Rosemary Lemon Chicken Thighs

Rosemary Lemon Chicken Thighs

Yield: Serves 6

Ingredients:

2.5 lbs of boneless skinless chicken thighs
1 lemon
1 tablespoon of rosemary
1/4 cup olive oil
1 bell pepper
1 sweet onion
4-6 gloves of minced garlic
salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Mince your garlic, dice your onion, julliene your bell pepper, slice your lemon and set to the side.
2. In a large pan, with a lid, coat the bottom with olive oil and turn on medium.
3. When hot place your peppers, onions, and garlic at the bottom of the pan and let brown for about 3 minutes.
4. Salt and pepper your meat and place in your pan over the onion and pepper mixture.
5. Sprinkle rosemary over the whole dish and place your lemon slices on top.
6. Cover and let cook for 15 minutes.
7. Move to a 425 F oven, without lid on, and finish cooking in oven for an additional 20 minutes until golden brown!

I threw this chicken dish together the other night when I was trying to think of something "clean" and "healthy" that both my husband and my children would eat. Originally spinach was going to go in this dish but noses were turned up at that idea and I adapted and did lemon and rosemary instead. I made sure to cook a heaping portion of broccoli to go alongside the chicken and served with pasta (obviously not clean or healthy but hey what can I say)! It was a a big hit here and very simple to make! This would be a a great 21 Day Fix Approved Chicken Dish to make at the beginning of the week and portion out for meals throughout your week! I hope you all enjoy! Happy Cooking!

Flax Seed Steal Cut Oats Granola

Flax Seed Steal Cut Oat Granola
Yield: 15-20 servings

Ingredients:

2 cups Coach's Steal Cut Oats
4 cups rolled oats
2 cups finely ground Flax seed
2 cups sliced almonds
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups melted coconut oil
2 tablespoons vanilla
1 1/2 cups real maple syrup

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 300 F
2. In large bowl mix together all your dry ingredient.
3. Melt your coconut oil, add in your maple syrup, and vanilla. Pour into your dry mixture. Mix well until all oats are coated.
4. Foil line two large baking sheets, spray with cooking oil to prevent any sticking.
5. Separate you mixture between the two trays and spread flat.
6. Bake for 20 minutes. Pull trays out, with a spatula move granola around to prevent clumping, and place back in oven for additional 20 minutes.
7. Let cool for a few hours and then store in an air tight container for several delicious meals to come.

I eat this granola every single morning with a big plop of Greek yogurt and a fruit of my choice. I'm really into peaches this summer and have been slicing them into the granola and yogurt mixture. Its so good!! The combination of the granola and Greek yogurt keeps me nice and full for several hours which is great because I am a mom to three little ones and eating usually ends up on the back burner for me until they are content and I get a moment to myself. Enjoy!

Creamy Tomato Basil Chicken Alfredo

Creamy Tomato Basil Chicken Alfredo 

Yield: Serves 4-6

Ingredients: 

3 tomatoes

1 cup fresh basil

3 large chicken breasts

1 large onion

8 cloves of garlic

2 cups heavy cream

2 cups parmesan cheese, shredded

salt and pepper

2 tablespoons of flour

1 stick of butter

1/4 cup olive oil

1 pound cooked al dente linguine

Alfredo Sauce:

1. In a medium saucepan, on medium heat, add you stick of butter, freshly cracked black pepper, 4 minced garlic cloves, and your flour. Let your rue thicken and whisk to get all lumps out.

2. Slowly add in you heavy cream. Whisk repeatedly to ensure no lumps. 

3. Add in your parmesan cheese and whisk until thick and delicious! Turn heat to low. Stir occasionally while cooking the other components of your dish.

Tomato Basil Chicken:

1. In a large sauce pan, on medium heat, pour in your olive oil. Add you diced onion and half of your diced tomatoes to the hot oil. Let it simmer and reduce for about 5-8 minutes.

2. Salt and pepper both sides of you chicken breasts and add them to your onion and tomato mixture in the saucepan. Add the rest of your diced tomatoes along with 4 mince garlic cloves. Sprinkle a dash of salt and pepper throughout the saucepan, cover, and let simmer for another 5-8 minutes.

3. Flip your chicken, add in half your chopped basil, and cover your saucepan. Let sit for another 5-8 minutes. Cooking times on your chicken will vary depending on their thickness so make sure not to overcook (or undercook) your chicken. The easiest way to check your chicken is to cut a slit in the middle of the largest breast and if you see all white and nothing is running pink (blood) than you are good to go and cooked through! If you see a very faint pink go ahead and let cook for another 2ish minutes. 

