Crockpot Chicken Tacos

Do you need a quick, go-to recipe for making chicken tacos??  Look no further!  This is a really easy version that using the crockpot to produce perfectly tender shredded chicken that is full of flavor.  My good friend Jessica gave me this recipe; I added in some additional onion and jalapeno.  I'm not sure I will ever go back to making chicken tacos any other way because these are so good!!!  You can customize with whatever your favorite taco toppings happen to be, but look below for my suggestions for this recipe.

Servings:  10

Size:  2 tacos

Points Plus: 6pp

Level of Difficulty:  Easy

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time:  4-5 hours

Rating: 5 stars – Excellent!

Ingredient List:
1 16 oz. jar salsa
1 packet of taco seasoning
¾ cup onion, chopped
¼ cup jalapeno, chopped
4 large chicken breasts
20 small flour tortillas

Optional Toppings (these are included in the pp value above):

1 cup Mexican blend shredded cheese, reduced-fat

1 can (4 oz.) sliced black olives

½ cup white onion, chopped

Fresh cilantro, chopped

Directions:

Add the full jar of salsa and taco seasoning to the crockpot; stir until well mixed.  Add in the chopped onion and jalapeno.  Finally, add in the chicken breasts and stir to make sure the salsa mixture is covering the chicken.  Set the crockpot on high for the first 2 hours and then finish on low for the next 2 hours.  Depending on how your crockpot cooks, wait until the chicken is fully cooked before removing to shred with a fork.  Add the shredded chicken back into the crockpot and cook on low or warm for an additional hour.  Serve with your favorite taco fixings and tortillas!  For the tacos above, I used 1 Tbsp. cheese, about 1/4 cup of chicken and just a sprinkle of olives per taco.  You can add as much onion and cilantro as you like! 

Tip:

Frozen chicken breasts work great in the crockpot!  If you haven’t had time to fully thaw out your chicken, not a big deal.  Just toss everything in the crockpot and set to low if you will be gone all day at work.  You will come home to a delicious smelling kitchen!

XOXO Megan

French Toast with Blueberry Sauce

Sunday night dinner.  I had ambitions to make a veggie pot pie but really just got too lazy! Instead we whipped up this easy recipe using some fresh blueberries that I had bought at the store earlier in the day.  It turned out great and, it is always fun to have brinner! 

Servings: 2
Serving Size: 2 pieces and half of the blueberry sauce
Points Plus: 2pp
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 5 minutes
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Rating: 4 stars – Very Good

Ingredients
1 cup fresh (or frozen) blueberries
½ T. sugar
½ T. lemon zest
½ T. lemon juice
4 pieces low calorie bread
1 egg
2 egg whites
1 T. fat free milk
½ T. vanilla
Cooking spray

Instructions
Put the first four ingredients in a sauce pan and turn heat to low.  Cook for about 8 minutes, until the berries have broken down and the mixture is a soup like consistency (it is super easy to make a low cal berry sauce that is delish by the way!). Spray a griddle pan with cooking spray. Beat your egg, egg whites, milk and vanilla in a shallow bowl. Carefully dip each piece of bread into the egg mixture to coat, and fry for a few minutes on each side until the bread is golden brown.  To serve, place two pieces of French toast on a plate and top each with ½ of the blueberry mixture, which will be about 1/3 cup.  You could also top with 2 T. fat free cool whip for no additional points plus.

Tip
You could try this with any type of frozen or fresh fruit that you like. Blueberries will breakdown to a great ‘saucy’ consistency, but any fruit will be delish!

Cream of Mushroom Soup

Before learning how to eat healthy I had no clue how easy it was to make yummy veggie soup.  I have tried many recipes over the years that really are just veggies and bullion (or stock), and they almost always turn out amazing!  This recipe from Skinnytaste is so easy and is one of my favs.  I love mushrooms (not everyone does ;), and this soup is great paired with half of a sandwich for lunch.  Also, it is only 2pp per serving.  Pretty amazing if you ask me!

Servings: 5

Servings Size: 1 1/4 cup

Points Plus: 3pp

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Level of Difficulty: Easy

Rating: 4 stars - Very Good

Ingredients

3 tbsp flour

4 cups water

3 chicken bouillon cubes

5 oz shiitake mushrooms, sliced

8 oz baby bella, sliced

1 celery stalk

Fresh ground pepper

Raw scallions

8 T. soft goat cheese

Instructions

Put water into a heavy stock pot and bring to a boil.  Add flour slowly, whisking as you go. Set pot to medium heat.

