Sunday Family Dinner - Chicken Not-Fried Steak and Garlic Red Skin Mashed Potatoes

Does anyone in this country still believe in the beautiful, nostalgic idea of a big Sunday Family Dinner?

...of course followed immediately by a nice Sunday nap!

Well I do!

And I hope all of you do as well, why?

Well... I'm sure you all know the benefits of eating healthy meals, and everyone has heard the advantages of eating as a family. So.... if you have a family dinner that is healthy think of how awesome you'll be!?  

So just in case you need a new and delicious idea for a family meal that doesn't take long to prepare, uses everyday ingredients, is food for the soul and healthy - I've provided you with one of my favorites! 

Let me present - in it's healthy-fied version:

Chicken 'Fried' Steak and Garlic Red Skin Mashed Potatoes with White Gravy and Peas

...now showing at a family dinner table near you.

So let's get started, shall we-

First, let's go over what you will need to make EVERYTHING for this smile-inducing meal.

Garlic Mashed Potatoes

-Red skin potatoes (I recommend one per person)

-2-3 TBSP. Greek yogurt 

-Garlic (I prefer to use the pre-minced stuff that comes in a jar, more economical)

~add to your preference, but I usually do 2 TBSP. of the minced kind when I make 8 potatoes worth.

-2-3 TBSP. Milk

-2-3 TBSP. Sour Cream (fat-free kind works just fine, if you want a lower fat version)

-1 TBSP. butter (light butter, again if you want it even lower fat)

-Seasonings: garlic salt, onion powder, pepper

Peas

Chicken not-'Fried' Steak

-Chicken Breast (one per person)

-1/2 cup all-purpose flour

-1/3 cup whole wheat flour

-1/3 fiber one original cereal

-1/2 buttermilk (regular milk works too in a pinch)

-2 TBSP. cornstarch

-egg white of 1 egg

White Gravy

-2/3 cup milk

-1/3 cup chicken stock - at least (can just use water if you don't want to open a whole can of stock)

-2 TBSP. flour

-1 TBSP. butter

-Seasoning: onion salt/powder, pepper

Ok! Let's get down to business... (well now I have the Mulan song stuck in my head!)

First things first, start de-thawing your chicken breasts if they were frozen. 

Then you will want to pound them flat - do this by placing them in a ziplock bag and using your pent-up aggressions and a rolling pin to squash 'em!

Then get them into a nice bath of 1/2 cup buttermilk

while they are soaking...

For the potatoes:

First, you will want to wash, but DO NOT peel, your red skin potatoes

Then cut them into small chunks, try to make them equal in size

While doing this, you can start bringing a pot of water to boiling

When the water is boiling, add your chopped potatoes and let them cook until a fork can go through them, but not so long that they are mush

Remove the pan from the stove and drain immediately, then rinse with cold water (this stops the cooking process so all the starch doesn't make the potatoes sticky)

Place aside, we're now moving on to the chicken.

For the chicken not-fried steak:

Place your fiber one in a blender/food processor-or just throw in a ziplock baggie and smash with a rolling pin! You want the cereal to be completely smooth.

Now you can start setting up your assembly line-

dish 1. all-purpose flour

dish 2. egg white

dish 3. crushed fiber one, whole wheat flour, cornstarch and seasonings

Now remove chicken from buttermilk, and let the excess milk drip off

Then dredge in flour

Dip in egg white

Coat in breading

Place on a plate where they will rest until we are ready to 'fry'

Easy as 1, 2, 3!

All coated up and ready to go!

By the way, now would be a dandy time to turn your stove-top on medium and oven on 350*

Now, to 'fry' them.

You want to get a big skillet hot on a stove-top

When it is hot, either coat the pan with 1 TBSP oil or spray with non-stick cooking spray

Then immediately add your chicken breast and spray the top of the chicken with cooking spray as well

Let cook a few minutes, until starting to get golden, and flip and allow other side to 'fry' as well

You will be left with pretty well 'fried' chicken steaks, but some parts will not be golden and they will probably not be hot all the way through.

