Beef Mango Tacos

Finally! Finally! The rain has stopped and it has been gorgeous in the Pacific Northwest this weekend. A beautiful Easter weekend of sunshine. It  has also been an emotional weekend because of the passing of a close family friend who was like a 2nd mom to my husband. She battled breast cancer that moved into her bones. She was an inspiration to all of us. She will be deeply missed.

The recipe I am going to share today is my son Aaron's favorite. We love mexican food. I found this recipe in a weight watcher magazine and adapted to my family's tastes. It is super easy and super fast to make. A side story about mangos.

Aaron is highly allergic to poison oak. He had it so bad one time that I had to take him to the doctor. His face swelled up, I don't think there was much on him that wasn't covered in poison oak. He also LOVES mangos. I would buy them and he would eat them up as fast as I could peel them. One day, after I had bought a couple mangos and he tried peeling them, he suddenly had a rash all over his face. It looked like poison oak. It acted like poison oak. I took him to the doctor because it was close to his eyes. The doctor determined that it wasn't poison oak because it was winter and he hadn't been outside in the woods or near any poison oak. She asked me if he had eaten a mango recently. Bingo! Apparently mangos have an oil on the skin that some people react to just like poison oak. So now, when I buy mangos, he makes sure he washes his hands really well after handling them. Anyway, back to the recipe.

I use round steak because that is what I have on hand. You can use flank steak as

well or any other steak you have. The only thing not showing in this picture is the ginger.

Slice the meat across the grain in thin strips. That will keep the meat tender. Also 

make sure you don't over cook the meat or it will toughen up. Add fresh ginger at 

this point or sprinkle the meat with dry ginger. I only had dry ginger so that is what I used.

Julienne the peppers and thinly slice the onion. Stir fry until

softened

Peel and dice 1 ripe mango. Then wash your hands.

Mix the meat with the vegetables if you want or keep them separate which is 

what I do. My husband doesn't like red/green/yellow peppers so put them in 

a different bowl and he picks out the onions for his tacos. 

You can serve this with avocado, sour cream, salsa and cilantro. I didn't have small

flour tortillas, I only had medium ones so I made a big taco. The mango is what 

makes this recipe so delicious! Squeeze a little fresh lime on there and YUM!

Beef Mango Tacos

Serves 4

Calories 360 for 2 tacos

• 2 tsp olive oil
• 2 cups julienne cut red peppers (or use the mini peppers)
• 1 cup thinly sliced onion
• 2 tsp fresh minced ginger
• 1 pound flank steak
• 4 tsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 chopped mango
• salsa, sour cream, cilantro and avocado

Heat oil in large skillet. Add pepper/onion mixture and stir fry until softened aprox 5 minutes.

Cut steak diagonally across the grain into thin slices. Add into pan (or cook separately). Sprinkle with dry ginger or add fresh ginger. Cook until just browned. Add soy sauce and chili powder. Cook 1-2 minutes more until steak is slightly pink inside.

Warm tortillas and divide steak and pepper mixture evenly. Top with mango. Add sour cream, avocado and salsa. Garnish with cilantro and lime.

Meatball Tortilla Soup

Its been awhile since I have posted a recipe. Life kind of gets in the way sometimes. It seems like I have been so busy but I can't tell you what I have been doing. My weight loss journey continues. I have lost 15 pounds since Jan 1st. Yay!! My husband has lost some weight as well. He plays basketball 3 times a week and he said with the way I have been feeding him its no wonder he is losing weight. I have tried to cut out most processed foods, high fructose corn syrup and adding in lots and lots of veggies. I am also trying to cut back on sodium. Thats hard to do! Anyway, on to todays recipe.

I love soup. Any kind of soup. I could eat it for lunch and for dinner, every day. This is one of my favorites. WARNING: this is not a "come home from work exhausted and throw this soup on the stove" kind of recipe. It takes some prep work. Its a weekend kind of soup for me. But the results are so worth it! I found this in a Cooking Light magazine. I love Cooking Light. I have done several recipes out of this months edition already. This particular recipe is perfect for those chilly nights. I know spring is coming, but you wouldn't know it by the weather we have been having here!

Here we go:

 

2 cups frozen corn or you can use 2 corn on the cob, 1 poblano chili

cut in half and seeded and several small peppers or 1

red pepper, seeded. Put on foil lined pan and broil until

skins are blistered and the corn is blackened.

 

 

Mix the hamburger mixture and form into meatballs, I use a small

ice cream scoop. It makes the perfect size meatball.

 

Brown the meatballs in a Dutch oven. Remove from pan when

browned.

 

Add your carrots, celery and onion. Saute 5 minutes,

then add garlic. cook 1 more minute.

Add broth, corn and peppers and meatballs.

