Chicken Cacciatore à la Kim

My dad would make the most delicious Chicken Cacciatore. I don't think he ever really had a recipe for it, he would just see what we had and worked with it!

And that is exactly what I did yesterday. Pen and paper in hand, to write down my ingredients, I was ready to experiment.

After 1 hour, the house started to smell amazing, I knew it was ready and I was so excited to see what Jon thought.

I was making a "big" portion of this chicken cacciatore because I thought it would be great to see it last a little while. So I threw in 7 chicken legs and 1 chicken breast, thinking to myself "we're going to be eating this for dinner again tomorrow!!"

I was SO wrong. Jon managed to eat 4 chicken legs and 1/2 chicken breast (along with all the veggies and 2 1/2 cups of brown rice on his plate) and I ate 1 chicken leg.

My goodness... there were only 2 chicken legs left and they were going in his lunch today. The pot was empty by 7:00pm.. I couldn't believe it! But this dish was a WINNER!

We ate earlier than usual yesterday because Jon had to fast after 9:00pm for tomorrows TBS blood tests. He was starving this morning! Because we were off schedule, I completely forgot to take a picture of this AMAZING dish!! So I borrowed one that looked most like it from the Internet.

You have GOT to try this recipe. It is so delicious and great for big families... or in our case little families that eat a lot! And it is probably the easiest recipe you will ever make.

Here we go, I hope you enjoy it! Please give it a try.

Chicken Cacciatore

What you will need:

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 chicken breast, cubed
• 7 chicken legs, whole
• 1 tbsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• pinch of salt
• 2 cups chicken broth low sodium
• 1 (794g) can crushed tomatoes (I have a BJ's can.. so make sure to read the grams on the can)
• 2 (411g) cans diced tomatoes
• 5 celery stalks, chopped

1. Drizzle olive oil in bottom of a large pot with a cover, when hot, add onions and garlic. Allow onions and garlic to cook and caramelize.
2. Add chicken breast and chicken legs and brown the meat.
3. Add the crushed tomatoes (1 can), diced tomatoes (2 cans), chicken broth, spices and celery.
4. Bring everything to a bowl and reduce to medium (4-6). Allow to simmer for 1 hour.
5. Serve over rice or pasta.

I LOVE this recipe, and I think you will too!

The picture above is taken from the Internet because I forgot all about taking one last night- it just smelt too good, we couldn't wait to dig in! haha! I will snap a picture next time I make it. We made ours with chicken legs and celery- so it will look a little different than the one above, but I still wanted to give you an idea.

Let me know what you think!

Make healthy choices everyone! Have a great Wednesday.

- Kimmie

Potato Salmon Casserole

Some may think casseroles are boring and tasteless dinners, but I beg to differ!

The truth is, this type of dish can be easy, quick, inexpensive and healthy.

It can also make a little go a long way. If you are creative in the kitchen in the least, you are sure to create something delicious.



We only had 2 salmon fillets left in our freezer. Uh oh- this is never going to be enough to feed Jon and I!

I scrambled around the pantry and found some small potatoes. I also had some leftover cottage cheese from another recipe and we had just bought a dozen eggs.

There was my base for a delicious dish and my recipe for Potato Salmon Casserole was born.


Potato Salmon Casserole

what you will need:

• dozen small potatoes or 3-4 large ones (about 1 potato per serving)
• 2 salmon fillets, thawed (about 1/2 salmon filet per serving)
• 6- 8 eggs (or egg whites) depends of how many you are feeding, I counted about 2 eggs per serving
• 1/4 cup skim milk
• 1 tbsp old bay
• pepper
• 1 cup chopped spinach
• 1/2 cup small curd cottage cheese 1%
• 1/4 cup shredded low fat mozzarella cheese
• Panko bread crumbs (optional)

1. Wash, cube and boil potatoes until soft, place in casserole dish
2. Cut salmon into cubes and place in casserole dish
3. In bowl, mix eggs, milk, old bay, pepper, spinach, cottage cheese, mozzarella cheese. Add to casserole dish and stir.
4. Top with panko bread crumbs
5. Bake at 375 degrees for 40 minutes or until all egg is cooked.

Enjoy! (It tastes better than it looks, I promise!)

Make healthy choices!

Thanks for reading,

-Kimmie

Even Healthier Pumpkin Muffins

7 days to Halloween!

And we all know what that means... Candy, chocolate, chips and other goodies are making their way into our homes and into our bellies at an alarming rate. We cannot let this holiday get the best of us though! If we give in to Halloween, what will happen on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years!

