In-the-Zone Zucchini Crisps

My favorite summer side dish!

PRODUCE
3-4 medium sized zucchini (cut into chips)


SEASONING
1/4 tsp. seasoned salt
1/8 tsp. black pepper (or to taste)
1/4 tsp. garlic powder

OTHER
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup panko
1 cup of olive oil (or you can substitute with milk)

DIARY
1/3 cup of parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS
1. Cut your zucchini into small slices. The thinner you cut the slices the more like chips they will be!

2. Mix all of the bread crumbs, parmesan, and seasoning together in a large bowl or on a plate.

3. Put a few TBS of olive oil into a large ziplock bag. Put your zucchini in your bag and shake it to cover the vegetable in the oil.

4. Roll your zucchini slices in the bread crumb mixture.

5. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray.

6. Place the crumb-covered zucchini slices onto the baking sheet-- do not layer.

7. Bake at 425 for 30 minutes or until the desired crispiness.


Ninja-Body Options: Use milk instead of olive oil and use less breadcrumbs.

Notes: I cut my veggies with a special blade-- the reason for the crinkle-look.

Locked and Loaded Baked Potato Casserole

This is an easy-to-make casserole which tastes much like a loaded baked potato! 

INGREDIENTS

Produce
1 medium sweet onion
3 small chives
1.5 lbs of red potatoes (or 6 fairly large baking potatoes) julienned or just diced
2-4 garlic (or sub 1/2 tsp garlic powder)

Kraft Fresh Take Savory Four Cheese Recipe Pack

Seasoning
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper

Dairy
2 cups of shredded Mexican Cheese Blend  (or mild cheddar)
1 cup of mozzarella cheese
12 oz of sour cream

Other
Bacon (fried and broken into bits)

Prep Work: dice or julienne potatoes, dice garlic, onions, and chives.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Oil the bottom and sides of your casserole dish.

In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients except for the Kraft Savory Recipe Packet, chives, and bacon.  Blend the ingredients.

Next, open the cheese side of your Kraft Packet (only the cheese side-- do NOT mix the two sides), and stir the cheese into your potato mixture.

Spread the potato mixture into the baking dish. Sprinkle it with 1/2 of the breadcrumbs from the Kraft Packet and 1/2 of your bacon bits.

Cook uncovered for 20 minutes, check for softness of potatoes. Then, cover with aluminum foil and bake another 10-20 minutes (depending on thickness of the potatoes).

When finished, sprinkle with 1/2 bacon bits and the chives.

Go Bananas! and Chocolate Chip Smoothie

Here is the perfect summer smoothie recipe!  Feel free to mix it up, add to it, etc.

Ingredients

Produce
1 Ripe Banana (freeze it)

Dairy
2-3 Tbs of Vanilla Low-Fat yogurt
3/4 cup of skim milk (or whatever type you like-- maybe almond?)

Other
1 Tbs of chocolate chips (dark chocolate chips are amazing!)
1 Tbs of chocolate syrup (or sub 2 tsp of cocoa)
1/4 tsp of cinnamon
Ice


Prep Work
Cut your banana into small pieces. Weapon of choice: a big blade!

Directions
Add all of the above into your blender. Add 1-2 cups of ice depending on how thick or thin you prefer your smoothie!


In the Mix: try using a dash of cayenne or a spoonful of honey!
Ninja Body Options: use low fat everything! Remove the chocolate chips and sub more cocoa and yogurt to sweeten.

Knock-Out Tuscan Tuna Sauce and Pasta

I was introduced to this dish by one of my professors while studying in Italy last summer.  It is a delicious Italian pasta dish with a sauce that I describe as Tuscan (not American) Italian. :)   I actually don't like fish very much, but this tuna dish doesn't taste fishy!

This recipe is really just method, and I change it a bit each time I make it.  There are really no definite measurements-- just try it.  