Slice 4 corn tortillas into 1 inch strips, spray with cooking

spray and broil until golden brown on both sides.

Top with cheese and tortilla strips. Enjoy!

Tortilla Meatball Soup

Calories: 380

Serves 6

• 2 cups corn
• 1 large poblano chili seeded
• 4 (6 in) corn tortillas cut into 1 inch strips
• Salt
• 6 cloves of garlic minced and divided
• 1/3 panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
• 1 pound ground beef (or you can use ground turkey for a lighter soup)
• 1 egg beaten
• 1 chipotle chili, canned in adobe sauce, minced
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 cups onion chopped
• 1 cup celery
• 2 cups red potatoes diced
• 1 cup sliced carrots
• 3 cups low sodium chicken broth
• 2 cups water
• fat free cheddar cheese
• cilantro

Preheat broiler. Cut and seed peppers. Place peppers cut side down on foil lined baking sheet. Arrange corn with peppers. Broil 4-6 minutes until blackened. Let cool. Peel peppers and coarsely chop. Note the original recipe called for jalapeno instead of poblano chili. I didn’t want that much heat. If you like heat, use jalapeno peppers (2)

Place tortilla strips on foil lined sheet and spray with cooking spray. Bake until crisp on both sides and golden brown. About 2 minutes.

Combine salt, 1 garlic clove, breadcrumbs, hamburger and chipotle chili in a large bowl. And gently mixed until just combines. Note 1 chili will make these meatballs spicy so cut back a little if you are concerned about that. Form into 24 meatballs.

Place Dutch oven over medium high heat. Add oil to pan. Add meatballs, sauté for 8 minutes to brown on all sides. Remove from pan. Add onion, celery and carrots to pan. When softened add remaining garlic. Cook 1 minute. Add peppers, corn, potatoes, broth and 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes until vegetables are tender. Return meatballs to pan. Cook 10 minutes or until meatballs are done.

Ladle 1 ½ cups of soup (with 4 meatballs each) into bowls. Top with cheese and tortills strips. Garnish with cilantro.

 

Chicken Lettuce Wraps

My Mom called me the other day and was telling me about a recipe she found on pinterest. I love pinterest. It's a time-sucker and I find myself spending waaaayyyyy too much time there. Anyway, Mom found a chicken lettuce wrap recipe and made it. She raved about so I figured I better check it out. I think I have mentioned before that I try at least 1 new recipe a week sometimes more. I get bored really easy and need lots of variety in my meals. 

I am trying to incorporate 1 meal a week with no meat. That hasn't gone over too well with the husband. He likes his meat. So if he isn't going to be home for dinner, I make something meatless for myself and my son. He isn't picky...at all. And he is all about eating healthy, so he likes the meatless stuff I make. 

My son really liked this recipe. The inspiration for this is a mixture between 2 recipes. I like to mix things up, I rarely follow a recipe exactly. Neither recipe called for mushrooms, but I wanted to bulk it up so I added a cup of diced mushrooms. Yea, I know I was talking about meatless meals but this one has meat. So the husband will eat it.

Chicken Lettuce Wraps 

The Ingredients

Next time I will use butter lettuce instead of iceberg

Brown chicken in 1 tsp olive oil. Remove from pan and add 1 cup onion

and 1 cup diced mushrooms along with 2 cloves minced garlic.

When browned, add the chicken

 Add the sauce (recipe below) and spoon 1/2 cup into each lettuce leaf. My son

added some sriracha sauce, thats a little spicy for me. He said it was delicious!

Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Calories: 202 (per wrap)

• 1 pound chicken breast cut into cubes ( I used chicken tenders, next time I think I will use boneless skinless thighs. I love those)
• 1 cup onion, diced
• 1 cup mushrooms, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced  
• 2 Tbsp Hoisin sauce
• Iceberg lettuce leaves (or butter lettuce)

Sauce

• 2 Tbsp soy sauce (use low sodium if possible)
• 1 Tbsp rice vinegar
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• shake of red pepper flakes
• 1 tsp agave 

Instructions:

Mix sauce together in small bowl and set aside. Heat 1 tsp olive oil in pan over med high heat. Add chicken, cooking until browned. Remove from pan. Add onion, garlic and mushrooms. Add 1 tsp soy sauce. Stirfry until softened and browned. Add chicken and pour sauce over top. Cook another 2 minutes. Add Hoisin sauce. Spoon 1/2 cup chicken mixture into lettuce leaves. Top with more hoisin if you like or hot sauce.  Serves 4

 

Scallop Asparagus Stir-fry

Its been awhile since I posted to my blog. I really need to get in a routine of posting new recipes. I love cooking, I love looking up new recipes and I love eating! That's my biggest problem. Food addiction. I am stress eater and this has been a stressful school year. My goal is to drop 30 pounds. So far I am down 8 pounds, 22 more to go. The last 2 weeks have been a yo-yo of lose a pound gain a pound. So this week I am tracking calories again. I love the fitnesspal app on my phone. So easy to track calories and workouts.

