Sticky Pomegranate Drumsticks

Sticky Pomegranate Drumsticks
Gluten Free, 21 Day Fix Approved
Source

Overall, I liked these but it isn't something I would eat all the time. The flavor was different and they were even good reheated for leftovers. 

Serves: 4
Containers: 1 red, 1/2 purple, 2 tsp

INGREDIENTS
2 cups pomegranate juice
1 tbsp dijon mustard
1.5 tsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp Sriracha
2 cloves garlic, chopped
8 chicken drumsticks, skins removed
1 medium scallion (green onion), thinly sliced

Instructions
1. Heat oven 450F with the rack in the center of oven
2. In a skillet, combine pomegranate juice, dijon mustard, vinegar, sriracha and garlic. Bring to boil over high hear, stirring occasionally. Cook until the liquid reduces to a quick glaze, about 10 minutes. *NOTE: it took a longer than 10 minutes for it to thicken for me*
3. Place chicken drumsticks on a foil-lined baking sheet and roast for 10 minutes.4. Brush glaze over drumsticks, flip, cook for another 10 minutes.
5. Remove from oven, turn broiler on high. Brush the chicken with half of the remaining glaze and broil for 2 minutes. Flip, brush with remaining glaze, broil additional 2 minutes.
6. Transfer to platter and sprinkle with scallions!

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Chicken Enchilada Soup

Chicken Enchilada Soup

Crockpot, Gluten Free and 21 day fix!

I found this recipe on Pinterest and, of course, I had to make some modifications. Because... well, I wanted real chicken in my soup. HA. Here is my version of the recipe.

Ingredients

• ½ cup chopped onion(or you can used onion flakes)
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 cans veggie broth
• 1 8oz can tomato sauce
• 1 15oz can no salt added black beans
• 1 14oz can rotel tomatoes
• 2 cups frozen corn kernels
• 1 tsp cumin
• ½ tsp ground oregano
• 1 pound chicken(I used frozen chicken that I had put up in large chunk sizes)

Instructions

1. Add all ingredients to slow cooker.
2. Cover and cook on low for 6 hours.
3. Remove chicken from the crockpot and shred.
4. Return to slow cooker.

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Gluten Free Sweet And Sour Chicken Recipe

Pinterest has become my best friend in my health journey. So many pins, so little time!

This picture caught my eye on pinterest.



When I saw this recipe, I knew I had to try it. I love Asian food. I wasn't 100% JP would like this recipe but he gave it a huge thumbs up and asked me to add it to the "keepers" pile.

Sweet And Sour Chicken Recipe
Gluten Free

Adapted from this recipe. Somehow, my mom brain didn't get ginger on the grocery list. No big deal, I thought. I'll just use some from my spice cabinet.... Not so much. Apparently I don't have any. So I left it off when I made it. It was still delicious. Also, she suggests serving it on lettuce but we served it over rice. Since we were serving it over rice, I doubled the sauce recipe to suite us. Here is the recipe as I made it.

Ingredients

• 2 chicken breasts (boneless, skinless)
• 1/2 cup corn starch
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 egg (whisked)
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 red bell pepper (chopped)
• 1/2 green bell pepper (chopped)
• 1 small onion (chopped)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 4 tbsp gluten free soy sauce
• 4 tbsp ketchup
• 2 tbsp white wine vinegar
• 2 tbsp sweet chili sauce
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes
• 4 cloves garlic (crushed)
• 1/2 cup pineapple juice
• 3/4 cup pineapple chunks

Instructions

1. Cube chicken into small chunks.
2. Whisk the egg in one shallow bowl and combine the corn starch and brown sugar in a separate shallow bowl.
3. Put each piece of chicken in the egg until covered and then coat in the corn starch and brown sugar mix. 
4. Heat olive oil in a large skillet and add the breaded chicken, cooking over medium high heat. 
5. After the chicken has started to brown, add the chopped bell peppers and onions. 
6. To make the sauce: combine all remaining ingredients with the exception of the pineapple chunks and (your choice of) rice or lettuce. Whisk them until they are completely blended.
7. Pour the sauce over the chicken and veggies and toss to combine. 
8. Cover and reduce heat to a simmer for 10 minutes. 
9. Add the pineapple chunks. Cover and cook for an additional 10 minutes. Serve over rice. 

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My Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe and Tips

During my time as a baker, I feel like I perfected a method for making chocolate chip cookies. Or any cookie for that matter. The ingredients are fairly typical but the way they are "assembled" and baked makes the WORLD of difference.