Ingredients

Produce
3 smaller zucchini
3/4 a box of cherry tomatoes
2-3 cloves of garlic (chopped)
Onion (chopped or diced)

Canned/Jar
A large can of solid white albacore tuna (in Siena, we used a jar of Filetti di Tonno from Conad)

Other
Olive Oil
Balsamic Vinegar
A box of penne pasta
Tuscan Italian Herbs (a grocery store blend will work fine)
Red wine (if you have it open)


1. Pour a few tablespoons of olive oil into a frying pan on low-medium heat.
2. Fry onion and garlic in oil (I let mine caramelize a bit)
3. Cut up zucchini-- either lengthwise or into small pieces.
4. Put zucchini into the pan with the onion.  Sprinkle it with salt (to help sweat) and cover the pan for a few minutes.
5. Cut the cherry tomatoes in halves and place in pan.  After cooking for a minute, squish them. This liquid will help create the sauce.
6. Sprinkle the mixture with your Tuscan herbs.  I am pretty generous with these.  
7. While your sauce is cooking, put your pasta to boil-- follow the directions on the package.
8. Keep the heat on your sauce low so that you do not evaporate your liquid too quickly.  Check the veggies every few minutes to be sure you have enough liquid. If not, add a little more olive oil or even a few tablespoons of water.
9. When your veggies are done to your liking, place the drained tuna into the mixture and stir.
10. Add a tablespoon (or more if you like) of Balsamic Vinegar and a few tablespoons of red wine.
11. Drain the pasta and cover it in your tuna sauce.
12. If you want to kick Italian custom to the side, feel free to sprinkle your pasta with some parmigiano cheese.

I serve this with some Tuscan Boule bread and dipping sauce.  To make the dipping sauce, put olive oil on a plate and then drizzle in some Balsamic Vinegar.  Next, sprinkle with fresh ground pepper and some of your Tuscan herbs. Delish!

Ninja-Body Options--Ah, who cares! It's Italian! :)

"Pinned to the Ground" Beef Spread

This is a family recipe that we've made forever!  It sounds strange when you first consider the ingredients, but I promise that it is delicious! My Nana calls this Saturday Night Spread and my roomie calls it Saturday Night Special.  It's really just a sloppy joe.

Ingredients

Protein
1 lb of ground beef

Produce
1/4 of a medium onion

Seasoning
3 Tbs of ketchup
2 Tbs of mustard
1 tsp of olive oil

Canned
1 can of Chicken Gumbo Soup

Other
Onion rolls (or your favorite type of bread)

Prep Work
Dice up that onion with your weapon of choice!


1. Saute the diced onion in the olive oil in a frying pan
2. Add beef and cook thoroughly
3. After the beef finishes cooking, add the soup, ketchup, and mustard and cook for five minutes or until the consistency of the mixture has thickened.
4. Put the mixture on your bread.

Ninja-Body Options: use ground turkey in place of the beef, use a small dollop of fat free butter substitute in place of the olive oil, and try eating your spread on a slice of whole wheat toast.

Collected and Cool Ranch Chicken Tostadas-- Crockpot

The easiest Mexican-ish Chicken Recipe ever.  I found this online and wanted to share; the chicken has a bit of that Cool Ranch Doritos taste. You can cut this recipe in half for a small serving, but cook time will need to be almost the same.

Cook Time: 5 hours on low in the crockpot
Prep Time:  2 minutes


Ingredients


Protein
Chicken- 4 boneless skinless breasts

Seasoning
1 package of taco seasoning
1 package of ranch dressing mix

Other
14 oz of chicken broth
1 package of tostadas
Shredded Mexican Mix Cheese

1. Put seasonings and chicken broth in the crock and mix. Weapon of Choice: a whisk!
2. Put in chicken breasts.
3. Cook for around 5-6 hours (depending on chicken breast size and thickness)
4. Shred chicken!
5. Cook chicken another 30 minutes.
6. Put tostadas in the oven for five minutes (or according to directions)
6. Pile chicken on tostada and sprinkle with cheese
7. Bake your tostadas in oven for 3-5 minutes to melt cheese.





