Peach Marinade Tuna Filets w/ mango salsa

One of mine and Jeremy's favorite fish recipes is a swordfish with mango marinade and salsa, so I thought I'd try something a little different!

Tuna:

• 2 tuna steaks (sized to your preference, ours were about 6-8 oz a piece)

Mango Salsa:

• 1 Mango cut up (Be sure not to cut the skin....to read the proper way to cut a mango, go here)
• 1/2 an orange pepper (or whatever color you prefer...it just looked delicious at fresh market) diced.
• 1/2 green pepper diced
• 1 jalepeno (seeded and diced)
• 1/2 onion diced
• about 2 tbsp. chopped cilantro (use however much you prefer, I love cilantro, so I used a good bit)
• 2 tbsp. Peach Nectar (usually found in the juice aisle)
• 1 tbsp. lime juice
• salt and pepper to taste

Mix it all together and put it in the fridge....

Orange Pepper

Onions & Green Peppers

Mango & Jalepeno

Salsa all finished!!

Peach Marinade

• 1 Cup Peach Nectar
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar (or a little less)
• 1/8 cup reduced sodium soy sauce
• 1 tbsp. asian hot chili garlic sauce (found in the ethnic foods aisle)
• 1 tbsp. molasses
• 1/4 light brown sugar
• salt to taste

Mix all the ingredients together and pour over the tuna filets for about 15-20 minutes.

I bought a little over 1 lb of sashimi grade tuna steaks (which was more than enough for 2 people). We were using a skillet to cook ours, but only because I don't have a grill (which is how I prefer my fish). B/c I bought sushi grade tuna, I cooked them medium rare (white on both sides, bright pink in the middle), but I know some people don't like raw fish, so cook as preferred!

I put just about 1 tbsp oil on the skillet and heated it over medium heat, but the steaks down, cooked them on one side for about 2-3 minutes, turn them over and repeat for 2-3 more minutes. (Again, cook longer if needed)

I removed the entire skillet from the heat and kept the tuna in the skillet to finish cooking for about 1 more minute.

I plated the tuna....topped with about 2 spoonfuls of the mango salsa, and served alongside some steamed french green beans!

Enjoy!

Buffalo Chicken Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

I found this recipe on "Natalies Killer Cuisine," it was an instant favorite for Jeremy (he has even made it for me in the past!!) I have changed a thing here or there, but I have to give credit where it's due!!

Ingredients:
1 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breast
About 1/2 a box of chicken broth (or as much as you need)
1 medium onion - diced
1 bottle of hot sauce (or BBQ sauce, use whatever you prefer)
2 large sweet potatoes
1/2 tsp nutmeg (per potato)
1/2 tbsp butter (per potato)
Cheese to top the potato (optional)

I started off this morning putting 1 lb of boneless skinless chicken breast in the crock pot, with enough chicken broth (reduced sodium of course) to cover just the top of the chicken. I put the crock pot on low (8 hours)

About 2-3 hours later, I checked the chicken, just stabbed it with a fork and it started to shred apart, so I knew it was done. I pulled the chicken out of the crock pot, poured out the broth. Shredded the chicken on my cutting board, returned it to the crock pot and poured a whole bottle of Frank's hot sauce on the chicken (just enough to cover the chicken so it doesn't get dried out....you can of course put as much as you prefer or even use BBQ sauce instead of hot sauce.) I kept the crock pot on low (8 hours) and checked it occasionally to make sure it wasn't drying up...but it certainly wasn't!

About 1 hour before dinner, I cleaned and dried 2 large sweet potatoes, poked a few wholes in them with a fork, pre-heated my oven to 400, put the potatoes on a cookie sheet and put them in the oven for 1 hour.

Right after putting the potatoes in the oven, I diced up a small onion and stirred it in to the chicken ( we like our onions a little crispy, so thats why I put them in so late...but you could put them in whenever, depending on your taste!)

When the potatoes were done (you will know, they need to be soft), I split a small cut down the center, and removed a small square of the skin. I added about 1/2 tbsp. butter and mashed the potato down w/o breaking the skin (it is a BAKED potato after all, not mashed potatoes!) after mashing it up, i added about 1/2 tsp nutmeg for taste (Jeremy doesn't put butter or nutmeg in his potato and says it tastes just as good....just doesn't want the added calories!)

