Sour Cream and Bacon Chicken

Now that I've blogged about a not-so-good recipe, I feel like I've had a string of them! Last night we tried Sour Cream and Bacon Chicken in the crockpot and it was just okay. The flavor was a little bland and I didn't like how the chicken turned out in the crockpot...dry and bland. This might be another one to try, but in the oven. 

Sour Cream and Bacon Chicken
From Key Ingredient
 
8 bacon slices
8 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 (10 oz) cans roasted garlic cream of mushroom soup
1 cup sour cream
½ cup flour (all purpose or gluten free blend)
Salt and pepper to taste

Place the bacon in a large skillet and cook over medium-low heat until some of the fat is rendered. Be sure that the bacon is still pliable and not crisp. Drain on paper towels. If you use this method, reduce the flour to 1/4 cup. Or don’t cook the bacon and proceed with the recipe. Then wrap one slice of bacon around each boneless chicken breast and place in a 4-5 quart crockpot. In medium bowl, combine condensed soups, sour cream, and flour and mix with wire whisk to blend. Pour over chicken. Cover crockpot and cook on low for 6-8 hours until chicken and bacon are thoroughly cooked. You may want to remove the chicken and beat the sauce with a wire whisk so it is very well blended. Pour sauce over chicken. Serve over rice, couscous, or wide egg noodles.

World's Best Chicken

Another day, another Pinterest recipe. It was really good but I don't know if it was the World's Best Chicken as the name suggests. (I just kept picturing Buddy the Elf bursting into my kitchen to congratulate me on making the world's best chicken :) It is really easy to make and would make a great meal to take to someone, as well as good freezer meal. It will stay in our recipe repertoire as Really Good Chicken ;)


The World’s Best Chicken
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup Dijon mustard
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
Salt & pepper
Rosemary

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a small bowl, mix together mustard, syrup, and vinegar. Place chicken breasts into 9×13 greased baking dish. Season with salt & lots of pepper. Pour mustard mixture over chicken. Make sure each breast is coated. Bake for about 30-40 minutes, or until meat thermometer reads 165 degrees. There will be extra sauce in the pan, which you can elect to toss out or use for extra flavoring. Season with chopped rosemary. To make this in the slow cooker, combine all ingredients and cook on low for 3-4 hours.

Beef Fajitas and Pico de Gallo Straight from the Garden

While I don't have a new recipe to share with you, I just had to brag on my garden a bit. The other night we had a meal that was nearly all from our garden. I made beef fajitas, using the grain-fed organic beef we have and onions and yellow peppers from our garden. I paired them with freshly made pico de gallo (tomatoes, onions, jalapeno from the garden with some store-bought garlic and lime juice). In the fajitas, I used my homemade taco/fajita seasoning, found here.






Not only was everything delicious, it was fun to eat something we've produced on our own (and I didn't have to pay for!)

Teryaki Chicken Stir-Fry

As I've mentioned before, our garden and especially our zucchini are going crazy right now. See exhibit A, the latest zucchini I picked that's almost three times the size of my hand! I wasn't very inspired for dinner last night and so I just decided to use up some of the veggies I had in the fridge in a chicken teriyaki stir-fry. It was a little bit of this, little bit of that, clean out the fridge type of meal ;) 

In my wok (SIDE NOTE: if you don't have a wok, I highly suggest buying one...they are the BEST for not only stir-frys but other types of sauteing. They aren't too expensive either; I got mine at Ikea for $8), I sauteed sliced chicken breast with a little salt and pepper until no longer pink. Add in veggies, all cut to the same size to keep the cooking times even (I used zucchini, yellow squash, broccoli slaw, sweet peppers and onions) and cook for another 5 to 7 minutes until the veggies are desired softness. Add in about 2 tablespoons of teriyaki sauce and 1 to 2 tablespoons of soy sauce. Cook for another 2 to 3 minutes and serve piping hot over rice.

My teriyaki and soy sauces are both organic and all-natural from Whole Foods. They only cost a little more than "regular" soy and teriyaki sauce, but without any of the preservatives. The soy sauce is actually a tamari sauce, which is gluten-free as well.