Add celery, mushrooms, chicken bouillon and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer until veggies are soft, about 30 minutes. Remove and toss celery.  Using your immersion blender, blend to the consistency that you enjoy.  If you don't have an immersion blender take a few cups of the soup out and put it into your blender, and then return to the pot.  Continue cooking a few minutes longer.  I served my soup with a few raw onions and a dab of goat cheese (because I didn't have any sour cream.  

Tip

Bouillon has a TON of salt and maybe that is why I love it so much (I love salt which is bad, I know).  Don't fear, I am on the hunt for a better bullion.  I have found a few recipes for DIY that I am going to test out in the next few weeks.  I have never found a stock that I think tastes as good as bullion, so if you have one, please let me know what it is and I will give it a try!  Add the bouillon slowly.  If you like your soup less salty you might not need 3 cubes.

Banana Bread Bites

Portion control is REALLY important to being successful!  This recipe is perfect for helping you practice good portion control.  I took a tradtional banana bread and sliced it like usual, but then cut each slice into perfect, bite-sized pieces!  You could serve this for house guests with some fresh fruit for a healthy, low pp breakfast.

Servings:  16 (Assuming 1 regular loaf cut into 8 slices)
Serving Size: 3 banana bites
Points Plus: 3pp
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook/Bake Time: 55-60 minutes
Rating: 4 stars - Very Good

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. baking soda

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp. salt

1 cup ripe bananas, mashed

3/4 cup walnuts, chopped

Cooking spray

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  In a medium bowl, combine the baking soda, flour and salt making sure it's well combined.  In a large bowl, mix together the butter, sugar and eggs.  Add half the flour mixture to the wet ingredients, followed by half of the mashed bananas; stirring until well combined after each addition.  Repeat with the remaining flour and banana mixtures.  Gently fold in the walnuts with a spatula.  Lightly grease a loaf pan with cooking spray.  Bake for 55-60 minutes or until a toothpick will come out clean.  Allow the bread to cool on a wire rack.  Cut each slice of banana bread into 6 bite-sized pieces to get the pp value above.

Tip:

This recipe will make one regular sized loaf and 2 mini loaves.  Another good tip for portion control is to freeze half of what you make so you aren't eating the full recipe at one time.  Banana bread freezes really well AND it will save you time next time you have company coming into town!

XOXO Megan

Happy New Year + MAKEOVER + Creamy Crock Pot Tomato Soup

HAPPP-py New Year!  It's a new year ya'all!  Time for a fresh start, a fresh attitude, a fresh YOU! Joining forces to start EAT ME with my cousin was one of the most exciting and motivating things I did in 2013, and I can't wait to continue to inspire each of you to eat your way to a healthier lifestyle in 2014.  Will this be the year that you reach your health goals?  Will it be the year you fit into those jeans?  Will it simply be the year that you just BEGIN to learn about eating healthy and take one step to doing so by following this blog? Will it be the year that you get into the kitchen for the first time and learn that cooking your own wholesome meal tastes so much better than anything you could pick up at a drive through?  All of these are good intentions (a word I prefer over resolutions), so get EXCITED! This is YOUR year! (ok I am tearing up I have to stop)

With 2014 we bring you.....our UPDATED layout - hurray!  We are pretty proud of how this turned out, especially considering our skillz in the kitchen heavily outweigh our HTML blog design skillz.  We are learning and always open to feedback, so let us know what you think!

We have a lot planned for 2014 including some fun recipe makeovers, contests, and guest posts. But for now, I bring you our FIRST recipe for the New Year!

Get out your SLOW COOKER!  The crock pot is something that I am super intimidated by.  I don’t know why, I think it is because there are too many possibilities (and I don’t love meat).  I challenged myself to find a delish New Year’s Day recipe to show you that eating healthy can be FUN AND super-duper easy.  The addition of these itty bitty teeny tiny grilled cheeses makes this comforting meal a must. This recipe is adapted from Skinnytaste.

Servings: 6

Servings Size: 1 1/2 cups soup + ½ grilled cheese

Points Plus: 5 pp

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 6 hours

Level of Difficulty: Easy

Rating: 5 stars - Excellent!