Here are a couple game plan ideas that I think will work well and keep us all on our healthy paths...

• Try to avoid buying the candy YOU enjoy the most in the world, you will be less likely to pick at the candy bowl. If you know chips are your weakness- then don't buy 80 small, easily accessible baggies of them.

• But... if you love all candy, no matter the flavor, shape, texture or size- make yourself your own bowl and allow yourself one or two candies a day. No picking in the kids bowl!

• Small toys, cars, glow in the dark necklaces or stickers are fun for kids instead of candy, taking the temptations away from you.

• If you want to be the super healthy house on the street you can always opt for candy alternatives such as dried fruit, popcorn, real- fruit strips, granola bars, mints or sugar free gum.

• And lastly, if you do get a little crazy one day and fall off the healthy train don't let it become a "I blew it" binge, tomorrow is a new day!

P.S.  Do not , do not, do not keep leftover candy on top of the fridge, in the pantry or in a drawer after Halloween. It's bad news. We all know where that candy will end up... and at 100 to 150 calories a pop, after 5 trips back to our stash in a day we're talking 500 to 750 extra calories!! No thanks. Toss it, get rid of the leftovers! The 4 dollars worth of cheap Halloween candy does not deserve a spot in your life or in your diet. Say goodbye! This may sound a little bit harsh.. but it is all true and it is for your own good!

Now, for today's recipe! After some great feedback on my first attempt at healthy pumpkin muffins, I am excited to share the new and improved even healthier pumpkin muffins!

I have:

• increased the fiber content by using oats
• decreased the salt
• decreased the sugar by using only 1 tbsp of honey and unsweetened applesauce
• decreased the fat by replacing the canola oil with unsweetened applesauce, using egg whites instead of whole eggs and using skim milk instead of 1% milk

I love them! I hope you do too!

Even Healthier Pumpkin Muffins

What you will need:

Dry:
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup oats
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Wet:
2 egg whites
1 tbsp honey
3/4 cup pumpkin
3/4 cup milk
2 tbsp unsweetened apple sauce

1/4 cup chocolate chips if you want

Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes!

Make healthy choices!

- Kimmie

Kale n' Turkey stuffed Pasta Shells

"Eat more leafy dark green vegetables"

What comes to mind?

This is a sentence that is often thrown around by both Canadian and American dietary associations.

So I asked Jon that question today, and this is what came to his mind:

"Oh great, I have to eat a lot of lettuce"

Well, he was right! Sort of. According to Cari Nierenberg's article on WebMD Red and Green Leaf and Romaine Lettuce come in 8th place out of 10 when ranking the country's most widely-eaten greens from most nutritious to least. Iceberg Lettuce came in last. With it's light colour and bland taste, this green is the less nutritious because it is mostly water.

The first prize goes to the nutrition powerhouse Kale!

"It's an excellent source of vitamins A, C, and K, has a good amount of calcium for a vegetable, and also supplies folate and potassium."

If you're interested, here is the full list; ranking most nutritious to least nutritious commonly eaten greens in this country:

1. Kale
2. Collards
3. Turnip greens
4. Swiss chard
5. Spinach
6. Mustard greens
7. Broccoli
8. Red and Green Leaf and Romaine Lettuce
9. Cabbage
10. Iceberg Lettuce

If some of these greens are foreign to you, try exploring the vegetable section at your grocery store and give them a try!
Here is a delicious recipe placing kale in the spot light.



Kale n' Turkey stuffed pasta shells

What you will need:

• jumbo pasta shells
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 lb ground turkey
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tbsp worcheshire sauce
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• Tabasco sauce
• 1 1/4 cup chicken broth
• kale leaves, chopped
• 1 cup 1% cottage cheese
• tomato sauce
• shredded cheese

1. Cook jumbo pasta shells as instructed on package, set aside separated to cool
2. Drizzle a pan with olive oil and cook up ground turkey, set aside
3. Drizzle olive oil in bottom of pot, add onions and garlic, cook until caramelized and brown
4. Mix 2 tbsp dijon mustard, 1 tbsp worcheshire sauce, 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar, Tabasco sauce and 1 1/4 cup chicken broth, add to pot
5. Add chopped kale to onions and garlic in pot, cook for 5 minutes or until kale is settled
6. Remove pot from stove, add cooked ground turkey and 1 cup cottage cheese
7. Fill all pasta shells with kale, turkey and cottage cheese mixture, place face down in casserole dish
8. Pour tomato pasta sauce over shells and sprinkle with cheese
9. Broil for 5 minutes in oven until cheese melts

I hope this blog has encouraged all of you to "Eat more leafy dark green vegetables"!

