{Oven Baked Teriyaki Chicken Thighs}

This chicken is delightful. Chicken thighs are a bit more fattening, BUT they do taste so much better than regular frozen chicken breasts. Really, they are so good. My brother made some last year for us on the GRILL and man they were Gooooood! I made this chicken and shane said "This tastes like one of the selections at the chinese buffet. We like chinese buffets. :) It was good. TRY IT! You will be glad you did! :)

Ingredients:

1 tbsp. cornstarch

1 tbsp. cold water

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup rice wine vinegar

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 tsp. black pepper

12 skinless chicken thighs

Directions:

Combine all the ingredients, except the chicken, in a saucepan on low heat. Let simmer and stirring frequently, until sauce thickens and bubbles.

Preheat oven to 425.

Place chicken pieces in a 9x13 pan. Spray the pan with PAM first. Poor half of the sauce over the chicken, brushing the chicken to make sure each piece is covered in sauce.

Bake for 30 minutes. Turn pieces over and poor on remaining sauce. Bake another 30 minutes.

YUM! ENJOY!

Source: www.dineanddish.net

{Homemade Granola Bars}

These are good granola bars!! I love them and they are so addictive. Next time i am going to try honey instead of the molasses b/c the molasses was too strong in the bar. But i still enjoyed them. OR i could do 1/3 cup honey and 1/4 cup molasses. That could be good. These are easy to make! No need to buy store bought anymore. These are healthier for you too. ALSO, i added flaxseed to my granola bars. I add flaxseed to anything i think it would be good in. It's great for you!

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups old fashioned oatmeal

1 cup nuts, seeds, or spices OR a combination of all three ....totaling 1 cup

1/3 + 1/4 cup honey, agave, molasses, or maple syrup. You can mix up flavors or just use one.

1 cup total dried fruit

1 cup apple butter or almond butter

Directions:

I just combined all the ingredients. If you want the pieces chopped up more fine, then use a food processor. Line your cake pan with parchment paper. Poor the mixture in and press down really hard on the mixture to pack it in good. Bake at 325 for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and cool in the freezer until they are firm. Then cut into the size you want.

They can be stored in an air tight container for a week. OR will last frozen up to a month. Enjoy!

Source: www.goodlifeeats.com

{Strawberry Stuffed French Toast}

If you feel like totally feel like forgetting healthy and want to think fattening then indulge and eat this. I made this at breakfast for the men in my life on Valentine's Day. They loved it. I loved it too. It was sooooo good. :)

Filling:

1 Cup Sliced Fresh Strawberries

2 TBSP. sugar

4 oz. cream cheese, softened

Toast:

4 thick slices of bread, such as challah or Italian Bread

1 large egg

3/4 cup milk

2 TBSP. melted butter

1 tsp. vanilla

1/4 cup flour

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

1/5 tsp. salt

Unsalted butter

Directions:

For filling, Stir together the strawberries and sugar and set aside for 15 minutes. Then stir in the cream cheese until blended well.

Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Carefully cut a pocket into the center of your bread. In a shallow baking dish, wisk together the egg and milk. Wisk in the melted butter and the vanilla. Stir in the flour, cinnamon, and salt until well blended.

Fill the pocket in your bread with the filling mixture. I stuffed mine full. :) Place the filled slices of bread in the egg mixture, allowing to soak about 30 seconds each side.

Add 1 TBSP. butter to the skillet. Add the filled slices of toast to the skillet and cook until golden or about 2 minutes each side.

Source: www.annies-eats.com from Williams and Sonoma

{Fiber One Parmesan Crusted Chicken}

This is very good. Tastes like your eating fried chicken, but it's healthy! Try it! It's simple to put together and the kids loved it.

Ingredients:

5 pieces of chicken(i buy the bags of frozen chicken)

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

1 cup Fiber-One

1 tsp. Onion powder

1 tsp. Garlic powder

2 tsp. Italian Seasoning

2 egg whites

Salt and Pepper

Directions:

In a food processor, mix together the parmesan cheese, Fiber-one, onion powder, garlic powder, and italian seasoning. If you don't have a food processor, then you can put the ingredients in a ziploc bag and crush it with a rolling pin.

Turn the oven to 400 degrees.

Line a baking sheet with foil. Spray the foil with PAM cooking spray.

Salt and pepper both sides of your chicken. Dip the chicken in the egg white and then dip it in the fiber-one mixture. Put it on the baking sheet and spray the top of the chicken with PAM spray.

Throw in the oven for 25 minutes.

