Skinny Pineapple Chicken with Cashews

Recipe taken from Bowl of Delicious.
Felt like making Asian last night.  I doubled the sauce because I added veggies (bell pepper trio) and onions.

Ingredients:
-chicken breast, 1.5 lbs cubed
-salt and pepper to taste
-Your choice veggies: bell pepper trio, red onions
-1 cup fresh diced pineapple (reserve juices if any to add to sauce below)
-1/2 cup of cashews

Sauce:
-2 (4) garlic cloves
-1 (2) Tbsp ginger
-2 (4) Tbsp rice wine vinegar - tasted too vinegary! use less next time
-2 (4) Tbsp soy sauce
-2 (4) tsp Sriracha sauce - used maybe a little more, had some kick
-1/2 (1) tsp toasted sesame oil
-Sprinkled red pepper flakes for more spice
-leftover pineapple juice if any
-2 tsp corn starch + 1/4 cup of water 

Directions:
1. Combine ingredients to make sauce + cornstarch/water - set aside
2. Cook chicken with salt, pepper, garlic powder - set aside
3. Cook veggies a little bit
4. Add sauce and stir
5. Add cornstarch/water mix - whisk with fork before adding
6. Stir until thickened
7. Add cashews and diced pineapple

Notes:
Served with rice.
As mentioned above, too vinegary, would add less than 4 Tbsp of rice wine vinegar.  Pineapple is already kind of acidic.

*Pineapple

*Asian

Avocado Pesto

Recipe taken from Eat Yourself Skinny

Ingredients:
-2 avocados
-1 cup fresh basil leaves
-3 cloves of garlic (used 4 and had some extra bite)
-1/4 cup of pine nuts, toasted (no more than 1/4 bc can be too nutty)
-2 tbsp. lemon juice (used 1 whole lemon)
-1/2 tsp sea salt
-3 Tbsp olive oil
-cracked black pepper, to taste

Directions:
1.  Mix in large Cuisinart
2. Added a little water (1/8 cup) to thin it out a little

Notes:
-Served with veggies (red onion, bell peppers, broccoli) and chicken - seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic powder
-can do with zoodles as in the website recipe
-unfortunately, have to make separately each day because avocados can go bad - but could try pre-making and freezing afterwards.  I just pre-peeled garlic and set aside the toasted pine nuts for the next day's serving.

*Italian

*American

Barbeque sauce

Recipe taken from @cleanfoodcrush

Ingredients
-15 ounces organic tomato sauce
-1 Tbsp tomato paste
-2 tsp mustard (OMITTED FOR THE HUBS)
-1/3 cup raw honey (use a little less next time as it was pretty sweet)
-1/4 cup high quality balsamic vinegar
-1/2 cup of water
-2 Tbsp pure maple syrup (or unsulphured molasses --> maybe try next time?)
-1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar (or coconut aminos --> maybe try next time?)
-1 tsp sea salt
-2 tsp smoked paprika
-1/2 tsp onion powder
-1/2 tsp garlic powder
-1/2 tsp ground black pepper (ADD MORE)
-Did not measure, but added a lot of white pepper for a spicier taste

Directions.
1. Add all ingredients to a saucepan
2. Bring to a nice simmer over medium-high heat (at least a 7)
3. Lower heat to low (1) and simmer while occasionally whisking for about 30 min (did it for 28 as it was starting to smoke)
4. Allow to cool completely
5. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week

Notes:
-Served with chicken strips (oven), cauliflower (oven), and mini-potatoes (air-fryer) that were all seasoned with the same spices as above + cayenne pepper for added heat.
-Would consider cooking the night before (Saturday) and then cooking it with the chicken the next day or in a slow cooker shredded chicken recipe

*American

Sweet Potato Fries in the Air Fryer

Depends on how you cut the fries, but was really good thinly cut by my husband.

