I recently downloaded a new iPhone app called Lose It, to track my daily calorie intake. And what I’ve noticed, is that while the meals I make are reasonably nutritionally balanced, I’m killing myself with snacking later because I don’t always feel full when we’re done. So, to combat that, Vita and I are making some really hearty meals, including these awesome stuffed peppers.

They’re easy to make, albeit a tad time consuming. Since you’re getting a whole bell pepper, you’re getting a lot of veggies, and the ground chicken with …

Last night, I wanted to try a new side dish for our Teriyaki Salmon. So, I really started using my noggin to figure out something to do with what I had a lot of in the fridge. I settled on Broccoli. And while I really wanted to roast these florets, I settled for the sauté process for two reasons: time and control of the tenderness.
This is a really simple side, but the combination of garlic, crushed red pepper and just the hint of olive oil is really wonderful. You’ll have …

For some time now, Vita has had to watch me mixing Chorizo in with my eggs. I go on and on about how delicious it is, giggling that she can’t eat it because of the beef or pork content. She’s never wanted to try Soy-Rizo, but thankfully, I came across some Turkey and Chicken Chorizo that was pre-cooked. So, after our Tuesday morning workout, we did some slicing and dicing and Vita was introduced to the wonderful world of spicy Chorizo, packed into an awesome little breakfast burrito.

I know it’s …

Last night, I didn’t make anything particularly exciting for dinner, but wanted to do something different for a side dish. More often than not, I often just wing it with my side dishes, using whatever I happen to have in the pantry or the fridge. One of the skills I’m trying hard to develop is pairing sides with meals properly and coming up with things that are different than sauteed veggies or the common side salad. So, when I found a recipe for “Blue Cheese Crusted Tomatoes” on Epicurious, I decided to modify it to something that sounded more interesting to me and came up with these Broiled and Stuffed Beefsteak Tomatoes (the stuffing is Danish Blue Cheese, Seasoned Bread Crumbs and Minced Garlic).

I’m a big, big fan of salty flavors and have been using salty flavors to dress up chicken dishes. One of my favorite salty flavors is the tart saltiness of Feta cheese. Here’s a great, quick, kick butt recipe for a feta cheese sauce that will dress up that boring old chicken. It’s also fantastic over steamed asparagrus.

The past few nights I’ve been working a bit later than I’d like to be. This fact usually means we do very quick things for dinner, like pre-made soups, leftovers worked into something new and different or meals that I can pick up on my way in from the office. Even though I knew I was in for a longer day, I’d have none of that tonight. Since I had leftover fresh spinach from Souper Sunday’s Creamy Chicken Florentine, I opted for a twist on a traditional Basil and Pine Nut Pesto.

For the past two weeks Vita has been pining over a soup they serve in the Detroit Medical Center’s Sinai Grace cafeteria. So, when I launched Souper Sunday last week, I knew it wouldn’t be long before I’d be forced to come up with a version of Chicken Florentine Soup. The most important thing for Vita was that it be creamy, but the most important thing in my eyes was that it wasn’t overpoweringly flavored by just chicken stock. I think we came up with something pretty tasty, even if …

One of the things I was most worried about losing in the move to being gluten free was pasta. I love Italian food, especially the various textures and forms that pasta can take. Thankfully, Vita was able to find a gluten free option to pasta. So, tonight we tried it for the first time, mainly because we had some lovely portobello mushroom caps that we didn’t want to let go to waste and we needed a meal that I could make quickly. So, we whipped up the gluten free pasta …

Tuesday night was one of those nights that I honestly didn’t have anything planned for dinner. So when Vita sent me a text asking for a meal that she’d originally had at my mother’s house, I took it as a welcome out of having to come up with something original. I made two different meals. For myself, I made a Grilled Greek Chicken Salad. For Vita, simply grilled Greek chicken, grilled veggies and Tzatziki sauce.

The real secret is good chicken breasts and the right blend of Greek spices. The best …

When I was a boy, I was never a big fan of soup. But as we age, so do our tastes. Now I can say that soup is one of my favorite things. I find myself pining for it in the summer months, and cherishing it throughout the fall and winter. In Michigan, it has been one of the coldest winters I can remember. We’ve had lots of snow and only a few days above freezing, which makes it absolutely perfect to start a weekly series on soup. So I …