Recipe: Blue Cheese & Caramelized Onion Pizza

If you are looking for a healthy recipe, this post is not for you. However, if you rank blue cheese as one of your favorite foods like I do, you have to try this.

After preparing your pizza dough, just rub some olive oil on top of the crust, cover in a layer of crumbled blue cheese and put in the oven.

While baking, caramelize a yellow onion on the stovetop. 

When the pizza has just a few minutes remaining, add the onions.

Once baked, drizzle balsamic vinegar and serve.

Sooooooo delicious.

Recipe: Pesto Chicken Florentine

Let's be honest, I would have pasta for breakfast, lunch and dinner if I could. Unfortunately, Rob isn't as big of a fan.  Here is a delicious recipe that has helped me mix up our pasta dishes.

What you'll need: (This recipe serves 4, I cut in half for just the two of us)

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast
• 2 cups fresh spinach leaves
• 1 package dry Alfredo sauce mix
• 2 tablespoons pesto
• 1 package penne pasta
• 1 tablespoon grated Romano cheese

What you'll do:

Sauté the garlic in olive oil for 1 minute. Then add the chicken. When the chicken has a few minutes left, add the spinach and sauté all together for 3-4 minutes.

Cook pasta in boiling water, drain and set aside.

For the sauce, prepare the Alfredo sauce according to the directions on the package.  Once prepared, stir in pesto.

Combine chicken/spinach, pasta, and pesto/Alfredo sauce.

Top with cheese and serve.

Recipe: Apple-Honey Drumsticks

Paired with a Spinach Pomegranate Salad

What you'll need:

• Skin-on drumsticks
• Salt & Pepper
• 2 cups apple juice
• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons honey
• Grated zest of 1 lemon
• 2 teaspoons sesame seeds
• 1 tablespoon butter

What you'll do:

Season drumsticks with salt and pepper. Bake drumsticks for 30 minutes at 450 degrees, flip, and bake for around another 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, make your sauce: Bring the apple juice, vinegar, soy sauce, and honey lemon zest to a high simmer in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Cook until the sauce is syrupy - about 20 minutes - and remove. Add sesame seeds.

Transfer chicken, sauce and butter to a large bowl. Toss to coat.

Enjoy!

Recipe: Low Fat Baked Onion Rings

It's safe to say that those who know me would not call me a 'health nut' or 'fitness guru.' Now I am not eating a pint of ice cream every night either, but I have quite a few more trips to the gym and calories to cut before my name changes from Jillian Miller to Jillian Michaels.  However, a new year brings new possibilities and I hope to become the healthiest me I've been in years in 2014.

In the spirit of eating healthy, here is a delicious twist on a popular side that my friend Danielle (an actual health guru) introduced me to a few months ago and I found again on Skinny Taste - Low Fat Baked Onion Rings.  

Ingredients:

• 1 onion
• 2 1/4 cups low fat buttermilk
• 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup Italian seasoned whole wheat break crumbs
• 1/4 cup crushed corn flakes

The Steps:

1. Slice your onion into rings and soak in buttermilk.  The recipe calls for them to soak for a few hours, but I was only patient enough for 20 minutes and they still turned out great.

2. Combine panko, bread crumbs and corn flakes into a dish.  Leave some of your mixture in another dish so you have fresh crumbs when your mixture starts to clump and has a hard time sticking to the onions. 

3. Coat each soaked ring in your crumb mixture and place onto a baking sheet lined with foil or parchment paper.  Tip - it is best to use a fork to lift your onion out of the crumbles (your fingers will knock some of the crumbles off)

4. Bake in oven at 450 degrees for 10-12 minutes and enjoy! They paired perfectly with my turkey burger!