*EDIT - I tried a recipe that added 3 Tbsp cornstarch to the spices, and it tasted BAD!!! Also only did for 20 min because looking at a different recipe, not the one on my blog, and it was NOT crispy.  There is another recipe that I didn't use that uses cornstarch on Instagram, but it is a lot of steps parboiling sweet potatoes and using the oven, so not sure if it's even worth it.  I guess I'll just stick with frozen if you want sweet potato fries. 

Ingredients:
-olive oil or avocado oil
-whatever spices you want

Tonight, I used combination of:
-garlic powder
-jalapeno salt
-cumin
-paprika
-onion powder

Directions:
1. Toss oil and spices with fries
2. Cook in air fryer for 15 min on 400 degrees
3. Shake in basket
4. Cook in air fryer for 10 min on 400 degrees

Note:
-More thickly cut slices for 10 min + 10 min on 400 degrees was UNDERCOOKED
-2nd round with thinly cut slices was 15 min on 370 degrees and was TOO CRISPY?

*Sides

*American

Korean Ground Turkey

I used 2 recipes for Korean Beef Bowls from Damn Delicious and Skinnytaste.

Used to be made with zoodles, but complicated dish too much.  Also, zoodles are either expensive or a lot more work, so just use chopped zucchini now.

Ingredients

-1 pound ground turkey

-fresh ginger (2 inches), cuisinarted

-garlic, 3-6 cloves cuisinarted
-VEGGIES: zucchini, onions, bell peppers

-TOPPINGS: green onions, sesame seeds

SAUCE:

-1 tablespoon of light brown sugar (or sub honey)

-1/4 cup of low sodium soy sauce

-2 tablespoons of water

-Crushed red pepper flakes

-1 tsp sesame oil

Directions

1. Mix sauce ingredients in bowl

2. Cuisinart the ginger and garlic

3. Cook ground turkey with ginger, garlic, and sauce
4. Garnish with green onions and sesame seeds

*Asian

Mexican Turkey Burgers (with Smashed Avocado)

Recipe taken from Once A Month Meals and adjusted for 1 pound of ground meat

Ingredients:

-1 pound of ground turkey (or chicken)

-1 egg

-1/2 white onion, diced (could do a little less)

-2-4 cloves of garlic, cuisinarted

-1/2 jalapeno (with seeds), cuisinarted (could do a little more)

-1/4 cup cilantro, cuisinarted
-1/4 cup panko crumbs
-1 tsp cumin
-1 tsp paprika
-1 tsp red pepper flakes (omitted, but is needed as jalapeno not spicy enough)

Avocado smash (not quite guacamole)
-1 small avocado
-1 small key lime or 1/2 of a regular lime
-garlic powder
-cilantro

Directions:
1. Combine into 4 patties and grill
2. Combine avocado smash ingredients and place first on toasted bun
3. Toast bun with some olive oil spray and garlic powder and/or jalapeno salt

Other
-burger also served with sliced white onion, sliced tomatoes, and jalapenos (for the hubby)

-served tonight with sweet potato fries and corn on the cob

*Burger

*Mexican

Brussels Sprouts with Bacon and Maple Syrup in Air Fryer

Taken from from The Foodie Eats.
Eric really liked it!

Ingredients:
-1 bag of Brussels sprouts (not sure how many pounds it was, supposed to be 1 lb per the recipe)
-1/4 cup of olive oil
-1/4 cup of pure maple syrup
-1 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
-1/2 tsp. sea salt
-1/4 tsp black pepper (I estimated all the amounts, but Eric said he wanted more pepper)
-4 bacon slices, cut

Directions:
1. Cut/halve Brussels sprouts
2. Mix olive oil, maple syrup, vinegar, salt, and pepper with sprouts
3. Air fry at 370 F for 10 min
4. Shake it up
5. Air fry at 400 F for 7 min

NOTE: Again, I estimated all the amounts.  I had bought 2 bags of Brussels sprouts, but had to split it up for the air fryer.  So ok to cut up the sprouts beforehand, but cook half one night and half the next night. 

*American

*Sides