Blueberry and Spinach Smoothie

I'm not great about breakfast. I know that getting your metabolism going in the morning is really helpful. Even though I can barely get out the door most mornings, if I can put together a quick smoothie I feel much better throughout the day. I can have some at home and take some in a travel tumbler to take with me as I run out the door. Plus each serving is just under 100 calories!

Such a special color. But so delicious!

Now, this smoothie is not very pretty. It's got spinach and blueberries which gives it a funky green/gray color. However, it's delicious I promise! Plus you get fiber, Vitamin A, potassium, and calcium to start your day. One of the great things about this smoothie is that you don't have to add ice or yogurt. The banana thickens it plenty.

I've made this smoothie several different ways. I've used vanilla soy milk instead of dairy milk and vanilla extract. I've used strawberries instead of blueberries. No matter which way I've done it, it's been fantastic!

I don't have a very good blender, so I usually do this in 2 steps. First, I puree the spinach, blueberries, and vanilla together. Once the spinach is pureed, then I add the fruit. 

Blueberry and Spinach Smoothie
Servings: About 4

Ingredients:

4 cups baby spinach, packed

2 cups skim milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 banana

1 cup frozen blueberries

Directions:

Puree milk, vanilla, and spinach until smooth. Add banana and blueberries, puree until smooth and creamy.

Nutrition Information:
Serving Size: 12 oz
Calories: 98
Total Fat: 0.25 g
Saturated Fat: 0 g
Sodium: 3 mg
Total Carbohydrates: 19.5 g
Dietary Fiber: 3g
Sugars: 14.25g
Protein: 5.5g

Skinny Chicken, Black Bean, and Spinach Enchiladas

I love these enchiladas. They are gooey, creamy, and so filling. Not to mention they are chock full of veggies, protein, and fiber. They're a perfect use for leftover chicken.

Mmmmmm!

They can take some time, especially if you don't have any roasted chicken on hand. You could always use some rotisserie chicken, or just leave the chicken out! These are great as vegetarian enchiladas too!

The filling ingredients before I added the spinach.

One of the nice things about this recipe is that you can get multiple things going at the same time. Once you've got the veggies sauteing, you can drain and rinse the beans and chop the spinach.

I've got to tell you, these are my favorite beans. They are organic, no salt added beans that come in BPA free packaging. Whole Foods has a wonderful variety of beans that come this way.

Not to mention they are tender and tasty!

Soften up, veggies!

They don't have a typical enchilada sauce, but they are very creamy and delicious. I use Cholula hot sauce (one of my absolute favorites!) but you could always substitute salsa instead of hot sauce. I'd probably double the amount of salsa.

Here's the sauce, I like it spicy!

I definitely added more hot sauce than I measured out below. I am a nut for spicy food, the spicier the better!

Just before I popped it in the oven. 

One enchilada is definitely a decent portion, and two are very filling. They are low-fat, high fiber, and high protein. They keep me full for a long time. Perfect diet food, especially on a chilly day like today!

Then we gobbled them up!

My boyfriend and I gobbled these up and there was still over half the pan left! They also reheat nicely the next day for lunch! I could not be more excited about not making lunch tomorrow!

My recipe was inspired by this Skinny Enchiladas recipe on Sweet Treats & More. Thanks for the inspiration!

Skinny Chicken, Black Bean, and Spinach Enchiladas
Makes 4-6 Servings
Total Time: 60 minutes (plus an additional 45 if you have to roast the chicken)

Ingredients:
8 La Tortilla Factory Smart and Delicious Wheat Tortillas (1 package)
2 medium white onions, diced
1 large green bell pepper, diced
1 large jalapeno, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 box black beans (or a can), drained and rinsed
1 cup roasted chicken breast
2 cups fresh baby spinach, chopped
1 1/2 cups Greek yogurt, separated
3 tbsp hot sauce (or twice the amount of salsa)
1/4 cup green onion, chopped, separated
1/4 cup shredded cheese
Canola cooking spray

Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 350° F.  Grease a 9"x13" baking dish with cooking spray, set aside.

