Main Dishes

Chicken with Salsa Verde

I saw this on a website, and I truly can’t remember where now.  Either way, it seemed like a great, low cal idea – throw some chicken breasts in a slow cooker, dump a jar of salsa in, cook for a few hours and then shred the chicken.  I went ahead and made some salsa verde for this, and it was a really easy, really tasty meal.  It would be great in some tortillas, but we’re back on the eating lighter bandwagon, and it was actually delicious as is.  We had this with black bean and corn salad on the side, and really loved it.

tomatillochicken

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Pesto Chicken, Bean and Sausage Soup

So when you make a ton of pesto, you’re eating it for a while.  Not that I’m complaining.  We decided not to freeze this batch of pesto, so it’s been uhm…around a lot the past few days.  This was a soup that we really liked – great way to use up some nice buffalo sausage we’d gotten a few weeks ago at the farmer’s market.  Very filling soup, and great for lunches.  Plus it’s the color of Ecto Cooler from 5th grade, so that’s pretty cool.

pestosoup

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Salmon with Pesto

Our basil plants have gone nuts…basil everywhere.  Not that I’m complaining!  But I felt like it was time to start doing something with all that basil, and my first time back in the kitchen after a 2 week study hiatus was a good occasion.  I use Skinnytaste’s lightened pesto, which is really just pesto with a bit less oil and no pine nuts…believe me, you don’t miss them.  Anyway, this was a great, easy way to prepare fish.  I served this with some asparagus from our CSA tossed with fresh mint and manchego.

pestosalmon

Recipe!

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Scallops and Warm Tuscan Beans

We love anything scallops, and this was a great quick weeknight meal.  The sauce created from the bean/spinach mixture was great, though next time I might thicken it up a bit.  We served this with tomato bread for a nice dinner.  This one came from Cooking Light.

tuscanscallops Recipe!

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Grilled Rosemary Chicken

This is another recipe from the great magazine cleanup of 2013, and we liked it a lot…would definitely make it again.  It came from Bon Apetit in 2011.   I used a whole chicken already cut up, marinated overnight as the recipe suggested, and it was awesome.  The only difficult part was grilling the breasts – they were *huge* and thus difficult to cook all the way through.   I might do only thighs next time.  We had this with an orzo/feta pilaf and an heirloom tomato salad.  Great summer meal.

rosemarychicken

Recipe!

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Soy Citrus Scallops with Soba Noodles

This one is another result of “clean out the cooking magazines frenzy,” and it came from Cooking Light.  We really liked it.  I changed up the cooking method a little – I skipped marinating the scallops because I didn’t think they would pan sear as well if already wet.  I like a nice sear on them, so I took care of that first, then cooked them in the sauce for a minute to get the flavor set in.  I served with a side of snow peas tossed with a soy and mirin vinaigrette, which was nice but alas I overcooked the peas.  Don’t do that and it’s a great side! 🙂

citrussoyscallops

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Missy’s Lemon Pork Tenderloin

This comes from my friend Missy, and it looked like a must try for us.  Did not disappoint – both the pork and the sauce were excellent, and I was eating the leftovers for lunch for a couple of days…bonus!  I served it with herbed mashed peas (great but a smidge too lemony) and quinoa cakes which were okay – love quinoa but probably wouldn’t bother again.  Check out Missy’s site for her interesting mesh of two recipes she had used and enjoyed:  Lemon Pork Tenderloin with Garlic Sauce

lemonpork

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Baked Egg Foo Young

I’ve been working on cleaning out old cooking magazines that have now made 3 moves with me, tearing out pages of old magazines, etc.  I tear out the page and keep it, which is kind of silly since I access the recipe online in the kitchen when actually cooking!  This one came from an old Eating Well and it was worth a try – with good results, we thought.  I augmented with some traditional egg foo young recipes as far as seasonings, but did not modify the cooking method.  I served it with brown rice and some sugar snap peas and we would definitely make again.  A pretty quick no-fuss weeknight meal and good vegetarian option.

eggfooyoung

Recipe!

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Pasta and Greens Salad

I can eat an army’s worth of pasta salad, seriously.  It’s kind of ridiculous.  This is a taken from something my mom emailed me about 10 years ago that I think *she* had on hand for 10-15 years. I could never get enough. I started mixing it with far less pasta and lots of greens (arugula or a spring mix are best…something a little bitter takes the dressing well and doesn’t get lost in the pasta) and using whole wheat  pasta and here we are.  No less delish, and it’s actually a complete meal or a nice cookout side dish, whichever works for what you’re doing. Very bright, adjustable, and great leftovers for lunches.

pastasalad
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Hummus Chicken

Another baked chicken recipe; I wish I could say I remember where I first saw this…Pinterest, maybe?  Regardless, it’s on a lot of blogs now.  We really liked it.  The hummus coating kept the chicken very moist while it baked, and formed a nice crust.  I think it will be even better with different types of hummus, but it was definitely worth repeating, and can’t beat the relatively low cal.  I served this with roasted brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and yellow pepper, and a wild rice mix.

hummuschicken

Recipe!

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