Running Mama Cooks

Wow, Running Mama does cook!!! Actually, I have been cooking on a regular basis but I have been too busy to fool around with a lot of new recipes. But fall is here and it's time to bust out the crockpot! So I gave this new one a try and it was a winner!

It could have used a little more kick, but overall it was hearty with full flavors. I loved the shredded chicken mixed with the turkey kielbasa. Definitely going into the rotation!

And I should mention that there is no link to the original recipe because I got it using the app for allrecipes.com on my new iphone. Such a great app! Download it, I promise you'll love it.

Cajun Crockpot Chicken and Kielbasa
Recipe adapted from allrecipes.com

Ingredients:

6 boneless skinless chicken thighs
1 16oz can diced tomatoes
1 green bell pepper
6 green onions, chopped
1 6oz can tomato paste
4-5 dashes hot pepper sauce (or more to taste)
1/2 lbs turkey kielbasa, sliced diagonally
Cajun seasoning to taste
salt and pepper

Directions:

Spray crockpot with cooking spray. Place chicken in the bottom and season with salt, pepper and cajun seasoning. Cover with tomatoes, bell pepper, green onions, tomato paste, kielbasa and hot pepper sauce. Cover and cook on low for 5-6 hours. Serve over brown rice.

ZACH'S RATING - **** 1/2

Warm weather = perfect timing for a grilling recipe swap!! I was psyched to get this recipe for a delicious chicken marinade from Sarah and loved that it was skewers. Zach and I love preparing chicken this way on the grill and I haven't done it in a long time.

It was a really good, healthy meal. Keep an eye out for Sarah's thai rice recipe in a week or two because I am dying to try it. I opted not to make it at the last minute this week because we were eating pretty late because of my classes and I didn't want to overload on yummy carbs at that time. But we are HUGE pineapple fans so I will be trying it soon!

Like Sarah, I marinated the chicken in pineapple juice, soy sauce, oil and pepper for about 2 hours and then placed them on the skewers. I also skewered some zucchini, onions (we LOVE grilled onions) and summer squash. They were seasoned with salt, pepper and olive oil.

I am looking forward to having this meal become a summer staple!

This week's recipe swap theme was chicken. I had so many good ones to choose from for this category, and ended up submitted my chicken pizza burgers. They were so yummy and thought it would be different than some other chicken dishes in the swap.

In return, I received Chicken Souvlaki with Tzatziki sauce from DeLish. This is the perfect example of a recipe taking me out of my comfort zone. I do not do well with white sauces at all. If I saw this in a restaurant, I would avoid it. BUT, knowing that the sauce is made with greek yogurt (which I love) and cucumbers (yum) I was actually excited to give it a try.

It ended up being a very yummy, super healthy dinner that both Zach and I enjoyed. Next time I think I will add some sliced onion.

Thanks Lishie!!

Chicken Souvlaki with Tzatziki Sauce
Recipe from DeLish

Ingredients:

Chicken -
1 lb boneless chicken breasts
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tbs fresh dill
1 tsp dried oregano

Tzatziki Sauce -
1/4 cup greek yogurt
1 tbs fresh dill
1/4 cup chopped cucumber, peeled and seeded
1 tbs lemon juice
1 tbs olive oil
1/4 tsp garlic

Whole Wheat Pitas
Grape tomatoes, halved
chopped cucumber

Directions:

Chicken: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a small bowl, mix the olive oil, dill & oregano. Arrange the boneless chicken on a foil lined baking sheet. Brush the olive oil & herb mixture onto the chicken. Bake for 20 minutes or until the chicken is cooked. Dice the chicken.

Tzatziki Sauce: Mix all of the ingredients in a small bowl. Serve the sauce topped on the chicken in the pita. Add desired amount of tomatoes and cucumbers

ZACH'S RATING - *** 1/2

I was really excited for the recipe swap this week. The theme is Asian and I love cooking Asian food. I was happy to get a Thai dish since I do not have that much experience with Thai food. Also, it is from Gina's Weight Watchers Recipes and she is great! The original recipe calls for shrimp, but since I am allergic I used chicken instead.

At first I was little concerned while it was cooking because the smell of the fish sauce was so overwhelming. Fortunately, Gina mentions this in her post so I kept plugging away and hoping for the best. It turned out good. I wouldn't say it is my favorite dish, but it was yummy. Thank you Lisa, for sharing this with me!