*serve with favorite toppings: tomatoes, sour cream, lettuce, salsa, etc.

Hint of advice: poor some of the extra liquid out of the chicken before serving.

Ninja-Body Options: use low sodium chicken broth and find a low-calorie cheese option. Also, pick a non-fat sour cream if you like.

Be Real-Bad Options: serve with a delicious sweet corn cake.

Beef-Up Italian Stew-- Crockpot

This is an easy beef stew, not much chopping or assembly required.

Cook time: 8 hours in crockpot on low
Prep time: 15 minutes

Ingredients


Protein
2 lb of beef stew

Produce
1 medium onion
1/2 bag of carrots
8 oz of baby carrots
4 garlic cloves (I used around 3 tsp of minced garlic)
1 cup of chopped spinach
1/4 cup of chopped basil leaves

Seasoning, etc.
2 Tbs olive oil
1 tsp of rosemary
1 tsp of thyme
salt and pepper to taste

Canned
14.5 oz of chicken broth
6 oz of tomato paste

Fun Stuff
1 cup of red wine

Prep Work
Cut all of the vegetables into bite size chunks.
Tear up the spinach and basil. Weapon of choice: bare hands!

1. put everything in the crockpot
2. cook on low for 8 hours

If you'd like a thicker stew,  remove around 1/4 cup of the liquid and whisk 2 tbs of cornstarch until smooth.  Add this back into the crock and cook for 20 minutes.  I didn't thicken the stew and found it to be perfectly thick.

Nina-Body Options: this isn't too unhealthy of a recipe; however, you could leave the potatoes out. :) Even ninjas need some carbs.

Master Minestrone Soup-- Crockpot

This soup is a great vegetarian dish! It does taste quite a bit like Olive Garden's soup.

Prep Time: 30 minute (prepare to karate chop those veggies)
Cook Time: 8-9 hours on low

Ingredients
(I would cut the veggies into smaller pieces for faster cooking.)

Produce
3 small yellow squash
1 cup of green beans
3 small zucchini
3 medium celery stalks
1 small red pepper
1 cup of baby carrots
1 small onion
3 cloves of minced garlic
1/8 cup of fresh oregano

Frozen
2 cups of peas

Canned
2 cans of white kidney beans
2 cans of Italian seasoned diced tomatoes
2 boxes of vegetable broth (go for organic!)

Seasoning, etc.
1 Tbs. of olive oil
1 Tbs. of pepper
1 Tbs. of salt
1 tsp. parsley



Prep Time
Cut all of the vegetables-- dice them, chop them, slice 'em up.  Weapon of Choice: knife

1. Combine all of the vegetables, canned ingredients, and seasoning into the crockpot.

2. Cook on low for 9 hours or on high for 6 hours.

Ninja-Body Options- this soup is healthy! Pick a low-sodium broth!








This soup is great reheated for lunch!

You Want Some of This? Sante Fe Chicken-- Crockpot

You want some of this? The best tex mex food I've ever made.  We made a crockpot full of this chicken and ate it all week-- we wanted some of it on quesadillas, in wraps, on nachos, and in tacos! This recipe is my take on one from skinnytaste.com!



Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 10 hours in the crockpot on low

Ingredients

Protein
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

Canned (the amounts are approximate)
14.4 oz of diced tomatoes
15 oz can of black beans
14.4 oz of chicken broth

Produce
3-4 scallions (chopped)

Frozen
8 oz of corn


Seasoning
1 tsp garlic powder
1 Tbs onion powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp cayenne pepper (add more for a real kick in the face!)
1 tsp of salt
1/4 cup cilantro (I didn't use the cilantro)

Options
Use minced onion instead of onion powder
Add more cayenne pepper
Serve with your favorite hot pepper sauce or salsa


Prep Work
Karate chop your cilantro and scallions

1. Put everything but the chicken in the crock pot and mix together.

2. Lay the chicken on top of the mixture.

3. Cook for 9.5 hours on low

4. Tear chicken to shreds!

5. Cook 30 more minutes on low.

6. Serve it however you want it-- in a tortilla, in a taco, or in a quesadilla (my personal favorite).  You can also serve it on rice.

