Take Out Made at Home

I love Chinese food. Like really, really LOVE it!!

When we order, we end up ordering a little bit of everything most times and the bill just climbs up higher and higher and we are stuck with tons of unhealthy leftovers (for days!).

I love any type of Chinese chicken dish, but most times the calories and fat in those can add up!

I searched a bit online and found a few recipes to make it healthier. As always, I then had to adjust it and tweak it a bit, to make it my own.

We make this dish often in our house, because it is super easy and once you buy the ingredients, they last a while and you can make it several times!

Sweet and Sour Chicken:

Makes about 4 servings

Ingredients:

•   3-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, pounded to ½ inch thickness and chopped into 1 inch pieces

•   ⅓ cup corn starch

•   2 tablespoons oil

•   1 red bell pepper, chopped

•   1 green bell pepper

•   ½ white or yellow onion, chopped

•   1 tablespoon sesame oil

Sauce:

•   1/4 cup sugar

•   1/4 cup Agave nectar or honey (whichever you happen to have on hand)

•   1/2 cup apple cider vinegar (may sub white vinegar)

•   2 tablespoons soy sauce (or Bragg's Liquid Amino Acids)

•   2 teaspoons chopped fresh garlic or 1 teaspoon garlic powder 

•   1/2 teaspoon onion salt

•   1/4 cup ketchup

•   1 tablespoon cornstarch + 2 tablespoon cold water

Directions:

1.   First prepare the sauce. Add sugar, agave nectar (or honey),vinegar, soy sauce, garlic powder, onion salt, and ketchup to a medium sauce pan. Stir and bring to a boil. In a small bowl whisk together the 1 tablespoon corn starch and cold water until dissolved. Add to sauce pan and stir until thickened, then reduce to low heat.

2.  Add chicken pieces and corn starch to a large ziplock bag. Seal and shake to coat chicken. Drizzle a large pan or skillet with sesame oil. Add coated chicken. Saute over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Add peppers and onions. Continue to saute over medium heat until chicken is browned and cooked through.

3.  Add the sauce to the chicken and pepper mixture and stir to coat.

Vegetable Fried Rice:

Ingredients:

3 Cups rice, cooked according to rice directions

3 Tablespoons sesame oil (or vegetable oil)

1 cup frozen peas and carrots or mixed vegetable blend (thawed)

1/2 cup shelled Edamamme

1 small onion, chopped

2 teaspoons minced garlic

2 eggs, slightly beaten

3-4 Tablespoons soy sauce (or Bragg's Liquid Amino Acid)

Directions:

1.  On medium high heat, heat the oil in a large skillet or wok. Add the vegetables mix, onion and garlic. Stir fry until tender.

2.  Lower the heat to medium low and push the mixture off to one side, the pour eggs on the other side of skillet. Stir fry until scrambled.

3. Now add the rice and soy sauce and blend all together well. Stir fry until           thoroughly heated!

I hope you enjoy!!

My First Tofu Recipe!!!

So, I have eaten so much chicken breast lately...I just couldn't do it anymore!!  I was done.

I needed to find another protein source quick and my first instinct was Tofu, but I was afraid.  Very afraid....

You hear the horror stories. How bad it tastes, how awful the texture is and so on...but I was up for the challenge.

I found this awesome Sprouted Tofu from Trader Joe's and with a recommendation from a friend, I grabbed it.

I opened up the package (spilled the liquid all over myself and the floor) and took out one of the blocks of tofu.  I was told to make sure all the moisture was out, so I wrapped the block in tons of paper towels and set a heavy bowl on top.  I let it sit this way for about 15 minutes.

While the water was getting all pulled out, I needed to decide what kid of sauce I wanted to cook it in.  I went to my fridge and saw the left over vegetable lo mein from Friday night's Chinese take out and decided to go in an Asian route. I grabbed the Siracha Chile sauce, Soy Sauce and honey.  Made a mixture of those three ingredients, added in a little agave and Stevia until it had a little spice, but was tame enough to enjoy!! (I love spicy, so if you don't..I would go with a different chile sauce that isn't as spicy as Siracha).

The sauce tasted great, so I set it aside and went back for the block of tofu and cut the block into about .5"-1" cubes. I then took some cornstarch in a big freezer bag and added the tofu blocks, shaking it up to coat the tofu cubes. 
I heated some sesame oil in a large frying pan and cooked up the tofu on medium heat until it was crispy on the outside.  I then removed it from the pan and transferred to a plate covered in paper towels to remove any excess oil.

