Chicken, Sweet Potato, Black Bean, and Corn Taco

Hello healthy lunch!

I'm embarrassed it's been a whole year since I last posted!! I'm going to straight up blame it on the kids, that's why I had them in the first place isn't it? I needed someone to blame for my laziness, messy house, lateness, and all out craziness and my husband wasn't letting me blame him anymore...

Roasted Veggie Wraps with Goat Cheese Spread



The players aka what's inside

 While it may still feel like winter here in Wisconsin, I know that swimsuit season is fast approaching. On April 1st I started a DietBet on DietBet.com. Basically every person that joins the DietBet game contributes $X and whoever loses 4% of their body weight in 4 weeks splits the pot. I'm about 60% of the way there and have about 10 days left. That said...I've been forced to eat healthy (and by forced I mean I'm too damn stubborn to lose even $1 in a bet)!

Amped Up Goat Cheese & Asparagus Pizza

My best friend Suki lives in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area in Minnesota. One glorious weekend I was able to get away, sans husband and child, and pay a visit to said BFF. It was glorious!! We went out to eat at nice restaurants, we slept in (me only until 8am of course), leisurely got ready, and even went dancing! Not to mention it was my bestie's 30th birthday!!!

Chicken Pot Pie

Now that it's going to be amazing weather, I've finally decided to jump back on the blog bandwagon and I'm going to start with a favorite winter comfort food, Chicken Pot Pie! Now, my mama always made the absolute best chicken pot pie when I was growing up. When I went to college she gave me her recipe and I always tried to replicate it and it was always delicious but never quite "mama's chicken pot pie." I think it has to do with her special ingredient...she always said it was love but I'm guessing she put a little something else in it and just never told me what it was ;)! 

Portobello, Broccoli and Red Pepper Melts

Do not pass GO. Do not collect $200. Just make these melts! These melts are amazing for so many reasons and you will discover all of them when you make this sandwich! These sandwiches are chock full of veggies and flavor, are super duper easy to make, and there is hardly any clean up involved! To top it off, this sandwich can be modified in so many ways, add meat, switch up the veggies, change up the cheese, make it into a panini...possibilities are endless!

I was worried Kurt would not be a huge fan of this dinner because there was no meat and Kurt is sort of your "meat and potatoes" kind of guy. He seemed a little skeptical but after the first bite all I heard was "mmmm" and a muffled "disissooogooooood" so I'm pretty sure that just about anyone will like this sandwich. If that is not enough evidence that you should make this, I gave this recipe to my co-worker who made it for her family. Her 16 year old son grumbled as she was making it and after the first sandwich he ate another sandwich and told my co-worker that this should go into the rotation (he also said that I have given so many delicious recipes I should open a restaurant - I love this kid!!)!

Portobella, Broccoli and Red Pepper Melts
Souce: Adapted from Annie's Eats

Ingredients:
1 bag broccoli florets (I used 1/2 bag)
1 tbsp. olive oil
Kosher salt and black pepper
1 pint baby portobellas, sliced (I bought the pre-sliced ones)
1 jar of roasted red pepper strips (or you can make your own)
1/4 cup light mayonnaise
1/4 tsp garlic powder or fresh minced/pressed garlic
1 tsp. balsamic vinegar
4 thick slices country bread
2-4 oz. muenster cheese, thinly sliced (whatever cheese you prefer works)

Directions:
1. Preheat a broiler with a rack placed 4-6 inches from the heat source. Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil. Place the broccoli and mushrooms on the baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Toss to combine. Broil 5-6 minutes then toss.

2. Add about 3/4 cup roasted red pepper strips to the mushrooms and broccoli. Broil another 6-7 minutes until the vegetables are tender. Set aside.

3. Meanwhile, combine the mayo and garlic in a small bowl, season with salt and pepper. Place the slices of bread on a work surface, drizzle each slice with some balsamic vinegar then spread each slice of bread with 1 tablespoon of the garlic-mayo mixture.

4. Top each slice of bread with the cooked veggies and then with a slice of cheese. Place the open-faced sandwiches on a foil lined baking sheet and broil until the cheese is melted and lightly browned.

**I made this sandwich again last night only added some goat cheese and used some buns that I had and made it into a normal sandwich. After the sandwich was assembled I put it in my George Foreman and made it into a panini for us....YUM-O!!!

Lamb Lollipops?!



So on December 26th my brothers, David and Mikey, came over for a little family dinner! David has been working for the UW system directly under one of their head chefs. He's always wanted to be a chef and always makes delicious food. Obviously he is the one who gets stuck cooking for all of us. David decided dinner would be lamb and potatoes and I was in charge of the veggie. Now, lamb would probably not be on my top 3 choice of meals (they would probably be pasta, pasta, then beef......with pasta) but this lamb was ahhh-mazing! I don't know exactly what he put on it but he had some sort of panko/herb crust and it was cooked perfectly and was very tender. I mean, this lamb was really really good, even Kurt loved it!

And ohmygoodness the homemade mashed red potatoes with a cream and pea sauce. David just heated up some cream and added frozen peas with salt and lots of pepper. This was so incredibly simple but added so much flavor and depth to the meal....why didn't I think of this before?! I know I don't have any recipes for this meal but I just had to show it off!!