Cashew Chicken

A favorite chicken recipe of ours.  So easy!  It is from Leanne Ely's book Saving Dinner.  A great book if you want recipes, side dishes, menus and shopping lists all in one!  She also has a website.  check it out!  I found her through the Flylady website, if you are anything like me, uh, not so organized!!  You will like the flylady! 

I hope you enjoy this recipe.

3/4 cup orange juice
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 T cornstarch
1 t ground ginger
1 t garlic powder
1/2 t pepper
2 T vegetable oil, divided
2 large carrots, chopped
1 celery stalk, chopped
4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves, cut into 1-inch strips
1 cup cashews

Combine juice, honey, soysauce, cornstarch and seasonings. 
In a large skilet, heat 1 T oil until it begins to smoke.  Stir-fry vegtables for several minutes until the vegetables become bright.  Set aside and keep warm.

In the same skillet, heat another tablespoon of oil until smoking and stir-fry chicken strips until browned and tender.
Add cooked vegetables, cashews and sauce mixture.  Continue cooking until sauce bubbles and thickens.

You can add 4 green onions, chopped--I left it out due to my hubby's extreme dislike 

Serve with brown rice and spinach salad

Serves 6

265 calories
15 g fat
5 g Protein
31 g carb
3 g fiber

Pumpkin protein pancakes

Pumpkin Protein Pancakes

I got this recipe from a wonderful gal I'm doing bootcamp with.  Stephanie with No Excuses Workouts. I thought they were fantastic, my daughter even loved them. Thanks Stephanie!!
These are so fantastic you could probably just have them plain.  I had yogurt on top.  Mmmm!  Enjoy!

2/3 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup canned pumpkin
1/4 cup cottage cheese
1 egg
1 egg white
1 T honey
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Blend all ingredients in a blender.  You may need to add water to get to the right consistency.  Continue blending until smooth.

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 90 g

Amount Per Serving

Calories                                        141

Total Fat                                      3.1g

Saturated Fat                               0.9g

Trans Fat                                    0.0g

Cholesterol                                56mg

Sodium                                    118mg

Total Carbohydrates                  20.9g

Dietary Fiber                               2.6g

Sugars                                         6.9g

Protein                                        8.3g

Vitamin A 65% • Vitamin C 2% Calcium 4% • Iron 8%

Nutrition Grade A-

* Based on a 2000 calorie diet

Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies--with a surprise!

I thought I would try my hand at bean cookies.  The dough was a hit so hopefully the cookies will be too.  These lovely things are 117 calories a piece if you make 36 of them. Woo hoo!

1 cup white beans, whole (rinsed and drained if canned)
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs ( 2 T egg powder and 4 T water) Maybe even a little more water--they are a bit chewy...
 1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
3 cups oats
1 2/3 (11 oz ) butterscotch chips

Sift flour baking soda, cinnamon and salt together.  Mix beans and sugars together in mixer or separate bowl with beaters.  Continue to beat until you can no longer see large bean pieces.  There will still be a few small bits left.  Add eggs or powder and vanilla.  Add in flour mixture gradually.  Stir in oats and chips.  Drop on to a cookie sheet using a scoop. (I greased my pan they always stick!)

Bake at 375 for 7-8 minutes.  We like ours soft. 

Enjoy!

Nutrition Facts Serving Size 33 g Amount Per Serving Calories 117 Calories from Fat 10 % Daily Value* Total Fat 1.1g 2% Trans Fat 0.0g Cholesterol 11mg 4% Sodium 106mg 4% Total Carbohydrates 23.9g 8% Dietary Fiber 1.7g 7% Sugars 11.9g Protein 3.0g Vitamin A 0% • Vitamin C 0% Calcium 2% • Iron 6% Nutrition Grade C * Based on a 2000 calorie diet
Vitamin A 0% • Vitamin C 0% Calcium 2% • Iron 6%
Nutrition Grade C-

Chicken Tortilla Soup

If you are wondering what to do with leftover refried beans, or want just an easy recipe that uses your food storage, here is the one for you!  Full of fiber, and very tasty this recipe is really easy and sure to please.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

2 cans, 14.5 oz, Diced tomatoes
1 4.5 oz can diced green chiles
2 cans 14.5 oz chicken broth  (2 cups water, 2 tsps chicken base)
1 can 14.5 oz whole kernel corn, drained
2 cups refried beans (I used the dried from the cannery same amount not reconstituted)
2 cups shredded cooked chicken (I used 2 cans from costco and the broth)
corn chips
shredded Monterey Jack cheese

Combine tomatoes, green chiles, and broth in medium saucepan.  Stir in beans and corn.  Bring to a boil; reduce heat to low and simmer 5 minutes, stirring frequently.  Add chicken; heat through.  Top with corn chips and cheese.

