Pulled BBQ Chicken Sandwiches - CEiMB

I am back. I have been a TERRIBLE CEiMB participant over the past couple of months. Summer was busy and I have had an awful time keeping up with everything. The truth is....I have been cooking with Wildtree products the past several weeks and am very impressed. I attended a party and am hooked. Absolutely hooked. These products make healthy, simple and tasty meals. My family has loved just about everything I have made too. Unfortunately, Ellie has taken a backseat.

However, I could not pass up the recipe that Pamela chose this week. I am a sucker for anything that involves rotisserie chicken. Especially my ridiculously naughty chicken pot pie recipe. I have to get that back in my rotation soon! Maybe next week? Back to the BBQ chicken at hand. Be sure to check out Cookies with Boys and find how her choice turned out.

I thought that this is a really good recipe. I followed it exactly and am very impressed. I made the chicken up this morning and just reheated it in the microwave for dinner. However, I did not use whole wheat buns and added cheese to our sandwiches. Probably defeats a lot of the "healthiness" of it all. But I would make these again! My husband also reported that "Ellie didn't ruin this recipe". Quite a compliment coming from him. Seriously. The recipe can be found HERE.

Breakfast Cookies - CEiMB

I was the lucky one to choose this week's recipe for Craving Ellie in My Belly. Sara and Nick wanted to allow some older members to be able to choose again, thus starting at the top of the list. Thanks!! I chose these yummy breakfast cookies.

Breakfast Cookies
2007 Ellie Krieger

Serves:
12 cookies, serving size 1 cookie

Ingredients
3/4 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup (1 small jar) strained carrot baby food
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup bran cereal flakes
1/3 cup raisins
1/3 cup walnut pieces, lightly toasted in a dry skillet for 2 minutes, until fragrant and chopped

Directions
Place rack in center of oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Whisk together flours, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in a medium-sized bowl. Combine butter, oil and sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer and mix on high speed, scraping down sides if necessary, until sugars have dissolved and mixture is light in color, about 1 minute. Add egg, carrot puree and vanilla and beat an additional 30 seconds. Add flour mixture and beat an additional 30 seconds. Add oats, flakes, raisins and walnuts and mix over low speed just until incorporated. Dough will be slightly sticky and less cohesive than traditional cookie dough. Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper. Using between 3 to 4 tablespoons of batter, form a ball and place on cookie sheet. Repeat with remaining batter, leaving about 3 inches between cookies. Wet hands and use palm of hand to flatten cookies until about 1/4-inch thick. Bake for 12 minutes, until cookies are fragrant but still soft. Let cookies cool slightly, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

The cookies are good. However, walnuts are not a hit in our house. So I used chopped peanuts instead. I think that next time I will completely exclude any nuts. I think that they would be perfect without the nuts. Unfortunately, I was the only one in my household who liked the cookies. The boys don't like nuts or raisins. And my husband thought was scared of the baby carrots. I just froze them and am going to pull them out one at a time to enjoy for breakfast.

Thanks for baking these along with me!

Jambalaya with Shrimp and Turkey Sausage - CEiMB

I have never eaten jambalaya until this evening. But I was excited to make it because it has lots of good stuff that I like. Rice. Shrimp. Ham. And Ben loves tomatoes so I had high hopes for this recipe. After reading the Tell All I decided to substitute Italian Turkey Sausage for the ham after someone suggested it. I love turkey sausage as well and though that it sounded good.

The recipe can be found HERE. It is a really good one. There are plenty of spices that give it a little zip but not too much zip that your mouth is on fire. After reading some of the reviews on the recipe others thought that it was bland and needed something else. I am not sure if my spicier turkey sausage gave it that or not. But I thought it had plenty of spice. I also liked that the boys ate a little of it too. They sure didn't scarf it down but they certainly tried it and are getting more daring. They actually liked the turkey sausage much better before it went into the jambalaya.

Ben thought that it was good and Ellie was another winner in our house again tonight. He is even looking forward to the leftovers for his lunch tomorrow. Check out what all the others Elliers did with jambalaya too.

Next Thursday: Vegetable Cheese Strata (another new thing for me!)

Double Chocolate Pudding Pie - CEiMB

I was late for TWD and I am late again for CEiMB. What a slacker I am!! But this was actually made on Thursday. I just didn't get around to eating, taking photos or posting about it until Friday and today. Better late than never.

