Strawberry Sugar Cookies

I love dessert in general as my friends and family will tell you, I have a major sweet tooth. While I don't eat sweets as often as I used to for health reasons, I still enjoy smaller amounts of sweets a few times a week and them in smaller portions or in lower calorie ways that I like. I believe in practicing moderation with food in general. Eating healthy is easier for me when I eat foods I like, eat a wide variety of foods, and can still have treats and indulgences. Here is a recipe for cookies I made today using fresh strawberries and a lower fat sugar cookie dough. Not super healthy, but not as bad as some other cookie recipes out there. They taste a lot like homemade strawberry shortcake, but in cookie form.

Strawberry Sugar Cookies - makes about 12 larger cookies

Ingredients:

• 5 tbsp butter, softened
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup dark brown sugar, unpacked
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 6 strawberries sliced into halves, lengthwise
• 1 1/2 TBSP of sugar to sprinkle on cookies (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Using a mixer, beat butter and sugar until creamy. Then add egg and vanilla into the bowl, mixing well.
3. In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Gradually stir flour mixture into the mixing bowl until dough forms.
4. Spray cookie sheet with cooking spray and form 12 cookie balls on the cookie sheet. Each cookie ball should be about 2 TBSP of cookie dough.
5. Press a slice into each cookie, this will flatten the cookie into a flatter, round shape.
6. Sprinkle each cookie with 1/8 tsp of sugar. Cookies should look like this before heading to the oven:

7. Cook in oven for about 8-12 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned.
8. Remove cookies from pan onto a cooling rack or a large plate. Should be ready to eat once they cool for at least 15-30 minutes. Enjoy!

Garlic-Dill Vegetable Medley

I came home knowing I wanted make a vegetable recipe, but was stumped on what I wanted to make. Ended up using the fresh vegetables I had left in the house since I had to go grocery shopping tonight. I have been very busy and did not make it there over the weekend. I also tried to do some different spices this time, variety is key to a healthy lifestyle. Enjoy!

Garlic-Dill Vegetable Medley - Serves 2 to 4

Ingredients:

1 Cup of shredded carrots (I bought them shredded in a bag in the produce section)
1 Cup of sliced mushrooms (used already sliced baby bella mushrooms)
2 Cups of baby spinach leaves
1 TBSP of Butter or Butter Spread (I used whipped Earth Balance)
1/8 tsp of garlic powder
1/8 tsp of onion powder
1/8 tsp of dill (I used dried dill from the spices section)
1/8 tsp of black pepper
1/8 tsp of sea salt

Directions:

1. Turn a medium sized non-stick pan on medium heat and add butter along with spices (garlic, onion, dill, pepper, and salt) to pan.
2. Add carrots and cook for 5-7 minutes, stirring them occasionally.
3. Add mushrooms and cook for 2-4 minutes, stir vegetables every minute or two
4. Turn pan off and add baby spinach, continue to stir for 1-2 minutes. The heat from the pan and vegetables will wilt the spinach.
5. Put vegetables into a bowl and serve. I served this with brown rice and lemon pepper chicken. Also would work well mixed with rice or served with potatoes. Enjoy and please provide me with feedback!

Italian Style Mozzarella Mushroom Chicken

Recently I was given a challenge to come up with a clean eating or gluten free recipe to feature on their blog. I decided to rise to the challenge. I also noticed there aren't any protein rich dishes on the blog yet. Here is a gluten free and clean eating chicken recipe which will pair well with asparagus, green beans, or spinach and some rice. This also would pair well with the Spinach Parmesan Orzo recipe that was featured on Monday. I am having this with brown rice and spinach tonight.

Italian Style Mozzarella Mushroom Chicken - Serves 4


Ingredients:

* 4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
* 1 1/3 cups of fresh mushrooms, sliced (I used already sliced baby bella mushrooms)
* 2 TBSP of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
* 1 tsp garlic powder
* 1 tsp black pepper
* 1 tsp dried basil
* 1/2 tsp sea salt
* 4 Slices of part skim mozzarella cheese

Directions

1. Heat the olive oil in a skillet over low to medium heat. Place chicken in the skillet, and season with garlic powder, basil, sea salt, and black pepper on both sides. Cook 10-15 minutes or until juices run clear, flipping chicken halfway through. Set chicken aside on a plate and cover the plate to keep the chicken warm.

2. Stir mushrooms into the skillet, and cook until tender, stirring them with a spoon to cook them evenly. Return chicken to skillet and top each piece of chicken with mushrooms and then with a slice of cheese (feel free to cut slice to fit each piece if needed) . Cover skillet, and continue cooking 5 minutes, or until cheese is melted.

3. Serve with favorite side dishes and enjoy. Here is a picture of the chicken with brown rice and baby spinach.

That was my dinner tonight, let me know your thoughts on this dish! I thoroughly enjoyed this chicken.