4. When your chicken is all cooked through, pull the chicken breasts off, and put on a plate to the side. Slice each breast up in strips. Then, scoop up all those yummy reduced tomatoes, onions, and basil, leaving behind the oil in the pan. Add the tomato, onion, and basil to the alfredo sauce that you made. Add the cooked linguine directly to the cheesy mixture. In a large serving dish add all your pasta and the sliced chicken to the top. Sprinkle with some fresh basil to garnish and place in the middle of the table for a family style serve. Enjoy! 

Basil Pesto

Basil Pesto

Yield: Coats two pounds of pasta, aprox 5 cups

Ingredients:

5-6 cups fresh Basil

2 cups Pinenuts

2 cups Parmesan Cheese

1 1/2 cups Olive Oil

2 garlic gloves to taste

Directions:

1. In your food processor add all your dry ingredients and blend.
2. While blending slowly add all your olive oil pulsing until smooth.
3. Separate into two batches to freeze one batch and use second immediately. The basil will start to turn brown if you let it sit for too long, so I always make it the same day that I want to use it.

Pesto pasta is something that I adore every summer! Yummy al dente penne paired with pesto made from the basil growing in my garden is divine! It is so fast and easy to make. I highly recommend whipping it up and seeing for yourself just how yummy it is!   

Virgin Watermelon Mojito

Virgin Watermelon Mojito
Yield: Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups of cubed watermelon
2 limes
1/2 cup fresh mint leaves
1 quart sparkling water
2 San Pellegrino Limonata cans

Directions:

In your pitcher muddle together half your watermelon and your mint leaves. Add in the rest of the watermelon, all liquid and the juice of one lime. Slice the second lime and let float in pitcher. Serve in wine glasses or tall tumblers with a sprig of fresh mint. Enjoy this refreshing beverage on a hot day paired with some delicious BBQ.
I grew the mint in my garden and have tons overflowing in my beds, but if you don't have access to mint at home its fairly cheap at the grocery store. It is beyond easy to grow (it literally grows it self and is almost weed-like) so feel free to plant some and see what happens!! Enjoy!

PB2 Coconut Hemp Granola

PB2 Coconut Hemp Granola

Yield: 12 servings

Ingredients:

5 cups rolled oats

1 cup finely ground flax

3/4 cup coconut oil, melted

1 1/4 cup sliced almonds

1 tablespoon cinnamon 

1/4 cup hemp hearts

1/2 cup PB2

1 cup coconut flakes

1 tablespoon vanilla

1 cup maple syrup

Directions: 

1. In a large bowl add all your dry ingredients. 

2. Melt your coconut oil until clear and liquid. Drizzle your oil, maple syrup, and vanilla over the dry ingredients. Mix well until everything is blended together.

3. Divide your mixture between two lined cookie sheets. Bake at 300 F for 15 minutes. Take out, mix and move your granola around, and then pop back in the oven for an additional 15 minutes. 

4. Let your granola cool for about an hour before storing in an air tight container. 

I LOVE Granola! I'm just a little bit crunchy ;)

Pear Spinach Quinoa Baby Food

Pear Spinach Quinoa Baby Food

Yum!

Ingredients:

5lbs of peeled, sliced, and cored Pears

1 cup uncooked Quinoa 

4 cups Spinach

6 cups water

1 tablespoon cinnamon

Directions:

In your slow cooker, turned on HIGH, put all your ingredients in, pouring the water over and cover. Cook for 5 hours. Puree your cooked baby food, when finished cooking, until smooth. Divide up and freeze the extras in ice cube trays for easy access. Once your cubes are frozen you can pop them out and store in a Ziploc. Heat two cubes for 1 minute in the microwave in a mug when needed. 

Freeze the extras to keep that hungry baby happy!

Charlotte was a fan! She gobble it up as fast as she could! 

Parmesan Garlic Oil Pasta

Parmesan Garlic Oil Pasta

Yield: Serves 6

Ingredients:

1 Box Spaghetti

3/4 cup Olive Oil

1 head of garlic, minced

1/4 cup Parmesan

Directions:

1. Boil your spaghetti until al dente! No overboiling in to oblivion! 

2. In your large saucepan heat your olive oil, add in your minced garlic, and bring to a low simmer. 

3. When your spaghetti has finished cooking add directly to the garlic/oil saucepan with a ladle full of the pasta water included. Stir together for about a minute.

