I started off my week vacation making these quinoa muffins and I have much more exciting things to make this week including homemade bacon.

This is what Quinoa looks like up close.

Almost looks like couscous doesn’t it? You shouldn’t be afraid of it. It just takes a little time to boil in the water. 10-15 minutes.

I used a base recipe from Martha Stewart and just decided to add in chocolate chips. They look like muffins and taste like muffins but these muffins have quinoa in it. I know it’s kind of a pain in the rear to cook the quinoa first cause that takes time. I suggest cooking a bunch of quinoa at the beginning of the week and storing it in the fridge, so you don’t have to do this step before making the muffins. I used the whole amount of oil the recipe called for but feel free to use applesauce or greek yogurt. I calculated these muffins with just the basic ingredients minus the raisins and they turned out to be 5 points plus each. My guess is without the oil and using apple sauce instead they would be 4 points. These muffins are very tasty. Feel free to add in whatever type of fruit or nuts you like.

Recipe from Martha Stewart

Servings: 12

Ingredients

1 cup quinoa, rinsed
1/4 cup vegetable oil, such as safflower, plus more for pan
2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pan
3/4 cup packed dark-brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup raisins (I used 1/2 cup of chocolate chips)
3/4 cup whole milk
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium saucepan, bring quinoa and 1 cup water to a boil. Reduce to a simmer; cover, and cook until water has been absorbed and quinoa is tender, 11 to 13 minutes.

Meanwhile, brush a standard 12-cup muffin pan with oil; dust with flour, tapping out excess. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, raisins, and 2 cups cooked quinoa; reserve any leftover quinoa for another use.

In a small bowl, whisk together oil, milk, egg, and vanilla. Add milk mixture to flour mixture, and stir just until combined; divide batter among prepared muffin cups.

Bake until toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool muffins in pan, 5 minutes; transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

I’m sorry I haven’t been posting a lot lately. Next week I’m going on vacation for a whole week and my goal is to post a new recipe each day for you.

This chicken recipe is pretty tasty and I’m always looking for different ways to flavor up chicken. If you love Thai food then you will definitely like this chicken. It is so easy to make.. Just cook some chicken breasts in a pan. Remove the chicken after it is cooked and sautee the garlic and ginger mixture. To save some time, I always buy the grated ginger and garlic in a jar. Add in the soy sauce and brown sugar mixture and let that reduce. I added the chicken back in while the sauce was cooking so it can cook with all those extra flavors. This was total yum. Can’t wait to make it again.

Calories 387.1, Fat: 10.1g, Carbs: 44g, Fiber: 1.7g, Protein: 29.5g

Servings: 4

Points Plus: 10

Recipe from Food.com

Ingredients:

2 1/2 tablespoons grated fresh gingerroot
2 tablespoons chopped garlic
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, pounded thin
1/2 cup flour
salt and pepper, to season flour,to taste
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon fish sauce or 1 teaspoon anchovy paste (optional)
1 cup sugar snap pea (mangetout)

Directions:

1
combine the gingerrot, garlic and red pepper flakes in a cup and set aside.
2
Mix flour with salt and pepper to taste and dredge chicken pieces in this.
3
Heat the olive oil in a large skillet.
4
Saute the chicken until browned on both sides and cooked through.
5
Remove the chicken and put in a warm dish, set aside in low oven to keep warm.
6
Add the ginger-garlic mixture to the skillet and saute until lightly browned.
7
Add the soy sauce, brown sugar, vinegar and fish sauce (if using).
8
Bring the mixture to a boil.
9
Reduce the heat and simmer, stirring frequently, until the sauce reduces and thickens.
10
Pour the sauce over the chicken pieces in the warm serving dish and keep warm until ready to serve.
11
Trim and shred the sugar snap peas diagonally.
12
Just prior to serving sprinkle the top of the chicken with the shredded snap peas.

I don’t know what happened to my one plug-in for all my recipes. I have Get Me Cooking and it’s a plug-in that keeps track of all your recipes and you can format it to put them in a fancy box like I have been doing for quite awhile now. I’m guessing that it won’t let me do that any more because it’s at the number of recipes it can hold. If that’s the case then I am bummed. Until then, I’ll just be posting recipes without it, until I can figure out what is going on.

I am going to come out and say, I do not like corn tortillas. I decided to give them another try since I haven’t for awhile, and I’m just going to stick with flour from now on. I assembled my pork tacos as you normally would with any taco, and since the pork ends up really juicy and moist in the end, the corn tortillas kind of just fall apart after awhile. I can’t stand that! Even with a soggy taco crust these pork carnitas were just delicious. Very spicy too and they’re pretty low in calories. Can’t wait to make some quesadillas with the leftover pork. I topped mine with cilantro,avocado, and pico de gallo. These are also Weight Watcher friendly!.

I got some of this syrup. I will be trying out many alcoholic drinks with it soon!

