Garden is doing great...Here's whats for dinner.

The garden is doing well, we are starting to see lots of yummy veggies.  William had a pepper with dinner tonight that went direct from garden to grill to plate.

Tonight we tried a few new recipes that I want to share with you.....

Since we are working on clean eating I made my own Sweet French salad dressing tonight and it was so easy and tasted wonderful.  I was a bit blown away when I compared my ingredients to the ingredients in the store bought bottle that I have in the fridge.  There really is a lot of  "stuff" in there that you just don't need.  What I like about Sweet French dressing is that it is quick, easy and is great on berries as well as salad.  However, I personally like to put it all together.  Tonight my salad had a mixed organic lettuce blend with extra spinach, shredded carrot, boiled egg, strawberry and cucumber.  I really like it all!

Sweet French Dressing

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup white vinegar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup ketchup

1/2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce 

Whisk all ingredients together until sugar is dissolved and done.

For our main course we had Grilled Chicken with Mango Barbecue Sauce.  Found this recipe in my newest Clean Eating Magazine and I will be making it again.

2 tsp olive oil

1 red onion

3/4 tsp sea salt, divided

1 medium tomato, peeled seeded and chopped

1 mango, peeled and cubed

2 tbsp plus 1 tsp apple cider vinegar 

2 tsp Dijon mustard

6 4-oz boneless, skinless chicken breast

1 lemon halved

olive oil cooking spray

1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper

1/4 cup water

In a medium sauce pan heat oil on medium.  Add onion and 1/4 tsp salt and cook stirring until softened and lightly browned, 10-12 minutes.  Stir in tomato, mango, vinegar, 1/4 cup water and Dijon.  Bring to boil, then cover and reduce heat to low.  Simmer, covered, for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Remove from heat and let cool slightly before processing in a blender or mini food processor until smooth.  Poor 1/2 up into a bowl to use when grilling chicken and the remainder for use at the table.

Preheat grill to medium.

Rinse chicken and pat dry with a paper towel.  Arrange in a single layer on a tray.  Squeeze juice form 1/2 of lemon over chicken, then lightly mist with cooking spray, sprinkle with salt and peeper.  Flip the chicken over and repeat process.

Grill chicken until cooked through and no longer pink.  During last 5 min of grilling coat with sauce and turn once. 

I really loved this, we had it with steamed veggies and the sauce was a great dip for them as well as the chicken.

Chocolate Banana Freezer Pie...how can you go wrong?  This is also from Clean Eating and I think an excellent summer desert.  The recipe included directions for a Extra-Easy Whole Grain pine crust which sounds great but even on my best day, easy or not I can't make a pie crust.  And I know this and I'm not going to ruin my afternoon by trying and failing.  (That's just me!)

5 small ripe bananas (about 1lb), peeled and broken or cut into small pieces

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 cup light coconut milk

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 baked pie crust (I used store bought graham cracker crust)

2 tbsp unsalted dry roasted peanuts (I used sliced almonds)

1 oz dark chocolate (70% or greater), finely chopped

Combine bananas, cocoa, coconut milk and vanilla in the jar of a blender.  Blend until very smooth (like thin cake batter), stopping to scrape down sides of jar and stir mixture 2 or 3 times to ensure all banana is pureed.

Pour banana puree into baked pie crust.  Sprinkle with almonds and chocolate.  Jeff is not a fan of almonds so I only put them on half.  Cover and freeze for a minimum of 4 hours.  Remove pie 30 min prior to serving allowing to thaw at room temperature.

Until Next Time....

So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Matthew 6:34