Chicken Larb
Reasons why you should never judge a recipe by its cover.. err title:
Chicken Larb!
Say whaaaaa? What the crap is “larb”? Google tells me “larb” is a type of meat salad. Good to know, Google. Good to know.
Had I known this fun fact, I might not have hesitated to clip the recipe for “Chicken Larb” out of one of my issues of Cooking Light. But lucky for my belly, I looked past the gag-reflex-prompting title and filed this puppy away in my big black book.
I tweaked the recipe slightly and scaled it down to one delicious serving. First up, toss the following in a food processor:
- 4 ounces chicken breast
- 2 tsp red curry paste
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp minced garlic
- sprinkle of black pepper
Give it a quick buzz in the food processor, and you’ll end up with this crazy orange colored ground chicken:
I’m still amazed that I can make my own ground meat at home. It’s the little things, I guess!
Saute the chicken in a pan coated with nonstick spray over medium heat. I occasionally added a tbsp of water to the pan to help moisten things up.
Meanwhile, combine the following:
- 1/2 cup diced cucumber
- 1 tbsp chopped cilantro
- 1 tbsp minced shallot
- The juice of 1/4 of a lime
Thing of beauty:
Once the chicken is cooked through, combine the chicken with the cucumber mixture and then spoon onto romaine lettuce leaves, and juice a quarter lime over top:
Looks crazy good, am I right? I had a big serving of roasted broccoli on the side:
This was super tasty and SUPER healthful. I decided mid-meal to grab a tablespoon or so of fat-free plan Greek Yogurt to dollop on top. It really was the icing on the larb 😉
This was my first time using red curry paste, and the paste along with the cilantro really made for a tasty combo.
There’s a recipe on the back of the paste bottle for Red Curry Shrimp. I need to try that STAT!
Roasted broccoli 
A delicious dinner enjoyed on my newly assembled patio furniture:
It’s nice to have a little helper. Or a 6’4” helper… either way
Stats on the Chicken Larb + 1.5 cups broccolee broccolye brocco-lee-hee: 221 calories, 19g carbs, 1g fat, 27g protein, 4g fiber
I can’t believe how outrageously low cal yet still tasty that meal was – next time I may beef it up with some beans or avocado.
Soooooo did you catch the broccoli reference?!?! PLEASE take 4 minutes and watch this. You won’t regret it. And as an added bonus you will now know the song I sing to myself every time I chop up broccoli 
Bananas Foster Bread
So what do these have in common? Yesterday’s guesses gave me quite a few chuckles.
Maker’s Mark and bananas happen to be two of the BF’s FAVORITE things. Since we didn’t get to spend VD together, I decided to whip up a batch of Marker’s Mark Banana Bread over the weekend. I had a Cooking Light Recipe for Bananas Foster bread that I’d been DYING to try out, and Makers Mark seemed like a terrific substitute for the Cognac called for in the recipe.
Who drinks Cognac anyway? Emeril Lagasse, that’s who.
Lucky for this banana bread recipe, I’m not dating Emeril Lagasse. I’m dating Mr. Maker’s Mark.
Seriously…
Edible.
Canoodling:
This looks quite natural, actually.
First up: get your hands on some mushy brown bananas. Hopefully you planned ahead for this, because the base of ANY good banana bread recipe is some seriously overripe bananas.
These guys are actually on the under-ripe side, but they got the job done.
Next: preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray a 9×5 inch bread loaf pan with cooking spray.
Combine the following in a nonstick skillet:
- 1.5 cups mashed up ripe bananas
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 5 tbsp melted butter
- 3 tbsp Maker’s Mark
Can we say yum?
Heat over medium until it starts to bubble and thicken slightly
Then you’ll want to remove this banana goodness from the heat and set aside to cool.
In the meantime, combine the following in a separate bowl:
- 1.5 cups flour
- 1/4 cup ground flaxseed
- 3/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp ground allspice
Flax!
Alltogethernah:
Once the bananas are cooled off, add in:
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/3 cup fat free plain yogurt
- 2 large eggs
Beat everything together until combined, then add in your dries to wets and mix until just blended:
Yes, I licked them.
Next is the easy part — pour batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake for 1 hour. Then let the bread cool on a wire rack for about 10 minutes.
