I recently splurged on some of those cute little fresh mozzarella balls marinated in olive oil and herbs. They are so addicting! We enjoyed them when our friends visited last weekend, but I bought a huge tub because I wanted to play with them in a new recipe. I noticed Elly had posted a fantastic recipe for chicken parm burgers and was inspired to use ground chicken to make small chicken parm appetizers!

I decided to use a ground chicken mixture to encase the little mozzarella balls and then coated the balls in panko so they would be crispy on the outside like chicken parm! Then I served them with a marinara dipping sauce. This was my first time using ground chicken, and I was surprised that it was so much moister than ground turkey. I didn’t even end up needing an egg to hold the mixture together. My hubby was a big fan of these, and I’m blaming him for the fact that they disappeared within a day!

Chicken Parm Bites Stuffed with Mozzarella
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup chopped shallots
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 pound ground chicken
1 1/4 cups panko
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon salt
16 small fresh mozzarella balls
1/2 cup of your favorite marinara sauce

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350˚F. Heat olive oil over medium high heat in a small skillet and sauté shallots for 5 minutes or until soft. Add garlic and sauté one additional minute.

Lightly mix together shallots, ground chicken, 1/4 cup panko, oregano, basil, and salt in a large bowl. Carefully encase each mozzarella ball evenly with ground chicken mixture and then roll each ball in remaining 1 cup panko until evenly coated. Place balls on a greased cookie sheet and bake for 20 minutes at 350˚F or until chicken is cooked through. Place a toothpick in each ball and serve alongside the marinara sauce. Makes 8 servings.

Nutrition: 279 calories, 16.7g fat, 1.7g fiber, 18.9g protein per serving
Cost: $0.90 per serving

There’s nothing better than sitting outside drinking margaritas and munching on guacamole and chips in the summer! We always order guac when we see it on a restaurant menu and I love to make it at home too since it comes together so quickly. Avocados are part of my hubby’s weightlifting diet, but he’s not allowed to have chips, so I thought it would be fun to come up with a more nutritious way to enjoy guacamole. I dreamed up these cute little black bean cups that are very healthy and flavorful!

I made the dough with black beans, cumin, whole wheat flour, and olive oil, and then pressed it into mini-muffin cups. Then I filled the little cups with this yummy Roasted Pepper Guacamole I saw on Culinary Wannabe’s lovely blog. I love the color and flavor the red peppers added to the guac! These adorable little appetizers are the perfect healthy treats to bring to a BBQ this summer!

Mini Bean Black Cups Stuffed with Guacamole
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 (15.5 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup of your favorite guacamole

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350ºF. Spray a 24 cup mini-muffin tray with cooking spray. Pulse black beans, flour, cumin, paprika, salt, and olive oil in a food processor until soft dough forms. Place dough evenly into the 24 mini-muffin cups and form mini-cups by spreading dough up the sides of each cup. Bake the cups for 15 to 20 minutes at 350ºF or until set. Cool completely, about 30 minutes, and fill cups evenly with guacamole. Makes 6 servings.

Nutrition: 261 calories, 15.0g fat, 8.1g fiber, 7.2g protein per serving
Cost: $0.55 per serving

This weekend was lovely in Boston and my hubby and I took full advantage of the unusually warm weather by taking a long walk around our neighborhood. We live within a 5 minute stroll of many shops and restaurants and one of our favorites is a small family-owned meat market called McKinnon’s. They have every cut of meat imaginable and a nice selection of fresh seafood. We always end up with some sort of impulse purchase when we visit, and this weekend was no exception – I picked up a package of mussels! I had never prepared mussels before, so I was a little intimidated, but decided to go for it anyway. There’s nothing worse than ruining an expensive ingredient, but luckily everything went smoothly after I did a little research on the internet and found this site explaining how to properly clean and debeard them.

Coming up with an idea for the sauce was much easier because I knew I wanted to use coconut milk and curry paste. One of our favorite restaurants in Chicago, Opera, used to serve mussels in an amazing coconut curry sauce and we’ve missed this tasty appetizer ever since we moved to Boston! It was nice to enjoy one of our favorite dishes for a fraction of what it would have cost in a restaurant.  Mussels will definitely be on our list the next time we go to McKinnon’s!

Coconut Curry Mussels
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 red bell pepper, chopped
4 green onions, chopped
1 14-ounce can light coconut milk
Juice of one lime
1 teaspoon red curry paste
1 stalk lemongrass
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 to 1 1/2 pounds mussels, scrubbed and debearded

Directions:
Heat olive oil over medium heat in a large stockpot and sauté red peppers and greens onions for 5 to 7 minutes or until soft. Add coconut milk, lime juice, red curry paste, lemongrass, ginger, and salt to the pot and bring mixture to a boil. Add mussels and boil until mussels open, about 5 minutes. Discard any mussels that do not open. Place the mussels in two serving bowls and continue to simmer the sauce for 5 to 10 minutes or until it reduces and thickens a bit. Remove lemongrass and pour sauce over mussels. Makes 2 servings.

Nutrition: 287 calories, 21.3g fat, 3.0g fiber, 12.7g protein per serving (assuming you finish all the sauce!)
Cost: $3.00 per serving