healthy recipe Archives - The Tasty Fork

Quinoa Buffalo Chicken Salad

June 5, 2013 by admin · 7 Comments

I’ve got another healthy buffalo flavored recipe for you today…

On Sunday when I made Spicy Buffalo Chicken, I grilled too many pieces of chicken. It was one of those days when my eyes were bigger than my stomach… And I’m never one to waste food, so I wanted to create a new recipe with the leftovers.

Quinoa Buffalo Chicken Salad is a protein packed salad! Quinoa is pretty much the healthiest food in the world. You should be eating it if you aren’t already! Quinoa is prepared like rice but I like to cook it in some kind of broth/stock to give the quinoa extra flavor. Since this is a salad, let’s talk about all of the veggies! Shredded carrots, celery, green onions and red peppers give this salad a lot of crunch. Top this salad with some blue cheese crumbles and you have dinner!

By using leftover chicken, this Quinoa Buffalo Chicken Salad came together in no time at all. When the quinoa was cooked and slightly cooled, all of the veggies were chopped, chicken was shredded and the buffalo garlic salad dressing was ready. Only thing left to do was eat!

Quinoa Buffalo Chicken Salad

Ingredients

1 cup uncooked quinoa
2 cups chicken stock/broth
2 cooked chicken breasts, chopped or shredded
1 fresh red pepper, chopped
2 green onions, chopped
3 celery stalks, chopped
1 cup shredded carrots
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup hot sauce
low fat blue cheese crumbles

Instructions

In a sauce pan, cook quinoa according to package directions. Use chicken stock instead of water to give the quinoa more flavor.
When the quinoa is cooked, add it to a large bowl. Mix in chicken, red pepper, green onions, celery and carrots. Set aside.
In the same sauce pan, over a medium heat, add garlic and oil. Stir and cook until you can smell the garlic. Add hot sauce and bring to a boil. Remove from heat. When you're ready to eat, pour buffalo garlic salad dressing over quinoa. Top with blue cheese crumbles. Salad can be eaten warm or cold.

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Filed Under: Chicken, Entree, Healthy, Recipes, Salad · Tagged With: buffalo chicken, buffalo chicken quinoa salad, buffalo chicken salad, buffalo garlic salad dressing, healthy recipe, healthy salad, protein salad, quinoa recipes, quinoa salad

Clean Eating Chicken Salad

May 30, 2013 by admin · 10 Comments

I LOVE chicken salad. I remember the first time I ever had it. My family and I were on a vacation white water rafting in Colorado. We were half way into our day on the river and stopped for lunch. The crew leaders made chicken salad with chunks of celery and onions. It was probably my favorite part of the trip. When we returned home, my Mom started making the recipe & it became a family favorite.

Chicken salad sounds like it would be healthy but a majority of recipes are total calorie bombs. Filled with mayo and sour cream. Using dark meat from chicken. Huge portions of chicken salad on sourdough bread. All are wonderful things in their own right, but it makes me feel gross seeing the calorie content on chicken salad recipes. There was a time in my life when eating healthy all the time wasn’t something I thought too much about. But the older I get and more educated I am about food effects on the body, the more I strive to “healthify” my favorite recipes.

This chicken salad recipe would fall under the clean eating category. Clean eating is classified by eating foods as close as possible to their natural state. Avoid processed and packaged foods with preservatives and chemicals. A clean eating diet consists of fresh produce, lean meats, nuts and whole grains. Some books I’ve read allow limited dairy, some do not. The main dairy product I see widely accepted is Greek yogurt; reason being Greek yogurt is loaded with protein & that makes it ok.

To make Clean Eating Chicken Salad, you’ll need two cooked chicken breasts (cut into cubes), celery, onion, red grapes and Greek yogurt. Mix all ingredients in a large bowl and season with sea salt & pepper. I could eat it just like this but I turned it into a sandwich with a 100% whole wheat pita. An easy mistake of clean eating is not looking at labels. Many breads will say 100% whole wheat on the package but when you read the list of ingredients and refined white flour is on the list, put back the bread and find something else. Across the board, you want to eat food with fewer ingredients & recognize all of the ingredients you’re eating. If you can’t pronounce something listed, don’t eat it.

