Peanut Butter Yogurt Fruit Dip

I am always looking for good healthy snacks that I can eat in between meals or before bed. Usually if I have spent time lifting weights I will make a really thick smoothie that is almost more like frozen yogurt out of casein protein. But on the days when I haven't lifted weights I have to come up with other ideas. Here's one of them. This dip is really good. I never like peanut butter with apples before, but man am I glad I tried it again but I love it!

Peanut Butter Yogurt Fruit Dip

Serves 2

2 big tbsp of natural peanut butter or any other nut butter

2 big tbsp low fat unsweetened plain yogurt

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp honey

Mix everything in a little dish and dip away!

Lemon Dill Chicken with Roasted Potatoes and Cauliflower

I have been struggling with my weight for quite a while. I gained alot of weight from medication that I was taking and was able to lose 25lbs as of this last summer. I was eating healthy and working out at 5-6 times a week. I completed the Live Fit trainer from www.bodybuilding.com and really enjoyed it. It helped me be more confident inn the gym and I definitely saw results. I had to start taking the meds again that cause weight gain. It didn't matter how healthy I ate or how much time I spent at the gym, I was gaining weight. I have gained back 15lbs. I'm off of the medication now and plan to keep it that way. I am back to eating well as much as possible and exercising 5-6 times a week. I feel so much better when I'm doing this, health wise and mentally as well. I do not sleep well when I'm not working out, so I have been enjoying the benefits of a good sleep. I will try to have as many healthy recipes as I can here and some no so healthy as well, I can't eat well 100% of the time. If anybody wants to add me on www.myfitnesspal.com my name is lilkim12161. Here is a chicken recipe that was really good. I found it here and thought it looked really good. I paired it with roasted sweet potatoes and Yukon golds and roasted cauliflower. Enjoy!!

Lemon Dill Chicken 

4 Servings

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

salt and pepper

3 tsp of extra virgin olive oil

3 garlic cloves minced

1/2 small onion chopped small

1 cup reduced sodium chicken stock

2 tsp all purpose flour

3 tbsp chopped dill

1/2 lemon juiced

Season chicken breasts on both sides with salt and pepper. Heat 1 1/2 teaspoons oil in a pan over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and sear until well browned on both sides, about 4 minutes per side. Transfer chicken to a plate and tent with foil. Reduce heat to medium low. Add the remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons oil to the pan. Add onion and garlic and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Whisk stock, flour, 2 tablespoons dill and lemon juice in a measuring cup and add to pan. Cook, whisking, until slightly thickened, about 3 minutes. Return the chicken to the pan and add any juices left on the plate. Reduce heat to low and simmer until the chicken is cooked through, about 6 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a warmed platter. Season sauce with salt and pepper and spoon over the chicken. Garnish with the remaining 1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill.

Roasted Yukon's and Sweet Potatoes

1 large sweet potato

4 medium Yukon gold potatoes

1.5 tbsp garlic powder

1.5 tbsp onion powder

1 tbsp Italian seasoning

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Preheat oven to 400F. Cut potatoes in 1-2 in cubes. Put everything in a large bowl. Mix it well. Place on foil lined baking sheet. Cover with foil and bake about 20 min, mix up the potatoes after 10 min. Take off the foil, Mix up the potatoes so that they don't burn on the bottom again. Bake another 20-25 min, mixing them again halfway through.

Roasted Cauliflower

1 head of cauliflower

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

Break the cauliflower apart and place in colander. Rinse well. Spray a baking dish with cooking spray. Put cauliflower in the dish. Season with salt and pepper. Bake in the oven at 400F with the potatoes for about 20-30 min, depending on the size of your pieces. Mix halfway so that the cauliflower doesn't burn.

BBQ Meatballs

I knew I would have some meat left over from the sliders in the last post so I decided to use it to make meatballs. The kids loving sticking toothpicks in them and eating them one by one instead of putting them on their plate and using a fork.  My middle son doesn't like burgers all that much but loves meatballs. I figured that I would at least one thing that everybody liked. There was no complaining at my table on New Year's Eve. I did use bottled BBQ sauce, I wasn't about to add making my own BBQ on top of everything else I had to do that day.

