Chicken-Zucchini Fettuccine Alfredo

Hooray for a guilt free fettuccine alfredo recipe!  I pretty much followed this recipe to the letter....I added a little extra pepper at the end, but no major changes.  I think I will try a variation of this with asparagus and blackened cajun chicken.

Here's a link to the recipe:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ellie-krieger/chicken-zucchini-alfredo-recipe/index.html

Shredded Beef Soft Tacos

We had some extra shredded beef leftover from making enchiladas so I decided to make some tacos last night.  Shredded beef, black beans, lettuce, tomato, jack cheese, and some salsa.  Very fast and VERY yummy :)  I love cooking once and eating twice ;)

Shredded Beef Enchiladas

I usually make chicken enchiladas but I wanted to try my hand at making them with shredded beef.  This recipe is a "weekend" recipe for me becayse it's a little time consuming....but it's well worth it. 

Here is a link to the recipe I used....

http://onestopcook.wordpress.com/2009/05/22/authentic-mexican-style-shredded-beef-enchiladas-in-green-sauce/

I ended up using an 8 ounce can of diced green chilies instead of a fresh green chili.  I didn't cook the tortillas in oil before rolling the enchiladas.  My husband found some white corn tortillas that are part corn and part whole grain wheat.  They were really pliable so I was able to skip the oil all together. 

Cranberry Walnut Chicken Salad Sandwich

Earl Grey Tea Mannor in Old Sacramento made these great Cranberry Walnut Chicken Salad tea sandwiches.  Before I had them I didn't even like chicken salad sandwiches.  Now this is one of my favorites.  When they went out of business I started making them myself.  I've been told they are very tastey...actually I was told I would be kicked very hard if I showed up to a party without them ;)  I think that means they're good...

Two sliced wheat bread

1 chicken breast, cooked and shredded (see below)

2 TBS chopped walnuts

3 TBS dried cranberries

1 TBS celery, diced very small

3 TBS light mayo

pepper to taste

You can use any cooked chicken for these sandwiches.  If you have leftover roasted chicken or grilled chicken you can shred it up and use it for this sandwich (as long as it isn't seasoned in a way that would clash with the cranberries).  I like to cut up a carrot, celery stalk, and an onion and put them in a pot with a bay leaf and a chicken breast (and some fresh thyme if I have it).  Then I add water to cover everything and bring it to a low boil.  When the chicken is cooked through I remove it from the liquid, shred it, and put it in the fridge.  Once it's cooled I add the chopped walnuts, cranberries, celery, mayo, and pepper.  The amounts listed above will make two sandwiches.  They are pretty filling, very tastey, and a great way to use up leftover chicken.

Chicken & Black Bean Tostadas

This is one of my husbands favorite things to have for dinner :)  They are pretty easy to put together, and you can customize them for everyone in your family.  If your kids are old enough they can even assemble their own.

Tostada shells

Low fat refried black beans

Avocado

Cooked Chicken (see below)

Shredded cheddar cheese

Diced tomatoes

Sour Cream

Cilantro

Salsa

You can use any kind of cooked chicken for this.  I like to put a few chicken breasts in a pot with a chopped carrot, a chopped celery stalk, and a small chopped onion.  Then I bring it to a low boil until the chicken is cooked through.  Then I shredd the chicken.  It's perfect for enchiladas, tacos, pasta shells, chicken salad, tostadad, etc.

Vegetarian Taco Salad

Normally this is a salad I would top with sliced grilled chicken or even some taco meat.  It makes a nice light dinner.  For the dressing you can mix one part salsa with one part ranch dressing (sounds a little odd, but it's good), or you can use a store bought dressing (I like Brianna's Chipoltle Cheddar).

I made this for lunch the other day and decided to skip the chicken.  It was still pretty filling, and took less time to make...

Romaine lettuce

Avocado, diced
Cilantro, chopped
Grape tomatoes
Yellow bell pepper
Red Onion
Whole black beans, drained/rinsed

Pumpkin Spice Muffins

I’ve been planning on making some Pumpkin Spice Muffins for a while now. I had a recipe all picked out and I THOUGHT I had all of the ingredients….turns out I needed more eggs than I had in the house. So I did some searching and found a recipe that I had almost all of the ingredients. Normally I don’t change recipes for baked goods (I’ll add things but not substitute). I ended up changing this one a little based on what I had on hand. The original recipe calls for whole grain pastry flour, unsulphered molasses, canola oil, buttermilk, and pumpkin seeds. I had enriched cake flour, apple sauce, peanut oil, 1% milk, and chopped walnuts. I thought I’d try to make it work with what I had on hand and they turned out great. They’re really moist, and not too sweet. I think I am going to try adding raisins, dried cranberries, or diced apples next time….maybe I’ll divide the batter into three batches and try all three to see which way works best.

Here’s a link to the original recipe…

(http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ellie-krieger/pumpkin-muffins-recipe/index.html)

Here is the recipe as I made it…

• Cooking spray (or you can use paper muffin tin liners)
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup enriched cake flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons apple sauce
• 1/4 cup peanut oil
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup 1% milk
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Coat a 12-cup muffin pan with cooking spray or use paper lines like I did….what can I say…anything I can do to make clean-up faster;).

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg.

In a large bowl, whisk the sugar, apple sauce, oil and 1 egg until combined. Add the other egg and whisk well. Whisk in the pumpkin and vanilla. Whisk in the flour mixture in 2 batches, alternating with the milk. Whisk just until combined.

Pour the batter into the prepared muffin pan and sprinkle with the chopped walnuts (press them into the batter a little bit with your finger tip or the back of a spoon). Tap the pan on the counter a few times to remove any air bubbles. Bake for 20 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center of 1 of the muffins comes out clean.

Let cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Run a knife around the muffins to loosen them and unmold….unless you liners…then you can just remove them from the muffin tin and let them cool on the rack