This pie was chosen by Tessa at Handle the Heat. When CEiMB was in the beginning stages the banana cream pie was chosen. I think this chocolate pie of Ellie's was better than the banana cream one. Both of them are a tad gelatiny for me though. It is not bad...but I am certainly not running to the refrig to eat the leftovers!

You can find the recipe HERE or HERE. Be sure to check out all the other CEiMB participants as well.

The only modifications that I did to the recipe was substitute dark chocolate cocoa powder and used 1.5 cups of 2% milk and 1/5 cups of skim.

Crispy Fish Fingers - CEiMB

Living in Wisconsin....I value a good fish fry. I love going out for dinner on Friday nights and getting a good fish fry (although it doesn't have to be beer battered) with french fries, coleslaw, tartar sauce and of course a nice soft marbled rye bread. YUMMY! I was very excited to make these fish sticks when I saw that it had been chosen.

Anne of rainforest recipes chose the Crispy Fish Fingers. You can find the recipe HERE or HERE. Be sure to check out Anne's blog though. She actually lives in a Guatemalan rainforest. I don't think that I could ever do that. OK. I know that I couldn't! I don't even like to go camping longer than 2 days in a row.

I am sure that some of my fellow Ellie pals really enjoyed these fish fingers which have a very healthy spin on them. I just did not! First, I couldn't find any flounder filets at the store. I went with the mix of northern and walleye fillets that my dad had given to us from one of his fishing excursions. Oh, I wish that I hadn't of wasted them on this recipe. I even doubled the recipe because I had close to 2 lbs of fish thawed and didn't want to waste any. Sigh.

I am thinking the reason I didn't like them was due to the whole wheat flour. I thought that they didn't have any flavor and were just bland with a slight nutty taste. Very, very bland. I guess if you are going to eat a fish with breading, it should be deep fried. The one thing good about this recipe though is the mock tartar sauce. It was quite tasty and would taste great with some other fish.

Thai-Style Halibut with Coconut-Curry Broth - CEiMB

The recipe this week was chosen by The Not So Skinny Kitchen. You can check out her post and find the recipe HERE or HERE. She has some great looking stuff on her blog and I am jealous of her photography skills. All the pictures look great. Something that I have been trying to work harder on.

I wasn't sure that I wanted to make this dish or sit this one out. I am not a huge coconut fan and Ben hates cilantro. I really am not a fan of cilantro either but I can deal with it much better than him. In the end I decided to forge ahead because I skipped the jerk chicken last week.

While I was cooking dinner Ben walked through the kitchen and made a comment that it smelled good. I made no mention of the cilantro and he then proceeded to take a shower while the boys played outside. I quickly cut the cilantro (maybe he wouldn't figure it out?) and then realized that I had gotten coconut juice instead of coconut milk. I decided to use half coconut juice and half 2% milk, which seemed to work. As I was just about finishing up he came back into the kitchen and immediately stated that now the kitchen smelled like a "urinal". He is obviously very honest. I told him to just give it a chance.

I got the dinners plated up and took my pictures. By now the fish is no longer hot...which is probably how all of our dinners are eaten, right? As we are eating he says that it is good but there is some taste to it that he doesn't like. He told me that he thought that it was from the sauce on top of the fish. He really is too smart for his own good. I fessed up and told him that he was eating cilantro. He thinks that it the dinner would have been fantastic if I had skipped the cilantro. I tend to agree.

This was a fantastic meal. I especially liked the sauce and spinach. I served it with brown rice as recommended. Even though I prefer white rice it tasted great with the sauce. However, I agree with Ben and think that I should have skipped the cilantro.

Check out how all the other Ellie fish recipes turned out HERE.

Garden Risotto - CEiMB

Jessica was the lucky recipe picker this week. Check hers out here (as well as the recipe). I have just recently been introduced to making risotto but have not tried it without mushrooms. And I love peas!

This recipe was easy, flavorful and good. It paired perfectly with the brats that we grilled out tonight too!

Check out all the other risotto dishes HERE.


Don't forget....there are only 2 more days left for the Giveaway!

Spaghetti - CEiMB

Turkey Meatballs, Whole Wheat Pasta and Spicy Spaghetti Sauce....

