Pineapple Pepper Chicken | 8 WW P+

As my kid bro would say, "Just call me butter, 'cause I'm on a roll!"

Seriously, I'm hitting some cooking home runs here with my experiments. I'm working on recipes that are simple to make, freeze well, and tastes as good reheated as it did coming out of the pan. If you have any recipes like this, feel free to share! I've been spending too much money on the pre-made frozen meals. Purchasing the organic, gluten free, dairy free meals - which run an extra $2-$3 over the "standard" frozen meals - is delightfully convenient, but really puts a dent in the budget. I'm mystified how a frozen meal, which uses fresh ingredients, no weird unrecognizable preservatives, could cost so much more. I'm not the only one who thinks that's backwards, right? I appreciate the convenience though, so I'm glad it's there for when I need it. But... I need to really kick my laziness in the backside and just start making my own meals again. Sigh.

This recipe got a thumbs up from my dad. In case you don't know, my family thinks I make "weird food," so to have an endorsement from my day... that's big stuff.

Quick recipe notes: if you don't like quinoa, you could use cooked rice, cous cous, or another grain - whatever floats your boat. Not keen on frozen peppers and frozen pineapple? Use fresh by all means. Frozen is what I had on hand. Want to make this completely gluten free? Use Tamari or coconut aminos in place of the soy sauce.


Pineapple Pepper Chicken 
Serves 4 | 8 Weight Watchers Points+ per serving (1 cup of Pepper Pineapple Chicken over 1/2 cup of prepared quinoa)

2 tsp coconut oil
1lb uncooked boneless skinless chicken breasts, sliced into bite sized pieces
16oz frozen red, green, yellow pepper strips (like Trader Joe's Melange a Trois)
1 medium onion, sliced
1 1/2 cups frozen pineapple bits (like Trader Joe's Frozen Pineapple Tidbits)
2 cups cooked quinoa
2 scallions, thinly sliced


Sauce
1 1/2 cup chicken broth
1 lime, zest and juice of
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 Tbsp fresh ginger, grated
1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
1 1/2 Tbsp cornstarch
3 Tbls water


Heat coconut oil in a large saucepan over medium/high heat. Add chicken and cook until almost cooked through, approximately 5 minutes. Add the onions and cook another 3-4 minutes or until you start to smell the onions cooking. Turn the heat up to high and add the frozen peppers and pineapple tidbits. Cook for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the frozen items thaw and the liquid evaporates.

While the chicken, peppers, and pineapple cook, combine all the sauce ingredients from chicken broth to the soy sauce in a medium bowl. In a separate bowl, combine the cornstarch and water. Add cornstarch mixture to the rest of the sauce ingredients. Pour over the chicken mixture and stir until thickened and the sauce forms.

Spoon 1 cup of Pepper Pineapple Chicken over 1/2 cup of prepared quinoa. Top with some scallions, and enjoy!

Pumpkin Pie Smoothie

You need to have an adventure-seeking, iron will to make this.

Why?

Because peeling a pumpkin isn't for weenies.

If you've never tried peeling a pumpkin, you really should try it. Frankly, I think everyone should try it at some point in their life. The satisfaction one receives after peeling a pumpkin is akin to the feeling of finishing every single item on the to do list: accomplishment, pride, and then the general feeling of wanting to wear a sign that says, "I AM AWESOME. RAWR."

Peeling a pumpkin also drastically improves one's prayer life. Here's how my prayer went, "God, please don't let me cut myself, please, please, please, oh, please don't let me cut myself."

Peeling a pumpkin also increases one's gratitude quotient. I became grateful for the muscles in my forearm, grateful for band-aids in case I needed them, grateful for whomever invented the canned form of pumpkin...

If, at this point, you've decided to make this smoothie, you are clearly Type A and more than likely an aggressive first born or middle child. I would be the Type A, first born daughter, and middle child combination. And I would peel a pumpkin again because of the satisfaction it gives me. Call me crazy.

Honestly, this smoothie IS delicious. When I took my first sip, I thought, "Starbucks... you can't touch this."

Make sure you're using an organic pie pumpkin, since those pumpkins are made for eating. You don't want to use the ginormous ones you use to carve. Muscle up and peel that bad boy, and if you have a food processor, shred it up. Otherwise, consider yourself a true champion when you grate the pumpkin by hand. I am not a true champion. I busted out that food processor.