Enjoy! And remember to make healthy choices!

- Kimmie

Ginger Pork Chop stir- fry

Today's recipe is made with pork chops. Some might say that pork is not a lean meat and is therefore not the healthiest choice but some cuts of pork are more fatty than others.

It is difficult to know the nutritional value of meats because rarely do we find value tables on the cuts of meat. Everyone knows that it is important to consume lean meats and lower consumption of red meats, assuming one is not vegetarian or vegan, because of fat content. But how do you know which are lean and which are not without a nutritional values table?

Here are two resources that I use to get the information I need to make informed dietary decisions:

United States: http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/index.html
Canada: http://webprod3.hc-sc.gc.ca/cnf-fce/index-eng.jsp

I used the American web site for the information provided below.

A "healthy portion" of meat is usually 75g or 2 1/2oz (the size of a deck of cards). Our first mistake.. a lot of us consume much more then that in one sitting. The extra calories we consume in meat we should actually be getting by loading our plates with veggies.

Alright, so take a look at the values below and see if you can figure out which choice is healthiest and which choice we should consume in moderation.


For 100g of Pork, fresh, loin, blade (chops or roast), boneless, separable lean only, raw:

3.78 g fat, of which 1.38 g are saturated fats (bad fats)



For 100g of Beef, rib eye steak, boneless, lip off, separable lean only, trimmed to 0" fat, choice, raw:

8.5 g of fat, of which 3.1 g are saturated fats (bad fats)



For 100g of Chicken, broilers or fryers, breast, meat only, raw:

2.59 g of fat, of which 0.5 g are saturated fats (bad fats)

So clearly the chicken breast is the leanest out of the three, but the pork chops aren't so bad!

Steak, on the other hand, is a meat we should eat in moderation. Now remember, this example was for 100g or 3.3oz. I know some guys who would love to enjoy a 16 oz or 473 g steak... we're talking 27.34 g of fat, of which 10.9 g are saturated fats!


Now that we know we're making a healthy choice, let me share this delicious recipe with you!



Ginger Pork Chop stir- fry

What you will need:

• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 2 pork chops, cut into strips
• 4 cups of brussel sprouts, halved
• 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 2 tbsp low sodium soya sauce
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 cup water

1. In skillet, cook pork chop strips in olive oil over medium heat
2. Set meat aside once cooked
3. In same skillet, cook brussel spouts for about 6 minutes
4. Add garlic to skillet
5. In small bowl, combine soya sauce, brown sugar, ground ginger and water. Mix.
6. Add meat back into the skillet
7. Add sauce to skillet, stir and let simmer until the sauce thickens slightly
8. Serve over rice

I hope you all enjoy this stir- fry! Please let me know what you think if you do try it!

Have a great day everyone! And remember, make healthy choices!

- Kimmie

Pita Pizza

Jon and I had a great week off in Ocean Park, but I am glad to be back!

With all the time off, I was able to come up with some great recipes to share with all of you. It was tough to be internet-less for 9 days!

We have begun a new chapter in Virginia today. Jon has started his basic training so he will be gone most of the time. Hopefully he will be able to join me for dinner some evenings! I have a feeling my blog portions are going to downsize a little bit.

With Jon being gone from dawn until dusk, I thought it would get lonely in our two bedroom apartment all day. Boy was I wrong. I always seem to find something to keep me busy!

Yesterday I decided to go see a doctor about wrist pain I have been experiencing for over 3 years. I have been putting it off partly because of timing but also because it just wasn't life threatening. Lately it has been getting worse so I decided I should do something about it. I walked into the hospital and they told me I had to go to the ER to see a doctor... well my goodness, I hardly saw the need for that! It really wasn't an emergency! It was the only way to see a doctor though, so I had to.

Before I even had time to sit down and read "Kate plus 8, are the kids going to be ok?" I was in to see the doctor. I couldn't believe how quick they were!

After about 2 hours of X-rays and questions, the doctor told me I had tendinitis. Half of me was relieved that it wasn't a cyst or carpal tunnel but the other half of me was disappointed that I had wasted my time and theirs. Needless to say, I left the hospital with a brace that looks like a go-go gadget arm and prescriptions for ibuprofen and vicodin (yeah, I know! geez!). I knew push ups were bad for me!! haha

At times like this, you get home and you want something quick, healthy and delicious to eat- with little clean up. Pita pizza was calling my name.

These are so easy to make and they even offer a remedy to those ugly pizza cravings.