The turkey meatballs and whole wheat pasta were excellent. I will not say the same for the sauce.

I thought that this was an expensive, time consuming recipe. I had to buy large quantities (OK, not large, just way more than I actually needed) of the fresh spices (oregano, thyme, basil and rosemary) because I couldn't buy it in a smaller package. I really have no need for all the extra, leftover spices. I don't think that I liked the smokiness of the sauce that most likely came for the canned chipolte en adobo sauce. It just didn't taste right.


This recipe would have been much better if I had just made the meatballs, whole wheat angel hair pasta and used Prego spaghetti sauce. These really are some tasty meatballs. Especially if you prepare them like Sara suggested by broiling them. I will be making those again. The whole wheat angel hair pasta was really good too. We couldn't even tell the difference between the whole wheat and regular pasta.

This recipe was chosen by Odd Ball Oven Mitt. You can find the original recipe HERE and be sure to check out how all the other CEiMB participants fared as well.

Coming next week: Garden Risotto

Balsamic Chicken with Baby Spinach and Couscous - CEiMB

Tasty! This dinner was a hit for The Hubster and myself. Not only was it satisfying but it was healthy and delicious as well.

We can thank Marthe from Culinary Delights for this one. It was a great choice for us. My husband has been anti Ellie for quite some time now. However, I have only been making the recipes that I am fairly confident that we will enjoy. He loves tomatoes and I love balsamic vinegar so I was in for this one. Good thing too. We both enjoyed it. I have never eaten couscous before and enjoyed this whole wheat stuff. Who knew?! The dish was simple to prepare. And it only took about 30 minutes to cook! Bonus. I added the chicken back to the tomatoes, chicken broth and balsamic vinegar to boil for awhile because I am always a freak when it comes to ensuring that my chicken is fully cooked!


The recipe can be found HERE. And make sure to check out Marthe's blog for her post as she was the picker this week. Also Sara and Nick are doing an awesome job with Craving Ellie In My Belly. I love all the new stuff that they are doing. Especially the photos and posts of the week. What a fun idea and I love checking the next day to see the 'winners'. Even though everyone is a winner for participating.

Salmon with Sweet and Spicy Rub

I really should make salmon more often, at least once a week. I learned today on one of those morning news shows that it really is good for you. It is an excellent source of protein and good fats that you should really strive to have. I always forget how much I like it until I order it at a restaurant or cook it at home.


This recipe was good. It may have been a little sweet for my tastes though. But I didn't have any problem polishing it off. The Hubster liked it as well. We ate it for dinner the other night with rice and peas. The salmon was so easy to prepare and cooked really quick. I broiled ours in the oven. It is a very good dinner to make when you don't have a lot of time.

The recipe was chosen by Pam from Lobster and Fishsticks. You can find the recipe HERE or I am sure that she will have the recipe posted soon. I think next time I will try her salmon with sour cream dill sauce. Now that looks good too!

Chicken with Mango Barbeque Sauce - CEiMB

Well....I had intended to quit CEiMB. I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I do like making new and trying new recipes. I just don't think that I will be making the chosen recipes that I know my family will not like. I have no intention of wasting money on exotic (at least to us) veggies or things I know we will not enjoy. I know that defeats the purpose of trying new things because you never know what you may end up liking. But....oh well.

The chosen recipe this week was chicken with mango BBQ sauce. Aggie from Aggie's Kitchen chose the recipe. You can find the recipe HERE or HERE. It was a winner. I had fun making the sauce using an onion, red pepper, brown sugar, mango, red wine vinegar, worchestershire sauce and 3 jalepeno peppers. Although, there were some other ingredients that I just can't think of off the top of my head. The only variation to the recipe that I did was to marinade my chicken for approximately 4 hours instead of only 1 hour.

This was very good. I really enjoyed it. I wasn't going to tell my husband that it was an Ellie recipe because he has sworn off Ellie. However, just before broiling the chicken I let the cat out of the bag and confessed. This was after he mentioned that there was something good being cooked up in our house. He thought that the marinade/BBQ sauce smelled good. All of those good thoughts got kicked to the curb and he immediately wasn't excited for dinner anymore. After dinner he admitted that it wasn't bad. He said that he wasn't wildly excited for me to make it again though. I had a lot of leftover sauce that I froze and am going to try it with some type of grilled fish when we start grilling out more now that the weather is warming up. I should mention that I am not a fan of BBQ sauce and I didn't think you could really qualify this as a BBQ sauce. It was tangy, sweet and mildly spicy though.