Thai Coconut Curry Chicken
Adapted from Gina's Weight Watchers Recipes, by way of Lisa's Cooking Adventures

Ingredients:

1 tsp oil
4 scallions, whites and greens separated, chopped
1 tbsp Thai red curry paste
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb chicken tenders, cut into chunks
6 oz light coconut milk
2 tsp fish sauce
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
salt to taste

Directions:

In a large nonstick skillet, heat oil on medium-high. Add scallion whites and red curry paste and sauté one minute. Add chicken and garlic, season with salt and cook about 3-4 minutes. Add coconut milk, fish sauce and mix well. Simmer about 10 minutes, until chicken is cooked through. Remove from heat, mix in scallion greens and cilantro. Serve over rice and enjoy!

Whipped these babies up for dinner tonight, and they were a hit all around. Even Finny loved little bits of the burger!!

The burgers were super moist and were great dipped into some extra sauce on the side. Great way to use leftover homemade marinara!

Chicken Pizza Burgers

Ingredients:

1 Lb ground chicken
1 egg
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
1/2 cup parm
3/4 cup breadcrumbs
1 tsp red pepper flakes
2 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
3 cloves garlic, grated or minced
fresh black pepper
1/2 cup marinara sauce
4 sliced reduced fat provolone cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375

Mix all ingredients together except provolone cheese and sauce. Form into 4 burgers. Place on a baking sheet and cook for 20 minutes. Switch oven to broil. Spoon marinara sauce over burgers and cover with a slice of cheese. Broil until cheese is bubbly. Serve on toasted hamburger rolls.

ZACH'S RATING - **** 1/2

We really enjoyed ropa vieja when I made it with beef, so I tweaked the recipe a bit and used chicken to lighten it up. Delish!

Chicken Ropa Vieja
Serves 4, 5 WW points plus per serving

Ingredients:

Cooking spray
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 cup chicken broth
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 small onion, sliced
1 green bell pepper, seeded and sliced into strips
2 carrots, coarsely chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
1/4 cup red wine
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tsp dried oregano
1 teaspoon chopped fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon white vinegar

Directions:

Spray crockpot with cooking spray. Add chicken breasts and pour broth and tomato sauce on top. Add rest of the ingredients and stir until well blended. Cover, and cook on High for 4 hours, or on Low for up to 10 hours. When ready to serve, shred chicken and serve over rice (additional points).

ZACH'S RATING - *** 1/2

I have always been on the picky side when it comes to food, my friends and family would definitely agree. I have a few food "issues" and always had a long list of things I didn't like. Since I started cooking, I have tried a lot of new foods and realized that there are a lot of things on that list that are actually pretty good! (although mayo is still a no go!!!)

When I got this month's Food Network Magazine in the mail, I was excited to see "Light Family Dinners, Easy Low-Cal Recipes." This is the one that really caught my eye and it was delicious!

The crockpot definitely saves my life on the nights that I teach at the gym. The last thing I want to do is cook after getting home at 8 and having to put both kids to bed! I didn't have a plan for dinner tonight but after taking a look through my cabinets and fridge, I put together this Chicken Taco Soup. I was hopeful that it would come out tasty, and I was right! It was super flavorful, had a little kick, was ready when I got home and, best of all, is super low in points!

I have to pat myself on the back, this was a great one!

I'm back on the wagon and staring the year off right with healthy eating. I immediately went to one of my favorite food blogs, Gina's Weight Watchers recipes, to get some ideas. This one caught my eye immediately. I love cooking Asian food at home, so much better than take out!

The only thing I changed about this recipe is that I used thighs instead of drumsticks. And with only 5 weight watchers points plus per serving (4 servings total) you cant go wrong! It was so good that I had it for lunch today with steamed broccoli and dinner with brown rice.

Asian Glazed Chicken Thighs
Very slightly adapted Gina's Weight Watcher Recipes

Ingredients:

8 medium boneless skinless chicken thighs
Pam spray oil
1 cup water
1 tbsp Sriracha hot sauce (more or less to taste)
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup soy sauce
4 tsp agave nectar (or sugar)
3 cloves garlic
1 tsp ginger, grated
2 tbsp chives or scallions, chopped
1 tsp sesame seeds

Directions:

In a heavy large saucepan, brown chicken on high for 3-4 minutes with a little spray oil. Add water, balsamic, soy sauce, agave, garlic, ginger, hot sauce and cook on high until liquid comes to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer, covered for about 20 minutes. Remove cover and bring heat to high, allowing sauce to reduce down, about 8 minutes until it becomes a thick glaze, turning chicken occasionally. (Keep an eye on glaze, you don't want it to burn when it start becoming thick) Transfer chicken to a platter and pour glaze on top. Top with chives and sesame seeds and serve

Rainy, cold day and a sick little girl = perfect day for homemade chicken soup just like Mommy used to make. Delicious and healthy. Sending a container to my poor sister stuck at home with the flu.

