Thai Chicken Thigh Stuffed Sweet Potatoes {Recipe ReDux}

Don’t forget to enter my MealEnders giveaway!

It’s no secret that leftovers are this girl’s best friend. Every night for dinner, I try to make enough to have at least enough leftovers for 2 additional meals, whether those are used for lunch the next day or another dinner. And while I could happily eat the same thing over and over again [hellooo oatmeal for breakfast!], I have a husband that feels differently. Enter this month’s Recipe ReDux that basically describes the way we live.

We’re all about cooking once and eating twice. In short, double dinners are better. Show us how you take a favorite recipe already on your blog – and ReDux the leftovers into a new dish. Or, whip up a new healthy recipe and give suggestions on how to make it a second meal. For example, slow cooker pot roast could become shredded beef tacos; or grilled chicken breasts might morph into chicken salad.

Chicken is on the menu usually at least 5 nights so we have to get creative around here! Our fridge is full of different sauces to easily change things up on a day-to-day basis. Sometimes meals are as simple as grilled chicken, lettuce, tomato, onion, and buffalo sauce on a roll. Other times I like to dress it up.

Thai Chicken Thigh Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

Serves 2

Ingredients
– 3 or 4 leftover grilled boneless, skinless chicken thighs; sliced
– 1/2 bell pepper; sliced
– 1/4 english cucumber; sliced
– 1 small head broccoli; steamed
– 1/2 cup shredded red cabbage
– 2 medium sweet potatoes
– Chopped peanuts [optional for topping]

For the Sauce
Adapted from my Spicy Sriracha Peanut Sauce
– 1/4 cup crunchy peanut butter
– 1/2 cup lite coconut milk
– 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
– 1 tbsp lite soy sauce
– 1/4 cup toasted sesame oil
– 1-2 tbsp sriracha

Directions
Prepare your sweet potatoes by either baking them in the oven at 400°F for about 45 minutes or microwave them in a damp papertowel for 3-5 minutes until soft.

Place all of the ingredients for the sauce in a medium bowl and mix well. Place the sweet potato on a plate and mash in 1-2 tbsp of the sauce. Layer up the bell pepper, cucumber, broccoli, cabbage, and chicken on top. Drizzle over more sauce and top with chopped peanuts.

Food for Thought

What’s your favorite way to use leftovers?
Have you tried stuffed sweet potatoes?

Foodie Friday: Asian Sesame Broccoli with Spicy Sriracha Peanut Sauce {Giveaway}

If you ask me, peanut butter goes with everything. Sweet, savory, salty, spicy. Let’s do it!

As part of the Peanut Butter & Co. Yum Squad, I was given the opportunity to create a recipe using their peanut butter and a mystery ingredient. That mystery ingredient just so happened to be a staple in my house—Sriracha.

Peanut sauce fits right in with our typical meals around here and I had a recipe on hand I’d been wanting to try. Adding in the sriracha was the right pop of flavor that I knew would be perfect.

Asian Sesame Broccoli with Spicy Sriracha Peanut Sauce

Serves 4 as a side dish
Adapted from Gimme Some Oven Asian Broccoli Salad with Peanut Sauce

Ingredients
– 1 large head of broccoli
– 1 cup shelled edamame
– 1/2 cup sliced green onion
– 1/2 cup peanuts; chopped
– 1/4 cup toasted unsweetened coconut flake
– Sesame seeds for garnish
– 1/4 cup Peanut Butter & Co. The Bee’s Knees
– 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
– 1 tbsp lite soy sauce
– 1/8 tsp toasted sesame oil
– 1-2 tbsp sriracha
– 2-3 tbsp hot water to thin the sauce

Directions
Boil a large pot of water, add the broccoli florets, and cook for about 30 seconds. Drain the broccoli and add the edamame, green onion, peanuts, and coconut flake.

For the spicy peanut sauce, mix the remaining ingredients together, except the sesame seeds. Pour half of the sauce over the broccoli and mix well. Drizzle the rest of the sauce over top of the broccoli and top with sesame seeds.

Feeling a little extra saucy? Drizzle some more sriracha on top! What could be bad?

Giveaway Time!

Click here to win a #MysteryIngredient package from Peanut Butter & Co!

Food for Thought

What would you make with the mystery ingredient?

