Healthy Family Hangout

Made the below recipe for chicken tonight. It was yummy! It has been a long day and I totally forgot to take pictures of the chicken, but I wanted to post the recipe so that I wouldn't loose it. Grilled Honey Mustard Chicken Ingredients 1/4 c Dijon mustard 1/3 c Honey 2 tbs Light Mayo 1 tbs Steak Sauce 4 Chicken Breasts (4oz ea) Directions 1. Preheat the grill for medium heat. 2. In a shallow bowl, mix the mustard, honey, mayonnaise, and steak sauce. Set aside a small amount of the honey mustard sauce for basting, and dip the chicken into the remaining sauce to coat. 3. Lightly oil the grill grate. Grill chicken over indirect heat for 18 to 20 minutes, turning occasionally, or until juices run clear. Baste occasionally with the reserved sauce during the last 10 minutes. Watch carefully to prevent burning! Nutritional Info: Servings Per Recipe: 4 Amount per serving: Calories: 253.5, Total Fat: 3.9 g, Cholesterol: 68.4 mg, Sodium: 564.6 mg, Total Carbs: 24.4 g, Dietary F...

Salad can get boring so today I got creative... romaine lettuce, a little ranch mixed in with the lettuce... then shredded cheddar, raspberries, grape halves, strawberry, and just a few almonds. A nice fresh salad for a warm day. Yum!

We bought portabella mushrooms today with the intention of making burgers with them. We mixed a low sodium marinade of: 2 tbs. Olive Oil 3 tbs. Splenda 1/2 tsp. Onion Powder 5 tbs. Balsamic Vinegar We marinated the mushrooms with the mixture for 20-30 minutes before putting them on the grill. When they were almost done a little mozzarella cheese topped with a grilled onion slice, tomato slice, shredded lettuce, and just a teeny-tiny bit of horseradish mayo. I was the only one who liked the 'shroom burger. Christian took two bites... at least he tried. Millard ate a little more than half. Alex tasted his then played with it. But again, I absolutely loved it! For a side we had fries. My dad had a heart attack in August '07. During his recovery he was given healthy recipes from the hospital. One which I tried tonight was a mix for home made fries and they turned out really good. Both kids loved them (the white more than the sweet). We cut white potatoes and sweet pota...

We made a Veggie & Fruit run today at Costco. We got Portabella Mushrooms, Carrots, Celery, Potatoes, Sweet Potatoes, Asparagus, Lettuce, Cucumbers, Grapefruit, Strawberries, Raspberries, Watermelon, Apples, Bananas. The only other things we bought were some Roast Beef & Hamburger Buns. Total bill $101.

We've never tried boy choy before, but we are trying to pick out new things. We only bought 3 baby bok choy to give them a try. I washed them and cut them in halves. I put a little olive oil in the pan with some finely chopped garlic and tossed in the baby bok choy. Simple-Easy! Christian had a friend over that evening for dinner and we had burgers. I put the baby bok choy in a serving dish in the middle of the table and I was so proud of him for trying a taste. Unfortunately he got a hold of a bitter piece and he was done. I was just happy that he tried it. That's all I ask.

Yup, chicken again! Don't be surprised if we start clucking soon. We do tend to eat quite a lot of chicken anyway, but we recently hit a good sale on whole chicken legs so we took full advantage of it. What's bbq chicken without seasoning? Only thing is we are cutting our sodium intake these days. Most bought mixes are absolutely full of sodium... not heart healthy! So... I searched online and found a low sodium rub at www.LowSodiumCooking.com : Rub #2 - The Mild One A sweeter, less spicy rub for grilling and smoking. 1/2 c Paprika 2 T Black Pepper,Freshly Ground 1/3 c Brown Sugar 2 T Chili Powder 2 T Onion Powder 2 T Garlic Powder Mix well, store in a cool dark place. Yield: 22 Servings 'The Mild One' was rubbed on the chicken and grilled to perfection. Of course I took the fat off first! It was very tasty and crusted nicely on the outside, but was moist and tender on the inside. I served it with Corn on the Cob with just a little chili seasoning sprink...

I am always looking for new recipes and last month my cousin emailed me the link to Grilled Buttermilk Chicken. I've had fried chicken soaked in buttermilk before, but this was a leaner idea. It was very easy. Saturday morning I arranged the chicken in a shallow baking dish and marinaded them in the buttermilk mixture. I turned them occasionally until dinner time. Then Millard took care of the grilling. They turned out nice. I didn`t use as much garlic as was called for, but perhaps I could`ve. Grilled Buttermilk Chicken Serves 8 Hands-On Time: 10m Total Time: 1hr 50m Ingredients 1 1/2 cups buttermilk 8 cloves garlic, chopped 1 tablespoon paprika kosher salt and black pepper 6 pounds bone-in chicken pieces Directions In a small bowl or measuring cup, combine the buttermilk, garlic, paprika, 1½ teaspoons salt, and ¾ teaspoon pepper. Divide the buttermilk mixture and chicken between 2 large resealable plastic bags. Let marinate in the refrigerator, turning the bags o...

