Thanksgiving

I love Thanksgiving. And I love food. Especially holiday food. My mom makes the best stuffing, and I usually make home made macaroni and cheese for my husband who isn't a big fan of most of the traditional sides. We made cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, turkey, stuffing, rolls, and pie. Lots of pies. I love all pie, I'm not discriminatory.

However, since I'm on this weight loss kick this year, I have had to make some adjustments to my menu. I'll be making several of my dishes from the Cooking Light recipe index.

I'll be making one of their recipes for Macaroni and Cheese although I haven't picked one specific recipe yet.

The Kid and I want to make an apple pie together.

And.....if she can be persuaded to give up her delicious recipe, I might try and make my own stuffing this year.

We'll also have to make some of the usual desserts too, I always make The Hubs a chocolate pudding cream pie and this year The Kid wants to make chocolate chip cookies.

What's on your menu this year?

Recipe!

I have a migraine today, so I posted this recipe to Facebook with the note: "This looks delicious and I think that if you loved me, you'd take pity on me because I have a migraine and you should come cook this for me!" Not surprisingly nobody showed up to cook it for me and when I got home The Hubs took us out to dinner at The Blazing Onion (I had the Buffalo Burger...it was delicious.)

Anyhoodle.

Here is the recipe. I do plan on making this! It looks delicious and healthy! I got it from Map My Walk.

Chicken & Asparagus with Melted Gruyere Recipe

Servings: 4 servings

For this elegant dish, boneless chicken breast and asparagus are smothered in a luxurious white-wine sauce with just the right amount of melted Gruyère cheese. Tarragon and lemon add a delicious light flavor that is perfect with asparagus.

Ingredients:
8 ounces Asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
2/3 cup Reduced-Sodium Chicken Broth
2 teaspoons plus 1/4 cup All-Purpose Flour, divided
4 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts, (1 1/4 to 1 1/2 pounds), trimmed and tenders removed (see Note)
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon Freshly Ground Pepper
1 tablespoon Canola Oil
1 Shallot, thinly sliced
1/2 cup White Wine
1/3 cup Reduced-Fat Sour Cream
1 tablespoon Chopped Fresh Tarragon, or 1 teaspoon dried
2 teaspoons Lemon Juice
2/3 cup Shredded Gruyère Cheese

Place a steamer basket in a large saucepan, add 1 inch of water and bring to a boil. Add asparagus; cover and steam for 3 minutes. Uncover, remove from the heat and set aside.
Whisk broth and 2 teaspoons flour in a small bowl until smooth. Set aside.
Place the remaining 1/4 cup flour in a shallow dish. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper and dredge both sides in the flour, shaking off any excess.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the chicken and cook until golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes per side, adjusting heat as needed to prevent scorching. Transfer to a plate and cover to keep warm.

Add shallot, wine and the reserved broth mixture to the pan; cook over medium heat, stirring, until thickened, about 2 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-low; stir in sour cream, tarragon, lemon juice and the reserved asparagus until combined. Return the chicken to the pan and turn to coat with the sauce. Sprinkle cheese on top of each piece of chicken, cover and continue cooking until the cheese is melted, about 2 minutes.

Calories: 304
Carbohydrates: 7 g
Fat: 14 g
Saturated Fat: 6 g
Unsaturated Fat: 6 g
Cholesterol: 90 mg
Dietary Fiber: 1 g
Potassium: 380 mg
Sodium: 367 mg
Weight Watchers Points: 4 per serving

Question

I have 4 lbs of frozen strawberries and 2 lbs of frozen blueberries in my freezer that I bought for smoothies. I eat a lot of smoothies (I admit...I totally eat my smoothies. Spoon and everything. It makes me feel like I'm eating ice cream and that way I don't crave it) for breakfast but I still have all this fruit and I feel like I could do other things with it.

What are some of your favorite (healthy-ish) fruit recipes? Do you have any good smoothie recipes? I'm open to more fruits than strawberries and blueberries and bananas too. I don't like mixing fruit into things like cottage cheese, or yogurt, OH and I won't put it in salads unless it's strictly a fruit salad. (Times like this, I wonder why I pick on The Husband for being a picky eater because my pickiness really starts showing when I ask for recipes...one day I'll post all my little weird food things and you'll laugh hysterically and send me a straight jacket!)

Recipe!

I made this back in January when my husband spent a week in LA visiting his mom. He isn't big on eating things like pork roast, pork chops or ... well ... he's a whole special being and I'm not going to get into all of his food stuff. Bottom line: When he leaves to go out of town, The Daughter and I eat things we can't eat when he's home. Since he's still in LA (The Daughter and I drove home and he's flying home tomorrow) I decided to make it again because we both really liked it.

I found the original recipe in a Cooking Light magazine (January/February 2011) and then did what I always do with recipes...change them to my liking. The recipe below is what I changed it to. I will not not not not not eat capers or anchovies so those had to go.
 
Pork Medallions with Bell Peppers

Ingredients

• 1 (1-pound) pork tenderloin, trimmed and cut crosswise into 1-inch-thick medallions
  
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
  
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
  
• 3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced (you could also use minced garlic from the store)
  
• 1 red bell pepper, sliced
  
• 1 yellow bell pepper, sliced
  

Preparation Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle pork with salt and pepper. Add oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add pork to pan; cook for 5 minutes. Reduce heat to medium; turn pork over. Add seasoning (I use garlic/herb seasoning, or lemon/bell pepper seasoning or Lawry's Seasoning; cook 7 minutes or until peppers are tender and pork is done.