Here is the recipe!

Pork & Veggie Kebabs

Makes: 4 servings
Prep: 15 minutes
Marinate: 1 hour
Grill: 10 minutes

Ingredients
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves, chopped
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more for serving
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 1/4 pounds boneless pork chops (3/4 to 1 inch thick), cut into 1-inch pieces
2 medium zucchini, cut into 1/2-inch slices
2 medium summer squash, cut into 1/2-inch slices
12 cherry tomatoes

Directions
1. For marinade, whisk together oil, garlic, and lemon zest and juice in a small bowl. Stir in parsley, rosemary, thyme, sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and the pepper.

2. Place pork in a large resealable bag and spoon in 4 tablespoons of the marinade. Place zucchini, squash, and tomatoes in another large resealable bag; cover with the rest of the marinade. Seal both bags and shake to coat. Refrigerate for 1 hour, turning after 30 minutes.

3. Heat a gas grill to medium-high or prepare a charcoal grill with medium-hot coals.

4. Thread metal skewers separately with pork and vegetables. Grill vegetables about 5 minutes per side and pork about 3 minutes per side, or until internal temperature reads 155 degrees F. on an instant-read thermometer.

5. To serve, season with salt to taste.

Nutrition facts per serving: 367 calories, 36g protein, 9g carbohydrate, 21g fat (4g saturated), 2g fiber

Hope everyone has great plans for this weekend!

Dinner in about 15 minutes that is! I basically took boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut them into strips and tossed them with this spice mix:

I know it says “Hamburger” grill mates, but I think it tastes great with chicken!

I just sprayed a skillet with Pam cooking spray, and cooked the chicken until no longer pink

Next, I threw 5 potatoes in my microwave so I didn’t have to turn on the stove.

And, I made the sugar snap peas we bought at the Farmer’s Market over the weekend, so good!

And, as a topping to my potato, I added about a tablespoon of the garlic cheese spread we also bought at the farmer’s market, it was SO good!

This is the garlic cheese spread. It has garlic, olive oil, canola oil, and 5 different cheeses!

The best part of the meal? Hardly any dishes!
]]> http://www.slim-shoppin.com/easy-chicken-dinner/feed/ http://www.slim-shoppin.com/cookie-dough-pops/ http://www.slim-shoppin.com/cookie-dough-pops/#comments Tue, 30 Jun 2009 02:20:06 +0000 Jennifer http://www.slim-shoppin.com/cookie-dough-pops/ Thanks to Risa at www.bakedperfection.com who shared this great recipe for a kid friendly after dinner treat! I have been wanting to make these for the longest time, but haven’t found the time until tonight!

The best part? You don’t need to turn on the oven. And the cookie dough is made without eggs, so no worry about getting sick!

Here is what I used, adapted from Risa’s original recipe:

1 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
dash cinnamon
1/2 stick of butter, softened
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup chocolate chips
1-2 TB. of skim milk, until the dough comes together

I just put all the ingredients except the skim milk into my mixer and mixed for a few minutes. Maybe because I used half the butter, the batter was kind of dry, so I added a few tablespoons of skim milk and it turned out perfect!

I used wooden skewers for kabobs for the lollipop sticks

Just roll the dough into small balls and insert the sticks in them. When its complete, freeze for about 20 minutes.

I used almond bark in chocolate flavor and vanilla flavor to coat the cookie dough balls. It melts in a microwave safe bowl and once you coat the cookie dough balls, it dries very fast.

The almond bark can be found in major grocery store chains right next to the chocolate chips.

They turned out really good! The leftovers I am storing in the freezer, if one of the kids wants one, they can just set it on a plate and in a few minutes it will be softened enough to eat. Now, I know these aren’t the healthiest thing to eat, but because they are sweet, one is enough!

Thanks Risa for posting such a fun recipe, check out her site for many other great desserts!

Our first stop is always the donuts! The church parking lot that houses the market makes fresh donuts that sell out pretty fast, so you have to get there early!

The cinnamon/sugar ones are our favorite! So tender and warm and melts in your mouth!

Right next to the donuts is always locals playing folk music. They sounded really good!

That’s my son Mark in the yellow shirt (he didn’t know I was taking the picture!)

The raspberries looked amazing!

I did pick up some blueberries. I think blueberry pancakes will be in my future this weekend!

The cherries tasted amazing too! Really sweet and juicy!

One of my favorite things at the farmer’s market? Squeaky cheese! It’s cheese curds and they are might tasty!

We also tasted a bunch of different cheeses, this garlic cheddar was amazing!

Like a lot of farmer’s markets, they had a lot of tables selling home made jams and jelly’s.

I love fresh honey, so I did pick up a jar of this. I use it a lot in baking!

And I did pick up some sugar snap peas! We munched on some while walking around!

We kept running into this Dad with his cute baby who slept the whole time!!

Look at all these different kinds of carrots! I didn’t get any this time around, but I will next time!

I’m not sure what kind of berries these were. It looks like they are in the blueberry family? They were sweet and juicy!

There was a farmer who had baby new potatoes for sale. We walked over to the bin and inside were also these little baby tiny potatoes!

One of the best purchases from today was this garlic cheese spread! It has 5 different kinds of cheese, provolone, mozzarella, parmesan, romano, cheddar and garlic, olive and canola oil, and oregano, parsley and thyme. This was amazing!! We tasted some on crackers and then had to buy it. She recommended tossing it with some pasta, cooking scrambled eggs with it! I have a lot of ideas brewing in my head on this one!

On our way out, we stopped and listened to this man play great music!

If you want, they have instruments on a blanket you can pick up and play along. I wanted to do it, but my kids were too embarrassed if I did, so I let it go! Ha Ha!!

So, that’s my farmer’s market, I’m glad I got to share it with you!
]]> http://www.slim-shoppin.com/my-farmers-market/feed/ http://www.slim-shoppin.com/brocolli-cheddar-brunch-bake/ http://www.slim-shoppin.com/brocolli-cheddar-brunch-bake/#comments Fri, 26 Jun 2009 16:16:17 +0000 Jennifer http://www.slim-shoppin.com/brocolli-cheddar-brunch-bake/ I didn’t get a chance to work on the 5 minute cake in a mug recipe that I posted yesterday….my family and I went to the pool last night and stayed until it closed at 9:00 p.m! It was so much fun! It was still in the mid 80’s when we left, so a perfect night to hang out at the pool!

I will come back to that recipe though and figure out a lower calorie version!

I talked with my sister this morning and she and I made almost the same thing for breakfast today! Twin powers activate!

The recipe came from a magazine that she lent me called Healthy Cooking from Taste of Home.

It was a recipe makeover, and by making a few substitions, the calories and fat were reduced by half! You’ve gotta love that!

Here’s what you will need:

6 TB. reduced fat butter, cubed (I used Earth balance spread) the magazine used Land ‘O Lakes light butter)
8 cups chopped fresh broccoli
1 cup finely chopped white onion
6 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cups egg substitute
6 oz. cheddar cheese, shredded
1 cup fat free milk
1 cup fat free half and half
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper

In a pot, melt the butter, and add the broccoli and onion: saute until crisp-tender. In a large bowl, combine the eggs, the egg substitute, 4 oz. of cheese, milk, cream, salt and pepper. Stir in the broccoli mixture. Pour into a baking dish coated with cooking spray.

Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes or until a knife insterted near the center comes clean. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese. Remove from the oven and let it cool for about 10 minutes before cutting.

This makes 12 servings: Each serving is only 178 calories, 12 grams of fat, 2 grams of fiber and 12 grams of protein.

Sorry no picture! Ran out of time!