Recipe and Nutrition Info from the Slender Kitchen

Points Plus: 6
Nutritional Info: 224.9 calories, 7.7g of fat, 1.3g of carbohydrates, .1g of fiber, 25.8g of protein
Servings: 8

Ingredients

2.5 lbs. pork shoulder,lean only, trimmed of fat
1 onion, diced
3-4 garlic cloves, minced
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp cumin
1-2 diced chipotle peppers and 2 tbsp adobo sauce
3/4 cup light beer or chicken broth
1-2 bay leaves

Instructions

Season the pork with salt and pepper. Place it in the crockpot.
Mix together the remaining ingredients in a bowl and pour over the pork.
Cook for 6-8 hours on low until the pork is fork tender and easily shreds.
Preheat the oven to 500 degrees. Lay pork out in a single layer on a non-stick baking sheet. Roast for 4-5 minutes until the edges become crispy and toasted.

Did you know when you cream bananas and sugar together it almost looks exactly like it would when you cream butter and sugar together? Not to mention, it’s a lot healthier too! I want to try this method out on cookies, and I plan on making a batch this weekend using bananas and sugar. I love it when I can find a healthy recipe for baking that doesn’t make something taste like crap. I had these cupcakes for breakfast this week.  There is protein in the peanut butter, bananas, and some greek yogurt for even more protein. Why would you not have these for breakfast? They are awesome!

Servings: 12

Calories: 226, Fat: 8.57, Carbs: 36.36g, Protein: 5.23g, Fiber: 3.2g

Recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction

Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl Cupcakes

Print recipe

Ingredients

• 2 large ripe bananas
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large egg whites or 1 large egg
• 3/4 cups greek yogurt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla exract
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup white flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter (melted )
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
• 1/3 cup peanut butter chips

Directions

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 375F degrees. Line a muffin tin with baking cups. Set aside.

Step 2

In a large bowl mash the bananas with a fork or use a hand mixer. Mash them very well – no big lumps. Stir in the sugar, egg whites, greek yogurt, and vanilla extract.

Step 3

Sift* the flours, cocoa powder, salt, baking soda and baking powder. Slowly stir in the wet ingredients, being careful not to overmix. Fold in chocolate chips. The batter will be a little chunky.

Step 4

Divide the batter between the 12 muffin cups – fill them all the way to the top. Take 1 teaspoon of melted peanut butter and spoon it on top of the batter. Swirl it around with a knife or a toothpick. Sprinkle with peanut butter chips. Repeat with all 12 cupcakes.

Step 5

Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Allow muffins to cool for 3 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Muffins stay fresh in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.

Well, It’s been almost 2 1/2 weeks since I’ve had a cold. I can’t seem to get rid of this cough either. I’m hoping by next week it’s gone. The flu season is really nasty this year and it seems like everyone I know is getting sick. I’ve been eating a lot of soup lately  because of that. This weekend I made a big pot of potato soup and I’m so sad it is gone. It was so good. I might make another pot of it this weekend. We shall see.

This dish was super easy and delicious! I served it over noodles (gotta stock up the pantry again) and had some garlic bread. The seasoning packet makes the cream of chicken soup almost taste like a fancy gravy you’d  get at a restaurant.  I love easy crock pot recipes like this with only 4 ingredients. This one is a keeper. I’m usually not a fan of  much processed junk but canned cream of chicken soup and seasoning packets make cooking really super easy. Cook or not, anyone could make this.

Points Plus figured without noodles and using 98% ff cream of chicken soup and low fat cream cheese.

Recipe adapted Life as a Loft House

Servings: 6

Points Plus: 6

Fat 11.65g, Carbohydrate 9.48g, Protein 26.17g, Fiber 0.7g

Creamy Italian Chicken

Print recipe

Ingredients

• 4-6 boneless skinless chicken breast
• 1 package Italian season mix
• 2 cans cream of chicken soup
• 8oz package cream cheese
• noodles

Directions

Step 1

Spray crock pot with non-stick spray. Place the chicken breasts in crock pot, and sprinkle the Italian dressing mix over the tops. Pour the cream of chicken soups over chicken, and then spread the cubes of cream cheese evenly over all.

Step 2

Cover and cook on low for 6 hours. Remove lid and stir mixture together.

I think I could have buffalo chicken with just about anything. It’s so good. This dip is like crack too and very addicting. Someone made a similar dip in the crock pot for treat day. It didn’t look pretty but that didn’t matter cause it was so good. To make this dip healthier purchase all lighter versions of cream cheese, cheese, and ranch dressing. This is the full fat version from Taste of Home. The only thing lighter I had on hand when I made this at the time was the cream cheese.  Be aware, you might turn into buffalo chicken dip.

156 calories, 13 g fat, 2 g carbohydrate,fiber 0g , 7 g protein.

Points Plus: 4

Servings: 16

Buffalo Chicken Dip

Print recipe

Ingredients

• 1 package cream cheese 8oz
• 1 can chunk white chicken
• 1/2 cup buffalo sauce
• 1/2 cup ranch dressing
• 2 cups colby and monterey jack cheese
• Tortilla chips

Directions

Step 1

Spread cream cheese into an ungreased shallow 1-qt. baking dish. Layer with chicken, buffalo wing sauce and ranch dressing. Sprinkle with cheese.

Step 2

Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 20-25 minutes or until cheese is melted. Serve warm with tortilla chips. Yield: about 2 cups