Memorial Day & Recipe Round-up

I hope everyone is having a safe weekend and enjoying their extra day off work. I also hope that everyone is taking time today to remember why we celebrate Memorial Day. Today is a day to remember those that have served in the Armed Services, past and present. And most importantly to remember those that didn't make it home. Those that sacrificed their lives for our country. Let us always remember them and honor them and respect today for what it is meant for.

Source: bbc.co.uk via rayna on Pinterest

To my husband, brother, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, and many friends and family members that have served or are currently serving our country, thank you for service. Today and always.

I also wanted to share a fabulous recipe today that I tried out this weekend. Time for Recipe Round-up! I know I haven't posted any recipes lately and mostly it's because every time I start dinner I forget to break out my camera and then I get lazy and just don't post about it. Terrible, I know. But it's the truth.

Saturday evening I really wanted to eat out. But something made me decide not to and just cook up some ground turkey that was sitting in my fridge. So thankfully I did because I had been wanting to try out this recipe for weeks. It's probably one of my favorite meatball dishes now. Hands down in my top 2!

Asian Turkey Meatballs with Lime Sesame Sauce


Here's what you'll need. Don't pay attention to the Teriyaki glaze. I took it out on accident and had to swap it for Sesame Oil. Silly me.

For the Meatballs:
- 1/4 cup panko crumbs or breadcrums
- 1 1/4 lbs lean ground turkey
- 1 egg
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
- 3 scallions, chopped
- 1 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
- 2 tsp sesame oil

For the Dipping Sauce:
- 4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
- 2 tsp sesame oil
- 2 tbsp fresh lime juice
- 2 tbsp water
- 1 tbsp chopped scallions

Preheat oven to 500 degrees.

Mix ground turkey, panko (or breadcrumbs), egg, salt, scallions, cilantro, 1 tbsp soy sauce, and 2 tsp sesame oil and mix with your hands until well combined. Shape 1/4 cup meat mixture into a ball and transfer to baking dish. Repeat with remaining mixture. Makes about 12 meatballs.

Bake until cooked through, about 15-20 minutes.

For the dipping sauce, mix together lime juice, water, soy sauce, and remaining 2 tsp of sesame oil in a bowl. and scallions.

Transfer meatballs to a serving dish. Stir sauce then drizzle meatballs with 1 tbsp sauce. Serve meatballs with remaining sauce, about 1 tbsp per person for dipping.

That's it! Easy peasy and so delicious! I will be making this often. I served it with some teriyaki style rice which was perfect.

Happy Monday and Happy Memorial Day! Have a fabulous week! We're off to a BBQ at my mom's :)

Recipe Round-Up: Chicken Shiitake & Wild Rice Soup

Happy Hump Day! 

I had every intention of posting this earlier today, along with a PYHO link-up and then the day got the best of me....like it tends to do on a pretty regular basis these days. *Sigh*  Now I'm sitting on my couch watching the most recent episode of SMASH (thank you DVR) and all I want to do is turn off this laptop of mine and go to bed early. Another thing I have been wanting to do a lot of lately. But, I couldn't hit the hay without sharing this amazing recipe! I had my mom and stepdad over for dinner last weekend and this was a new dish I had been dying to try. I love Chicken and Wild Rice Soup so much and had never tried this on my own. Of course, it's another recipe from SkinnyTaste because Gina's recipes are too die for and they're healthy versions of my favorite things :) Can't beat that!

Unfortunately, as I started getting everything out, I realized my camera battery was none other than....yep, that's right, D.E.A.D. Sucks, I know. I wasn't able to get any pics for this recipe but couldn't let it stop me from sharing. Too fabulous to not share!

Here's what you'll need:
1 tbsp butter
1 small onion
1 tbsp flour
8 cups fat free low sodium chicken broth
1 cup water
2 chopped carrots
3 garlic cloves
2 celery stalks
4 skinless chicken thighs (I used chicken breasts)
4.5 oz long grain rice and wild rice combo (I used Rice-a-Roni)
1/2 cup long grain white rice
4 oz. shiitake mushrooms (I used cremini - couldn't find shiitake)
2 tbsp fat free sour cream
salt and pepper to taste

Melt butter in a large pot on medium heat, add onion and saute until soft but not browned, about 3-4 minutes. Add flour and saute another minute.

Add chicken broth, water, carrots, garlic, celery, and chicken. Cover and simmer 20 minutes. Add wild rice mix along with it's seasoning, long grain rice, mushrooms, salt and pepper to taste and simmer on low, covered 25 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Remove chicken from pot and shred with two forks, return to pot, add sour cream and more water if too thick. Adjust salt and pepper to taste and serve.

Servings - 6 (1 1/2 cups per serving)
Points - 6
Calories - 237
Fat - 4.3g
Protein - 14g
Carbs - 35g
Fiber - 1.7g

Even though I didn't get a photo of the finished product, here is one from Gina's site so you can see what this yumminess looks like :)

Enjoy!

XOXO,
Ashley

Recipe Round-Up: Baked Chicken Parmesan

A few nights ago I tried a new recipe that I fell in love with! Thank you Kara for recommending this fabulous dish. I believe she grabbed it from SkinnyTaste, which is a new fave site of mine. Everything I've tried so far has been amazing and healthy. J, M and L all loved it as much as I did. It's not so easy to please small children unless you make mac & cheese, PB & J or chicken nuggets :) But, they really enjoyed this recipe which means it's a keeper in our house. And it's super easy to whip up and doesn't take too much time which is always a plus when you have a family and your kids are begging for dinner right NOW! I am usually home around 5pm and my kids are not happy if we are eating after 6pm so it's usually a mad dash to hurry and get dinner on the table.

I try hard to eat healthy as much as possible. I don't go on crazy diets or anything, but my husband and I do watch our calorie intake and exercise on a fairly regular basis. Of course there are days we fall off the wagon and have to find our way back, but we generally do pretty well with our eating habits. This recipe is a lighter version when compared to most Chicken Parm recipes. It's baked, everything is light and lower in fat and calories. If you serve it with a small salad and veggies, you can't go wrong! 

Baked Chicken Parmesan

Here's what you'll need. Pretty minimal if you ask me.

Ingredients:

• 4 (8 oz.) chicken breast halves, sliced in half (I actually used breast tenderloins since they're smaller and I didn't end up needing to cut them in half)
• 3/4 cup seasoned breadcrumbs 
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 tbsp butter, melted
• 3/4 cup mozzarella cheese, reduced fat
• 1 cup marinara sauce
• cooking spray

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Spray a large baking sheet lightly with cooking spray.

Combine breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese in a bowl. Melt butter in another bowl. Lightly brush butter onto the chicken, then dip into breadcrumb mixture. Place on backing sheet and repeat with the remaining chicken.

Lightly spray a little more cooking spray on top and bake for about 20 minutes. Turn chicken over, back another 5 minutes. Remove from oven, spoon sauce over chicken and top with mozzarella. Bake 5 more minutes or until cheese is melted.

Serving Size - 1 piece
Weight Watchers Points - 6
Calories - 225
Fat - 8.6g
Protein - 25g
Carbs - 14.2g
Fiber - 1.3g

Here is what my finished plate looked like, served with a salad and baked asparagus. Delish!!!

 Enjoy my friends! I sure did.

XOXO,
Ashley