TIPS:
- This makes a LOT of cookies. I scoop all of the dough onto lined cookie sheets and freeze it, then place the balls of dough into zip lock bags. Makes it SO easy to pop as many cookies as we need into the oven and they turn out just as well as if they had been mixed minutes before.
- Melt your butter. Completely. Seriously.
- Add one ingredient at a time and make sure it is completely folded/mixed in before adding another one.

When I worked at the bakery, I got seriously spoiled by a mixer just like this. Yes, the bowl itself is almost 2 feet tall. I may have told JP I want one for our house one day. HA. My mother in law asked me today why I was only using one blade on the mixer. I only use one blade and run a spatula along the sides to fold the ingredients in, because that was the best way to make sure everything was completely creamed and mixed in the big mixer. To me, that is still the best way to do it. You can take the girl out of the bakery, but you can't take the baker out of the girl. ;-)

 "True sign of good things to come. #loadsofbutter #Christmasbaking#myfamouschocolatechipcookies #hubbysfavorite" 

"Mmmmmm"

INGREDIENTS

4 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp salt

2 cups butter, MELTED(this is key)

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/2 cups brown sugar, packed

3 tsp vanilla extract

4 large eggs

3 1/2 - 4 cups Nestle Tollhouse Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt.

Place melted butter into a LARGE mixing bowl. Add each of the following ingredients one at a time; sugar, brown sugar, vanilla extract, eggs. Make sure each ingredient is completely folded in. Add the dry flour mixture in slowly, making sure it is completely mixed/folded in. Add the chocolate chips.

Space your cookies apart depending on how big of a scoop you use. I use a small OXO style cookie scoop. This makes cookies spread to up to a 2" diameter.

Bake on a mid to high rack. Bake for 10 - 14 minutes. I always pull my cookies out when the bottom is golden brown and the top is cooked but still gooey in the center. By making sure they are still gooey in the center, your cookies will stay soft like a fresh baked cookie. Yum!

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Healthier Crockpot Red Beans

This Louisiana born girl loves her some red beans and rice. Especially, if they resemble Popeyes red beans and rice... But when you look at the copy cat recipes and see all of the fat/lard/grease that is contains and the calorie count its almost enough to make you swear them off. Almost.

My mom always made red beans and rice with a thinner stock base rather than loading it up with fat. It's delicious! This is a crockpot adapted version of her recipe. It's so easy to set the beans on to soak the night before. I also use my rice cooker and set the brown rice on to cook about 2 hours before dinner time.

CROCKPOT RED BEANS AND RICE

1 lb. red kidney beans
1-2 bay leaves
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 lg. onion, chopped
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. pepper
Rice, cooked
Fresh chopped parsley
Meat (optional) - I prefer cajun Conecuh sausage

Rinse beans in cold water (sorting out bad beans as you add them into the crockpot)..

Soak beans overnight in the crockpot
Cook in 3 quarts of water for 2 hours.
Add all other ingredients(excluding meat and rice) and cook for an additional 2-3 hours on high or 6-8 hours on low. Add meat about 30 minutes to an hour before serving.
Serve with hot rice. 

TIPS: Don't add the meat too early. Some sausages end up drying out if they are in there too long. Also, you will most likely want to add more salt to taste. I would suggest not adding it until serving because too much salt slows the beans cooking process down and they will not soften as quickly with additional salt.

Yummm. =)

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Taco Soup Recipe

*also on our family recipe blog,  Clegg's Kitchen* This is my slightly adapted version.

1 pound Ground meat, browned and drained 
1 can rotel tomatoes cilantro and lime flavor
1 can Corn, whole kernel, undrained
1 can Black beans, undrained
1 can Kidney Beans, undrained
1 pkg Ranch Dressing Mix
1 pkg Taco Seasoning
1 small Onion, chopped
1 jalapeno, chopped1 bag Chips, Fritos or Tostidos
Cheese - Cheddar (shredded), 1 cup
1/2 cup Sour Cream (optional) - neither JP or I like sour cream as a garnishment, so we skip it.

Combine all ingredients except chips, shredded cheese, and sour cream in crock pot.

Cover and cook on LOW 4 to 6 hours.

Garnish individual servings with chips, cheese, and sour cream.

Makes 6-8 servings. This is an easy recipe to double.

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Share your chicken and veggie recipes

Kerri asked for recipes on her blog. I decided to pick some of our favorite, easy recipes. Kerri mentioned that she liked chicken and veggies, so the recipes I picked revolved around that theme.I am using MckLinky for the first time and hopefully I won't be left looking lonely and pitiful. ;) Link up and share some of your favorite chicken and/or veggie recipes!

