Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Black Bean Chili

This was the perfect, simple fall dish! It's hard to believe I used to dislike sweet potatoes so much because I can't get enough of them now! The sweetness of the potato went really nicely with the spice of the chili. It was a great combo! Randy scarfed 3 of these down before I was even done with my first! So I think they were a hit ;)

Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Black Bean Chili

Ingredients:

4 small sweet potatoes, washed and cut in half lengthwise

2 tbsp olive oil, divided

1 small yellow onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 tsp. chili powder

1 tsp. cumin

Salt and black pepper to taste

15 oz. can black beans, drained and lightly rinsed

10 oz. can diced tomatoes with green chilies

1/4 c. water

Shredded cheese and sour cream (optional as garnish)

Directions:

Heat oven to 450 degrees. Brush the cut sides of the potatoes with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and place cut-side-down on a baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes, flip over and bake an additional 10 minutes or until potatoes are easily pierced with a fork.

Meanwhile, while the potatoes are roasting, heat the remaining tablespoon of oil in a medium/large dutch oven or sauce pan. Add the onion and saute for about 8 minutes, until tender. Add the garlic and saute an additional 2-3 minutes. Season with chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper. Stir well to combine. Next, add the beans, tomatoes and water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 15 minutes.

To assemble, place the potatoes on a serving dish or on plates cut side up and top evenly with chili. Garnish with shredded cheese and sour cream if desired. Makes 4 servings.

Recipe adapted from here

Two Ingredient Pumpkin Muffins

I kept seeing this recipe in blog after blog...so being the pumpkin lover I am, I had to try it! Only 2 ingredients seemed too good to be true. But it's not! I was really pleased with how these turned out and I will totally make them again! You can't ask for a simpler recipe! I kind of turned them into 3 ingredient muffins by adding 1 cup of semisweet chocolate chips to them...mmm :)



Two Ingredient Pumpkin Muffins

Ingredients:
15 oz. canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)
18.25 oz. boxed spice cake mix

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 and place paper liners in 2 muffin tins (24 total). In a bowl, combine the pumpkin and cake mix. Mix on medium/high for 30 seconds. Fill muffin papers 3/4 of the way full. Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes. Makes 2 dozen muffins.

Chicken Rollatini with Prosciutto and Cheese

Wow this dish was delicious! And really fun to make. The recipe called for 8 chicken cutlets but I just used 4 regular chicken breasts, cut in half horizontally and it worked great.




Chicken Rollatini with Prosciutto and Cheese

Ingredients:
8 chicken cutlets
4 slices of prosciutto, cut in half
4 slices of provolone cheese, cut in half
1/2 c. whole wheat italian bread crumbs
1/4 c. grated romano or parmesan cheese
juice of 1 large lemon
2 tbsp. olive oil

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450. In a shallow dish, mix together the bread crumbs and romano (or parmesan) cheese. In a separate dish, mix together the lemon juice and olive oil. Dip each chicken cutlet, one at a time into the olive oil mixture and then into the bread crumb mixture. Lay flat on a work surface and place a piece of prosciutto and then a slice of provalone at the end and slowly roll it up. Place each roll, seam side down (no need for toothpicks) in a baking dish. Once you've rolled all eight pieces of chicken, bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes, or until chicken is fully cooked. Serves 4.


Recipe adapted from here

Honey and Spice Glazed Pork Chops

This is probably one of the best pork chop recipes I've ever tried! Amazing flavor and super easy to throw together! I will totally make these again.



Honey and Spice Glazed Pork Chops

Ingredients:
4 boneless center cut pork chops
Salt and pepper
1 tbsp. olive oil
1/4 c. honey
2 tbsp. dijon mustard
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

Directions:
Season both sides of the pork chops with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a skillet over medium/high, add pork chops and brown for 2-3 minutes on each side. Reduce heat to medium/low. Stir together the remaining ingredients and pour over the pork chops in the skillet. Cook for 10 more minutes, turning once while cooking. Serve immediately with sauce poured over the top. Serves 4.


Recipe adapted from here

Turkey and Veggie Meatballs

I found this recipe in one of the many food blogs I subscribe to but the link isn't there anymore. Not sure what happened to it. Anyways, these were delicious! Randy loves meatballs and I've never been a big fan but I loved these! They weren't greasy at all and the flavors were awesome! I highly reccomend this recipe.

Turkey and Veggie Meatballs

Ingredients:1 tsp. olive oil

1/4 c. diced onion

1/4 c. shredded carrot

1/4 c. shredded zucchini

3-4 garlic cloves, minced

1.5 lbs ground turkey
1 egg

1/2 c, shredded parmesan cheese

1/2 whole wheat italian bread crumbs

1 tbsp. dried parsley

Salt and black pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Heat olive oil in a medium skillet and add onion, carrot, zucchini and garlic. Saute, stirring occasionally until vegetables are tender, about 6-8 minutes. Meanwhile, mix together the remaining ingredients (using your hands works best) and add the sauteed vegetables to the mix. Shape into 1 1/2 inch balls (I used my medium cookie scoop from Pampered Chef) and place on a cookie sheet. Bake in the preheated oven for about 15 minutes, or until fully cooked. Makes 25 meatballs

Pumpkin Bread Pudding

So I've never made bread pudding before...I've never even eaten bread pudding before! So this was a major first for me. I love all things pumpkin so I was excited to give this a try. I was really happy with it! It was really easy to throw together and had a great, cozy autumn taste. My grocery store sells great, fresh baked whole wheat french bread which I'll probably use whenever I make this again in the future :)


Pumpkin Bread Pudding

Ingredients:
2 c. low fat milk
1 c. canned pumpkin puree
3/4 c. packed brown sugar
3/4 c. unsweetened applesauce
4 eggs
1 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. salt
1 loaf french bread, cut into 10-12 thick slices

Directions:Preheat oven to 350. In a toaster, toast each slice of bread until golden brown, cut into cubes and spread evenly in a 13x9 baking dish. Whisk together all the other ingredients until well combined pour over the bread cubes in the pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes, or until set. Serve immediately, topped with whipped cream if desired. Serves 6-8.


