Chipotle Pork Tacos

Normally I am very opposed to yummy noises but tonight I couldn't help making them myself. I have been looking forward to these pork tacos all week. Maybe I am just in the mood for Mexican food but regardless these are so tasty they will have you craving them. For the meat we just bought 1 1/2 lbs of boneless skinless pork ribs and saved 1/2 lb for another recipe we are doing this week. When rating them we were wishing we could go above 5 to show just how much we love this recipe. 13.75 out of 5 stars. Ok, 5 out of 5 stars...

Recipe from Cooking Light

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 1 (1-pound) pork tenderloin trimmed
• 1 1/2 teaspoons finely grated lime rind
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• 2 teaspoons minced fresh oregano
• 1 teaspoon brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons chopped chipotle chile in adobo sauce
• 2 teaspoons bottled minced garlic
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• Cooking spray
• 1 cup thinly sliced shallots
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 8 (6-inch) corn tortillas
• 1/4 cup reduced-fat sour cream
• Chopped cilantro (optional)

Directions

1. Place pork tenderloin between 2 sheets of heavy-duty plastic wrap; pound to 1/4-inch thickness using a meat mallet or small heavy skillet. Remove plastic wrap. Cut pork into thin strips. Combine pork, lime rind, and next 6 ingredients (through salt). 2. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add shallots to pan; sauté for 4 minutes or until tender. Place shallots in a large bowl. Add oil to pan. Add pork; sauté for 3 minutes or until no longer pink. Add pork to shallots. 3. Warm tortillas according to the package directions. Spoon 1/3 cup pork mixture onto each tortilla, and top each tortilla with 1 1/2 teaspoons sour cream and cilantro. Fold in half.

Amount Per Serving

Calories: 299

Fat: 9.3g

Cholesterol: 80mg

Sodium: 253mg

Carbohydrate: 27.4g

Fiber: 2.6g

Protein: 27.3g

Easy Tortellini Soup

This is one of my favorite meals and it is so easy and low calorie. I posted it on Facebook and several of my friends made it and really liked it. My favorite part is that it makes 6 servings so I can portion them out and have them for leftovers throughout the week. I prefer mine to be more brothy but husband likes it with more tortellini. This is a big 5 out of 5 stars.

Recipe from Healthy Cooking Magazine

Serves: 6

Ingredients

• 1 medium onion chopped
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 garlic clove minced
• 2 cans (14-1/2 ounces each) reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 1 can (14-1/2 ounces) Hunts Original Diced Tomatoes undrained
• 1 package (9 ounces) refrigerated cheese tortellini or tortellini of your choice
• 3 cups chopped fresh spinach
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• Shredded Parmesan cheese optional

Directions

1. In a Dutch oven, saute onion in oil until tender. Add garlic; cook 1 minute longer. Stir in broth and tomatoes. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. Add tortellini; cook for 7-9 minutes or until tender. Stir in the spinach, vinegar and pepper. Cook and stir until heated through and spinach is wilted. Sprinkle with cheese. Yield: 6 servings.

Amount Per Serving

Calories: 178

Fat: 4 g

Cholesterol: 18 mg

Sodium: 652 mg

Carbohydrate: 27 g

Fiber: 3 g

Protein: 9 g

Oven Roasted Veggies

Tonight was the 3rd contest recipe so far. We had a BBQ so these roasted veggies went well. They are simple but simple in a good way. I used sea salt and I added the optional mushrooms which in my opinion should not be optional since they were our favorite part. It was my first time using yellow squash so that was a plus. I love using new veggies! Another one we will make again and again. 4 out of 5 stars!

Source: Jackie Harris, Santa Rosa, CA


(You can use just about any vegetables.)


1 med Red Onion, sliced
1 med Green Bell Pepper, sliced
1 med Zucchini, sliced into disks
1 med Yellow Squash, sliced into disks


Sometimes I add Mushrooms.


Layer the veggies in a baking dish. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, then drizzle with Olive Oil. Toss, then bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

170 calories

15g carbs

11g fat

5g protein 586 mg sodium

Stuffed Acorn Squash

The second of our contest recipes and if we are being completely honest here, this scared the crap out of us. Husband even admitted to trying to talk me out of making it without me knowing. The good news: we made it. The better news: AWESOME!!! I was actually hoping not to like it as much as I did because the calorie count is a little higher than we like but if you think of it as a main dish and a side it could be a good meal. Plus it is SUPER filling! Husband didn't even finish his because it was so much (not because he didn't like it) but I couldn't stop eating it. This was definitely a good one for our anniversary dinner. It does take a really long time to cook so I would say due to the high calorie count and the lengthy process this would have to be a special occasion meal but we will definitely make it again! We cheated a little bit and cooked the quinoa in the rice cooker. We've wanted to make quinoa for a while now but been too afraid to actually do it so this was a great push. We still used the vegetable broth just put in the rice cooker as well. Definitely 5 out of 5 stars from both of us. Go on, try something new!

