Gilled Chicken in a homemade Citrus-Sesame marinade

This was a really easy, yummy meal I threw together, but I wanted to share the recipe for the homemade dressing, which I doubles as a marinade for the chicken. DH and I both loved it! We put the dressing over an avocado & tomato salad and made garlic bread with parmesan to top off the meal. Very nice, very light & healthy, too.

Dressing ingredients:

• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
• 1 tbsp lime juice
• 1 tbsp black sesame seeds
  

Penne with broccoli, turkey sausage & basil

Okay...another new meat experiment. This one was not so easy. Slicing uncooked sausage on the diagonal? Easier said than done! I think that if I try this again in the future, I'll grill the sausage halfway first.

This turned out really nice, despite the sausage mishaps. It had a nice light flavor, and the fresh basil was the perfect touch! I doubled this recipe, by the way, which is why it looks like such a massive amount in the picture.

Ingredients:

• 12 oz. penne pasta
• 1 large bunch of broccoli, cut into florets
• 12 oz. hot Italian turkey sausage
• 1 pint grape tomatoes, cut in half
• 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, chopped
• 1/4 cup freshly grated romano or parmesan cheese
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Directions:

• Heat large saucepot salted water to boiling on high. Add pasta and cook according to label. Add broccoli florets to pasta water when 3 minutes of cooking time remain. Reserve 1/2 cup cooking water; drain pasta and broccoli.
• Meanwhile, thinly slice sausage on the diagonal (here is where I would recommend to grill the sausages to halfway cooked before slicing).
• In 12-inch skilletcook sausage on medium 9-10 minutes or until it begins to brown, stirring occasionally. Add tomatoes and garlic and cook 3 minutes longer, stirring.
• Stir pasta, broccoli and 1/4 cup of the reserved pasta cooking water into sausage mixture; heat through, adding additional water if needed.
• Remove from heat, stir in basil, cheese and red pepper.
  

Orange Beef & Pepper Stir-Fry

I've been experimenting with meat other than chicken, and while I learned that beef is tough to cook, this turned out pretty good!

Ingredients:

• 1 navel orange
• 1/4 cup cooking sherry
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp cornstarch
• 1 pound beef eye round steaks, trimmed and sliced into thin strips
• 3 tsp canola or vegetable oil
• 1 red pepper
• 1 orange or yellow pepper

Directions:

• From orange, grate 1 teaspoon peel and squeeze 1/3 cup juice. In large bowl, combine orange peel and juice with sherry, soy sauce and cornstarch. Add beef and toss to coat; set aside.
• In 12-inch skillet, heat 1 teaspoon oil on medium-high until hot. Add peppers and 2 tablespoons of water, cook 5 minutes or until peppers are tender, stirring frequently. Transfer to medium bowl.
• In same skillet, heat remaining 2 teaspoons oil on high. With slotted spoon, transfer half of beef to skillet, reserving orange-juice mixture. Cook 1-2 minutes, stirring frequently. Transfer cooked beef to bowl with peppers. Repeat with other half of beef.
• Add 1/4 cup water and reserved orange-juice mixture to skillet; heat to boiling. Boil 1 minute, then add in beef/pepper mixture to sauce; serve over brown rice or egg noodles.