Kickin' and Biscuits-- Crockpot

This is my take on a recipe from www.crockpotgirls.com.  Their website has some amazing dishes-- check them out. 

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 5-6 hours on low in the crockpot; 20 minutes for the biscuits

Ingredients

Produce
1 small onion, karate chopped

Canned
2 cans of cream of chicken soup
1 cup of chicken broth

Frozen
2.5 cups of mixed vegetables (I use carrots, peas, lima beans mix)
1 small bag of Grands Frozen Country Style Biscuits

Protein
3-4 boneless skinless chicken breast

Seasoning (optional)
1 TB of minced garlic
1/2 tsp of onion powder
1/2 tsp of dill
salt and pepper to taste

Prep Work
Mince the onions.  Weapon of choice: knife!


1.  Mix the Cream of Chicken Soup and chicken broth until smooth.

2. Add the vegetables, onion and garlic, and seasoning to the soup mixture.

3. Put chicken in the crockpot first.

4. Top chicken with the soup/vegetable mixture. Cover it up!

5. Cook on low 6-7 hours (high for 5-6).

6. Twenty minutes before you're ready to eat, bake the biscuits according to the directions.

7. Serve the delicious chicken on top of (or under) your biscuits!

Ninja-Body Options: Use the 98% fat free Campbell's Cream of Chicken Soup, use low sodium chicken broth, and avoid the biscuits (a nice toasted slice of wheat bread works well).

Tuscan Tap-Out Tortellini Soup- Crockpot

This soup is one of my favorite new finds! It absolutely changed my mind about cooking with the crockpot-- consider it a tap-out.

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 8 hours in crockpot on low

Ingredients

Produce

2 cups of fresh spinach 

2 diced tomatoes (canned tomatoes can be substituted)

1 cup of asparagus (can be karate chopped out of the recipe)

10 fresh basil leaves (dried leaves can be substituted)

Canned

32 oz of low-sodium chicken broth

Seasoning

1 package of McCormick's Chicken Scaloppine Seasoning

Other

1 large package of Cheese Tortellini (thawed or from dairy section)

3 cups of water

3/4 cup of white wine

1. Combine everything in the crockpot except for the tortellini.

2. Cook for 7 hours on low

3. Add the tortellini for the last hour.

4. Top it with fresh parmesan cheese

Ninja-Body Options: it's cheese, folks-- better add a few more minutes to your heavy-bag workout

Saucy Sausage Tortellini-- Crockpot

Ingredients

Cook Time: four hours on low with frozen tortellini or 2 1/2-3 hours with unfrozen tortellini

Frozen/Fridge
1 Bag of frozen or refrigerated cheese tortellini
1 lb. roll of sausage (I used Jimmy Dean Brand)

Produce
1 small bag of fresh spinach

Canned
2 cans of Italian Seasoned Diced Tomatoes
4 cups of chicken broth

Dairy
1 block of cream cheese

Prep Work
Fry sausage until cooked through
Cut large spinach leaves into smaller pieces
Get cream cheese to room temperature!


1. Put all ingredients into the crockpot.  Put the cream cheese into the crockpot in small chunks.

2. Cook on low and stir often if possible-- this will help the cream cheese to stir in easier.

Options: To keep tortellini from getting too "mushy," put it in only for the last hour or so.

Ninja-Body Options: You might want to add a few extra pushups and sit-ups to your workout! Also, use a low-fat sausage, low sodium chicken broth, and fat free cream cheese.

Mascarpone and Italian Sweet Peppers "Crush"tini

Ingredients
Mascarpone cheese
Italian sweet peppers (also called sweet red peppers-- find in a jar in the pickle section)
French or Tuscan bread

Seasoning
Optional: Tuscan herb blend (Italian herb blend will work fine)

Prep Work
Cut the peppers into thin slices


1. Cut bread into small slices (for Tuscan bread, cut slices into smaller pieces). Weapon of choice: a bread knife!

2. Sprinkle the bread with a few herbs.

3. Toast the bread lightly, one- two minutes.

4. Swipe on some mascarpone cheese (really coat the bread)

5. Place a slice or two of the peppers.


Ninja-Body Options: better add a few sets of roundhouse kicks to your workout.