Great choice Aggie!

Baked Shrimp with Tomatoes and Feta - CEiMB

I made this for dinner last week and did take pictures. However, the pictures accidentally got deleted from my camera. Therefore, no pics to prove that it was made. But trust me....it was.

The recipe was chosen by Pamela. Check out the recipe and the photos on her blog HERE. I was excited to make it because I love shrimp and The Hubster loves feta cheese and tomatoes. It was easy to prepare and didn't take a lot of time or energy. However, I was not a fan. I usually don't care for chunks of tomatoes and the feta cheese was not my thing either. However, the Hubster really enjoyed the meal and said it was right up his alley. He even took the remainder for lunch the next day. I served the meal with linguine pasta.

Coming next week: Sesame Stir-Fried Chinese Greens

Nutty Granola - CEiMB

The recipe this week was chosen by Leslie from Lethally Delicious. It was a delicious pick. The recipe can be found HERE or on page 38 in Ellie's cookbook.

This granola is simple to make, uses very ordinary ingredients and I can't stress this enough...SIMPLE to make. I used raisins and substituted cashews for walnuts because walnuts are a big NO in this house.

I chopped the nuts a tad finer than I probably should have. All you have to do is mix the ingredients with a 1/2 cup maple syrup and bake it for about 30 minutes. Then let it cool on the cookie sheet and ta-da....you have a very tasty granola.

Next time I make this, I was thinking about adding some mini chocolate chips after it has cooled. Yes, it would defeat the purpose of Ellie's healthy eating. But it would be quite tasty.

Sesame-Teriyaki Chicken Thighs - CEiMB

The recipe for this week was chosen by Jessica. The recipe can be found HERE or on page 209 in Ellie's book.

This was a very easy dish to prepare. The chicken thighs marinade in a mix of soy sauce, sherry, rice vinegar, brown sugar and garlic for 30 minutes. The chicken is then broiled on both sides and sprinkled with sesame seeds. I lined my broiling pan with aluminum foil and the clean up was a breeze.

I think next time I will use boneless chicken breasts. The Hubster likes chicken thighs so I wanted to make it as the recipe called for the first time.

Great pick Jessica!

COMING NEXT THURSDAY: Nutty Granola

Warm Spinach and Artichoke Dip - CEiMB

So. Deliciously. Good!

The recipe for this week was chosen by Cathy from The Tortefeasor. I love reading her posts, whether for TWD or CEiMB, they are always enjoyable (very funny and well written). I was excited when I saw that she had chosen this for Superbowl weekend. If I hadn't been working during the Superbowl I would have made it for the game. However, I made it for lunch yesterday.

This dip is awesome. You seriously can't even tell that it has reduced fat sour cream and cream cheese. I will be making this one again and again! Even The Hubster was impressed. He said that for once Ellie really outdid herself and didn't screw this one up. Next time I make it I may try adding cheddar cheese instead of mozzeralla....might be good?

GREAT PICK CATHY!! You can find the recipe HERE or on Page 70 in Ellie's book.

Sage-Rubbed Pork Chops with Warm Apple Slaw - CEiMB

I finally made this for dinner yesterday. I know that I am almost a week late though. The mysterious illness that zapped the life out of my husband last week seems to have disappeared from our household. Knock on wood (Knock-Knock) he was the only one who got sick. We are thinking that it was some sort of food poisoning.

Back to the pork chops. The recipe was chosen by Jen and you can find the recipe at her blog HERE. Or on page 195 in Ellie's book.

I am still on the fence if I liked it or not. It certainly was not very filling. I should have made some sort of starch to accompany the meal. I only served the slaw and pork chops. Two hours after dinner I was starving and ran through Culvers on the way home from running errands to scarf down some french fries.

The dinner took a long time to prepare. There was too much cutting, shredding, peeling, etc. I did get some pre-shredded angel hair cabbage though. I think that it would have taken me much longer to prepare if I hadn't. I also wish that I had gotten boneless pork chops. I really hate all the fat on a pork chop. As for the taste of the dish, I actually liked the apple tasting slaw. The Hubster also thought that it was OK, just nothing fantastic.


