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

Recipe!

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Corn and Black Bean Salad

We really like this side salad with Latin type dishes, but really it would be great with anything.  We had it with Chicken Salsa Verde.  The addition of cojita cheese is what really makes it great, but if you want to lighten it even more you could definitely lose it and it would still be a good salad.  It is substantial enough that you could have a larger portion for a full meal.

Recipe!

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Salsa Verde

Doesn’t get easier than this and salsa verde is my favorite.  I’m kicking myself for not growing tomatillos this year, but maybe next when we have more space in the garden.  I used this for shredded chicken in salsa verde, but it’s great with anything.

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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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Lightened Pesto

Pesto is great, but obviously on the “expensive” side when it comes to calories.  This method to lighten it up a bit really retains all the great flavor minus some of the worst of the calories.  This makes about a cup of pesto, which freezes really well.

  • 2 cups fresh basil, lightly packed
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 1/2 cup shredded parmesan
  • Kosher salt and pepper to taste
  • 1/4 cup olive oil (possibly less; check after 3 Tbls for taste/consistency)

Place the basil, garlic, cheese, salt and pepper in a food processor and pulse a few times, then slowly add oil until pesto reaches desired consistency.

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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

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Lemon Bars

Lemon bars are such a great summer dessert –  very portable and light after a big grilled meal.  They are a little time consuming, but well worth the trouble. These are made with a traditional shortbread crust.  I made these for our friend’s summer kick-off roof deck party and they were a hit.

lemonbars

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S’mores Cups

Who doesn’t love s’mores?  Admittedly, I don’t really like chocolate.  But I’ll eat it in this form…especially because I’ll hoover any marshmallows in sight.   These was a cute and easy recipe that was handy for something like a party or cookout, because it was very mobile.  Also bite size, so you can eat more and not feel guilty, right?  Right. 😉

smores

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