So to fix that-place them on a wire rack (like a cookie cooling rack) and then on a baking sheet and place in a 350* oven

These will cook for around 20ish minutes, which just so happens to be the perfect amount of time to finish up the potatoes, make the gravy and heat the peas.

Your skillet will probably look like this:

which is perfect! You better not be one of those people that washes dishes ASAP and has already cleaned this-because you need the skillet remains to make the gravy!

Next you want to make your 'rue' - for this combine your flour and 1/3 cup milk and whisk until smooth.

Now place your skillet back on the heat and add your butter until it melts. Then add rue and stir continuously until it starts getting thick. Then add remaining milk, chicken stock to desired thickness and bring it up to a simmer. Add your spices and you're done!

Now we can finish up the spuds!

In a big bowl, mash the cooked potato chunks - using potato masher, or if you're lazy (like me) you can use a hand mixer :)

Then add in everything else-

milk, yogurt, sour cream, butter, garlic and spices

You can rewarm in the microwave or place in the oven (if your bowl is oven proof of course!) with tin foil overtop

Meanwhile...

Heat up your peas in the microwave, or on the stove-top in about 1 inch of water

That's It! You're completely done with this very impressive meal 

Just set the table, fill the water pitcher, and ring the dinner bell! 

Dinner. Is. Served. 

Barlean's Organic Oils

Organic oils huh? Interesting I know... but who knew that 'organic oils' could make amazing smoothies, fruit parfaits, ice cream toppings and granola?!
Not me - until now!

I recently was given the opportunity to sample and review a few of Barlean's products - the omega swirl, coconut oil and chia seed.

WOW! This company really does make stand-up products. But their most interesting, and (in my humble opinion) delicious product is their Omega Swirl.
What is Omega Swirl? Well I'm glad you asked! Because, well, if you didn't my blog post would have ended there, and that wouldn't have been very interesting now would it?

Omega Swirl (according to my experience and the Barlean website) is:
-an omega-3 nutrient supplement that has the taste and texture of a smoothie - Ohhhhh yes it does! It is so smooth, creamy and flavorful! I had the lemon version and it was THE BOMB. Seriously, I added it to my smoothies, fruit parfaits, even on top of ice cream! It gave it an amazingly refreshing lemon-y flavor, and of course-loads of omega-3 goodness!
-Omega-3 fatty acids have oh so many health benefits, such as:
~joint mobility and bone density
~heart health
~skin, hair and nail health
~mental health
...just to name a few!

Here is the nutritional info:

There are so many great flavors available, and now they sell Omega Swirl To-Go! (we all know Kristen LOVES single serve to-go packets!)

So if you're looking for a fun, not to mention DELISH way to bump up your healthy fats - you've got to try some Omega Swirl! It is so easy to incorporate into your life, and heck-if you're feeling lazy, just slurp it right off a spoon! (yes-it is that good)

this would be a smoothie I made (in the dead of winter, obviously) that tasted like HAWAII!!!

It consisted of: vanilla yogurt, milk, barleans omega swirl and frozen pineapple. 

YUM!

*Barlean's only sent me samples to review. All opinions and statements are my own, I received no compensation. 

Chicken Pastries

Every once and a while I come across a meal I just fall in love with instantly... these Chicken Pastries would fall into that category. I recently was made this delightful little dish from a friend (who is now my best. friend.) 

So want to make some people call you their new best friend?! Of course-who doesn't want more friends!? To accomplish that you need to make them this recipe!

In a small bowl mix together:

-2 TBSP. low-fat cream cheese

-1 TBSP. butter (or margarine)

-1 TBSP. Greek yogurt

-1 TBSP. non-fat sour cream

-1 TBSP. milk

-minced garlic (to your liking, I used 1 TBSP)

-1/2 finely chopped onion

-dash of salt, pepper and Italian seasoning

...you can also get the oven pre-heating on 350* at this time

It will start looking like this!

Then add 2 cups cooked, cooled and chopped chicken (about 3-4 chicken breasts)

Then the magic starts to happen....