Have I rambled enough for you yet?? I guess my point of this little post today is know what you’re putting into your body. I created a healthy chicken salad recipe because I can’t live my life with out eating it! Greek yogurt is an easy & tasty substitute for mayonnaise. There is a nice crunch to this salad from the celery and onion. My favorite part are the red grapes! It gives this chicken salad an element of sweetness perfect for the summer months. By using chicken breast meat, this recipe is loaded with protein and very little fat.

What are our favorite recipes you can’t live with out? Do any of them need a healthified makeover? Let me know in the comments and I might be able to help! I’m not a clean eating expert…just trying to apply some simple steps to every day life.

Clean Eating Chicken Salad

Ingredients

2 cooked skinless, boneless chicken breasts - cut into cubes
2 celery stalks, chopped
1/4 red onion, chopped
1/2 cup red seedless grapes, quartered
1/2 cup Greek yogurt
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
dash of sea salt
2 100% whole-wheat pita halves (optional)
4 romaine lettuce leaves (optional)

Instructions

In a large bowl, mix all of the salad ingredients. Chicken salad can be eaten as is or eat as a pita sandwich. Recipe serves 4.

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Filed Under: Chicken, Clean Eating, Entree, Healthy, Recipes, Sandwich · Tagged With: chicken salad recipe, chicken salad with grapes, chicken salad with greek yogurt, clean eating, clean eating recipe, healthy chicken salad, healthy recipe, recipe

Family Recipe Friday: Chicken and Vegetables with Balsamic Glaze

May 10, 2013 by admin · 7 Comments

Happy Friday!! With Mother’s Day being this weekend, I thought I’d share a recipe from one of my Mom’s cookbooks. One of tons of cookbooks. After my Mom passed away, I learned she collected lots of things… black pants, beauty products, boxes of Triscuits. I wouldn’t call it hoarding but more along the lines of forgetting what she had, so she’d buy things thinking she needed it. Same thing went for cookbooks. I stopped off at my parents house last weekend to get some of her cookbooks and I forgot how many she had. I only grabbed a few; the ones that looked the most familiar or most used.

Growing up, my Mom and I would have lunch together when I didn’t have school. We would always have chicken and vegetables…and watch All My Children. This was our routine until I went off to college and had to work during the summer. As I was going through her cookbooks, I had my eye on chicken recipes. Picking a chicken recipe would be perfect for my Family Recipe Friday Series.

Today’s recipe is Chicken and Vegetables with Balsamic Glaze. Honestly, I have no idea if she made this for us. When it came to dinner, my Mom stuck to 10 different dinners and we really didn’t sway too much from those. That aspect of dinner has probably made me the way I am and not ever wanting to eat the same thing too many times. There is just so much amazing food out there.

Buuuut Chicken and Vegetables with Balsamic Glaze sounds like something she & I would of made together for one of our afternoon lunches. It’s a light and easy meal. Plus, it only requires one skillet which means easily clean up.

Using boneless skinless chicken breasts makes this meal a healthy option. And by loading it up with a variety of veggies – red peppers, leeks, carrots and potatoes – you have a well rounded meal. I love using vinegar when I cook, but balsamic is my favorite! It gives this chicken recipe a tangy and sweet taste.

This is NOT your average chicken recipe. Chicken with Vegetables with Balsamic Glaze is very flavorful and filling. It would be a great week night dinner, especially when you don’t want to spend a lot of time cleaning up!