I then added some garlic to the pan and cooked for about a minute.  I added the sauce to a pan and cooked until it was lightly boiling.  
Once the sauce was boiling, I mixed up a tablespoon of cornstarch with a tablespoon of water and added it to the boiling sauce to thicken it (it only took about 1 minute!!).  I took it off the heat and added the cooked tofu into the pan with the sauce and coated.

This is where the left over lo mein came in....

I quick heated it up (in the microwave) and added the tofu and sauce on top!!!

And bam....Honey Siracha Tofu Lo Mein!!

It was amazing and so glad my first attempt at cooking tofu was a success.  Now I am ready to tackle the world of Tofu!!


Honey Siracha Tofu
Makes 2 Servings

Ingredients:

1 Block Extra Firm Tofu (about 8 ounces)
2 tablespoons cornstarch

Sauce:
1/4 cup Low Sodium Soy Sauce or Liquid Amino 
1 cup water
1-2 tbls Siracha (depending on how spicy you want it)
1 tablespoon Agave
1 tablespoon Honey
3 packets of Stevia
2 tablespoon cornstarch
2 tablespoons water

1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon Sesame Oil

Directions:
Wrap Tofu block in paper towels and set under a weight to pull all of the water out.
Once Tofu is dry, cut into .5"-1" cubes.
Add 2 Tablespoons of cornstarch in a large gallon size bag and add Tofu cubes to coat. 

Add 1 Tablespoon of Sesame Oil to a large frying pan and heat on medium heat.  Add coated Tofu cubes to the pan and cook for about 10-12 minutes, stirring to brown all sides. 
Remove Tofu and drain on paper towels to remove excess oil.

In a small bowl, mix 1 cup of water, 1/4 cup soy sauce, 1-2 tablespoons Siracha, the Agave, Honey and Stevia and mix well.

In the meantime, mince the garlic and add to the pan on medium heat, cooking for about 1 minute.  Add the sauce mixture to the garlic and bring to a light boil.  Mix together 2 tablespoons of water and 2 tablespoons of cornstarch in a mug or small bowl until blended and add to the boiling sauce.  Cook for an additional minute, stirring the entire time until sauce thickens. 

Add the cooked tofu back into the pan with the sauce and toss to coat.

Serve over lo mein noodles or cooked white rice.

Light Tomato Sausage Pasta Bake

We forgot to thaw meat from our freezer, yet again....our life story!!!

This happens often so we try to have other meat option available in the fridge.

I happened to have a pack of chicken sausages on hand.....but what to make for dinner????

I had a craving for pasta, but didn't just want sauce and sausage over pasta. I wanted to fancy it up a bit, so this is what I came up with!!

I went digging in my fridge and pulled out any vegetables that needed to be used, so I grabbed mushrooms, onions, garlic and spinach.  I also grabbed the package of chicken sausages, which we get from Aldi's and always have on hand.  I love them with my eggs in the morning!!

We also had some Trader Joe's whole wheat penne in the pantry so I grabbed about 10 ounces and cooked according to the package until al dente. 

I added about a tablespoon of oil to a pan on the stove on medium heat and sliced about about half a large onion. I added this to the hot pan and started to sauté. While that was cooking, I sliced the chicken sausages and add them to the pan along with the mushrooms, onions and garlic. I sautéed until veggies were done and the sausage was cooked through (It's pre-cooked so it wasn't very long considering it was going to bake also!)

Once the penne was cooked, I added the raw spinach to the strainer in the sink and drained the pasta over the spinach to wilt it a bit.  The less you cook vegetables, the more nutrients the maintain, so this is perfect to lightly cook the spinach.

In a small bowl, I combined 1 can organic diced tomatoes, 1 cup organic pasta sauce, 3/4 cup plain greek yogurt, 1/4 cup milk and 3/4 cup shredded part skim mozzarella cheese.  Season with salt,  pepper and garlic powder and mixed until blended. 

 I then added the chicken sausage mixture and pasta/spinach mixture into the sauce and mixed until everything was covered with the sauce.

I greased a 9x12 glass pan with olive oil spray and poured in the pasta mixture.  I then topped with remaining 3/4 cup of mozzarella cheese and a little parmesan (about 1/4 cup)

 I covered the pasta bake with aluminum foil and baked at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes covered and removed the foil. I then baked for another 10 min. just to melt the cheese.

We divided it out into 6 servings and each serving came out to about:

Calories- 402

Carbs- 46g

Protein - 27g

Fat 13g

This was all based on the brands used!!