Take one small package of crescent rolls (one that makes 8 rolls) and pinch the edges of all 8 little triangles together to create one big sheet (you could also just buy the crescent roll in sheet form, or a sheet of puff pastry dough)

Roll out and cut into 6 equal sized squares

Place 1/6 of the chicken mixture to each square of dough and place onto a greased baking sheet.

Pinch up the sides of the pastries to create a little package (package full of deliciousness!), like so:

No you can leave them un-adulterated, or spray with a little cooking spray and sprinkle with:

-parmesan cheese

-bread crumbs

-Italian seasoning

-mixture of all three!

Then just place in oven and bake for about 25 minutes

Viola-an easy, 30-minute-meal that is sure to impress!

Lemon Poppyseed Bread

Want some amazingly delicious lemon-poppyseed bread?

Ok!

Take lemons...

Cut in half...

Throw in some other random stuff...

Eat bread!

Ok, ok, so maybe it isn't that easy-but it is pretty darn simple and quick (it is quick bread afterall :D hehe)

So now for the real recipe!

Ingredients: 

-1 cup yogurt (just regular, not Greek this time*) 

~could be any flavor you're feeling, I recommend vanilla, plain or lemon though

-3 eggs

-juice of 1 lemon (reserve 1 tsp. if making glaze)

-1/2 cup applesauce (can be sugar free)

-1/3 cup sugar (or any sugar substitute)

-1 pinch salt

-1 tsp. baking powder

-1/2 tsp. baking soda

-1 TBSP. poppy seeds

-1 1/2 cups flour (I like to use white whole wheat, but 1/2 white & 1/2 whole wheat works well too!)

1. Preheat oven to 350* Cream all up to salt

2. Add salt through flour

3. Pour into a small loaf pan that has been greased and floured

4. Bake until golden (about 45 minutes)

5. Remove from oven and let cool in pan at least ten minutes

6. While cooling-you can make the glaze!

Glaze:

-powdered sugar (or powdered sugar substitute)

-splash of milk

-1 tsp. lemon juice reserved from earlier

-1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

-lemon zest grated from lemons used earlier

~Mix all liquids together and slowly whisk in powdered sugar until a glaze consistency you're happy with forms!

~Pour glaze over semi-cooled bread (if you want the glaze to really seep into the bread and infuse it with flavor-poke the bread with a toothpick before pouring glaze over bread)

Yummy-yummy-yummy! Enjoy my friends :)

Double Mug Recipes

Who loves COFFEE???? ME! That's who! In celebration of how much I love all things coffee - today I had coffee to the second degree. 

See those two? Beautiful. 

The left is healthy banana bread in a mug and the right is a Iced Mocha! AHHH! YUM!

This recipe is pretty easy...

In a bowl combine: 

3 TBSP. flour (I used Grandpa's gluten free flour blend and it worked perfectly!)

3 TBSP. sugar (or stevia, or 1 1/2 tbsp. honey/agave/maple syrup)

1/4 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/8 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. cinnamon (optional)

Then add: 

1 mashed banana

1 egg (or 3 egg whites, or 1/4 cup egg beaters)

1 TBSP. Greek yogurt

1 TBSP. milk

1 tsp. vanilla extract 

mix thoroughly and pour into a coffee mug that has been sprayed with cooking spray

~Microwave 2-3 minutes, it will puff up and possibly run over :S But ya know-it's worth it! :)

Then let it sit a minute or so before digging in! 

Want to put it just over the top? I thought so.... To really hit a home run with this yummy treat do as Kristen does and top it off with 1 TBSP. peanut butter and a small handful of granola. 

You will NOT be sorry! 

So now for coffee recipe numero dos - Ice Mocha!

Pretty simple as well - 

-1 cup coffee chilled

-1 TBSP. cocoa powder (or chocolate syrup if you'd rather)

-1 tsp. stevia (or sugar, honey, agave, etc. - just something sweet... no you may NOT throw me into your cup :D

-pinch of salt

-1/4 cup milk

-frozen coffee ice cubes

~Mix up coffee, cocoa, sugar, salt and milk & our over frozen coffee cubes. If you'd like-top it off with some whipped topping

Who's having an over the top super-deeeee-duper day now? Hopefully all of you! 