Speaking of workouts, my 2 co-workers and I are trying out Curves. We have done our free week and need to join. I love the workout. We go right after work, done in 30 minutes and go home. I am a lazy work out person. The least amount of time I can spend, the better! This is a great recipe that is low in fat, calories and tastes great! I always make this when asparagus is on sale. Costco had a great deal on a 2 pound bag of asparagus. I think it was around $4 for the bag. This is one of those "throw whatever veggies you have in it" kind of meals. I also had about 15 frozen shrimp leftover in a bag so I threw those in as well.

 

Clean and chop your asparagus into 1 inch pieces. Dice onion and celery

Slice mushrooms. I didn't have alot of mushrooms left, I usually use about double this amount. 

About 1 pound of scallops. I use the bay scallops but if you want you can use the larger ones,

just cut them in half. I also added shrimp.

Saute the asparagus, onion and celery, then add mushrooms. When those are tender

crisp, remove from pan and saute scallops, shrimp and some garlic.

Add sauce (see below for recipe) and veggies. Cook until thick. Serve over rice. 

If you have slivered almonds, sprinkle those on top, I didn't have any this time but it was

still delicious! Enjoy!

Scallop Asparagus Stir-fry

serves 4

Calories 248 

(includes 1/2 cup rice)

• 2 cups fresh asparagus trimmed and cut in 1 inch pieces
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 1 cup sliced mushrooms
• 1 cup onion diced
• 1 small can water chestnuts
• 1 pound bay scallops (or large scallops cut in half)
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 3 tbsp cornstarch
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 clove garlic

Combine Chicken broth, soy sauce and cornstarch in small bowl. Set aside. In large skillet, saute asparagus, celery and onion in 1 tbsp olive oil until tender crisp, about 3 minutes. Add mushrooms and water chestnuts. Stir-fry another 2-3 minutes, remove and set aside.

In same skillet, stir-fry scallops (and shrimp if you want)with garlic for 2-3 minutes until firm and opaque. Add chicken broth mixture. Bring to a boil, cook until thickened, about 2 minutes. Add vegetables and cook until heated through. Sprinkle 1/4 cup slivered almonds on top, serve over rice.

*Note: Calorie count does not include almonds and includes 1/2 cup white rice. I have made this with broccoli instead of asparagus with delicious results. I have also added shredded carrots and green onions as well. Enjoy!

Mongolian Chicken

This is amazingly delicious! My family loves it. This was originally a beef recipe but for a change I make it with chicken as well. It's one of those "clean out the fridge" kind of meals. I always have beef on hand since we get 1/2 a beef every year for Christmas. I usually have chicken breasts on hand as well. Tonight as I was looking through the fridge I found a few mushrooms, a small head of broccoli and some green onions and realized I had all the fixings for this great tasting dinner. I don't usually add mushrooms but since they were reaching the end of their life, I needed to use them or throw them out. Hopefully you will enjoy this as much as my family does.

Here are the ingredients for this yummy dish.

Chop the veggies

Coat the chicken in cornstarch and fry until done. Add the brown sugar mixture.

When sauce thickens, add the vegetables

Serve over rice.

Mongolian Chicken

Calories 283

• 1 pound chicken breast sliced into thin strips
• 2 tbsp corn starch
• ½ cup water
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/3 soy sauce
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 3 minced garlic cloves
• ½ tsp fresh grated ginger
• sliced green onions

Combine chicken strips and corn starch in a bowl, toss to coat. Combine water, sugar, and soy sauce in small bowl. Set aside. Heat oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic and ginger, sauté 1 minute. Add chicken and cook until done. Add brown sugar mixture and cook until sauce thickens, approx 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. At this point, add any vegetables that you want, broccoli, mushrooms, ect..Cook until vegetables are tender crisp. Serve over rice.Top with sliced green onions.

Serving size is 1 cup of chicken/veggies over 1/2 cup rice. Calories listed do not include vegetables.

 For those of you doing Weight Watchers, this recipe is adapted from a WW magazine I picked up awhile ago, before they started doing points plus. The original recipe with beef and 1/2 cup rice was 8 points.

Chicken and Spinach Soup

Finally we had a day with no rain! It has been soggy the last week with major flooding in areas around us. Thank goodness we didn't have to deal with any of that. It was chilly today and my first thought when I went to scrape the ice off the windshield was SOUP! I love soup. I could eat soup every day. I have done Weight Watchers off and on and this was a recipe I found on their website. One of the original ingredients is escarole.It is very difficult to find here where I live. So I substitute spinach. I love spinach in soup.




