Here’s what I cam up with. Oh! and I didn’t have any red onion although I think is would be great in this. I just decided to skip onion all together.

• 1 tsp olive oil
• 2 limes
• 1/2 tbsp honey (10g)
• Kosher Salt
• Ground Black Pepper
• 1 can of Chickpeas (Garbanzo beans) drained and rinsed
• 1/2 cup grated carrots
• 1/2 cup Fresh cilantro
• 2 oz Feta Cheese

Gather all your ingredients.

Grate the carrots.

Rinse the chickpeas.

Loosely chop the cilantro.

Start by making the dressing.

Remove some of the peel from the limes with the grater. You don’t have to get it all just about a tsp or two to bump up the flavor. Add the peel, the olive oil, honey, salt, pepper and juice from both limes to a bowl and whisk.

In a larger bowl add the chickpeas, carrots, feta and cilantro. Pour the dressing over. Toss and eat!

FULL DISCLOSURE: I have partnered with ATHENOS Feta to serve as one of ATHENOS Change for the Feta Bloggers. I am compensated for my time commitment to the program, which includes blogging about my cooking experiences with ATHENOS Feta. I have also been compensated for the food purchased for my Change for the Feta creations. However, my opinions are entirely my own and I have not been paid to publish positive comments. Click here to see all my Feta Ideas!!

So when I saw this box of Quaker Quick Barley at the grocery store I thought I’d give it a try. I picked it up with some fresh cilantro, something I also rarely buy. I know fresh herbs are the way to go but I rarely buy them. I’ve have grown my own but not yet this season. I’m trying though!

Anyway, I decided on a side dish and I made something like my Super Quick Fried Rice. Surprisingly BOTH husband and child liked, no, LOVED the result. The husband said he liked it better then rice and the little guy didn’t even know what it was. I believe his exact quote was, "YAY! I love that rice." I just let him go with his bad self and he ate dinner with no complaints. :)

I have to admit the cilantro made all the difference. The flavor was amazing in this!

Here’s what I did.

• 1 cup (144) uncooked quick barley (I used this from Quaker )
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1/2 sweet onion chopped
• 2 carrots diced small
• 2 cloves of garlic minced
• About an inch of ginger root
• 2 tsp low sodium soy sauce
• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro chopped

Cook the barley according to the package with 2 cups of water.

In a large skillet heat the sesame oil over medium heat. Add the onion, carrots and garlic. Cook until the onion starts to soften and get slightly transparent.

Add in the cooked barley. Add the soy sauce and grate the ginger root on top (I keep mine in the freezer and grate it frozen. It’s a sinch. Click here to see a video where I talk about it)

Add in the cilantro. Stir to merge all the flavors and cook for another 1-2 minutes.

I served mine as a side dish but you could easily turn this into a meal by adding a protein and/or more veggies. Here’s the nutritional info splitting it into 4 side dish servings.

Well, come home early from work and cook, of course. :)

I decided to fill the crock pot and not worry about dinner. While it was cooking we played trouble, soccer, watched The Incredibles and had fun. Seriously… is the crock pot NOT one of the best inventions of the century?!

Anyway, I decided to use Top Sirloin for this because it is one of the leanest cuts of beef AND it was on sale. I got a big cut (like this) for 9 bucks and simply cut it in half for this recipe.

I’m glad I have the other half as the husband actually liked this meal. He’s not a stew fan so having a crock pot semi-stewish type of dinner handy that the family actually likes is a bonus for a mid week dinner.

Here’s how I made it. . . Oh! and I should warn you, there isn’t a lot of liquid in this. you may want to increase for your family. I kept it on the dryer side for the stew hating husband. :)

• 1lb Top Sirloin with visible fat removed
• 1/2 sweet onion chopped
• About 1/2 lb baby cut carrots
• 1 large russet potato cut into large chunks
• 1 large sweet potato cut into large chunks
• 1/2 cup of water
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tbsp whole wheat flour
• 1/2 tsp dried rosemary
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 1/4 tsp fennel seeds
• fresh ground black pepper

Put the onion, carrots, and potatoes in the slow cooker. Lay the meat on top.