Meanwhile mix up the icing:
- 1/3 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp melted butter
- 1 tbsp Maker’s Mark
And dr-dr-drizzzzleeee over the warm bread:
Notice that at this point I had ALREADY cut off a small piece for sampling… That’s a key step in successful baking. Frequent and continuous testing.
Mr. Maker’s Mark said this was the best banana bread he had ever tasted because it was “delightfully moist and not overly sweet”
I agreed, it was delicious… and addicting.
Must be the alcohol.
Maker’s Mark Banana Foster Bread Ingredients List (serves 12):
- 1.5 cups mashed up ripe bananas
- 1 cup packed brown sugar, divided
- 6 tablespoons melted butter, divided
- 1/4 cup Maker’s Mark, divided
- 1/3 cup fat free plain yogurt
- 2 large eggs
- 1.5 cups flour
- 1/4 cup ground flaxseed
- 3/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp ground allspice
- 1/3 cup powdered sugar
Shrimp & Mac & Cheese
WOW guys. WOW.
Drooling yet??
For the big game this past weekend, I was looking for a something a little different to take to the family party… Something a little healthified but that still packed a little somethin somethin. During my search, I stumbled upon the the Mac and Cheese Light recipe from the September 2010 Cooking Lite, and it looked like the perfect fit! You can never have too much cheese on super bowl Sunday, I always say.
What really drew me to this particular recipe was that it started off with the “secret weapon” – a puree consisting of one whole LARGE onion and 9 cloves of garlic.
Hello lover.
Clearly this was destiny.
First up, I put a big ole pot of water on the stove to boil, then tossed a large Vidalia onion and 9 cloves roughly chopped garlic into a bowl with 1/2 cup water.
I covered this guy with plastic wrap and nuked in the microwaved for 10 minutes. Prepare to smell like onions and garlic for the remainder of the day. Don’t worry. I won’t judge you.
After 10 minutes, you dump this onion garlic goodness out into a blender and pulse until smooth. It should look like grits, ya’ll:
By now the water should be boiling, so drop in 8 Ounces Barilla Plus Elbow Macaroni and cook until al dente.
1
Meanwhile season up you onion garlic puree with:
- 1 tsp dried mustard
- 1/4 tsp cayenne
- Salt and pepper to taste (I used A LOT)
Once the pasta is done, drain and set aside. Then heat your onion garlic puree up in a pot (large enough to hold the sauce and the pasta), and once hot and bubbly slowly whisk in 2 cups shredded reduced fat cheddar cheese.
It should be gloriously thick.
Once the cheese is all melted in, take it off the heat and whisk in 2/3 cup fat free plain greek yogurt, then add in the cooked pasta. Once everything is combined, pour the mac and cheese into a casserole dish greased with cooking spray.
Sprinkle the top with
- 1/2 cup whole wheat panko bread crumbs
- 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
- Sprinkling of dried parsley
Baked at 425 for 15 minutes:
Cheesy deliciousness:
Just to balance things out, I also made a big arse salad for the game:
No joke. Big. Arse.
Of course I finangled one serving of the mac and cheese to take home with me after the game, and I decided to spice it up a bit for dinner tonight.
I LIBERALLY seasoned up 4 jumbo shrimp with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and cayenne pepper and sautéed them up on a pan:
I also roasted up some broccoli that I had liberally seasoned with S&P … and I also microwaved the mac and cheese. Don’t judge.
VOILA!
That is a seriously grown up healthified mac and cheese masterpiece!!!
I havent had roasted broccoli in months!! I practically lived off of roasted veggies last summer, and I had somehow forgotten how friggin delicious they are!
The mac and cheese by itself was a little too mild for my tastes – so, at the super bowl party I topped it off with some Frank’s Red hot. But for tonight’s dinner this spicy cayenne shrimp added plenty of kick:
Can’t get over how delicious!
Get in my beeeeeeeeeeeelllllllllllllllllllllllllllllly!!!!!!!!!!!!
Stats on 1 serving mac and cheese (no shrimp): 275 calories, 30g carbs, 10g fat, 17g protein, 3g fiber
Stats on 1 serving mac and cheese WITH shrimp: 322 calories, 30g carbs, 11g fat, 26g protein, 3g fiber
Mac & Cheese Ingredients List (serves 8 )
- 1 large Vidalia onion
- 9 cloves roughly chopped garlic
- 1/2 cup water
- 8 Ounces Barilla Plus Elbow Macaroni
- 1 tsp dried mustard
- 1/4 tsp cayenne
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 cups reduced fat cheddar
- 2/3 cup fat free Greek yogurt
- 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
- 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
- Sprinkling of dried parsley
Shrimp & Mac & Cheese
WOW guys. WOW.