Source: Sarah Swindell, Santa Rosa, CA

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 2 acorn squash
• 1 TBS olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 1 tsp thyme
• 1 cup quinoa
• 2 cups veggie broth or 2 cups water and a bouillon cube
• 6 oz goat chèvre
• 1/2 cup pine nuts toasted
• 4-6 tomatoes roasted
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/2 tsp thyme
• 1/4 tsp marjoram
• 1/4 cup parsley chopped
• fresh grated parmesan for garnish

Directions

1. Cut the acorn squash in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds. Sprinkle each half with salt and pepper and thyme.
2. Put the olive oil on a sheet or roasting pan and smear each half of the squash- cut side down- into the oil making sure it is well coated.
3. Cut the tomatoes in half through the middle and sprinkle the cut sides with salt and pepper. Place them cut side down in the oil on the same pan as the squash. Roast at 400º the squash for 30-50 minutes (You want a knife to pierce through easily) and the tomatoes for 30-40 minutes flipping them over after 15 minutes.
4. While squash and tomatoes cook rinse quinoa.Then pour straight from the strainer into a pot with the heat on medium. Add broth. The ratio is 2:1. If you don't have veggie broth you can use 2 cups water and add a bouillon cube or some veggie broth powder as well. Bring it to a boil, then turn heat to simmer and cover for 15 minutes. At 15 minutes open the pot and fluff with a fork. Cover again and let it sit off the heat for another 5 minutes.
5. Scoop the flesh from the inside of the squash into a bowl and set aside.
6. Take your chèvre and put it into a small bowl. Using a fork work the chèvre into a paste. Add the roasted tomatoes (minus the skin), two cloves of garlic, pressed, the dry spices and the scooped out squash.
7. Toast the pine nuts in a dry pan on medium heat until they are fragrant and golden, then add them to the chèvre mixture. Liberally salt and pepper.
8. Incorporate the chèvre mixture into the quinoa. Mix gently. Add your chopped parsley and mix again
9. Using a tablespoon scoop generously into your acorn squash. You want the filling to mound over the top.
10. Bake at 375º for 30-45 minutes. Sprinkle with fresh parmesan before serving.

Amount Per Serving

Calories: 568

Fat: 25.2g

Cholesterol: 24.6mg

Sodium: 856.9mg

Sugar: 12.5g

Carbohydrate: 74.4g

Fiber: 9.7g

Protein: 20g

Guilt Free Double Chocolate Brownies

This is the first of our contest recipes and it will be hard to compete with! We decided to make brownie bites in a mini muffin pan instead of using a regular Pyrex. It cut the calories by about 20 since the servings were smaller. I also cheated and melted the butter in the microwave instead of on the stove. Karyn told me that these "got better with age" which is definitely true. We made them Thursday night and each tried one then and then took them on our anniversary picnic Friday night and they were a way better consistency. I ate mine with raspberries because I think everything tastes better with fresh raspberries. Since I typically only like brownies from a mix I was pleasantly surprised that these were a 5 out of 5 stars!

Source: Karyn Snodgrass, Manchester, NH

Ingredients

• Nonstick cooking spray
• 4 TBSP Butter
• 2/3 C. Granulated Sugar
• 1/2 C Cold Water
• 1 TSP vanilla
• 1 C. All-Purpose Flour
• 1/4 C Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
• 1 TSP Baking Powder
• 1/4 C. Mini Semisweet Chocolate Pieces
• 2 TSP Powdered Sugar

Directions

1. Makes 16
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
3. Coat bottom of 9x9 baking pan with nonstick spray. In a medium saucepan, melt butter; remove from heat. Stir in sugar, water, and vanilla. Mix in flour cocoa powder, and baking powder until combined. Add chocolate pieces. Pour batter into pan; bake for 15 -18 minutes. Cool in pan on wire rack. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Amount Per Serving

Calories: 111

Fat: 4g

Carbohydrate: 18g

Fiber: 1g

Protein: 1g

Recipe contest!

Would you like to win an apron like this? Here's the deal. Send us a healthy recipe. That's all. Send us your best healthy recipe and we will make them all and pick our favorite. That person will get a custom apron made by yours truly. Any healthy recipe will do and if you don't know the nutrition info we can calculate it for you. Just email your recipe to the4menn@gmail.com and you will most likely see it on our blog with your name and location. Recipes need to be received by June 15th and a winner will be announced once we've had time to make them all. Email or comment with any questions and please share this with your friends. The more the better.

Mediterranean Stuffed Chicken Breasts

Tonight's dinner was our 3rd stuffed chicken breast recipe we've tried and husband is officially not a fan of stuffed chicken. This is my favorite out of the 3 but I love the mediterranean flavors and husband does not. Since these were fairly thin I just put the stuff in the middle and folded them over that way. We also decided to cook them on the foreman just for convenience. They take about 6 to 8 minutes when done on the foreman grill. We couldn't agree on a rating husband says 2 and I say 3.5 to 4 stars. If you like these ingredients please try this recipe and let me know if you agree with me. Help a sister out!

Recipe from Cooking Light

Ingredients

• 1 large red bell pepper
• 1/4 cup (1 ounce) crumbled feta cheese
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped pitted kalamata olives
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh basil
• 8 (6-ounce) skinless boneless chicken breasts

Directions

1. Directions: Preheat broiler. Cut bell pepper in half lengthwise; discard seeds and membranes. Place pepper halves, skin sides up, on a foil-lined baking sheet; flatten with hand. Broil 15 minutes or until blackened. Place in a zip-top plastic bag; seal. Let stand 15 minutes. Peel and finely chop. Prepare grill to medium-high heat. Combine bell pepper, cheese, olives, and basil. Cut a horizontal slit through thickest portion of each chicken breast half to form a pocket. Stuff 2 tablespoons bell pepper mixture into each pocket; close opening with a wooden pick. Sprinkle chicken with 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper. Place chicken on a grill rack coated with cooking spray. Grill 6 minutes on each side or until done. Remove from grill; cover loosely with foil, and let stand 10 minutes.

Amount Per Serving

Calories: 210

Fat: 5.9g

Cholesterol: 98mg

Sodium: 266mg

Carbohydrate: 1.8g

Fiber: 0.5g

Protein: 35.2g