White Bean and Chicken Salad

I wanted a nice side dish for our picnic lunch this weekend at the Homestead! It's so expensive there, so Joe and I decided to brown bag a few of our meals. This salad was found on My Recipes. I kind of made up my own version of this, but I'll post the original recipe for y'all.

You will need:

2 cups of cooked shredded chicken 

1 cup chopped tomato (I bought a can of diced ..guilty) 

1/2 cup sliced red onion

1/3 cup sliced fresh basil

2 cans of white beans (I used Great Northern) 

Dressing:

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

2 tbsp extravirgin olive oil

1 tbsp lemon juice

2 tsp Dijon mustard

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper

2 garlic cloves, minced

Mix the Salad ingredients together in a bowl. In a separate bowl mix together all the dressing ingredients and stir with a whisk. Pour over salad and stir it all together. YUM! and so much protein!

Turkey Stuffed Peppers

I saw this recipe on Skinny Taste and just had to try it out! It looked like a fun thing to cook and I loved how healthy they are. One serving, or one half of each stuffed pepper, is 185 Calories and contains 20 grams of protein. I used Brown Rice instead of white, and I also added some crushed red pepper. I omitted the onion because I don't care for those crunchy devils. To make my life easier I made the brown rice on my lunch break. 

You will need:

1 lb of ground turkey

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 onion, minced

1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp cumin powder

salt to taste

3 large red bell peppers

1 cup fat free chicken broth

1/4 cup tomato sauce

1 1/2 cups cooked brown rice

nonstick cooking spray

reduced fat shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a medium sauce pan with Pam and turn onto medium heat.  Add onion, garlic, and cilantro. Sauté for two minutes and then add the ground turkey. Season with salt, garlic powder and cumin power, and cook until meat is browned. Add 1/4 cup of tomato sauce and 1/2 cup of chicken broth. Simmer on low for about 5 minutes and then stir in the rice.

Cut the peppers in half lengthwise and remove stems and seeds. Spoon the meat and rice mixture into the peppers and place in a baking or casserole dish. Pour the other 1/2 of the chicken broth into the bottom of the pan. Cover tightly with tinfoil and cook for 35 minutes. Uncover and top with cheddar cheese. Enjoy!!

**Next time I will add black beans to the meat and rice mixture. Canned corn could also be a yummy option. 

SORRY! I have to apologize for not having step by step pictures for my recipes on my blog. I get so caught up in cooking that I forget to take snapshots!! 

Summer inspired dinner

Did anyone else notice the amazing weather this week?? I just had to get outside and grill (I even enjoyed a cold beer!). Avocados are full of nutritious yumminess. I think of avocado as more of a summer season fruit, so I wanted to incorporate it into my dinner last night. I chopped tomato and avocado, added some feta and a splash of lime juice. It was so delicious on top of some BBQ sauce marinated grilled chicken! I paired the entree with roasted baby reds, seasoned with olive oil, salt, pepper, and rosemary.

For the Avocado Salad:

1 ripe avocado

1 tomato (can also use cherry tomatoes)

lime juice

feta cheese

dash of salt and pepper

Cube the avocado and tomato, add a splash of lime juice, top with your desired amount of Feta Cheese, and sprinkle some salt and pepper. Stir the mixture and you're done! Serve on top of grilled chicken or as a side salad.

Fun with Crayons!

My apartment lacks art work, and we renters lack the money to afford art. Again, this idea came from Pinterest.  The best part was it only cost me $4.00!! Originally I planned on glueing fake flowers to the tips of the melted crayons to mimic a flower garden (hence the greens and earth tones), but this melted differently than expected so I decided to just leave it as is.

You will need:

A few boxes of crayons (I went to the Dollar Store)

Canvas of any size

Hot glue gun and glue sticks

Hair dryer

First pick out the colors from the boxes you wish to use and arrange them however you choose. Then glue the crayons to the bottom of the canvas with the hot glue gun. Next time I would splurge and buy Crayola brand crayons, because their wrappers match the colors. Its creates a better effect. With the Dollar Store ones, I arranged them sunny-side up [Ha Ha].

Once the glue is set, turn the canvas over so the crayons are on the top of the canvas, facing pointed side down. I did this is the bathroom, tile is a much easier clean up than carpet. Use your hair dryer on high heat and blow it over the crayons until they start to melt. Angle the canvas about 15 degrees off the floor so the wax will slowly drip down the canvas. Now you can be creative, focus the hair dryer on a certain area if you want to elongate that particular section. You can also rotate the canvas back and forth so the wax melts in different, crazy directions.

You can then hang your masterpiece with either the crayons on the top, or on the bottom. I chose on the bottom because I think its a neat effect of having the crayons melt into the wrappers. 

Here we are! A super fun, easy and cheap way to decorate your home.  

**For the mothers out there: This would be really cute in a kid's playroom or bedroom!!

Handprint Tu-Tu

The afternoons at the preschool function more as a day care. We do not have a set curriculum and assigned art projects for the children after their naps.  In order to make time go by faster for me, and much more fun for them, I often test out potential art projects with the kids.  This craft was originally found on Pinterest, and I thought it was too cute to pass up.  The parents love projects that incorporate handprints of their little ones.

You will need:

White construction paper or card stock

Pink washable tempura paint 

1 piece of felt

Ribbon or yarn tied in a bow

Elmer's Glue or Tacky Glue

Scissors

Paint your child's hand in the paint, and place a few handprints with the palm remaining relatively in the same position.  Turn the paper upside down so that the palm is facing up.  Cut out a piece of felt to look like the top of a leotard and glue it to the top of the palm on the paper. Then glue your ribbon to the bottom of the felt, but above the handprint. 

I think this would look adorable in a shadow box framed in a little girls room.  It would also look great in a set of three, with three different colored Tu-Tus. Try pink, purple and blue, and cut out ribbon in the coordinating color for the bow.