Showing posts with label recipe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label recipe. Show all posts

Sunday, October 8, 2017

Skinnytaste Fast and Slow Cookbook | Review

If you browse your Facebook feed, you are sure to have noticed how recipes by Skinnytaste are shared and reposted a ton.  You may also be a fan of the original blog by Skinnytaste.  I got a chance to check out a copy of the Skinnytaste Fast and Slow Cookbook and I couldn't be more excited to share it with you.

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The cookbook is broken into these sections: Healthy Mornings; Chilis, Soups and Stews; One Bowl Meals; Zoodles, Squashta, Pasta, and Sauce; Taco Night; Poultry Mains; Meat Lover Mains; Fish and Seafood Mains; Meatless Mains; On the Side; and The Sweeter Side.

The whole idea behind the cookbook is that the recipes are ones you can either make FAST (like on a weeknight or in a pinch) or in a SLOW cooker (which most still don't take long to dump in there).  Not to mention, all these recipes are healthy since that is the brain child behind Skinnytaste - big on flavor, not on your hips.

Our family made the following recipes from Skinnytaste Fast and Slow:

Slow Cooker Chicken Burrito Bowls
My husband is a huge fan of Mexican food...to the extent that eating Chipotle doesn't scare him in the least, even after all of their negative experiences lately.  So when he said he was craving a burrito bowl, I knew just the ticket!


Slow Cooker Beef Ragu with Pappardelle
When my husband thumbed through the book, he picked this recipe as once he was especially interested in.  


Slow Cooker Beef Ragu with Pappardelle
Slow Cooker Beef Ragu with Pappardelle

Slow Cooker Hamburger Stroganoff (Hamburger Helper dupe)
Early in our living together days, we usted to make Hamburger Helper a lot.  It was quick, it was easy, and it was cheap.  Well let me tell you, this was just as easy to dump in the crock pot, didn't cost a ton, and was a hundred times more delish.  Plus it doesn't have all the cruddy additives in it.


Slow Cooker Hamburger Stroganoff
Slow Cooker Hamburger Stroganoff
Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Give my husband anything super spicy and he's in heaven, so this was one we had to try out too.  We put them on flour taco shells instead of lettuce leaves, and they still were great.  This is the great thing how you can customize any recipe in this book.

The Skinnytaste Fast and Slow Cookbook is simply amazing and I can't wait to keep cooking my way through it.  All of the recipes we tried were definite keepers, and none of them tasted "skinny" or like we were missing out.  We will definitely be working our way through this, cooking up a storm.  I plan on getting her first cookbook, The Skinnytaste Cookbook: Light on Calories, Big on Flavor, as well.  I will certainly update the blog on that one as well.

I also wanted to mention, there are a good number of vegetarian recipes in here.  I am not a huge meat eater and found these to be very adaptable as well.  For example, for the burrito bowls, I made the meat for my husband but kept mine strictly veggies.  Keep that in mind if you are vegetarian/vegan and make each recipe your own!



A huge thank you to Skinnytaste for sharing a copy of your new cookbook with me.  I can't wait to see what you come up with next!  Check out Skinnytaste's cookbooks on Amazon here and on their blog here.

Disclosure:  Skinnytaste sent me a copy of Skinnytaste Fast and Slow free of charge for my honest review.  I was not otherwise compensated, paid, etc to state my opinions or say nice things.  All my reviews are 100% honest and the above opinions are solely my own.

Monday, June 5, 2017

Copycat Saladworks Garden Deluxe Salad

When we used to live in New Jersey, we used to frequent a salad chain called Saladworks quite often.  Think of Panera, but just focused on salads and soups but where you can pick your ingredients from in front of you a la Subway. 

When we moved to Massachusetts, the chain is no longer near us, but I still found myself craving their big salads and warm side rolls as a lunch or dinner substitute.  One of my favorite salads was their Garden Deluxe Salad, so I decided to recreate it at home.

Saladworks Garden Deluxe Salad
romaine lettuce or spring mix
broccoli florets
shredded carrots
cucumber
sun dried tomato
pasta, whole wheat (I omitted this at home)
dressing - I like Newman's Balsamic

Place a layer of your desired lettuce in a large bowl.  Add broccoli, carrots, cucumber, sun dried tomato, and pasta (white or wheat) on top.  Add dressing and mix up.


I have another favorite salad from Saladworks that I am working on recreating soon, so keep your eye out if you liked this post!

What are your favorite soup and salad places?  Do you have a favorite at Saladworks?


Sunday, December 11, 2016

Slow Cooker Chicken Cheesesteaks | Recipe | Slow Cooker Sunday


I've been making this slow cooker Chicken Cheesesteak recipe for a while now and have amended it enough that we kind of make our own version of it.  We often make this on Sunday nights (we really should just call it what it is - Sunday Slow Cooker Day 😊).  It's a great lighter and more healthy version of steak or beef cheesesteak (which we call Steak and Cheese here in Massachusetts).

Read on for our version of Slow Cooker Chicken Cheesesteaks...






Ingredients:
  • 1 yellow pepper
  • 1  green pepper or orange
  • 1 red pepper
  • 1 onion
  • 2 garlic cloves (optional)
  • 2  tsps paprika (I like more)
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp pepper
  • 8 oz beer - like an IPA
  • 4-6 boneless skinless chicken breasts
  • butter
  • 4-6 sub rolls
  • Slices of Provolone or American cheese

Directions:

Slice the peppers and onions thinly and place in the bottom of the slow cooker.  Throw all the seasonings in on top of the veggies.  Pour the beer over them as well.  Give everything a swish around.

Place the chicken on top of the veggies. Cover and cook on high for 4-6 hours [or low 6-8 if you prefer].

Shred the chicken using two forks or tongs.  Mix everything together.

Place oven on the broiler setting.  Butter both sides of each sub roll.  Place two slices of provolone cheese on each side of the roll.  Lay the rolls out on a baking sheet and place under the broiler for a few minutes until warm and toasty, and the cheese is slightly melted.

Add chicken and peppers to each roll and add whatever toppings you might like - hubs loves Sriracha on his.


Makes: at least 4 fully loaded sandwiches

This is one of those recipes that gets better overnight as the flavors meld together.  

Reheating: Just toast your bread the same way in a toaster over, redheat your chicken mixture and you're good to go!  This would be a great party recipe to make you could just leave some rolls out with a variety of sliced or shredded cheeses and have people add their chicken mixture and toppings.