A delicious healthy dinner

At the beginning of January, I, like everyone else in the world, decided to eat healthier & lose a few (ahem...more than a few!) pounds. So I've been searching for healthy and tasty recipes. I found this great website that has many healthy recipes to try. The recipes are grouped by many different criteria such as occasion, type of cuisine, main ingredient etc... Or you can use the "advanced search" feature to narrow down your search to things like "high fiber", "low carb", "high protein" etc.... The web address is http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/collections.php

Here is a dinner I planned using the recipes from that website. Both of these are delicious and do not taste low calorie or low fat at all! And both were easy to make and bonus....these are usually ingredients I always have on hand.

If you try this recipe or any other from the website...please write & let me know what you think!


Sauteed Chicken with Creamy Chive Sauce
Makes 4 servings
ACTIVE TIME: 35 minutes
TOTAL TIME: 35 minutes
EASE OF PREPARATION: Easy

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 1 pound), trimmed of fat
1 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour, divided
3 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
2 large shallots, finely chopped
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 14-ounce can reduced-sodium chicken broth
1/3 cup reduced-fat sour cream
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/2 cup chopped chives (about 1 bunch)

1. Place chicken between sheets of plastic wrap and pound with a meat mallet or heavy skillet until flattened to an even thickness, about 1/2 inch. Season both sides of the chicken with 1/2 teaspoon salt. Place 1/4 cup flour in a shallow glass baking dish and dredge the chicken in it. Discard the excess flour.
2. Heat 2 teaspoons oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook until golden brown, 1 to 2 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate, cover and keep warm.
3. Heat the remaining 1 teaspoon oil in the pan over medium-high heat. Add shallots and cook, stirring constantly and scraping up any browned bits, until golden brown, 1 to 2 minutes. Sprinkle with the remaining 1 tablespoon flour; stir to coat. Add wine, broth and the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt; bring to a boil, stirring often.
4. Return the chicken and any accumulated juices to the pan, reduce heat to a simmer, and cook until heated through and no longer pink in the center, about 6 minutes. Stir in sour cream and mustard until smooth; turn the chicken to coat with the sauce. Stir in chives and serve immediately.
NUTRITION INFORMATION: Per serving: 244 calories; 9 g fat (3 g sat, 4 g mono); 72 mg cholesterol; 8 g carbohydrate; 26 g protein; 0 g fiber; 679 mg sodium. Nutrition bonus: Niacin (50% daily value), Selenium (31% dv).

Roasted Florets (broccoli/cauli mix, I omitted the lemon and added 2 cloves chopped fresh garlic)
Makes 4 servings, 1 1/2 cups each
ACTIVE TIME: 5 minutes
TOTAL TIME: 30 minutes
EASE OF PREPARATION: Easy

8 cups bite-size cauliflower or broccoli florets (about 1 head)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
Freshly ground pepper to taste
Lemon wedges (optional)

Preheat oven to 450°F.
Place florets in a large bowl with oil, salt and pepper and toss to coat. Spread out on a baking sheet. Roast the vegetables, stirring once, until tender-crisp and browned in spots, 15 to 25 minutes. Serve hot or warm with lemon wedges, if desired.
NUTRITION INFORMATION: Per serving (cauliflower): 113 calories; 7 g fat (1 g sat, 5 g mono); 0 mg cholesterol; 11 g carbohydrate; 4 g protein; 5 g fiber; 351 mg sodium. Per serving (broccoli): 101 calories; 7 g fat (1 g sat, 5 g mono); 0 mg cholesterol; 7 g carbohydrate; 4 g protein; 4 g fiber; 327 mg sodium. 1/2 Carbohydrate Serving

"Finding something good in a mess...

Subtitled: "Words you never want to hear from your 2 year old!"

I'll set the scene for you: I'm running behind for work, of course! Zachery is all dressed, bag packed for the baby sitter. I'm almost ready to walk out the door with no time to spare. I'm standing in front of the mirror in my bedroom and Zach walks in.... Here's the conversation:

Z - "zachery clean up mess, mommy"
M - (thinking to myself)oh no! OK, if I ignore what he just said...maybe nothing happened, right?? so I innocently say... "Hi Zachery, are you ready to go?"
Z - "Zachery clean up mess, mommy"
M - (OH NO!!, not now) "Really Zachery, what mess?"
Z - "Zachery clean up eggs, mommy"
M - And RIGHT THEN is when I remembered that I needed to put the eggs back in the fridge! "Alright, Zach, lets go see what happened."
So I run down the stairs in my state of "almost ready" to the kitchen. And find that he has broken 3 eggs on the floor. And, yes, as he said...he did try to clean up the mess. The shells were in the trash can...and the broom was lying in the gooey mess on the floor. He had tried sweeping it up....only to smear all the egg whites ALL.OVER.THE.FLOOR.

So, with less than 10 minutes before I had to walk out the door for work, I'm standing in the kitchen spraying clorox spray and floor cleaner and mopping the floor.

Really I would never have chosen to mop my kitchen floor at that moment in time. BUT the good in all this mess is....Today, my floor is mopped! One less thing to do today, my day off.