For the 21 Day Fixers, it would be:
1 Red
1.5 to 2 Green
1 Yellow
1 Blue

Light Tomato Sausage Pasta Bake

Makes 6 servings

Ingredients:

-10 ounces whole wheat penne pasta

-1 lb spicy Italian chicken sausage, sliced

-1 5-6 oz. bag baby spinach
-10 ounces sliced mushrooms
-Onion, large sliced

-2 cloves garlic, minced

-1 cup diced tomatoes or chopped fresh tomato

-1 cup prepared tomato sauce (e.g., Prego)

-3/4 cup plain greek yogurt

-1/4 cup milk

-1 and 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese (or less if desired)

-1/2 tsp salt

-1/2 tsp pepper

-1/2 tsp garlic powder

-1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (less or none if you don't like spicy)

-1/4 cup fresh parmesan cheese, grated

Directions

-Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

-Cook pasta according to package directions until al dente.

-Slice onions and added to a medium heat pan with about 1 tablespoon oil.

-When onion are about halfway cooked, add mushrooms, garlic and sliced chicken sausage and cook over medium heat for 12-14 minutes, or until browned and sausage is cooked through. 

-Place the spinach in the bottom of your pasta strainer. When pasta is done, pour pasta and pasta water over the spinach into the strainer, allowing the spinach to wilt slightly.

-In a small bowl, add diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, yogurt, milk, 3/4 cup of the mozzarella cheese, and spices to bowl. Mix very well. Add pasta and sausage mixture and mix well until all blended. 

-Pour into casserole dish and top with remaining 1/4 cup mozzarella cheese and parmesan cheese. Cover dish with foil.

-Cook for 30 minutes covered. Remove foil and cook for an additional 10 minutes.

ENJOY!!

**New** 22 Minute Hard Corps

Who finds it hard to fit in a workout everyday??

What if I told you, you could get amazing results....in 8 weeks, for just 22 minutes a day...in your own home!!

Beachbody has launched a new fitness program today, called 22 Minute Hard Corps with celebrity trainer Tony Horton. Tony Horton is the creator of the P90 workouts, which are all amazing.

22 Minute Hard Corps is a challenging, military-inspired workout program designed to burn fat, build lean muscle, and get you “Boot Camp Fit” in 22 minutes a day.  I did a sneak peak a few weeks ago an fell in love!!

He jumps right into the workouts with and works you for 22 minutes to your full potential.  I was shocked to get the workout I did in under 25 minutes!!

What makes this program so unique?

Tony puts getting "boot camp fit" within the reach of anyone willing to commit to 8 weeks of serious training and nutrition. And he gives you all the tools you need to power through the program—including a modifier version of every exercise, that you can follow until you’re up to speed with the rest of the platoon. So with 22 MINUTE HARD CORPS, you get a program that works your whole body with moves that are tough enough to challenge you, but are straightforward enough for you to do on Day One. 

Tony Horton is a huge celebrity trainer with remarkable success.  Throughout the past 15 years, Tony Horton has toured dozens of military bases all over the world, helping troops train to their maximum fitness potential. In 22 Minute Hard Corps, he’s made it his mission to bring military-style workouts to everyone. Now it’s your mission to give him every rep.

What I love most about this program also, is that you really need minimal equipment.  You need a pull up bar or resistance bands with a door attachment (to mimic pull-ups) and a dumbbell. 

AND....the good news is, for the month of March you get a free sandbag with the full Challenge Pack, that holds up to 20lbs. of sand!!!!  

That's a huge value because I was looking into getting a sandbag previously for my workout room and they were all above $40!!  

That alone gets me super excited!!

What does the 22 Minute Hard Corps Challenge Pack include?

• 8 challenging workouts on 2 DVDs

• Quick Start Mission Guide


• 8-week Basic Training Action Plan


• Rations for Results Nutrition Field Guide 

• Cold Start pre-workout drill

• Hell Week Challenge Card


• HARD CORPS: Battle Buddy Workout DVD (Network Exclusive)

Plus (with the challenge pack), you get:

*One month of Shakeology meal replacement shake or the Beachbody Performance Line Energize and Recovery to accelerate your results.

*20 lb. Sandbag 

*30 Day Free Trial on Beachbody On Demand to stream your workouts

*Me as your coach with access to all my fitness challenge and support groups

Check out the full program information here:

22 Minute Hard Corps Shakeology Challenge Pack

22 Minute Hard Corps Performance Challenge Pack

Here are some REAL results from this program.  These were individuals who were chosen a few months back to be part of a test group and documented their workouts and results. These are real people (one that I know personally) and not photo shopped!

So what are you waiting for???

I'm ordering mine!!

My April Challenge group will be forming for those who want to join our "boot camp".

We will all do the program together as a group and motivate each other to get the best results we can!

Cilantro Lime Chicken Burrito Bowl

Mexican food is a staple in our house.  We just love making it (and eating it) at least once a week!
This week, I tried out some burrito bowls to change things up from our normal tortilla and taco shells.

