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Archive for the ‘Grilled Foods’ Category

Tonight I craved pasta, so I thought long and hard about what kind of pasta I wanted and nothing came to mind, so I let the ingredients I had on hand guide me.

I grabbed some items out of the fridge. Fresh spinach, feta cheese, asparagus and broccoli. I also had some brats that I thought my husband would love in his pasta bowl.

So first things first, I started the grill for the brats.

Then I chopped the broccoli and trimmed the asparagus and got them ready to roast on the grill. Roasted on the top shelf of the grill for 17 minutes lightly seasoned. Brats went on the bottom rack for the 17 minutes of grill time, and I turned them once. While that was roasting I got my pasta going. Used a can of chicken broth and brought the noodles to a boil. Added the fresh spinach and cooked for 12 minutes. Stirring occasionally. Once the pasta was done I added the feta cheese and the roasted broccoli and tossed together.

Grabbed the brats from the grill and sliced them into chunks. Used the asparagus as a side vegetable.

Put it all together and there you have the Pasta Bowl. This bowl was Jeff’s.

And this Pasta Bowl was mine.

Looking back at the assembly of this dish, I cannot get over how easy it was. I had 4 main ingredients, 3 were on the grill and the pasta on the stove. It really only took 30 minutes to complete, and it cured my pasta craving. I love my grill, it makes throwing a dinner together easy.

Snapped a few pictures. I love summer and outdoor living. I live for outdoor walks, eating outdoors, taking pictures of the great outdoors.

I harassed this little worker for about 5 minutes, he could careless, he was too busy doing his work.

He was Bee-utiful.

Stuart helping me weed.

Enjoy your day!

Check Ya Later.

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I have such a fun and easy meal I’d like to share with you today. I was at Sam’s Club recently and you all know those sample carts that attract all the shoppers, well I fell prey to one that was sampling this Asian Chop Salad. I was sold instantly. Where have I been? Everyone I told about this salad already knew about it. Well I am so glad I finally caught on to it.

So I paired the salad with grilled tofu and some California Sushi Rolls.  I used my basic marinade for the tofu and just grilled it for 7 minutes on each side. I always grill on medium heat. I also used my Tofu press.

If you ever see this salad, grab it, it is fresh, tangy and delicious, but I am sure you already know about it.

Packed with crunch and flavor.

Perfect meal for a hot summer day.

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Dinner time is my favorite time of the day, it’s when I get to catch up with my husband and see how his day was. I love that we hang out, eat dinner and talk about our day and our schedule for the week. It’s our quality time together after being away all day at work. So when it comes to dinner I always try to make foods that we both enjoy. So tonight I made Jeff’s favorite vegetable, brussels sprouts and my favorite, sweet potato wedges. I love that I can roast them at the same time. Plus who says you can not have two vegetables. Certainly not me.

Wedges.

Seasoned with a Course Sea Salt.

Tossed with Olive Oil.

Garlic Gold for the brussels.

Roasted at 400 degrees for 35 minutes.

Also made a batch of Barley and Quinoa for tonight and enough for some leftovers to eat later.

Love the combination of the grain with the seed.

We grilled up some chicken breasts. Nice simple dinner = quality time together.

After dinner I had some brussels left over so I chopped them up and threw them on the Quinoa mix for tomorrows side dish.

Question of the Day: What’s your favorite Grain? I am loving Barley right now.

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Have you ever made something that made you so happy, you could not stop smiling? Well look at what has me smiling!

The weather has been getting so nice, and I love it. I like hot weather, I do not like to be cold. Funny coming from Michigan seeing how cold our weather gets. We hit 90 degrees on Sunday and it was perfect. One thing I like when its hot is a frozen fruit bar, but when I saw how much they cost this year I decided to make my own. Who knew it was that easy. Just get some molds, cut some fruit and add fruit juice. I picked up these cute molds at the grocery store. The molds are cheaper than a 6 pack of frozen fruit bars.

So I just chopped up some strawberries and threw in some whole blueberries and topped off the molds with fruit juice. That’s it.

Stuck them in the freezer.

Look at these beautiful frozen fruit bars with no added sugar.

I am loving this. So simple, why have I not been making these all my life. I have so many frozen combinations I can not wait to make. This will be a perfect treat on those hot days.

For dinner I made a Buffalo Blue Cheese Chicken Burger. Wow, another keeper. I have been slightly obsessed with using ground chicken and making different burgers lately.

The spicy hot sauce and the sharpness of the blue cheese is so good together.

Even though it’s a big old burger, it’s not heavy at all. It’s actually a nice light meal.  Glad this recipe makes 4 burgers, now I can enjoy it again.

Buffalo Blue Cheese Chicken Burger

Ingredients

Makes 4 Burgers

  • 1/2 cup sliced carrots
  • 1 pound ground white-meat chicken
  • 2 egg whites, lightly beaten
  • 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
  • 1/4 cup blue cheese, plus more for garnish (optional)
  • 1 teaspoon cornstarch
  • 1/4 cup hot sauce
  • vegetable oil cooking spray
  • 4 buns
  • lettuce for topping

Preparation

Add chicken, egg whites, carrots, breadcrumbs and cheese; mix to combine. Form chicken mixture into four 3/4-inch-thick patties. In a second bowl, stir cornstarch into hot sauce until dissolved; set aside. Coat grill with cooking spray. Grill patties over medium-high heat for 6 minutes; flip and grill 4 minutes more. Brush patties with hot sauce mixture; grill until internal temperature reaches 165°F, about 2 additional minutes. Garnish with cheese and lettuce, if desired.

Question of the Day: Have you ever made your own frozen fruit bars? What’s a good combination of fruit?

