Hundred Healthy Dinners

Raspberry Almond Pancakes

2010-10-06T09:36:00.007-06:00

I love blender pancakes! These are chewier and just have a great texture without being too heavy and dense since you don't use flour. Also, because everything goes in the one blender cup, there is very little mess. I usually double the batch. My blender cup is extra big. We make the pancakes, the nuts, then layer the pancakes with some honey greek yogurt, rasperries, and top with a little syrup.

I follow the blender pancake recipe from my cousin Joy’s cookbook, but just substitute a couple of things.

1 cup milk (I generally use rice milk)
1 cup spelt or wheat kernels, whole & uncooked
2 eggs
2 t baking powder
½ t baking soda
¼ t salt
2 T applesauce (or oil)
4 T honey or agave

Put milk and wheat kernels in blender. Blend on highest speed for 4 or 5 minutes. Unless you have a Blendtec or Vitamix. In that case, 30 seconds or so will probably do.

Add eggs, applesauce, baking powder, baking soda, salt and honey or agave, then blend again until smooth.

Pour out batter into pancakes onto a hot greased griddle. Cook, flipping pancakes when bubbles start to form and then pop on top of the pancakes.

Spread with greek honey yogurt (or plain would be fine too) candied almonds, raspberries and maple syrup. Yum!

Candied almonds or pecans:

1. Chop 1 cup raw almonds or pecans with a food chopper (or a knife, but be careful or they’ll be all over your kitchen)
2. lightly grease a nonstick pan (I rub coconut oil on the pan with a paper towel)
3. Add 2 T of maple syrup to the pan, and mix in the almonds and a dash of salt if you’d like
4. Stir constantly over medium heat until light brown.

We like making these for birthdays or special occasions. They are probably not all that low calorie once you add the syrup and nuts. But if you eat them with just strawberries or raspberries and greek yogurt, they are pretty good. If you cut down the sweetener, they are only about 908 calories per batch, which is approximately 50 calories per pancake, depending on the size. I usually double the batch and freeze some. Here is what I got from my double batch:

Pressure Cookery

2010-09-22T14:18:00.001-06:00

We've been wanting a pressure cooker for years, but it seemed so foreign and hard. I really didn't know where to begin to figure out what type to buy, or how to use it. And besides, I'd heard they were kinda pricey and my stovetop bean cooking method was working just fine--except when I burned them. Then it was really stinky.

Last year, my sister-in-law Tiffany bought a Cuisinart electric pressure cooker from Amazon and just raved about it. I was about to buy one when I saw that Costco started carrying it--for like $50 less than what other stores sell that model for. It did take me a little bit to familiarize myself with it. It is really so easy, but sometimes changing my routine is hard. I use it several times a day sometimes now. It is such a great way to make healthy, cheap, fast food.

The best thing about the pressure cooker is that it can take whole grains and legumes and cook them in just a fraction of the time that it would take on the stove, and I don't have to watch the pot at all. The speed has helped me to have the ability to cook something quickly when I am dropping my kids off at practices, and when our evenings are busy and I haven't planned ahead.

I love being able to wake up at 7:00am, put a cup of millet, a cup of steel cut oats, 4 cups of water in the pressure cooker. Set it for 8 or 9 minutes then go out for a run. When my kids come down for breakfast, their cereal is hot and ready. This makes for a leisurely morning. Millet was my favorite cereal from childhood. Unfortunately it takes forever to cook. So I was so happy that I can enjoy it now without all the effort.
My kids love hot cereal. I love how cheap and filling it is. I think we figured out that it is less than 10 cents per serving. Food doesn't get much cheaper than that.

It is similar to a crock pot in that you don't have to watch the stove. But it is much, much faster. This faster cooking preserves more nutrients. Plus, it has a saute feature so you can brown meat, carmelize onions, etc, all with just using the inner pot of the pressure cooker. Fewer dishes is always good.

I cook black beans in 28 minutes(no soaking required), split pea soup took 8 minutes, and really great fluffy yummy potatoes cook in 12, artichokes in 8. The potatoes are Jared's favorite. We quarter the gold potatoes from Costco, stick them in the pressure cooker with a couple cups of water. Cook for 12 minutes. Then he mashes them and adds greek yogurt and seasoning. They are the fastest and best mashed potatoes. They don't get as gluey from the starch in the water.

Last year we watched the movie Food Inc. I thought it was a great show and very interesting. One part that I don't know if I agree with is that it is cheaper to feed kids burgers than to prepare something at home. Sure, produce is pricey. But we have the same options here as the rest of the world that feeds their families for pennies a day. Rice, beans, lentils, bread, tortillas, potatoes, etc. All of those things are still really, really cheap, and eaten in the right quantities and with some fresh food are affordable to most everyone.

I just saw that Costco is carrying the pressure cookers again for fall. I think it is a good investment at $69. It comes with a recipe booklet. Some of the recipes look really good. Lentil soup, Pasta e Fagioli, Mushroom Barley Soup, etc. They look great! I was happy to learn a few new recipes for my pressure cooker in my class with Chef Brad at Education Week. He shares some of them here.

Mesquite Chicken with Mango Salsa

2010-05-23T20:40:00.009-06:00

If you haven't tried the delicious combination of lime and chili with Mango, you need to try this recipe. I spent a couple of summers in Mexico and always loved to get the mango with lime and chili from the fruit carts on the street. It may sound odd to add chili to fruit but it is soooo good. And the lime just makes it.

I love this fresh mango salsa with mesquite grilled chicken. You can make this into an amazing salad if you top a bed of lettuce greens with this chicken and mango salsa, and a little avocado and lime. But tonight we went with the whole chicken breasts and cilantro rice.

Chicken:
I use McCormick's Mesquite Marinade and follow the directions on the package. It is just 1/4 C oil, 1/4 C water. I put 4 chicken breasts in a big ziploc with the marinade for a couple of hours in the refrigerator. Then send my husband out to grill it. Easy.

Mango Salsa:

3 Large Mangos
1/2 red bell pepper diced
1/4 cup diced onion
2 limes
3 T chopped cilantro

Slice mango down both sides of the pit.

Score each of the halves both ways like this:

Then pop open like this and slice off squares into your bowl.

Add other vegetables and juice of 2 limes. Add lime and chili to taste. This is what the lime and chili seasoning looks like. This one is from Mexico. They usually carry a lime and chili seasoning in the Mexican food aisle in Wal-Mart or at any Mexican grocery store.

Chicken Broccoli Casserole *without the cream of chicken soup.

2010-05-22T16:57:00.005-06:00

Some people hate Disney, others hate Walmart(can't blame them), but I hate cream of whatever soups. I absolutely will not ever use them. Loaded with MSG, oil, sodium and who knows what else - if a recipe calls for them - I don't even consider it. I know, I'm a snob.

So today, with a surplus of broccoli in my fridge I thought a broccoli casserole would be just the way to go only to discover that EVERY recipe under the sun requires the use of some can of creamed soup. Still wanting the casserole, I knew it was time to figure out how to make my own cream of chicken soup. So with this recipe for cream of chicken soup in hand, I made a good old fashioned broccoli casserole without too much guilt or MSG!

