Chilin’ and Grillin’

This was yet another way-too-fast weekend, huh? After a super-busy day yesterday including my Weight Watchers weigh in (down 2 lbs!), a baby shower (congrats Megs!), and a BBQ at our friends’ house, I needed a chill day. I woke up early, did some blog reading and a special-request blog header (go check out www.seejessrun.com to see!), and then headed out for some grocery shopping. I hit the mother lode! For all of $50, we got tons of produce, meat, beans, and some dry goods. I even managed to find Turtle Mountain coconut milk mini ice cream sandwiches! Usually, the store has 2 flavors of their ice cream and that’s it. This was like finding the Holy Grail!

While eagerly following MizFit’s Tattoo Adventure on Twitter, it was so beautiful outside that there was really only one option for dinner: COOK OUT!!! One of my favorite things about grilling out is that the recipes/prep work is so simple. Tonight we made chicken satays, grilled cauliflower, grilled corn, and a simple peanut sauce.

The satays were simple. I took about 1.5 lbs of chicken tenders (not the fried ones, the pre-cut ones that were on sale at the produce market) and skewered 2 on each soaked bamboo skewer. I sprinkled them with Penzey’s Sate Seasoning and let them sit for about 20 minutes while I prepped the cauliflower. I cut it up, drizzled a little olive oil, and sprinkled some garlic powder on it. The corn was easy: shucked, rinsed, and wrapped in foil. After heating up the grill, everything went on, and about a half hour later, we had plates that looked a bit like this:

I highly recommend grilling cauliflower! It gets a very roasty flavor, and takes about the same amount of time to cook as oh, say, some skewers of chicken! The corn is surprisingly sweet for May corn, and I didn’t even need to put butter or salt on it. The chicken was great, but since they were technically satays, they definitely needed some of this:

Some PB2 Peanut sauce! This was delicious, and significantly less caloric than regular peanut sauce. I mixed together:

• 1/3 c. PB2
• 1/3 c. water
• 2 tsp. sesame oil
• 1/4 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper

It was the perfect addition to the Indonesian-spiced chicken.

I have quite a few Guests for Dinner lined up for this week, and I’m very excited to introduce you to Stephanie from Stephanie’s Healthy Habits. I “met” Stephanie on Twitter after tweeting something about going to Jazzercise. She’s an instructor! It turns out, she and I have a bunch in common, and when i asked her about being a Guest for Dinner, she jumped at the chance! So, Stephanie, pull up a chair, have a seat at my table, and tell us about your meal!

Hi all! It’s Stephanie from Stephanie’s Healthy Habits. I adore Mara’s blog and was totally stoked when she agreed to let me be a Guest for Dinner! One of the biggest items that was hard for me to give up during my Weight Watchers journey was Mexican food…I’m a little bit of an addict, I’ll admit it! So you can understand how excited I was to find a Weight Watchers recipe for Chicken Tortilla Soup! The following is a recipe that I created by combining some of my favorite recipes…

Chicken Tortilla Soup

POINTS Value: 4

Preparation Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 60 minutes

Level of Difficulty: Easy

Serving size: 2 cups Number of Servings: 20

Ingredients:

2 10 oz cans of Rotel Diced Tomatoes

2 14.5 oz. cans of Diced Tomatoes

1 4 oz. can of Diced Jalapenos

6 cups Fat-Free Chicken broth

1 pound uncooked boneless and skinless chicken breast

2 garlic cloves, minced 4 tsp. chili powder

4 tbsp. fresh lime juice

½ tsp. ground cumin

1 tsp. salt

4 (6”) corn tortillas

Instructions:

1. Heat a Dutch oven or stock pot on stove on med-high heat. Add garlic (and onions if desired). Cook for about 15 seconds.

2. Add broth, diced jalapenos and chili powder. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes.

3. While the soup is simmering, boil the 1 pound of chicken breast until cooked fully. Shred chicken and place in a bowl.

4. Stir in Rotel tomatoes, diced tomatoes, lime juice, cumin, and salt. Add chicken. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 40 minutes.

5. While the soup is simmering, cut tortillas into ¼ X 2” strips. Place on a baking sheet in a single layer, and coat lightly with cooking spray. Bake at 425 for 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool completely.

6. Ladle soup into bowls; sprinkle servings evenly with tortillas strips. Notes: If you choose to not serve the soup with the tortilla strip, remove 2 points per serving.

 

I hope you all enjoy this recipe and thank you to Mara for allowing me to post!

-Stephanie

That recipe looks like something we’d love at our house! Thanks so much Stephanie!

If you would like to be my Guest for Dinner, just write me an email with a short explanation of your meal and a photo, and I’ll post it! I love having guests!

This week will bring many surprises, some new foods, and some new food adventures… but for now, I need some more chillin’ before the workin’ starts tomorrow!

QOTD: If you could have ANY fast food meal made good for you, what would it be? For me it would be a loaded Chipotle burrito… no doubt!

Tagged as: grilling, Guests for Dinner, simple recipe