Kale Chips

I am trying to be more healthy so instead of potato chips, I'm trying kale chips.  I am so surprised that I actually liked these kale chips.   They taste almost like thin potato chips and are salty and crisp.  What is even better is how easy it was to make them.  I bought the kale from the farmers' market at $2.00 for a large bunch.  I actually only needed to use half the bunch from the market for these chips.  You might not miss the potato chips too much once you try these kale chips!   

Kale Chips

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

1 bunch of kale

2 tablespoons olive oil

salt and pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

Remove leaves from ribs and stems of kale.

Cut or tear into 2 inch pieces.  Lay on a baking sheet.

Drizzle olive oil, salt and pepper.  Toss kale while on baking sheet.

Bake for about 20 minutes.  Turn leaves halfway through.

Season with additional salt if desired.

Sesame Noodles

I could not eat enough of these sesame noodles!  I ate two bowls :)  This recipe is so easy to make and only took me about 20 minutes to put together including cooking the pasta.  These sesame noodles would make a great side dish but you could add some chicken or other protein to make it a main dish.  The sesame sauce is so addicting too, you need to make this dish ASAP!  I also used toasted sesame oil from Trader Joe's but you could also use regular sesame oil.  You should be able to find most of the ingredients in your regular grocery store or asian market if not.  Feel free to add a little chili oil if you want some kick to the noodles.   Enjoy!

Sesame Noodles

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

1 pound linguine pasta

¼ cup soy sauce

2 tablespoons sugar

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

3 tablespoons toasted sesame oil

4 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 bunch green onions, thinly sliced

Directions

Cook pasta according to package directions.  Drain well.

In a bowl, whisk together soy sauce, sugar, garlic, rice vinegar, sesame oil, and vegetable oil. 

Pour sesame sauce over warm noodles.  Toss to coat.  Top with green onions and toss to mix.

Serves 4 to 6.

Curry Coconut Chicken

I love coconut anything these days.  My current favorite coffee flavors for K-cups are coconut mocha and island coconut.  I usually bring coffee to work so I have been interchanging those two K-cup flavors every other day.  I also had a mocha coconut frappucino not too long ago at Starbucks.  Too bad there is no "light" version of the mocha coconut frapp or I'd be getting it more often!   There once was a time I despised coconut flavors and then one day I happened to start liking coconut.  This is how I came upon this curry coconut chicken recipe.  I altered this recipe from allrecipes.com and it came out great.  I tried out a green curry for the first time so instead of using 2 tablespoons of curry, I did 1 tablespoon of regular curry and 1 tablespoon of green curry.   I found the green curry on sale at World Market, so you should check out their spices section next time if you can't find it at the grocery store.  I served this curry coconut chicken over white rice.  How good does that look?

Curry Coconut Chicken

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

1 ½ - 2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 tablespoons curry powder (I used 1 tablespoon green curry.)

½ onion, thinly sliced

2 cloves garlic, minced

13.5 ounce can coconut milk

28 ounce can crushed tomato sauce

3 ounce tomato paste (½ of typical 6 ounce can.)

3 tablespoons sugar

salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Season chicken with salt and pepper.

Add oil in a large skillet, over medium-high heat.   Add in curry powder and stir to mix with oil for a minute or two. 

Add in onions and garlic, stir into curry oil and cook for a minute or two.

Add in chicken and stir to coat with curry oil.  Cook for 5 to 7 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink.

Add in tomato sauce, tomato paste, coconut milk, and sugar.  Stir to combine.

Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 30 minutes.

Serves 4 to 6.

Turkey Meatballs with Homemade Tomato Sauce

Today I am sharing the recipe pictured below over at Petite Therapy!  My cousin Cathy is currently on vacation and asked me to share a recipe from The Petite Advantage Diet by Jim Karas.  Of course I said yes and made the turkey meatballs with homemade tomato sauce recipe.  This is a healthy and simple dish.  As a petite woman myself, it is really great to see recipes catered toward petites.  When you visit Petite Therapy, you will see that Cathy's blog is about petite fashion and her personal lifestyle. 

 
See you over at Petite Therapy (www.petitetherapy.com)! 

Here is a picture of me and Cathy being petite fashionistas :)

English Muffin Toasting Bread

I had no idea how easy it was to make this english muffin toasting bread. The recipe is from the King Arthur Flour website.  This bread came out wonderfully.  I tried a slice without toasting it and I have to admit, it tastes 100 times better toasted.  It really has an english muffin taste when toasted.  It was most delicious with butter spread after toasting so the butter can melt while the bread is still warm.  Next, drizzle a little bit of honey over the butter.  It was soooo good!  This english muffin toasting bread recipe is a keeper and I will definitely be making it again.  

English Muffin Toasting Bread

Printable Recipe

 

Ingredients

3 cups flour

1 tablespoon sugar

1 ½ teaspoon baking soda

1 tablespoon instant yeast

1 cup milk

¼ cup water

2 tablespoons vegetable oil (or olive oil)

cornmeal

 

Directions

Using the mixing bowl from a stand mixer, add the flour, sugar, baking soda and instant yeast.  Whisk dry ingredients together.

 

In a microwave-safe bowl, add the milk, water and oil, and heat to between 120 degrees F and 130 degrees F.  Stir the liquid before measuring the temperature to get an accurate reading.  If you do not have a thermometer, the liquid will feel hot (hotter than lukewarm) and similar to bath water.

 

Pour the hot liquid into the dry ingredients in the mixing bowl.

Beat at high speed for about 1 minute, the dough will be very soft and slightly sticky.

Lightly grease a loaf pan and dust bottom and sides with cornmeal.

 

Place dough into pan, leveling it as much as possible.

 

Cover the pan with a dish towel and let dough rise until its at the rim of the pan.  This should take about 45 minutes to an hour.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  (Do this while the dough is rising.)

Remove cover and bake for 22 to 27 minutes, until golden brown and interior temperature is 190 degrees F.  (It took me about 25 minutes bake time.)

Remove bread from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes on a rack while still in pan.  After 5 minutes, turn bread out of the pan onto the cooling rack. 

Allow the bread to cool completely before slicing.

Delicious with butter and honey :)  Enjoy!