I love the cream of chicken recipe from Apartment Therapy's kitchn site. It seriously took like a minute and a half. And here is my completely made up and RIDICULOUSLY yummy recipe for

Broccoli Chicken Rice Casserole:

1 C Brown Rice
1 Chicken Breast - salt and peppered
1 large head of Broccoli - chopped up to smallish pieces - abt 4 cups
2 - 3 cloves of garlic - minced
1 yellow bell pepper - diced
Salt & Pepper and other spices to taste(I dashed in some dried basil and oregano)
A double recipe of cream of chicken soup
3(ish) cups of sharp cheddar - grated
1/2 C Wheat Germ

Start cooking one cup of brown rice in 3 cups of water first - this will take about 45-50 minutes so start early. Next add some butter and olive oil to a large skillet and heat over medium high heat. Add your chicken breast and cover with a little bit of tin foil and cook until no longer pink - about 6-8 minutes per side. Remove your chicken and leave the drippings - and add a little more oil to the pan. Add your garlic - cooking for about 30 seconds and then add the broccoli, peppers, salt and pepper and spices and a little bit of water - stir and cover for about 5 minutes until slightly softened and quite flavorful. While it's cooking dice your chicken breast up and put it in a large bowl. Once your veggie mixture and rice are done - throw them in as well as the 2 cups of the cheese and the soup and stir it all together. Lightly spray a 9 x 13 casserole and put the mixture in. Top with the remaining cheese and the wheat germ and bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes until the cheese is melted and a little golden. And then prepare yourself for a ridiculously good and pretty darn healthy comfort food for dinner!

Black Bean Vegetable Soup

2010-03-04T16:03:00.005-07:00

My sister-in-law got this from Allrecipes and I am in love with this soup. It is simple and healthy and has a great flavor. The recipe calls for canned beans. I like to make my own beans and freeze them for soups. They are firmer and less slimy and I can add my own spices. I have a new pressure cooker and have been cooking my beans in that and they are done in 30 minutes. So that is another option if you have a pressure cooker. We added lime, cilantro, a little plain yogurt, and tortilla strips to make it more like a tortilla soup.

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 carrots, chopped
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
4 cups vegetable stock (I just use my chicken base from Costco)
2 (15 ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
1 (8.75 ounce) can whole kernel corn
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 (14.5 ounce) can stewed tomatoes (I like crushed tomatoes instead)

1. In large saucepan, heat oil over medium heat; cook onion, garlic, and carrots, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes or until onion is softened. Add chili powder and cumin; cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add stock, 1 can of the beans, corn, and pepper; bring to boil.

2. Meanwhile, in food processor or blender, puree together tomatoes and remaining can of beans; add to pot. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes or until carrots are tender.

This tastes
164 calories, 3 grams fat per serving. I like to double this one too.

Chicken Noodle Soup

2010-03-04T15:46:00.003-07:00

I love this soup! It is loaded with veggies and has hearty whole wheat noodles. I love to make a big batch and use the leftovers for the kids lunches. Half the recipe if you don't want a lot leftover. It makes 15 cups of soup.

Ingredients:

12 cups water
8 t Chicken Better than Bouillon (Costco)
2 frozen or fresh chicken breasts
1 lb whole wheat pasta noodles. I use fusilli
26 oz chopped tomatoes
2 cups chopped carrots
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup frozen corn
1 chopped onion
4 cloves garlic
1 T italian seasoning
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
cracked pepper and salt to taste

Add 1 t olive oil, chopped onions and garlic to a large pot and saute until onions are translucent. Next add tomatoes,1 T italian seasoning, water and soup base(Better than Bouillon)to the pot and bring to boil. Add whole chicken breasts to water and let boil. Chop other ingredients while chicken is cooking. Remove chicken and dice chicken. Add back into the pot. Add pasta, carrots, peas, corn and parmesan cheese to pot and let cook for about 13 minutes or until pasta is tender. Add salt and pepper to taste. Makes 15 cups of soup. Each cup is about 155calories.

Popcorn

2010-02-12T15:05:00.002-07:00

Did you know that popcorn is actually a really good snack idea? We eat tons of it around here. Here is some info on the health benefits of popcorn:

A new study carried out at the University of Scranton showed that popcorn has some surprising health benefits. Popcorn is high in antioxidants, most notably, polyphenols – a group of natural plant chemicals that have a variety of health benefits. Polyphenols are the same group of compounds that give red wine, tea, olive oil, and chocolate their beneficial properties. Not only do they scavenge free radicals and protect against cell damage, they’re being investigated for their anti-cancer properties and heart protective properties. In fact, the researchers found that the polyphenol content of good, old-fashioned popcorn rivals that of many fruits and vegetables.
Another health benefit of popcorn? It’s a whole grain in the same league as oatmeal, barley, brown rice, and millet – grains that are known for their health benefits. All of these grains retain the bran and germ of the plant which is the source of most of the vitamins and minerals - in contrast to refined grains where these vitamin-rich components have been stripped away. Three cups of popcorn is equivalent to a single serving of a whole grain food. Popcorn is also a good source of fiber which helps to increase satiety and give a sense of fullness and satisfaction that lasts for hours. This can be helpful for weight control since popcorn without butter is low in calories.

Though popcorn is my snack of choice, I am really really REALLY against microwave popcorn. Ok, so maybe I overstated that a bit but I just can't bring myself to buy it. It's sooo overpriced, it's REALLY awful for you, and it makes your house smell like fake "popcorn scent" for days. I know, my horse has gotten so high I just might hurt myself. Really though, here is some interesting info I found on another site about microwave popcorn:

A report from the FDA indicates that a chemical coating used in microwave popcorn bags breaks down when heated into a substance called perfluorooctanoic (PFOA). The Environmental Protection Agency has identified PFOA as a “likely carcinogen.” Another study has found an acid that can be extracted from the chemical causes cancer in animals and is “likely to cause cancer in humans.”
A second potential danger in microwave popcorn is diacetyl, an FDA-approved chemical found in the fake butter flavoring. There’s even a debilitating respiratory disease called “popcorn workers lung,” (the medical name of the condition is bronchiolitis obliterans) suffered by microwave popcorn factory workers caused by extended inhalation of the chemical’s fumes. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, (NIOSH) concluded that diacetyl needs further study so that workers in the flavorings and snack industry are no longer at risk

And now that I've gotten you good and scared about eating it anymore let me tell you some other options. First off, you can cook it in a little oil on your stovetop. There's some instruction for that here.

Or did you know that you can make your own microwaveable popcorn with a cheap paper bag? Click here to read more about that.

Or you can use my method of choice - the air popper.

We own a simple air popper that we got at the grocery store and we are totally happy with it. Even though it's loud, here's what I like aboutit - I can make a serious amount of popcorn instead of the small amount I'd get in a bag. I've got four boys so that is important to me. Second, I can pour the popcorn in and walk away. I don't have to worry about anything burning or scorching or being undercooked. The popped kernels fly out and the old maids that take a little longer stay in until they're ready. And lastly, it's a clean slate - I can add or not add oil, salt, or other flavorings.

Our favorite way to eat popcorn is to drizzle on some extra virgin olive oil, sprinkle some nutritional yeast flakes on and add a little salt. Nutritional yeast is a heavy hitter when it comes to nutrition and it gives the popcorn a really good savory flavor that my kids go nuts for. And for a sweet treat just like Kettle Corn but much healthier try drizzling on some maple syrup and a dash of salt.

Recipe: Slow-cooker Black Beans & Rice

2010-02-04T19:20:00.006-07:00

This morning as I was going through my options for dinner I knew I had a bag of black beans, knew I wanted to be able to throw them into a pot and forget about them, and knew I wanted to have a tasty (and cheap) dish for dinner. So beans and rice it was. I got this recipe by doing a quick search on the internet. It was simple - I cut it all up and threw it in the crock pot and my kids loved it - my toddler ate two big bowls of it! Not to mention it was all REAL food. The recipe calls for canned tomatoes but I used fresh partly because of this article and partly because I had a couple ripe romas sitting on my counter in need of eating. And we ate it on white rice just because we were out of brown. But it would have been good on brown as well.

I got a new crock pot (or slow cooker) back in December and it has rejuvenated my desire to cook this way. It makes it possible to make some really healthy soups, stews, and main dishes with very little work. If you've got one you know what I'm talking about and if you don't - you're really missing out.