My little pumpkin gave me 4 cups of grated pumpkin. I bagged them up in 1 cup portions. Some I've used to make more smoothies; the rest I've frozen to pull out later to incorporate into a bread or cake instead of using shredded carrots.

Questions you might have about this recipe...

Can I use canned pumpkin? I'm sure you can, but I haven't tried it so I don't know how it works. Let me know if you try it!

Homemade coconut milk. You've got to be kidding me. Can I use something else? Sure! It's what I had on hand, so use your milk preference - dairy, almond, pecan, hempseed, etc.

Cashew butter? Can't I use something else? Sure. I'd go with almond butter or a mild tasting nut butter. You don't want a peanut butter pumpkin pie smoothie. Or maybe you do. But if you don't, you could leave it out altogether. I'm including it for good fat and satiety since I'm having it for breakfast.

I don't have dates. What else can I use? Use whatever sweetener you'd like. I just like dates since they are a naturally sweet fruit. Try using 1 Tbls of a liquid sweetener like honey or maple syrup.

Any idea on what to use in place of pumpkin pie spice? Yup! Click here for recipe to make your own.

Pumpkin Pie Smoothie

1 cup shredded pumpkin
1 ripe banana
1 cup homemade coconut milk
3/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/4 tsp cloves
1 date
1 Tbls cashew butter
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Blend all the ingredients until smooth. Drink it up!

Easy Peasy Granola Bars

Today I began the "Great Magazine Purge."

Please tell me that I'm not the only one who has stacks of magazines. Like, stackkkkkks.

This is one stack. Ignore that Women's Health Magazine. Apparently reading the article on how to get sexy abs and butt is not the same as doing the work.

Whatever.

I hate to part with them though. You never know when you're going to need a recipe and it's waiting for you, expectantly, in one of the magazines. And when you go to get that magazine, you discover that you've given that magazine away and now you are stuck. Sure, the recipe is somewhere online, but there's something about having the printed, original in front of you.

One of the magazines that I have stacks of is Eating Well. It's one of my favorite cooking magazines. God bless my aunt who gives me a subscription every Christmas. I {HEART} it. As I was slowly going the January/February 2010 Eating Well magazine, these granola bars stood out to me. I had just picked up a bag of gluten free rolled oats so that I could make my brother some granola bars. This recipe just happens to use old fashioned oats. I looked at the clock to see if I had enough time to make them, I looked at the mess I had made, and I suddenly decided it would be more fun to make these granola bars. And so I trotted downstairs to the kitchen to make a batch.

They were easy to make. Ridiculously easy. Like, so easy that it's crazy to buy pre-made granola bars any more. Plus, these taste so much better, I know exactly what's in them, and they can easily be adapted to gluten free diets. I lightly adjusted the recipe in the magazine. Change up the liquid sugar, the nuts, the dried fruit, and the extract if you want. I bet maple and pecans would be great. Or macadamia, agave, and coconut would be delicious too.

For the record, my coworker ate one of the bars that I had made and then ate the one he packed for a snack, and he said (with a very full mouth), "Yourth are tho muh bettuh." Translation: these granola bars are awesomelicious.






Easy Peasy Granola Bars
recipe adapted from Eating Well

1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats (or gluten free oats)
1/4 cup slivered almonds
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup unsweetened puffed cereal (rice, wheat, millet, kamut, etc.)
1 cup dried fruit (I did 1/3 currants, golden raisins, and cranberries)
1/4 cup creamy almond butter
1/4 cup organic raw cane sugar (or brown sugar, white sugar, etc)
1/4 cup agave (or honey, brown rice syrup, maple, etc.)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt


Preheat oven to 350°F. Line an 8-inch-square pan with foil and spray with non-stick cooking spray.

Spread oats, almonds, and sunflower seeds on a large, rimmed baking sheet. Bake until the oats are lightly toasted and the nuts are fragrant, shaking the pan halfway through, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl. Add cereal, currants, cranberries, and raisins; toss to combine.

Combine almond butter, sugar, agave, vanilla and salt in a small saucepan. Heat over medium-low, stirring frequently, until the mixture bubbles lightly, 2 to 5 minutes.

Immediately pour the almond butter mixture over the dry ingredients and mix with a spoon or spatula until no dry spots remain. Transfer to the prepared pan. Lightly coat a small square of foil with cooking spray and use it to press the mixture down firmly to make an even layer. Refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes; cut into 12 bars.


Cut into 12 bars: 4 Weight Watchers Points Plus
Cut into 16 bars: 3 Weight Watchers Points Plus