Chef Jay's ...cookies for breakfast!

Yes... you heard me right - I said: COOKIES FOR BREAKFAST! :)

I had the opportunity to review Chef Jay's Tri-O-Plex Snacks (all opinions are strictly my own, the only thing I received from Chef Jay's company was the samples).

Chef Jay has devoted his life to creating extremely healthy (and not to forget-delicious) bars, cookies and brownies. His company sells a wide variety of products, but I had the opportunity to sample his Tri-O-Plex protein cookies. 

The verdict?? Delish! My favorite is the peanut butter chocolate chip cookie flavor (is anyone surprised my favorite was something with peanut butter??)

I thoroughly enjoyed warming these in the microwave for about 10 seconds for a hot out of the oven taste! They were also amazing crumbled up over a bowl of ice cream. 

The nutrition is pretty darn good for a cookie!

The saturated fat is a little high for me... but there are cookies. I was ecstatic with the protein content and iron though! 

Here are the ingredients:

Ingredients

CJ PROTEIN BLEND (SOY PROTEIN ISOLATE, WHEY PROTEIN ISOLATE), CHOCOLATE CHIPS (SUGAR, COCOA BUTTER, SOY LECITHIN, NATURAL FLAVORS), SUGAR, HONEY, PEANUT BUTTER (DRY ROASTED PEANUTS, DEXTROSE, HYDROGENATED COTTONSEED, RAPESEED OIL, AND SALT), PEANUTS, WATER, UNSALTED BUTTER, WHITE WHEAT FLOUR, BROWN SUGAR, NATURAL PEANUT FLAVOR, EGGS, PEANUT FLOUR, VANILLA EXTRACT, BAKING SODA, SALT, POTASSIUM SORBATE.

Not too bad... I wasn't "excited" about the hydrogenated oils in there, but I suppose a little bit of anything never hurt anyone right? 

Overall: Delicious taste! Great protein content! However, they should still be treated as what they are: a treat. They are still cookies, and while they are a great protein supplement for those consumers needing a protein boost, they are cookies-and to be treated as such. 

Thanks Chef Jay for such a yummy treat! I truly enjoyed them :)

Peanut Butter Ice Cream

Oh yes, I went there! My two favorite foods EVER combined!

Peanut Butter + Ice Cream = HAPPY TUMMY!

And get this-this recipe is (well of course healthy) but it actually is fairly easy and low calorie!

Topped with some peanut butter granola (recipe to come!) just sends it over. the. top. 

Oh-idea! Banana granola + peanut butter ice cream! YUM!

Alright, alright... little less talk-lot more action recipe! (please tell me at least some of you caught that country music song reference?)

Ingredients: 

(makes 2 servings)

-1 cup milk (can use any... skim, whole, whatever!)*

-1 cup vanilla yogurt (both regular and Greek work)

-1/4 cup powdered peanut butter (I use PB2, but to each his own!)

-1 tsp. vanilla

-1/2 tsp. salt

Optional (for creaminess factor):

-1/2 tsp. xanthum/guar gum (opt.)

-1/2 TBSP. cornstarch

-1 TBSP. pudding mix

or

-1 tsp. gelatin (dissolved in a few TBSP water)

*for a very very creamy ice cream-use fat free half & half!

Directions:

1. Mix together milk and pb2 until pb2 is fully combined

2. Add yogurt and stir until an even consistency forms (you may want to use a hand mixer)

3. Add in vanilla and salt

4. If using any of the optional creaminess ingredients - add it now, slowly-mixing well!

5. Pour into ice cream maker and patiently wait

Cupcake Poppers

Ever wanted to eat cupcakes FOR BREAKFAST and not feel any guilt*? 

Then these cupcakes are for you! They're quick, moist, delicious and require only 2 ingredients... yes two! (water doesn't count guys!)

*sidenote: Never feel guilt or beat yourself for having a treat! Everything in moderation is the answer to everything! Well ok, maybe not the question of how many licks it takes to get to the middle of a tootsie pop.. but otherwise it's a very versatile lesson! 

