My mom, sisters, and I have created a new blog, lulushomecookin.blogspot.com. We invite you to enjoy our combination of tasty finds. These new recipes below will also be posted on our cooking blog. As I continue to find new recipes I will either post them on my blog or on our new cooking blog. Enjoy and let me know if you have any questions.
Pollo Fajitas - Picture here
The sauce/marinade for these fajitas is fabulous and can be used for other chicken dishes. Use any healthy tortilla and top it off with a small dollop of sour cream.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 dash hot pepper sauce
- 1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into strips
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 onion, thinly sliced
- 1 green bell pepper, sliced
- 1/2 lemon, juiced
- In a medium bowl, combine Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, soy sauce, chili powder, garlic and hot pepper sauce. Place chicken in sauce, and turn once to coat. Marinate for 30 minutes at room temperature, or cover and refrigerate for several hours.
- Heat oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add chicken strips to the pan, and saute for 5 minutes. Add the onion and green pepper, and saute another 3 minutes. Remove from heat, and sprinkle with lemon juice.
Prep Time: 15 min. Cook time: 5 min. Ready in: 55 min.
Amount per serving - Calories: 210 Total Fat: 8.3g
Maple Salmon - Picture Here
We LOVE salmon! One of my favorite salmon dishes is a brown sugar glazed salmon. I could eat it every day but it's a little too unhealthy for what we want. This recipe is a fabulous second.
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/4 teaspoon ginger, minced (I added the ginger, it's divine!)
- 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 pound salmon
- In a small bowl, mix the maple syrup, soy sauce, garlic, ginger and pepper.
- Place salmon in a shallow glass baking dish (covered with foil), and coat with the maple syrup mixture. Cover the dish, and marinate salmon in the refrigerator 30 minutes, turning once.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
- Place the baking dish in the preheated oven, and bake salmon uncovered 20 minutes, or until easily flaked with a fork.
Prep Time: 10 min. Cook time: 20 min. Ready in: 1 hour
Amount per serving - Calories: 265 Total Fat: 12.4g
Chicken with Asparagus and Roasted Red Peppers - Picture Here
This is such a flavorful meal without loads of calories and fat! You can serve this with a healthy portion of pasta or rice. Whatever pleases your taste buds!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 1 pound boned and skinned chicken breast halves
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1/2 pound fresh asparagus, trimmed and cut into 2 inch pieces
- 1 (7 ounce) jar roasted red peppers, drained and chopped
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1/2 cup chopped roma (plum) tomatoes
- 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar, or to taste
- 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- Heat the broth in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Season chicken with salt and pepper, and place in skillet. Cook 15 minutes, until chicken is almost done.
- Place asparagus, red peppers and garlic in skillet. Continue cooking 10 minutes, or until chicken juices run clear and asparagus is tender. Place tomatoes in skillet during last 2 minutes of cook time. Sprinkle with vinegar. Top with mozzarella cheese to serve.
Prep Time: 15 min. Cook time: 25 min. Ready in: 40 min.
Amount per serving - Calories: 186 Total Fat: 5g
Salsa Chicken - Picture Here
This has become a favorite and it's painfully easy, fast, and healthy. I usually serve with a small portion of homemade Mexican rice and vegetables.
Ingredients
- 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
- 4 teaspoons taco seasoning mix
- 1 cup salsa
- 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
- 2 tablespoons sour cream (optional)
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C)
- Place chicken breasts in a lightly greased 9x13 inch baking dish. Sprinkle taco seasoning on both sides of chicken breasts, and pour salsa over all.
- Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 25 to 35 minutes, or until chicken is tender and juicy and its juices run clear.
- Sprinkle chicken evenly with cheese, and continue baking for an additional 3 to 5 minutes, or until cheese is melted and bubbly. Top with sour cream if desired, and serve.
Prep Time: 5 min. Cook time: 40 min. Ready in: 45 min.
Amount per serving - Calories: 287 Total Fat: 12.4g
These last two recipes are from a favorite cooking blog, prudencepennywise.blogspot.com. Click on the "pasta" tab and the "soup" tab for pictures on her blog. All of her recipes have been simply fabulous. Her goal is to create scrumptious meals for her family of four on a tight budget. These two may seem more extensive because she is very detailed in her directions, but they are just as easy and healthy too!
Whole Grain Penne with Sweet Red Pepper, Ginger and Feta
Ginger has become a well-known ingredient in our home. It always adds magnificent flavor to our meals and keeps well in the fridge or freezer. Now, combine ginger with pepper and feta... WOW! As of late this has become our favorite meal. I'll be making this meal for our dinner party tomorrow to celebrate Jon's birthday with close friends. I always look forward to this fantastic dinner.
