Grilled Stuffed Jalapeno's

This idea was thanks to my cousin Eddie who brought something similiar on the 4th of July. Mom asked me this weekend if I wanted some jalapenos she had and I couldn't pass up the offer! They were so delicious!

Ingredients:

Fresh jalapenos
cream cheese
mexican cheese
green onion-diced
salt
pepper
Chipotle Chili powder

Directions:

While wearing gloves, slice jalapenos in half and remove seeds and ribs. Place on a foil covered pan with olive oil drizzled along the bottom. In a bowl, mix the rest of the ingredients. Use as little or as much as you see fit. Place spoonfuls into each jalapeno. Sprinkle the top with a little more cheese. Grill over indirect heat until they look done.

You can change up the types of cheese and try different combinations!

Delicious Chicken Veggies and Rice

This is one of Chris and my favorite chicken dishes. It is always so yummy and healthy.

I was sending this recipe to my cousin in an email and I just copied it from there!

Directions:
I put chicken breasts on a cookie sheet and spray it with olive oil cooking spray then season it how I want to. Bake at 400 for 30 minutes.

I make 2 servings of instant brown rice per the box instructions.

I take squash and zucchini cut in large chunks, mushrooms, purple onion and saute in a skillet with garlic. I cover it and let it sort of steam itself stirring every once and awhile. Close to the end I add sliced tomatoes. (They cook fast). At the end I season up with whatever herbs I have, oregano, dill, basil and squeeze lemon juice on them.

We serve how much rice we want, put veggies over it and chicken on top. I always cut my chicken up and mix it all together in my bowl. I always have some extra lemon quartered and squeeze that on my serving. It is so yummy!

You could easily take all those veggies, put them in a casserole dish, season the same with the lemon juice as well, cover and bake on the top rack over your chicken. Covering it will help to steam it.
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Lately, I layer the veggies in the bottom of a glass dish and mix with olive oil, garlic, oregano, basil and dill, then cover with the cooked instant rice, then top with cubed chicken that was grilled the night before and cover with a good amount of lemon juice. Cover and bake for 30 minutes at 400.

I am all about taking shortcuts where I can!

Lebanese Chicken (Frarej)

I haven't actually tried this specific recipe yet but I am going to next week! I have made similiar ones but it has been a long long time ago.

There is a Lebanese place here that serves my favorite food of anywhere. Frarej is the chicken dish I like to get there! I will report back when I have actually tried this one with the verdict!

Ingredients

4 Chicken breasts, with skin
2 ts Salt
3/4 c Olive oil
3 lg Lemons, juiced
2 lg Potatoes
2 Garlic cloves
1 lg White onion, minced
4 Roma tomatoes
Pita Bread

Instructions
Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F.

Rinse in cold water 4 chicken breasts, with skins and ribs

Rub each with 1/2 tsp salt

Mix juice of 3 large lemons, 3/4 cup olive oil

Place into a 9x13 baking dish 2 large potatoes, skinned, cut into 1/2 cubes 2 garlic cloves, minced 1 large white onion, sliced into half-circles the lemon/olive-oil mixture

Stir the ingredients to coat the potatoes.

Bake in the oven for 10 minutes.

Add the chicken breasts and 4 roma tomatoes (or as many as desired) to the backing dish.

Generously spoon the hot lemon/oil/garlic mixture over the chicken.

Put the dish back into the oven and cook uncovered for another 20 minutes, or until the skins on the chicken turn a very dark brown and the chicken is firm and does not ooze when poked with a fork.

Baste the chicken breasts two or three times in the lemon/oil mixture during cooking.

Serve with pita bread.

Serve each breast with a helping of potatoes, some onions, and a tomato.

NOTE: Skinless breasts dry out too quickly. Remove the skins after the chicken is done.


Taken from: http://www.bigoven.com/105702-Lebanese-Chicken-(Frarej)-recipe.html

Chili Mac Casserole

We love Chili as well as Chili Mac around here. When Kortnee is in town, I am always challenged to try to find meals that she is willing to eat but that doesn't throw Chris and I completely off of our attempt at healthy dinners. She is a super picky eater and this is one that she can pick the things she doesn't like out. We normally have a vegetable with every meal so Chris and I would likely eat a frozen vegetable medly or maybe some green beans or spinach or even a little salad.

I make this recipe with lower fat ingredients where I can.

INGREDIENTS
1 cup uncooked whole wheat elbow macaroni
2 pounds 92% lean ground beef/sirloin
1 medium onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 (16 ounce) can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chilies
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded 2% reduced-fat Mexican-blend cheese

DIRECTIONS
Cook macaroni according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a large nonstick skillet, cook the beef, onion and garlic over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Stir in the tomatoes, beans, tomato paste, chilies and seasonings. Drain macaroni; add to beef mixture.
Transfer to a 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking dish coated with nonstick cooking spray. Cover and bake at 375 degrees F for 25-30 minutes or until bubbly. Uncover; sprinkle with cheese. Bake 5-8 minutes longer or until cheese is melted.

Taken from here:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Chili-Mac-Casserole/Detail.aspx

Spicy Mustard Potato Salad

This year on the 4th of July I really wanted to try a new potato salad recipe that would hopefully have a little spice to it! Unfortunately, I had a sinus infection so I couldn't really tell how much zing there was but I do know that would I could taste, tasted good to me!

I picked this one b/c it had both spicy mustard and horseradish. I ended up with horseradish sauce. The salt probably would have had a stronger flavor!

Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Ingredients:
•5 large potatoes, chopped
•1 cup mayonnaise
•2 hard boiled eggs, chopped
•1/2 cup spicy mustard
•1/4 cup chives, finely chopped
•1/4 cup white wine vinegar
•1 tablespoon horseradish
•1/2 teaspoon red pepper
•1/2 teaspoon salt
•1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Preparation:
Boil potatoes in large pot for 13-15 minutes. Remove from heat, drain, and add vinegar to potatoes. Place garlic, onion, eggs, chives, and mustard to the potatoes. Be sure to coat thoroughly, but do this gently or else the potatoes will disintegrate.
Mix together mayonnaise, horseradish salt, red pepper, and black pepper together in a small mixing bowl. Pour mixture over potatoes and gently coat. Allow potato salad to cool before serving.

Taken from here: http://bbq.about.com/od/sidedishes/r/bl50816b.htm

Sopapilla Cheesecake Dessert

I recently had this dessert at a monthly dinner that I attend with my friends. It was delicious and so easy to make! I came home and made it that weekend. My advice, if you decide to try to make it lowfat, don't use Splenda! It made it too sweet! My friend's version though was fabulous!

SERVES 12 -20 (change servings and units)

Ingredients
2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese
2 (8 ounce) packages refrigerated crescent dinner rolls
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or almond extract
1/2 cup margarine or butter, melted
1/2 cup cinnamon sugar

Directions
1Using a 9 x 13 baking pan, unroll one package of refrigerated crescent rolls and line the bottom of the pan.
2Flatten.
3Mix together the cream cheese, sugar and extract.
4Spread over the crescent rolls.
5Unroll the other can of crescent rolls and place on top of cream cheese mixture.
6Pour one stick of melted butter or margarine over the top and sprinkle with about 1/2 cup of the cinnamon sugar mixture.
7Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Taken from here: http://www.recipezaar.com/Crescent-Sopaipilla-Sopapilla-Cheesecake-88420