1 lb of ground beef

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1 egg

1/2 cup panko

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1/2 bottle of you favorite BBQ sauce or 1 cup of homemade BBQ sauce

Preheat oven at 400F. Line and spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray. Mix all the ingredients except for BBQ sauce in a bowl. Mix gently, just until all ingredients are incorporated. Take about 1 tbsp of meat per meatball. Gently roll into a ball. Place on cookie sheet. Do this until all the meat is rolled. Bake for approximately 15 min. Turning halfway through. You just want to make sure they are nicely browned. When they are done place them in  baking dish or casserole dish and pour BBQ sauce over them. Gently mix. Place back in the oven for about 10 min to make sure everything is cooked through.

Sliders

I love burgers alot! Who doesn't love a good burger? I also think that condiments are just as important as the burger. Usually we BBQ all of our burgers but I really wasn't up for standing in the cold to grill these burgers. So I used the indoor grill, they were tasty but didn't taste as great as they do over a charcoal grill. These burgers were pretty simple, I didn't want anything too complicated. I wanted to really taste the sauce that I was putting in them. They were good and the kids ate them up!

1 lb gound beef

1 tsp pepper

1 tsp salt

1 egg

12 slider buns

Mix all the ingredients, being careful not to over mix. Roll into a little ball, like a medium meatball and then lightly flatten. You should get about 12. Grill about 4 min per side. Top with cheese when you flip them. I used a little slice of old cheddar and havarti.

Special Sauce

2 tbsp mayonaise, I used Hellmans olive oil mayo

2 tbsp sweet relish

2 tbsp ketchup

Mix all the ingredients. Use on top of burgers.

Pico De Gallo

When I was thinking about what we could eat for New Year's Eve, I thought about sliders and meatballs because I have alot of ground beef in my freezer but I knew that the youngest probally wouldn't eat either of those things so I had to think of something for her. Ah! Nachos, all the kids love nachos. They love the eat and cheese but not salsa. I didn't want the cheese I wanted something fresh, instead of just meat and cheese. I don't care for store bought salsa but pico de gallo...mmmm, I love it. This is something that none of the kids like, so I would have leftovers! Yay for me! It's so simple but tastes amazing!

2 medium sized tomatoes, seeded and diced

1/4 small red onion diced

2 jalapenos, seeded and diced

1 handful cilantro, chopped

juice of 1 lime

1 tsp salt

Mix it all together, taste, add more salt and lime to your own liking 

Happy New Year!!!

I am wishing everyone a happy New Year, hopefully 2013 will be better than 2012 for everyone! We will be going sledding with the kids then coming back to drink some sangria and watch the countdown. Here's what we ate for New Year's dinner. I'll have all the recipes posted in a few day. Enjoy!!

Eggnog French Toast

I made eggnog french toast not too long ago and it was definitely a hit at my house. I saw it on Pinterest from this blog http://www.adventuressheart.com/2011/12/eggnog-french-toast.html, it looked so good I just had to try it. I am the only person who like eggnog and 3/5 of us like french toast. So I decided that since I was the only one who liked both I would make it and if nobody else liked it I would just freeze it and have more for me. This french toast recipe was sooo good, not only did I think it was good but one of my boys who doesn't like french toast or eggnog ate 2 pieces!!! My youngest didn't eat any of it but that's pretty normal for her. I didn't have any leftovers. I was still thinking of the french toast the week before Christmas. Since I plan out my meals and make my list Thursday or Friday before the week I need it I decided that eggnog french toast NEEDED to be included in Christmas morning. So that's what we had, eggnog french toast, I made more this time,and Johnsonsville breakfast sausage, and this time I had leftovers to freeze. I didn't get to take any pictures of though, I ran out of camera battery. Here's the recipe, i hope you enjoy it as much as I have!!

Eggnog French Toast

1 loaf of sourdough bread, sliced as thick or thin as you want (The first time I used 1/2 loaf of pre-sliced french bread)
1 1/2 cups eggnog
6 eggs
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg (can leave it out if you don't have it)
1 tsp vanilla
cooking spray for pan

Mix up all ingredients in a bowl except for bread and cooking spray. Heat a pan over medium heat. Spray with cooking spray. Dip a slice of bread into the mix, turn to get both sides coated in egg mixture. Pan fry until golden, about 2 min the flip over for another couple of minutes. Repeat with remaining bread.

I just top mine with maple syrup, but top the french toast with whatever you choose!