Homemade Chicken Soup

Ingredients:

1 pkg split chicken breasts
5 carrots, peeled and chopped
5 celery stalks, chopped
1 large onion chopped
2 bay leaves
4 bouillon cubes
1 6 oz bag baby spinach
1 tsp fresh thyme chopped
1/2 lb Ditalini or other small pasta
dried basil
salt and pepper
Parmesan cheese

Directions:

In a large soup pot, add carrots, celery and onion. Wash breasts and remove skin. Add to pot. Cover with water and set heat to high. Add bay leaves, bouillon, basil, thyme and salt and pepper. When soup comes to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer covered for 1 hour.

In a separate pot, cook pasta al dente. Remove chicken from soup and let sit until cool enough to handle. Remove meat and add back into the soup. Drain pasta and add to soup as well. Right before serving, add in whole bag of spinach and stir until wilted. Serve with Parmesan cheese.

Monday afternoon Cecily, Finn and I went to my cousin Ali's for a playdate. Our boys are only 10 days apart, it is so cute to see them together!!

For dinner Ali made Lentils Curry. It was something different than anything I make and I really loved it. I've avoided Indian spices in the past because I wasn't sure if I'd like it. Boy was I wrong!

One of the best things about this dish is how versatile it is. Tonight I made it with chicken. Really really delicious and super healthy. We ate it plain like a stew, but it would have been great over rice as well.

Chicken Curry

Ingredients:

1 lb chicken breast, cubed
3 carrots chopped
yellow bell pepper chopped
3 cloves garlic minced
red onion small dice
1 large potato med dice
veg oil
1 sm can diced tomatoes
2 cups veg/ck broth
tumeric
cumin
corriander
garahm masala
grated ginger
(or a premixed curry powder & masala powder)

Directions:

Any of the ingredients and portions can be changed to whatever you want

heat oil
add onion and sweat it before adding garlic, ginger and dry spices
cook til very fragrant (abt 30-60 sec)
add tomatoes cook for 60 sec
add broth
add chicken at this point and simmer partially before adding veggies and potatoes
bring to a boil then simmer and cover til cooked through about 45 mins

serve with rice, quinoa, cous cous, pita bread, etc

Phoenix and Finn. Two cutest boys I know!

Seems like everyone has their own version of this recipe, here's mine! Easy and delicious!

Salsa Chicken

Ingredients:

3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 jar mild salsa
1/2 onion thinly sliced
1 packet low sodium taco seasoning
2 cups frozen corn
Cooking spray

Directions:

Coat crockpot in cooking spray. Place chicken breasts on bottom and cover with salsa. Mix in the remaining ingredients and cook for 6-8 hours on low. Shred chicken. Serve with yellow rice or tortillas with your favorite toppings.

I love roasted chicken. Our dinner plans fell through so I grabbed a whole chicken while we were food shopping. I don't have a go to recipe for roasting a whole chicken so I went online to look at a bunch. Below is the result! It came out juicy and delicious. Zach isn't too much of a rosemary fan, but sometimes I have to sneak it in :D Guess that's why my rating suffered!!

Garlic Herb Roasted Chicken

Ingredients:

1 4-5 lb Whole chicken
1 whole head of garlic, plus 6 cloves peeled and smashed
1 lemon
1 bunch of fresh rosemary
1 bunch of fresh thyme
1 tbs butter, melted
olive oil
paprika
garlic and herb Mrs Dash
salt and pepper
2 cups baby carrots
6-8 butter potatoes
1/2 cup chicken stock

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Remove the chicken giblets. Rinse the chicken inside and out. Remove any excess fat and leftover pinfeathers and pat the outside dry. Place the chicken in a large roasting pan. Liberally salt and pepper the inside of the chicken. Stuff the cavity with whole head of garlic, half of the lemon and half of each bunch of herbs.

Brush the outside of the chicken with the butter and sprinkle again with salt and pepper. Sprinkle generously with paprika and Mrs Dash. Chop remaining herbs and sprinkle half over the chicken. Drizzle with olive oil.

