Chicken and Mushrooms in Red Wine Sauce

Honestly, when I made this, I was not expecting the sauce to be as purple as it was. But, it was yummy. It did feel, though, as if something was missing, so I might make it again and play around with that flavour I was missing. Definitely more of a winter-y meal, though.

Ingredients
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves (pound them to make them as thin as you can)
1 tbsp. olive oil
Pinch of salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 cup sliced white mushroom (I used 2 large mushrooms -- one for each person)
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup dry (or alcohol-free) red wine
1/2 tsp. dried thyme


Directions


1. Heat olive oil in a large frying pan on medium-high. Add chicken and season with salt and pepper. Cook for about 3-5 minutes per side (until lightly browned and most of the pink is gone). Transfer to plate and cover to keep warm.

This pic is sideways, but this is the seasoned chicken.

2. Add mushrooms and garlic to same pan. Cook on medium for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms start to brown.

3. Add flour. Heat and stir for 1 minute. Slowly, add broth and wine, stirring constantly. Add thyme. Heat and stir until boiling and thickened. Then, add chicken. Reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer for 5 minutes or until chicken is fully cooked.

Mushrooms and flour

Chicken broth

Sauce

I served this on a bed of brown rice, which was yummy!

(again, I forgot an end picture! When I make this again, I will update!)

Lasagna Cupcakes

A few months ago, I bought a Hungry Girl cookbook and fell in love with her recipe for Lasagna Cupcakes. After making this recipe a few times, I found that her ingredient measurements were off and I liked some things more than others, so I changed it up a bit.

Ingredients
1 tbsp. olive oil
6 oz. lean ground beef (I usually suck with measurements for meat -- I use about a 1/4 pkg. of the ground beef tray)
pinch of salt
pinch of pepper (more or less, depending on what you prefer)
1/2 chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped mushrooms (I buy 2 medium-sized mushrooms)
1 tomato, crushed (you can also use 1/4 jar of pasta sauce, which tastes just as good)
1 tsp. garlic powder (or chopped garlic)
1/2 tsp. Italian seasoning


1 cup ricotta cheese
3-5 ounces chopped spinach (I use about 2 handfuls, depending on what you want the spinach-to-ricotta ratio to be like)
1 whole egg
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
18 square wonton wrappers
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese (enough to cover the tops of 6 "cupcakes")

Directions


Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

1. In a large skillet, bring olive oil to medium-high heat. Add meat and season with salt and pepper. Cook (and crumble) until no longer pink (5-7 minutes).

2. Add onion and mushrooms, stirring often, for about 5 minutes or until veggies are soft.

Beef, onion, mushrooms

3. Reduce heat to low. Add crushed tomatoes, garlic, and Italian seasoning. Stir occasionally for 10 minutes. Set aside.

Using Classico sauce instead of crushed tomato

4. While meat mixture is simmering, in a bowl, combine spinach, ricotta cheese, egg, a pinch of salt, and garlic powder. Mix well.

Ricotta and spinach

Ricotta mixture (minus the spinach)

5. Spray a 6-cup muffin pan with nonstick spray (I usually dab a napkin with some butter and grease the pan that way). Press one wonton wrapper into each cup, then another to cover any remaining space. Evenly distribute 1/2 of the spinach-ricotta mixture among the cups (about 1 tbsp. per cup).

First layer!

6. Evenly distribute 1/2 of the meat mixture among the cups (about 1 tbsp. per cup). Top with some mozzarella cheese, then press a 3rd wonton wrapper onto this layer. Repeat this layering process one last time (so you have 2 layers of meat, ricotta and cheese). Note that you should only use 3 wrappers per cup (i.e. don't put a wrapper on the very top).

Completed project!

7. Bake for 10 minutes, or until cheese has melted and edges are browned.

Yummy!

Enjoy! But be careful, since they can be quite hot :)

(Makes 6 servings)

Creamy Shrimp Curry

Last night for dinner, I made creamy shrimp curry -- shrimp curry is one of my absolute favourite foods!

Ingredients
1 lb. shrimp (since I cook for myself and my boyfriend, I usually make enough so we each get 10 shrimp)
1 tbsp. curry powder
14 oz. diced tomatoes (I usually use a little less -- about 8-10 oz.)
1/2 cup sour cream
Optional: add in some cubed potatoes (cook these first, then add in step 5) and 1/4 tbsp. tumeric for something extra

Directions

1. Peel and devein thawed shrimp. I usually pull out the shrimp right as I'm ready to start cooking. I put them in a bowl of warm water and peel them right then and there.

Shrimp, thawed, peeled and deveined.

2. Put shrimp in a bowl and mix with the curry powder.

Adding curry powder

Shrimp and curry powder

3. In a wok/saucepan, heat some vegetable/olive oil on medium-high until hot. Then, add shrimp and cook until shrimp start to turn pink (about 3-5 minutes). Remove from pan once pink. 

Remember: "C" means "cooked," "O" means "over-cooked".

