Pulled Chicken Tacos

Tacos:

• Tortillas
• Mixed green (the ones you can use for salads) or lettuce
• Hot sauce of choice
• Mexican-blend of shredded cheese 

Step 1:

Sauté garlic, onions and green peppers. Place mixture at the bottom the Crock Pot. 

Step 2: 

Layer the chicken breast on top of the mixture. Add all the seasonings, green chilis, tomato, tomato sauce and bay leaves. Put in 1 cup of water. Set Crock Pot to high for 4.

Step 3:

After 4 hours, grab a pair of forks and shred the chicken. Incorporate the chicken with the sauce. Let it cook for another hour. 

Step 4: Toast tortillas and be ready to build your ultimate pulled chicken taco! 

Bon Appetite 

Step 1: 

Prepare your zucchini pasta with the Veggetti. Don't let things go to waste, cut up the remaining part of the zucchini into little chunks.

**if you don't have  one you can always you use a peeler. With the shaved pieces, cut them into strips.

Step 2:

Heat up a pan to low/medium. Add to the pan the EVOO and lemon zest.  The lemon zest is infusing with the EVOO and emphasizing that citrus flavor. Allow that to cook for 5 minutes.

Step 3:

Increase the heat to medium and sauté the garlic until lightly brown. Add the mushrooms and the zucchini chunks until cooked. 

Step 4:
Toss in the the zucchini pasta. Add salt, pepper and chill flakes. Cook until the zucchini is al dente. Serve with sprinkle of mozzarella 

Bon Appetite !!

This recipe doesn't have to be all vegetables. I insist on adding some grilled chicken and other vegetables that you like. 

Healthy Eating: Chia Seed Pudding

Chia seeds are packed with huge amounts of anti-oxidants, which help fight off free radicals in our body and keep it our cells healthy. These seeds are originated in South America and are related to Mint. 

These little bad boys are used in a lot of diet plans because they contain high levels of protein and fiber, which contributes to losing weight. I usually like to mix them in a bottle of water; when they are mixed with liquids, they start to puff up. When you ingest it, you start to feel fullness thus contributing to a reduce appetite. The less you feel hungry, the less you eat. 

This is a simple chia seed pudding base that you can add anything that you want. It is a great snack before and after working out. The amount of protein helps the muscles recover after a strenuous work out.

Ingredients:

1 can of coconut milk

3/4 cup of chia seeds

1 tsp of vanilla extract

1 tsp of cinnamon powder

1 Tbs of either honey, agave or sugar

Any fruit, granola add-ins

1. Combine all the ingredients together in air tight container, such as mason jar or plastic container.

2. Leave in the fridge overnight and enjoy it the next day!

Swai Fillet and Spaghetti Squash

Background info:

Swai is another name for shark catfish or iridescent sharks, normally found in Southeast Asia; they're not actual sharks. The texture of the fish is a lot more delicate than the catfish that you would normally catch in the US. They are usually sold in grocery stores as fillets.

The Swai fillet and spaghetti squash can be mix-matched with other meals. Think of this recipe as a base that allows you to incorporate as whatever you want. BUT remember if you do want to keep it healthy, the ingredients and prep have to be balanced. Enjoy and let me know what recipes you've made. 

(Serves 1-2)

Ingredients:

1-2 Swai Fillet; thawed

1 Medium Size Spaghetti Squash (can be found at local market, such as Whole Foods)

Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)

4 Sprigs of fresh Thyme

2 Tbs of Lemon juice

Salt 

Pepper

1. To prepare the squash spaghetti, there are two ways to cook it: 1) Oven 2) Microwave. Depending on how much time you have, determines which method you use. For this recipe, I went with the oven. 

Preheat the oven to 320. Take the squash and split it in half vertically. Scrap out the seeds. Season with a little salt and drizzle with EVOO. Wrap with foil and place in the oven with flat side up. Bake for one hour. 

**If using the microwave, place squash into a microwavable bowl. Season with salt and EVOO and cooked for 5 mins on HIGH. 

2. To prepare the Swai, place the fillet on foil. 

Season the fillet with EVOO, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Sprinkle the thyme on top of the fillet. Wrap the fillet in a foil tent. If not sure what a foil tent, watch this link starting 1:07- Foil tent. 

Please don't mind the rest of the video, it was the only one that actually shows the tenting that I used LOL

3. Bake in the oven for 30 mins.

4. When the squash is finished (WARNING IT IS GOING TO BE SUPER HOT), take hold of the squash and scrap the inside with a fork. You'll see that the scrapings resemble spaghetti. 