In a small bowl whisk the remaining ingredients and pour over the meat and vegetables.

Cover and cook on high about 3 hours.

Here’s a little before and after shot. . .

When it’s done cut it thin and serve with the potatoes, carrots and a drizzle of the liquid.

This makes 4 servings, but I didn’t measure anything post cooking. I simply seperated it into 4 equal servings. Bogus, I know. :)

It.was.WONDERFUL!

No dirty looks. No questions. No arguing. No dealing. I simply cooked what I wanted and enjoy a pretty, healthy, vegetable filled meal.

Is it sad that I like to cook for myself? I mean, I’d love a family that was more adventurous but since they aren’t I look for opportunities like tonight to experiment. It makes me happy. :)

• 1/2 sweet onion diced
• 2 carrots diced
• 2 celery stalks (with leaves) diced
• 2 tsp curry powder
• 1/2 tsp turmeric (You can skip if you don’t have it)
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup uncooked quinoa (84g)
• About 2 cups baby spinach loosely chopped
• 2 bell peppers (I used yellow)
• kosher salt

Preheat oven to 425 Degrees

Heat a pot medium pot over medium-high heat. Spray with non-stick cooking spray and saute the onion, carrots and celery with a pinch or two of salt. Continue cooking and stirring for a few minutes until the onion softens and look a little transparent.

Add the curry and turmeric. Stir to coat everything. Then add the water and quinoa. Bring to a boil then cover and lower to a simmer. Simmer for 10-15 minutes until all the liquid is absorbed.

Meanwhile. Half the peppers longways and remove the seeds. Place in a casserole dish and sprinkle with a bit of salt.

When the quinoa is done, mix in the spinach. It should start to wilt immediately. Then stuff the peppers sprinkle with a little more salt and pop in the oven for about 10 minutes.

Here’s a few more pics because they are so darn pretty!

And even though the little guy didn’t eat them he was fascinated by the photo taking. :)

"Apparently all I had to do was shove a beer can up a chicken’s a$$ to get him excited about dinner!"

I may have been wrong. I’m not sure if it was the can of beer or the fact that I was serving him meat on a bone.

He was just as excited about tonight’s dinner and I even served couscous. You all know how much he hates couscous, right? lol

In all seriousness, he love it. Even asking me what spices I used. He NEVER asks me what spices I use. I don’t think he knows what spices are!

The toddler? Well, he ate with minimal complaint. A win in my book. :)

Here’s what I did. . .

Chicken Breasts

• 3 bone in chicken breasts
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp onion powder
• Kosher Salt
• Ground pepper

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

In a small bowl mix the cumin, coriander and onion powders.

Remove the skin from all or some of the breasts. I always remove mine. Why? Well let’s take a look. . .

Nutritional information from SparkPeople.

That’s almost half the calories simply by removing the skin. Not to mention the fat! Yikes!

Place the breasts in a baking dish and season with the salt and pepper. Sprinkle on the spice mixture.

Bake for 40-45 minutes until internal temp is 165. Mine were perfect at 43 minutes. I pulled them out and let them sit for 5 minutes.

10 minutes before the chicken is done start the couscous. . .

Veggie Couscous

• 2-3 slices of a large sweet onion diced
• 2 carrots diced
• 2 stalks of celery diced
• 1 small zucchini diced
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp ground coriander
• 1/2 cup chicken broth (4oz)
• 1/2 cup whole grain couscous, dry (110g)

Heat a medium pot over medium heat. Spray with non stick cooking spray and cook the onion for a few minutes while dicing the carrots. Add the carrots, then celery, then zucchini.

Sprinkle with the cumin and coriander (subtle tie in with the chicken). Add the broth and bring to a boil.

Add the couscous, turn off the heat and cover. Fluff after 5 minutes.