Drooling yet??
For the big game this past weekend, I was looking for a something a little different to take to the family party… Something a little healthified but that still packed a little somethin somethin. During my search, I stumbled upon the the Mac and Cheese Light recipe from the September 2010 Cooking Lite, and it looked like the perfect fit! You can never have too much cheese on super bowl Sunday, I always say.
What really drew me to this particular recipe was that it started off with the “secret weapon” – a puree consisting of one whole LARGE onion and 9 cloves of garlic.
Hello lover.
Clearly this was destiny.
First up, I put a big ole pot of water on the stove to boil, then tossed a large Vidalia onion and 9 cloves roughly chopped garlic into a bowl with 1/2 cup water.
I covered this guy with plastic wrap and nuked in the microwaved for 10 minutes. Prepare to smell like onions and garlic for the remainder of the day. Don’t worry. I won’t judge you.
After 10 minutes, you dump this onion garlic goodness out into a blender and pulse until smooth. It should look like grits, ya’ll:
By now the water should be boiling, so drop in 8 Ounces Barilla Plus Elbow Macaroni and cook until al dente.
1
Meanwhile season up you onion garlic puree with:
- 1 tsp dried mustard
- 1/4 tsp cayenne
- Salt and pepper to taste (I used A LOT)
Once the pasta is done, drain and set aside. Then heat your onion garlic puree up in a pot (large enough to hold the sauce and the pasta), and once hot and bubbly slowly whisk in 2 cups shredded reduced fat cheddar cheese.
It should be gloriously thick.
Once the cheese is all melted in, take it off the heat and whisk in 2/3 cup fat free plain greek yogurt, then add in the cooked pasta. Once everything is combined, pour the mac and cheese into a casserole dish greased with cooking spray.
Sprinkle the top with
- 1/2 cup whole wheat panko bread crumbs
- 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
- Sprinkling of dried parsley
Baked at 425 for 15 minutes:
Cheesy deliciousness:
Just to balance things out, I also made a big arse salad for the game:
No joke. Big. Arse.
Of course I finangled one serving of the mac and cheese to take home with me after the game, and I decided to spice it up a bit for dinner tonight.
I LIBERALLY seasoned up 4 jumbo shrimp with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and cayenne pepper and sautéed them up on a pan:
I also roasted up some broccoli that I had liberally seasoned with S&P … and I also microwaved the mac and cheese. Don’t judge.
VOILA!
That is a seriously grown up healthified mac and cheese masterpiece!!!
I havent had roasted broccoli in months!! I practically lived off of roasted veggies last summer, and I had somehow forgotten how friggin delicious they are!
The mac and cheese by itself was a little too mild for my tastes – so, at the super bowl party I topped it off with some Frank’s Red hot. But for tonight’s dinner this spicy cayenne shrimp added plenty of kick:
Can’t get over how delicious!
Get in my beeeeeeeeeeeelllllllllllllllllllllllllllllly!!!!!!!!!!!!
Stats on 1 serving mac and cheese (no shrimp): 275 calories, 30g carbs, 10g fat, 17g protein, 3g fiber
Stats on 1 serving mac and cheese WITH shrimp: 322 calories, 30g carbs, 11g fat, 26g protein, 3g fiber
Mac & Cheese Ingredients List (serves 8 )
- 1 large Vidalia onion
- 9 cloves roughly chopped garlic
- 1/2 cup water
- 8 Ounces Barilla Plus Elbow Macaroni
- 1 tsp dried mustard
- 1/4 tsp cayenne
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 cups reduced fat cheddar
- 2/3 cup fat free Greek yogurt
- 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
- 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
- Sprinkling of dried parsley
Seriously. Make this. Now.
Last weekend, I posted a super simple super quick recipe for the Ahmygawd Breakfast Sandwich.
Today, I made a repeat of that masterpiece with the addition of some Frank’s Red Hot:
I swear to you, this breakfast sandwich is eyes-roll-into-the-back-of-your-head delicious.
If you are a yolk lover like me (and a sausage lover for that matter) do yourself a favor and make this for breakfast. Immediately!
Stats on the life changer: 255 calories, 24g carbs, 10g fat, 20g protein, 3g fiber