Foodie Friday: Buffalo Bourbon Peanut Butter

A stressful week calls for a Friday cocktail, yes? How about combining that cocktail with a little peanut butter? Now we’re talking! I might have gone back for seconds, thirds, fourths.. you get the idea. That jar was definitely my friend yesterday. It was even broken out with dinner!

Nathan and I have really come to love bourbon recently. The oaky flavor is something that we both really enjoy and the caramel and vanilla notes really play well in desserts [remember my Bourbon Banana Cheesecake?]. My favorite dessert lately? Anything with peanut butter. So why not combine the two?

Buffalo Bourbon Peanut Butter

Makes eleven 2 tablespoon servings

Ingredients
– 2 1/4 cups roasted, unsalted peanuts
– 1 tbsp bourbon [I used Buffalo Trace]
– 2 tsp honey
– 1/2 tbsp vanilla extract
– 1/2 tbsp sea salt

Directions
Place the peanuts in a high-power blender or food processor and give it a whirl until the peanuts really break down to almost a crunchy peanut butter consistency. Add in the rest of the ingredients and blend until totally smooth.

I found that because of the liquid added to the peanut butter, it didn’t come out quite as creamy as when I do plain nuts, but it is so good! I have a feeling this jar isn’t going to last too long at all.

Nutritional Information
Per 2 tbsp serving

140 Calories  /  11g Fat  /  5g Carbs  /  2g Sugar  /  2g Fiber  /  6g Protein

Cheers and happy Friday!

Food for Thought

Have you ever made your own nut butter?
Is there another liquor you’d add to a nut butter?

Five Things Friday {5/30}

Happy Friday! I hope you all had a good week. I’m glad it’s Friday [who isn’t?!]; we’re planning on heading to Prizefighter tonight after Nathan gets off of work. They’re known for their awesome cocktails.. how could we go wrong? I’ve also been in serious study mode recently. Talk about stress, I could use a cocktail!

1. Last week I got the No Rush Hoodie at work. It’s seriously the most comfortable item of clothing I own. Get one immediately. And if you’re in the bay area, come visit me 😉
   

   They should totally have me model for the website.

2. I’ve been making some pretty amazing salads this week [not to brag]. The peanut dressing is killer and paired with sweet potato is out of this world. I’m not exaggerating.
   
   
   I know there are tons of recipes for peanut sauce on the web, but I thought I’d share mine too!
   Peanut Sauce
   Makes 1 serving
   – 1 tbsp peanut butter
   – 1 tsp lite soy sauce [can sub coconut or liquid aminos]
   – 1/2 tsp rice wine vinegar
   – 1/2 tbsp sriracha
   – 1/2 tsp sesame oil
   – Water [add slowly till you reach desired consistency]Yesterday I mixed a can of tuna and a small steamed sweet potato into the dressing before topping my salad. I was so excited to have it for lunch again today. Except then I ate the leftovers. Ha!
3. Am I the only person that gets excited about finding new, fun almond milks?
   

   Delicious. Especially in my coffee!

4. Yesterday I woke up not especially excited to head to the gym. I had cardio and abs on the docket and the thought of running or hopping on the elliptical was just not for me. So I stayed back and went through the Tone It Up Ab Playlist + the new Bikini Abs routine. Holy cow, serious ab burn! It took about 35 minutes and my abs were on fire!
   
   
5. And since I keep talking about drinks, I figure I’ll end on one too. As part of a Sweat Pink campaign, I received Pure Lyft Energy Stir Sticks. They’re an energy product that has zero calories, zero taste, and contains as much caffeine as one tall coffee. It was perfect to add to my glass of water before I ran out the door for my 5 a.m. shift at work last week. Instead of chugging extra coffee, it was a great way to get a little extra pep in my step.
   

Welp, back to the books for me. Hope you have a great weekend!

Food for Thought

Any big plans for the weekend?

Foodie Friday: Skinny Spinach Basil Pesto

Have you entered my Peanut Butter & Co. giveaway?

For a couple of weeks I was on a serious cottage cheese kick. It started with my cottage cheese oats and didn’t stop there! It’s a great way to add extra protein to your favorite dishes and add a little extra creaminess too. I was really in the mood for a pesto-y kinda lunch but unfortunately it looked like the pesto in the fridge had seen better days. Whoops..  good thing we had everything I needed to whip up my own skinny-fied version.

