Cheese, Spinach & Bacon Stuffed Chicken

I love those nights in the kitchen where I make stuff up as I go and it turns out FABULOUS. Last night was one of those.

In an attempt to eat healthier and being tired of having one flavor of chicken breast after the other, I decided to spice up our chicken breast with a unique combination of flavors and technique to create the below result.

It may not SOUND like the most appetizing meal, but I promise you will not be disappointed. And, it’s pretty simple.

*Nutrition information below 

Ingredients (makes 2 servings)

• 2 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
• 2 tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
• 1/2 cup Italian Seasoned Bread Crumbs
• 1/2 cup Canned Spinach
• 1 tbsp Bacon Bits (I used BacOs imitation bacon bits to keep it light)
• 1 cup Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 and lightly coat baking dish with olive oil or spray.
2. Pour balsamic vinegar into shallow bowl/dish and bread crumbs into separate shallow bowl/dish.
3. Using a rolling pin or utensil of choice, flatten your chicken breasts until 1/4 inch thick.
4. Soak chicken breasts in balsamic vinegar until fully coated (depending on the size of your chicken breasts, you may need to add more vinegar) then coat with bread crumbs on both sides.
5. Transfer to baking dish and coat upside of each breast with bacon bits, spinach and cheese.
6. Gently roll the chicken (horizontally), taking care to not let too much stuffing seep out. Chicken should then be in a kind of ball – feel free to flatten as desired, or not. If you have trouble rolling your chicken, simply fold it over once and flatten – the idea is to have the stuffing surrounded by chicken in one way or another 🙂
7. Sprinkle extra cheese and bacon bits on the tops of the chicken.
8. Bake for 20-35 minutes, or until chicken is done and cheese is melted.

ENJOY!

Nutritional Information provided by the <a href=”http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-calculator.asp”>SparkPeople Recipe Calculator</a>. Per serving

• Calories: 474
• Total Fat: 10 g
• Saturated Fat: 4.1 g
• Cholesterol: 153 mg
• Sodium: 869.8 mg
• Potassium: 843 mg
• Total Carbohydrate: 25.5 g
• Protein: 67.8 g

Oreo Cake Balls

 

Now, these are a reduced fat version (well, as reduced fat as you can get…) but they’re fully delicious! Quick and easy – and no baking required! *Nutritional information below

Ingredients (makes about 35 cake balls)

• 1 package Reduced Fat Oreos
• 1 8 oz package of non-fat or low fat cream cheese (softened to room temperature)
• 18 oz white chocolate melting bark (or any other type of white melting chocolate – feel free to use more than specified!)

Directions

1. Crush entire package of Oreos (cream and all) until minced – I suggest using a food processor. Pour into large mixing bowl.
2. Add softened cream cheese and mix with Oreos until well combined. (It may be a little chunky, that’s okay.)
3. Mold Oreo and cream cheese mixture into small balls (half-dollar size – or whatever you prefer!) and place on plate or platter.
4. Place Oreo balls in the freezer so they can become firm.
5. Melt white chocolate in medium sized bowl according to package instructions.
6. Remove Oreo balls from freezer and coat in the melted white chocolate. (I just used a spoon and my fingers.)
7. Place coated cake balls on wax paper or foil covered cookie sheet. Once all cake balls are coated and on the cookie sheet, place them in the refrigerator until chocolate is set.

Enjoy!

Nutritional Information provided by SparkPeople’s Recipe Calculator (per cake ball as I made them)

• Calories: 151.7
• Total Fat: 8.4 g
• Saturated Fat: 4.5 g
• Cholesterol: 6.8 mg
• Sodium: 101.3 mg
• Potassium: 11.5 mg
• Total Carbohydrate: 13.5 g
• Protein: 2.2g

Spicy Roasted Broccoli & Cheese

This is a great, easy, tasty side dish for any meal! Has lots of flavor and is healthy! *Nutritional information below.