Ingredients
- 8 oz. box wheat penne pasta
- 4 green onions (greens only)
- 1 14.5 oz. can Italian style diced tomatoes (optional: blend smooth in blender)
- 1 large red bell pepper
- 1 small handful of fresh parsley (save some for garnish)
- 4 Tbsp. cream of half and half
- 2-4 Tbsp. feta, crumbled
- 1 Tbsp. olive oil
- 2 Tbsp. finely chopped ginger
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- salt and pepper, to taste
- Option: I always add two chicken breasts. Season with rosemary. Brown in the olive oil. Remove and add back into the simmering sauce.
- Heat the olive oil in a small heavy-bottomed saucepan. Remove the top, seeds, and membranes of the pimento pepper and slice into thin strips. Toss them into the saucepan and let them soften on low-medium heat for about 10-15 minutes (if your strips soften quicker, there’s no need for you to wait 10-15 minutes), stirring every now and then.
- In the meantime you can peel the ginger with a spoon, then finely chop the peeled ginger.
- Begin cooking the pasta according to package directions.
- Add the chopped ginger and garlic to the saucepan and give it another stir. Sauté for 2-3 minutes then toss in the crushed tomatoes. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper mix and stir again.
- Chop up the green parts of 2 green onions and add them to the sauce. Simmer on low heat, partially covered, for 5 minutes. You might need to add 2-3 Tbsp of water during these 5 minutes (to keep a sauce-like consistency), depending on how watery your crushed tomatoes are. I didn’t need to so it all comes down to what brand you’re using.
- Chop up the fresh parsley leaves and add them to the sauce. Let the sauce cook, partially covered, for another 2-3 minutes, then remove it from the flame and set aside.
- Plate the cooked pasta, add some sauce on top then spoon 1 Tbsp of cream (per plate) on top of that. Crumble ½ Tbsp of Feta on each plate, garnish with fresh parsley and serve.
This is my favorite tomato soup recipe. Enjoy!
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp. olive oil
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, chopped
- 2 (14.5 oz.) cans Italian style diced tomatoes, undrained
- 2 cups chicken broth or stock
- pinch of red pepper flakes
- 1 tsp. balsamic or red wine vinegar
- 1 tsp. honey
- 3/4 cup evaporated skim milk, or 4 oz. 1/3 less fat cream cheese
- chopped fresh basil or parsley for serving
- In a large pot, heat oil over medium high heat. Add oniion and carrots and saute for five minutes. Stir in garlic and saute an additional minute.
- Add tomatoes, broth, red pepper flakes, vinegar, and honey. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat to medium and simmer for 20 minutes, or until all vegetables are tender.
- For a creamy soup, transfer to blender and blend, or use an immersion blender directly in the pot. (Immersion blenders are a must have for soup lovers!) Soup can be made up to 2 days ahead of time to this point. ***This is a must, it is so much better creamy***
- Just before serving, add evaporated skim milk (or cream cheese of half and half) to pot. Warm through, but do not boil. Serve immediately with basil or parsley.
May these delicious recipes serve you well as you make healthier goals for the New Year!
p.s. The pictures would not load so instead I attached the website to each recipe with pictures included.
The day after Christmas we drove to Mendocino, California. We call this beautiful, little town our "heaven on earth". We go camping as an extended family each summer and just recently my family began the tradition of going each few days after Christmas. I love the ocean and the rocky beaches were especially beautiful this visit. It's always hard to leave Mendocino, but this year it wasn't so difficult to leave.
Jon and I left Mendocino to drive down to Long Beach for our long awaited cruise!!! Yes, we finally made a getaway for our honeymoon. I had been on a cruise before, but this was Jon's first and he absolutely loved it! We both did! Our cruise took us down to Ensenada. Jon had served part of his mission in Mexico and it was so fun for me to see him speaking Spanish with all of the natives. He has a great love for the people of Mexico. We lived a life of luxury for a few days. We took naps, explored the ship, ordered room service just because we could, and ate lots and lots and lots of food. And yes, I did gain a few pounds, but it was so worth it! My favorite dish was lobster, of course and for dessert we loved the chocolate melting cake, absolutely divine! We're planning to take another cruise in a few years... maybe for an anniversary down the road (hint, hint). It was so nice to be disconnected from the world and enjoy one another. After the cruise we had planned to go to Disneyland for a few days but felt strongly about spending more time with the family. Disneyland will always been there, maybe next year.
We spent New Year's Eve and New Year's Day back with the family. I struggled to stay awake until 12:00am. I'm much more of an early bird than a night owl. New Year's day was the girl's shopping day. Mom, Sarah, Hilly, and the two little ones, Mari and Alice all went for a day out to the mall. I'm so grateful for my mom and sisters. I love that we are best friends. It was especially hard this year to leave my family and come back to Utah. (Luckily I have Jon's family in Utah.) Although it was a crazy, busy trip we had a wonderful time. We wish the best for you and yours this New Year. Luvs!