Grilled Chicken Fajitas

This is a recipe for grilled chicken fajitas. I originally got it from the Joy of Cooking cookbook, but I changed it a bit and I prefer to grill this meal rather than cooking on the stove.

Ingredients:

1 1/4 lb chicken breasts (sliced in half lengthwise)

2 onions, sliced

2 peppers, halved (I used mini sweet peppers this time)

First I marinate the chicken for an hour or two.

Here's the recipe for the marinade:

1/4 cup liquid - half lime juice, half water

2 scallions, chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

3 tbs cilantro

1 tbs olive oil

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp crushed red pepper

1/2 tsp cumin

These are the sweet peppers I used this time.  

Two onions, halved

These are the extras: salsa, sour cream, shredded cheese, shredded lettuce

After marinating the chicken for an hour or two, I grill it.

Then I add the peppers & onions.

After I take the food off of the grill, I cut the chicken, onion & peppers into strips. Then serve with tortillas, salsa, sour cream, shredded cheese, shredded lettuce.

Other extras: avocado, guacamole, beans, rice (or spanish rice), pico de gallo

If you want to eat a healthier version, you could make a fajita salad instead of using a tortilla, or just eat the chicken, peppers & onions which is very yummy all by itself.

Today's Diet Dinner

My parents lent me their camera since mine isn't working, so I'm able to continue posting about my diet! I was able to snap some pictures of dinner tonight. I grilled some chicken fajitas for my friends (I'll do a separate post about that), and I made myself some grilled chicken too while following my diet program. The chicken has a marinade with fresh cilantro, cumin, fresh garlic, minced onion, etc.

Grilled chicken with grilled green peppers & onions...

...and for dessert I had a peach.

Diet Meals from 2009

     My camera is still out of commission, but I found these photos of meals I made on my diet in 2009. I thought I'd share them. :)

Curry Chicken and Vegetables

Sauteed Shrimp with Tomatoes, Garlic and Asparagus 

"Potato" Salad & Chicken

(made with steamed cauliflower, celery, onion, mayonaise, salt & pepper)

Day 3 - Diet

So, my camera is broken and I can't get the pictures off of my phone. I will have to end off on my diet updates for now until I can find a camera replacement.

I do have a bunch of old photos of food I've made in the past, so I may do posts with those if I have the chance.

I will still update on my diet once I reach my goal or get close to it. :) Can't wait.

Day 2 - Diet

Breakfast

Black coffee & Greek 0% plain yogurt

Lunch

Lunch today was on the go so I had to pack it.

Grilled chicken, celery & green peppers, apple, 4 saltines.

This also included my mid-afternoon snack: one apple & 4 saltines.

Coffee

      Then......Madison dropped my camera and the lens isn't functioning - the camera just shuts off. I tried to fix it but nothing has worked so far. I couldn't take pictures of my dinner, but it looked very similar to lunch. I had to grab it and run out of the house.

     Last night, I was feeling rather hopeless about my camera and decided to drown my sorrows in a jar of creamy peanut butter.... so I went off of my diet. I am still determined to do this 14 day game. I will try using my smartphone to take pictures for right now and continue standardly on my diet. I will miss my beautiful Canon camera though. It took such great photos. 

Day 1 - Diet

Breakfast

Black coffee & plain Greek yogurt

This is the brand of Greek yogurt I eat.

It has 18g protein and 0% fat per 6oz serving!

Lunch

For lunch I made a tuna salad.  

Salad with spring mix, cucumber, green onion, tomato.

My complete meal: Tuna with a salad, apple, 4 saltines, iced coffee & water.

Snack

Afternoon snack (3:00pm) - Granny smith apple & 4 saltines

This is another necessity in making it through a day of dieting.

Orbit Sweet Mint Gum

Dinner

Earlier in the week I grilled a few chicken breasts to last me through the week.

Tonight I made a grilled chicken salad with balsamic vinegar.

Complete Meal: Grilled chicken salad, Gala apple, 4 saltines & water.

I made it through Day 1 successfully!

....another 13 days to go.

Dr. Cohen's 1st Personal Diet

     Website: http://1stpersonaldiet.com/

    I first did Dr. Cohen's 1st Personal Diet in 2009 and lost 38lbs in less than 3 months. I didn't know how to eat properly before this diet. I used to just eat protein bars, diet sodas & rice cakes when trying to "diet" but never had any real results. I finally decided to sign up for the 1st Personal Diet after seeing the results my sister had with it, and when I was tired of seeing pictures of me looking overweight. This diet taught me to eat healthy, balanced foods. I learned to love eating fresh fruits & veggies, lean protein and drink a lot of water. My body started to crave healthy food. When I ate sugar, my system was overwhelmed and it made me feel horrible. 

