Quick and Healthy Southwest Chicken

Fall is really here. You know how I know? Not just that school is in full swing and homework riddles abound and books and binders are on every surface of the kitchen and living room…. Nope. It’s the daily hectic sports schedule. Someone has a practice, a clinic or a game Every. Single. Day… of the week. This is why I have to have a few quick go to meals that are still balanced and healthy ready to go. If you have a busy family schedule too, you’ll want to add this Quick and Healthy Southwest Chicken to your bag of tricks. Even if your schedule allows you to spend an hour or more in the kitchen preparing a meal and you love cooking, this is a meal that has all kinds of color and flavor for those nights you do want something simple, yet delicious.

This post is sponsored by Foster Farms® Simply Raised, which is locally grown in California and 

the Pacific Northwest. The opinions expressed are my own.

Ingredients:

3 Foster Farms Simply Raised Thin Sliced Breast Fillets
¾ cup of your favorite salsa (I prefer organic salsa)
¾ cup organic frozen corn
1 cup shredded mild cheddar cheese
1 avocado, sliced
¼ cup sour cream

Directions: 

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Take the thin sliced breast filets and lay flat in an oven dish prepared with either avocado oil or grapeseed oil. Spoon ¼ cup salsa on each filet. Next, layer ¼ cup frozen organic corn on top of the chicken and salsa. Put dish in oven for approximately 30 minutes. At the last 5 to 10 minutes, sprinkle some of that mild cheddar cheese on top of each filet. Continue to bake for the remaining minutes. This is what you want it to look like when you pull it out of the oven:

Top each fillet with your favorite southwest flavors. I personally like to add avocado whenever and wherever I can! The flavors of fresh, locally grown chicken, salsa, sweet corn, cheese and avocado come together like one big happy family.

I like to keep it simple when determining what sides we will have, remember we’ve been running around getting kids to soccer practice and such. A can of refried beans and some organic tortilla chips and fresh made guacamole is what we opted for this time around. If you’re making your own guacamole and you really want to hit a home run, be sure to get locally grown produce, and organic if at all possible. The flavors are more vibrant and you will taste the difference. Buying local 

supports your local farmer and it’s a good lesson for our kids in how we support our community! Did you know that Foster Farms chickens are delivered from local ranches in 48 hours or less?

This meal takes just 35 minutes start to finish, including prep. The trick is the Thin-Sliced Breast Fillets. If your family is like mine and likes the tender and juicy white meat, you know it can take a bit longer to cook the breasts compared to other chicken parts…. Which is why I look for the Thin-Sliced Breast Fillets from Foster Farms. I prefer to get the Foster Farms Simply Raised, with no antibiotics, hormones or steroids. AND if you live in California or the Pacific Northwest, you’ll be glad to know that these chickens are always raised locally! I think feeding my kids food that is free of hormones and antibiotics is a worthwhile thing to champion. Buying products that are local cuts down on your carbon footprint which means I’m teaching my kids about being environmentally responsible. While we’ve been on a mission to choose healthier foods at the grocer, I’ve also been keeping my eye out for items that are local. To me local means fresh and fresh is always better. 

All Foster Farms fresh chicken products are American Humane Certified.

Do you have a busy after school schedule that has pushed you to come up with some quick and healthy meals? I’d love it if you share in the comments below because I’ll be putting together a roundup post for just that sort of thing and I want to include your awesome quick and healthy meals.

In the meantime PIN THIS one so you have it for those nights you need to pull a good meal together quickly!

This post is sponsored by Foster Farms®, the opinions expressed are my own.

End of Summer Tropical Parfait and Kitchen Hack Tool

This post contains affiliate links. When you purchase through an affiliate link you do not pay any more than you would otherwise, but a small referral fee is provided to me for recommending the product or service. That makes it possible for me to continue to blog and share great tips and resources with my readers. 

The end of summer is really here. Instead of dwelling on the fact that I want to be able to sleep in every morning I am celebrating the end of summer with a Tropical Parfait. My kids loved it so I bet your kids will to!

These last two weeks of summer have been full of bar-be-ques, water adventure and cool treats! Oh, and back to school shopping, hence the reason I haven't posted anything new in a span of  2 weeks. Well, at least I've been documenting our favorite kitchen creations and will have several new things to share in the coming days because.... insert audible drum roll.... the kids are back in school! They were just as ready as I was so I don't feel any guilt with the parting of ways. There are so many ideas I've had percolating this summer but I haven't had the time to focus on developing them, so now I'm putting the pedal to the metal and you'll want to stay in touch by subscribing to the RSS feed and steal borrow any ideas that suit you. But, believe me, you'll want in on some of the special projects around the corner!