Cooking shrimp

4. In same pan, heat diced tomatoes (with juice). When juice begins to boil, reduce to medium heat. Cook for 8 minutes (until most of the juice is evaporated).

Heating diced tomatoes

5. Add shrimp and sour cream. (This is where you can add pre-cooked potatoes and tumeric). Mix well and cook on medium heat until sauce begins to bubble. Once bubbling, you're ready to serve.

Finishing the curry

 ** I normally serve this with basmati rice, but that part's up to you.

 Also, apologies for not taking a final picture -- was really hungry and completely forgot!

Weekly Menu: June 3-9

Every week, I will post a menu of what I will be making for dinners throughout the week. Each day, I'll try to  post a recipe with pictures and as much health information as I can get (namely, calories, carbs, fats).

For breakfasts, I have one ViSalus shake (made with either frozen berries, frozen mango pieces, or some cocoa).

Lunch is usually leftovers from the night before, two eggs with spinach/red peppers/onions/mushrooms, a turkey/spinach/lite mayo/mozzarella cheese sandwich, or KD for days that I cave.

Saturdays/Sundays are days I generally save for my main carbs (such as pizza/pasta/bread). However, I sometimes make rice during the week to accompany some of the dishes I make (such as creamy curry shrimp, this week).

When I have snacks, I limit myself to fruits (bananas, mangoes, apples, kiwis, etc.). As I progress into this "diet" (i.e. lifestyle), I am going to try out some other healthy snacks from Eat Clean recipe books, and I'll let you know how that goes.

This is a sample of what this week looks like for dinner:

Sunday
Breakfast for Dinner
     2 eggs
     2 slices of bacon
     2 slices of toast

Monday
Creamy Curry Shrimp (with rice)
     1 lb. shrimp
     1/2 cup sour cream
     1 tbsp. curry powder
     14 oz. diced tomatoes
     1 cup rice

Tuesday
Lasagna Cupcakes (made with NO lasagna noodles, and still super yummy!)
     1/4 pk. ground turkey/beef
     2 mushrooms (or as much as you want)
     1/4 cup onions (or as much as you want)
     1 crushed tomato (can substitute with tomato sauce if you prefer)
     1/2 cup ricotta cheese
     spinach leaves (as many as you want, really)
     1 egg
     wonton wrappers

Wednesday (**my boyfriend surprised me with omlettes, so I didn't make this**)  
Chicken Parmesan (and Green Beans)
     2 chicken breasts (boneless, skinless)
     Parmesan cheese (enough to cover the tops of the chicken)
     1/4 cup Italian style bread crumbs
     1 egg
     1/4 cup tomato sauce

Thursday
Chicken and Mushrooms 
     2 chicken breasts (boneless, skinless)
     2 mushrooms
     red wine (yay!)
     Flour
     Chicken broth
     Dried thyme

Friday (**I volunteered at the OMO, and they provided dinner**)
Cheesy Burger Skillet
     3 hamburger patties
     Dijon mustard
     2 wedges Laughing Cow Lite Swiss cheese
*will have to wait until I cook this one before I add the rest of the ingredients*
   

Saturday (**my boyfriend made this when I wasn't home, so I couldn't take pics**)
Homemade Pizza (with store-bought dough)
     Dough
     Pizza sauce
     16 slices Turkey pepperoni (honestly, tastes just as good as regular pepperoni, but much healthier!)
     4 mushrooms
     1/4-1/2 cup mozzarella cheese

My Cooking Journey Begins!

A cooking blog is a lot more difficult for me to start than my math and travel blogs. So I'm going to start by introducing why I'm making a blog about cooking.

When I'm stressed, I love to bake. The smell of baked goods calms me down. I love to eat sweets, which is probably one of the reasons I'm here. After years of feeling uncomfortable with my body, I realized that I need to take action -- I can't keep blaming my appearance and my weight on not being able to find the time to be healthy. Over the past few months, I've been trying to cook healthier foods and cut down on the junk food.

I'm sure I'm not the first one to say that it's TOUGH.

It was tough trying to cook healthier, simply because the unhealthy stuff tasted soooo much better! I picked up a few cookbooks to attempt to find fun recipes that I could make without spending ridiculous amounts of money. I found a few that I'm a fan of, but I change them up depending on what I feel like. For example, I'm not a huge fan of tofu, so when one recipe called for tofu noodles, I couldn't do it (and I'm a huge pasta fan, so it was tough trying to change meals that involved pasta). I tried a few different healthy pastas, and I found one that I liked. So when recipes call for tofu noodles, I replace that with my white whole wheat Smart pasta, in a smaller amount, and increase the amount of veggies I use.

Just by making simple, manageable changes to my diet, I have been able to lose 8lbs over 3 short weeks (and note, I have not been exercising -- I might take an occasional walk once a week, but otherwise, I'm working/volunteering/doing school work while sitting on the couch).

This blog is intended to be my motivation to keep eating healthy, while at the same time being a place where I can keep my favourite recipes and share them with like-minded people.