Lighter Chicken Pad Thai

Casey and I love Pad Thai but it isn't exactly good for you. This version is light with lots of fresh veggies and tastes terrific. You still get the flavors of regular Pad Thai but with a bright freshness that doesn't weigh you down. Yum! Leftovers were great, too.

Ingredients:

7 oz packaged rice noodles

1 lb uncooked boneless, skinless, chicken breasts, cut into bite size pieces

1/4 cup plus 1 tbsp fish sauce

4 cups uncooked broccoli florets

1 medium carrot, julienned

1/4 cup plus 1 tbsp lime juice, freshly squeezed

3 tbsp sugar

1/4 cup water

2 tsp ginger root

cooking spray

4 tsp peanut oil

1 tsp chili pepper flakes

1 clove garlic, minced

1 1/2 cups bean sprouts

1/3 cup peanuts, chopped fine

1/2 cup cilantro, chopped

2 scallions, chopped

Directions:

Soak noodles in cold water for 1 hour while you chop and prepare the ingredients. Place chicken in a small bowl with 1 tbsp of fish sauce, combine and set aside.

In a small bowl, combine remaining 1/4 cup of fish sauce, 1/4 cup lime juice, sugar, water, and ginger. Mix well and set aside.

Coat a large wok or skillet with cooking spray and heat over medium high heat. Add 2 tsp peanut oil and heat. Add chicken and cook, stirring occasionally, until chicken is cooked through, about 4 minutes. Remove chicken from pan, cover to keep warm, and set aside.

Coat the wok with cooking spray again and add the remaining 2 tsp of peanut oil; heat over medium-high heat. Add the broccoli and carrot and cook until slightly tender, about 5 minutes. 

While the vegetables are cooking, drain noodles thoroughly and set aside. 

Add the garlic and chili peppers to the wok and sauté 30 seconds. Add noodles and and fish sauce mixture. Cook, stirring, until the sauce is mostly absorbed, about 3 minutes. Stir in chicken and peanuts. Remove from heat.

Add the remaining 1 tbsp of lime juice, bean sprouts, cilantro, and scallion. Mix well to combine. Serve immediately.

Servings: 6 (roughly 2 cups per serving)

ww points plus: 9

Spinach and Cheddar Frittata

I am making myself get back into blogging food! I had gotten out of the habit of taking pictures of everything I cook so I am trying to get back into it.

We've had a chance to settle in to the new house although we still can't believe we live here. We're doing some painting and working on getting the garden ready for planting. We have a laundry list of things to do but it is wonderful to be able to take our time with it. There is nothing that HAS to be done just stuff we want to do.

I am loving having our own chicken flock and we are up to our elbows in eggs. So I will most likely have a ton of egg recipes to share over the summer. I've been making frittatas every weekend. They are easy to whip up, healthy, and great to reheat for breakfast the following day. Since I am also trying to lose the baby weight I have been making a lot of weight watcher friendly eats.

This frittata is simple and delicious. It uses ingredients I typically always have on hand, too. Everybody wins.

Ingredients:

4 eggs

2 egg whites

1 cup fresh spinach

2 tbsp fresh scallions, chopped

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

cooking spray

1/2 cup shredded, low fat, cheddar cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400.

In a large bowl, beat together eggs, egg whites, salt and pepper. Stir in spinach and scallions.

Coat a 12-inch ovenproof skillet with cooking spray. Heat skillet over medium heat. Pour in egg mixture and cook about 5 minutes, until partially set.

Sprinkle cheese evenly over the eggs. Place the skillet in the oven and bake until eggs firm up, about 5 minutes. Remove from oven and let stand 1 minute. Cut into 4 sections. 

Servings: 4

ww points plus: 3

New House!

Here are pictures of the house before we moved in last week! So different than our DC house in a million ways. There are definitely things we want to change (paint, finish basement, outdoor entertainment, upgrades, etc) but having a move in ready home is so nice. We are so in love with it already. As we go through the decorating/renovating process I will post updates here.

Front of the house:

Back of the house:

Right side of house:

Left side of house:

Lower deck:

View from the lower deck to the right:

View to the left:

Left side yard (chicken coop, garden and detached garage):

Entryway:

Family room:

Dining area:

Kitchen:

Laundry/mud room:

Main floor bathroom:

Office:

Upstairs hallway:

Master bedroom:

Balcony off master:

Master bathroom:

Bedroom 1 (Violet's room):

Bedroom 2:

Bedroom 3 (guest bedroom):

Upstairs bathroom:

Basement: