Homemade Salad Dressing

I've been toying with the idea of making my own salad dressings.  There's so much yuckiness in even the lightest of store bought dressings, that I'm at least going to give it a try and hopefully make them on occasion (because let's be honest, the likelihood I'll ALWAYS do homemade dressing is slim to none).
Haven't tried this yet, but we're HUGE ranch fans (thank you, Midwest upbringing), so I'm going to give this one a try as soon as I have a kitchen again :)  I'll probably do my first go round with light or ff sour cream and see how it tastes. 

Buttermilk Ranch Dressing

Makes 1 1/2 cup

• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 scallion, finely minced
• 1 tbs. fresh chopped dill
• 1/2 tsp. chopped fresh marjoram or other herb
• 2 tbs. white wine vinegar
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
  
  Whisk all ingredients together in a small bowl. Adjust the seasoning according to your taste, and have fun experimenting with different herb combinations. Keeps in the refrigerator for one week.

*Recipe from my LifeTime Fitness member newsletter

Kieslings Go West - Episode 2

As I think I've mentioned, part of my deal with the move to the desert was that we'd do some serious exploring in the western half of the country.  Having only lived east as an adult, the west coast was never somewhere easy or affordable to visit.  So for Episode 2 of Kieslings Go West, we visited Portland, OR and Willamette Valley wine country to celebrate Brad's 35th birthday.

VooDoo Donuts, a maple bacon bar!

The weather was stunning, the food and wine delicious, and of course, the company was perfection.

                                                   

Crystal Clear

Hands down, my favorite part of this renovation so far has been....new windows. Holy.Cow.
I knew our windows were bad.  I knew when we moved in that at some point, we'd probably end up replacing them all. So what better time to start then with a brand new kitchen?  Along one wall of the house, we have a beautiful bay window, a huge dining room window, and a sliding glass door. I found a local company through Yelp (which has been a lifesaver) who quoted us waaay less than Home Depot did.  It took 2 days and when I saw the finished product, I literally almost cried.  Never underestimate the power of new windows if you're doing a renovation!

I can't believe how much bigger the window looks!

Cooking with no kitchen - Festive Grilled Tilapia

Prior to the kitchen saying bye-bye, we were on quite the tilapia kick.  It's super cheap, it's healthy and it hardly takes any time at all to cook.  With no oven, I was trying to think of a way to still have a home cooked dinner using our new favorite fish, and found inspiration from Food Network...I'm calling it Festive Grilled Tilapia.  This literally takes minutes to throw together, and the best part is you could put it together long before you eat it, then just pull it out of the fridge and throw it on the grill when you're ready to eat!

Festive Grilled Tilapia
Ingredients/items needed:
-Tilapia filets (as many as people eating)
-1/2 cup fresh salsa for each
-Olive oil
-1 lime
-Heavy duty aluminum foil or double up on regular aluminum foil (will make a pouch for each filet)

Process:
-Lay tilapia filet in the center of your foil
-Dump 1/2 cup of fresh salsa on top and spread out to cover the filet
-Drizzle olive oil (I used just under 1 tsp for each filet)
-Cut the lime in half and squeeze a bit on top
-Fold your grill pouch*
    *Fold the long sides together like you would a brown paper lunch bag, then lay the next fold flat
    *Fold the sides up once (it's okay if it's not tight - you want a little steam to be able to seep through)
-Repeat for as many filets/people as are eating
-Put pouches over high heat on the grill for 10 - 12 minutes
OR
-Stick pouches in the fridge until you're ready to grill 'em!


Turned out better than I expected (so good, in fact, that I forgot to take a pic of the finished product :)
I made this with a side of black beans (topped with feta, of course) and a garden salad.  A fabulous, quick and EASY home cooked meal - with no kitchen, no less!

Cooking with no kitchen - Mexican Chicken Chili

I was so proud of myself because I'd found a recipe, made a grocery list, and got what I didn't have at home already...but when I went to make dinner I couldn't find the recipe anywhere!  I did some guessing and threw a bunch of stuff in a crock pot hoping for the best.  HOLY COW!  One of our favorite new recipes!   So healthy, so easy, and so delicious.  I wasn't sure what exactly it was going to be like - would it need to be rolled in a tortilla?  Eaten like soup?  The reason we ordered pizza?  I was so pleased to find it turned out like a PERFECT chili - the perfect amount of broth with tons of flavor.

Mexican Chicken Chili
Ingredients:
-3 fairly large boneless skinless chicken breasts (I think it was about 1.4 lbs)
-can of black beans, drained (we always use low sodium)
-can of kidney beans, drained (again, low sodium)
-can of corn, drained 
-7 oz can of mild diced green chiles
-28 oz can of petite diced tomatoes, drained
-can of tomato sauce
-packet of taco seasoning
-any toppings you like (shredded cheddar, avocado chunks, onion, etc)

Place the chicken on the bottom of the crock pot, and dump each ingredient in on top.  Once all ingredients are in, mix it up (don't worry about getting it under the chicken, just about mixing the other ingredients together), and cook on high for 4 hours. 

Open the lid and with forks, pull apart all the chicken - it should shred very easily.  Let it cook on low or warm for another 15 - 20 minutes.  Serve with toppings of your choice (we are reduced fat cheddar fans, ourselves, but next time I'm trying avocado, too) and ENJOY!

Again, kitchen renos call for paper/plastic products.
I bet it tastes even BETTER using real bowls and spoons :)

Cooking with no kitchen - BBQ Pulled Chicken

Trying to find meals to cook when you have no oven, stovetop, or dishwasher gets interesting.  We eat lots of salads, but that gets REALLY boring, so I've been working to find creative ways to cook healthy, substantial dinners.  The crock pot has been a lifesaver (just a pain to take to the bathroom upstairs to clean afterwards), as has the grill.  My first kitchen-less crock pot dinner was 3 ingredients.  That's right.  THREE.  And it was SOOOO delicious!  Thought I'd share the recipe (if you can even call it that) for my slow cooker BBQ pulled chicken:

Sidenote: I usually prepare enough in the crock pot for a family of 4 - and then Brad and I have leftovers :)

Ingredients:
(4) boneless, skinless chicken breasts
(1) 18 oz bottle of BBQ sauce
1/2 of a small bottle of zesty fat free italian dressing

Place the chicken in the bottom of the crock pot.  In a separate bowl, pour in the 3/4 to the full bottle of BBQ sauce and the dressing, and whisk together.  Once fully combined, pour over the chicken.  Cook for 3 hours on high, then turn down to low for another couple of hours.*  Then using forks, pull the chicken apart and let cook for another 15 - 20 minutes. 
*If you wanted to start this in the morning and have it ready when you get home in the evening, I'd put it on low or warm for the whole 8 hour day, and I'm sure it would work just as well.

Yes, we're eating with paper and plastic these days :)
And the broccoli was steamed in the microwave in about 3 minutes and sprinkled with parmesan. 
Easy, healthy and so tasty!