Chicken and Pasta In a Light Lemon Cream Sauce

2 or 3 boneless chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces

1 box (16 ounces) penne pasta (or bow ties)

1 cup milk (I used 2%)

2 heaping tablespoons softened cream cheese

2 heaping tablespoons sour cream

Juice of 1 lemon plus its zest

3 cups chicken broth

Black pepper to taste

Red pepper flakes to taste

2 cloves garlic (minced or grated)

2 tablespoons Olive oil

2 pats butter

Salt to taste

　

Put chicken in a bowl with lemon juice, salt and black pepper. Toss to coat. Set aside.


Pour 2 cups chicken broth in a stock pot with 2 cups water. Put on high heat and bring to a boil. Add salt and garlic, then pasta. Cook until tender, about 8 minutes.


Mix together the milk, sour cream and cream cheese with a whisk until blended.


In a large sauce pan, brown chicken in butter and olive oil on medium heat. Pour off or spoon out the excess oil. Add one cup chicken broth and scrape up any brown bits.


Lower the heat and pour in the milk mixture -- stir to combine. Add the red pepper and cooked pasta. Stir. Add the lemon zest and additional black pepper, if desired. Stir to combine. Let stand off the heat so pasta can soak up the liquid. It will thicken up, so have extra chicken broth on hand, if needed.


Steamed broccoli or asparagus can be added to give it color. Add to sauce when you add the pasta.

Makes about 5 or 6 servings.

Shrimp Salad Lettuce Wraps

Shrimp Salad

What you'll need:

• 1 lb. shrimp tails cooked in Crab Boil or Old Bay seasoning
• 1 medium cucumber, peeled, seeded, and diced
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• 6 or 7 roma tomatoes, diced and seeded (I remove the insides so it doesn't make the dressing watery)
• 3 tablespoons mayo
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• black pepper
• cayenne pepper
• salt to taste

How its done:

Boil shrimp in the shells until pink -- about 8 minutes. Cool and remove from shells. Cut into bite sized pieces. Set aside.

Combine the vegetables in a bowl. In a measuring cup, add the mayo and the lemon juice. Add the cayenne and black pepper.

Stir together to make a dressing (use more or less lemon juice, as you prefer). Add the shrimp to the bowl of vegetables.

Pour dressing over and toss to combine. Cover and put in fridge to chill. Wait as long as you can before digging in- it's best when it's cold.

 

We like to put the shrimp salad in a butter lettuce leaf & eat it as a lettuce wrap. SO GOOD! 

Firey Thai Shrimp & Noodles

What You'll Need

Coconut Shrimp

• 1LB Shrimp
• 1/2 Cup Flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cayenne
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup ice water
• 1/2 cup sweet shaved coconut
• canola oil

How it's Done

Mix flour, powder, salt and cayenne in large bowl.

Add egg and water.  Mix into smooth batter.

Spread coconut onto plate.

Peel and devein shrimp leaving tails on.

Dip shrimp into batter then coconut.

 Heat up canola in deep sided sauté pan.(High)  Oil should be an inch deep plus.

Make sure oil is up to temp, 350* plus prior to cooking.

Fry a minute or two until golden.  Don’t cook too long, doesn't take much time. 

 What You'll Need

 

Thai Chili Sauce

• 1/2 Cup Rice Vinegar
• 1/2 Cup Sugar
• 1/4 Cup Water
• 3 Tbsp Fish Sauce
• 2 Tbsp Sherry
• 3 Cloves Minced Garlic
• 3/4 Tbsp Crushed Red Pepper(Chili Flake)
• 1.5 Tbsp Cornstarch Dissolved in Cold Water

How it's Done

 Place all ingredients in small sauce pan EXCEPT cornstarch mixture.

Bring to a boil.

Reduce heat to MED and boil for 10min until reduced by about half.

Reduce heat to low and add cornstarch mixture.  Stir well and stir occasionally as sauce thickens...10 min+

Cornstarch thickens the sauce...make sure it is incorporated well.

What You'll Need

 Noodles

• 1 Box Linguine
• 1 Tbsp Crushed Red Pepper(Chili Flake)
• 1/4 Cup Vegetable Oil
• 1/2 Cup Sesame oil
• 6 TBSP Honey
• 6 TBSP Soy Sauce
• Green Onion, Cilantro, Peanuts, Toasted Sesame Seeds (appropriately cut for garnish)

 
How it's Done

Boil and drain noodles, place in large bowl or tupperware.

Heat both oils in sauce pan over med heat and stir in crushed red pepper.  Heat for 5-10 min.

The crushed red pepper can make this very spicy.  A little pepper adds a lot.  1 TBSP is plenty.

Strain out red pepper, reserving oil in small bowl.

Add honey and soy to oil.  Whisk well.