Saute onions, peppers, and garlic in cooking spray on medium heat until softened, 5-7 minutes.

In a large bowl, combine chicken, beans, chopped spinach, and the onions and pepper mixture. Add 1 cup of Greek yogurt and 2 tbsp of hot sauce. Stir to combine. Using a large ice cream scoop, measure out about a quarter cup into each tortilla. Roll each tortilla and place in baking dish, seam-side down.

In a separate bowl, combine 1/2 cup Greek yogurt, 1 tbsp hot sauce and 2 tbsp chopped green onion. Spoon the sauce over the tortillas and spread around to cover them. Sprinkle cheese and the remainder of the green onions over the top.

Bake for 30 minutes until the cheese is melted and the top begins to brown.

Melty.

Enjoy!

And for those of you counting calories, each enchilada is 228 calories, 5 grams of fat (1.5 saturated fat), 115 mg of sodium, 36 grams of carbs (7 grams of sugar and 16 grams of fiber!), and 23 grams of protein.

Pantry/Freezer Dinner - Pesto Baked Tilapia

So I know basil isn't in season yet, but my boyfriend and I are huge pesto lovers and I was craving it tonight. We just got back from a long weekend at our alma mater and there is nothing in the fridge. I was not in the mood to fight the weekend crowds at the grocery store, so it's a pantry/freezer kind of night. What do I have handy? Jars of pesto, dried spaghetti, frozen tilapia filets. I can work with this.

This was delicious and really easy. On a night where I felt like putting in zero effort and still wanted something that would taste good, it was just what I needed.

Now, I've never made my own pesto, my basil plants only seem to produce a few leaves and then die. I have no green thumb. But that's a whole different project (soon to come!). I like the Classico jarred pesto, which is easy to find, shelf-stable, and not terribly expensive. I think with a quick stir, it's pretty darn delicious.

One of my go-to instant dinners is spaghetti with pesto. But the boyfriend isn't as much of a fan of spaghetti-only dinners (too many basic spaghetti+sauce dinners in college), so I decided to try a pesto-baked tilapia.

I thawed 4 tilapia filets, put them in a small baking dish with a little bit of olive oil on the bottom. Then I spread a few tablespoons of pesto and squeezed half a lemon over the filets. I sprinkled some grated Parmesan cheese over the top.

Baked for 10 minutes at 450. While they were baking, I cooked some whole wheat spaghetti according to the box. Once it was cooked, I tossed the pasta with some pesto and a squeeze of lemon juice.

What would I do next time? Use a bigger baking dish. Once I'd put the olive oil in and noticed that 4 tilapia fillets wouldn't fit in my 8" x 8" glass dish, I didn't move them to a bigger one because I didn't want to wash another dish. Yeah, lazy, but it was just one of those nights.

Pesto Baked Tilapia

Ingredients:

4 tilapia fillets  

3 TBSP pesto

1 TBSP lemon juice

1 TBSP olive oil

1 TBSP Parmesan cheese

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 450. Coat the bottom of a baking dish with olive oil. Place tilapia fillets in the dish, season with salt and pepper. Spread the pesto over the top of the fish and drizzle lemon over the top (I just squeezed half a lemon over the fish). Top with Parmesan cheese. Bake for about 10 minutes until the fish is cooked through. 

Hopslam

Okay, a little change of pace here. For those of you who are beer-lovers, specifically hops-lovers, feast your eyes:

Bell's Hopslam is here! Bell's is one of my favorite craft breweries, and Hopslam is a delicious double IPA that really packs a hoppy, fruity punch. It's also 10% ABV, so be wary if you're having multiple, (and having just one is hard), you might need a designated driver.  You can check it out on the Bell's site.