Ingredients (makes 4 servings)

• 1 10 oz. package of frozen broccoli (I used whole florets and broke apart as desired)
• 1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tsp. Crushed red pepper flakes (more or less depending on preference)
• 1/2 cup part skim mozzarella cheese (part skim for healthier, not required though)

Directions

1. Thaw and rinse broccoli in strainer. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Once broccoli is thawed, place on very lightly greased baking sheet. Spread so that broccoli is in one layer.
3. Sprinkle with Worcestershire sauce. (If you like more salt, feel free to sprinkle more than the designated amount, just don’t drench because that will cause an undesired result.)
4. Sprinkle with crushed red pepper flakes.
5. Place in the top/middle rack of the oven and roast for about 20 minutes.
6. Remove from oven and cover broccoli with layer of mozzarella cheese.
7. Replace the broccoli into oven and roast for additional 10 minutes or until cheese reaches desired melted state!

Enjoy!

Nutritional Information per serving (provided by SparkPeople’s Recipe Calculator)

• Calories: 95.1
• Total Fat: 4.8 g
• Saturated Fat: 2.9 g
• Cholesterol: 16.4 mg
• Sodium: 175.2 mg
• Potassium: 201.3 mg
• Total Carbohydrate: 5.1 g
• Protein: 9.1 g

Shame on ABC?

American Idol star Adam Lambert’s recent performance at the American Music Awards has sparked enormous amounts of controversy. In the end of his performance on the show, he kissed another man (Madonna/Britney 2.0?). While the performance itself has generated a large amount of buzz from those applauding his daring kiss as well as those extremely offended — the controversy has now grown even more.

Lambert had  been scheduled to perform on Good Morning America this Wednesday, however after his racy performance at the AMAs, ABC (the network that also showed the AMAs) has cancelled his appearance. Gay rights activists, such as Perez Hilton, have lashed out on many social media networks, particularly Twitter, and made the #ShameOnYouABC hashtag a trending topic.

ABC’s spokespeople have defended their decision by saying that they couldn’t take a chance that a similar concert would be performed on their show at such an early time in the morning — presumably when the majority of viewers are either older, more conservatives or young children.

In my opinion, ABC made the right move. After the Janet Jackson “wardrobe malfunction” and the obvious backlash they received after Lambert’s performance at the AMAs, they had no choice but to take the safe route and cancel his appearance on Good Morning America. Perhaps a better move would have been to reschedule the performance, until they can establish exactly what Lambert’s concert will entail and also give the hype some time to die down — however
I support their decision.

Windows 7 and Fishbowl take user-friendly to a new level

With Microsoft releasing the new Windows 7 and Silverlight 4 in recent weeks, a popular Facebook application called Fishbowl is picking up steam.  Fishbowl  brings your Facebook straight to your Windows 7 desktop and fully integrates all of your Facebook with Windows 7 and brings your news feed right to your desktop.

Fishbowl lets users browse through photos by “flipping” through the album with the scroll bar on your mouse.  You can also save individual photos or whole albums with the click of a mouse, and uploading photo albums only requires the user to “drag-and-drop” the album folder onto the Fishbowl window.  You can even view full-screen slideshows of yours or your friends’ photo albums.

Fishbowl also takes advantage of the new Windows 7 Superbar by adding an application icon to it, notifying the user of any Facebook activity that requires their attention.  The Superbar also lets users preview the Fishbowl application in thumbnail view so you can choose what part of Facebook you want to directly go to.

For individuals that have the new Windows 7, the early reviews for Fishbowl seem to make this a must have.  The application is available for a free and I will definitely be getting it as soon as possible.

Interactive advertising a near reality

I recently read an article in the WSJ discussing the near future of interactive television advertisements and how the latest acquisition of NBC Universal by Comcast may speed up the release of such technology.

It deals with the future of television advertising. According to this article, as a result of this acquisition and a newly formed group of the six major cable networks (including Comcast and Time Warner Cable), the reality of interactive advertisements may be closer than previously expected. This acquisition has motivated Comcast to pursue this technology more fervently and begun great hype in the advertising industry about creating ads for this new technology.

This will greatly effect the advertising industry, as well as the television market. With this new ability, advertisers will have the ability to send certain advertisements to specific homes based off demographic and other information collected from the cable provider. Advertisements may now be easily segmented to appropriate target publics and users may choose, with their remotes, to get more information about a product they see advertised – immediately after the advertisement.

I believe that this will effect consumers as well, this will give them more control over how much information about a product they receive, as well as what type of ads they are exposed to. This technology will also allow users to customize what types of ads they enjoy seeing and what products they are most interested in. All of the exciting new abilities that this innovation offers will completely revolutionize television advertising and the way that consumers receive information from ads – as long as Comcast is able to actually put the technology’s national roll-out in the fast lane.