I also served with some frozen broccoli. It was a perfect meal for the 3 of us with just enough leftover for a lunch. :)

For my Weight Watchers friends, I’d count this (1 breast and 1/4 of the couscous) as 8 WWP. That’s just my estimate, I don’t have it in me to post nutritional info this evening. Sorry. :(

So I’ve used this flavor combination a few times before. First in Baked Ham with Sweet Potatoes and Carrots and then on the grill with Grilled Ham Steaks with Sweet Potatoes but I have to admit, this way may be my favorite. It literally took 25 minutes from start to finish, was eaten by all and now I have lunch for Monday. How can you beat that? :)

• 12 oz cured ham cut into cubes
• 1 really large sweet potato cut into cubes (mine was 500g)
• 6 oz carrots cut into chunks (170g)
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 tbsp Balsamic vinegar
• 1 tbsp (21g) honey
• 1 tbsp (20g) molasses
• ¼ tsp all spice

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Spray with non-stick cooking spray and add the cubed potatoes. Cook for about 5 minutes stirring occasionally. Add the carrots and cook for a few more minutes.

Whisk the vinegars, honey, molasses and all spice together. Top the potato and carrots with the mixture. Stir to coat, bring to a boil, cover and lower to medium-low. Cook for about10 minutes. Stir in the cubed ham and cook until potatoes are soft, about 5 more minutes.

Here’s a little before and after…

You’ll have to excuse the pictures. The lighting in my kitchen is horrible.

Anyway, this is good. I’ve made it twice this week as a quick meal for myself. It’s super tasty and a cinch to prepare. You can’t go wrong.

• 1/4 cup dry bulgur (40g)
• 1 tsp olive oil (5g)
• 1 thick slice of sweet onion chopped
• 1 carrot diced
• 1/2 of a small-medium zucchini chopped
• 1 inch fresh ginger
• 1 tbsp low sodium soy sauce

Prepare the bulgur according to the package. It’s a 1:2 bulgur to water ratio. So for our 1 serving of bulgur, 1/4 of a cup, you need 1/2 cup of water. Bring the water to a boil, add the bulgur, cover and remove from heat. Should take about 15 minutes. The longer you soak the softer it will get.

Once the bulgur is to your liking, heat the tsp of olive oil in a non-stick skillet. Add the onion, carrot and zucchini. Grate in the ginger. (My ginger secret… I buy a root, cut it into 1 inch chunks and then freeze. Makes it super easy to grate. )

If there is any water left in the bulgur drain it. Add it to the skillet. Stir in the tbsp of soy sauce and cook for a few minutes allowing the flavors to merge.

Enjoy!

To my surprise… He liked it!

Although after the picture taking session a mom/som battle of epic proportions began. After about 4-5 bites he declared "I’m Full."

"OK" I said, as I don’t like to force him to eat past fullness. However, I save the plate and if he returns (in a reasonable amount of time) and asks for a snack I make him finish his meal first. Well, that’s exactly what happened yesterday. About 10 minutes after leaving the table he asked for candy. I told him he needed to finish he lunch first. (side note: I only gave him half a portion although kept the full portion in his pictures.)

Without going into all the nitty gritty details, the next hour was SHEER torture for mom and child alike. I wasn’t giving in and either was he. He’d ask, I put the plate on the table. He’d cry. I told him he didn’t have to eat it IF he wasn’t hungry BUT he wasn’t getting any candy until he did. Tears, yells, and cries later a majority of his lunch was gone and he TOTALLY forgot about the candy. LMAO So whole grain pasta, zucchini, carrots and chicken eaten and NO candy. I chalk that up to a win for mom. ;~P

Anyway, I’m still marking it as toddler approved as he never stated he didn’t liked it and when I asked him if he did he said yes. Which makes the whole mom/son battle completely illogical. KIDS! *sigh*

• large boneless chicken breast (about 8oz) cut into chunks
• thick slice of sweet onion chopped
• handful of baby carrots (about 3oz) sliced
• half of medium zucchini chopped
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp rice vinegar
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1/3 cup chicken broth
• 3oz whole wheat angel hair pasta

Put a pot of water on high and bring to a boil for the pasta

Meanwhile, heat a large non-stick skillet over medium high heat and spray with non-stick cooking spray. Brown the chicken with the onion and carrots. Add the zucchini. Lower the heat to medium.