Source: www.thegirlwhoateeverything.blogspot.com

{Homemade Hummus}

I decided to make homemade hummus. Not only b/c it's a lot cheaper to make your own than buy it, but also b/c it's healthy for you AND because i needed a better alternative other than ranch dressing. We always dip our veggies in ranch. Well, not anymore. Hummus is now our choice of dip. This stuff is good! :) You must try making your own! You can dip veggies in it, you can use it as a spread on your sandwich instead of using mayo OR you can dip pita bread in it(toast your pita bread to make pita chips).

Ingredients:

water

1 lb. garbanzo beans(chickpeas)

1/2 cup lemon juice

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil or canola oil

1/2 tbsp. minced garlic

1/2 tbsp. + 1 tsp. kosher salt

*You will need a food processor or blender

Directions:

I used dried chickpeas, which takes awhile b/c they have to soak for hours and then cook for awhile. But i get more chickpeas for a better price than i do buying canned chickpeas. You can buy canned if you want. You just mix all the ingredients together in the blender or food processor. If using a blender, put all the liquid in first so that it can mix up. You add water depending on how thick or not so thick you would like your hummus. I like mine with a bit of a thicker texture. It will be kind of slow, and you might have to turn it off and stir it up a bit in the blender and then turn it on again(a few times). I had to do it in two separate batches in order for it to work. Then i just combined it all in a bowl and mixed it up.

*Also, if you would like to add a certain spice to give it a taste of your choice, then do it. I like cumin so i added probably 1/2 tsp. of cumin. It tastes good!

Source: cilantropist.blogspot.com

{Quick and Easy Lasagna}

My husband loves lasagna. We haven't eaten it in quite awhile. He requested it for this week so i thought i better make him something to hit the spot after his hard working days. Good thing i made it for him yesterday. He had a 14 hour work day and was a happy man when he came home and saw lasagna waiting for him. :) I haven't tried too many lasagna's, but i haven't felt the need to explore more varieties of lasagna b/c we enjoy the recipe we have. And it's so easy to make! In this picture, you can see i used two different cheeses. I didn't have mozarella b/c i forgot to buy some, so i used what i had...monterrey jack cheese and cheddar cheese.

Ingredients:

9 Whole grain lasagna noodles

1 lb. hamburger meat (we buy 93% lean)

1 TBSP. Italian Seasoning

1-2 tsp. Garlic

Ragu garden combination spaghetti sauce(regular size)

1 cup low- fat cottage cheese

1 cup non-fat sour cream

Cheddar cheese or mozarella cheese

Directions:

In a large sauce pan cook your hamburger. While it's still raw in the pan, poor in about 1 TBSP. of italian seasoning. Then put in about 1-2 tsp. of garlic. In the meantime, you need to be boiling your noodles. After the meat is done then add the spaghetti sauce. In a bowl, mix together the cottage cheese and sour cream. In a cake pan, put a small amount of sauce on the bottom of the pan. Then put down 3 lasagna noodles. Put 1/3 of the cottage cheese mixture over alll three noodles. Then layer some sauce on top of that. Then add 3 more noodles. Then the cottage cheese mixture, then the sauce. Then 3 more noodles, then the last of the cottage cheese mixture, then the last of the sauce. Then put LOTS of cheese on top! We don't go lightly on the cheese when it comes to lasagna and enchiladas! :)

Cook at 400 degrees for about 15-20 minutes or until the cheese it melted and a little golden brown. So yummy! Enjoy!

Source: In the BYU-I newspaper

{Fresh Salsa}

This is a great salsa recipe. I have been wanting to try a different one for awhile. So, when i try a salsa that is better than this one, then i will be sure to post it for you! Meanwhile, enjoy!

Sorry, no pictures!

Ingredients:

28 oz. can of canned tomatoes(crushed or stewed)

1/2 tsp. sugar

2-4 fresh tomatoes(i would use plum tomatoes)

Onion, to your liking

2 cloves of garlic

Can of green chilies

1/2 green pepper

1/2 jalapeno to taste

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. cumin

Juice of 1 lemon

Fresh Cilantro to taste

Fresh Parsley to taste

Directions:

Chop the onion and pepper and tomatoes to the size you want them. I cut mine tiny. You can also food process it if that's the way you would like it. The longer you let this sit in the fridge, the MORE tasty it becomes! So, i would at least fix it a few hours before you are ready to eat it. Remember that you can add as much or as little as you would like of any of these ingredients. It just depends on your taste!

Source: A college roommate, jessica paris