A month of skinnytaste

If I remember correctly, I first heard about the blog skinnytaste from my former coworker Brittany, a couple of years ago, although I didn't try any recipes from the the website at that time. I recently came across it again, and in need of kitchen inspiration - and with my trusty new/old iPhone in hand - I spent some time trolling the website and came up with a list of recipes to try out. We've been eating skinnytaste almost exclusively in the month of May; happily, we have had a number of hits and only a few near misses. Super excited to have a new bank of inspiration upon which to draw.

I'm only going to talk about the hits...


May 5th: Cheesy Jalapeño Popper Baked Stuffed Chicken and Fiesta Lime Rice

The title pretty much says it all. Create a stuffing of bacon, cream cheese, Cheddar cheese, jalapeño, and green onion, and roll it into flattened chicken breasts. Bread and bake. Cheesy, spicy, gooey goodness.

We ate this accompanied by Fiesta Lime Rice, a delicious and super healthy side dish of rice, beans, corn, tomatoes and green onions. Greg found it bland, but of course, I made his without cilantro, which added tonnes of flavour. His loss. I loved it. I doubled the corn in my version.

Mmm. I want to go make, and eat, this again right now.

On the left side of the plate are the cheesy bits that melted out of the chicken onto the pan. Mmm.
To the right of the plate is my current reading material.

May 7th: Spicy Black Bean Burgers with Chipotle Mayonnaise

Again, with the apt title. Need I say more? Yes. These are probably the best homemade bean burgers I have made to date. The recipe says it makes 4, but I was working with small buns, so I made 6 out of the mixture. I cooked 3: one each for me and Greg, one to split between O and S. I then froze the other 3, and happily ate them in later days as a quick, cook-from-frozen lunch (I found I had to cook them a little longer than suggested). Delicious every time. The burgers are a little spicy, and the mayo is spicier. I left the mayo off O's and S's, and although O said she didn't like the burger, she ate it, which makes me doubt her word. S ate hers; she loves beans.

The recipe calls for 1 jumbo egg; I used 2 large. If you decide to make these, read through all the instructions; there are some good tips there.

May 10th: Broccoli and Cheese Twice Baked Potatoes

Maybe not quite as good as bacon- and cheese-laden baked potatoes, but still good tasting and infinitely better for you. All your veggies in one spot.

May 12th: Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins

I left off the part of the title describing these as "insanely good." They were good, but I don't know if they were that good. We did, however, make short order of them in our house; they were gone in 2 days.

Olivia and I spent Mother's Day morning making these. We haven't done much baking together recently; it was good to do so again.

My girlies and my Mother's Day flowers:

Must Stop Using IPhone To Take Pictures

May 13th: Chicken and Orecchiette Soup

Delicious warm chicken soup after a couple of cold days. I found these fun-coloured carrots at the grocery store:

...but didn't realize the purple carrot would colour the soup an unappealing grey colour:

Luckily, the taste was good. I couldn't find the cavatelli pasta called for in the recipe, so instead bought orecchiette, which Olivia was excited about, because they stick to the tongue. She and Sadie both ate the soup right up.


Looking for cooking inspiration? Check out skinnytaste. More to come...

May 15th: blueberry streusel muffins

Although I've been digging these make ahead muffins I've made recently, I couldn't resist trying out the blueberry streusel muffins featured in May 2011's Chatelaine. I'm sold on anything containing streusel. These were a hit with all three of us.

April 17th: blueberry smoothie, grain & veggie salad

Sunday morning, rush rush rush to get myself and O to the gym, and I'm grateful for this blueberry smoothie, which tided Miss O over till we could get to the gym playroom where she had her applesauce, cheese and milk. I didn't drink much of mine before I taught my class (bad bad bad) and by the time we were done with BODYFLOW and groceries, it had fairly separated as it sat in the car. I stirred it back together and drank it down. I don't recommend delayed drinking though. From the Dairy Farmers of Canada:


Blueberry Smoothie


1 cup (250 mL) milk
3/4 cup (175 mL) blueberry yogurt
1/4 cup (60 mL) pomegranate juice*
1 cup (250 mL) frozen blueberries
handful of ice cubes


Blend all ingredients until smooth. Makes about 3 cups (750 mL).


*I used pomegranate juice, but I suspect cranberry or another tart juice would work well.

Olivia licks the yogurt spoon while eyeing up breakfast.
Check it out; the shirt washed clean!!

Supper, I made an awesome whole wheat grain & veggie salad from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian. It took a bit of searching to find the whole grain kernels, but Bulk Barn came through, and at $1.50 for 2 big scoops, it seems like a fantastic deal to me. This salad requires prep, which was fine for a Sunday afternoon at home. The whole wheat (also called wheat berries) need to be simmered for 2 hours. The peppers and garlic need to be roasted, at different temperatures, for 30-40 minutes each. But it all comes together to make a delicious combo. With a green salad on the side, supper was made!


Whole Wheat (Wheat Berries)
Whole Wheat is unmilled kernels with the bran and germ still intact. Light brown, rounded, oval-shaped grain with a nutty flavour and very chewy texture. (HtCEV)

To cook: bring pot of water to a boil. Rinse kernels thoroughly, then add to boiling water. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 2 hours. Drain and rinse thoroughly.


Roasted Sweet Peppers
Preheat the oven to 450°F. Place washed peppers on a foil-lined baking pan. Roast, turning peppers until browning on all sides, about 30 minutes. Remove from oven and wrap in foil. Let sit until peppers collapse. Unwrap, let cool and then peel. They tend to fall apart and it's easy to dislodge skin and seeds under running water.


Roasted Garlic
Preheat the oven to 375°F. Peel papery outsides off head(s) of garlic. Slice off about top third of garlic to expose cloves. Rub with olive oil and place on oiled pan. Cover with tin foil and roast until soft, about 40 minutes. Remove from oven and let sit till cool enough to handle. Squeeze cloves from head.

Whole Wheat Salad with Roasted Peppers

1/4 cup pine nuts

3 roasted sweet peppers, peeled, seeded and cut into chunks

2 cups cooked whole wheat

1 head roasted garlic, pulp squeezed from skins

1 cup shredded fresh basil

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, or as needed

3 tbsps red wine or other vinegar

salt and freshly ground black pepper

Toast the pine nuts in a small, dry skillet over medium heat, shaking the pan occasionally, until lightly browned. Set aside.

Toss together the pepper, whole wheat, garlic and half of the basil in a salad bowl. Whisk the oil and vinegar together, along with some salt and pepper. Toss the dressing with the salad, then taste and adjust the seasoning as necessary. Garnish with pine nuts and remaining basil and serve.

Makes 4 servings.