Chicken salad and Spanish rice. (Taken with Instagram)

Here’s where the recipe came from.

First cooked meal since my move to South Bay. It was time for a good healthy home-cooked dinner after several weeks of eating out and getting take out. But wow, is the food in South Bay AMAZING :)  I found a great Grocery store for all our fresh produce needs: http://sprouts.com/.

Roasted Chicken marinated with olive oil, salt, and pepper. 

Sweet and Savory Brussels Sprouts. I recommend Pink Lady apples. 

Three cheese grilled cheese (Taken with Instagram)

Chili with ground turkey. Homemade soft pretzels on the side! See recipe below.

Homemade pretzels (Taken with instagram)

Recipe.

Mexican veggie salad. Chopped Romaine lettuce, brown rice, freshly made tortilla chips (made from soft corn tortillas, quickly deep fried), diced  tomato, green onion, cilantro, with a cooked blend of chopped onion, red bell pepper, chili peppers, summer squash, black beans and corn, with a small amount of taco seasoning. All topped off with a bit of shredded cheese.

Sesame Chicken

One of John’s favorite chinese dishes is Sesame Chicken. A while back he decided to try cooking his own. After much searching and a couple of failed attempts, he has perfected the dish. It’s less than half the calories of takeout and the taste is almost identical (if not better!).

*One tip: Since it’s just the two of us, we save some for leftovers the next day. If you are going to do this, make sure you put the sauce in a separate container. Don’t mix it all together, or it won’t stay crispy. Just pour sauce over the individual servings when you are ready to eat. Also, the sauce gets thick when refrigerated, so just add a little water and heat.

Directions:

Prepare the chicken by cutting it up into one inch cubes. Combine the other ingredients in a mixing bowl to create batter. Coat chicken pieces in the batter and then deep fry (or fry in wok or frying pan).

In a saucepan, mix together sugar and cornstarch. Stir in chicken broth, water, vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, chile paste, and garlic. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes.

Top with: 2 tablespoons raw sesame seeds, 2 green onions (sliced). Best served with lightly steamed broccoli and rice.

Source for sauce sauce

Source for chicken

Homemade coconut bubble tea

Recipe: http://www.ehow.com/how_7768645_make-coconut-bubble-tea.html

Creamy Artichoke Pasta

Another vegetable I’ve recently fallen in love with is Artichokes! I googled for an artichoke pasta recipe and found the perfect one. The cottage cheese and sour cream combination is wonderful. You can substitute greek yogurt for the sour cream. The original recipe calls for butter but it doesn’t need it. We also used 100% whole wheat farfalle (bowtie) pasta instead of spaghetti. Ours is significantly less calories and fat. Serve with garlic bread.

Directions

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook until al dente. Drain and keep warm.

While pasta is cooking, heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Place olive oil and liquid from artichoke hearts in skillet. Cut artichoke hearts into bite-size pieces. When olive oil mixture is hot, add onion and garlic. Saute until soft and lightly browned. Stir in artichoke hearts and saute until heated through. Season with salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, and oregano. Remove from heat and stir in cottage cheese and sour cream. Toss mixture with cooked pasta and top with Parmesan cheese.

Source: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/creamy-artichoke-pasta/

Sweet and Savory Brussels Sprouts

We love brussels sprouts. They are delicious just steamed with some butter or olive oil but why not kick it up a notch and try it with something sweet! You can use either raisins or currants, or both. Try pancetta instead of bacon. This is a quick and easy recipe and very healthy and filling.

Directions

Chop up bacon, cook on stove until crispy. Add brussels sprouts. Cook on medium-high heat. Once they start to brown, add in apple, honey, raisins, and pine nuts. Cook until apples are softened.

source: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/guy-fieri/bumped-up-brussels-sprouts-recipe/index.html