Sloppy Joes

The Grocery List:

• 1 tsp. olive oil
• 1 lb. lean ground beef
  
• 1 small onion , diced
• 1 medium carrot , peeled and diced
• 1/2 medium green bell pepper diced
• 2 cloves garlic , minced
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1 can (398 ml) reduced sodium tomato sauce (I used Hunts)
  
• 1/2 Tbsp. chili powder
• 2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 5 warmed whole wheat buns
• cheese (optional)
  

Cooking It all Up:

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat.

Add the olive oil, beef, onion, carrot, pepper,and garlic.

Sauté, stirring occasionally, until the beef is cooked and the onions are translucent, 7 to 10 minutes.

Add the ketchup, tomato sauce, chili powder and Worcestershire sauce. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes or until desired consistency is reached.

Serve over the buns and top with cheese.

Chicks Health Note: You could easily ramp up the veggies by adding shredded zucchini, mushrooms etc. and you could reduce the calorie/fat content by using lean ground turkey instead of beef.

Balsamic Vinegar and Garlic Chicken

We love this meal, it's the perfect date night meal and it's a restaurant quality meal. As long as you enjoy mushrooms, you will love it! It's absolutely delicious and it's not a difficult meal to prepare at all - and is very tastey!.

Ingredients:

4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
salt and pepper to taste
3/4 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons olive oil
6 cloves garlic
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
3/4 cup chicken broth
1 bay leaf
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon butter

Directions:

Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Rinse the mushrooms and pat dry. Season the flour with salt and pepper and dredge the chicken breasts in the flour mixture. Heat oil in a skillet over medium high heat and saute the chicken until it is nicely browned on one side (about 3 minutes).

Add the garlic. Turn the chicken breasts and scatter the mushrooms over them. Continue frying, shaking the skillet and stirring the mushrooms. Cook for about 3 minutes, then add the vinegar, broth, bay leaf and thyme. Cover tightly and simmer over medium low heat for 10 minutes, turning occasionally.


Transfer the chicken to a warm serving platter and cover with foil. Set aside. Continue simmering the sauce, uncovered, over medium high heat for about 7 minutes. Swirl in the butter or margarine and discard the bay leaf. Pour this mushroom sauce mixture over the chicken and serve.

Curry Marinated Chicken (Fancy or Lazy - Your choice!)

This is a yummy marinade that keeps chicken moist and is a nice change from regular BBQ sauce when you are grilling. What can I say.....I took the lazy way out and used full chicken breasts so my picture doesn't match what the actual finished meal should look like.....so sorry!! It was one of those days! Here is the "good" fancier version of the recipe!
The Grocery List:

• 1/2 cup light mayonnaise
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1 tbsp curry powder
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1 1/2 lbs skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cubed
  
• 1 1/2 cups basmati rice
• 3 cups of water
  
• 8 oz fresh mushrooms
• 1 plum tomato, diced (optional)
• 2 or 3 green onions, chopped (optional)
• skewers

Cooking it Up:

In a large freezer bag, mix the mayonnaise, garlic, curry power, chili powder, and ginger. Place the chicken in the mixture, seal the bag removing as much air as possible. Squish chicken around until well coated. Refrigerate over night or for a minimum of 2 hours.
Preheat BBQ on medium-high heat.

In a large deep (very large is best so it doesn't boil over!) microwave safe dish, combine rice and water. Cover and cook on full power for 10 minutes. When that 10 minutes is up, reset microwave and continue cooking rice for 10 minutes on half power. No need to open the microwave in between the two.

Discard marinade, thread chicken and mushrooms onto skewers (alternate between chicken and mushrooms).

Lightly oil the grill, grill skewers turning often for 8-10 minutes or until chicken is fully cooked.

Serve skewers over rice and sprinkle diced tomato and green onion on top as the garnish.

Serves 4-6.