Roasted Beet & Butternut Squash Salad (With Beet Infused Vinaigrette)

October 14, 2019 Amanda Plott

I love beets.

And the saddest part is that I went most of my life so far without knowing that. It was just in the past 5 years or so that I came to realize that I love them. I had some roasted beets on a salad and immediately fell in love. Tender and full of flavor with such minimal effort? Sign me up!

Another thing I love about beets? Their amazing natural color. Generally when cooking beets, I find myself discarding the juices. Today though? I got the notion to reuse those juices along with some olive oil to make one of the best and simplest vinaigrettes that I’ve ever had…

Fresh Turkey Salad

October 9, 2019 Amanda Plott

I’ve decided to call this ‘fresh’ turkey salad because I loaded it up with plenty of fresh fruits and veggies. No nuts. No dried fruits. Fresh, fresh, FRESH! I borrowed the base of this recipe from my Skinny ‘Leftover’ Turkey Salad, and made just a few tweaks and adjustments to get it to something that was a little more… fresh!

And now for the speech! Turkey salad as in chicken salad. Not a salad with chicken or turkey on it. But, rather a ‘salad’ that’s made up WITH turkey and chicken. The sort of thing you can smear on some toast for a turkey salad sandwich, or load on top of crackers…

Carrot Ginger Dressing

September 24, 2019 Amanda Plott

I’ve been playing around a lot lately with adding more and more vegetables to my meals and trying to do so in a sneaky and more clever way than just cooking them and plopping them on my plate. This Carrot Ginger Dressing is a fun asian twist on a vinaigrette.

I’m not quite sure how, but somehow the dressing ends up with an almost creamy texture. It’s light and bright and has just enough of a kick of ginger in there to keep you coming back for more. With it being so quick and easy to make that I’ll be using it this entire week for my lunches…

Italian Chicken Soup (Instant Pot)

September 11, 2019 Amanda Plott

The weather is starting to cool off here in Texas. And by cool off, I obviously mean it’s down to being in the 90’s on most days instead of the 100’s. Even so, I’m excited for Fall. I love it when Fall starts to roll in, the temperature changes, the leaves drop, and it’s time for pumpkins and spice. Well, almost…

With Fall on the mind, I decided to make an Italian Chicken Soup for dinner this week. This soup is sort of like a minestrone, only without being quite so tomato heavy. This soup makes its own broth while cooking in the pressure cooker with all those yummy veggies and chicken.

It’s chicken noodle soup, Italian style!

2 Ingredient Cheese Sticks + 3 Ingredient Pizza Bites (Sponsored)

September 9, 2019 Amanda Plott

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Spin Master PAW Productions Inc. All opinions are entirely my own. #SnackPatrol #CollectiveBias #Ad

All you busy parents out there… this one's for you! And your kids too, of course! I don’t know about you but as an animal lover, my little one loves her cartoons and PAW Patrol has always been at the top of her list of favorites. So, when I saw these PAW Patrol inspired snack cheeses at my local HEB I knew that I had to get them and do something fun with them for snack time!

When I was little, two of my favorite snacks were cheese sticks and pizza bites. So, I thought to myself… why not both? And you know what? Let’s make them crazy easy and simple too. With literally just a handful of ingredients and a quick bake to perfection. The best part? They have the playful look of a rawhide dog bone! PAW Patrol, here we come.

Skinny Southwest Egg Rolls + Avocado Vinaigrette Dip (Sponsored)

September 5, 2019 Amanda Plott

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #ChooseMazola #CollectiveBias

Here's another 'take-out fake-out' today for one of my old favorites. It’s no secret that I'm a big fan of baking things as opposed to most other cooking methods out there. I find that it's better-for-you and that it often comes out tasting even better than other versions. The flavors just seem to stand out more. This is also why I use Mazola.com.

Want to find out more? A clinical study showed Mazola Corn Oil reduces cholesterol 2x more than extra virgin olive oil. To learn more about this claim, see Mazola.com.

With September being National Cholesterol Awareness month, and the fact that I'm not all about frying, I put my noodle to work to come up with a better-for-you baked version of Southwest Egg Rolls. So, with a little research and a lot of love, I'm pretty sure I got this one 100% right.

Egg roll and wonton wrappers have been a pretty big part of my kitchen play time lately. I just love how versatile they are. Plus, they are lower in calories than most other doughs. So, to keep these Southwest Egg Roll better-for-you, I made a few careful swaps. First, I used chicken breast as a leaner cut of meat. As a second swap, I used a reduced fat shredded cheese instead of a full-fat version. And finally, I used Mazola Corn Oil on the egg rolls and also in the vinaigrette dip!

Mazola Corn Oil is an all-purpose, cholesterol free cooking oil that is a smart heart-healthy* choice for your family. *See Mazola.com for more information on the relationship between corn oil and heart health. It has a variety of uses including baking, grilling, sautéing, stir frying, or mixing up a marinade or dressing…