Not too long ago we developed our favorite smoothie to date that the kids ask for again and again. Which I love because they used to grimace at the smoothies I would make for them. That's because I didn't have a plan for what I put in the smoothies. I would just grab what we had on hand and throw a little of this and a little of that, add some green stuff and make sure there was some liquid and press the magic button hoping it would magically turn my smoothies into blended genius. Sadly, more often than not the kids turned their noses up at them. But, not anymore! This summer we changed all that. Now I follow a formula and it has made all the difference. If you missed it, you need to go back and pin it so you can escape to an imaginary tropical place any time you want. In fact it is this Tropical Surprise Smoothie that inspired today's treat, the End of Summer Tropical Parfait. Parfaits are so versatile, they are perfect for breakfast, snack or dessert!


Tweet: Parfaits are perfectly versatile. Great for breakfast, snack or dessert. http://bit.ly/1PEun7P via @mommyspieslice


Ingredients:
1 cup yogurt (we love Stonyfield, vanilla)
1/2 cup almond slices
1 mango, diced
1 cup fresh pineapple chunks, about 1/2 pineapple
1/2 cup shredded coconut

Instructions:

1. Combine coconut with yogurt and stir. OR you can combine the coconut with the almonds. I've tried it both ways and it's great either way.

2. Prepare your Pineapple. After getting this pineapple coring tool you will save so much money versus buying the pre cut stuff at the market. Plus you save time compared to slicing up pineapple using just a knife. Watch this video and tell me you don't want to buy this corer right now!

 

3. Prepare your diced mango. This is one of those kitchen hacks I was so glad to learn. Because, again, I don't have to pay an arm and a leg buying the pre-cut and packaged mango. The kids and I are kind of mango fanatics so this video was big time awesome:

I kind of like to dice the mango by scoring one cheek then the other and then using the glass to separate the "diced" fruit from the skin.

Now you'll have each of your ingredients set and ready to go.

4. Now it is time to build your parfait! Layer a couple spoonfuls of yogurt at the bottom, Next add a spoonful or two of sliced almonds. Then one heaping spoonful each of the pineapple and mango. Repeat these steps once more then enjoy!

Yields 4 small parfaits. 

All summer long I have been hemming and hawing about getting a set of parfait glasses because I want to be earth friendly and not use the plastic disposable ones. And wouldn't you know the day I'm writing this post my order from Amazon Prime arrives? So I'll have to make another parfait pronto and update with another picture!

These were the two that I had a hard time deciding between.... but I ultimately went with this one:

I'd love to hear in the comments if you plan to make this parfait for your kids! Remember you can pin it and savor a little bit of summer any time of the year.

My kids love parfaits for an after school healthy snack. Here are some other combinations you may want to try (just click on the image):

                 

Chocolate Banana Kiddie Parfaits

When I pull out ingredients to make a parfait the kids know I'm cookin' up something new and interesting. Today was no different. We didn't have any granola but a thought had struck me to use a different kind of cereal in our parfait today.... this one being of the chocolate variety! Smiles all around. This is ode to the chocolate banana pudding dessert I had as a kid.

We don't have a fondue set so I don't do chocolate covered bananas.... although now I think I need to put that on my wish list! Then I could make my own chocolate dipped strawberries and marshmallows.... but I digress.

For this you don't really need measurements because the great thing about parfaits is you can vary how much of each thing to your own liking or level of healthy versus sweet factor, right? But nonetheless I will tell you what we used and how much.

Ingredients:

1 banana
1 cup chocolate cereal (I used Mom's best cereal - cocoa krispy rice)
1 1/2 cups vanilla flavored yogurt (we had Stonyfield on hand)

Directions:

Start with a couple spoonfuls of cereal on the bottom.
Next add a couple spoonfuls of yogurt.
Dice up your banana into cubes for easier eating.
Add 1/6 of banana cubes.
Repeat 3 layers.

This made 3 parfaits that were about 8 oz. servings.

The kiddos gobbled them up and gave it their stamp of approval!

I think next time I'll pay homage to the banana Oreo dessert I grew up with!

Don't forget to pin this for reference later!

You may also like these other parfait treats: Just click on the picture!

                      

Simple Summer Blueberry Margarita

Sometimes this mama needs to mix it up a bit when I pour myself a margarita. I don't always go for wine after the kids go to bed. And to be honest, I don't always wait for the kids to go to bed... but that means I have to watch my glass with a little more care because these kids are always curious about what I've got that looks fruity and pretty!