COMING TOMORROW: Warm spinach and artichoke dip

Chicken Cacciatore - CEiMB

FINALLY! Now that I am feeling better and have recovered from my cold, I decided to make this for lunch today. I should have posted it last Thursday. Better late than never!

The recipe was chosen by Peggy from Pantry Revisited. You can find the recipe HERE or on page 204 in Ellie's cookbook. It really was a good pick.

This dish was easy to prepare and had a lot of taste. I used a can of fire roasted diced tomatoes instead of no salt tomatoes. I also added more red pepper flakes, black pepper on the chicken and an extra clove of garlic. I then served it over linguine pasta.

Both the Hubster and I enjoyed it. I think that he is starting to warm up to Ellie. Or maybe not. The last several recipes chosen have been liked in our house though.

Beef Tenderloin with Rosemary and Chocolate - CEiMB

Thank you Amanda! This was an excellent choice. I admit that I was a tad skeptical about mixing beef and chocolate. The whole combo just sounded strange. But it was SO good and I have a renewed faith in Ellie's recipes and this cookbook. Our dinner tonight was out of this world. The recipe can be found HERE or on page 180 in Ellie's cookbook.

I didn't buy a beef tenderloin. Our grocery budget this week didn't allow for a 2 lb beef tenderloin that would have put us out almost $30 some dollars. So I opted to buy a eye of round beef roast. It took a little longer to cook and was a little tougher than the way we normally prefer our steaks but it was still fantastic. The recipe was very easy to make and I guess healthy for you too. The sauce was made with beef broth, red wine, thyme, a bay leaf, scallions, celery, carrots, rosemary and cocoa powder. I served the dinner with herbed mashed potatoes and cauliflower.

The Hubster even liked it!! I am going to make this yummy chocolate sauce with filets when it gets warmer out and we can start using our grill again. We could actually use it now. However, we would likely get frostbite standing out there grilling anything. It is -8 degrees and the wind chill makes it more like -30 degrees.

Fried Rice with Scallions, Edamame, and Tofu - CEiMB

This week's recipe was chosen by Running with Food. I knew that tofu would not go over well in our house. I have never tried it and would have been willing to give it a shot, however, I knew that the Hubster would not. I also had no clue what edamame was until I went to the grocery store in search of it. I kind of thought it would be some sort of onion. WRONG! Soy beans. Interesting.



I substituted 1.25 lbs. of chicken for the tofu. I also used white rice (probably 4.5 cups) instead of brown because I wanted to use up some stuff in our pantry instead of buy more. Plus, I know that I don't really care for brown rice. I could only find a 10 oz. of package of edamame beans in their pod as well. I just peeled the beans out of the shells after cooking them and used the entire package. I increased the amount of ginger, garlic and corn as well and didn't use a "less sodium" soy sauce.
I was very skeptical about scrambling the eggs in the well of fried rice and thought that this runny egg would go everywhere. But I was wrong. The 2 eggs scrambled great in their little well.

As you can see, I completely made this recipe less healthy than it is supposed to be. However, we enjoyed it and my husband was very happy with how it tasted.

Chocolate Cherry Almond Biscotti - CEiMB

Better late than never!

This recipe was chosen by Leanne from Enjoying My Favorite Things. Very nice choice Leanne! She has the recipe posted on her blog or if you click HERE you can find it. The recipe is also on page 302 in Ellie's cookbook.

This is only the second batch of biscotti I have ever made. The first being Lenox Almond Biscotti for TWD. I made this healthier version of biscotti tonight. The recipe calls for olive oil in place of butter. It also calls for dried cherries, almonds and dark chocolate. I used semi-sweet mini chips in place of the dark chocolate. I may have also put in a little extra mini chips as well.

This biscotti is OK. I wouldn't say that it is outstanding. I'm not sure that I really like the olive oil taste to it or not? You can definetely taste it in there though. I also remember that I liked the lenox almond biscotti much better the second day so I am thinking that I will enjoy this a lot more tomorrow. We'll see I guess. The Hubster even said that it was good.

For the life of me I can't figure out why my biscotti look like pieces of bread. I followed the recipe to a tee and made my log 10 inches long by 3 inches wide. The biscotti sure don't look like others that I have seen.