Whisk the soy sauce, vinegar, ginger, oil and chicken broth together. Set aside.

Stir the chicken and veggies. By this time your water should be boiling. Add the pasta. Cook for 3-4 minutes or until desired doneness.

Drain the pasta and plop on top of the skillet. Pour the soy sauce mixture on top. Work the pasta around the veggies and chicken, it will want to clump together. Keep stirring until they are well mixed up. Lower the heat to a simmer and cook until most of the liquid is absorbed, about 5 minutes.

Serve!

I pretty much follow the technique I outlined in the old post but I now add kosher salt, fresh thyme, fresh sage and a handful of whole cloves during the boiling process. I also boil it forever until about 1/4 of it cooks down and then fill it with more water and boil it down again. Like I sad in the original post, the double boil technique really gives a flavorful broth and the fresh herbs and cloves really add an amazing dimension to the stock.

I made the broth last night and this morning I took a few cups and made a simple soup with what I had lying around. I love couscous in the soup (I bought a case of whole grain online-It’s the only place I can find it anymore.) It creates this fun texture and like the brown rice or bulgur, I don’t car if it gets overly "mushy".

This time I actually measured out the ingredients for my soup so I can post more then just a loose idea. Normally I take the broth add stuff and eat. :) Seriously.. it’s that easy.

• 6 cups turkey/chicken stock (already seasoned with salt and spices)
• 1/2 medium onion chopped
• 2 cups carrots chunk sliced
• 3-4 stalks of celery chopped
• 6 oz of cooked chicken/ turkey meat pulled from the bone
• 1/2 cups whole wheat couscous (110g)

Bring the stock with the onion, carrots, celery and turkey meat to a boil. Cook for about 15 minutes.

Add the couscous, cover a lower to a simmer. Simmer about 10 minutes.

Makes just over 8 cups. You could add more stock to make more servings but I purposely make it "thick" as the couscous doesn’t add as much "meat" as say rice or egg noodles.

Anyway the dish is called Red Rice. I never heard of it before but I’ve eaten similar meals. My mom used to make something close to this with peas (which I would have added but he does’t like them) and rice.

All I had to work with when figuring out the idea was rice, tomatoes and some kind of meat. I decided on sausage as I thought it would add the most flavor but you could easily make this with chicken breast even, dare I say leftover turkey this week? :~) As always take it and run. The liquid to rice ratio is perfect and although this makes enough to serve a small army, it freezes well.

Oh! and if you’re curious, the husband and toddler both enjoyed it. I guess my food cheating paid off. :~)

• 1 small sweet onion chopped
• handful of baby carrots diced (3oz)
• 1 package turkey sausage (20oz – 6 links)
• 2 large green bell peppers chopped
• 1 1/2 cup uncooked brown rice (285g)
• 1 can diced tomatoes (15oz)
• 1 small can tomato sauce (8oz)
• 2 cups water (16oz)
• 1 can kidney beans drained & rinsed (15oz)
• 1 tbsp paprika
• 1 tbsp chili powder (cut back if you don’t want too much kick)
• 1 tbsp dried parsley
• non-stick cooking spray

Spray a large pot with non-stick cooking spray and start by sautéing the onions over medium high heat. Add the diced carrots.

Remove the casing from the sausage. Simply take a knife and slice longways. It should peal right off. Plop them into the pot and break apart with a wooden spoon while browning.

Once the turkey is browned add the peppers. We are holding off on them as to not overcook and get too mushy. Add the brown rice and stir to coat everything.

Add the can of tomatoes and tomato sauce. Use the 8oz tomato sauce can to add to can-fuls of water (2 cups). Add the beans, paprika, chili powder and parsley. Bring to a boil then cover and lower to a simmer.