Banana Oatmeal Cookie Smoothie

Because girls weekend was in Columbus, I went a night early to spend some extra time with Kathy, Joe and sweet Sebastian. On Saturday morning, Joe made me a delicious smoothie after my run that totally hit the spot. It had just the right amount of sweetness and the oats really made it filling. I could only eat about half of it. 

Joe said he also tried with chocolate chips but found it to be a bit too chunky and chewy for a smoothie. I might try mini chocolate chips to see if that helps. A little cocoa powder or peanut butter would be good too.

Thanks Joe for the great breakfast recipe! Every time I have one, I'll be thinking of you ;)

Banana Oatmeal Cookie Smoothie
Courtesy of The Joseph Wilson

2 frozen bananas
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup milk

Add everything to the blender or a glass if you're using an immersion or hand blender. Blend until smooth. Enjoy!

Beef Stroganoff

I have a confession to make.
I love Hamburger Helper.
I know. Shocking. Mrs. Clean Eating loves preservative-filled fake dinner. I've loved it for a long time though, ever since college when I would make it all.the.time. Ask my college roommate, Rachael :) I am particularly drawn to the Beef Stroganoff. I don't know what is it about that ground beef, noodly, creamy goodness that gets me every time.
Anyway, since going clean, HH has not made an appearance in our household. Luckily, I had an old recipe for Easy Beef Stroganoff tucked away and decided to give it the old college try. While it didn't measure up to HH to me, it was still good and easy, just like the name says. Plus, it was all-natural and clean. My kiddos gobbled it up. 
I used all-natural, homemade egg noodles I found at a local meat market. My grandma has a recipe for homemade egg noodles as well, so maybe I'll get brave and try those too. We used the grain-fed beef for the meat, which was also really good and super tender. With this recipe, be sure not to overcook the meat, just cook until barely pink. Otherwise, it gets too tough.

Easy Beef Stroganoff
Adapted from Real Simple

12 ounces egg noodles
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound flank steak, thinly sliced
kosher salt and black pepper
1 small yellow onion, thinly sliced
1 green bell pepper, thinly sliced (optional)
2 cups fresh mushrooms
1 8-ounce container all-natural sour cream
2 1/2 tablespoons steak sauce or Worcestershire sauce

Cook the noodles according to the package directions. Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Season the steak with ¼ teaspoon each salt and pepper. In 2 batches, cook the steak until browned, about 1 minute per side. Transfer to a plate.
Return the skillet to medium heat and add the remaining tablespoon of oil. Add the onion and bell pepper (if desired); cook until softened, 6 to 8 minutes. Add the mushrooms and beef and cook until warmed through, about 2 minutes. In a small bowl, combine the sour cream and steak sauce and stir the mixture into the beef and mushrooms. Serve over the noodles.

Almond Chicken Dijon

This is another recipe that has been in the rotation for a long time that I was pleased to realize was clean without any modifications. This is a great dish to make for someone who just had a baby or needs a meal, because it freezes and reheats really well. I like to make mine with green beans and then add in some of the extra sliced almonds in with the green beans before I serve them. Really ties the meal together!

Almond Chicken Dijon
4 chicken breasts pounded down to about 1 inch thick (frozen or fresh)
Equal parts dijon mustard and Helman's mayo (for 4 chicken breasts, I use about 2 tablespoons of each)
1/2 cup to 1 cup of sliced almonds

Put chicken in oven-safe dish and season with salt and pepper. Mix together mustard and mayo and spread over the chicken. Sprinkle almonds over chicken and bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes, until chicken is cooked through. That's it! Super easy and super yummy!

Spicy Swai

I'm very lucky that everyone in my family, even the kiddos, love fish. It's so good for you and can be prepared in so many different ways. Last night, I made Spicy Swai. Usually, we buy tilapia (we do the frozen because it's just as good and cheaper), but Kroger had swai on sale for $1.99 for a 10-ounce bag. The swai tastes just like tilapia (light, flaky and a great option for those who don't like fish that much, because it's a very mild fish), but is usually a lot cheaper. 