This week has not worked out as planned. I have been sick. I am currently recovering from strep throat and although I hadn't been able to eat most of the week... the rest of the family needed to! The preplanned menu was tossed out and Millard was given the go-ahead to just do 'whatever'. We resorted back to cereal box breakfasts and canned soups, mac & cheese, and sandwiches were a quick easy fix for lunch and dinner. All in all I think we did good to get this far without any seriously greasy, deep-fried take-out. Our only take out meal was Subway... which doubled as dinner one night and lunch the next day. I am starting to feel better after seeing the doctor. I am back on my feet and ready to make a meal tonight. It is just going to be spaghetti & meatball with Millard's pre-made, frozen meatballs and a jar of Ragu. I am going to attempt to make a green salad to go with it, but who knows if I'll make it that far.

Who doesn't like dessert? Christian wants dessert every day and would be happy if he could have ice cream day after day after day... Ha! So would I! But we all know that we can't do that. Instead I try to come up with lighter desserts ideas. Fat Free Jello Pudding has been a great option for us. It's approx 70 calories per half a cup and zero sugar! Dress it up with some fruit and a cute glass and Christian is happy. I picked these glasses up at the dollar store and Christian thinks they are the coolest thing since sliced bread. For this dessert I used a can of Fruit with cherries and Jello White Chocolate Fat Free Pudding. I put the fruit in the bottom, then pudding, just a little cool whip and then Christian wanted some candy sprinkles on top. Simple, easy and light. It put a big smile on Christian's face and he said it was as good as an ice cream sundae.

We usually save pizza for Saturday nights, but this week we decided to have Taco Pizza on a Thursday evening for dinner. Instead of using a huge pizza pan I made individual sized pizzas to keep up with portion control. Everyone liked them, even Alexander who is 13 1/2 months old. The pizza was simple. We always keep some lean ground beef with taco seasoning in the freezer for quick meals and I bought some Greek Pita Breads with the thought of using them for pizza crusts. My Pita Taco Pizza Greek Pita Bread Lean Ground Beef w/ Taco Seasoning (pre-heated) Salsa Cheddar Cheese Shredded Lettuce Diced Tomato Sliced Black Olives Place the pita breads out on a greased pizza pan and evenly distribute taco meat over each pita. Top with shredded cheese. Bake in the oven at 400 degrees until cheese melts. Remove from oven and layer salsa, lettuce, tomato, & olives.

One of my favorite foods in the whole wide world is avocado. It's a great thing to love because they have nearly 20 essential nutrients, including fiber, potassium, Vitamin E, B-vitamins, and folic acid. The only thing that I need to be careful with is that they are loaded with calories as well. One whole medium sized avocado is a whooping 250 calories! I was recipe searching back in April and came upon a mango-avocado salsa that I just had to try. We've had mango salsa many times before, but adding avocado was a whole new ball game. It was quite simple... cubed avocado, mango (I used frozen), and tomato, plus some diced red onion. Mix it all up and there you go. I served it over BBQ grilled chicken. Usually we have our chicken smothered with BBQ sauce, but this time I only marinaded it in some Budwiser brand BBQ sauce. Millard put it on the grill and held off on the extra sauce. It was a good choice. Our sides were sauteed a mix of fresh and frozen peas and asparagus.

My parents have a rhubarb patch that I decided to dig into this weekend. Actually my dad was kind enough to get some for me on Sunday, but then I had to decide what to make. I pulled out my cooking magazines and found Rhubarb Cheesecakes, Pies, and even Cookies made with shortening Mmmm. There were so many more scrumptious looking recipes that tempted me, but I kept searching. After much flipping through pages I found 'Rhubarb Oat Bars' in a 2006 edition of Taste of Home and thought that these would be the better choice. They were easy to make and tasted delicious although I can't help but wonder how good that grand prize winning Rhubarb cheesecake would've tasted. Rhubarb Oat Bars Prep: 20 min. Bake: 25 min. + cooling 1 1/2 cups chopped fresh or frozen rhubarb 1 cup packed brown sugar, divided 4 tablespoons water, divided 1 teaspoon lemon juice 4 teaspoons cornstarch 2 cup old-fashioned oats 3/4 cup all-purpose flour 1/2 cup flaked coc...