Photo from Here

Ingredients

Soup

1 t. olive oil

1 cup finely diced celery

1 cup finely diced carrots

1 cup finely diced onions

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

28 oz can whole plum tomatoes, with juice

1 tsp thyme

1/4 cup fresh basil

3 1/2 cups reduced sodium chicken broth (or vegetable for vegetarians)

Parmesan or Romano cheese rind (optional but HIGHLY recommended)(Easy to find at your local health food store such as Whole Foods)

1 bay leaf

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 tablespoons flour

1 3/4 cups fat free milk, warmed

Salt + Pepper

Itty bitty teeny tiny grilled cheeses

6 reduced calorie bread

3 Kraft singles

Spray Butter

Cooking spray

Directions

Soup

Heat a large skillet over medium heat, warm oil and add celery, carrots, onions and red pepper flakes. Cook for about 5 minutes then add to slow cooker.

Pour the juice of the tomatoes into the slow cooker, then roughly crush the tomatoes with your hands; add to slow cooker. Then add your chicken stock, cheese rind (if using) thyme, basil, and bay leaf.

Cover and cook on LOW for 6 hours. After 6 hours remove the cheese rid and, using an immersion blender, blend the soup until smooth. If you don’t have in immersion blender 1) get one 2) be very careful, I have made a huge mess while trying to do this because blending hot soup is hard people!.

Melt the butter over low heat in a large skillet and add the flour. Stir constantly with a whisk for 4 to 5 minutes. Slowly whisk in about 1 cup of the hot soup, then add the 1 3/4 cups of warmed milk and stir until smooth. Pour back into the slow cooker and stir. Add salt + pepper to taste.  Cover and cook on low 30 more minutes.

Grilled Cheese

Spray a non-stick pan with cooking spray. Lightly spritz one side of each piece of bread.  Working in batches if necessary, place 1 piece of bread butter side down on pan, top with one piece of cheese and one piece of bread butter side up.  Cook grilled cheeses until brown and toasty.  When sandwiches are finished cut each in half, and then each half into 8 small sandwiches. 

To Serve

Place ½ cups of soup into a bowl and top with 8 tiny grilled cheese sandwiches. 

Tip

Have you ever added a parmesan cheese rind to your soup for a low calorie boost of creamy flavor? The parmesan rind is the hard part of fresh parm that you would normally throw away.  Next time you have one layin’ around, stick it in your freezer to pull out during an upcoming soup making sesh.  OR – you can buy these at your local health store such as Whole Foods or co-op.  I found one for 66 cents!

Enjoy & Happy New Year!

XOXO - Katie

2013 Year in Review!

What a year!  2013 has been so fun for Katie and me as we launched THIS blog!  It was been a dream that became a reality last April when we started out.  We have had fun sharing the blog and hopefully you have all enjoyed the delcious and healthy recipes we have brought you throughout the year!

We are excited about where the blog is headed for next year (more on that tomorrow from Katie...), but let's first take a review of our most popular recipes from 2013!!!!!

1. Tortilla Pinwheels

2. Mini Pumpkin Cheesecakes
3. Polenta Pizzas
4. Homemade Pumpkin Pie Spice
5. Ice Cream Cake
6. Summer Fiesta Bean Salad

7. Mushroom Stroganoff

8. Summer Orzo Salad

9. Sweet & Sour Chicken

10. Mashed Cauliflower

If you like (or have tried) any of these healthy, fun recipes above you should start following our blog!  Just click the follow link in the right hand navigation bar and you will get each new post delived right to your inbox!!!  CHECK it out!

Happy New Year's Eve everyone!  Hope everyone has a safe and happy NYE. Maybe you can try out one of our top 10 recipes for the holiday! :)

XOXO Megan 

Party Skewers

Are you hosting a New Year's party?  Or are you going to one and you don't know what you should bring?  Well these quick and easy little skewers are the perfect party app!

Servings: 10
Serving Size: 2 skewers
Points Plus: 5pp
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: n/a
Rating: 3 stars - Good

Ingredient List:
1 jar green olives
10 oz. Gouda cheese
10 oz. summer sausage
Toothpicks

Directions:
Dice the cheese and sausage into 1/2 oz. pieces (yes they are a little small, but you just need a taste of each ingredient to make the skewer complete!).  Assemble each skewer by starting with sausage, then Gouda, then topping off with a green olive.  Arrange on a serving platter and you're done!

Tip:
You can easily susbsitute in other items if you aren't a fan of summer sausage or Gouda cheese.  You could sub in salami or prosciutto instead of summer sausage and choose your favorite cheese instead!

XOXO Megan