8 svgs of 272 grams each. 
Nutrition Facts


Serving Size 272 g
Amount Per Serving

Calories 178Calories from Fat 24
Total Fat 2.7g
Saturated Fat 0.7g
Trans Fat 0.0
Cholesterol 32mg
Sodium 282mg
Total Carbohydrates 24.2g
Dietary Fiber 6.5g
Sugars 4.6g
Protein 16.2g
Vitamin A 20% • Vitamin C 40%
Calcium 6% • Iron 11%

Creamy Chicken Soup

This recipe is a tasty creamy soup.  If you leave out the cheese it saves you 200 calories a serving.  But then this soup wouldn't be nearly as good!  I am a cheese lover I guess.  It sure warms the soul on a cold day, and is quite easy.  I adapted it to use my powdered milk, but if you prefer regular milk just use 4 cups instead of the powdered and water.  Let me know what you think!

Creamy Chicken Soup

2T butter
3 stalks celery

1 cup chopped carrots

5 T cornstarch
4 cups water
12 T Powdered milk  (wisk with water)
1 3/4 cup chicken broth
8 oz sharp cheddar shredded or cut in small chunks
1 12.5 oz can chicken breast
2 tsp worcesterchire sauce
2 tsp fresh black pepper

In a six quart dutch oven, saute vegies in butter until crisp tender.  About 10 minutes.  Stir in cornstarch.  Slowly add milk (or reconstituted powdered milk), chicken broth, worcestershire sauce and black pepper.  Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly.  Stir in chicken and cheese.  Allow cheese to melt, stirring frequently.  Then Enjoy!

Serves 4

Cals 580
Fat 28.6
Carbs 26.1
Fiber 1.3
Protein 52.5

Vanilla Cake

This recipe I found in the Penzey Spice catalog, and then I tweaked it a bit for healthy fair.  It tastes fabulous with strawberries. The original recipe isn't online right now, but I am sure it will be there eventually.  They have such good spices.   Mmmmmm

Here is my version:

4 eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 T Apple sauce, a little more could be used as it was a teensy bit dry...
1 Cup milk
2 T wheat germ

1 1/2 T butter melted to coat the cake pans

For the topping:
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375.  In a large bowl beat eggs and add sugar and vanilla.  Mix in applesauce then milk into the eggs.  Add flour, wheat germ, baking powder and salt slowly beating until smooth.  Grease and flour two 9 inch layer pans.  Bake until golden brown and springy about 22 minutes.  The butter gives the edges a nice kripsy taste.  Allow to cool on a cooling rack while preparing the cream topping.

Whip the cream (with cold beaters and bowl for best results) sifting in powdered sugar and drizzling in the vanilla extract as you go.  Stop when you draw out the beaters and the cream holds firm peaks.  This can take up to 5 minutes.  Frost cake with cream when layers are cool.  Slice layers in half horizontally if you desire a 4 layer cake.  Strawberries are a tasty addition.  I would even add them in the layers...

Serving size 1/12 cake without strawberries

269 cals

47 carbs

6.8 grams fat

138 Sodium
29.9 sugar
5.2 protein

Black Bottom Banana Bars

A fantastic combination of banana bread and chocolate.  Who can beat that?  I have found that the easiest way to mash the bananas is with the beaters as I put them in.  I used to do it with a fork before hand, but I am a lazy cook!   Use the extremely ripe-black on the outside bananas as they give the best flavor.  Another trick is to put the bananas you don't want to throw out into the freezer and defrost them just before using.  Frozen bananas are a great treat anyway, we used them as popcicles growing up.  The easiest way I have found is to take a gallon size zip lock bag, peel the banana and put it in, you can keep adding to it as you have the stray banana that is overripe.  Then make banana bars to your heart's content!   Makes 12


Black Bottom Banana Bars

1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1-1/2 cups mashed bananas, about 3 medium
1-1/2 c flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 c cocoa

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar.  Add egg and vanilla; beat until thoroughly combined.  Blend in the bananas.  Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; add to creamed mixture and mix well.  Divide batter in half.  Add cocoa to one half and spread into a greased 9/13 pan.  Spoon remaining batter on top and swirl with a knife.  Bake at 350 for 25 minutes or until the bars test done.