I will (or maybe even won't) be the first to tell you, it is hard to find. Yesterday after work I drove to 2 different locations on a wild and fruitless goosechase. Today, my boyfriend tells me at noon that a Whole Foods near us had it available, one six-pack per customer, at 5:00. I met him there after work and we each grabbed a six-pack. One of the places I stopped at yesterday had some come in this morning, and it was sold out before 4:00. Their limit was 3 bottles per person.  And it's expensive. We paid $20 per six pack, and I've read about people paying more.


But it's absolutely worth it to me and I would recommend it to any IPA and double IPA fans out there. It's rated 99 on Beer Advocate, my favorite website to research beers and their reviews. Hopslam is phenomenal on draft if you can find it, but when it is on draft, it tends to go really fast, just like it does on the shelves.

I just wanted to celebrate with you, because I'm so excited to have my first Hopslam of 2012!

Roasted Tofu Fried Rice

I've decided to start following Meatless Monday for my health and the health of the planet. Tonight for dinner my boyfriend and I had a delicious tofu fried rice. This was my second attempt at cooking with tofu. My first was a somewhat watery and flavorless addition to my Pad Thai. I figured if I roasted the tofu, it would lose that watery texture and pick up some flavor. Boy, was I right! The tofu tasted nothing like my last attempt and really provided a chewy, meaty and flavorful addition to my normally all-veggie fried rice.

I started by draining the tofu from its liquid and setting a bowl of water on to of it in a colander to weight it down a little and drain some of the water out of it. You don't want to put something too heavy on top of it so that it crushes it, just to squeeze it a little.

After draining the tofu for a few minutes, I cut it into about 1-inch cubes and tossed it with the olive oil and spices. Then I roasted them for 30 minutes at 450°F, for 15 minutes, turn, and then 15 minutes more.

While the tofu is roasting, if you don't already have rice ready, cook the rice according to its package. I used organic white Basmati rice. After the rice is done cooking, leave it with the lid off, so some of the moisture can evaporate from it. This recipe works better with rice that's about a day old, as it absorbs more flavor from the sesame oil and soy sauce.
Heat sesame oil in a wok (or large skillet if you don't have a wok) on medium-high heat. Add carrots, onion and garlic, and saute, stirring, until the carrots and onions soften, about 4 minutes. Add rice, and stir to combine.  Add peas (you don't need to thaw them if they're frozen, they'll heat through pretty quickly) and corn, stirring. Add soy sauce and stir. Then, add eggs and stir until the eggs are cooked. Add the tofu and a few squirts of sriracha if you're using it.

Taste it for seasoning. If it needs more salt, I usually add a little soy sauce. And, because I like my food very spicy, I added more sriracha.

Ingredients:

Roasted Tofu

1 (14 oz) package tofu

2 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp garlic powder

3 TBSP olive oil

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1 cup uncooked rice, cooked according to package directions

1 cup diced carrots (4-5 small carrots, peeled and diced)

1/2 large sweet white onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, diced

3 TBSP toasted sesame oil

1 cup canned corn (rinsed and drained)

1/2 cup frozen peas

4 TBSP soy sauce

Sriracha (optional)

2 eggs, beaten

Steps:Preheat the oven to 450°F. Drain tofu of excess liquid and try to squeeze some out. Cut into 1-inch cubes. Combine olive oil, paprika, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Pour over the tofu and toss to cover.

Spread the tofu out evenly over a baking sheet covered in parchment paper. Roast the tofu at 450°F for 30 minutes, turning after 15 minutes.

Heat the sesame oil in the wok, add carrots, onions and garlic. Stir and saute until the onions are soft and translucent.

Add the rice. Stir.

Add peas and corn. Stir until they're heated through and the wok is hot again. Stir in the soy sauce.

Then add the eggs and stir until the eggs are cooked through. Add the tofu in and stir.

And it's done! Time to eat! Serve with extra soy sauce and sriracha sauce.

Notes: As I mentioned above, this recipe works better with rice that was cooked the day before. Also, I like lots of veggies in my fried rice. This was the first time I tried it with corn. I usually just use onions, peas, and carrots. Lots of other veggies would probably be good in this too.

Enjoy!