The secret ingredient is the secret ingredient to almost all my recipes... (I can't help it I have an addiction and am proud of it!) 

GREEK YOGURT!

Yes, you should have all seen this coming-I can't count how many things I've tried to 'healthify' by substituting Greek yogurt... and once again-this didn't let me down!

I almost think these cupcakes are more delicious than the regular kind... but then again-sometimes I think my brain's wires are a little crossed sometimes and think healthy=delicious. (Not a completely bad trait, but very odd!)

Look at all the cute little guys!

Ingredients:

-3/4 cup Greek yogurt (any kind-I'm a Dannon Oikos girl myself)

-1 box cake mix

-1 cup water

~Any Greek yogurt will work. For this recipe, I used a yellow-cake mix and vanilla Greek yogurt and the results were oh so delicious! 

Some other creative mash-ups include: 

-German chocolate cake mix and a Black Cheery yogurt

-Vanilla cake mix and Honey yogurt

-Vanilla cake mix and any of the fruit flavors! YUM! <-- You could even mix in some fresh berries with this and create one heck of a delicious fruity cupcake!

Directions:

1. Mix cake mix, yogurt and water just until everything is moist

2. Pour batter into a mini cupcake tin

3. Bake as directed by box 

4. Frost with Fluff Frosting

5. Enjoy the little bites with a gleam in your eye because you know you just made a semi-healthy pop-able dessert!

Nutritional Info: For a regular cake mix (not sugar-free) and Dannon Oikos Greek yogurt each cupcake popper (assuming you get 5 dozen as my cake mix suggested)*

1 Cupcake Popper: 30 calories - .7 g fat - 5 carbs

*I of course did not get this many cupcakes because... well... maybe... I snuck a little bit SPOONFUL AFTER SPOONFUL of the cake batter

Oops... 

Birthday Cake Bread

What do you get when you combine the best two tokens of joy on the face of this Earth? (no.... not myself and Taylor Swift silly! The next two tokens of joy!) 

~ Sprinkles and Birthdays! 

In case you were unaware of the new formula for happiness is: 

Sprinkles + Birthdays = :D

...it's true, it's proven!

So what do you get when you combine sprinkles and birthdays, with a side swipe of bread (another joy-bringer in my life!)

You get.... (drum roll please....)

BIRTHDAY CAKE BREAD! 

Yes... you heard me right- Birthday. Cake. Bread. 

It's sweet, it's moist, it's delicious! And best of all - IT HAS SPRINKLES!

This bread will satisfy even the strongest sweet tooth-with no guilt! It's a healthy bread! ... are you guys really surprised? The Blissful Baker never tempts you with delicious looking treats that are bad for you! 

>I've got your back!<

You could even serve these up with whipped cream or ice cream and have them instead of cake at your next birthday party! I almost definitely like this bread more than cake anyways! It tastes just like Funfetti cake! 

So why not just make Funfetti cake? Because of a few reasons.. 

1. It's healthier

2. I like to switch things up!

3. You can toast it! Or make it into sandwiches! I mean really... what could be better than a cake-like bread, toasted and made into a sandwich!? 

Nothing! That's what!

Ingredients: 

-2/3 cup Greek yogurt (vanilla or plain)

-1 egg

-1/2 cup sugar (or any sweetener)

-1/4 cup applesauce

-1 small pkg. instant sugar-free vanilla pudding

-1/2 tsp. salt

-2 tsp. baking powder

-1 1/3 cup flour (whole wheat works fine)

-1 tsp. butter flavor extract (or vanilla if you don't have butter flavor)

-Sprinkles!

Directions:

1. Cream yogurt, egg, sugar, applesauce and pudding

3. Add salt and baking powder

4. Slowly add flour

5. Fold in sprinkles

6. Dump batter into a greased and floured loaf pan and sprinkle top with more sprinkles!

7. Bake in a 350* oven for about 1 hour, use the toothpick test!

8. Remove and let cool in pan for 15-20 minutes

9. Enjoy like a little kid on their birthday! 

Mmmm... sprinkles :)