I made this while I was nursing a cold, forgive me, but I got a tad lazy with pictures, but I think the important parts are all covered! Need some chicken for sandwiches, salads, soups, or anything else? Here's a nice, easy, inexpensive way to eat and use a whole chicken! I found this whole chicken at Albertsons for $5.00.
- Start by cleaning off the bird, I used cold water and just rubbed it with my hands to rinse it off.
- Remove the "guts" from inside of the bird. Typically, if you put your hand in and feel something gross, just pull...it will come out. Ha.
- Rinse the inside of the bird as well.
- On one side of the bird, lay it in the crock pot and season with your choice of seasoning. I used parsley, Mrs. Dash "chicken" seasoning, and crushed red peppers.
- Flip the bird over and season with the same seasonings, again. Once the bird is seasoned, add the fresh ingredients! I used a couple of cloves (chopped/minced) of garlic, and a half of lemon cut into slices and quartered. Place the garlic around and in the bird, and the same with the lemon. Top the bird with diced green onions.
- You do not need to put water into the crock pot because the bird's natural juices will be left. I did however add a cup of water, half way through cooking time.
- Let bird sit on high for 4-6 hours checking either by temperature or by cutting the bird to see how well it's cooked.
- After the bird is finished, remove all of the meat from the bones. Place meat in bowl/plate for storing and use later.
- Put all of the skin and bones back into the crock pot and fill the crock pot full of water. Let the crock pot sit for 12-24 hours on low to create AMAZING broth!
- Remove bones and skin and use a strainer to get bigger chunks of waste out.
- Place the room temperature broth into containers (large yogurt containers, etc). Place containers into the fridge until cool.
- Once the broth is cooled in the containers, a layer of fat will form at the top. Gently scrape the fat off and either use later or toss it out.
- You can freeze the remainder of the broth for up to 6 months to have on hand for soups or other reipes!
Turkey Bacon Egg Muffins
So you've probably seen my egg muffin recipe. I've decided to add a little twist. Turkey bacon. I typically make egg muffins once a week for meal prep.
- Get your ingredients together: your choice of veggies; green onions, tomato, spinach. 1 egg for each muffin, 1 piece of turkey bacon for every egg muffin, seasonings of your choice, and a splash of milk (i use almond milk).
- Spray your muffin tin with non stick spray.
- Line your each muffin tin with one piece of bacon (I cut each piece in half and found it was easier to lay on the border of the tin).
- Add your veggies to the bottom of each tin.
- Take your eggs and mix them in a bowl with a splash of almond milk and your choice of seasoning.
- Pour mixture into the muffin holes, there might be a little extra mixture left over.
- Place in over at 350 degrees and cook for about 25 minutes or until eggs are slightly brown and cooked all the way through (you can check with a knife).
Please make sure you read the end of the recipe and follow the directions, I don't want you to make the same "mistake" I did! I've seen this recipe done a million times and some alterations each time. I figured I would just do one--without following anyone's specific directions. I'm so good at just coming up with something--no measurements, duration of times, temps, etc. You've probably already figured that out. Anyway, here's how I did it and how to do it to make them EVEN better. You will be using olive oil, vegan butter, butter, or coconut oil in this recipe.
- What you will need: however many small red potatoes you plan to cook (my potatoes were a little on the large side), sea/kosher salt, crushed red pepper, dry parsley, olive oil (or coconut oil, vegan butter, reg butter) Mrs. Dash original seasoning.
- Boil your potatoes until you can stick a fork in them without much force.
- Drizzle olive oil on a pan or cookie sheet. The more room, the better. Next time, I'll be using a large cookie sheet.
- Place the potatoes on the sheet. I thought the potatoes were far too big so I decided to cut them in half.
- I placed the cut potatoes so the skin was facing me.
- I took a fork and pressed down on the potatoes (like you do with a cookie). If you have a potato masher, use it!
