Broccoli & Italian Sausage Egg Muffins

Boy, do I love carb-free meals! These are perfect for breakfast, snack, and easy to take on the go! I made 2 batches for my husband and I ,and they lasted almost 2 weeks! Super easy & super delicious. I'm not a huge fan of breakfast as is, but these were perfect to take to work, pop in the microwave, and fill me up till lunch. 


Here are the ingredients:

1 pound Italian Sausage (I like the spicy sausage)
1 1/2 cup broccoli florets
8 large eggs
1/2 cup milk 
1/2 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 tsp baking powder
salt & pepper to taste
Red pepper flakes (if you like more spice)Freshly grated Parmesan Cheese 



And here are the very easy cooking instructions:

First go ahead and pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees.


 In a saucepan over medium heat, cook the Italian sausage until lightly brown. It took me about 8 minutes to get it completely not pink. (The picture below, still pink ;)

When fully cooked, remove from the heat and add in the broccoli

In a separate bowl whisk together the eggs, milk, oil and baking powder.

Next, lightly spray a cupcake pan (I used a 12-cupcake pan) 
and start filling each hole with the broccoli and sausage mix. 

Next, ladle the egg mixture over the broccoli and sausage filling each hole to the top.

Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

Bake 15-20 min. Serve hot or pop 'em in a container and save for the week. :-)

Cilantro Avocado Chicken Salad

This could be one of my new favorite recipes. You can eat this plain, on a sandwich, in a wrap, and so many other ways. It was such a delicious summer meal. My husband loved it as a sandwich and I loved it just plain. It is such a simple recipe, but boy does it fill you up!


Here are the ingredients:

- 1 rotisserie chicken (evens out to about 3-4 cups of pulled chicken)
-2 large diced avocados
-2 tbsp fresh lime juice (used separately througout the recipe)
-1/2 slice green onion
-3/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro
-2 tbsp light mayo
-salt and pepper to taste

How to make the dressing:

Mix the 2 T of mayo and 1 T of fresh squeezed lime juice to make the delicious dressing.

Next dice up the avocado's and toss with 1 T of fresh squeezed lime juice.

Put the chicken in a medium-large size bowl and add the green onion. Pour dressing over chicken and onion and mix well to where it is coated in the dressing.

Next add the avocado and continue mixing.

Lastly, add the freshly chopped cilantro and mix well. You can serve right away or chill and save for later.

Caprese Eggs Bendedict

Not knowing a whole lot about eggs benedict, I told myself that sooner or later I was going to try them. Then I ran across an idea of having them a tad bit healthier, and I was sold. Take out the carbs with the english muffin, add a tomato and piece of cheese, and you have Caprese Eggs Benedict. The most difficult part of this recipe was poaching the eggs, but with practice they will turn out beautiful. This recipe was easy to add, take away, and build it up to the taste you like. Good luck!!!

The recipe includes: 

For the Hollandaise Sauce

- 12 tablespoons of unsalted butter
- 6 egg yolks

- 1/2 cup boiling water
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- pinch of cayenne pepper
- pinch of garlic salt
- pinch of sea salt

For the Eggs Benedict

- 2 eggs poached
- 1 large tomato
- Mozzarella slices
- 1/2 basil lives


In a heatproof bowl over a saucepan with only a little amount of simmering water set the oven to medium heat, and whisk the butter and egg yolks together until smooth

Add the 1/2 cup of boiling water to the mixture, continue whisking.

Heat the mixture until it thickens. ( About 8-10 min)

Remove the saucepan from the heat.

Place the basil on the bottom. Top with the tomato, mozzarella, and poached egg. Top with the delicious hollandaise sauce. 

Whisk the lemon juice, pepper, sea salt and garlic salt. And serve!!!

Roasted Tomato Asparagus with Feta & Garlic

Oh sunny day! And we know what sunny days mean, BBQ’s!!! I was so excited to BBQ some chicken and try a new asparagus recipe. Being in the middle of a move I tried really hard to get rid of everything in my fridge and somehow make it a part of this delicious asparagus recipe. Wow, did I have a lot!

Here is the easy recipe:

-1 bunch of asparagus (I love the thick asparagus from Harbor Greens)

-1/2 cup of cherry tomatoes cut in half

-1/2 cup of feta cheese

-1/2 cup of cheddar cheese

-5 chopped basil leaves

-1/4 cup diced onions

-1 tsp salt

-¼ cup diced red pepper

-1/4 cup diced green onion

-3 cloves minced garlic

-1 tsp pepper

-2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

First cut ends off asparagus and spread on foil lined baking sheet.

In a small mixing bowl put all ingredients EXCEPT avocado in. Doesn’t matter what order you go in, just as long as they all get in there. I put in the olive oil last.

When all ingredients are in bowl, start stirring. Stir well, coating all of the ingredients with the olive oil.

Once it is all stirred pout evenly over spread out asparagus. If asparagus need more olive oil spread a little on before placing in oven.