4. Add your parmesan cheese to the pasta mixture and turn off the heat.

5. Serve immediately and enjoy with a healthy dose of yummy veggies for an almost healthy pasta dish! :)

My husband is currently eating like a BEAST for Body Beast and I am eating like a BIRD for 21 Day Fix so I am trying to come up with cleaner recipes that I can add things to his portion and subtract from my portion. I served him up HALF of this pasta... yes, half a box of pasta all to his self. I added meat balls to his. Ten meatballs to be exact. The kids picked at their spaghetti, but they ate far more of the oil sauce spaghetti than regular tomato sauce... Over all win win! 

Power Salad

I recently started the 21 Day Fix, you can read more about that here, and one of the areas I was lacking in my diet was more green. I eat vegetables with every dinner, but your body needs more than that. I'm a busy mamma, as are  we all, so I decided to put together salads in containers to store in the fridge to be able to grab as I am heading out the door. This gives me NO EXCUSES! No excuse for not eating my salad that day! I bought the big bag of Kale and Spinach Mixed Greens at Costco, divided it up among the containers, adding Pumpkin Seeds and Sunflower Seeds, from Whole Foods to make the salad more hearty. I added a crumbling of Feta and Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) to my salad when I am home, but left those out for my containers for fear of the Feta turning funky in a warm car (YUCK!) but if you have access to a fridge at work or something that you could go ahead and add it ahead of time. I have to admit, Kale has a bit of a funky taste... It takes some getting used too. I certainly will say it is not my favorite, but it is good for me. Adding the EVOO to the salad helps incorporate it all together without the added calories of a dressing! Enjoy your Power Salad on the go!

Oatmeal Banana Muffins

Oatmeal Banana Muffins

Yield: 2-3 dozen 

Ingredients: 

1 32oz container of Greek Plain Yogurt

4 cups rolled Oats

6 ripe bananas

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon baking soda

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon cinnamon

chocolate baking chips (60% or higher)

walnut halves

Directions: 

In your blender, add all ingredients. Blend until smooth and creamy. Line your muffin tins with paper liners and pour your batter in about 3/4 way full. Sprinkle a couple baking chips and walnut halves on top of your batter. Bake at 350 F for about 18 minutes. Let cool and enjoy! Freeze the extras for a guilt-less treat later! 

I recently started the 21 Day Fix and these will count as a red and yellow. If you are interested in joining me in my 21 Day Fix journey, be sure to check out my page here! 

Oatmeal Apple Baby Food

Oatmeal Apple Baby Food

Ingredients: 

1 cup cooked Oatmeal

1 cup apple sauce (homemade or jarred)

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 cup water

                            

Directions:

1. In your blender, add all the ingredients, and blend on high until smooth.

2. Portion out into an ice cube tray to freeze for individual servings.

3. After 24 hrs you can pop the cubes out and store in a ziploc bag. Heat each cub in a mug for 30 seconds in the microwave when ready to eat. Enjoy!!

Maple Pecan French Toast

Maple Pecan French Toast
Yield: Serves 4-6

Ingredients for French Toast:

1 loaf of white bread (I got mine from Panera) 

5-6 large eggs

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1-2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1/3 cup milk

pinch of salt

Directions for French Toast: 

1. In a wide bowl beat your eggs, milk, salt, sugar, and cinnamon for about a minute until incorporated.

2. Slice your bread about an inch thick per slice. You should be able to get about 8-10 slices per loaf.

3. Dip your bread into your egg mixture and make sure it is completely coated on both sides. The bread only needs to be in the mixture for about 10 seconds per slice.

4. Place your bread on a medium heated pan. You should be able to fit about 3-4 slices per pan. Cook each side until golden brown. About 1 minute on each side depending on thickness.

Ingredients for Maple Pecan Topping:

1 cup Pecan halves
1 1/2 cup Real Maple Syrup
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon cinnamon
pinch of salt

Directions for Maple Pecan Topping:

1. In a saucepan toast your pecans for 1-2 minutes on medium.
2. Add your butter, maple syrup, cinnamon, and salt to the pecans and let simmer for another 5-6 minutes.
3. Pour over your French Toast and enjoy warm!


I made up this recipe last weekend and it was so yummy!! I was given a loaf of Panera bread that I didn't know what to do with, so this was what I came up with. The kids devoured their French Toast and my husband, who previously had been the reigning French Toast champion in the house, tipped his hat to me! Mmmmm, those warm pecans on top of the sweet bread takes breakfast to a whole next level. Divine!