After mashing up the potato, place a heap of the chicken mixture into the potato, top with cheese, and put back under the broiler for 1 minute....(Again, Jeremy doesn't put cheese on his potato, but I still threw his back under the broiler just for a little crisp)

We love this meal and it is now a staple for us!

As a side, I just made a little spinach salad with carrots and tomatoes and vidalia onion dressing. I also broke up some of the dried bread from the bruschetta, into small pieces for croutons. It was delicious!

Appetizer:
Caprese Salad

• Fresh mozzarella sliced up into rounds
• tomato sliced
• a little extra virgin olive olive
• a dash of basil (i used dry basil, tasted just as good as fresh to me)

Bruschetta

Rolled up prosciutto (from fresh market....yum)

Enjoy!

Tonight's Menu....

Starter:
Bruschetta on toasted garlic french bread
A little thinly sliced prosciutto, mozzarella and tomato

Salad:
Spinach Salad w/ vidalia onion dressing

Entree:
Shredded buffalo chicken stuffed sweet potatoes (One of Jeremy's favorites)

I will post the completed meal later!! :)

Simple Pot Roast

I made pot roast last night for Jeremy and myself, I found the recipe online, but changed it a bit, especially since I was only making it for 2 (I Still made way too much)

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs boneless chuck roast (original recipe called for 3-4 lb. make as needed)
• 3 medium russet potatoes chopped (cleaned and skinned--you can leaves skins on if you prefer)
• 3 medium carrots chopped
• 1 large onion chopped
• 1 -32oz box beef broth (reduced sodium--healthier)
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1- 6oz can tomato paste
• 2 tsp. paprika
• 3 tsp. allspice
• 1 tbsp rosemary (recipe called for 2-3 springs fresh rosemary-- but Im not a huge fan of rosemary, so I just used about 1 tbsp. dried rosemary)
• salt and pepper for taste

Now, to put it all together:

• Chop up all your veggies

• pour the beef broth, tomato paste, honey, balsamic vinegar, paprika, allspice, salt and pepper in the crock pot, and stir until incorporated

• once all mixed, pour in half of the vegetables
• next place the meat and then top with the rest of the veggies
• make sure the meat is completely submerged in the broth
• top with rosemary

• Now, just cover the crock pot and set on low for 8 hours or high for 6 hours
• If you are home while it's cooking....give it a good stir every now and then....if not, it will be fine.
• Right before you serve, pull the meat out and slice it up
• It's ready to serve. (I placed the meat in the center of a platter, surrounded it with the veggies and then poured some of the broth over it)

I served mine with some bread, but you really don't need anything else!

ENJOY! We did....and Jeremy took it for lunch, reheats well--- the meat would be good for a sandwich!

Source: Crepes of Wrath

Crockpot Taco Chicken Chili

I had a craving for chili....but I didn't want ground beef, I wanted chicken....and I didn't want white chili...so my search began!

This recipe is VERY easy, especially since it cooks in the crock pot and you don't have to mess with it all day until right before its done.

Ingredients:

• 1 onion- diced
• 1- 16oz can of black beans - drained (I drain mine....I don't like watery chili)
• 1- 16oz can of kidney beans - drained
• 1- 16 oz can of chili beans - drained
• 1- 8oz can of tomato sauce
• 2- 14.5oz cans of petite diced tomatoes with chili's 
• 1- 10oz package of frozen corn kernels (I prefer white shoepeg corn over yellow corn)
• 1 pack of taco seasoning
• 1 tbsp. cumin
• 1 tbsp. chili powder 
• 3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (I use the thinly sliced chicken breasts, about 1 lb, it shreds more easily)
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro (finely chopped)

Now the easy part---- putting it all together!

• Combine beans, onion, corn, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, cumin, chili powder and taco seasoning in crock pot-- stir.
• place chicken on top and cover crock pot.
• Cook on low for 10 hours or high for 6 hours.
• 1/2 hour before serving, remove chicken and shred (if you use the thinly sliced chicken breasts, they don't even need to be removed, they will shred up as soon as you try to pull them out...much easier than dirtying another cutting board)
• Return shredded chicken to crock pot and stir in.
• Serve chili- top with fresh cilantro and cheese (optional) or whatever toppings you prefer
• I also served mine with corn bread (Jiffy of course...the only cornbread I will make!)

ENJOY! 

(it also warms very well, the next night I served it over nacho's...)

Source: Gina's Skinny Recipes