For the Spicy Swai, I just took the frozen fish, put in a oven-safe dish, seasoned with salt and pepper and then added half a can of Rotel and several squirts of fresh lime and lemon juice. Broil for 10-15 minutes until fish is white, opaque and flaky. I served mine with sauteed zucchini and onions from the garden.

Monterrey Chicken

I first tried this recipe before going clean and it's becoming a family favorite. It's so simple, yet super delicious. Since the Rotel is pretty spicy, I leave some of the chicken without it for the kids. Paired with zucchini and onions from our garden, this made for a super fresh and super yummy meal!
 
MONTEREY CHICKEN
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/4 c. bar-b-que sauce (we use Montgomery Inn...if you wanted to keep it 100% clean, use homemade)
1/4 c. real bacon bits
1 c. colby and jack cheese, shredded
1 14 oz. can Rotel tomatoes, drained (canned with green chilies added)
sliced green onions
pepper
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Pound out chicken breasts to flatten. Season with pepper. Grill chicken until no long pink and place on baking sheet covered with foil. Top each chicken breast with one tablespoon bar-b-que sauce, 1/4 c. cheese, 1/4 c. tomatoes, green onions and one tablespoon of bacon bits. Place in oven and bake until cheese is melted (about 5 minutes).

Italian Beef Sandwiches

This recipe comes from our good friends, Brian and Lindsay, and has become a small group staple. It's great for parties too because it's super easy to prepare and can feed a lot of people relatively inexpensively. I used a roast from "our" cow and it turned out even better than usual. That grain-fed beef is awesome stuff! :)
 
Italian Beef Sandwiches
Any style pot roast (arm, shoulder, butt)
1 large onion cut into chunks
1 jar of mild banana peppers (juice and everything)
1 can beef broth (I used chicken b/c I had it hand)
couple cloves of minced garlic
1-2 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce

Trim off fat from roast. Put in crock pot with the rest of the ingredients and cook on high for 5 to 7 hours. Bigger roasts will take longer; cut the roast into halves or quarters to speed up the cooking process. After 5 to 7 hours, take the roast out and pull apart with fork. Strain out onions and peppers from juice. Put shredded beef back into crock pot and add back in liquid to your desired juiciness. Serve on hard or toasty sandwich rolls. (We used yummy pretzel rolls!) I also took 2 tablespoons of cream cheese, mixed in some pesto and spread it on the bread before adding the beef to the sandwich.

Crab Legs and Tilapia

With my mom here, we decided to get a little ambitious and made crab legs and fresh talapia. I don't eat crab, so I stuck with the talapia, which turned out delicious. I took the talapia and covered it with 2-3 tablespoons of melted butter, fresh chopped chives (from my herb garden), paprika and freshly-grated parm cheese. I broiled it for about 10 minutes, till brown and bubbly on top. For the crab legs, I melted about 4 tablespoons of butter in a large saucepan, added in about 2 teaspoons of chopped garlic and sauteed until the garlic was soft. Then, I added in the crab legs, put on a lid and let steam for 5-6 minutes. For sides, we had left-over clean pasta salad and fresh-cut lettuce and romaine from our garden.

Pasta Salad

Hello! Sorry for the lack of posts this week. After the 4th, my Momma came back with us and we've been enjoying the week doing fun stuff with the kiddos. Plus, it's VBS week, so my time this week has gone out the window.

Last week, I did manage to make a clean dish for a weekend cookout at the lake. In the past, I used to make the boxed Suddenly Salads. But, alas, they were far from all-natural. Instead, I made all-natural and clean pasta salad. I even made a gluten-free variety for my Mom.

I just took pasta (use whatever's on hand), cooked it to al dente and rinsed in cold water. Add in chopped veggies (I used peppers, tomatoes, carrots and celery), cubed cheese and pepperoni. Mix together with all-natural Italian dressing and cool in the fridge for an hour or so before serving.

Southwestern Chicken Salad

Southwestern Chicken Salad
1 can Rotel tomatoes
1 cup frozen corn
1 can organic black beans
1/2 cup green onions
1/2 cup tomatoes
1 avocado, diced
3 chicken breasts, poached and shredded
handful of cilantro, chopped
squeeze of lime juice

Mix everything together and refrigerate for 20-30 minutes to let flavors meld together. Season with salt and pepper. 