- Once you have the potatoes mashed, you want to drizzle a little more olive oil (or butter, vegan butter, coconut oil etc) over the tops so they don't dry out.
- Season the potatoes with whatever seasonings you prefer but you will want to use salt. The salt really does bring out some extra flavor. I used small amounts of sea salt and it made them great!
- Cook on 350 degrees on the middle rack for anywhere from 20-25 minutes or until brown and the skin looks crispy.
- What I learned: You don't want to cut a larger potato in half. You want to use/mash a whole red potato because the skin and how it cooks really is how it keeps the potato "in tact". If I would have mashed the potatoes with the skin facing down, they wouldn't have fallen a part when I grabbed them from the pan to the plate.
Dairy Free, Clean, Homemade Ice Cream
I am a sucker for ice cream. I can't have it in my house or I might just eat the entire container in one sitting. Yes...I'm serious. I've seen so many people and "fitspo" people on Instagram and on blogs post about making ice cream at home. Obviously, there are many different variations such as fresh fruit, peanut butter, cocoa, etc. But here are the ingredients I have on hand right now and how I made it tonight.
- Start off by getting your ingredients: Almond milk (coconut would be delicious too) dark chocolate peanut butter (new discovery of mine) 2 bananas & protein powder.
- Mash both bananas with a fork & add 1/4 or less of almond milk. Stir in 1 tsp of dark chocolate peanut butter, and finish by adding 1 scoop of your protein powder (you can skip the protein powder if you'd like).
- Mash and stir until there is a chunky consitancy due to the bananas.
- Add the mix to a blender or continue to mash and stir. After putting the mixture into the blender for about 10 seconds, dispense into a bowl.
- Put in freezer for up to 2 hours. Mix ice cream again, you decide if you like your ice cream completely frozen (hard) or a bit softer.
Stuffed Green Bell Peppers
I've had stuffed green peppers before, but I've never made them. This was a last minute, do it without a recipe, find what I can and make a meal out of it. And boy...was it delicious.
- Start with cutting off the top of the peppers & seeding them. Boil them in water until they start getting soft. 3-7 minutes.
- Start cooking your chicken or choice of meat.
- Cook your rice. I made 2 cups of brown rice because I wanted extra for the following days. 1 cup is plenty for 2 peppers.
- Once the bell peppers are soft, remove with tongs, & drain upside down. I chopped up onions, tomato, and half a can of corn.
- Add all veggies, rice, & chicken and let keep warm.
- I took 2 sccops of rice mixture, then a pinch of shredded cheese and spoon full of salsa. Repeat until full. Let cheese be the last thing on top.
- Bake in over for roughly 15 minutes or until cheese is melted. Serve with some salsa on top, if you'd like.
- Enjoy!
I've made this recipe a few times and have altered each recipe a little at a time. I haven't baked it yet, out of fear it might dry the chicken out, but I plan on doing it soon. Let me know if you bake it. This is an easy, go to recipe for something crunchy and moist.
I make it for one person, me.:)
- 1 skinless chicken breast (sliced in half--make 2 thin chicken breasts)
- Heat a medium sauce pan with coconut oil. I add freshly minced garlic.
- I have used olive oil, but prefer coconut oil. You will be essentially "frying" the chicken so the cleanest oil is important. However, I have found I don't use a lot of oil while cooking it on medium heat. I have started with a small amount (covering the bottom of it) and adding small amounts if needed (cooking more than 1 chicken breast)
- Bowl One:
- Bowl Two or zip lock (to shake chicken in mix):
- Once pan is heated, dip each piece of chicken in egg (you don't need a lot, I let the excess drip off) then dip the chicken in the almond/seasoning mixture (turn over or shake zip lock bag).
- Place chicken in sauce pan and cook evenly. Depending how thick your chicken is, it could take a little while, but I usually can cook one chicken breast (2 thin pieces) in about 10-15 minutes. Cut the middle to check.