Family Recipe Friday: Chicken and Vegetables with Balsamic Glaze

Ingredients

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 lb baby red potatoes, cut in half
1 small onion, sliced
1/2-1 cup of beef broth
1 leek, well washed and cut into 2 inch long strips
4 carrots, peeled and cut into 2 inch long strips
1 red pepper, cut into thin strips
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4-1/2 cup of balsamic vinegar
Salt & Pepper, to taste

Instructions

In a large skillet over medium heat, add oil and chicken seasoned with salt & pepper. Cook for 10-15 minutes (or until the internal temperature is 165 degrees). Remove from skillet and set aside.
Add potatoes and onions to skillet; cook for 2-3 minutes. Add 1/2 cup of broth. scraping and loosening brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Add leeks, carrots and red peppers. Heat till boiling. Reduce heat to medium-low and cover. Simmer for 10 minutes or until the potatoes are fork tender.
If the skillet is looking dry, add additional broth. Add garlic and balsamic vinegar. Heat to boiling. Return chicken to pan and spoon sauce over chicken. Lower heat and cover for 5 minutes. Serve immediately.

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This recipe is from 365 Easy One-Dish Meals by Natalie Haughton.

Filed Under: Chicken, Entree, Family Recipes, Healthy, Recipes · Tagged With: balsamic chicken, chicken, chicken and vegetables, chicken recipe, Dinner recipe, healthy recipe, one skillet meal

Chicken Tinga Tacos – Mexican Street Food at Home

May 2, 2013 by admin · 14 Comments

For a girl who loves tacos and Mexican food as much as I do, you’d think all this week I’d be having a Cinco de Mayo party on the blog. I have no idea how I missed this Mexican holiday. Is anyone else shocked by how fast May snuck up on us??!! In my own defense, I do have a lot of taco recipes on the blog and I’ve linked a few options for you at the bottom of the post. But this post is all about Chicken Tinga Tacos.

This spicy taco filling is found at every street-food stand in Mexico City. The sauce is like a Mexican marinara, filled with a lot of the same things you would use in an Italian marinara sauce – onion, garlic, tomatoes – but with the addition of chipotle peppers in adobo takes these tacos right to fiesta time.

You won’t believe how easy it is to get such an authentic (and cheap!) meal at home. By using chicken thighs, you’re going to be getting a lot of flavor and this cut of meat is impossible to over cook. Chicken first needs to seared and browned in a skillet, just for 10 minutes and then put aside. Then you’ll make the tinga sauce and let it simmer for 20 minutes. Pour sauce over chicken in a large casserole dish and bake. (Or if you want to cook at a later date, store in the fridge, all ready for the oven. Just be sure to remove the casserole dish from the fridge 15 minutes before you’re ready to bake the chicken.)

Garnish for these Chicken Tinga Tacos are super easy. No fancy salsas or lots of chopping of ingredients. All you need are some green onions, cilantro and crumbled Cotija cheese. So easy!

I’ve made and eaten a lot of tacos in my day.. heck, try just this year! Tacos are one of my favorite food groups. These Chicken Tinga Tacos are spicy and smokey. The chicken was tender and shredded so easily. I loved the easiness and freshness of the taco garnish. These tacos really are no fuss and truly something you would get in Mexico. It’s nice to know I can make these Chicken Tinga Tacos at home and not have to wait until my next Mexico vacation.

Chicken Tinga Tacos – Mexican Street Food at Home

Ingredients

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 1/2 pounds trimmed, skinless, bone-in chicken thighs
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 large onion, thinly sliced
3 large garlic cloves, minced
One 28-ounce can diced tomatoes, including liquid
2-3 chipotle peppers in adobo, coarsely chopped
1 cup chicken broth
24 corn tortillas
2 ounces Cotija cheese, crumbled
Sliced scallions and chopped cilantro, for garnish

