Summer Corn Salad

This simple salad has very few ingredients but is absolutely delicious! Throw extra corn and peppers on the grill and use the leftovers the next day to make this wonderful side dish.

Ingredients:

2 cups cooked corn (fresh, frozen thawed or canned)
½ cup diced roasted bell pepper- red, green or a mixture
(you can buy them in the jar and rinse off the oil, or make your own by grilling them)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon lime juice
1-2 teaspoons chopped cilantro
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Add the corn and the peppers to a small bowl. Pour in the olive oil, lemon and lime juice, then sprinkle with chopped cilantro. Mix well, add salt and pepper to taste if desired and serve. Refrigerate if not serving immediately

Makes 2.5 cups, 5 servings

Serving size: ½ cup Calories 80 Protein 1g Carb 12 g Fiber 2 g Sugars 3 g Fat 3 g Saturated fat 0 g Sodium 10 mg

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Grilled Vegetable & Chicken Kabobs

These work great as an appetizer or served as a main dish with rice and salad.

Ingredients:

2 bell peppers (any color) cut into 1 ½ inch squares
1 small white onion or ½ large, cut into 1 ½ inch squares
1 pound of chicken breasts, cut into 1 ½ inch cubes
1 tablespoon diced kalamata olives, plus 2 tablespoons olive juice
¼ teaspoon oregano
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/8 teaspoon paprika
6 long bamboo skewers
salt and pepper

Directions:

Soak the bamboo skewers in water for at least 15 minutes to prevent them from burning on the grill. In a small bowl combine the olives, olive juice, olive oil, basil, oregano and paprika and whish together. Add it to a Tupperware or ziplock with the chicken chunks and marinate in the fridge for 20 minute to an hour. Cut up the peppers and onions and set aside. Once the chicken has marinated, turn on the barbeque grill on high heat Discard the marinade and assemble the skewers- divide the chicken to make 6 skewers (this will be about 3 chunks per skewer). Alternate the vegetables and chicken along the bamboo skewers. Grill over a medium-high flame for 15 – 20 minutes while turning every few minutes. The chicken should be fully cooked (no longer pink in the center) and vegetables should be slightly crisp but tender.

Makes 6 kabobs. 6 servings:

Serving size: 1 kabob Calories 120 Protein 17 g Carb 3 g Fiber 1 g Sugars 2 g Fat 4.5 g saturated fat 1 g Sodium 70 mg

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Another Shout-Out!

As my second post in my Shout-Out series, I'd like to highlight Joy Bauer. It’s likely you may have seen her on TV before, because she is the nutrition and health expert for the TODAY Show. She appears in a lot of fun and informative segments on the show. One of them is the“Joy Fit Club,” which highlights people who have lost and kept off 100 pounds or more through diet and exercise alone. Joy’s other ongoing series include Joy’s Diet S.O.S., Joy’s Kitchen Rescue and Joy’s Healthy Food Finds.

In addition to being an accomplished TV personality, Joy is also the author of multiple New York Time bestsellers, such as her latest cookbook titled Slim & Scrumptious and Joy Bauer's Food Cures which is an “ultimate guide to using food as medicine.” Recently I was contacted by a member of Joy’s team and was sent these two great books for review. I would definitely recommend them both. The cookbook focuses on whole, natural foods used to create a variety of unique and flavorful recipes. Her Food Cures book is easy to read, and provides tons of great information on healthy eating, not only as it relates to weight loss, but to many other health conditions/issues that are also prevalent today ranging from diabetes to osteoporosis. Also, because she is a qualified health professional, the information and tips in the book are based on sound research.

So a big Shout-Out to Joy and I invite you to check out her site http://www.joybauer.com/ for more info!

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Strawberry Banana Snack Smoothie

A fruity, refreshing and easy to make mini-smoothie!

½ medium banana
2 large strawberries
½ cup milk (I used unsweetened almond milk which works great)

Cut the banana and strawberries into chunks and freeze. Once frozen, put in blender with milk and blend on high for 30 sec-1 minutes until a smooth mixture is formed. Pour and serve.

Makes 1 smoothie, one serving

Serving size: 1 smoothie Calories 80 Protein 1 g Carb 17 g Fiber 3 g Sugars 9 g Fat 2g saturated fat 0 g Sodium 90 mg

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