Add sauce to noodles, covering all.  Refrigerate for hours or place in freezer, stirring occasionally if you need to serve quickly.  Don’t freeze it.

Healthy Turkey Moussaka

What you’ll need:

·         2 eggplants, about 2 lbs. total, sliced to about 1/3” thick·         1 lb. red potatoes, also sliced about ¼” thick·         2 lbs. ground turkey·         2 large sweet yellow onions, finely diced·         4 cloves garlic, minced·         3 tsp. apple pie spice·         1 cup chopped tomato (I like them thicker for a little crunch)·         Salt and pepper ·         1 cup shredded veggie mozzarella·         ½ cup grated parmesan·         1 BIG tub of ricotta- fat free skim would be a conscientious choice

         Bechamel Sauce:·         1 cup salted butter (2 sticks)·         1 cup flour·         4 cups milk, warmed (skim works fine but whole gets creamier)·         8 egg yolks, lightly beaten·         Pinch of ground nutmeg (or more apple pie spice works fine too)

How it’s done:

Melt the butter in a sauce pan
Whisk in the flower & simmer for about 5 minutes until you have a thick roux
Stir in the milk
Combine the rest of the suace ingredients in sauce pan and simmer & stir for about 15 minutes until thick & creamy.

While sauce simmers, grease an 11 x 14 baking pan
Line the bottom of the pan with a layer of sliced potatoes
Add a layer of ricotta
Add a layer of béchamel (1/3 of the sauce)
Drizzle the garlic cloves over the ricotta layer
Line the ricotta with the sliced eggplant
Top the eggplant with the diced onion and then coat with the ground turkey
Coat with another layer of béchamel (1/3 of the sauce)
season with salt & pepper, and the apple pie spice
Top the turkey layer with a tomato layer
Coat with the veggie mozzerella & parmesian and then pour the remaining béchamel over everything.
Cook at 350 degrees for 1.5 hours or until the top is golden

quick protein wrap

What you'll need:
baked chicken, sliced diagonally (bake at 350 for 20-25 min)
mushed avocado
2-4 strips of bacon/ turkey bacon (fried or microwaved)
black bean hummus (combine chick pea & black bean (1/4 cup) in food processor)
cranberry jam
romaine lettuce
sliced tomato
spinach wrap

How it's done:
layer the jam on one half and the black bean hummus on the other half of the spinach wrap
put down a bed of romaine
cover Romain with avocado
layer bacon and chicken
top with 1/3 of a tomato, sliced.

Roll and LOVE IT!

Strawberry salad

What you'll need:

• sliced Strawberries
• 1 Haas Avocado, sliced
• I like romaine, but 2 cups of whatever lettuce you like is fine.
• Raspberry vinaigrette
• chick-peas
• edemame
• blue cheese
• almonds

 
How to do it:

I wont insult your intelligence by telling you how to mix a salad. However, I will tell you that I whipped this up with what was in my ridge yesterday, and it was amazing with the edemame and chickpeas. The avocado supplied just the right amount of protein.

 
 

Turkey Bacon Avocado –Bravo!

Stuff you’ll need:

• Turkey breasts
• cherry wood smoked gluten free bacon
• two avocados
• Blackberry jelly
• cooking string
• two cloves of garlic
• Olive oil
• mozzarella cheese

 

How you make it:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Start with two turkey breasts (not tenderloin, breasts!). Put them in a medium ziplock back or between two sheets of wax paper, and pound the breasts out until about ½ inch think. Try not to put hoiles in the turley, and don’t pound it too hard. It will take a while, but is worth it. This is fairly standard for a variety of meals, including Kiev’s and other stuffed meats.

One the turkey is pounder out, coated with flour, dip in an egg wash, and coat with Italian panko bread crumbs.

Season with salt & pepper, and then smear one side of the turkey with blackberry jelly.
Place two or three pieces of uncooked bacon, a clove of chopped garlic, and two or three big chunks of mozzarella in the turkey.

Roll the turkey up, so the jelly, mozzarella, bacon and garlic are on the inside. Tie the turkey breast closed with string.

Heat up your olive oil in a frying pan and then fry all sides of the turkey until the panko is golden. Place in the oven for another 30-40 minutes, or until thermometer placed in turkey reads 160 degrees.

Cut open the avacados, combine in a bowl and smoosh until guacamole-ish. Add a bit of salt if you find the taste too bland, although clean fresh avacado is so delicious. (FUN FACT: Avocados got their name from the Spanish explorers. They couldn't pronounce the Aztec word for the fruit, know as ahuacatl, "testicle," because of its shape. The Spanish called the aguacate, leading to the guacamole we know today.)


I ate this for dinner last night with spicy Spanish rice and sautéed mushrooms in shallots for my side dishes. Awesomely good.