Cilantro Lime Chicken

My friend gave me this recipe and I was a little skeptical because I’ve never marinated chicken in lime juice before, but I I iowas blown away by all the faioolivours in this dish! New family fav!

What you’ll need:

Boneless/ skinless chicken thighs-10 small or 6 large. (I used 10 small)

Juice of two limes

1/2 cup olive oil 

4 cloves of garlic, minces

1 tbs cumin

1 cup of fresh cilantro leaves/no stems 

Dash of red pepper flakes (I used about 1 tsp, add more if you want more heat)

Sprinkle of salt (approximately 1 tsp)

⚪️ Combine all the ingredients in a shallow casserole dish and mix well, add the chicken thighs and stir so they are all coated in the marinade. Cover with plastic wrap and leave refrigerated for a min of 30 min, max 3 hours. You may add more olive oil if you need to beef up the marinade so all the chicken is good and coated. 

⚪️⚪️ Heat a large frying pan with olive oil, approximately 2 tbs of olive oil. Once the pan is nice and hot, place the chicken one by one into the pan, don’t overcrowd. Cook for approximately 5-10 minutes, then flip. 

Timing depends on the thickness of your thighs. Once both sides are golden brown, cut a thick part of a thigh to see if it’s cooked through. 

Once cooked, serve with your favourite rice and grilled veggies. I drizzle the drippings from the pan onto the rice before serving. 

Also amazing served on your favourite salad or wrap sandwich. 

Enjoy! 

Simple Tomato Sauce

This recipe is our family go to. Clean ingredients and can be served as is or with ground beef or meatballs.

Simple and clean ingredients

What you will need-

Blender, food processor or a hand held blender can work too

2 cans of whole tomato(796 ml or 28 oz)

3 cups of fresh baby spinach, chopped small

2 small onions diced

4 cloves of garlic, sliced

2 tbs dry basil

1 tbs dry parsley

3 tbs olive oil

Salt and pepper for taste (about 2 tsp each)
Add olive oil to a deep pot and heat. Add onion and garlic and cook till softened, approximately 5 minutes.

Add the rest of the ingredients except the spinach and simmer on low to medium heat for 30+ minutes.

If I’m home all day, I’ll get this going early and let simmer for a couple hours stirring every 15 minutes with a little added water. If I’m short on time, I’ll simmer for 30 then process in my blender.

Before I add the sauce to my blender, I measure out 1-2 cups of the chunky sauce and set it aside to add back in later (I do this to add some extra texture to the blended sauce)  Blend the sauce till smooth or less chunky.

Once blended, put back in the deep pot with that chuncky sauce that you had put aside.

Add baby spinach and simmer till the spinach is soft and a little “lost” in the sauce.

If your kids don’t like the sight of green stuff, you can add the spinach in the beginning and process in the blender with the sauce so it appears to not even be there !

Enjoy!

Lara Bar Energy Balls

I found this recipe during my first Whole30 and was amazed how easy it was. I would snack on one or two after a run or workout. These are so easy and cheap to make,  I have not bought any Lara bars since! 

This recipe is the easiest and such a healthy treat for the family. My kids love them and think they taste like caramel. I always triple the recipe!!

Prep time – 15 minutes

Serving – 15 balls (when I triple the recipe)

What you will need:

Food processor or heavy duty blender

30 grams cashews

80 grams of pitted dates

Pinch of salt 

Only 3 ingredients!

⚪️ Measure and combine all the ingredients in the food processor, pulse/blend till you reach a good crumble. If your dates are on the dry side, add a teaspoon or two of warm water and pulse a few times to make the mixture sticky. 

⚪️⚪️ Roll into bite sized balls 

I prefer to store them in a sealed container in the refrigerator. I enjoy them more when serves cold. 
Enjoy! 

Loaded Sweet Potato

This dish was created using an Oh She Glows recipe. 

This is the best meal that I have made in a very very long time. The layers of flavours are simply perfection. What a satisfying dish!

Serves 2

Preparation – 70-90 minutes

What you’ll need:

2 medium sweet potatos

⚪️ Preheat oven to 350.  Poke holes all around the potato, bake on a roasting pan for about 40-60 minutes. It may take longer depending on your oven. Bake till soft, knife slides right through.

For the Avocado Cilantro Crema layer–  (I doubled this part)

1/2 cup of fresh cilantro, large stems removed

1 small clove of garlic

1 medium avocado

4 tsp fresh lime juice

1 tbs water

1/2 tsp fine sea salt

⚪️ Add garlic and cilantro to food processor and process till minced. Add the rest of the ingredients and process till smooth. I like small bits of cilantro still showing.

For the Chili Beans layer

1 tbs olive oil

1 cup diced sweet onion

2 medium garlic cloves, minced

1/4 tsp chili powder

1/4 tsp ground cumin

1 (14-ounce/398 ml) can of black beans, drained and rinsed.

Salt and pepper for taste

2 green onion, thinly sliced

⚪️ Using a medium skillet, heat the oil, add onion and garlic and sauté for a few minutes, until soft. Stir in the chili powder, cumin and black beans and cook for another minute or two. Add salt and pepper at the end and stir to combine.

The assembly: 

Slice the sweet potato in half lengthwise. Using a fork, gently mash the flesh to loosen and fluff. Sprinkle in some salt and pepper.

Layer with the avocado crema and black beans by the spoonful. Garnish with green onion,  pinch of chili powder and cumin and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

I added a little Greek yogurt to the top of mine.
Enjoy!