Instructions

Heat 3 tablespoons of the olive oil in a large skillet. Season the chicken all over with salt and pepper, add it to the skillet and cook over moderately high heat, turning once, until browned, about 10 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a 9-by-13-inch baking dish and pour off the fat in the skillet.
Add the remaining 3 tablespoons of olive oil to the skillet & the onion. Cook over moderately high heat, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, 2 minutes. Add canned tomatoes, chipotle peppers and broth; bring to a boil. Simmer over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until thickened and slightly reduced, 20 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350°. Transfer sauce to a food processor and let cool for 15 minutes. Puree until smooth and season with salt and pepper. Pour the sauce over the chicken. Bake the chicken uncovered in the center of the oven for about 45-55 minutes. The meat should be tender, sauce thickened and browning around the edges of the baking dish. Warm corn tortillas in the oven or over a gas stove.
Remove the chicken and shred meat; discard the bones. Return the chicken meat to the sauce; combine well. Spoon about 3 tablespoons of chicken onto each tortilla and sprinkle with the Cotija cheese. Garnish tacos with the scallions and chopped cilantro. Serve immediately.

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Recipe inspired by Food & Wine.

Double Decker Beef Tacos

Salmon Tacos with Slaw & Mango Slaw

Crock Pot Tacos al Pastor

Filed Under: Chicken, Entree, Healthy · Tagged With: Authentic Mexican Meal, Chicken Taco Recipe, Chicken Tacos, Cinco de Mayo, easy meal, healthy recipe, healthy taco, Spicy Chicken, taco, Taco recipe, Taco Recipes, tacos

Ribbon Salad with Shredded Chicken

April 3, 2013 by admin · 19 Comments

I have two exciting things I need to share with all of you. First off, I’m starting a new recipe series on Fridays called Family Recipe Friday. I’ve gotten some recipes from my readers about their favorite recipes and it inspired me to start this new series. I’ll be sharing the family recipe, taking photos and crediting the creator! If you’d like me to share a family recipe of yours, please email me at mkearly614@gmail.com. I’m pooling recipes for the next few weeks and would love to get more readers involved.

On Saturday, I’ll be co-hosting a Google+ Blog Hop. Have you signed up for Google+ yet? I like it more than Facebook. It’s a lot easier to share information and you can filter who you want to see what you’ve posted…. I’m getting the hang of it, but I’m looking to grow my circles. I hope you’ll come by this Saturday and link up your G+ profile.

I’ve been on a health kick lately. How about you?? I’m heading to Florida in two months for a girls trip. I’m a total eater, so I’ve been trying to cut back on the calories and make my meals healthy yet still totally delicious.

This Ribbon Salad with Shredded Chicken falls into that category. It’s loaded with vegetables – carrots, zucchini, yellow squash, onions and spinach. The chicken adds additional protein and it helps to keep me from going to the pantry to load up on evening chocolate. The dressing is made simple ingredients but packs a lot of flavor.

Ribbon Salad can be a dinner entree or a great side salad. I really love to easy it was to make and by using a “Y” shaped peeler, you’ll have all of your veggies shredded in no time.

What are some of your favorite healthy meals??

Ribbon Salad with Shredded Chicken

Ingredients

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp honey
Salt & pepper
2 carrots, thinly shaved
1 zucchini, thinly shaved
1 yellow squash, thinly shaved
1/4 cup onion, thinly sliced
2 cups baby spinach
2 cooked chicken breasts, shredded

Instructions

Make dressing by combining olive oil and the next 3 ingredients. Season with salt & pepper. Set aside.
In a large bowl, add all of the vegetables and chicken. Pour dressing over and toss. Makes 4 dinner entree salads.

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Filed Under: Recipes, Salad · Tagged With: chicken and vegetable salad, healthy recipe, healthy salad, ribbon salad, Salad

Portobello Sandwiches with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

March 25, 2013 by admin · 20 Comments

Last week I said from Thursday at 11am till Sunday night, I’ve got college basketball brain. I know most of my readers don’t care for sports, so I won’t bore you with my bracket standings. But I will express these past few days have been so fun.. lots of good games and eating lots of food! Oh and my Indiana Hoosiers are still in it to win it! And that makes me very happy.

You know what else makes me happy – a hearty veggie sandwich. We’ve all been out to eat with that one friend who orders the vegetarian sandwich…and the sandwich is the SADDEST thing you’ve ever seen. I’d never pay a restaurant to feed me sprouts, cucumber and tomatoes smashed between bread and call it a meal. I’m getting depressed just thinking about it.