Applesauce Bites

I'm always looking for healthy, all-natural and easy-to-eat snack for the kiddos, since both of them are grazers, and seriously could eat all day long! I saw these on Pinterest (of course!) and they were a hit with the kids. They're applesauce bites and all you do is take a piece of parchment or wax paper, put dabs or circles of applesauce on the paper and freeze. When ready to serve, take out of the freezer and give to the kiddos. Caution...they do melt within 5 to 10 minutes, so have the kids eat quickly or only get a few out at a time. I'm going to try this with some of the flavored applesauces too. Stay tuned :)

Chicken Bacon Avocado Salad

This dish is a perfect summer dish. Easy prep means less time in a hot kitchen and the combination of romaine, avocado, chicken and vinaigrette make it a light, yet filling main course. The dressing has a number of ingredients, but I had them all on-hand and didn't have to make a special trip to buy extra ingredients. 

Sunday's training called for: 120 minute bike

I did: 14.23 miles in 55:12 (Okay, confession time. I really do not like riding bike that much. It's a great workout, but I do not have the attention span or desire to spend 2 straight hours on a bike. I much prefer to run. I feel like I am so much more efficient, meaning I can get a great workout in a shorter amount of time. That's why I love Insanity...hard workout in short time but awesome results. Rant over)

Today's training called for: 60 minute run

I did: 6 miles in 56:40 (booyah! first 10k of the year!)

Chicken Bacon Avocado Salad

Salad Ingredients:
• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• salt and pepper
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 8 cups chopped Romaine lettuce
• 8 slices bacon, cooked and diced
• 4 ounces blue cheese, crumbled (I used feta)
• 2 avocados, pitted and diced
• 2 roma tomatoes, diced
• 1/4 cup garlic vinaigrette (see recipe below)
• 1/4 cup chopped green onions
Garlic Herb Vinaigrette Ingredients:
• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
• pinch of salt and freshly-cracked black pepper
• 1 Tbsp. dried Italian seasonings (I used dried oregano)
• 1 1/2 cups extra virgin olive oil

To Make The Salad:

Season chicken breasts on both sides with salt and pepper. Grill until cooked through. Remove chicken and let rest for at least 10 minutes. Dice chicken into small pieces. Add the diced chicken, lettuce, bacon, blue cheese, avocados and tomatoes to a large bowl, and toss until combined. Drizzle or toss with garlic vinaigrette and serve immediately.

To Make The Vinaigrette:

Whisk all ingredients together until combined.

Crockpot Chicken Stock

A lot of crockpot recipes call for chicken stock, but unfortunately, many store-bought stocks have preservatives. The ones that don't are pretty expensive! I had been researching different homemade chicken stock recipes but was afraid to try any because they seemed pretty involved. Lo and behold, I happened across this one made in the crockpot. Hallejuah! That's more my style :) I was pleasantly surprised how easy (and cheap!) it was to make!! Now, every time we have chicken, I'll be making some homemade crockpot chicken stock. 

Training called for: 60 minute bike
What I did: 12 miles in 50 minutes


Crockpot Chicken Stock 
From Out of the Box Foods

Special Equipment: crockpot, quart freezer bags, fine mesh strainer/colander, medium bowl

Ingredients:
1 leftover roasted or rotisserie chicken (bones, skin and meat)
2 carrots, washed and cut/broken into three pieces each
2 celery stalks (w/leaves), washed and cut/broken into three pieces each
1 onion, quartered
1 tbsp whole peppercorns
16 Cups water (approximately)

Directions:
Place the chicken, carrots, celery, onion and peppercorns in crock-pot. Pour water over ingredients. Put lid on crock-pot and cook on low 10-12 hours. (The longer you cook the richer the stock so don’t hesitate to let it cook longer.)
Using a small mesh colander/strainer and bowl, strain out liquid. Discard vegetables. Measure liquid into desired serving size and pour into quart freezer bags. I used the snack size baggies and measured out 1 cup serving sizes. I also found it easy to put the open bag in a bowl or measuring cup to keep it open while you pour in the stock. Otherwise, I had trouble holding the bag open and pouring and it got all over the place. Seal, label and lay flat in freezer to freeze. (Measuring servings and labeling the bags makes for easy use in your next recipe.)