Skinny Spinach Basil Pesto

Makes 1 serving

Ingredients
– 1/3 cup cottage cheese [I used low fat Daisy]
– 1/2 cup spinach
– 5-10 fresh basil leaves
– 2 tsp nutritional yeast*
– 1 tbsp lemon juice
– 1 tbsp pistachios
– 1 tsp McCormick Garlic Pepper Seasoning

Directions
Put all ingredients into a food processor and give it a whirl until smooth.

I tossed my pesto into a pan with zucchini noodles, roasted kabocha, and a filet of sole. Once it warmed up, the cottage cheese got extra creamy and melty. Just what I was looking for!

*Nutritional yeast can be found on iHerb.com. Use code ZAF482 to receive $5 off of your first order.

Nutritional Information
Per single serving of pesto

113 Calories  /  5g Fat  /  8g Carbs  /  3g Fiber  /  3g Sugar  /  11g Protein

This reminds me, I really need to make this again soon! And with that, it’s about time I get myself ready for a relaxing wine country getaway with my husband of almost 1 year. Can’t believe how quickly time flies.

Food for Thought

Are you a pesto fan?
Do you have any big plans for the weekend?

Foodie Friday: Creamy Coconut Cashew Butter

My name is Brittany and I’m a nut butter addict.

And I have no shame. I’m never without a variety of nut butters in the house, but since getting my Vitamix, they’ve only gotten better. Polish off a jar? No problem, let’s just make something else! The best part of making your own nut butter is scraping the bottom of the blender. Am I right?! 😉

Of course I didn’t bring it back to the computer with me.. like I said, no shame.

A couple months ago I found Coconut Cashews from Trader Joe’s. I figure if I can make nut butter with raw or roasted nuts, why not try this?

Go buy these now!

The result was an extremely flavorful, creamy, wonderful nut butter that I loved. What I didn’t love, however, was the added ingredients. Of course that meant the minute I ran out, I had to make my own without the extras. It’s so easy, it’s silly.

Creamy Coconut Cashew Butter

Make twelve 2 tbsp servings

Ingredients
– 2 cups cashews; roasted
– 1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
– 1 tsp salt

Directions
Place all ingredients in a high-power blender or food processor and blend away! You may need to stop and scrape the sides a few times, but give it a couple minutes to get creamy.

I didn’t need to add any additional oil because of the natural oils in the cashews and coconut. I store my fresh nut butters in the fridge and they last months. I also recommend that you leave it out at room temp for a few minutes before spreading, scooping, etc to soften up a bit.

Nutritional Information
Per 2 tbsp serving

157 Calories  /  14g Fat  /  7g Carbs  /  1g Sugar  /  2g Fiber  /  4g Protein

Don’t want to stop there? Use this coconut cashew butter in my Minty Irish Powerballs for a St. Patty’s Day-approved treat 😉

Food for Thought

What is your favorite kind of nut [or seed] butter?
Are you making anything green for St. Patricks Day?

Foodie Friday: Lemon Tarragon Chicken

A couple months ago, I shared a special bridal shower edition of WIAW. My aunts put together a wonderful shower and a delicious and healthy menu. Of course, I immediately requested the recipes for the dishes and couldn’t wait to get started making them. One recipe in particular—the tarragon chicken salad—was requested by Nathan so I figured that would be a good place to start.

I made minor adjustments to the recipe based upon what I had in the house and it turned out perfectly. It was a great dish to make on Sunday and have as snacks or on top of salads for the week. I had planned on making it again seeing as how we ended up with so much extra tarragon, but instead, I decided to make a full dinner out of it!

Lemon Tarragon Chicken

Serves 2

Ingredients
– 1lb boneless, skinless chicken breast
– Salt
– Pepper
– Garlic powder
– EVOO
– 1/4 cup plain Chobani
– 1 tbsp dijon mustard
– 1 lemon; zested and juiced [set aside some zest for the end!]
– 3 sprigs fresh tarragon; chopped
– 1/4 cup sliced almonds; toasted

Directions
Heat a grill pan over medium heat. Season chicken with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and a little lemon juice. Drizzle some EVOO onto the pan and place the chicken in. The chicken should cook about 7-9 minutes per side, depending on how thick the pieces are. Once the first side lifts off the pan without effort and has nice grill marks, flip it over, turn the pan down to medium low, and cover with aluminum foil. This will help it to cook through without burning the outside.

