I’ve been having a hard time with blogging lately. Well, you can see that right? Since my last post was three months ago. Time, desire to cook, availability of light – all of them have messed with my mojo. It’s been a tough few months at work as well, as anyone who follows me on Facebook or Twitter knows. I know that’s had something to do with it as well.

I want to get back to cooking and shooting and blogging. It’s fun. It’s stress relief for me. And I really do eat more healthily when I cook.

One of the things I’m going to do is move my shooting area from the dining room to the living room. I know it’ll involve a little more setup when I have to take plates through the house, but the light is so much better by the front windows – I think it’ll be worth it. If I can be happier with my images, it’ll make me more inspired to blog.

Also this weekend I have been able to check in on the Penny de los Santos live broadcasts from CreativeLive and have been blown away watching her work and listening to her story. I haven’t been able to sit and watch the whole thing all the way through, so I will definitely be buying the set on DVD. Can I be her when I grow up?

Ok, so back to the food. I’m really working hard to make a meal plan and stick with it each week.  This past week I decided to invent a dish – chicken sloppy joes. Sloppy joes always go over well in our house, but I don’t always want to eat red meat or burger. I thought it should be pretty easy to sub canned white meat chicken for the beef; I’d just have to cook the sauce first and then add the chicken later.

I gotta say it worked pretty well. The flavor of the sloppy joes was there, but the calorie and fat level was way down. Also it made enough that we had leftovers for dinner the next night as well!

I don’t have any procedural pictures since I was totally unprepared and didn’t have charged batteries for my flash. Sorry. I can give you an ingredients shot, though.

Chicken Sloppy Joes

• 2 T olive oil
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 cup very finely diced carrot
• 1/2 cup finely diced bell pepper
• 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup shredded or chopped spinach
• 6 oz can tomato paste
• 6 oz can tomato puree
• 4-ish cups of water
• 1 T brown sugar
• 2 T chili powder
• 1 tsp mustard powder
• 2 T worcestershire sauce
• 2 12-oz cans white meat chunk chicken (drained)

Saute onion, carrot, bell pepper, and garlic in the olive oil until all the vegetables are soft and the onions are translucent. Add the spinach and cook until wilted (just a few minutes). Add the tomato puree and paste, the water, the sugar, and the seasonings, bring to a boil, and then reduce to a simmer for 10-15 mins.

You can use a stick blender to puree the sauce if you don’t want it chunky (or if you have kids and want to hide the veggies).

Add the drained chicken breast and simmer for another 10 mins, just to heat the chicken through and let the flavors blend.

Serve on a toasted hamburger bun (I like mine open faced, just to cut down on the calories and carbs).

This recipe makes enough for 6 healthy servings.

Calories: 172 | Fat: 3.2g | Carbs: 13g | Fiber 3.2g | Protein: 23g