Here's the recipe:

1	pound dried black beans (2 cups), sorted and rinsed
1	large onion, chopped (1 cup)
1	large bell pepper, chopped (1 1/2 cups)
5	garlic cloves, finely chopped
2	dried bay leaves
2	cups diced tomatoes (from 28-oz can), undrained
5	cups water
2	tablespoons olive or vegetable oil
4	teaspoons ground cumin
2	teaspoons finely chopped jalapeño chilies
1	teaspoon salt
3	cups hot cooked rice

1. Mix all ingredients except rice in 3 1/2- to 6-quart slow cooker.

2. Cover and cook on high heat setting 6 to 8 hours or until beans are tender and most of the liquid is absorbed. Remove bay leaves.

3. Serve beans over rice. We added lime and cilantro to really make it authentic. Easy, healthy, yummy!

Book Review: The Eat Clean Diet for Family & Kids

2010-01-04T17:29:00.006-07:00

This is by far my favorite book for family nutrition. The nutrition information is grounded in clean eating principles. So you aren't going to find a lot of processed ingredients. What you will find is a full-color complete guide to transitioning your family to clean eating and some great meals to get you going. The book has a lot of information and success stories that is also very motivating.

Going against the grain and limiting what we feed our kids can be frustrating and a lot of work at times. We may even run into negativity from friends and family. So it is nice to have the validation that eating clean and helping our families to live healthier lives is a worthy goal.

I've seen the other hide-the-veggies-in-your-kid's-dessert books. I own Sneaky Chef and strongly prefer the Eat Clean Diet for Family and Kids. I want my kids to learn that vegetables are a good thing. Those other books are probably best for kids who are very stubborn or moms who are really concerned with getting more nutrients into their picky eater. But I think most kids like blueberries, carrots, and the like as long as their options are limited. If my kids are choosing between Captain Crunch and blueberries, the Captain Crunch will win every time. So it makes sense that my kids always eat better and are less picky when they don't have the choice of eating the junk. Eat Clean Diet for Family and Kids also has some great tips to hep avoid food power struggles as well and the recipes are not complicated or too strange.

I am excited to try the egg salad sandwich. I'll make it tomorrow and report back.

Portobello Mexican Pizzas

2010-01-04T16:59:00.004-07:00

I think this has to be my favorite new thing because it is so easy, and seriously has to be only about 200 calories or so depending on your salsa and cheese. I love portobello mushrooms, but topped with salsa, green onions, mozzarella and sprinkled with garlic salt--yum!

Preheat oven to 400. Remove the stem AND the gills from the Portobello mushroom. I just peeled back the stem and removed the gills with a paring knife. Place mushrooms, upside down, on a baking tray and top each one with salsa, green onions and cheese. Bake for 10-12 minutes.

Healthy Chocolate Coconut Frosty (Dairy Free!)

2010-01-04T16:52:00.007-07:00

This is such a delicious shake, you’ll never guess that it doesn’t have any dairy in it. When our family did 100 days of no sugar, it was a good substitute for a Frosty. These days, my husband mixes a coconut with his chocolate mint protein powder to make a really tasty treat for the kids.

Years ago I was taught in a nutrition class to avoid tropical oils because of the high saturated fat. These days, coconut is the newest health food. Because the short-and medium-chain fatty acids of extra virgin coconut oil and coconut milk are easily and quickly assimilated by the body, they are not stored as fat in the body like the long chain triglycerides of animal products. Coconut oil is 50% lauric acid, which is also found in breastmilk. Lauric acid helps the immune system to fight off viral and bacterial infection. Also, young coconuts have far fewer calories than mature ones. I think they are about the same calorie wise as an avocado.

Young coconuts are different than regular coconuts. They are found in the refrigerated section of the grocery store. Most health food stores and Asian markets carry them. They have the thick white husk on the outside, instead of being brown. Brown coconuts will not work for this recipe.

The fun part is hacking it open! I just use a big knife, or a serrated bread knife. Either one works.

Turn the coconut on it’s side and cut it a few inches from the pointed top. A few good swings and it should come open. It might be kinda tricky the first few times you do this, but it gets easier! And it is kinda fun to weild that knife and hack it open. Just watch your fingers. LOL. Jared uses a really sharp serrated bread knife and just slices off the top. As soon as it is slightly open, I pour the coconut water into the blender cup, then remove the rest of the top of the coconut. The water can be clear, yellow, pink, purple etc. The meat is white and soft instead of hard like in a mature coconut. Take a big spoon and scoop the meat into the blender cup. My kids love to eat the coconut meat. It is slippery and really yummy.

Add two heaping tablespoons cocoa powder, 1 tray ice, and some agave to taste. Usually a couple of tablespoons. Honey, sugar, or stevia work too. Or you can mix with a scoop of protein powder.

Blend well and enjoy!

Rao's: Best Marinara Sauce I've Tried

2009-09-15T22:12:00.005-06:00

I bought my first bottle of Rao's Marinara from Whole Foods when we were poor first marrieds. At ten bucks a bottle, it was definitely the "special occasion" sauce. I think I was most intrigued by the price. Marinara sauce that costs that much has to be good. It was. It is the best. I've tried lots of different sauces, and this one is my favorite and has the purest ingredients.

I like pasta, and this sauce is great for those nights that you just don't want to make your own. No fillers, no paste, just good stuff.

Here are the ingredients:
Imported Italian tomatoes, Italian olive oil, sweet onions, fresh basil, fresh garlic, crushed black pepper, salt and fresh oregano.

This one is pricey, but very tasty and with $1 for pasta, I figure I am feeding my family for $6 (we can get about two meals worth). Not too bad. Cheaper than Del Taco anyway.

The Arrabiata sauce is also great. Too hot for the kids, but I love it. I've seen it on sale on occasion at Whole Foods (used to be Wild Oats around here.)

Coconut Curry in a Hurry

2009-09-15T20:33:00.004-06:00

I just tried another simmer sauce by Seeds of Change. Wow. It is so good. It is the Korma coconut curry sauce. I sauteed some chicken, cut up some veggies and mushrooms and poured the sauce over. I cooked brown rice in the rice cooker to go with it. Very easy, very good.

And right now it is on sale at the Good Earth for $2.65/bottle. Go get some if I haven't cleared them all out!

We ate at a Thai restaurant last week, and this was almost as good. Ingredients aren't quite as good as the Jalfrezi sauce. But it is really tasty. It isn't very spicy, so add some red pepper flakes if you want to make it a little hotter.

Here is what is in it:

Water, heavy cream* (milk*), coconut*, onions*, evaporated cane sugar*, tapioca starch*, sunflower oil*, sea salt, lemon juice*, garlic*, cilantro*, ginger*, turmeric*, coriander*, cumin*, cayenne pepper*, paprika*, cardamon*, cinnamon*

140 calories per serving. With 1/2 cup cooked brown rice, 1/2 chicken breast, and veggies, mine was about 370 calories.

It is possible! Non perishable HEALTHY fruit snacks

2009-09-06T17:19:00.005-06:00

My husband likes to order new and interesting healthy stuff online. And a few months ago, he came home with something to add to our food storage that he tried at his sister's recommendation. Freeze dried fruit. It didn't last because we ate all of it within a couple of weeks. It was so delicious. This dried fruit is crunchy and sweet, and 100% fruit. You can rehydrate if you want for cooking.

The freeze dried process removes 97% of the moisture with a vacuum and a very low temperature. It is shelf stable for up to 15 years. I like that better than canning because it doesn't have to be packed in syrup, it is lightweight, and doesn't have to be refrigerated like our frozen foods.

My kids love it! We felt it was a perfect replacement for sugary, artificial fruit snacks. They are already diced and ready to go. It was really good in yogurt. I've been buying freeze dried apple slices for the kids lunches from Costco, but they were getting so expensive. These come in big cans and are much cheaper per oz.

We mainly eat fresh fruit, but we are trying to build our food storage with healthy non-perishable foods that we'll actually want to eat. I think these are the perfect solution.