We love getting the Kirkland ready to pour margarita at Costco. I think we've been buying it for over 5 years. Well, when it went on sale a week or two ago my husband came home with 3 bottles. It's supposed to last when you buy in bulk, the problem is that it just makes you want to, well, drink more! But it can be kinda boring drinking the same margarita a few nights in a row.... so I mixed it up.... with some blueberries and it turned out pretty good. Maybe because blueberries are in season and it made it the perfect summer libation?



Ingredients:

1 cup fresh organic blueberries
12 oz Kirkland Golden Margarita

Instructions:

Add blueberries and alcohol to your blender (I have a Vitamix and LOVE it!)
Blend on high for a minute.
Taste. If you need higher alcohol content feel free to add more margarita! Or vice versa, if you need sweeter blueberry flavor add more blueberries.
Pour into a very large wine or margarita glass.
I'm not into the whole sugar or salt rim, but by all means, if you are, go for it!



I'm a bit of a believer that if you mix in a little good with the bad that it almost cancels out the bad. That may not be true, but don't burst my bubble.

Cheers!
Drink responsibly.

Pin this for later. If you're not following me on Pinterest yet.... why the heck not?

Coconut Strawberry Lemonade

We're still working on some unique flavor combinations for our Lemonade Stand to support Sienna's Play Garden this summer. We were at World Market and saw these perfect summer looking mason jar glasses I was inspired to think of something to let the kids give them a test drive.

I think the kids like summer time mom.... I've been steering away from "the usual" and making everything with a twist. They don't get juice or lemonade too often and if I can come up with a way to reduce the sugar intake and still make it taste good, well I feel like that's a win.

To be honest, I'm not sure how the idea of using coconut water hit me. My kids have tried coconut water before and weren't too fond of it. I think it's an acquired taste. But I know about the health benefits of coconut water so I wanted to see how we could find a way to mix it in with other things like smoothies.... or lemonade!

Ingredients:

2 cups organic lemonade
2 cups coconut water
15 organic strawberries

Add ingredients to a high speed blender. Blend on high for about a minute and a half. Pour and enjoy!

Yields 4 servings.

The kids enjoyed this tasty beverage with some red and blue chips and white queso dip. It made for a very tasty afternoon snack.

These mason jars make the perfect clinking glasses too!

How about you? Do you try to steer clear of sugary drinks for the kids? I'd love to hear what you've got up your sleeve to keep refreshments tasty during hot summer months.

Organic Lime & Cilantro Chili

When we were at the school's Monster Mash on Friday, I was catching up with one of our neighbors who has been suffering from some chronic back pain recently. She shared how it has resulted in making more "boxed" meals or processed foods which she said was not ideal, but she has been limited.  I was so excited about the freezer slow cooker meals I'd made on Sunday and discovered her family loves chili. It just so happens that I prepared two of these since I was pretty confident that my family would like it. Instead I'm taking one over to her family tomorrow. I've had my own difficulties with lower back pain and know it can wreck havoc on your intentions to cook healthy meals. Just another reason why freezer slow cooker meals totally rock, you get to help a neighbor in a simple, yet meaningful way!

This meal was inspired by New Leaf Wellness and I just loved the fresh sounding name of her chili recipe. I don't think I've ever bought cilantro before, or added lime to anything that wasn't a beverage... so you have a clue to my culinary skills, right now, next to nil. But, I've been following Cook Smarts  and learning a few things over the last several months which was part of my motivation for doing this meal planning!

I followed the recipe pretty closely and felt that even though there were a lot of ingredients, it was really easy to make. It totally helps that my husband browned the ground beef for me. Whenever possible, I used organic items. I had purchased organic black beans the day I went shopping for all my ingredients, but didn't consider that I'd need to soak and sort them... but I'm excited to use them next time! I even purchased organic cumin. The grocery store didn't have organic chili powder. We switched to organic ground beef a couple years ago and just once or twice when we've run out and didn't want to face the Costco crowds, we've run to the closest grocery store and bought regular ground beef. Even my husband commented on the regular ground beef just tasting "off" when we did that... and he was not too keen on my making the decision to slowly switch us to organic in the first place. So, when I heard at ShiftCon that there was recent news on scientific proof that organic food tastes better, I was not surprised. That got me to thinking about my spices.... many in my pantry are well over the 6-12 month shelf life anyway so as I try out new recipes over the next few months I am committing to buying new organic spices to replace the old!

I made some adaptations to New Leaf Wellness Slow Cooker Beef,, Lime & Cilantro Chili and think you will want to take a look at her website to find some other tasty inspirations to try.