Remember, if you don't have all these ingredients, use your imagination and create a new ingredient combination.

Pita Pizza

What you will need for 1 pita pizza:

• 1 whole wheat or white pita (preferably the pocket kind)
• 2 tbsp tomato pasta sauce (I use my favorite Rozzano Marinara sauce, but any kind will do!)
• 1/4 chicken breast, cubed
• olive oil
• 2 tbsp shredded spinach
• 1-2 tbsp feta cheese

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Drizzle olive oil in skillet and cook cubed chicken until no longer pink
3. Lay out the pita
4. Spread tomato sauce on pita
5. Sprinkle chicken, spinach and feta cheese on pita
6. Cook in oven on baking sheet for 6-7 minutes or until the edges of the pita are crunchy

I hope you enjoy it! Let me know what you think if you get to try it.

Make healthy choices!

-Kimmie

P.S. Just want to thank you all for your wonderful recipe pictures, comments and feedback. I really appreciate it!

Healthy pumpkin muffins sent in by Sandra

Really Healthy Pumpkin Muffins

To all the ladies out there who think that cutting their mans hair could be fun and economical... think again. Unless you've gone to beauty school and have done your practice hours, I highly suggest you stay far away from doing the job.

And unfortunately, I say this from experience.

It seemed easy- make the short hair a little shorter! Wrong. The world of tapered necklines, finishing lines and fades was unfamiliar to me, and that is an understatement.

So Jon needed a haircut, how hard could it be? We went into our guest bathroom and pulled out a home razor kit with all the attachments. I placed them all out and put the smock around Jon's neck. "Cool", I said out loud, "I'm a hairdresser!"...That was the first problem.. "barber, Kim, a barber".

So, it didn't seem so bad at first, we made it all the way up to the top of his ear without causing any major damage. Then Jon says "Ok, now you have to fade the line in".. "You want me to do what?". And that's when things started going really bad. The fading job looked like a lawn cut with a weedwacker by a five year old. It was terrible.

"I can't go out in public like this Kim!"
"Oh my goodness Jonnnn, I'm sorry! What do we do!"
"I don't know Kim!"
"Well, we have to go get it fixed"

And so, there we were, walking into "Annie's barbershop".

The nice lady smiled and to my surprise she said I did a pretty good job, just needed some work on the fading... and maybe 200 hours of practice. She also said military cuts are one of the hardest to do! ...maybe I should just stick to food.

This story does end well- she fixed it all up and Jon looks great now!

Moral of the story: Don't cut your husbands hair if you're a dietitian!





We are off to Ocean Park, Maine for the Canadian Thanksgiving/ American Columbus day! I was craving pumpkin this week and so I decided to create some really really healthy pumpkin spice muffins to bring to the beach! They are not nearly as sweet as commercial muffins but they make great pre workout or mid morning snacks.

Healthy Pumpkin Muffins

Dry ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp brown sugar (only 2 tbsp of sugar!)
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ginger

1/2 tsp nutmeg

Wet ingredients:

1/2 can pumpkin

2 tbsp canola oil (only 2 tbsp of canola oil which is packed with good fat!!)
1 egg
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla

Filling options

- Apple butter (A mix of apple, cider and cinnamon)

- 60% cocoa dark chocolate chips

1. Pre heat oven to 400 degrees

2. Mix together dry ingredients in a large bowl. In another bowl, combine wet ingredients.

3. Pour wet mix into dry mix and stir just until moistened.

4. Spray muffin tins or line with paper.

For apple butter filling: 

Fill half the muffin sheet with batter, spoon in about 1 tbsp of apple butter and fill the rest up with batter

For chocolate chip filling:

Add 1/4 to 1/2 of a cup of chocolate chips to batter and spoon into muffin sheet as usual

5. Bake at 400 for 20 minutes or until golden.

Enjoy!!

The one in the center is apple butter, the two others are dark chocolate chip!

Let me know what you think if you get a chance to try these yummy muffins!

Make healthy choices!

- Kimmie

Cabbage Rolls [Video]

Yesterday, Jon and I ventured out to the Shenandoah National Park. We hiked part of White Oak Canyon trail for 3 hours, which included our short stop for lunch near a waterfall. I have never seen such beautiful waterfalls in my life.