So if I’m going to share a veggie sandwich, it’s going to be good. And let me tell you, this recipe is man approved. We ate this Portobello Sandwich twice in 24 hours. That’s a big deal for 2 reasons. One, I’m not a fan of leftovers unless if I can turn it into a different meal. Two, my husband didn’t even complain. He was happy to be meat free for another meal.

Honestly, if you make this sandwich, you won’t even miss the meat. I think portobello mushrooms are very filling and the roasted pepper sauce is so flavorful. I could’ve had a meal of bread with the roasted pepper sauce and been content. This sandwich is also loaded with grilled onions, fresh basil, spinach and goat cheese. It really brings those other veggie sandwiches to shame.

Portobello Sandwiches with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce, Cooking Light April 2013

Ingredients

4 Portobello mushroom caps
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, divided
2 garlic cloves
2 thick slices of onion
Salt
1 loaf of crust ciabatta bread (enough for 4 sandwiches)
1/2 cup bottled roasted red bell peppers, rinsed and drained
A few basil leaves
1 tbsp dry roasted almonds, chopped
1 tsp red wine vinegar
1/2 cup goat cheese crumbles
1 cup fresh baby spinach
12 basil leaves

Instructions

Preheat broiler to high.
Heat a pan over medium-high heat. Remove gills from mushrooms using a spoon; discard gills. Combine 1 1/2 tablespoons oil and half of garlic. Add mushrooms & onions to a resealable bag and pour in olive oil. Make sure mushrooms and onions are equally coated. Place mushrooms and onion slices in pan, and cook for 5 minutes on each side or until tender. Remove from heat. Sprinkle mushrooms with salt. Separate onion slices into rings.
Place bread slices on a baking sheet. Broil for 1 minute or until bread is lightly browned.
Place remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons oil, remaining garlic, roasted red peppers, basil, almonds, and vinegar in a food processor, and process until smooth. Taste & season with salt and pepper if needed. Spread red pepper sauce evenly over each bread slice; top 4 bread slices evenly with cheese, 1 mushroom, onion rings, spinach, and basil. Top with remaining 4 bread slices, sauce side down.

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Recipe from Cooking Light, April 2013 Issue

Filed Under: Appetizers, Healthy, Recipes, Sandwich · Tagged With: Cooking Light, easy recipe, healthy recipe, quick meal, Vegetarian, vegetarian sandwich

Sweet Potato & Cranberry Muffins

February 23, 2013 by admin · 16 Comments

Now this is a breakfast you can feel good about eating.

Sure, sweet potatoes & cranberries sound like great sides at Thanksgiving dinner but for breakfast?? All I can say is, but of course! This might sound like a shock to you but if I had to choose between a sweet muffin or a savory muffin, I’d totally pick the savory option. I guess there is something about breakfast, or maybe it’s the Motherly guilt of being told to eat a healthy breakfast everyday, that encourages me to start off my day right.

Sweet potatoes are great for vitamin C, which we need this time of year to help ward off cold and flu viruses. In disease-fighting antioxidants, cranberries outrank nearly every fruit and vegetable. So as you can see, this recipe is out to a great start!

To keep this recipe heart healthy, I used Mazola Corn oil instead of an everyday vegetable oil. Did you know corn oil has more cholesterol-blocking plant sterols than any other cooking oil – four times as many as olive oil AND 40 percent more than canola oil? We’re all trying to eat better, and one of the best ways to do that is to use ingredients that help our bodies.

If you’re looking for more heart healthy recipes & tips using Mazola Corn Oil, head over to their Facebook page and become a fan. Click on the icon below and you’ll be directed to their page.

Start off your weekend on the healthy foot and give these muffins a try. You’ll be happy to know you’re keeping flu bugs away, rocking awesome skin from all of those antioxidants and doing your heart a favor by using Mazola Corn Oil.