Ingredients:

1.33 lbs. organic ground beef (we buy those 3 packs at Costco so that is the weight of 1 pkg)

1 14 oz can tomato sauce

1 14 oz can diced tomatoes, undrained

1 15 oz can black beans, drained, rinsed

1/2 cup diced red onion

Juice and zest of one lime

2 large garlic cloves, minced

1 tbsp chili powder

1 tsp organic ground cumin

Toppings:

Shredded Mild Cheddar Cheese

Fresh chopped cilantro (don't pass on this!)

Sour Cream

Red onion (I forgot my intention to use what I had reserved from freezer meal prep day!)

Next time I'll likely use twice as much tomato sauce or diced tomatoes since my kids like a chili that is bit more soup-like.

As I was assembling everything I loved the scent of the lime zest combined with the cumin and chili powder, the traditional chili smells,. I knew it was going to be good! This was one of the first meals I assembled and I was so proud to have 2 hearty, flavorful meals to put into my freezer. 

DIRECTIONS:

1. Label your bag before you get started.

2. Brown the ground beef and drain. Allow to sit and cool a few minutes before bagging.

3. Add cooked meat and additional 8 ingredients to freeze ziplog bag. Seal the bag, getting out as much air as possible. Give the bag a good shake and mix ingredients by using hands on outside of the bag to massage ingredients around. I spend a minute or two doing this until everything is evenly distributed and the meat can marinate in the sauce/spices.

4. Lie flat to freeze.

5. Defrost by pulling item out of freezer the night before and putting in the fridge, or leave on counter one hour, or run under warm water for a minute or two. It does not need to be defrosted completely, just enough to open bag and dump ingredients easily into the slow cooker.

6. Grease the inside of your slow cooker. This time I used Chosen Foods 100% Pure Avocado Oil which comes in the form of a spray - making it oh-so-easy! I will tell you more about Chosen Foods in an upcoming post.

7. Cook on low 8 hours. Give a final stir and serve!

HOT TIP: Whenever you find a freezer meal your family loves, make two or three or even four the next time so you really cut down your time spent on each meal. It will help with the grocery shopping too since you just need to buy more of the same ingredients. I've read that most families have just about 20 meals in their rotation, and since these meals can be stored in the freezer for up to 3 months, making 4 at a time is maximizing your time and energy and possibly money if you happen upon some incredible discounts.

When we got home from Amberly's softball game, the house smelled of a great fall meal and everyone was hungry! What was so awesome is that I only had to come in and....

1. Prepare the toppings:

2. Prepare some cornbread muffins. We are hooked on Marie Calendars and I just try to ignore the fact that almost ALL corn products in packages are GMO... so if you have a brand you love that is organic and can give me a hot tip, I'll gladly give it a try.

3. And dinner was served!

Recipe rating: 1 to 5 Stars

Joann - 4 stars, I think with the extra tomatoes next time it will be the right consistency for me. I just loved the lime and cilantro flavors playing a medley in my mouth... which was only better when I crumbled my cornbread muffin and ate it altogether.

Cory - 2 stars. He's not hip to "new" flavors of old stand by meals as much as I am. He ate it though and didn't spoil the kids' ratings by saving his comments for last.

Amberly - 5 stars. She loves sour cream so I wondered if this biased her rating. Nope, she tried the chili on it's own, then I asked her to try a bit with just some cilantro and she agreed that the cilantro really adds to the whole flavor of this dish.

Kyle - 2 stars. He didn't eat his taco meat for our taco salad dinner last night either and ground beef seems to be his nemesis. He did point out that he loved the black beans though and ate some of the chili.

Owen - 5 stars. He wanted to give it a 10 star rating! I did not put cilantro on his this time, but plan to leave some on the table for his choosing next time. When presenting a 5yo with something new, best to think of the presentation of the meal so there is a better chance of their embracing it.... in this case it was a total win!

Since my husband either has class or softball two nights a week, this can certainly be added into our rotation of meals and it may just end up on the nights he's not home for dinner.

I can't wait to take the other freezer bag over to my neighbor tomorrow and hear how they like it. I'm curious if you have used your freezer meal stash to help out a friend either with a baby on the way or recovering from an injury. Do you think you'll double up on your meal prepping with this in mind? There's so many ways we can be neighborly even in the rush of this modern day life-style. This alone may be the thing that keeps me motivated to stay on track with my new found love of slow cooker freezer meals.