Here is a link for the peaches. Those were my favorite. We bought raspberries, blueberries, peaches, strawberries and apples. Yum!

http://store.honeyvillegrain.com/freezedriedpeacheslargecan.aspx

Mahi Mahi Fish Tacos

2009-02-16T16:55:00.003-07:00

My camera is broken, and this is the last picture we were able to get out of the one my Sister in law graciously let us use before she needed it back. So this is dark, but you get the idea.

These were good and my kids liked them so I am sure we'll make them again soon.

I love fish tacos with cabbage. The cabbage makes everything crunchier. When we lived by the beach, our neighbor loved to go deep sea fishing, and hated seafood. So we were always feasting on Mahi Mahi and barracuda.

On our own little deep sea fishing excursion in Ensenada, we tried these yummy fish tacos at a taco shop. I love this with the lime and chili seasoning. I've really only found it at mexican food stores though or in mexico. It is really yummy on mangos too. Sounds weird, but it was my favorite thing to eat on the street in Mexico.

Here are the ingredients:

10 corn tortillas

5 mahi mahi steaks (these were about the size of my palm)

Lime and Chile seasoning (or lemon pepper would work fine too if you can't find the other)shredded cabbage--I try to shred this very fine

2 avocadoes mashed--salt to taste

lime wedges--1 for each taco

Pico de Gallo

Pico de Gallo:

3 tomatos diced

finely diced onions to taste

chopped cilantro
lime juice from 1-2 limes

Mix together and squeeze lime juice on top. You can add salt or garlic salt.

Optional:thin roasted salsa with plain yogurt (kinda has a sour cream flavor)

I used frozen fish filets, so I put them under a warm tap for a few minutes to thaw. Cut off the plastic, then rubbed lime and chili seasoning on both sides. I put these to cook on the indoor grill since it is freezing outside. They only take a few minutes to cook. I then cube the fish and set all the ingredients in bowls so each person can add what they like. I had six bowls: fish, avocado, pico de gallo, lime wedges, cabbage, roasted salsa mixed with plain yogurt.

Warm corn tortillas in a nonstick pan on the stove. Spread the tortilla with avocado, add the cabbage, fish, and pico de gallo, etc. I used the Ezekial Sprouted Corn tortillas that you find in the refrigerated section of the health food store. I like their texture, but regular ones work great too.
These are tasty! I think it has been too long since we've had this. You can use chicken in place of the fish, and for vegetarian, black beans work great.

Pampered Chef Food Chopper

2009-02-11T15:59:00.003-07:00

This is another staple in my kitchen. I am kind of a minimalist when it comes to kitchen gadgets, but I love this thing! It is really quick, and doesn't require a ton of clean up or another appliance on my countertop. I have had three of these, and my favorite was the Pampered chef one--until I burned it on the stove. Oops. It had a more padded like top that didn't hurt my hand.

It chops and rotates quickly so you can easily dice onions, garlic, herbs, nuts, etc very fast and have nice uniformly shaped pieces. I also like that I have more control with the sizes than with the food processor.

Here is my garlic with the chopper:

It saves the nuts from flying all over the kitchen, my fingers from being chopped off, and I don't smell like garlic. Good things!

The one from Pampered Chef is around $30, and I've other brands at most kitchen supply stores, and even TJ Maxx and Ross for around $10.

How to Cook Brown Rice

2009-02-11T09:16:00.010-07:00

I am always amazed at all the Minute Rice I see at the store. I am thinking that people must not know how easy brown rice really is. It is one of those things that is kinda like beans--it seems hard until you actually try it. It is very easy.

White rice isn't good for you, Minute Rice is worse. Rice is so cheap, there is no good reason to compromise your nutrition and eat the white stuff. If you have white rice, it is great for food storage because it lasts so long. But feed your family the good stuff. Brown rice is relatively cheap and tastes great when it is cooked right and kids love it. Brown rice has a lower glycemic index than white rice because it has four times the fiber. It also has more nutrients.

Here is a good explanation of the differences between white and brown rice:
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=128

I cook it a few times per week. We make a lot, and what doesn't get eaten for dinner is breakfast the next morning with some cinnamon, agave nectar and milk. You can use almond milk if you don't do dairy. My kids love it and it is just as easy as Fruit Loops.

Here is the super easy way:

2 cups water for every cup of rice, plug it in and turn it on. Perfect fluffy rice in about 40 minutes. No pots to watch, nothing getting burned (very good thing in my house!).

http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-SR-TMB10-Cooker-Warmer-Silver/dp/B000EIASGE/ref=pd_sim_k_1

Panasonic is a great brand to get. I've had my National (Panasonic used to be sold as National Brand) Rice Cooker for 8 years and it is still going strong. Aside from my blender, it gets the most use of any of my kitchen appliances.

Here are the stovetop instructions:

Put brown rice and water together in a pot with a lid. Use the ratio of 1.5-2.0 cups water to 1 cup rice, just depends on how fluffy vs. chewy you like it. I generally use closer to 2.0 cups.

Set the heat to maximum, and bring the rice/water to a boil uncovered. Then put the lid on the pot, and reduce the heat to low/simmer. If your lid has a steam valve, keep it closed. Let the rice simmer for 20 minutes.

Turn off the heat, and let the rice sit in the covered pot for another 10 minutes. It’s okay if you let the rice sit longer than 10 minutes (20 or 30 minutes is fine too), but don’t let it go any less.

Broccoli Garlic Pasta

2009-02-02T22:05:00.005-07:00

Yeah, I know my titles are original!

This is another really easy one. It is one of my favorites, and came from my mom's friend that is Italian. I get my whole wheat spaghetti at Costco. This has tons of garlic in it, and I think that is why I like it so much.

1.5 lbs broccoli florets
1 pkg Whole Wheat Spaghetti
1 head of garlic
2T olive oil
Salt to taste

Steam the broccoli in 3 cups water until bright green. Remove the broccoli from the cooking water and set aside. Keep the bright green cooking water in the pot and add water as needed to cook spaghetti. Cook spaghetti until tender (mine is 11 minutes)
While spaghetti is cooking, dice garlic and add to 2T olive oil. Saute. Add garlic to broccoli and toss. Then as the spaghetti is done, toss broccoli mixture with spaghetti.

Easy Taco Salad

2009-02-02T21:56:00.005-07:00

This is a vegetarian taco salad that is very fast. I like to do it buffet style so each of my kids can add what they like. It is super easy. I usually have some cooked rice on hand since we use the rice cooker a lot.

Basically, it is:
One can of kidney beans
2 cups cooked brown rice
1 can sliced black olives
grated cheese
cilantro
tomatoes
lettuce
avocados
shredded romaine lettuce

the dressing is just ranch with a bunch of cilantro, lime, and garlic blended in.

White Chicken Chili

2009-02-02T21:22:00.007-07:00

This recipe is from my friend Melodee. I love this soup, and the whole family does too, which is always a good thing. You can easily make this vegan by omitting the chicken and using a vegetable base.

Here it is:

4 skinless chicken breasts (I just toss in the frozen ones)
1 large onion diced
4 cloves garlic finely chopped
4 cups chicken broth (I usually add more as needed)
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp red pepper sauce
3 cups great northern beans OR two cans
1 can or 1 3/4 cups white corn
3 T lime juice
4 T chopped fresh cilantro

Mix onion, garlic, broth, cumin, oregano, salt and pepper sauce in pot. Add chicken. Cook on medium for 30 minutes or until chicken is done. Remove chicken and dice then add it back into soup. Stir in beans, corn, lime juice and cilantro. Cover and cook on low for 15 minutes or until corn and beans are hot.