The climb was parallel with the water flowing down the mountain. It was so peaceful and serene. Colby was able to come with us on this trail, he absolutely loved it and fell asleep as soon as we got home. Jon had his heart set on climbing Old Rag Mountain, a 5.5 hour hike spanning 8 miles with one of the most challenging rock scrambles in the park. Unfortunately, they don't allow pets on this trail, as we found out upon arrival, so we opted to hike White Oak Canyon instead. We are definitely going to make the hour trip back to Shenandoah Park to climb Old Rag Mountain sometime soon!

It was a great workout, a great way to spend a beautiful fall day and a great time with loved ones. Here are some pictures from our hike!

We were lucky enough to have leftovers from the night before, which, surprisingly enough, tasted even better the second day! We had Cabbage Rolls with ground turkey filling! Let me share the recipe with you. Make sure to check out the how- to video below.

Cabbage Rolls

What you will need:

• Cabbage
• 1 lb ground turkey or ground beef
• 3/4 cup rice, cooked
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp thyme
• pepper, salt to taste
• Worcestershire sauce (which I still did not pronounce properly in the video haha)
• parsley, chopped
• 1/2 can tomato sauce
• 1 can diced tomatoes

1. Place whole cabbage in almost boiling water for approximately 7 minutes, peel away leaves and let leaves cool
2. Add onion, garlic, eggs, rice, paprika, thyme, salt and pepper, Worcestershire sauce and parsley to ground turkey or ground beef
3. Cut out stem from cabbage leave and fill leaf with meat mixture
4. Roll up and place in cooking dish
5. Pour tomato sauce and diced tomatoes over cabbage rolls
6. Cover cabbage rolls with cover or aluminum foil
7. Bake at 350 for 45 mins to 1 hour



Hope you enjoy these little packages of healthy goodness!

Make healthy choices!

- Kimmie

Shrimp Scampi [Video]

Shrimp Scampi

I want to apologize for the week long hiatus; the reason for this interruption was our move from Middletown, Rhode Island to Stafford, Virginia. We finally arrived at our new apartment on Wednesday morning. As you may know, military moves can be organized and executed for you, but Jon and I opted to do it ourselves after weighing out the pros and cons. We are so happy with the decision we made.

We are finally settled in now and our Internet is connected! I can blog again!

Last Monday was crazy!  We spent hours packing 4120 lbs into a rented UHaul and cleaning a 3 bedroom house to a standard we felt was fit for a surgical room.  That night we slept on the empty living room floor on a very comfy blow up mattress. A luxurious camping trip!

Tuesday was also a big day. We woke up to last minute packing and a 9 o’clock inspection. We passed! Leaving Rhode Island at 11 o’clock in the morning meant we wouldn’t arrive in Virginia until 8 o’clock or so. With that estimated time of arrival, we would miss the open office hours to pick up our keys to get into our new apartment. We were lucky to have my cousin Niki let us stay at her house in Annapolis Tuesday night so we could complete our journey the next morning. Annapolis is about 1 ½ hours away from Stafford, VA.

We finally arrived at our new living quarters on Wednesday morning! But now... we had 4120 lbs to unload and haul up 3 flights of stairs!!! Both Jon and I started at the back of the UHaul.. we realized we could either spend 100.00$ to mend our relationship in therapy after the move or hire movers- we hired movers. Best 100.00$ we have ever spent! The guys moved in all our stuff in 30 minutes! We decided to give them all our leftover wedding beer. They were happy and so were we!

Thursday and Friday were spent unpacking our bins and decorating our new home. We love it here and I think it is the most beautiful place. There are forests all around and the people seem to be very nice.

Saturday we got to explore the local National Park.  Jon and I loved the hike, it reminded us of our honeymoon in TN, but I think Colby was the one who loved it the most. He was practically doing back flips he was so happy and excited to be out in the wilderness.

Sunday we got to check out the church in town and go the pumpkin patch.

But I have not forgotten about you! I have also been working on new healthy recipes! And the recipe I would like to share with you today is Shrimp Scampi! Check out the how- to video below!

Shrimp Scampi

What you will need:

• frozen shrimp, thawed
• angel hair pasta
• ¼ cup olive oil
• ¼ tsp crushed red pepper
• 4-6 cloves of garlic
• 3 tbsp parsley, chopped
• 1 lemon, zest

1. Cook angel hair pasta, drain and set aside

2. Thaw and prep shrimp

3. In a skillet warm ¼ cup of olive oil

4. Add minced garlic and crushed red peppers to olive oil

5. Add shrimp to olive oil mixture

6. Once the shrimp is cooked, add the whole mix to the cooked angle hair

7. Add parsley and lemon zest to pasta and serve

This recipe is healthy and delicious! Let me know what you think!

Make healthy choices!

- Kimmie