Chicken and Blue Cheese - Stuffed Portobellos

Call it Girl Scount Cookie remorse but I've been cooking healthy.  We are not "clean eaters" at our house but my friend is the queen of yummy, healthy recipes.

I was able to find the recipe online:
http://www.cleaneatingmag.com/recipes/chicken-blue-cheese-stuffed-portobellos/

Notes:
-This is a good make-ahead meal.  Most of the work is in the prep of the ingredients.  You can even assemble and refrigerate.
-6 HUGE portobellos will feed 6 people.  One of these is filling!  I may halve the recipe next time. 
-We don't like quinoa so we substituted equal amounts farro (my new obsession).  That is why mine might look different.
-Used blue cheese (I had it leftover).  Hunter isn't a blue cheese eater but loved it.
-Winco had MASSIVE portobello mushrooms.  The ones at Albertsons were half the size.  So mine made 6 huge ones (literally the size of my hand)!

Almond Butter Chicken Salad

This is for all of you who are scared, loathe or despise mayo.  It might also be paleo (I am no expert since we certainly aren't at our house :).   Even though this recipe might be different than the all-time, most popular recipe Julie and I created...I love it just as much!  

This recipe is from my friend, Ashley.  It's the same Ashley where I got the amazing ice cream recipe I use monthly to this day.

Recipe:

2 cooked chicken breasts, chopped (~1 lb)

Granny smith apple, chopped

Clump red grapes, quartered

1/2 Red onion, diced

1 T almond butter

squeeze of lemon or lime juice (just enough to get it to mix)

I struggle when preparing chicken but for this recipe I had success with the thin sliced, hand trimmed chicken breasts from Albertstons.  I placed the salt and peppered chicken slices in the oven at 350 (pan covered with foil) for 18 minutes.  They were moist and cooked to perfection.

The rest of the recipe is a lot of chopping and dicing of the ingredients you see above.  The lighting was so pretty I had to snap a picture.  

Mix all together using just enough of the lemon or lime juice to help the almond butter mix.  Work through it for awhile.   Enjoy.  Hope you love it as much as I do!

Claire's Granola

Claire's Granola

Claire and I have been trying to get together to make granola since I can remember.  I finally made it to her house on Sunday.  Claire has been making this recipe for a long time and I have been determined to learn how she does it.  She changes up the ingredients - easy to do.  She was making her own batch on Sunday with walnuts.  I made her standard with the ingredients below, and it is scrumptious.  

Disclaimer: I stopped by Whole Foods and the scale was broken so I didn't get the right amount of oats.  (I don't do well guestimating).  So what you see in pictures (a little more than a cookie sheet) is half the recipe below.  

When you make this your house will smell AMAZING...AMAZING!

Ingredients:

2 lbs rolled oats (4ish cups)

Sunflower seeds

Slivered almonds

Shredded coconut (unsweet)

1/4 c. water

3/4 c. oil

1 1/2 c. honey (I like mine sweet)

Parchment paper (optional but it saves your cookie sheet and the time spent scrubbing off baked honey)

Place a stock pan on the stove and turn the temperature to medium heat.

Measure out 1/4 cup of water and pour into the pan.  Then measure/pour 3/4 cup canola oil.  

*Claire taught me a trick.  If you follow this order, the next step (honey) pours MUCH easier due to the oil coating the measuring cup.  Brilliant.  

Add 1 1/2 cup of honey.  You can do less.  I like mine sweet.

This is what it will look like.  I apologize...these photos leave much to be desired!

Cook on medium heat for just a minute or two and it turns into liquid.  This is what you want.

Then be prepared to stir in oats and nuts/seeds/coconut. 

Stir, stir, stir.  It is important everything is coated with the liquid mixture so it doesn't burn in the oven.  You will stir until it feels like your arm might fall off.

Lay down a piece of parchment paper. (This is optional.  Claire never used it before we tried it Sunday.  It definitely saves cleanup!)

Pour granola mix onto the cookie sheet (I used non-insulated to be sure it became crispy).  Spread the mixture into a big rectangle.  You don't want any pieces off to the side or they will burn quickly.  That was another trick Claire shared with me.

We baked the shown cookie sheet on 325 degrees for 15 minutes, flipped with a spatula, and then baked 20 minutes on the other side.  (Update:  My electric stove takes a little longer.  More like 20+ minutes and another 20.)

This was the end result.  I'm eating it with milk in the mornings and sometimes for snack with yogurt.  We will see if I can do this again without Claire! The rate I am eating this, it won't last long!  Thanks, Claire!