Sweet Potato & Cranberry Muffins

Ingredients

1 cup leftover mashed sweet potatoes (or yams)
2 large eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup Mazola Corn oil
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest, or to taste
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup wheat flour
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup leftover cranberry sauce

Instructions

1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a 12-cup muffin pan.
2. In a large bowl, mix together potatoes, eggs, sugar, oil, water, zest, and vanilla with a wooden spoon.
3. In another bowl, whisk together flours, salt, baking powder, and baking soda, then add to the sweet potato mixture and stir until just combined. Gently stir in cranberry sauce.
4. Spoon batter into the muffin cups and bake until muffins are browned and the tops spring back when you press them lightly with your fingertip, about 30 minutes.
5. Cool in pan on a rack 5 minutes, then turn muffins out onto rack to cool completely.

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Recipe from Disney Family

Filed Under: Breakfast, Healthy, Recipes, Vegetarian · Tagged With: breakfast muffins, breakfast recipe, healthy, healthy muffin recipe, healthy recipe, Mazola Corn Oil, Mazola Recipe, muffins, sweet potato and cranberry muffin

Zesty Chipotle Black Bean Cakes

January 31, 2013 by admin · 20 Comments

I’ve got one more Super Bowl recipe to share with you before the Big Game. Yesterday, I posted a crowd pleasing but not so healthy recipe. Today, I’m sharing something that’s very figure friendly but still tastes amazing!

Not everyone wants to go to a Super Bowl party and feel like they’ve gained 10 pounds in 4 hours. All of the little snacks add up – chips, dips, wings, sliders, sweets – it’s easy to see why people love eating during the Super Bowl so much.

I came up with Zesty Chipotle Black Bean Cakes as a healthy appetizer for all of you to try. If you’re thinking, “Meghan, will everyone like this?” I’d answer, “Yes! Of course!!” All of my healthy recipes are graded very carefully by my best critic, My Husband. This is how our taste session went last evening…

Me: So what do you think?

Jim: It’s really good.

Me: It’s not girly good, right?? Like, boys would eat it?

Jim: Yeah, it’s spicy and smoky. Doesn’t taste super healthy. I like it.

Me: Sooo, would you say you like it like it?

Jim: (growing annoyed with me) I’d never say “like it like it” to anything but it’s very good and I’d eat it again.

So there you have it. It’s not some healthy girly appetizer which will go untouched at your Super Bowl Party. My hubby hit it right on the head. Zesty Chipotle Black Bean Cakes are spicy & smokey. Lime juice and cilantro gives the cake some fresh zest. And topping each cake with guacamole & tomatoes not only looks great, but it adds a creamy texture.

These zesty cakes can be prepared a day of time and stored in an airtight container in the fridge. Form the cakes the day of and bake. Top with gauc when the party starts.

Happy Super Bowl Guilt Free eating!

Zesty Chipotle Black Bean Cakes, makes 8 cakes

1-2 cup panko bread crumbs
1/4 cup cilantro
2 garlic cloves
3 green onions, chopped
1/2 red pepper, chopped
1 (15 oz) can black beans, rinsed & drained
2 tbsp chipotle sauce (or 1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce)
1 lime, halved
1 egg
Guacamole
2 roma tomatoes, diced

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil covered in cooking spray.
In large bowl, add 1 cup of panko bread crumbs. Set aside.
In your blender or food processor, add cilantro, garlic, green onions and red pepper. Blend until finely chopped. Add black beans, chipotle sauce and juice from 1/2 of the lime. Blend until beans are coarsely chopped. (There still will be some chunks and that’s ok. You don’t want a complete paste.)
Add bean mixture to panko. Add egg and mix with your hands. Add additional panko if needed. You don’t want too much liquid. Scoop about 1/4 cup of bean mixture to make cakes. Place on baking sheet. Spray the top of cakes with cooking spray. Cook for 10 minutes, flip the cakes and cook for another 10 minutes.
Top cakes with guacamole and tomatoes. Cut the rest of the lime into wedges. Use as garnish or drizzles over cakes. Serve warm.