Cranberry Lime Salsa

2009-02-02T21:21:00.001-07:00

I loved this recipe! My cousin Joy made this for one of our recent family parties, and it was so tangy and delicious. She is an amazing cook and published a cookbook recently called Bliss. She was even featured on Good Things Utah a couple of times.

Anyway, this is a raw salsa, is very tangy, and is something totally different than the normal salsa. She served it over a brick of cream cheese, which of course is delicious, but it is great plain as well.

Isn't it beautiful? I love the colors.

Here is the recipe:

1 bag cranberries
1 handful cilantro
1 or 2 serrano or jalepeno peppers
1/2 red onion
1 clove garlic
1 T grated lime peel
1/2 t salt
1/2 cup agave nectar (she uses sugar, I use agave because it has a lower glycemic index and doesn't spike your blood sugar levels)
2 T lime juice

Wash and remove the seeds of the peppers. In a food processor finely chop the cranberries, cilantro, peppers and red onion.

Stir in agave and lime juice, then cover and refrigerate for four hours or more to allow the flavors to mix.

Tomatillo Soup

2008-12-14T19:54:00.007-07:00

Do not be intimidated by the use of the mysterious tomatillo! They are easily found in your grocery store, and you just have to remove the outer husk, then they look and work just like a little green tomato. This is an excellent soup. I don't think I would have tried to make this had I not tasted it first. Even then, I thought it looked too hard. But it was sooo easy. It was served at a church function, and my friend Kiki encouraged me to make it at home. Thanks Kiki! This is one of our favorite recipes. it has very few calories (though I didn't measure out exactly how many cups it makes) and is based on lots of greens.

2 QT chicken stock
6-8 tomatillos with husks removed and rinsed
2 bunches of cilantro
1 jalepeno REMOVE SEEDS FIRST unless you like it HOT
1 whole med-large yellow onion
½ head garlic
Juice of lime
2 4oz cans diced green chiles
3 chicken breasts cooked and shredded
1 can corn
2 15 oz cans black beans
1 green bell pepper diced
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper

Warm up stock on stove in med-large pot, add fresh or frozen chicken breasts to stock. Rinse all veggies. Put tomatillos (roughly sliced and raw), cilantro, and jalepeno (WITHOUT SEEDS) in blender. Blend well.

Add 1 can of diced green chiles. Add garlic and onion to blender mix. Blend well for a few minutes. Add lime juice and make sure it is well blended. Add to chicken and stock in pot. Bring to boil. Add diced green pepper, other can of diced chiles, corn, beans, and chicken. Add seasonings (cumin, salt, and pepper). Let simmer stirring occasionally for 30 minutes. Remove Chicken breasts, shred with a fork, and add back into soup mixture.

Optional: serve with corn tortillas cut into strips, sour cream and diced avocado. Add more limejuice if you desire.

Whole Wheat Veggie Chicken Sausage Pizza

2008-12-14T19:16:00.008-07:00

I saw this pizza on the cover of Clean Eating and had to try it. It is delicious! They had no crust recipe, and instead basically just said to buy the frozen crust from Trader Joes. Well, I have no Trader Joes within about 400 miles. So we found a recipe online and followed that.

It turned out sooo good. I loved the toppings. Pizza is my favorite food by a long shot, but it makes me feel sick and puffy after I eat it. I wake up all swollen and it just isn't worth it most of the time. This one doesn't do that.

I think the key is that it has a healthier crust, and isn't so salty. The crust makes it very filling. One or two slices will fill you up, where many other kinds, I can really eat about four slices. I ground up my own flour in my Blendtec, but you can just use whole wheat flour if you don't have a grinder or wheat.

Here is what is in the crust:

1 T honey or sugar (any simple sugar that will feed the yeast will do)
1.5 C warm water (110 degrees F)
1 T active dry yeast
1 T Olive oil
3.5 C Whole Wheat flour

Toppings we used:

Fresh mushrooms
1 small can sliced black olives
1 Amy's Apple Gouda Chicken Sausage (refrigerated deli foods from Costco)
Sliced red onion
Bell Peppers
1.3 cups Mozzarella Cheese/pizza
3/4 C Marinara Sauce

In a large bowl, dissolve honey or sugar in warm water. Sprinkle yeast over the top and let stand for about 10 minutes until foamy.

Stir the olive oil and salt into yeast mixture, then mix in the whole wheat flour until dough starts to come together. Tip dough out onto a surface floured with the remaining flour, and knead until all flour has been absorbed and the ball of dough becomes smooth, about 10 minutes. Place dough in oiled bowl, then turn to coat surface. Cover loosely with a towel, and let stand in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

When the dough is doubled, tip the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and divide into 2 pieces for a thin crust, or leave whole to make one thick crust. Form into a tight ball. Let rise for about 45 minutes until doubled.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Roll a ball of dough with a rolling pin until it will not stretch any further. place on a well oiled pizza pan or seasoned baking stone with a bit of cornmeal. Top pizza with your favorite toppings.

Bake for 16-20 minutes depending on thickness. When the crust is crisp and golden at the edges and cheese is melted on top, remove from the oven.

My pizzas were 12" in diameter, and sliced into 8 pieces were about 170 calories per slice.

My Butterbell bit the dust

2008-12-14T16:39:00.005-07:00

This is really one of my favorite little gadgets ever. I love real butter. I don't like margarine. But I hate how the real butter gets so hard in the refrigerator, and so icky and messy when it stays out.

So the Butterbell solved those little problems. You pack a cube of butter into the bell shaped lid, and add a bit of water to the crock to create a seal to keep your butter fresh and cool, but not cold. It stays fresh--they say up to thirty days--and it is so easy to spread.

Sadly, Simone knocked

it off the counter last week and mine shattered. But if you are still looking for Christmas ideas, this is a great little item. I bought

ours for $20 at the local health food store. But I haven't seen them anywhere else. You can buy them online here.

No Sugar Lion House Wassail Recipe

2008-10-26T09:36:00.007-06:00

I love wassail during the holidays! This one is very good, and has no sugar. The original Lion House recipe calls for 2 1/4 C sugar. I changed this to 1 cup agave nectar which made it plenty sweet and cut out about 775 calories to the batch. Another idea is to use Stevia. Stevia has no calories and is derived from the sweet Stevia leaf. It works well in drinks, but has an aftertaste. I prefer the taste of the agave nectar.

In a small pot combine:

1 cup water
1 slice fresh ginger root
2 cinnamon sticks
8 whole allspice berries
1 T cloves
1 slice fresh ginger root (I just used two drops ginger oil)

Or if you have mulling spices, use 3 T of those instead of cinnamon, allspice and cloves.

Boil spices in 1 cup water for 5 minutes. Remove from heat, cover and let stand in a warm place for 1 hour.

In a large pot combine:

1 cup agave nectar
3 cups water
2 cups lemon juice (I used the juice of four lemons which was only about a cup)
4 cups Orange juice
8 cups apple juice

Strain spice liquid into the larger pot.

**Tip: I just poured the water and spices into the blender and blended them up. Then added this through a cheesecloth into the large pot of juices. It was very tasty! not too spicy or grainy.

Bring to a boil. Remove from heat and serve.

Makes 36 half cup servings. Each serving has 64 calories.

Healthy Treat Ideas

2008-09-11T14:55:00.003-06:00

We all need something that we can indulge in. Treats make our lives more fun and interesting. But we don’t want to compromise our health on a regular basis either. It is great when we can eat treats that are also giving our body good nutrition.

So here are some of my favorites that also offer nutritional benefits:

Frozen fruit:

So simple and easy! Miles has just been enjoying some frozen pineapple. He says it must be made out of ice cream. LOL. I have to admit that I had to recheck the package because it tasted like it was laced in sugar. It was sooo yummy.

Another new one that I've been enjoying this year is frozen dark red cherries. We keep the frozen strawberries, triple berries, and blueberries from Costco on hand as well.