Organic Mexican Fiesta Chicken in the Slow Cooker

All of my kids are in sports, my daughter is currently playing both soccer and softball... and my husband decided it was time for him to get back into rec sports in addition to attending class one evening a week. Well, as you might imagine, this makes for pretty busy weeknights and dinner hour has become less of a priority over the last couple of months. Oh, my husband is also the coach for one of my son's soccer team and I'm team mom... there's so much commitment to all of these things that something got pushed off our plate. Dinner. Not that we've ever been really great at planning ahead for dinner, but now we're always leaving it to last minute and grabbing more of the less than desirable box meals, or eating fast food. Really not a match for my nutrition standards. I've been pinning meal ideas for nearly 2 years. It was time to start making some of these meals!

This is the first of five recipes I prepared the other night. It was my first time ever doing this, so I did not worry myself with trying to be quick. Instead, once we find a few meals we love, I will make extras of those and that will make the process quicker.

My family loves Mexican food, so when I started looking for slow cooker freezer meals I thought this one over at Graciously Saved would work well for us. I've made some adaptations to fit our family, feel free to try it my way or add your own fiesta flavors!

Perks of this particular freezer meal, only 7 ingredients and no pre-cooking needed. There are a lot of ways to serve this meal, over rice, in a tortilla bowl, atop corn tortilla chips as a taco salad or in a burrito. Easy to double up your freezer meal planning. Because of the beans and corn it really is a hearty meal. It cooks in 4-5 hours so it is perfect for those days your morning routine goes awry and you don't think about starting a crock pot meal.

Ingredients:

4 organic chicken breasts

1 pkg of taco seasoning

2 tablespoons organic extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons organic apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup water

1 can (14 oz) petite diced tomatoes

1 cup organic frozen corn

1 can (14 oz) black beans rinsed and drained 

Note: 

I was going to use organic black beans but did not plan adequately to prepare them the day before - so canned it was. The original recipe called for rice or barley which I omitted because I'm not a fan of those for my made at home Mexican meals.

Toppings and Extras:

Organic salsa 

Shredded cheddar 

Diced organic avocado 

Flour tortillas to make tortilla bowls for the kids

Organic corn chips for the adults to scoop

Directions:

1. Label your bag before you get started.

2. Add rinsed chicken breasts to the freezer bag followed by the other 7 ingredients. Seal the bag, getting out as much air as possible. Give the bag a good shake and mix ingredients by using hands on outside of the bag to massage ingredients around. I spend a minute or two doing this so everything is evenly distributed and the meat can marinate in the sauce/spices.

3. Lie flat to freeze

4. Defrost by pulling item out of freezer the night before and putting in the fridge, or leave on counter one hour, or run under warm water for a minute or two. It does not need to be defrosted completely, just enough to open bag and dump ingredients easily into the slow cooker.

5. Grease the inside of the slow cooker. I use Nutiva coconut oil.

6. Cook on low 4-5 hours. 

7. Shred chicken. Give a final stir. Serve.

Kitchen Tools:

Ziploc freezer bag

Sharpie - label freezer bag 

Can opener

Box grater

Measuring spoons

Measuring cup

Kitchen scissors - cutting open packages

Colander - to rinse the black beans

2 medium mixing bowls - one for putting rinsed chicken in & one to collect trash as you go

a square or rectangular plastic food container - this works well to stand your freezer bag in

Results:

This meal was an overall winner! I took a bite without the salsa topping first so I could get a sense of the taste of the dish on it's own merit and was pleased, not thrilled, but that's because we think it needed more spice. I especially enjoyed it when I ate it with these sweet chile corn tortilla chips. I discovered them at ShiftCon. Let me warn you that they are "way better" and perhaps addictive.
Check them Way Better Snacks and tell me if you agree!

Recipe Rating: 1 to 5 stars

Joann - 4 stars, would like to have more spice. Would like to add to our rotation every few weeks.

Cory - 4 stars, needs a little more kick. Would like to add this every couple of weeks.

Amberly - 4.5 stars. Twice a month

Kyle - 3 stars. Once a month

Owen - 1 star. Never. He's been picky about chicken in general lately. 

There was PLENTY of leftovers. My husband had seconds and there's enough for two people to have lunch - which one of those people will be me.

This is an easy freezer meal to double for your meal planning day. I had a gut feeling this was going to be a winner so I doubled it my first time making it. Since I have one more in the freezer I'm going to add an extra pkg of seasoning to the slow cooker and see how it turns out. Because there are such a variety of ways to serve this dish I am going to make 4 next time, since they can keep fro 3 months that will be just right. I think I will even try one with organic chicken thighs. 

So what do you think? Will you give this a try?