsp salt
2 tsp dry mustard
2 tsp poppy seeds
1 diced green onion (optional)   

Romaine lettuce is the base (obviously) and then I go from there with what I have in the house.  
From there I had loads of topping go-tos;
red, black or pinto beans
bell peppers
red onion or green onion
doritos
mozzarella or feta cheese
crasins
cucumber
dried fruit

*When we have this type of salad for dinner we throw a chicken breast and some sweet onions and peppers on the grill to add in but I can't manage that during the day with the kiddos.

So so good. I know there are healthier ways to eat a salad, but for me, a salad is better than most other things I can whip together for lunch so it's worth it, at least for now. 

* Random Tidbit: I hated most vegetables up through my college years prior to serving as an LDS missionary. A love of anything veggie, is new and still developing for me.  So salads for lunch are a big deal, especially since I sincerely love them.  I love *most* vegetables now. So if you read this and think, "easy for you to do Michelle, I hate vegetables", no worries, I did too.  

Here's to a conscious effort to be a little better. (and delicious food)

Happy Monday y'all!

life lately.

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1. Lee loves rocking on a rocking chair that is just his size and used to be his Dad's.
2. Lee is starting to really love playing independently since he's learning how things work and how to play with them.
3. Lee really enjoys his post-bath, pre-clothes time.
4. I feel like I'm getting big so fast this time.
5. Lee scoots himself under things all the time since he still hasn't mastered the idea of moving forward.
6. We found out that Lee loves swimming.  Perfect! Since we are both water lovers and we're moving to Texas.  Lots of swimming in the future.
7. Lee likes to fall asleep with a book, just like him Momma. (the top is Lee, bottom is me.)
8. Now that I'm finally not feeling nauseous every second I'm trying to hop back on the healthy lifestyle wagon. It feels so good.
9. Lee wants to eat whatever we eat, in this case his first taste of frosting on graham crackers. yum.
10. Lee seems to be crazy about stuffed animals. (really helpful when he doesn't want to fall asleep right away.)
11. In general Lee is growing up so quickly and I'm trying to love all the fun moments.