Dinner Fail

My recent streak of delicious, healthy dinners has come to a screeching halt. Ugh. I hate when this happens. I get on a roll, and then I get too “experiment-y” and dinner flops. Blerg.

So what was my dinner fail?

Clean-Eating Moroccan Chicken with Cauliflower Rice.

I’ve seen so many recipes going around Pinterest for Cauliflower Rice and Cauliflower Pizza Crust that sounded (and looked!) incredible. I found an accompanying recipe that would be “soupy” enough to go over “rice.” The “rice” was easy to make. I literally chopped up a whole head of cauliflower and threw it into the food processor. Cooking it was another story. I read several blogger ideas, and sort of combined my own recipe. I put the cauliflower rice in a skillet with coconut oil and a smidge of salt and garlic powder. I let it heat up, but almost immediately the Cauliflower got lumpy and clumpy and mushy. It was disgusting looking. I figured that may be it would at least taste good with some sauce on top.

The Moroccan Chicken? Ugh. I don’t even know. I’m not sure if the seasoning just wasn’t right. Or the combination of vegetables? I won’t even post the recipe, but I’ll let you know that I got it from here.

Definitely won’t be making this dish again.

What was your worst dinner fail?

Healthy Turkey Chili

I think I’m finally starting to get more comfortable in the kitchen. I’ve never been much of a cook. In fact, I think I only re-heated frozen meals until I met Donovan and we began cooking together. Then, Pinterest was invented, and I saw TONS of delicious looking recipes that were easy to make. Granted, I still make a ton of kitchen fails, I think I’m actually becoming a better cook, and I enjoy cooking now.

For the last couple of weeks, I’ve tried putting new spins on old meals. I’ve made a few different types of meatloaf, and now I’ve moved on to experimenting with Chili. Last week I made Pumpkin Chili. While it sounds good…it was kind of bland. It needed more spices or flavor…or something. This week I decided to try healthy chili…or as healthy as chili can get. I did not go off of a recipe, so here’s what I did:

INGREDIENTS:
Ground Turkey – the leaner the better
2 14oz cans of diced tomatoes (i used petite diced tomatoes in garlic/olive oil)
1 small can of tomato paste
1 cup frozen corn
1 cup frozen spinach (chopped)
1 can black beans (drained)
1 yellow onion
3 gloves garlic
1 red bell pepper
Cumin Powder
Chili Powder
Cayenne Pepper
Onion Powder
Garlic Powder

DIRECTIONS:
Brown Turkey with whatever seasonings you like and set aside
In a large stock pot, cook onions, garlic, and red bell pepper until flavorful. Then, add tomato paste and seasonings to taste.
After about 3 minutes, add 2 cans of diced tomatoes, frozen corn frozen spinach, black beans and stir. When hot, add in ground turkey and stir.
Serve over cornbread waffles.
Delish.

True story, this was so easy. We ate it so fast I forgot to take a picture. The chili was so flavorful and had a good helping of veggies in each bite.

Stuffed Acorn Squash

If you know me at all, you know that Autumn/Fall is by far my favorite season. I love when the temps start to drop, leaves crunch under your feet, and you get to wear cute sweaters and boots. It also means that is time for FALL VEGETABLES! WAHOO!

Prior to knowing my sister-in-law, I had never eaten Spaghetti Squash, Butternut Squash, or Acorn Squash. Anytime I heard squash, all I could think of was the yellow summer squash my mom used to boil for us when we were kids. It came out stinky and watery. Not good. When my sister-in-law tried to get me onto these fall squashes, I pretty much laughed in her face. Not only do these squashes look weird, I had a feeling they would taste weird, too. Boy was I wrong. Fall Squashes are my FAVORITE squashes.

First – spaghetti squash tastes EXACTLY like regular spaghetti — even Donovan prefers it over regular noodles!

Second – Butternut squash, tastes exactly like sweet potatoes when mixed with a smidge of brown sugar and and butter.

Third – acorn squash is just plain delicious. There is no way around it.

SO – last night I decided to make stuffed acorn squash. I wanted to have that awesome fall flavor, but incorporate some protein to make my meat-loving husband happy.

The Ingredients:

1 acorn squash, halved and seeded
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 teaspoon ground sage, divided
4oz ground turkey — but we used ground chicken we made on our Kitchen Aid mixer
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 a celery rib, chopped
1/2 cup chopped apple (i used fuji apples)
1/3 cup bread crumbs
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1 egg white
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400*. Cut open the acorn squash, scoop out the seeds, and place on a cookie sheet facing up.
Mix together the butter, half of the sage, and the garlic and spread over the tops of the acorn squash. Roast for 50-60 minutes.

2. Over medium heat, cook the protein. After it’s cooked, remove the meat from the pan to a plate, and place the pan back on the stove. Add the onion and celery and cook for about 4 minutes. Then add the apples and cook for another 2 miunutes.

3. Add the onion mixture to the meat mixture and stir. Then add in remaining sage, parmesan cheese, egg white, and breadcrumbs. Season with salt and pepper.

4. When the squash is finished cooking, spoon the meat mixture into the open halves and pile high!

5. Bake at 400* for 20 minutes.