While the chicken is cooking, mix up the Chobani, mustard, lemon juice, most of the lemon zest, chopped tarragon, and salt and pepper to taste. When the chicken is done, plate with your favorite sides, drizzle [or dollop] the yogurt sauce on top, and toss on some toasted almonds. Enjoy!

I served my chicken with grilled asparagus and a grilled portabella cap. The mushroom cap made the whole dish extra filling, so I highly recommend that!

Chicken Salad
If you want to try this recipe out as chicken salad, you can use chicken that has already been cooked, or prepare it as above. The dressing is exactly the same but I would adjust the amount based on the amount of chicken you are using.

Nutritional Information

Per serving

210 Calories  /  9g Fat  /  6g Carbs  /  2g Sugar  /  0g Fiber  /  29g Protein

Food for Thought

Are you a salad person or do you prefer a hot meal?

Pin It Party

It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of Pinterest. I mean, really, I must have said it about 100 times on here! When I saw that Lindsay was having a Pin It Party, I knew I had to jump in.. although choosing just 5 recipes was not easy. I definitely play favorites!

Savory

Buddha’s Feast with Spicy Thai Peanut Sauce*

Grilled Chicken Cemitas & Garlic-Chipotle Love

Chipotle Lime Sweet Potato Tofu Burgers

Sweet

Maple Cinnamon Walnut Butter

Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Bark

Can I throw another one in? I shouldn’t but I can’t help myself..

Peanut Butter Wonderful Powerballs

Don’t forget to check out all of Lindsay’s awesome posts to pin! What are you waiting for? Start pinning!!

Food for Thought

What is your most favorite recipe you’ve pinned?

Maple Cinnamon Walnut Butter

It’s no secret that I love nut butters. I think my biggest concern about Passover was that I wouldn’t be able to have peanut butter for a week. That meant I needed to get on the stick and make some of my own nut butters! First up was my cashew butter. It’s so delicious and creamy, but I couldn’t just settle for one butter.

Next up was the walnut butter. I knew I wanted to add a little extra flavor to the mix to balance out the bitterness of the walnuts and I absolutely love the result! It’s also perfect for my Quinoa Granola!

Makes twelve 2 tbsp servings

Ingredients
– 12 oz raw walnuts
– 2 tsp maple syrup
– 1 tsp ground cinnamon
– 1/2 tsp sea salt

Directions
Preheat oven to 350°F. Spread the walnuts onto a baking sheet and place in the oven for about 10-15 minutes until toasted. Remove from the oven and let cool.

Add the walnuts to the food processor and start blending! The processing takes about 10 minutes, stopping at times to scrape down the sides. After the walnuts start to form a paste, add the syrup, cinnamon, and salt. Once fully processed, store in an air tight jar in the refrigerator.

It may serve less, depending on how much you eat while you’re making it! 😉

Nutritional Information
Per 2 tbsp serving

196 Calories / 18g Fat / 5g Carbs / 2g Fiber / 2g Sugar / 5g Protein

Food for Thought

What is your favorite nut or seed butter? Do you or have you ever made your own?

Foodie Friday: Cashew Butter

My obsession with nut butters is no secret and when I recently fell in love with cashews, I knew what my next project would be. Homemade cashew butter. I have been happily topping my sweet scrambles with this deliciousness!

I had made almond butter before but never tried any other nut and I’m thrilled with how successful this turned out to be. Seriously, I was jumping up and down in the kitchen. Ask Nathan.

Cashew Butter

Makes 16 2 tbsp servings

Ingredients
– 1 lb raw cashews
– 2 tbsp coconut oil
– 1 tsp salt [Optional]

Directions
Preheat oven to 350°F. Spread the cashews onto a baking sheet and place in the oven for about 10-15 minutes until toasted. Remove from the oven and let cool.

Add the cashews to the food processor and start blending! The processing takes about 10 minutes, stopping at times to scrape down the sides. Add the coconut oil 1/2 tbsp at a time until it works into the mix. Also slowly add salt to taste.

Once fully processed, store in a jar in the refrigerator. Don’t forget to eat a few spoonfuls before refrigerating.. there’s nothing better than fresh nut butter! 😉

Nutritional Information
Per 2 tbsp serving

171 Calories  /  14g Fat  /  9g Carbs  /  2g Sugar  /  1g Fiber  /  5g Protein

Food for Thought

What is your favorite nut or seed butter? Have you ever made your own?