Here is a picture of our "his" and "hers" burrito bowls (And no, the kids did not go near these....too many ingredients for them to try!!)

So what I did to make these bowls (and they were huge!), was I first trimmed my chicken breasts of all visible fat and coated with my favorite Wildtree Chipotle Lime Seasoning.  I then baked the chicken breast for about 20-25 minutes until done.

While the chicken was baking, I started my rice on the stove. You can use instant or slow coo, white or brown...it's all up to you. I happen to be on a time crunch, so instant white rice it was.

I then, chopped up some onion and green pepper into strips and cooked on the stove until tender and opened and rinsed off my organic black beans.
I also diced some green onions and chopped some Cilantro and set aside.

Once the chicken was baked I sliced it up into thin strips and now it was time to make that rice a little fancier!

I simply added the juice of a lime and the chopped up Cilantro to the cooked rice while it was warm and mixed it up. So simple, yet super tasty.
(Some people either love Cilantro or HATE it....I am one who loves it. Probably my favorite herb to use!)

So now that my rice was done, I began to assemble my bowls:


I added one serving (1 cup cooked) rice to the bottom of my bowl (use a BIG bowl!).  
I topped that with about a cup of spring mix (or romaine lettuce, what even you happen to have in your fridge),  the cooked peppers and onions, frozen corn (that I quick warmed in the microwave), black beans, tomatoes (next time I am going to get Pico de Gallo instead) and chopped green onion.

I then layered on the cooked Chipotle Lime chicken and topped with my Greek Yogurt "dressing".
(I also added some Green Dragon Hot Sauce I picked up at Trader Joe's because I love my food spicy and SPICY it was!)

The dressing was simply plain greek yogurt with the same Wildtree Chipotle Lime seasoning mixed in to taste. Nothing fancy, no extra fat but great taste and super simple.  
Regular store bought dressings, not only add a lot of extra fat, but often have so many strange ingredients in them.  This was a way to add flavor without all that extra non sense.

So overall, this was a really quick and forgiving recipe. You easily could add or omit ingredients based on what you had available in your pantry. You could also cook your chicken in the crockpot with the peppers and onions while your at work and shred it on top of the salad! That would make your prep time a lot shorter!

I must say that we made our bowls a little too large and could't finish it!! This was pretty much what was left of mine. I guess our eyes were bigger than our stomachs!

  
SO, don't be scared to get into the kitchen and experiment!  
You never know what you may make that could be your next favorite dish.

Here's the actual recipe with the amounts listed for each ingredient (and bear with my recipes- I am not an expert at writing recipes. I just try and write them good enough for you to follow and replicate my creations!!):

Cilantro Lime Chicken Burrito Bowls

Ingredients:

Chicken:
2 6oz. chicken breasts (pounded)
Wildtree Chipotle Lime Seasoning (can also use regular store bought Low Sodium Taco Seasoning)

Rice:
1 Cup uncooked rice
Juice of one Lime
About 1/4 cup chopped Cilantro

Salad:
3 cups Spring Mix or Chopped Romaine Lettuce
8-10 Cherry Tomatoes (halved) or 1/2 cup Pico de Gallo
1 cup frozen sweet corn (heated)
1/2 cup Organic Black Beans, drained and rinsed
3 Green Onions, chopped
1 green pepper, cut into strips
1/2 a large onion, cut into strips

Dressing:
1 cup Plain Greek Yogurt
2 tablespoons Wildtree Chipotle Lime Seasoning or store bought Low Sodium Taco Seasoning


Directions:

Preheat over to 450 degrees.
Pound chicken breast to desired thickness. Coat each side with Seasoning.
Bake in the oven for about 20-25 until cooked through.
Once chicken is cooked, let rest for about 5 minutes and then cut into strips.

While chicken bakes, prepare rice according to package directions. 
Once cooked, add the juice of 1 lime and the 1/4 cup chopped Cilantro (more if you love it like I do!!)

In the meantime, cook the green pepper strips and onion in a little bit of coconut oil on medium until tender (about 8-10 minutes).

To prepare bowls:
Take 2 large bowls.  
In each, add 1/2 cup of the cooked Lime Cilantro rice, top with 1.5 cups of the spring mix or Romaine, half the cooked peppers and onions, 1/2 cup cooked corn, 1/4 cup black beans, half the tomatoes or 1/2 cup Pico de Gallo.
Add one of the sliced chicken breasts on top and garnish with 1/2 of the green onion for one bowl.

Mix together 1 cup of the plain greek yogurt and Seasoning and add about 1/2 cup of the "dressing" on top of each bowl.

There you have it---my Cilantro Lime Chicken Burrito Bowl!

I hope you enjoy and please leave any feedback or questions below!