Angie's Appetite for Life

Here’s a great new recipe I found on Eating Well:

Five-Spice Turkey and Lettuce Wraps. 

For me to love a recipe, it has to be:

• easy to follow
• relatively few ingredients
• lots of flavor
• full of fruits and/or veggies

I followed the Eating Well recipe almost to the letter, with just a couple of small modifications.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup instant brown rice
• 2 teaspoons sesame oil
• 1 pound 99%-lean ground turkey
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
• 1 large red bell pepper, finely diced
• 1 8-ounce can water chestnuts, rinsed and chopped
• 1/2 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
• 1 teaspoon five-spice powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 heads Boston lettuce, leaves separated
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
• 1 large carrot, shredded

Preparation

1. Bring water to a boil in a small saucepan. Add rice; reduce heat to low, cover and cook for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat.
2. Meanwhile, heat oil in a large nonstick pan over medium-high heat. Add turkey and ginger; cook, crumbling with a wooden spoon, until the turkey is cooked through, about 6 minutes. Stir in the cooked rice, bell pepper, water chestnuts, broth, hoisin sauce, five-spice powder and salt; cook until heated through, about 1 minute.
3. To serve, spoon portions of the turkey mixture into lettuce leaves, top with herbs and carrot and roll into wraps.

This turned out really well…super-delicious and super-easy.

Perfect for a quick weeknight meal.

This is a great simple, quick, and delicious pasta dish…definitely a winner!

4 ounces whole-wheat spaghetti

1 Tbsp. olive oil

2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

2-3 Tbsp. light Balsamic dressing

4 ounces fresh button mushrooms, quartered

1 (14.5 ounce) can organic fire-roasted diced tomatoes (such as Muir Glen)

2 ounces light cream cheese, cut into cubes

2 Tbsp. (or more to taste) choppped fresh basil

2 Tbsp. freshly shredded Parmesan cheese

1. Fill a large pot with lightly salted water and bring to a rolling boil. Once the water is boiling, stir in the spaghetti, and return to a boil. Cook the pasta uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the pasta is cooked through, but still firm to the bite, about 8-11 minutes. Drain pasta well.

2. Heat the olive oil in a skillet, and cook the chicken breast halves over medium heat until lightly browned, about 5 minutes per side. Pour the balsamic dressing over the chicken, add the mushrooms, and cook, covered, until the chicken is no longer pink inside. Remove the chicken breasts and cut into strips.

3. Stir the tomatoes, cream cheese, and basil into the skillet with the mushrooms over medium low heat until the mixture comes to a boil. Stir to melt the cream cheese into the sauce, add the chicken strips and the cooked spaghetti, and toss together. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and a bit of fresh basil to serve.

After making homemade pesto last weekend, I was dying to find a new way to use it. I found the perfect answer.

Pesto Crusted Salmon.

So Good.

Grilled wild Alaskan salmon.

I grilled it for 5-6 minutes on one side, flipped it over and spread a fairly thick layer of Simple Basil Pesto on top. Grill for 5-6 more minutes…perfection.

Served with sauteed spinach with olive oil and garlic + a mashed sweet potato with cinnamon and brown sugar.

Simple. Delish.

Operation Beautiful

Huge Congratulations to Caitlin.

Check out Operation Beautiful to learn more about the movement and Caitlin’s newly released book by the same title. The mission of Operation Beautiful is to end “negative self talk” or “Fat Talk”…..to promote positive body image. I am a huge fan. I love this quote from Caitlin, “Change the way you see, not the way you look”.

Caitlin did a great job promoting her book and her message on the Today Show this morning….check it out…

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Don’t forget, You are Beautiful!