I had a friend whose kids called frozen fruit "little popsicles." I thought that was so cute. And it inspired me. I started giving my kids bowls of frozen blueberries for a snack instead of otter pops and other stuff I'd succumbed to. They loved it. It was Miles and Simone's favorite when they were babies.

Smoothies:

Smoothies deserves its own post! There are so many good ones. It is a good way to get something sweet.

Chocolate:

We love chocolate around here. In fact it was one of Miles's first words. Jared has a friend that used to bring us some Xocai chocolate all the time. It is kinda pricey, but we've done trades and been able to get it for a bargain. Dagoba is also a good one. I love to break off a thin piece and dip it peanut butter.

Chocolate has lots of antioxidants, and is actually pretty good for you. It is the waxes, sugar and fillers that isn't good for you.

Healthy Hot Cocoa:

I don't have the recipe down really well for this one yet. But it is non-dairy and is really creamy and yummy!

Protein Shakes:

I've said before I love my Jay Robb's Protein. With only four ingredients, it is a good one. Jared has another brand that seriously tastes like a milkshake. It has far more ingredients that I don't know what they are--which is something I try to stay away from, but man is it good! This is it:

Nuts:

Okay, cooked nuts are not really good for you. But my sister Angela made the tastiest salad that had nuts glazed in maple syrup. It was so good. I had some handfuls of those nuts and really enjoyed it!

Apples dipped in Peanut Butter:

This is one of my favorite snacks. I love Adam's peanut butter. You can get it at the regular grocery store. I like the crunchy. The oil separates, so it has to be mixed when you buy it. I dump it all out into a mixing bowl, and mix it with the blender, then put it back in the jar. I've tried lots of peanut butter, even the ones you don't have to mix, and my favorite is still Adam's.

Popcorn with butter and spices:

I like popcorn, and with a bit of butter and salt, it is really good. Growing up, a good friend had fun movie nights with her family where they'd make popcorn on the stove (glad I can do it in the microwave now!) and have orange julius drinks. I loved it. We make orange julius's in the blender. We just put in OJ concentrate, add a ton of ice and less water, and put vanilla to taste. My blender really blends it all smooth. You can add pure cranberry juice for some extra tang.

Coconut Dates:

I went to a raw food class once and it was fun to see the treats they made. One was a date stuffed with an almond and rolled in cocoa powder and unsweetened coconut flakes. It was really good.

Coconut Macaroons:

This is another raw food treat. Take 1 cup of fine coconut flakes, mix in a couple teaspoons of cocoa powder, a few drops of vanilla and mix with 3 T agave nectar. Mix well. Form balls and let dry.

Cranberry Orange Cheesecake Pears

2008-09-04T21:10:00.006-06:00

I was making a list of all my favorite healthy treats and realized that I had no replacement for cheesecake. I really love a little slice of cheesecake.

The same day, I was checking out the magazine aisle and saw the newest copy of my favorite food magazine Clean Eating. And right there on the cover it had this recipe. It is mostly healthy ingredients--low fat cream cheese is really the only one that would qualify as bad for you on my list, but for a treat, I'll take it. The cinnamon and cranberry makes your house smell sooo good and is fun to do with the kids. Miles said "Thanks mommy, this is the best cake ever." I had to agree, it is delicious and would be a beautiful Thanksgiving pie replacement.

So here it is, in all its 208 calorie per serving glory:

Serves 10
Ingredients:

Pears:

10 bosc pears (really only five total pears, then you half them and have 10 halves. Bosc pears are brown and have longer necks than the others)
2 cinnamon sticks
2 cups 100% cranberry juice
2 cups orange juice
1 vanilla bean split lengthwise (I omitted this since I don't have any, but I am sure it makes it extra delicious)

Cheesecake Stuffing:

1 cup light cream cheese
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp dried ground ginger
1/8 tsp almond extract
1/3 c dried unsweetened cranberries
1/3 c unsalted, sliced almonds toasted

Instructions:

1. slice pears in half and peel. Trim bottoms so that they lay flat. Using a small spoon or melon baller, scoop out and discard cores. Place pears in a very large, wide, heavy bottomed saucepan. (I just used my big covered skillet). Add cinnamon sticks and juices. Scrape out seeds from vanilla bean and stir in; add scraped bean husks too.

2. Bring to a boil then reduce heat. Cover and simmer, occasionally turning pears over (I didn't do this and they were fine) to carefully ensure even cooking until almost tender but still a little firm, about 20-25 minutes.

3. In a bowl, stir cream cheese with vanilla extract, ginger and almond extract until mixed. If the mixture is too thick, asdd a few spoonfuls of hot pear cooking liquid. Stir in cranberries and almonds.

4. Carefully spoon pears onto a large platter. Cover and refrigerate to cool completely. Boil remaining pear liquid in pan, stirring often, until it reduces to 1/2 cup. The sauce will foam and bubble toward the end of the cooking, so be sure to stir often. Remove from heat and discard cinnamon sticks and vanilla husks.

5. To serve, fill pears with cream cheese mixture. Place on plates and spoon sauce over top.

Calories: 208
Total Fat: 6 g
Carbs: 38 g
Fiber: 5 g
Protein: 4 g

Healthy Strawberry Smoothie Popsicles

2008-08-20T19:47:00.006-06:00

Last night we had some strawberries to use up, so I made a smoothie. The kids loved it! So I ended up making two batches, and another today. I made a variation for Simone.

Here is the recipe:

2 cups Strawberries
1 cup Plain yogurt
1 T vanilla
3 T agave nectar
2 T orange juice concentrate
1 tray ice (unecessary if you use frozen strawberries)
Just enough water to blend

You can use stevia to sweeten this instead of agave if you don't want the extra calories.

And in Simone's I added 1/3 cup cashews to make it thicker and creamier (trying to fatten up my skinny girl!). My Blendtec blends it perfectly smooth, but if you don't have a powerful blender, I would omit them.

We poured some of the smoothie into our popsicle molds. The kids loved having popsicles for breakfast this morning and after school.

Here is my happy girl with her popsicle. The push up was too difficult for her little hands, so we used our other molds.

Healthy Sack Lunch Ideas!

2008-08-19T13:34:00.013-06:00

With my kids starting school tomorrow, I thought it would be great to get some ideas saved for future reference here. This year, Elise has informed me that she doesn’t want to eat sugar for the whole school year in exchange for money to buy clothes. (Score! I have to buy them clothes anyway, so this is somewhat of a freebie for me!) So all of these ideas will be sugar-free.

I have a little cooler that I bring with me in the car when my kids have gymnastics. I pack it with fruit, cheese, crackers, nuts, etc and take the kids that are waiting with me to the park for a picnic so we don’t have to do a fast food run.

Gear:

First things first, having the right storage is a big help. Last year, my friends were talking about food jars. Something I’d never heard of. I was so happy to fork out the $12 or whatever it cost (I remember it being somewhat pricey at Target by the coolers and thermos stuff). It has totally saved me from fixing sandwiches every single day. And with the Great Harvest bread that we like at $5 a loaf, I've definitely saved money with this little investment.

This is what the food jar looks like:

I pop in some leftovers in the microwave when I am fixing her lunch, then stick it in the food jar. At lunchtime, it is still nice and hot. I use the food jar for soup (which my kids absolutely love), and for cold items like frozen berries and yogurt.

The other items I love are the 1/3 cup sized gladware containers. Often they have them in the checkout aisle at Wal-mart on the side by the hand sanitizers, Kleenex and Carmex. It is just the perfect size for applesauce, cottage cheese, yogurt, salad dressing, dips, peanut butter for dipping apples, hummus, oil and vinegar, strawberries, kiwi, grapes, blueberries etc. I love that they don’t leak! Elise loves oil and vinegar to dip her bread into. So I can just pour a bit into these, and it fits great.