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- I've found that some of the almonds do fall off. My aunt makes these with a flour mixture and the almonds obviously don't fall off. I always top off the chicken on my plate with any chicken that are left in the pan.
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Creamy Cauliflower Sauce
Author: Pinch of Yum
Serves: makes about 5 cups
Ingredients
Instructions
Notes
I like to add a little bit of olive oil for the flavor and to help keep the sauce really smooth. Several other readers have mentioned that they really liked the addition of Parmesan cheese as well.
**Serving size is 1/2 cup.
52 calories 3 g of fat 6g carb 2g protein
Serves: makes about 5 cups
Ingredients
- 8 large cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons butter (vegan or normal butter)
- 5-6 cups cauliflower florets
- 6-7 cups vegetable broth or water
- 1 teaspoon salt (more to taste)
- ½ teaspoon pepper (more to taste)
- ½ cup milk (more to taste) (ALMOND MILK WILL TASTE THE SAME!)
Instructions
- Garlic: Saute the minced garlic with the butter in a large nonstick skillet over low heat. Cook for several minutes or until the garlic is soft and fragrant but not browned (browned or burnt garlic will taste bitter). Remove from heat and set aside.
- Cauliflower: Bring the water or vegetable broth to a boil in a large pot. Add the cauliflower and cook, covered, for 7-10 minutes or until cauliflower is fork tender. Do not drain.
- Puree: Use a slotted spoon to transfer the cauliflower pieces to the blender. Add 1 cup vegetable broth or cooking liquid, sauteed garlic/butter, salt, pepper, and milk. Blend or puree for several minutes until the sauce is very smooth, adding more broth or milk depending on how thick you want the sauce. You may have to do this in batches depending on the size of your blender. Serve hot! If the sauce starts to look dry, add a few drops of water, milk, or olive oil.
Notes
I like to add a little bit of olive oil for the flavor and to help keep the sauce really smooth. Several other readers have mentioned that they really liked the addition of Parmesan cheese as well.
**Serving size is 1/2 cup.
52 calories 3 g of fat 6g carb 2g protein
Cauliflower Pizza Calzones
Makes three medium size calzones (feeds 3)
Crust
1 small head cauliflower, cut into small florets (should yield about 3 cups once processed)
½ cup / 1.7 oz / 50 gr mozzarella cheese, shredded
1 free range egg, lightly beaten
½ teaspoon fine grain sea salt
½ teaspoon oregano
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
Filling
6 tablespoons thick tomato sauce
½ cup / 1.7 oz / 50 gr mozzarella cheese
pinch of salt
Preheat oven to 450°F (220°C) and place a rack in the middle. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and grease liberally with olive oil.
In a food processor rice the cauliflower florets in batches (process until evenly chopped but not pulverized). Transfer cauliflower rice to a microwave dish and microwave on high for 8 minutes, until cooked.
Place the cauliflower rice in a tea towel and twist it to squeeze out as much moisture as you can (I squeezed out more than 1 cup of liquid). This is very important. The cauliflower rice needs to be dry. Otherwise you’ll end up with a mushy dough, not a crusty one.
Transfer the cauliflower rice to a mixing bowl and add egg, mozzarella, oregano, sea salt and pepper. Mix well.
Using your hands, press the mixture onto the baking sheet and shape into three discs (diameter should be about 5 inches).
Place in the oven and bake for 10 (no more no less, 10 minutes).
Remove from the oven and, working quickly, top the half of each disc with tomato sauce and mozzarella. Using a large spatula carefully lift the half of the disc without filling and fold it over the other part (that’s ok if the disc brakes a bit).
Use your fingers to push the edges of each calzone together and seal in the filling.
Bake in the oven for an additional 12 minutes.
Serve hot!
Nutrition facts
One cauliflower crust calzone yields 161 calories, 8.3 grams of fat, 8 grams of carbs and 11 grams of protein.
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