Chicken Spinach Orzo

This was an accidental recipe because I needed to use up what I had on hand before going to the store. It's pretty basic but really good! 

• 2 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts or 4 thighs
• 1 1/2 cups Orzo
• 1 med. Onion chopped
• 4 cups Low Sodium Chicken Stock
• 4 cups Fresh Spinach 
• 1 cup Shredded Parmesan 
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Boil the chicken till done shred and set aside. Simmer orzo and onion in chicken stock for 8min. Stirring frequently to keep it from sticking (you want most of the stock to be absorbed) Turn off stove add chicken, spinach, parmesan, S&P then mix till spinach is just wilted and cheese is melted.

Enjoy!  

Aetna Healthy Food Fight

So I was asked to join Shespeaks a great site to test new products and share your thoughts on the products. Right now they are focusing on healthy eating and are partnering with Aetna to help people eat better

Aetna is one of the nation's leading providers of health care, dental, pharmacy, group life, disability insurance and employee benefits. Aetna believes they can help make a better health care system.

Aetna Healthy Food Fight website is awesome! You can find great healthy recipes that are fast and easy, So there's really no excues on why you can't be healthier and make better choices.  Also you can also enter to win a Circulon® gourmet cookware set!!! Who doesn't like to win? So go check out their website, and let me know what you think. I'll be making a few recipes and posting them here with my reviews  

Healthy Food Fight

Fish Tacos

Ok so a while back I found this recipe for fish tacos that was good but not just right. This one is ALMOST perfect but was really good (and FAST) I had to share it. Betty Crocker is one of my favorite go to sites when I get in a rut and need some ideas. This one did it for me when I don't have much time to cook, feed the baby and have my oldest "help" with dinner. But he really did get to help with this and that makes it so much easier to get him to eat without messing around too much. He got to mix the ingredients and line the fish sticks up on the pan (should have taken pics :-p )

Any way here's the recipe

1 package (10 to 12 oz) breaded or battered fish fillets (6 fillets)

1 box (4.6 oz) Old El Paso® taco shells (12 shells)

1/2 cup mayonnaise or salad dressing

1 package (1 oz) Old El Paso® taco seasoning mix (any variety)

6 cups coleslaw mix (from 16-oz bag)

Old El Paso® taco sauce, if desired

1 Bake fish fillets (I used Gordons fish sticks) as directed on package. Cut each fillet into bite-size pieces.

2 Heat taco shells in oven as directed on box. (I used Ortega multigrain shells)

3 In medium bowl, mix mayonnaise and seasoning mix; stir in coleslaw mix. Let stand 5 minutes. Fill shells with fish pieces and coleslaw mixture; top with taco sauce.

YUM!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Surprise Cookies

I ran across this sweet delight on Pintrest (of course! I live on there lol) From this awesome site called Pennies on a platter and I just had to make them for a play date that's coming up tomorrow. We're going to make these babies into ice cream sandwiches! I also made regular chocolate chip but these made the cut. The only thing I didn't do was roll them in sugar, but that's because after the ice cream is added to them they will be rolled in sprinkles (more pics to come of that though)

The recipe!!

Yield: 2-3 dozen cookies

1½ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup unsweetened cocoa
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
½ cup granulated sugar (plus more for dipping)
½ cup packed brown sugar
½ cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup creamy peanut butter, divided
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
¾ cup powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 375˚F.
Stir together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the sugar, butter and 1/4 cup of the peanut butter until light and smooth. Add in the vanilla and egg, beating one at a time to combine. Gradually stir in the flour mixture. Set dough aside.

To make the filling, cream together the powdered sugar and remaining 3/4 cup of peanut butter until smooth.

To assemble the cookies, spoon a generous tablespoon of chocolate cookie dough and flatten into a circle with your hands. Scoop a small amount of peanut butter filling mixture and place in the center of the chocolate dough. Wrap the chocolate dough around the peanut butter filling, pinching ends together to seal. Roll the cookie in between hands to smooth into a ball. Roll into a bowl of sugar and place on the cookie sheet.

Use the bottom of a glass to slightly flatten the cookies. Bake for 7 to 9 minutes. Do not over bake. Let cool on wire rack.

Again I got this recipe from Pennies on a platter Enjoy!

Jellyfish Hot dogs

Ok so we have hit a rut when it comes to lunches around here, and Cameren has been wanting to help me cook lately so I have been looking up different kid friendly recipes. I ran across this and thought it would be perfect! This is one of our first and next time we do this I'll have to come up with a better dipper than the usual ketchup. Any way this is what we did.

First I cut up the hot dogs into "Heads" (about 6 pieces per hot dog) and Cameren attached the "Tentacles"

It's a very tedious process for a 5 yr old lol And this is the end result! Cool huh? Cameren even asked for more whe we were done but sadly we had used the only 2 hotdogs in the house

Also next time I think I'll get some sinach or whole grain pasta and tell him Jellyfish come in diffrent colors ;)

Empanadas

So I made these the other day and I loved them!! I had thought of making them before but I didn't want to have to make the dough. I was shopping at Kroger the other day and found premade dough!!! So awesome! I think I'll be making all kinds of empanadas more often.

~Empanada dough (thawed)
~1 pound ground turkey
~1 pack taco sauce
~1 med. onion chopped
~1 green pepper chopped
~cheese (your choice)

Preheat oven 350
Brown turkey meat and add taco sauce. Sautee onion and pepper leave kinda crunchy. Roll dough out slightly bigger than they come. Add all ingredients including cheese to your desire. Bake for 20min. or until golden. Enjoy!!

I got this idea when one of the eggs I was trying to color with the shells on had cracked and made a really pretty vein looking thing on it so cracked them open and kept cooking them for a few min. Too cute huh. I think I'll do this again for Easter (the indoor ones)