Chicken with Blueberry Sauce

This recipe popped up on my daily email from Allrecipes.com and looked tasty so I thought I would give it a whirl. Nice use of savory and sweet and blueberries season is just ending so I wanted to get this one in while I could still find good blueberries.

Chicken with Blueberry Sauce

4 chicken breasts (I would pound out butterfly if they are too thick)

1 tbspn olive oil

1/2 cup spreadable fruit (I used peach preserves)

3 Tbspn dijon mustard (I used my favorite Trader Joes Garlic Mustard Aoili)

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup blueberries

1.In a large skillet over medium heat, cook chicken in oil for about 4 minutes on each side or until lightly browned. Combine preserves and mustard; spoon over chicken. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 15 minutes or until chicken juices run clear.
2.With a slotted spoon, remove chicken and keep warm. Add vinegar to skillet; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 3 minutes or until sauce is reduced by one-third, stirring occasionally. Stir in blueberries.

Spicy Sweet Smoky Pork Tenderloin

Hallelujah! A recipe recommendation from a faithful follower - Thanks for the recipe Bhairavi. She loves to shop at Trader Joe's too, and has stumbled across this great salsa - Trader Joes Spicy Sweet Smoky Peach Salsa. Can't wait to give it a try.

Spicy Sweet Smoky Pork Tenderloin

1-2 Pork Tenderloins
1 jar of Trader Joes Spicy Sweet Smoky Peach Salsa

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place pork in roasting pan and pour salsa on top. Bake until internal temperature reaches 150 (about 20-30 minutes). Nice and Easy!

Steak and Carmelized Peach Salad

Anyone else in total peach mode lately? Peaches are perfect right now and the new carmelized peach salad at California Pizza Kitchen inspired me to play around with peaches for dinner tonight. I threw together a bunch of my favorite ingredients and came up with a FANTASTIC summer salad. I would put this up to CPK any day of the week.

Steak and Carmelized Peach Salad

3/4 pound beef stir fry meat (I bought presliced bottom round steak from Walmart - Skirt steak or any type of lean steak sliced thin)

2 peaches
bag of spinach

handful of pecans

1/4 cup of feta cheese, goat cheese, or no cheese for the paleo purists

handful of dried cherries

1/2 avacado sliced

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

optional seasoning - smokehouse maple grillmates seasoning

cut peaches in half, remove pit and place cut side down on cooking sheet and roast at 400 degrees for 15 min. Pour 1/2 the oil in a pan and saute the steak until cooked through (I seasoned meat with smokehouse maple and salt) . Remove from heat. cut steak in bite sized pieces, and add the rest of the oil and balsamic vinegar. Pour meat and warm dressing into bowl with spinach, cheese, nuts, cherries, avacado. Remove peaches from oven and cut in chunks and toss in salad. I did use a little extra balsamic vinaigrette salad dressing (Panera brand).

Eggplant Sliders

I have been experimenting with some new vegetables lately, and keep coming back to eggplant. This purple skinned vegi is a great source of antioxidants as well as a good source of fiber,B6, folate, magnesium, and niacin. The menu for the family tonight was cheeseburger sliders, corn on the cob, and fruit salad. I opted for breaded eggplant rounds as a paleo sub for the hamburger bun and they were a hit with my husband and myself. I would definitely make these again to eat by themselves or as a bun substitute for burgers, chicken, or any grilled meat. Hope you take the time to try it.
Eggplant Rounds
1 eggplant cut in 1/2 inch slices
Egg
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup almond flour
1 tsp oregano
1tsp chili powder
1 tsp garlic herb seasoning

Preheat oven to 400 and spray pan with Pam. Mix egg and oil in one bowl and all dry ingredients in another bowl. Dip eggplant slices in egg mix and then dredge through almond flour mix. Place in single layer on pan and cook for 40 min turning half way through. This is great with garlic aoli mustard as a dipping sauce or with a burger and your favorite burger fixings.

High Protein Banana Bread

Back from a week of vacation and god bless my husband, back to a clean house! Only thing amiss was the bunch of overly ripe bananas sitting on the counter, which was screaming "banana bread" as I was scrounging around for breakfast this morning. If you follow this blog you have learned a couple things about me. I love my BSN Lean Dessert Protein powder, and while I love the paleo principles, I tweak a little to make the diet liveable, with things like Greek yogurt (dairy but so high in protein and low in fat I can totally justify it) and honey (a girl needs a little sweet). So, here is my high protein banana bread I created this morning. Turned out delish and it's packed full of protein! Gave it to the kids for breakfast and they loved it!

High Protein Banana Bread

3 ripe bananas mashed
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
1 egg
1/4 cup honey
1 tsp vanilla
Stir all ingredients together

1 cup almond flour
2 scoops whipped vanilla BSN Lean Dessert protein powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
Stir together and mix into wet ingredients
Pour in 8X8 square pan sprayed with Pam and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes or until set.
(I covered with foil half way through so it didnt brown too much) Slice and serve