A NEW Blog and a Fun Giveaway!!!

Hey friends!!  Notice anything different??

I'm SOO excited my new design is finished and I'm really, really happy with it!!  I'd like to extend a HUGE thank you to Alt Coast Creative for their hard work and dedication to my blog over the past month :)  They went above and beyond my expectations and I couldn't be more excited to share it with you.  Here check them out!!

 Now, if I can just take a few photography classes (sigh)....I'll really get this blog where I want it to be!  Like I've said before in other posts, I'm such a huge perfectionist and it's hard when you see soooo many inspiring blogs out there and you want yours to look just as good!  Blogging is definitely a constant learning process and an enjoyable one at that, I learn something new everyday and meet new, fabulous friends as well.  All in all, I just want my little blog to look as  professional as possible and for people to at least think I know what I'm doing ;)

With that said, I have my FIRST giveaway!!

My dear friend Abby makes these GORGEOUS hand-made, custom aprons that I just adore!!  They are the perfect little flirty addition to your kitchen for when guests come over and you want to look your best when hosting or even when you're in the mood to cook and still want to look fabulous doing it!  I got my own a few months back and just love it.  Here take a look at this example:

  Soo cute, right?!

Abby is so extremely talented and one lucky winner will get to choose any apron out of her beautiful Etsy shop for their very own!  

To ENTER (all separate comments):

1. Become a Google Friend Connect follower (if you aren't already) and leave a comment saying so (this is the only mandatory entry).

2. Visit Abby's Be a Kitchenista Etsy shop and leave a comment telling me which item is your favorite.

3. Like Be a "Kitchenista" on Facebook (comment saying you did so).

4. Like Eat Yourself Skinny on Facebook (comment saying you did so or let me know if you already do!)

5.  Tweet about the giveaway (Be a Kitchenista giveaway at http://www.eat-yourself-skinny.com!  Enter to win a custom made apron of your choice!) and comment saying you did.

And that's it!  Five possible entries!  The winner will be announced Friday, July 8th.  Good luck my friends and thank you SO much for stopping by! :)

Penne & Chicken Tenderloins with Spiced Tomato Sauce

So I was looking for a quick and easy dish to make for dinner last night since I knew I'd be working late and found this great recipe on Cooking Light's website.  It was fantastic!!  I loved the simplicity of just using canned tomatoes with a bit of white wine and spicing it up with some basil, coriander and fennel seed.  Mmmm delish!!  I lightened this recipe up a bit by using low carb pasta (you MUST try Dreamfields pasta if you haven't already!) and garnished with low-fat Parmesan cheese, shh don't tell my boyfriend ;)

The thing I liked most about this dish was that the sauce was nice and light and the chunks of tomato substituted for any thickness it was lacking.  I sprinkled some of the leftover rub into the sauce along with some fresh basil as it was simmering.  Feel free to substitute the chicken for shrimp, I'm sure that would taste amazing as well!  Hope you all enjoy it as much as we did!
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Servings: 6
Serving Size: 1 cup
Calories: 223
Fat: 3.6 g
Carbs: 28.5 g
Fiber: 3.3 g
Protein: 19.3 g
Old Points: 4.1 pts
Points+: 6 pts
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Here are your ingredients:

1 tsp. ground fennel seed

1 tsp. dried basil

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. ground coriander

1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

 1 lb. chicken breast tenderloins, cut into 1-inch pieces

1 Tbsp olive oil

4 cloves garlic, minced

4 cups canned diced tomatoes, undrained

1 cup white wine

8 oz. uncooked Dreamfields penne pasta

1/4 cup (1 oz.) freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

Combine first 5 ingredients in a small bowl and rub over chicken.  Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.  Add chicken; cook 4 minutes, turning once.  Remove from heat and set aside.

Reduce heat to medium.  Add garlic; saute 30 seconds or until garlic is soft.  Add tomatoes and wine, scraping pan to loosen browned bits.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes.  Add chicken, and simmer 5 minutes.

Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat.  Drain.  Toss pasta with sauce in a large bowl.  Sprinkle with cheese and fresh basil.

 Click here for a printable version of this recipe

Spicy Sun Dried Tomato Spread

Ok so I'm in LOVE with this spread!  A huge thanks to my friend Nicole for introducing this recipe to me.  This has become such a staple at all our cookouts and tailgates this summer so I just had to share it with you!  Best part?!  It's completely fat-free!!  Since my brother just got home this weekend from being in Afghanistan for 8 months, we're throwing him a huge homecoming party and I went ahead and made this dip for the block party :) 

I'm soooo incredible proud of you Jamie!  Glad you are home safe!!

Ok so back to my dip :)

Feel free to kick the heat up a notch if you can handle spicier foods or leave out the cayenne pepper altogether if you want a more subdued taste.  Either way it won't disappoint!  In my opinion, this goes best with whole wheat crackers OR, to keep it even healthier, slice up some of your leftover red bell pepper and dip away!  This goes perfect with fresh veggies and is completely guilt-free :)  Hope you guys enjoy it!

**Yay!!  Update:  This post has recently been featured on Foodgawker and is my very first post accepted!!  Can you tell I'm excited?!
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Servings: 6
Serving Size: 1/4 cup
Calories: 80
Fat: 0 g
Carbs: 10 g
Fiber: 1 g
Protein: 7.5 g
Old Points: 1.4 pts
Points+: 2 pts
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Here are your ingredients:

1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes, without oil, dry packed

8 oz. fat-free cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup plain fat-free yogurt

1/4 cup chili sauce

4 Tbsp scallions, chopped

4 Tbsp red bell pepper, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 tsp celery seed

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

Place tomatoes in a small bowl.  Cover with 1 cup of boiling water and allow to stand at room temperature for 10 minutes.  Drain and chop tomatoes.

Meanwhile, in another bowl, combine cream cheese, yogurt and chili sauce and mix well.  Add tomatoes and remaining ingredients.  Mix well and refrigerate until ready to serve.  Enjoy!

Click here for a printable version of this recipe 

Hi friends & thank you Cooking Light!

Hey guys!! 

Sorry I haven't posted in about a month, trust me I miss it so much!  I'm still waiting on the new blog design so I haven't wanted to post much until that was completed.  I'm having lots of fun playing with my new DSLR camera, but STILL have sooo much to learn....sigh.  Kudos to all you photographers out there, it's fun but sure is a lot of hard work! 

I also wanted to give a HUGE thanks to Cooking Light magazine for this AMAZING gift basket full of all sorts of fun goodies!  (I apologize for the blurry picture, I was at work and only had my iPhone on me)  Anyhoo, I was so excited to receive this mostly because Cooking Light has been the inspiration for most of my delicious recipes and I'm always so excited when their newest magazine hits my mailbox!



Sooo I should be back to posting VERY soon, especially since I've got so many great recipes I've been saving to make :)  Hope you all are having a faaaabulous summer and look forward to blogging again soon!

xoxo