Oats in a Jar

I kept seeing recipes on Pinterest for Oats in a Jar. I love peanut butter and have empty peanut butter jars at least once a week, so I thought oats in a jar would be another good breakfast option.  I've also been trying to learn to like oatmeal, so I decided to give them a try using a recipe I found on Skinnytaste.com. They did not turn out so well :/ On take two, I decided to do my own thing and they turned out much better. Sorry there is no picture, the pictures made oats in jar not very appetizing :)

Overnight Oats in a Jar
empty peanut butter jar
1/4 cup quick oats
1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk (or regular milk)
1 to 2 teaspoons cocoa powder

Place all the ingredient in a jar, shake, cover and refrigerate overnight. Add your favorite crunchy toppings such as nuts, granola, etc and enjoy the next day warmed up.  

Next time, I am going to add some mini chocolate chips instead of cocoa powder. 

Peanut Butter Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

The hubs and I have been on a low-carb, low-sugar kick lately in preparation for some upcoming races this summer. I know, we're nuts...eating clean AND low-carb, low-sugar. My biggest struggle with low-card, low-sugar (beside the obvious not eating carbs or sugar) is what to eat for breakfast. I'm not a huge egg fan (thanks to both my pregnancies!) and can't stand the thought of even opening up a container of cottage cheese. Gag. So, I've been trying a bunch of different low-carb, low-sugar breakfast recipes. My first try was peanut butter banana chocolate chip muffins. They were dense, but had good flavor. I would definitely make these again but use more peanut butter and maybe less banana because the banana flavor was pretty dominant.

Peanut Butter Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
From Making Food and Other Stuff

• 3/4 cup flour
• 3 T peanut butter
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 medium bananas, mashed
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 T canola oil
• 1/3 cup chocolate chips

Mix banana, egg, vanilla, sugar, and oil in small bowl. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, peanut butter, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture, pour in wet and mix until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips. The dough will be extremely dry and almost crumbly. I had to add a few teaspoons of water. Fill muffin tins about 3/4 full and bake at 350 for 12-15 min.

Bourbon Crack Chicken

My hubby LOVES, and I mean LOVES bourbon, so anytime I find a recipe that includes bourbon I try it. Well, I pinned this recipe for Bourbon "Crack" Chicken on Pinterest without looking at the ingredients. When I finally went to make it this week, I realized there is absolutely no bourbon in Bourbon "Crack" Chicken. 

Hmm....

It still ended up being a really good dish even without the bourbon. It was very similar to the Crockpot Cashew Chicken I made a few weeks ago.

Overall, good taste and super easy to throw together. I served mine with broccoli and brown rice.



Bourbon “Crack” Chicken – Crockpot Style
From My Time Passages

2 lbs boneless chicken breasts cut into bite-size pieces
2 tablespoon cornstarch
2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil (evoo)
1 garlic clove crushed
1/4 teaspoon ginger (I omitted this b/c I don't like ginger and I didn't have any)
3/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 cup light apple juice
1/3 cup light brown sugar
2 tablespoons organic ketchup or chili sauce (depending on how hot you like stuff)
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup reduced sodium soy sauce

Whisk all ingredients into crockpot and add chicken. Cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4. 30 minutes before serving, add in frozen broccoli.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Even though I have a horrible brown thumb, I really do enjoy gardening. Last year, we had our first garden and were really happy with how it turned out. So happy, in fact, we doubled the size this year! This year is also exciting because Liesl is really getting into it as well. She picked out what fruits (strawberries and watermelon) and veggies (zucchini) she wanted to grow and goes out to check the progress every morning. 

This year, we planted onions, yellow, red and green bell peppers, zucchini squash, tomatoes, romaine lettuce, strawberries, watermelon and cherry tomatoes. I also created a smaller herb garden in a large pot with oregano, basil and chives. I'm still searching for cilantro...no one around here is selling it! Last year, my herbs were overtaken by the rest of the veggies in the garden, so I gave them their own space. 

I'll be updated you throughout the summer on the Thompson Family Garden :)

What are you growing this summer?