Intellectual property patents

The issue of patenting intellectual property and business methods is becomming more and more of a controversial topic. It is important because it demonstrates the need for the law to adapt to the new technological era. Many of the business mentioned in the article (Microsoft, Yahoo, Bank of America, L.L. Bean) are major influencers in their respective industries and technological arenas, making this issue even more important and in the media spotlight. The issue of technological property has been heating up since the 1998 case that set the precedent for patenting business methods. The problem now is that the statute determined at that time is no longer appropriate – according to many companies, organizations, and individuals interested in patenting their intellectual property.

The outcome of the Justices’ decision on this issue will greatly effect public policy and cause great debate in the courts and political areas. It was also obviously effect major corporations, small businesses, and individuals alike in protecting their intellectual property and business methods. Many of the examples and cases show that the lack of legal protection for their intellectual property ended up costing them great amounts of money and eventually their businesses and livelihoods. While this particular issue is just beginning to pick up heat and media coverage, it will only become more controversial and receive more attention as it remains unaddressed.

Droid vs. Apple

Verizon’s new Droid released viral advertisements last week online and on television. Spoofing Apple and pointing out things that the Apple iPhone doesn’t do by using slogans beginning with iDon’t proved to be a very catchy angle for their advertising campaign. Droid Does Ad

These ads also got the attention of Apple loyalists. Shortly after the Droid ads began catching some publicity, Apple users took it upon themselves to create a direct spoof of the ad (spoof of a spoof, if you will) to rebut everything claimed in the Droid ads. iDon’t Care Ad

This “online ad battle” is a perfect example of just how well Apple has it. While I am sure that the Droid ads caused somewhat of a hit on Apple, the loyal customer base they have built has already taken care of the situation before Apple even had a chance to respond. This is also convenient because Apple does not have to assume liability for these ads and can reap all the benefits with little to no consequence.

Free Food Giveaways – Great If Done RIGHT

KFC and Taco Bell are each having big free food giveaways this week. Both companies, owned by YUM Brands Inc., are hoping to attract new customers as well as encourage people to try their new food lines with these promotions.

KFC’s giveaway, which happened yesterday, was to promote their new grilled chicken and “UNfried” life campaign. Each person at KFC could have one free piece of grilled chicken. Past attempts by KFC of free food giveaways have been somewhat of a disaster and ended up doing quite the opposite for KFC as they had intended. During the Oprah online coupon giveaway, riots broke out at many stores and KFC had to end their promotion early. They then also had to do great damage control to get their previously loyal customers back in the store. This time around, KFC seemed to have learned their lesson and finally got their promotion right. The social media world was filled with praise of quick lines and delicious free chicken — that didn’t run out — at KFCs from around the nation.

Hopefully sister food chain Taco Bell will experience the same amount of success with their Halloween free taco giveaway to promote their new Black Jack tacos this Saturday.

New E-book Reader to change the future of books

Barnes & Noble just announced plans on releasing and shipping in its new E-book Reader in late November of this year

Amazon released a similar technology, called the Kindle, in which users may also download books and other electronic print items, such as newspapers. The difference in the Barnes & Noble version is that it is associated with a physical book store and will have 3G cell phone and wireless capabilities. It will also be able to recognize when a person brings one into the store and immediately pop-up special discounts and deals on the screen – Barnes & Noble may also eventually make books available to read for free for a certain amount of time while in the store, to increase traffic. The Barnes & Noble reader will also offer “lending” capabilities where users can lend their purchased books to other E-Book Reader users for a certain amount of time – just like real books; something that the Amazon Kindle is not capable of doing.

This will obviously effect the print industry because it marks the beginning of the end of the necessity for physical copies of books. As people become more comfortable and used to having all of their needs in the palm of their hands 24/7, luxuries such as books will be added to that list of obsolete things when technologies such as the E-Book Reader are available.

This is another historical invention in the story of the written word – from writings on walls in prehistoric times, to papyrus and stone etchings, to codex and scrolls, to the printing press, to books as we know them today – now to the E-Book. This will bring all books together in one convenient place and make even more information available for people with more ease. It will be interesting to monitor the effect this new technology has on the publishing business and for authors, as well as who will be profiting from this new tool.