Here are some of the things you will need .

 

Dice 1 oz of the pancetta and fry it until crisp in a large stock pot or soup pot. Drain on a paper towel. You will be using this as a topping so set it aside.

Dice 1 onion and add it to the pan you fried the pancetta it. Add 4 cloves minced garlic. Let cook until golden brown. Add chicken broth and scrape the bits off the bottom of the pan.I rarely add raw onion to soups, they have much better flavor if you carmelize them a bit.

 

Add the chicken thighs, which you have removed the skin and all visible fat from. Also add the tomatoes. Bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for 30 minutes covered.

 

When chicken is tender, remove from soup, let cool and remove the meat from the bone. You can also use the boneless skinless thighs or even breasts to make this a little less work for yourself. I like the flavor of thighs and they are alot cheaper with the bone and skin on so I use those.

Add the meat to the soup, add 1 can drained cannellini beans, spices and fresh spinach. When the spinach is wilted, its ready to serve.

Top with pancetta and 1 tblsp parmesan cheese. I think you will like it!

Chicken and Spinach Soup

Servings 4 

Calories 325 

Fat 11 g

• 5 chicken thighs, skin and visible fat removed
• 1 onion diced
• 4 cloves garlic
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1 can italian stewed tomatoes
• 1 can cannillini beans (white kidney beans)
• 1 oz pancetta diced
• 1 10 oz package fresh spinach
• 2 Tbsp fresh basil or 1 tsp dried
• pinch of red pepper flakes
• salt and pepper to taste
• 4 Tbsp parmesan cheese

In a dutch oven or other large pot, fry pancetta until crisp. Remove and drain on paper towel. Add onion and garlic, cooking until golden brown approx 7 minutes. Ass broth, tomatoes and chicken. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, until chicken is tender and cooked through about 30 minutes. Remove chicken, cool and remove from bone. Return to soup.

Add spinach, beans and spices. Return to a boil and cook until spinach is wilted. Sprinkle with crispy pancetta and 1 Tbsp of cheese. 1 3/4 cup serving size.

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Burrito

I rarely cook the same meal twice in a month. If I do then it is an incredible dish. This my friends, is an incredible dish. It is a fantastic low fat meatless option. I am trying to do meatless once a week. This may become the dish we eat once a week. It is THAT good! I got the inspiration for this from Here. I love looking for recipes and then changing them up a bit. Once in a while I will make it exactly but not often.

 Here is the cast of character for this delicious dinner.

Dice the onion, peeled sweet potato/yam and peppers. These are those cute little sweet peppers that you buy in a bag. They are delicious. Next time I will add more. And what IS the difference between a sweet potato and a yam? I think this is a yam but I am not sure. Doesn't matter, its yummy!

Add olive oil and seasonings and dump on foil lined cookie sheet. I like foil lined because it makes for quick
and easy cleanup.

 

Bake in the oven until carmelized.

Wrap in tortilla and fry until golden brown. I didn't oil or spray my pan and the tortilla browned nicely.

I served this with light sour cream, you can use greek yogurt if you like to lighten it up more. I also put a tablespoon of fat free cheddar inside. OH SO GOOD! Enjoy

Ingredients

1 large sweet potato or yam, peeled and diced
1 sweet onion diced
1 cup julienne sliced red peppers (or use the mini sweet peppers)
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin
pinch of red pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons olive oil

Mix in bowl and dump on foil lined baking sheet sprayed with a bit of non stick spray. Bake at 375 until browned, about 30 minutes.
Drain and rinse 1 can of black beans. Put 3/4 cup sweet potato mixture and some of the beans on tortilla. Sprinkle with cheese (non fat cheddar is delicious) and chopped cilantro. Fold into burrito. Heat a non stick pan and fry burrito on both sides until nicely browned. Serve with sour cream.

My first post

Welcome to my blog. I have wanted to start a blog for some time. You know how it is, trying to find the time to do anything once Words with Friends and Bubble Witch Saga have taken all your free time. This blog is going to be about a few different things, mostly my love of cooking healthy food (and a little bit of not so healthy food) and scrapbooking.

I love to watch cooking shows. Chopped, Hell's Kitchen, MasterChef, Cupcake Wars are among my favorites. I actually submitted my application for Master Chef last year, got a phone call from them but just couldn't get to the audition. My Dad had passed away 2 months prior and I was in a fog, not able to really focus on anything. One thing I can say about my Dad, he loved food! I think I take after him in that regard. I am trying to lose weight, unfortunately that little food called Chocolate is my undoing. This blog is my weight loss journey as well. I hope you enjoy it.