New Favorites

I have a few new favorite foods I wanted to share.

1) Chicken Fajita Salad.  I take 3 oz of chicken and 1/6 of an onion, 1/3 of a green pepper, 1/3 of a red pepper and dice it all up.  Then I cook it all together with cooking spray until it's pretty tender and stir in one serving of the Fajita seasoning mix with the LOWEST amount of Sodium from my grocery store (McCormick in my grocery store - but I don't know what it would be in yours).  Then take a mixture of salad greens - romaine, iceberg, Spring mix, etc. - and chop it into really fine pieces.  Think shreds of lettuce on your favorite enchilada.  Add the chicken fajita mixture to the salad and mix it all together.  VIOLA!!!  I honestly probably use four cups of salad to that one serving of chicken fajita.  You can also put the chicken fajita mixture in a whole wheat/low carb tortilla with a tsp. of sour cream - hold the cheese - and add a low fat dressing to your greens.  Or you can take the entire salad and put it in a whole wheat/low carb tortilla with a tsp. of sour cream.  Delicious way to get your veggies in when you are NOT in the mood for a salad! *Note: I make up a whole bunch of the fajita mix ahead of time and freeze it.  Then when I want a salad - I get the mix out of my freezer, cook it on the stove, add the seasoning mix, and I'm set for a FAST lunch or late dinner when I don't have time or energy to make anything else.  It's awesome!

2) Banana smoothie.  I place a medium-sized, medium-ripe banana and 1/2 cup of nonfat milk in my blender.  Then add a dash of nutmeg and a dash of cinnamon (careful with the nutmeg - a little goes a LONG way; go to town with the cinnamon, as much as you like).  Blend together.  Add in some ice chunks and blend that together until smooth and VIOLA!  I'm telling you - this is an AMAZING snack!  When I can't get my kids to eat anything else, I add in a small scoop of protein powder and sometimes a little fiber one plain cereal - they drink it RIGHT up!  And I'm not fighting them at the table for an hour to get them to eat their dinner and/or waking up to screaming, hungry two-year-olds in the middle of the night.  Win/win situations are my SAVING grace!

3) Yogurt and cottage cheese.  My mom used to make this fruit/jello salad.  You take some fruit cocktail and mix it into cool whip and then add a package of unprepared jello.  I am sure you have had this in MANY forms.  But the calories and SUGAR in this salad -- um, through the roof, even for a small serving.  So I reformed it: Get 6 oz of low or non-fat plain or vanilla yogurt, add 1/4-1/2 cup of cottage cheese, and mix in a serving of Crystal Light.  You get the same flavor/texture as my mom's old fruit salad jello mix but without all the extra sugar and junk.  And the cottage cheese and yogurt combined give you a good dose of protein while still getting some calcium in your meal.  It's so good my two-year-olds LOVE it!  A perfect pre-bed snack!