     After I lost the weight, maintaining was the hard part. I didn't follow the maintenance rules layed out in the diet very well, and my weight yo-yo'd. I eventually buckled down months later and followed the maintenance rules very strictly and my weight went right back down to where it was when I finished the diet - the lowest it had ever been in my adult life.

    Then last fall I had some big personal issues come up, we moved into a new house, life was overwhelming, etc and I fled to food to seek comfort. It sure did add a lot of comfort - 50 lbs of comfort and extra padding around my body, haha. It takes a LOT of bad eating to gain 50 lbs in just 4 months. After I was unable to fit into any of my clothes except sweatpants & maternity clothing, I finally decided it was time to re-do the 1st Personal Diet. I paid for it all over again, ordered all new blood tests and received a completely new diet program.

   

  I started the diet in December 2011 and did it wonderfully until the end of April 2012 (I was only 2lbs away from my goal weight!!) I had some major personal issues come up again and I wandered off my diet, slowly gaining some weight back. It is now the 3rd week of July and I have been trying for 2 1/2 months to get back on this diet 100%. I haven't been able to do the diet more than a few days straight without going off on a binge. I have not stepped on a scale since the last week of April but I can feel myself getting chubbier every day. 

     I decided to start posting some of my diet meals on my blog. It may help encourage other dieters - those doing the 1st Personal Diet and those just trying to eat healthy. It also will help keep me on track and looking forward to my reaching my goal. More posts to come...

Single Serving French Toast

Madison loves french toast and asks me to make it for her very often. No one else in the family eats it, so I just make a small recipe to feed her. Sometimes I can make two pieces and sometimes I can make three pieces of french toast - it depends on how much milk I add. Madison eats 2 pieces and I save the third in the refrigerator.

This is my recipe for a single serving of french toast.

Crack one egg into a shallow bowl.

Lightly beat egg with a fork.

Add some milk or cream, about 1/2 cup.

Stir.

 Add a drizzle of maple syrup for sweetness, and a dash of vanilla for flavor.

Next add cinnamon, 1/4 to 1/2 tsp, and stir.

Heat pan over medium heat. Add butter.

Dip one piece of bread in egg mixture...

...then flip over.

Put bread in pan, and repeat dipping next piece of bread and putting in the pan.

Turn heat to medium-low.

Let the pieces cook until golden brown, then flip over.

Cook other side until golden brown.

Transfer to a plate and top with butter & maple syrup.

The last thing I do special for Madison is sprinkle a little bit of cinnamon sugar on top after it's all cut up.

Cookie Press Butter Spritz Cookies

I like to make these cookie press butter cookies with Madison for 4th of July. They come out looking like fireworks and we decorate them with red, white & blue sprinkles.

I made my own red, white & blue sprinkles. 

What is a cookie press?

 This is my cookie press.

I bought it on eBay for $3 and it is awesome.

 You fill the canister with cookie dough and squeeze it out, like playdoh.

Classic Wilton Spritz Cookies 

First beat butter & sugar.

Then add vanilla, egg & milk. (I omitted the almond extract.)

 Madison pouring in the vanilla. We used our homemade vanilla!

Stir together dry ingredients. Then gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture.

Voila - cookie dough.

Roll cookie dough into a log.

Push into cookie press.

Push it down & get it as full as possible.

I squeeze out the first little bit & wipe it off into the bowl.

This ensures that the first cookie comes out even. 

The cookie press should be flat against the cookie sheet. Give the top handle a nice twist until the cookie comes out. I need to turn mine about once & a half to make a good size cookie.

This picture is Madison making a cookie. :)

Bake for 10-12 minutes.

I added sprinkles right after they came out of the oven. You can add the sprinkles before putting the cookies in the oven too.

Note: Jimmies sprinkles will melt in the oven - add after or halfway through baking.

Another idea I tried was drizzling buttercream icing over the cookies. Mmm.

Some other July 4th sweets:

Sugar Cookies with Buttercream Frosting & Sprinkles

Rice Krispy Treats with red, white & blue jimmies sprinkles.

The Jimmies melt in the hot marshmellow mix and leave a cool stream of color in the treats.

Brownies :)

http://www.wilton.com/recipe/Classic-Spritz-Cookies