Recipe adapted from here

Chewy Whole Wheat Spice Cookies (revised)

This was the first recipe I posted in my blog almost 2 years ago...crazy! I made a double batch of them this morning and made a couple little changes (mainly, I left off the glaze) and I thought they turned out much better so I thought they deserved to be re posted...plus the photo I took last time was AWFUL! If you want a yummy, simple, delicious fall cookie recipe, this one is great!



Chewy Whole Wheat Spice Cookies

Ingredients:
1 c. white sugar
1/2 c. butter or margarine, softened
1 tsp. vanilla
2 tbsp. milk
1 egg
2 c. whole wheat flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. pumpkin spice
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 c. white sugar mixed with 1/2 tsp. cinnamon (for rolling the dough in)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 and grease a couple cookie sheets. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the sugar, butter, vanilla, milk and egg until smooth. In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, pumpkin spice and nutmeg. Slowly add to the butter and sugar mixture until well combined. Roll dough into 1 inch balls and toss in the cinnamon sugar mixture. Place on the prepared cookie sheets and bake in the preheated oven for 8-10 minutes. Do not over bake, cookies should be very soft and will get more firm (still chewy) as the cool. Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

Chicken Capri

This recipe is from the South Beach cookbook and I only made a couple little changes and it was really yummy. I love that it's getting cooler outside so I can finally (comfortably!) use my oven again :)



Chicken Capri

Ingredients:
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, pounded to an even thickness
1-2 tsp. garlic powder
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 c. low fat ricotta cheese
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 tsp. italian seasoning
1 c. canned petite diced tomatoes
1/2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese (I used sharp cheddar instead)
1/4 c. grated parmesan cheese

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium. Rub the chicken breasts with the garlic powder and place in the hot skillet. Cook for 5 minutes on each side. Meanwhile, combine the ricotta, salt, pepper and italian seasoning. Stir well and set aside.
After the chicken has cooked 5 minutes on each side (does not need to be fully cooked) place side by side in a baking dish. Top each breast with 1/4 cup of the ricotta cheese mixture. Spoon 1/4 cup of the diced tomatoes over the ricotta. Next, evenly sprinkle the shredded cheese on top follwed by the parmesan. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes. Makes 4 servings.

Chili Lime Pork Loin

I came across this recipe in Budget Bites (really cool blog!) and it looked simple and delicious. It was exactly that! I've always been intimidated by large pieces of meat, lol! That sounds really weird but it's true. They cost a lot of money and they seem like they'd be pretty easy to screw up...either under cook them or totally dry them out. But I went for it this time and it was so easy and MOIST! I was pleasantly surprised :)



Chili Lime Pork Loin

Ingredients:
2 lb. pork loin
1 tbsp. chili powder
2 medium limes
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp. soy sauce
4 tbsp. olive or vegetable oil, divided

Directions:
In a small bowl, squeeze the juice from both the limes and add the chili powder, garlic, soy sauce and 2 tablespoons of the oil (I used olive). Whisk until well combined. Place the pork loin in a large Ziploc bag and pour the marinade over the meat. Seal the bag well and squish the marinade around to fully coat the meat. Refrigerate for 1-24 hours (I did mine about 9 hours).
When ready to cook, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil in a large skillet over medium/high. When the oil is really hot, add the pork loin (do not discard marinade!) and sear for 5 minutes on each side, until brown and crispy.
Transfer the meat onto a baking sheet and baste with the remaining marinade. Cook in a preheated 400 degree oven for about 30 minutes. Allow to rest 5 minutes before slicing. Makes about 6 servings.



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Spicy Sichuan Style Green Beans

I have been loving Kayln's Kitchen! It's a wonderful blog filled with South Beach recipes. When I saw this one I knew we had to try it! Randy RAVED throughout the whole meal about how amazing these green beans were. I made a few slight alterations to Kayln's original recipe but they turned out awesome. We will definitely eat these again...and again...and again! They went great with my asian turkey lettuce wraps :)



Spicy Sichuan Style Green Beans

Ingredients:
1 lb. fresh green beans, washed, trimmed and cut into bite-sized pieces
1/2 c. water
2-3 tbsp. soy sauce
1 tsp. Splenda (you could use sugar instead)
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp. ground white or black pepper
1 tbsp. olive
2 tbsp. minced garlic
1 tbsp.  peeled and minced ginger root (I used a small cheese grater to "mince")


Directions:

Mix together the soy sauce, sweetener of your choice, red pepper flakes, and ground pepper and set aside. Heat a large skillet with a tight-fitting lid over high. When the pan is hot, add the beans and water. Cover and cook on medium-high heat for about 5 minutes or until the beans are bright green and starting to get tender. Remove the lid and continue to cook until all the water is evaporated.

Add the oil, minced garlic and ginger and cook about 2 minutes, stirring constantly so the garlic and ginger don't burn. Add the soy sauce mixture and cook an additional 2 minutes, until the sauce thickens and beans are tender-crisp. Serve immediately. Makes 4 servings.


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