Baked Chicken
1 or 2 chicken breasts
Barbeque Sause or Italian Dressing

This recipe works well with either "marinades". It all depends on what you are in the mood for.
Preheat the oven to 450, cover chicken with sauce of choice(optional: add water for the BBQ), cover with aluminum foil and bake until chicken is cooked(approx. 30-40 minutes).

SO easy!

Roasted root veggies


3 large carrots, cut on the bias
2 Yukon Gold potatoes, cut on the bias
1/4 cup asparagus (about 4 stalks)
1 small onion
1 teaspoon chopped parsley
1 teaspoon chopped chives
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. 
2. Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a large skillet, preferably nonstick, over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and golden, about 5 minutes. 
6. On a baking sheet, toss all the vegetables in the olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Add to the oven and roast for 30 to 35 minutes, stirring midway through baking. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with fresh herbs.

Easy, delicious and healthy! Since I found this recipe a couple of weeks ago, I have eaten this 2-3 times a week. And now I think I want this for dinner. Ha


Chicken Rice Casserole

1 can Cream of Chicken soup
1 can Chicken Noodle soup
3/4 cup rice, long grain - raw
4 Boneless skinless chicken breasts
4 tbsp Italian Dressing
Dash of salt
Dash of black pepper

Combine the two soups in a medium casserole dish. Add 1/4 cup water and the rice. Blend well. Place chicken on top of rice mixture. Pour Italian dressing over chicken. Salt and pepper lightly. Cover and back in a 350 degree over for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until chicken is done. Uncover and brown 15 minutes more. 
  
This is a large recipe but it makes for GREAT leftovers. One of the few leftovers that I can actually get T to eat. Ha

Chicken Stir Fry 
2 Boneless Skinless Chicken breasts
 Teryaki Sauce to taste
 1-2 cups rice
Olive Oil
Veggies

Choose whatever veggies you would like and cut them into small, bite sized pieces.  
 Cut chicken into small pieces. Cook in oil. Remove chicken. 
Add veggies and cook. 
Add cooked chicken and sauce and continue cooking. 
Serve with prepared rice. 

I have started using brown rice whenever we have rice. I like the Minute Rice Ready to Serve bowls and I am going to try the boil in a bag brown rice. For SUPER QUICK AND EASY Stir-Fry for 1 person, try I ReadyServe bowl of rice, 1 box Green Giant Immunity Veggies and Low Sodium Teryaki Sauce to taste. Yum!

Chicken Bake

1-2 Boneless Skinless chicken breasts
2 potatoes - peeled and sliced
4-5 carrots peeled and cut
green beans - 1 can
italian dressing - low fat, 1/4 bottle

Spread chicken in the bottom of a baking dish.  Put potatoes, carrots, and green beans on top of steak.  Pour italian dressing over the top of the vegetables.  Cover with aluminum foil.  Bake at 400 degrees for about 1 hour, until potatoes and carrots are done.

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Parmesian-Basil Tilapia

I knew I wanted something light but flavorful and my first thought was to bake a tilapia filet. We normally take a frozen filet, cover it in lemon pepper and bake for 25-30 minutes. But I wanted something different. And I found it! ;)

I got the recipe from Shape Magazine's website. Since it was just me eating, I halved the recipe with the exception of the olive oil. 
I didn't have any lemons or lemon juice so I passed on their version of the green beans and made my own.

Parmesan-Encrusted Tilapia
4 skinless tilapia fillets (1 pound total)
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 tablespoon dried basil
¼ cup Parmesan cheese
2 teaspoons olive oil
 
Directions
Preheat the broiler. Cut the tilapia fillets lengthwise into two pieces, then pat dry with a paper towel and season to taste with pepper. In a small bowl, combine basil and Parmesan cheese; set aside. 

Heat olive oil in a 12-inch heavy ovenproof skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking. Sauté the fish for 3 minutes or until brown. Flip the fillets over and remove the skillet from heat. Dust the tilapia with the cheese mixture. Place the skillet under the broiler to finish cooking the fish and slightly brown the cheese, about 3 to 4 minutes.

I don't have an ovenproof skillet so I placed it in a baking dish. It adds an extra dish to wash but totally worth it. ;) It was delicious, light and refreshing!

Clegg's Kitchen Green Beans
I love me some green beans. I like them to be flavorful. I suppose you could say I am picky when it comes to my green beans. But I blame it on my mom for making them taste so good. ;)
For every one can of green beans, add one chicken bouillon cube. Sprinkle with onion flakes. Bring all 3 ingredients to a boil. Stir to break up the cubes and reduce heat until ready to serve.
Yum!

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