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees and cook asparagus for 25 minutes.

Taste one asparagus to make sure it is tender. If so, take it out to cool.

Slice up a small avocado and place on top. Serve hot! Yummmm!

Toasted Quinoa with Lemon Pepper Chicken

Ready for a protein-filled dinner? Being a huge fan of quinoa, I’ve been trying to find all different recipes. I was so excited when my close friend Erica told me to “toast” the quinoa before cooking it. And wow, it made a huge difference!

 

-1 cup of quinoa

-2 cups of vegetable broth

-2 tbsp olive oil

-1 chicken breast

-1/4 cup of lemon pepper marinade

-1 tbsp red pepper flakes

-LOTS of pepper

So here is the recipe:

Put oven on medium setting. First, start by putting dry quinoa in a large skillet. Pour 1 tbsp olive oil and stir.

Let quinoa toast in pan until you see it start to change color from tan to brown.

If skillet is large enough, stir in 2 cups of vegetable broth. Bring to a boil.

Once quinoa and broth has reached a boil, turn to low, cover and let sit for 15 minutes.

While quinoa is cooking start cutting chicken breast into small squares.

Put in separate pan and put last tbsp of olive oil in with the chicken. Stir in a ¼ cup of lemon pepper marinade.

Sprinkle pepper and red pepper flakes on chicken and let it cook.

Once chicken and quinoa have cooked thoroughly combine chicken and quinoa together and stir. Great with hot sauce or avocado!

And serve!

Chipotle Chicken Cajun Chicken Salad

My husband and I both LOVE salads. I have recently wanted to find different things to do to a salad considering we are going into summer and everyone loves a yummy “healthy” meal. So this is a very easy, simple delicious recipe that I recommend everyone should try. You can add/take away different parts of this recipe. For example, I added more chili peppers than maybe the normal person, and added red pepper flakes and Cajun seasoning. Can you tell we like spicy?

 

Let’s begin. Here are the ingredients:

Here is the dressing:

-1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

-2/3 cup light sour cream

-3 tablespoon minced chipotle chili, 

canned in adobo sauce (If you don’t like

 spice, you might want to do less)

-1 teaspoon ground cumin

-1 teaspoon chili powder

- 4 tbsp of lime juice

-1 tsp red pepper flakes

-1/4 teaspoon salt

And here is the salad:

-2 heads shredded romaine lettuce

-2 chopped skinless, boneless chicken breasts

-1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved

-2 diced peeled avocado

-1/2 cup thinly vertically sliced red onion

-1 can black beans, rinsed and drained

-1 can no-salt-added whole-kernel corn, rinsed and drained

And here is the extremely easy recipe:

Combine all ingredients of dressing and mix well.

Start cooking chicken and season in any Cajun spices you like.

Combine lettuce, tomatoes, avacado, onion, beans, and corn in bowl and pour dressing on top.

Lastly, put chicken over salad and toss. Mix well, coating the whole salad in dressing.

Serve :)

 

Homemade Clam Chowder in a Bread bowl

It was such a beautiful day here in the Pacific Northwest, 65 degrees and sun shining bright. When my dad asked if I wanted to go dig up clams from their beach, I tied up my maxi dress, put up my hair, put on some of my dads old shoes, and grabbed a shovel. Wow, was it successful. They were everywhere! As I continued to put each clam in the bucket my mind was racing with what I could make for dinner. Since my husband dislikes seafood, I knew I had to choose carefully. So clam chowder it was. For some reason he loves clam chowder, as long as there is not too much of a seafood taste. I figured if I added potatoes, bacon, and threw it in a bread bowl I would be sure to please him. And that I did.

Here are the ingredients:

-3 pieces of bacon (I used peppered, cause I always say the spicier, the better)

-1 pint of half-and-half

-3 cups of chicken stalk

-8 diced medium red potatoes, skinned

-1 medium onion

-1/3 cup of chopped up parsley

-pinch of dried thyme

-pinch of sage

-2 tbsp of butter

--2 tsp hot sauce

-pinch of red pepper

-salt & pepper to taste

-3 small carrots, chopped

-2 tbsp all-purpose flour

- LOTS of clams, cut in half

And where to begin:

First, boil the clams while you start the soup. 

Melt the butter in a pot, and stir in bacon, onions, parsley, thyme, sage, carrots, and seasonings. Let it cook for 5 minutes.

Next, stir in flour. Let cook for 1 more minute. Add small amount of hot sauce.

Add half-and-half and stock and bring to a bubble, then stir in potatoes and clams. (After the clams had opened up I put them in a strainer, and cut them in half to make smaller clam chunks).

Bring soup to a boil while stirring frequently, and turn oven down to simmer for 15 minutes.

During the 15 minutes get a large bread bowl ready with dipping pieces on the side.

Once soup thickens, pour into bread bowl and top with green onions and parmesan cheese.