French Toast with a Vanilla Kick

Ingredients

Dry
French bread (best if a few days old and a bit dry)

Wet
Three eggs
3/4 cup of milk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
maple syrup

Seasoning
1 1/2 tsp sugar
1 pinch of salt
cinnamon

1. Beat up the eggs, milk, vanilla, sugar, and salt in a bowl. Weapon of choice: a whisk!

2. Soak the bread in the mixture for at least 1/2 a minute on each side.

3. Sprinkle each piece with cinnamon.

4. Using a buttered skillet or griddle, fry those suckers until they are brown (and not mushy).

5. Serve with warm maple syrup drizzled on top.

Ninja-Body Options: use skim or 1% milk, substitute a Splenda/sugar blend instead of regular sugar, or use fat free syrup.

Asian Lettuce Wraps and Ninja Noodle Salad

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 15 -20 minutes

Ingredients

Produce

1 seedless cucumber

1 small head of lettuce (I like hydroponically grown butter leaf lettuce)

4 oz baby portabellas

1 small red pepper

1 cup fresh broccoli florets

Asian Food Aisle

2 packages of ramen noodles (any flavor- don't use seasoning packs)

Crispy chow mein noodles 

1 Tb sesame oil

1 cup of Ginger Dressing

Wet

2 Tbs diced pimientos

1 can drained pineapple chunks

Meat

2-3 boneless skinless chicken breasts (or you can use 1 lb ground pork)

Prep for Battle

Cut red pepper and broccoli into bite-size pieces

Slice cucumber

Slice mushrooms

Slice chicken into bite-size pieces

Separate Lettuce leaves into "cups"

Ninja Noodles 

1.In a bowl, place pepper, broccoli, and pineapple-- set aside. 

2. Prepare ramen noodles according to directions.  DO NOT USE the seasoning packets, toss those in the trash.  After noodles are cooked, drain them and run cold water over them until they are chilled.

3. Put chilled ramen in the bowl with pepper, broccoli, and pineapple.  Toss in 1/2 cup of Ginger Dressing.  Place in fridge and serve cold. 

Lettuce Cups

1. Put a large saucepan on a med-high burner for 2-3 minutes. 

2. Place sesame oil in pan.

3. Add chicken (or pork), pimientos, and mushrooms.  Fry until cooked thoroughly. 

4. Practice ninja dish-washing skills while this is cooking.

5.  Add 1 cup of Ginger Dressing to the pan and stir.

6. Remove from heat. Top with cucumbers.

7.  Put mixture into lettuce cups. Top with crispy noodles.  Serve with delicious ninja noodle salad.

Ninja-body Options:

Use lean chicken instead of ground pork, less of the ginger dressing (or find a low fat variety), and replace the ramen noodles with a wheat noodle.

Rice and Easy Chicken Casserole

Oven: 375º

Cook Time: 45 minutes- 1 hour and 15 minutes

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

Wet

1 1/3 cups of water

1 can of Cream of Chicken Soup

Dry

3/4 cup of long grain white rice

2 cups of vegetables (frozen or fresh)

1 cup shredded reduced fat cheddar cheese

3-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

Seasoning

2-4 cloves of garlic, minced 

1/2 tsp onion powder

2 tsp dill

salt and pepper to taste

1. Mix soup, water, vegetables, rice, and herbs in a casserole dish. Weapon of choice: whisk.

2. Cut each breast in half and place on top of the mixture (cutting the chicken makes it cook faster and helps you practice your knife skills- hiya!). 

3.  Cover dish with foil. Bake until chicken and rice are cooked.

Ninja-Body Options

Use 98% fat free soup, reduced fat cheese, and brown rice.