Tasty Thursday

      We are finally free of the sickies! Yay! Though Owen is now teething again. But we have been able to get out of the house this week so that is some major progress. I've been able to work out twice and we've gone to a playdate and MOPS. It has been so wonderful not being cooped in the house all the time. Other than those things (and playing with Owen), I've been keeping the house clean and working on the blog. 
      Last week's new recipes were mainly winners, though the stand-out in my opinion was Pioneer Woman's cheeseburger salad. And really, it can hardly be qualified as a recipe since all you do is brown ground beef, add in some condiments and plop it on some lettuce. The pickles and red onion make the salad. Really, it was so good. As in, I could probably eat this instead of having a burger for the rest of my life. I also wanted to let you know how my various chicken cupcakes turned out. I pretty much combined the recipe ideas from the website I linked to last week with a few ideas of my own and then baked them with Emily Bites' cupcake method. I made buffalo chicken cupcakes, barbecue chicken cupcakes, and chicken parmesan cupcakes. I took photographs while I made the chicken parmesan cupcakes to show you the technique.

To begin with, I layered two wonton wrappers in the bottom of each well in my muffin pan, which I sprayed with Pam.

Then I combined my shredded chicken with some bottled marinara sauce.

Begin the layering process with three or four leaves of baby spinach.

Then add some of the chicken and top with mozzarella cheese.

After that, add another two wonton wrappers and press down a little to compact the cupcake. Then layer the spinach, chicken, and cheese again.

Bake at 375 for 18-20 minutes. Then serve with extra marinara sauce.

They were so yummy.

    For the buffalo ones, I used the wonton wrappers and then filled them with shredded chicken mixed with buffalo sauce (the new Tabasco buffalo-style hot sauce is so good, BTW) and diced celery. I don't like bleu cheese, but I'm sure adding that would make it taste exactly like eating hot wings. The barbecue chicken cupcake might have been my favorite. I layered the wonton wrapper in the bottom, then added shredded chicken that I had tossed in barbecue sauce, then I added some diced red onion and some cilantro and then topped it with mozzarella cheese. It was perfection. Anyway, enough about last week. On to the coming week. And Valentine's Day. I am so excited!



Thursday: Shrimp creole over brown rice with a side salad. This is a Skinny Taste recipe that I found last week. I have shrimp in the freezer and I am looking forward to a quick, spicy meal. 

Photo from Skinny Taste.

Friday: Italian chicken soup. This is my adaptation of a Pioneer Woman recipe. It is a healthier version. In case you missed it, you can check out the link to my post about the recipe. 

Saturday: Leftover soup.
Sunday: Autumn penne pasta with sauteed brussels sprouts in a light ragu. I still cannot say enough good things about this Skinny Taste recipe. It is so good. And even though it uses mainly ground turkey, the additional of one spicy pork sausage gives the dish so much flavor without adding too many calories. And brussels sprouts are seriously good when you have them in this recipe. Give it a try. 

Photo from Skinny Taste.

Monday: Turkey meatloaf with roasted green beans and creamy cauliflower puree. I have made this meatloaf recipe before. It is really tasty. And I'm excited about making the cauliflower puree instead of mashed potatoes for a healthier side dish option. 

Photo from Skinny Taste.

Photo from Skinny Taste.

Tuesday: Shrimp arrabbiata with a side salad and steamed asparagus. This will be our Valentine's Day dinner. We were supposed to have it last week, but Tim came home with a craving for pizza that night so we ate out instead. It is a quick and tasty recipe though, so I'm looking forward to making it for us and then having the rest of the evening to celebrate. We will also be having a special dessert, but I will leave that a mystery for now so it will be a surprise for Tim. 

Wednesday: Oven fried chicken parmesan. This is a recipe that I got out of Cooking Light magazine when Tim and I were first married. It is so delicious. And easy. And pretty healthy, actually. We will have it with polenta and steamed broccoli.

Photo from Cooking Light Magazine.

     And for a special treat this weekend and because it is becoming a tradition for me to make some type of warm sit-down together and eat breakfast on Saturday mornings, I am making Skinny Taste's baked oatmeal with blueberries and bananas. 

Photo from Skinny Taste.