Cut potatoes into quarters. in a large bowl, combine potatoes and carrots with salt, pepper, smashed garlic cloves, the remaining chopped herbs and olive oil. Place around chicken in the roasting pan and cover with the chicken broth.

Roast the chicken for 1 hour and a half or until the juices run clear.

ZACH'S RATING - *** 1/2

This chicken was so good!! Perfect for dinner outside on a beautiful September night! I served it with a really good grilled vegetable salad and Fettunta with Prosciutto, also a Barefoot Contessa recipe. I was a little nervous about preparing a whole chicken this way since I've never done it, but it came out great.

My first meal in exactly 3 weeks! Allison tried this one out a few weeks ago, so I thought Id give it a try. An easy crockpot meal seemed like the best way to get back into cooking while also juggling 2 kids. Here is the original recipe.

I really liked these sandwiches a lot, but they were very spicy! Definitely depends on what kind of wing sauce you use, the one I used was "medium." I was definitely sweating a bit when I was done!!

I shredded the chicken right in the crockpot about an hour before eating, so it would soak up some of the sauce. We topped them off with some shredded Mexican cheese and Zach put blue cheese on his (I am not a fan).

Crockpot Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches
Recipe from Allrecipes.com

Ingredients

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1 (17.5 fluid ounce) bottle buffalo wing sauce, divided
1/2 (1 ounce) package dry ranch salad dressing mix
2 tablespoons butter
6 hoagie rolls, split lengthwise

Directions

1.Place the chicken breasts into a slow cooker, and pour in 3/4 of the wing sauce and the ranch dressing mix. Cover, and cook on Low for 6 to 7 hours.

2.Once the chicken has cooked, add the butter, and shred the meat finely with two forks. Pile the meat onto the hoagie rolls, and splash with the remaining buffalo wing sauce to serve.

Another cute Finn picture :D


ZACH'S RATING - ***

Update - I used the leftovers to make buffalo chicken pizza. It was awesome.

Wow, I actually cooked 2 nights in a row!!

This recipe was recommended to me by Allison, and like all the other recipes she recommends to me, this was a really yummy meal!



Chicken Tortellini Casserole

Ingredients:

8 oz tortellini
8 oz monterey jack cheese, shredded
1 lb chicken, cubed
flour
EVOO
1 onion, chopped
4 oz can sliced mushrooms, drained
1 can chicken broth
1/2 c sour cream

Directions:

Preheat oven to 300F.

Cook tortellini 5 minutes less than done time and drain.

Place in a greased 2.5 quart casserole. Spread 1/2 of cheese over tortellini.

Flour chicken and cook in EVOO until lightly brown. Remove chicken and put on top of tortellini & cheese. Cook onions in same pan until soft. Add broth and mushrooms and bring to boil. Simmer 5 minutes. Add remaining cheese and cook until melted. Take off heat and stir in sour cream. Pour over casserole.

Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes.

ZACH'S RATING - ****

I was really looking forward to making this recipe when I came across it a few weeks ago. The flavors are right up my alley and I love stuffed shells. Overall, I really liked it, but next time I will add a sauce, probably a light Alfredo. Even a marinara sauce would be good with it. Now I am anxious to make it again! Look for this recipe revisited soon.

One thing I definitely won't change is the panko topping. YUM!

Pesto Chicken Stuffed Shells
Adapted from Joelen's Culinary Adventures

ZACH'S RATING: *** 1/2

Sometimes good recipes come from the most random places. I got this one off the back of the Success Boil in a Bag Brown Rice box. I've never made anything Thai before, so I was looking forward to trying out some new ingredients.

Overall this was a tasty dish. I wish it had a little more sauce, so I might increase the measurements next time. And it was really quick to prepare, since I had my chicken cooking all day in the crockpot. I cooked a pound of boneless skinless chicken breasts with a little chicken broth on low for 6 hours. All I had to do was shred it.

Thai Chicken and Brown Rice

Ingredients:

2 bags Boil in a bag Brown Rice
1 cup coconut milk
1 tbs thai red curry paste
2 tsp brown sugar, firmly packed
1 tsp lime juice
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups cooked chicken, shredded
1 16oz bag Asian style mixed vegetables
1/2 cup chopped peanuts

Directions:

Prepare rice according to package directions

In a small bowl, combine coconut milk, curry paste, brown sugar, lime juice and salt. In medium non-stick pan over medium heat, combine chicken and vegetables, then add curry sauce. Cook until vegetables are tender.

ZACH'S RATING - *** 1/2