Skinny Pesto & Mozzarella Stuffed Chicken

October 17, 2014 Amanda Plott

How could anyone resist a stuffed chicken breast? Well, certainly not me! Especially when it's stuffed with my favorite pesto and fresh melty mozzarella.

Yes. I'm allowed to say 'melty' here because it's oh-so-fitting.

A few weeks ago I had this amazingly delicious caprese style salad with smoked chicken breast and some sort of lemon pesto involved. I sort of based this stuffed chicken off that idea by adding some lemon zest into the breading mix.

The addition of the lemon definitely adds a new dimension of flavor to the chicken here, so you'll want to be sure not to leave that out!...

Skinny Loaded Potato Breakfast Skillet

October 10, 2014 Amanda Plott

This is one of those super easy breakfasts that live in infamy. I'm not entirely sure what spurred the thought of having a loaded style potato for breakfast but... it all worked out fabulously well. There's really not much in a loaded potato that you wouldn't normally have for breakfast anyway. So why not toss an egg on top and call it done?

Done.

Cheesy bacon potatoes and an egg for right at 300 calories and a full belly? Yes, indeed! It's one of those things that looks and feels so naughty, but actually couldn't be much more guilt-free! This is a clean and lean breakfast that is sure to give you enough energy to make it through your morning...

Pumpkin & Black Bean Soup

September 24, 2014 Amanda Plott

I'm putting pumpkin in everything while I can since it's 'seasonable' for the next couple of months. I love fall for many reasons, but pumpkin has to be pretty close to the top of the list! In my opinion, there just isn't too much that you can't put pumpkin in; drinks, desserts, entrees... You name it, and I've probably already thought of a way to put pumpkin in it, if I haven't already put pumpkin in it before - that is!

This pumpkin soup is pretty great. I'd compare the consistency of it to a creamy tomato soup. In fact, it's color and texture are pretty much the same too but a lot more soft and calm with it's flavors since tomato soup has the zing of acidity....

Refrigerator Dill Pickles

September 3, 2014 Amanda Plott

We love pickles in this house.

My little girl alone goes through about a jar every week or two this summer. She's especially fond of pickled carrots as I've found out recently. And have you seen the price for pickles? Holy moly! If you're wanting a good pickle, you're going to be paying $3-4 bucks a jar. Eep!

The past few weeks I've been playing around with a grocery service that delivers organic and local produce straight from nearby farms to your home. I've been getting the 'local box' which comes with a variety of that weeks 'special' produce, fruits and herbs. It's been fun and very interesting. I get to work with a lot of new-to-me ingredients that you normally wouldn't find at the grocery store either; such as sweet potato greens, hon tsai tai, and cucamelons.

Well, I was supposed to get cucamelons, but unfortunately they were swapped for something else after I had planned on pickling them. Bummer. Oh well! I did still get some fresh organic dill in my delivery so I decided I'd just pickle some cucumbers and carrots instead!...

Homemade Whole Wheat 'Easy Mac'

August 18, 2014 Amanda Plott

My little love was under the weather a for a few days this week, so we didn't exactly have the need for a 'lunch box' today, but... this is what I served her at home for lunch. After all, what's more of a comfort food than macaroni and cheese?

Well, not much! I pretty much put everything into this lunch that would be considered her favorite things. And they all tend to be things that most kids enjoy eating. It was a little bit of a happy accident that it happened to be just what she needed on her sick days! Grapes. Mac-n-cheese. Hot dog. And peas and carrots...

Pesto Chickpea & Avocado Salad

August 8, 2014 Amanda Plott

I really cannot say enough about this salad. I would have never guessed that these 6-ish ingredients would have come together in such an awesome and delicious way. This mighty green salad was tossed together in less than 5 minutes and was unbelievably satisfying. Seriously. I've eaten it about four times already this week.

The lemon juice works to brighten up the pesto and together they actually end up as a rather substantial amount of flavorful 'dressing'. Yes, that's right - you don't need to add any dressing to this salad. The ingredients work together to make their own lemony pesto dressing that is de{light}ful and actually one of my newest favorite things...