I also bought some partitioned containers for making our own lunchables. They look like this:

I use them with wasa crackers. My kids will eat those, some people think they taste like cardboard. I am a big fan though! I love them. And they are very low calorie and whole grain.

I use the shallow sandwich sized containers for salads. Elise just started liking salad. She loves Ceasar salad, so we’ll be making those a lot I think.

Here is Jared's lunchbox from Costco. The girls like their cute ones best, but this one is highly functional, and Elise will just have to use it until hers comes:

Some ideas of things to pack--Leftovers are definitely the quickest thing to pop into the food jar:

• Soups
• Enchiladas
• Pasta
• Chicken Ceasar salad (dressing separate so it doesn’t get wilted)
• Chili
• Rice, corn and Beans bowl—salsa, avocado, cheese
• Sweet Potatoes

Other main events:

• Turkey sandwich with cheese avocado and tomato
• Peanut butter and honey sandwich
• Chicken tacos—I put cabbage in my tacos to keep them more crunchy, and include a lime wedge and some pico de gallo or salsa.
• Turkey Wrap, cheese, salsa, avocado and wrap tightly!
• Homemade lunchables (with good meat and crackers in sectioned container)
• Pita pocket sandwich

We also have some school lunch staples for when we are crunched for time. These include things that can just be tossed into the bag and I buy them all from Costco:

• Applesauce cups--make sure they don't have corn syrup and sugar
• String Cheese
• Fruit Leathers--we like the 100% fruit Stretch Island brand
• Dried apples and other fruits
• 100% juice Capri suns—we freeze these and use them when we want to keep something cold
• Mini waters from Costco—half the size of the tall ones, great frozen also since they thaw by lunchtime
• Baby carrots individually wrapped
• Laughing cow cheese wedges

Fruits my kids love at school: (can dip with yogurt or peanut butter)

• Frozen berries with plain yogurt and agave nectar
• Kiwi
• Mango
• peaches
• Strawberries
• Grapes
• Oranges
• Apple slices (love to dip in Adam’s peanut butter)
• Fresh pineapple
• Thread on a caramel apple stick for fun

Veggies: (can dip with hummus or ranch)

• Cucumbers
• Carrots
• Celery
• Bell Peppers (Monet’s favorite!)
• Edamame (come in small individual packages from Costco in the frozen section)

Just a little tip about the hummus, I don't eat THAT much hummus. So I buy the one from Costco, put it in the smaller 1/3 cup sized containers and freeze it. Then I have just enough for when I am craving it, but don't waste the rest. We do the same thing with the Pesto from Costco.

Other Stuff:

• Popcorn using the microwave in a brown bag method and adding a little salt and butter
• Trailmix—I make my own mix from the bulk bins--shredded unsweetened coconut, raisins, dates, sunflower seeds, almonds, cashews
• Dark chocolate square to dip in peanut butter
• Hard cooked egg with salt
• Baked tortilla chips with cottage cheese—these baked chips are hard to find these days. It looks like Tostitos doesn’t carry theirs anymore, but you can always throw some corn tortillas into the oven and bake them for a few minutes to make your own.
• Pickles and “banana peppers” those little sandwich peppers, my kids love them!
• Box of Raisins

Fun Stuff:

• Notes for kids with a riddle or a joke—great tip from restaurants. Make it fun! My girls LOVE telling jokes right now. Especially Monet.
• Stickers, Mad Libs, Crossword Puzzles, Word Finds, and Mazes

Book Review: The Antioxidant Miracle

2008-07-09T22:54:00.005-06:00

The Antioxidant Miracle
by Lester Packer, PH.D.

I found this book on my husbands bookshelf and thought I'd read it while waiting for my girls at their gymnastics lessons.

I loved it! It was great for me to understand WHY we are told to eat all the "colors of the rainbow." It explained the many different kinds of antioxidants and how they work together to protect our body from harmful free radicals. Reading this book made me want to eat better. I really find that reading about health and nutrition is such a great motivator for me.

The author is the expert in antioxidant research, and cites lots of interesting studies.

New Recipes Coming Soon!

2008-05-09T16:14:00.003-06:00

Wow, the time got away from me. I've been taking pictures and trying out new recipes--and not sharing them. So here are some of the ones that I'll be posting this weekend:

Cheddar Broccoli Soup (healthy version made with carrots and a little cheese--my kids love it)
Tomatillo Soup (one of my favorites from our ward cookbook)
Green Chicken Enchiladas
Dairy Free Chocolate Coconut Smoothies (with real young coconuts and cacao nibs)
Mom's Avocado Salad
Hawaiian Haystacks
Ashlee's yummy oatmeal
Bekah's breakfast omlette with microgreens
Loaded Pizza on whole wheat crust

Fruit Baby Carriage

2008-05-09T16:07:00.007-06:00

We had a baby shower at my house and I'd mentioned that I wanted to do something fun and festive with fruit. Turns out my friend had a picture of a cute shower idea.

So this is how it turned out! It was fun--my kids thought it was so cool. Kinda like pumpkin carving but with a watermelon.

I have some good friends that are awesome at decorating cakes. But I can't have that much sugar around or I will eat nonstop. So--fruit carving is a great alternative! Fills that need for creativity.

I love those fruit flowers on skewers too. I'd love to do those for Easter, Mother's Day or the Fourth of July.

I love my Blendtec Blender!

2008-05-09T15:52:00.004-06:00

So, I am in love with my blender. I was trying out a new recipe yesterday for a whole wheat pizza crust. I want to find a good one, and let's face it, a lot of whole wheat pizza crusts taste horrible.

So, I found a recipe that uses soft white wheat and hard white wheat. I have both of those! In my food storage, and they are in giant 45 lb buckets that have never been opened. So I actually opened one up, put a couple of cups in my BLENDER and made flour! It was so cool. I was so excited. Then, my recipe called for cornmeal. But I don't have cornmeal I thought to myself. Then I remembered that I do have a huge thing of popcorn. So I put the popcorn kernals in the blender, and voila! Cornmeal.

I own a Blendtec. I have absolutely loved it. My mom bought a Vitamix and a Blendtec at Costco after Simone was born as a "baby gift." She likes to give me "baby gifts" that will encourage healthy eating. We'd burned through about five of the Costco Oster blenders in the last two years with all of our smoothies. But I could never bring myself to spend $400 on a blender. So she bought it for me. I have absolutely loved it. I tried the Vitamix first, but didn't love how the lid was hard to put on. My mom preferred it over the Blendtec, and I preferred the Blendtec. I loved how it fit under the counter.

I can make nutmilks--no grit at all. Soups, sauces, smoothies, grinds grains, etc. I put whole flaxseeds in my smoothies instead of the ground flax meal, and it grinds it up really nicely. I rarely use flour in my cooking, so it is hard for me to buy whole wheat flour. It just gets old and rancid too quickly. So this is a great little solution.

I didn't know what I was missing before.

The pizza dough turned out pretty good, not incredible. I love chewy crusts--so I've yet to figure that one out. Any suggestions?

Fun with Fruit--Fresh Fruit Cake

2008-04-08T14:24:00.006-06:00

This is great for those who have to limit sugar. I made one of these for one of Elise's birthday parties and honestly it was the first time the kids have actually eaten the cake. Maybe that says something about my baking skills!

So this isn't very pretty, I threw it together in just a few minutes and didn't cut my pineapple logs very squarely. But it was yummy and Miles enjoyed it! You could do tons of cool artsy flowers out of fruit.

I cut the pineapple in giant slices around the core. It would be neat if I had a pineapple corer and could do scallops, but I don't.

Anyway, then I used the giant pineapple slabs and cut those into about three to four inch logs. Stacked them like bricks, and inserted toothpicks vertically and pressed them down until they pierced the bottom layer and stuck out enough to hold the top too. Then I just filled the ring with strawberries and blackberries.