Spinach Parmesan Orzo

Today was my first time ever cooking with orzo. I have eaten orzo many times at restaurants as a side dish with my meal and at my moms house, but have never made any myself. I bought a box of orzo on sale yesterday for $1.00 and used a 1.00 coupon for the orzo as well as a box on tricolor noodles. Since both boxes were $1.00 each, I paid .50 per box, which is awesome. Especially for name brand pasta. While I normally cook with whole grain pasta, I do use regular pasta every now and then. I believe in moderation and having some of what you enjoy on a regular basis. Enough of the backstory of how this all came to be, here is the recipe:

Spinach Parmesan Orzo (Serves 2-3 for a main course or 4-6 for a side dish)

Ingredients:

*   1 cup of uncooked orzo pasta
*   4 cups of water
*   4 cups of fresh spinach (frozen spinach is too watery for this)
*   A few sprays of Olive oil cooking spray to wilt the spinach
*   1 TBSP of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
*   1/8 tsp of garlic powder
*   1/8 tsp of sea salt
*   1/4 tsp of black pepper (I used cracked black pepper)
*   1 TBSP of Grated Parmesan (I used grated Parmesan Romano from the pasta aisle)

Directions:

1. Boil Orzo in water using a medium sized saucepan for 8 minutes. You want the pasta to be slightly harder than aldente since you will be sauteing the Orzo before serving the dish.



2.  Wilt Spinach while Orzo is cooking in a large pan using a light coating of olive oil cooking spray on medium heat.

3. Once spinach is slightly wilted, put spinach to the side. Make sure to consistently stir the spinach with a spoon or fork so that the spinach cooks evenly.

4. Drain Orzo and add olive oil, garlic powder, sea salt, and black pepper to the bottom of your large pan the spinach was in. The pan should be on medium heat.

5. Add Orzo and spinach to the oiled and seasoned pan. Add parmesan cheese on top and mix everything together with your spoon or fork.

6. Mix everything together and cook for 3-5 minutes or until the orzo is lightly browned.

7. Serve on a plate with meat/protein source and vegetables (I think chicken or fish would go great with this. Having my leftovers tomorrow for lunch with some cooked and seasoned chicken breast) or in a bowl like I did tonight on its own for a delicious, meatless meal.

This was pretty good by the way and made for a nice, quick dinner that was easy to put together. Looking forward to everyone's comments, please share with us if you try this recipe.

Perfectly Peachy Overnight Oatmeal

This is an easy overnight oatmeal recipe I have made many times and enjoy. I often eat oatmeal for breakfast, especially in the winter. During those colder months I eat oatmeal about 4-5 times a week. I usually make my oatmeal the night before if I have work the next day. I am not naturally a morning person, even though I workout a few times a week in the morning.  Additionally I lead a very busy life as a student taking an average 2-3 classes a term and a full time working professional. Therefore I do everything I can to make sure I can easily eat healthy the majority of the time. I eat these overnight oats cold or heat them up in the microwave before eating them.

Feel free to substitute fresh peaches in place of the canned ones. I would only do so though if you can find ripe ones like the ones available this time of the year. I usually use canned ones and drain them, because they are widely available most of the year and are inexpensive.

Perfectly Peachy Overnight Oatmeal - Serves 3 (approximately 1 cup per person)

1 1/2 cups of old fashioned, rolled oats (not instant, quick, or steel cut oats)
1 1/2 cups of any kind of milk (I use Organic 1% milk or unsweetened almond milk most of the time, vanilla soy milk also works well here).
1  15 oz  can of sliced peaches canned in juice or splenda, drained or three fresh peaches, sliced
Sweetener or sugar to taste (I usually use 3 tsps of splenda or a small amount of stevia)
1/2 tsp of vanilla extract 
1/2 tsp of cinnamon (optional, I recommend adding this)

Add all ingredients except the peaches into a large sized container or bowl. Mix ingredients together and then mix the peach slices into the oat mixture. Portion oatmeal into three smaller containers or into one large container. Store oatmeal in the refrigerator or overnight.

Serve the next day cold or heated up. I normally microwave a portion for about 1-2 minutes if I want them warm. Keeps for a few days in the refrigerator. Sorry for the lack of pictures. This was a saved recipe I have made for myself several times in the last few months. I will make sure to include at least one picture in my next recipe. Hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do.

Welcome!

Hi everyone, my name is Rachael. This is a new venture I am taking based on my love of food, but I also am someone who eats mostly healthy food and believe in eating most things in moderation. I have in the past dabbled in vegetarianism and other ways of eating, but I now am an omnivore that often eats meatless meals and for me this works very well. I often get overwhelmed when I cook with too many ingredients, so a lot of what I cook is easy recipes that I modify or recipes that I make up on my own. I plan to post a few recipes a week and let you all see what I enjoy eating on a regular basis. My husband and some of my friends and family will also get the opportunity to sample what I eat and blog here. A variety of recipes will be featured including meals, snacks, and occasionally beverages.

I hope you all enjoy reading this blog and cooking these recipes. I will only be posting recipes that I feel are perfected to my tastes and the tastes of others I dine with.