DO NOT TOUCH it for 25 minutes. I scream as I’m famous for ruining dishes because I can’t wait then I peak and let out the heat. Leave it alone. It will be fine if it’s over your lowest setting and the rice will come out nice and fluffy. Well, as fluffy as brown rice and come. :~)

After 25 minutes, remove cover, stir, turn off heat and let site for a few minutes before serving.

The head count may be up to 13, THIRTEEN! I don’t think I even have 13 chairs! But that’s the least of my worries. Turkey day is a big deal. You got the bird, the potatoes, and most importantly the stuffing! It’s like the cooks signature on the Big Day. Right?

So I couldn’t wait until the big day to try a new stuffing recipe. I had to take at least one dry run. So I defrosted a small chicken and called Mom. :~)

See… mom makes a mean stuffing. She doesn’t have a recipe, every year it’s a little different but every year it’s good! (well, except the year she slipped on the pepper :~)

So this was a stab at Mom’s technique, with a GreenLiteBite makeover, of course. :~P I plan on doubling this recipe for my "Big Day".

Oh! and the husband liked it! He wasn’t as excited as I would have liked but, whatever. I thought it was AWESOME! The toddler, not so much. He tried but was turned off by the look of it. As you can tell, it’s hard to photograph a big bowl of stuffing and make it look appetizing! Or at least as good as it tastes! :~)

• 6 large slices of 100% Whole Wheat Bread
• 1 tbsp olive oil (14g)
• 1 medium onion (I used a red one it was all I had)
• 15 baby carrots (about 3 regular ones) diced
• 3 celery stalks diced
• 8 oz white button mushrooms diced
• 2 turkey sausage links
• 3-4 cups of baby spinach chopped
• Kosher Salt to taste
• 2 tsp poultry seasoning
• 1 tsp each ground sage, garlic powder, onion powder
• 1 tbsp dried parsley
• 1/8 – 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
• 2 cups of chicken fat free chicken broth

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

Lay the bread slices on a cookie sheet and back for 1/2 hour flipping once until crunchy all the way trough.

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and carrots. Cook for a minute or two before adding the celery and mushroom. Stir and keep on heat while you prepare the sausage.

Lightly cut the sausage lengthwise by piercing the casing (skin). Remove and add the sausage meat to the skillet. Cook while breaking apart with a wooden spoon. As it browns it will get easier.

Start adding your spices while the sausage is browning.

Once the sausage is broken up, add the baby spinach. Stir in and it will cook down.

Now you may have some good bits sticking to the bottom of the skillet. That OK, good even! Add about half of the chicken broth, stir and all the goodness will come up. :~)

At this point the bread is probably done. Remove from the oven and cut into cubes. Add the cubed bread to the skillet with the remaining broth. You may want to add the broth a bit at a time, so you don’t make it too moist. If it’s not moist enough, add a splash of water.

Shut off the heat and let it sit a minute. Enjoy now or stuff in the cavity of a chicken or turkey. Put any leftovers in a bowl and keep warm in the oven.

I didn’t official weigh the serving sizes but I was able to estimate about 4-5 cups of finished stuffing. So I’m going with 6 servings of just over 1/2 cup each and that’s a conservative estimate. There was a lot of stuffing there! Worse case scenario, you can separate into 6 equal portions for more accurate nutrition information.

That being said, I hope it gives you some ideas. Sometimes just by changing the way to cut ingredients you can effect their texture and in essence "spice" things up.

Here’s how I made it this morning, take it and run. :~)

• 1 medium cucumber
• 1 carrots or a handful of baby carrots
• 4 oz cooked chicken breast (like shortcuts or leftovers) cut into strips
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• About 1 tsp honey (5g)
• 1/2 tsp rice wine vinegar
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp dried chives (fresh would be better)

Clean and peel the cucumber. Run a potato peeler down the cucumber to slice off "ribbons" (shown in the image below). When you start to hit the seeds simply rotate slightly. Do the same with the carrots.

In a small bowl whisk the soy sauce, honey, vinegar, ginger, oil and chives.

Toss the cucumbers, carrots and chicken with the soy sauce mixture.

Serve on a your favorite wrap or lite tortilla!