Filed Under: Appetizers, Game Day, Healthy, Recipes, Vegetarian · Tagged With: Appetizer, baked black bean cakes, baked recipe, black bean patties, chipotle recipe, healthy recipe, recipe, super bowl recipe. game day recipe, vegan, vegan appetizer, Vegetarian

Recipe Makeover — Creamy Chicken & Wild Rice Soup

December 19, 2012 by Miss Tasty · 5 Comments

Christmas is less than a week away!!! I finished my holiday shopping on Monday. (Thank you, Amazon!) I had everything shipped to my in-laws houses, so fingers crossed all of the gifts will be there when I arrive this weekend.

I really do try to eat healthy during the week and get to the gym 5-6 days/week. It’s an active effort everyday and trust me, there are days when I think to myself, “It would just be easier to pick something up to eat.” Or, “Gosh, I have so much work to do. I should just skip the gym.” But I know that’s just my lazy inner self just getting the best of me. There are a few strategies I use to keep me on track.

Packing a gym bag in my car prevents me from coming home and keeping me there.
Find others who can be support you and help you to be accountable — Find a gym buddy. Sign up for classes. Write down in your planner when you’ll be going to the gym each day.
Plan meals ahead of time and look for healthy substitutes.

I can’t help you with making sure to pack a gym bag everyday, but I can help you with a getting involved with a community and healthy meal planning. Emily from Sweet Bella Roos has started an online community called Counting Cupcakes. (How cute!!) This group is for anyone who wants to start (or continue) to live a healthy lifestyle. There will be a weekly newsletter which will feature a healthy recipe, a sweet treat recipe and a weekly meal plan. Click on the cute lil cupcake to sign up!

When you look at your favorite recipes, try to find new ways to make it better for you. Add more vegetables so you get fiber and stay full longer, skip butter & cream and use olive oil & skim milk instead, use fresh herbs and seasonings instead of salt or fat. It takes some practice, but I know you can do it.

There is a local restaurant in town and they have the best chicken & rice soup I’ve ever had. It’s creamy and delicious. I really wanted to recreate it at home and make it a lighter option. I added vegetables & brown wild rice. Instead of cream, I used skim milk and reduced fat cream cheese to give it a creamy texture. It totally worked! And since I made it at home, it wasn’t loaded with salt and I wasn’t tempted to dunk a huge loaf of bread into the soup. (this restaurant gives you huge portions and a loaf of bread which every order. It’s a total calorie bomb.)

Recipe Makeover Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup the Tasty Fork

I know with Christmas & New Years right around the corner, you might not be in the mood for a soup makeover recipe, but pin it and come back when you’ve started your new years resolution to get healthy. It doesn’t taste like a “diet” meal, which is important to me!

Creamy Chicken & Wild Rice Soup

1 cup uncooked wild rice (I used Uncle Ben’s and included the spice packet.)
2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1 small onion, diced
1 tsp fresh thyme
3 celery stalks, sliced
3 carrots, sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 potatoes, peeled and diced
3 cups chicken stock
3 cups skim milk
1/3 cup flour
4 to 8 ounces reduced fat cream cheese, cut into cubes
2 cups cooked skinless boneless chicken breasts, chopped
Salt & Pepper
Parsley, chopped for garnish

Directions:

Cook rice according to package directions. When cooked, set aside.
In a large dutch oven, bring the heat to medium and add oil. When the oil is warm, add onion & thyme. Stir & cook for 2 minutes. Add celery, carrots, and garlic. Saute for another 5 minutes. Add potatoes and stock; bring to boil. Cover pot; reduce heat to a simmer until potatoes are tender.
Combine milk and flour; stir with a wisk and make sure there are no clump. Pour milk mixture into soup and let simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in cream cheese. When all of the cream cheese has dissolved, add in rice & chicken. Let all of the ingredients fold into the soup and warm up. Taste and season with salt & pepper if needed. Garnish soup with parsley.