Southwest Grilled Pork Tenderloin Salad

July 13, 2016 Amanda Plott

I've been challenged again this year! They say that the best cooks know how to utilize any ingredients placed in front of them. I'd like to think that my handy skills with creating 'pantry' meals from my kitchen aids me in this.

Today I put my chops to the test in this Chopped At Home Challenge with Sargento®! My goal was to create a recipe within the theme of 'grilling' using all of the secret “basket” ingredients; pork tenderloin, cherry/grape tomatoes, broccoli, and Sargento Chef Blends 4 State Cheddar. Of course, looking at the last three ingredients my mind instantly went to a chef or cobb salad. But, what to do with the pork? Being from Texas, my first thought was grilled pork with a spicy seasoned kick. The spice is what kicked this off into a twist on a southwest salad...

Healthified 7 Ingredient Chili (Sponsored)

November 4, 2015 Amanda Plott

This post was brought to you by Collective Bias, Inc. and it's advertiser. I received compensation to write this post … but, all opinions expressed are my own. #YesYouCAN#CollectiveBias

Oh, man! I'm just settling in after another weekend away. I took my little one out of town to see friends and family for our Halloween celebration this year. It was so much fun to get out and do something different, but with traveling and holidays always comes stress!

To make things easy on myself this week, I decided to again have easy, stress free cooking going on in my kitchen as I settle back into my groove and also start preparing for the next holiday. One of my favorite too. Who doesn't love a holiday centered around food?

As it gets cooler outside, one of the first things that comes into my mind as a great dinner option is chili, and my mom makes one of the best, but... it takes time.

So, can you make a better-for-you chili with just a few ingredients without sacrificing any flavor?...

Veggies in the Raw Bistro Box

October 27, 2015 Amanda Plott

It's been a good while since I worked on my skills at adult lunch boxes or 'bistro boxes' as I've seen them called. I've made a few in the past, and I've always enjoyed them for more than one reason.

I love that these bistro boxes are small, filling, packable, and so easy to whip up a few of them to have on hand through out the week. I've found that if I have to make my lunch every day that I will tend to either skip it all together (which is a bad idea) or trade out my more health conscious lunch for something that's quicker and more grab-and-go (even worse!)

When I have my little prepped bistro boxes though, I don't have any excuse to not sit down and enjoy my wholesome and stackable style meal...

Melon, Mozzarella, Tomato & Prosciutto Snack

July 17, 2015 Amanda Plott

So, I've found lately that eating a couple of lighter snacks in the afternoon instead of an actual lunch has been fitting into my crazy schedule a bit better. Especially when at least one of the snacks includes cheese, I mean... come on. Who doesn't look forward to a little indulgence with cheese? I know I do!

This past week I ordered up a local fresh mozzarella from my grocery service, which I have to say... tastes about a hundred times better from the fresh mozzarella that you get from the grocery store. I was absolutely shocked with the difference between the local fresh mozzarella and what I've become used to. So if you can get your hands on some local mozzarella, I implore you to do so.

You won't regret it!...

California Chicken & Vegetable Bowl (With Green Goddess Dressing)

June 22, 2015 Amanda Plott

This post is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group®, Birds Eye®, and Tyson® but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #FastFreshFilling http://my-disclosur.es/OBsstV

The heat of Texas summer is upon me! The last couple of weeks I've been doing everything possible to use my oven as little as I can manage. It's amazing the difference that just a few minutes of the oven being on can make when it's above 90 degrees outside. So, I'm starting to get really creative with creating tasty and easy meals during the busy and rather hot days of summer without having to give up nutrition in the process.

I was wanting something fresh and light that also involved avocado, and then I remembered this Green Goddess dressing that I made a few months back that I was absolutely in love with. So, I decided I wanted to make use of it again in this California style Chicken & Vegetable bowl. Perfect!

The only change that I made to the dressing this time was around was using some fresh basil in placed of the thyme or tarragon that I had used before. Fresh basil just screams summer to me...

Skinny 'Fried' Green Tomato BLT

June 18, 2015 Amanda Plott

I know, I've been talking a lot lately about my local produce box that I've been getting weekly. But, I just have so much fun with it. I get a lot of fresh ingredients that I normally wouldn't think to cook with, so it really stretches my cooking muscles and pushes me outside my usual box.

This week I got some lovely green tomatoes. Green tomatoes? What's that? Basically it's an unripe tomato. Nothing fancy here. They are firmer and more tart than their ripened brethren. They are definitely one of those simple things that you just can't seem to find at the grocery store often (if ever at all.) Needless to say, I was pretty excited to get my hands on these green beauties finally!

Now, what do you do with unripe tomatoes? Well, in the south... we fry them. Since I don't like to fry anything though, I'm doing a lighter take on that. After all, I've made Faux Fried Tomatoes before; a great starting point...