Season the spaghetti with some salt and pepper and plate it. Pour the juices from the foil tent onto the spaghetti. 

5. Take the fillet out from the oven and serve with the spaghetti. 

Bon Appetit! 

Ingredients:

• 2 skinless chicken breast

• 2 stalks of bok choy; chopped

• 1/4 lb of string beans; chopped 

• 2 gloves of garlic

• rice paper wrappers 

• salt and pepper

• sesame seeds

• cooked Jasmine rice 

• oyster sauce

1. Boil the chicken breast until cooked throughly. 

2. Take out the boiled chicken and chop it into smaller pieces.

3. In a pan, sauté the garlic and chicken until brown. Add salt and pepper, but not too much salt because the oyster, you will add later on when you assemble your rolls, will add the saltiness.

4. Add in the bok choy and string beans are cooked. Then add some sesame seeds. 

5. Fill a shallow plate with warm water. Place one of the rice wrappers into the water for a few secs. It's take about like 15 seconds to get it soft. Don't leave it in the water too long because the softer the wrapper is, the harder it becomes to work with it. 

6. Lay the wrapper flat working surface; Add a tablespoon of rice, a tablespoon of the chicken mixture right next to it and pour a little bit of the oyster sauce on top of the rice. 

7. Now it's time to wrap! Grab the side ld of wrapper and fold it towards the middle. This will keep the yum yums from falling out. Then take the bottom side and start rolling everything. 

If you had never made spring rolls before, it can be tricky rolling so; if you don't get it the first try it's okay. Practice makes perfect.

8. Continue rolling up these goodies until all the mixture is gone. 

Hope you have fun making it! Lemme know how you like it! 

BXO, 

Jackie 

Ingredients: 

• Depending on how much sauce you want is the size of squash you would get. I used a small squash, the size of a small Nerf football

• 1 large beef tomato

• 5 links of Italian sausage taken out of its casing (you can always opt out of the sausage for vegetarian version) 

• 2 cloves of garlic 

• 1 onion 

• 1 cup of heavy cream 

• 2 packs of fettuccini pasta

• salt and pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 360°

2. Split the squash long ways, and scoop out the seeds. Drizzle a little bit of olive or vegetable oil over each half and then wrap them individually with foil. 

3. Place squash in the oven with the inside facing up for 1 hour and 10 mins. 

• While the squash bakes, you have a lot of time before you can start cooking. You may want to just prep the rest of the ingredients or catch up on your TV shows. I have a guilty pleasure watching Scream Queens LOL 

4. Bring a pot of water to a boil and add fettuccini pasta with 1 tsp of salt and oil. 

5. Finely chop garlic and onions. Dice up tomatoes and keeping the juices. 

6. In a pan at high heat, sauté the garlic then onions until brown. Add the Italian sausage; try to separate the pieces of the sausages as much as possible. You don't want huge chucks of sausage. Add in salt and pepper for taste. 

7. When the sausage is brown, add the tomatoes and lower the heat to medium-low. You want the tomatoes to cook down to a liquid consistency. The high heat will evaporate the juices; so make sure you control the heat. 

8. In a bowel, mash the squash to eliminate any clumps. I left the skin on them, mostly because it was hard to take it off after being baked, but realized it gave a nice texture to the sauces anyways.

9. Add the squash to the pan and mix well with the tomato juices. 

10. Add heavy cream. Professionally, there's a device that helps purée soup,  but since I don't have that I just used my trusty whisk to stir. You should get an orange color sauce. 

11. Add cooked pasta to pan and mix together thoroughly.

Have fun and enjoy the recipe!! 

BXO

JACKIE

Homemade Wontons

Assembling the Wontons

1. Layout a plate with flour. The flour helps prevent the assembled wontons from sticking to the plate and each other.

2. Grab a wonton skin, brush water along the edges.

3. Place 1/2 teaspoon of the meat mixture in the middle. Take the bottom edge to top edges and press down; gently press down around the mixture too.

4. Here's the tricky part: make sure that the top edge is where the opening used to be. Pinch the bottom edges together, while placing a finger in the middle to help fold it.

5. After assembling the wontons, you're going to cook them in a separate boiling pot of water.

6. Cook the wontons one by one. Drop it into the boiling water, when the wonton rises to the top, it is cook. Set it aside until broth is ready.

Broth

Saute the minced garlic until lightly brown. Add in broth and let it simmer until 20 mins until boiled. Add 1 teaspoon of sesame oil. You can add some salt to your preference.

After the broth is finish, place the how many wontons you would like in a bowl and ladle the broth on top. You can top it with chopped scallions.