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Work has been busy lately and I love that, the days have been flying by, but I am on the Fitmixer Boot Camp program and the program is set up to eat 6 small a day. So during the day I have been setting the alarm on my phone to remind me when it’s time for my next meal.

That has been really helping me stay on schedule. My first two meals are protein smoothies. The first protein smoothie I blend at home before I leave for work with fruit and the second meal mixes up well with the Fitmixer blender bottle.  Then I have lunch and a mid afternoon snack.

Me being the planner I am loves this, I pack all my water, Fitmixer powder, snacks and lunch all in a big bag the night before work. I love to be prepared.

So here’s how I started my day. Fitmixer Boot Camp Smoothie with banana and raspberries.

Digging my morning smoothies lately. I love the vanilla protein powder and I love choosing what frozen fruits I’ll be adding to it. Today’s was delicious.

Sliced and bagged an apple for my mid morning snack.

Later, dinner was thrown together. I knew what I wanted to make, but was not sure how it would all fit together. Grilled chicken breast, seasoned rice and kale chips on Flat Out bread, with a side of roasted broccoli. I wanted a clean, easy and filling dinner, and it worked out well together, I really liked it.

Had a really nice cool evening so we sat on the deck, ate dinner and enjoyed the view.

We have a pair of nesting swans on the lake this year and I have been watching them every night, tonight the male was swimming around while the female sat on the nest. He sit’s next to her most of the time, but tonight he took a nice long swim and cleaned his feathers. I hope I am home when the eggs hatch. She has been on her nest now for three weeks and the normal process is 40 days, so I really think the hatching is getting close.

The Lilly pads are starting to bloom and I love when they flower, I will be sure to post a picture as soon as I get one.

Finally got the picture I have been trying to get for days, the Baltimore Oriole that visits my bird bath daily.

Killian laid in the grass and relaxed for approximately 30 seconds, then it was right back to running around the yard monitoring any movement from anything.

Stuart was fascinated by the swan and stood on the deck woofing at him.

I snapped a picture of my blooming lavender, so pretty, smells amazing.

Then Killian and Stuart decided to chase each other and play fight. They had a blast.

Later in the evening a hummingbird was hanging around the feeder so I grabbed my camera and ran upstairs to my bedroom balcony for a better view and was so excited that he was still buzzing around taking drinks.

The last picture I took today was this little bunny, he has had a few close calls with my dogs, but each time has made it to shelter. I try to look for him before I let the dogs out, but sometimes he’s in a bush or a plant and I don’t see him, so glad he’s fast, I like watching him weed my yard.

Well, I had a great day and now it’s time to watch Master Chef, I love me some Gordan Ramsey. What did I ever do before DVR? Digging that it’s the weekend I need some extra sleep.

Now to the Winner of  The 4 Simply Bars # 7 Lisa at Fit in the Midwest.

  1. Caramel peanut sounds delicious!

     

Also, The Simply Bar has offered to send a  Lemon Coconut Bar to an additional winner. So I did another drawing and the winner of the Free Bar direct from The Simply Bar is #10 MLLrungirl.

  1. I follow you on twitter.

So now I just need the winners to email me at denajeanne@gmail.com with your shipping information and your prize will be on it’s way. 

Thanks to everyone who entered. 

Question of the Day: What’s your favorite cooking show?  I’m love around the world in 80 plates.

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Sometimes I just have to have this for breakfast. It calls to me. So instead of my Fitmixer protein shake I had an English muffin topped with Almond maple flavored nut butter, sliced banana and chia seeds.

I over loaded chia seeds, but I love the crunch they add. Hit the spot.

Spent the week-end planting my annual flowers and replacing mulch where it was needed. I love gardening, it is great exercise and I love being outdoors. Plus I love to come home from work everyday and water my flowers and watch them grow.

In the summer I love walking, grilling, gardening, boating and riding my motorcycle. I try to fit them all in weekly.

After working outside all day I got busy making dinner. I knew I had to make this Chicken Caesar Burger when I saw it on Courtney’s, Sweet Tooth Sweet Life blog.  It sounded so good with the shredded Parmesan cheese and the Caesar dressing. So having planned ahead I had all the ingredient I needed on hand. Just a few weeks ago I made a Chicken Lime Burger and fell in love with ground chicken. So now I have two favorite chicken burgers for summer grilling.

Also grilled up some Brussels sprouts seasoned with Parmesan gold nuggets.

I used a petite loaf as a bun, it was a large serving of bread, but was so good.

Perfect day to grill out, it was 87 degrees. No way was I going to use the oven today.

Now that’s a big old burger.

Followed by a cup of fresh strawberries. They were very sweet and cold. Perfect way to end a meal.

This recipe was adapted from Courtney at Sweet Tooth Sweet Life.

Chicken Caesar Burgers

Serves 4 

Ingredients:

  • 1lb. Ground Chicken
  • 1/3 cup Grated Parmesan Cheese
  • 1/3 cup Panko Bread Crumbs
  • 3 tablespoons Caesar dressing
  • 2 cloves Garlic, Minced
  • 1 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
  • 1 tablespoon Lemon Juice
Finishing Touches/Garnish:
  • Extra Caesar Dressing
  • Romaine Lettuce
  • Freshly Shredded Parmesan Cheese
  • Bread of your Choice

Directions:

Combine the ingredients and mix well. Form into four patties. Grill over medium-high heat, 6-8 minutes on each side. Top cooked chicken burgers with freshly shredded parmesan cheese, romaine lettuce, and extra Caesar dressing.

Question of the Day: What is your Favorite Burger Topping?

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