Good Eats

Well today for dinner I made the BBQ Chicken Salad & Whole Wheat Cornbread I spoke of briefly in my last blog post. It was just as yummy as I remembered it being when we ate it after Ellie was born!

We'll start with the bread.

Whole Wheat Cornbread

1 1/4 C. Whole Wheat Flour

3/4 C. Corn Meal

1/4 C. Sugar

2 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Salt (optional--I did not add it)

1 C. Milk

1/4 C Vegetable Oil (I used Olive Oil since it's a healthier fat)

2 Egg White or 1 egg, beaten (I used Egg Whites-- no cholesterol)

Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease 8 or 9 inch pan. (I used a bread loaf pan). Combine dry ingredients. Stir in milk, oil and egg, mixing just until dry ingredients are moistened. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until light golden brown and wooden pick inserted in center comes clean.

 I also made some strawberry/orange fruit leather. It was last minute-- our two cartons of strawberries were starting to go bad so instead of throwing them out & wasting $7, I figured this would be yummy.

Since I didn't have oranges, I just added some orange juice to help it puree a little easier.

1 of two cartons of strawberries & the OJ

I ended up splitting the puree after getting impatient into two pans. I should've just poured it onto the cookie sheet (it was dirty & I didn't feel like washing it just for this) (No after picture because they're still baking!)

They're baking at 80 degrees Celsius, which I believe is about 178 in F.

BBQ Chicken Salad

2 Chicken Breasts

1 Head of Lettuce

1 Avocado

1/2 Cucumber

Barbecue  Sauce

1 Can Black Beans, drained

1 Can Corn, drained

2 small Tomatoes

Fried Onion Strings

Ranch Dressing

Grill Chicken & cut into strips. Drizzle with BBQ Sauce. In a small bowl make your dressing-- the ratio is 1/3 BBQ sauce to 2/3 Ranch. Lightly coat your lettuce with dressing. Slice veggies then add to salad. Toss. Place sliced chicken on top & add fried onion strings if desired.

As you can see I added carrots & baby spinach to the salad. I also used 2 mini cucumbers instead of 1/2 of a regular cucumber.

I've been trying to think of how to make the dressing lighter. We are not dressing people-- I don't douse my salads. In fact, most of the time I eat my salads dry or use dip individual bites into a vinaigrette. I think since Nathan, John & I all love honey mustard dipping sauce (we make our own), I'll try doing something with that instead. We'll see. A glazed balsamic chicken would be good too with an oil & vinegar dressing. 

Next on the menu? Spinach & Ricotta Stuffed Chicken Breast with Quinoa. Only 300 calories. Oh yes! 

p.s. I think I'm liking cooking more now that I can incorporate photography into it-- haha =)