Miles was very excited and thought it was his fourth birthday. "Oh, my BIRTHDAY cake, we need fire!" So I put in some candles with the bottoms that have a pick on them, and he had fun eating the "cake" and blowing out candles.

Microwave Popcorn

2008-04-08T14:12:00.006-06:00

My kids really love popcorn, especially with movies. The popcorn is especially yummy with orange julius drinks.

Here is a very easy way to make popcorn. It is inexpensive, and doesn't have all the junk in it that regular microwaved popcorn has.

You take a paper lunch sack, put 1/4 cup popcorn kernals in it, fold it over a couple of times and pop for 1:45 seconds. I just hit the popcorn button on the microwave and take it out 15 seconds early--but the time may vary depending on your microwave.

We melt 2 T butter and put sea salt on it too. It is yummy!

The orange julius drinks are easy too, just orange juice concentrate with 1 part concentrate, 2 parts water, 1 part ice. Vanilla to taste--depends on how much you are making obviously and our blender is high capacity. We sometimes add agave nectar, but it doesn't really need it.

Beans 101

2008-04-03T10:32:00.009-06:00

Beans are full of protein, fiber and antioxidants. And they are cheap! You can make 12 cups of heatlhy filling food for about $1--even cheaper when you buy in bulk. No wonder people around the world are eating legumes as a staple of their diet. So if you are trying to eat healthy, and not blow your budget, legumes are a really great resource.

I love black beans. I learned to appreciate them on my Mexican Adventures. So when I went away to college, and was donating plasma to buy groceries, I bought some, and tried cooking them. I soaked the beans all night. Then I cooked them all day. It was a pain. I don't like things that take all day to cook. Mostly because I don't think that far ahead when deciding what to have for dinner.

So I learned a quick way to cook black beans. It takes 1 hr 45 minutes from start to finish. Not bad. I make a big batch of black beans, and I freeze a bunch. Cheaper than the canned beans, and they are not slimy. Plus they have the yummy spices.

Generally, I don't measure anything when I cook beans. I just throw a bunch of beans in a bunch of water and I bring it all to a boil. But, I know that it drives some people crazy not to have exact measurements. So I measured yesterday.

1--4 cups of black beans, add water to cover the beans by about 4 inches (I like to have LOTS of water when I am cooking beans, because nothing stinks as bad as burned beans, except maybe burned broccoli.)

2--Bring to a boil, then boil for 15 minutes

3--Drain the water and rinse the beans. I do this because a friend told me it helps reduce gas. :)
Just an FYI, your body produces an enzyme to digest fiber, and when you start eating a lot more fiber, your body needs a little time to start producing that enzyme. So the result is gas. But it shouldn't take long for your body to adjust the enzyme production.

4--Add lots more water--I probably cover the beans by about 8 inches of water. Bring to a boil again. Reduce heat to medium. Simmer until beans are splitting, or as soft as you'd like. It took about an hour and 15 minutes for mine.

5--Drain the water--I leave some of the water. I drain to below the beanline though. If you want a bean soup, just drain less water out. Take one or two cups of beans out, blend it up in the blender, then put it back in the beans for a creamy texture.

6--Add:
1 T salt
2 T cumin
1 T ground chili powder

7--Then I mix it all up again, let it stand for about an hour until cool. Then I divide it into containers for freezing and eating.

4 cups dry beans makes about 12 cups cooked beans. 1 cup cooked beans contains 227 calories, 15 g fiber, 15 g protein, 1 g fat.

My kids LOVE beans. It is an especially easy finger food for young babies. We call Simone "beaner" cause she goes crazy when she sees them, and it is pretty cute to see her covered in them. Black beans are nice and soft and small enough not to be a choking hazard.

There are lots of different types of beans. Here are a few that I have experience withand keep on hand:

Adzuki beans are very small red beans, and they have a great antioxidant content. Adzuki beans are used a lot in Asia. If you've had bean dessert, it was probably made with Adzuki beans. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azuki_bean
Black beans are also high in antioxidants. These are used a lot in Latin American Cuisine.
Kidney beans are a great finger food. My sister opens a can of them, rinses the beans of the slime, then puts them in a baggy and her dairy allergic son eats them as a snack. They are great on salads!
Mung beans are small green beans that are easy to sprout. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mung_bean
Pinto beans are common in mexican food and are what refried beans are generally made of. They are also used to make baked beans.
Great Northern beans are white beans and are delicious in soups and can be ground into flour to use as a thickener. I have a delicious cream of broccoli soup recipe with ground great northern beans.

Beans are also great for food storage. They last a long time. Costco has big bags of Pinto beans for about $12. 330 servings in those bags comes out to about 3.5 cents per cup. That is as cheap as it gets!

I love to put about a cup of beans in a bowl and add cheese, lettuce, tomato, avocado, cilantro, onion and lime. Hmm. Very quick and tasty. You can put them in burritos. Blend it into a dip or spread. Add beans to your quesadillas for more nutrition and fewer calories.

Greek Salad (Pasta Optional)

2008-04-01T15:35:00.003-06:00

I love this salad! It is one of my favorites. Very light, fresh and lots of flavor. I use this Athenos dressing, but there are lots of other great homemade greek dressing recipes that are wonderful with lemon juice, olive oil, and herbs.

The ingredients are:

2 chicken breasts grilled with lemon pepper and sliced
4 cups spinach
2 English cucumbers (no peeling necessary)
3 tomatoes
a few slices of onions
roughly 1/2 cup Kalamata olives, 28 to be exact! (also from Costco)
roughly 1 cup artichoke hearts, or 12 (the marinated ones from Costco)
1/3 cup Athenos Greek Dressing with Feta cheese (Wal-mart)
Pasta optional--not included in servings, calorie and nutrition info.

If you need a good pasta salad, you can add pasta to it. I put the pasta in for my kids, but I like it better without. I do not recommend the brand that is pictured--Hodgson Mill--I think it tastes terrible. But there are other great whole wheat pastas out there. Wal Mart has one that is better than this stuff and it is really cheap. Its called Heartland.

First, we grilled the chicken on our little indoor grill then sliced it. We chopped the onions, tomatoes and cucumbers in a bowl, put everything else in a bowl and mixed it up. It was very quick and easy. I cooked the pasta separately and added it to the kids servings.

Without the pasta, this makes six large servings.

Each serving contains:
208 calories
12 g fat
11.5 g protein
4.2 g fiber

Chicken Vegetable Curry

2008-04-01T14:45:00.004-06:00

I loved this recipe. I crave curry, and have never figured out all the spices and ingredients to make it. A few weeks ago we went to dinner at my friend Ashley's house and she made a curry with just a simmer sauce. I was at Wild Oats and saw this one, and thought I'd give it a try. It was really tasty. It wasn't tooy spicy or hot either, so my kids could eat it. Surprisingly, they liked it pretty well. Although Elise or Jared don't eat the bell peppers, they can pick them out. The sauce has a hint of coconut, which I love.

Here are the ingredients:

2 Boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite sized chunks and sauteed.

1.5 jars of Seeds of Change Simmer Sauce that I buy from Wild Oats (Good Earth will order it in if you request it--I just went to Wild Oats and stocked up).

You can use all kinds of different vegetables: carrots, summer squash, celery, etc. I used what we had on hand: broccoli, sweet peppers (these are just the mini peppers that taste like bell peppers from Costco--they are not hot), onion (only about 1/3 of the onion), sugar snap peas. I ended up doubling the broccoli and peas from what is pictured, because they shrink so much.

I cooked the chicken first, added sauce, then added all the veggies totally raw.

I normally like my broccoli just bright green, still slightly crisp--but I added some water to the sauce to help the veggies steam and needed to let it thicken up. So if you add any water to the sauce, don't add more than a couple tablespoons. It is thin enough without it. This sauce is excellent, and the ingredients are really good.

It was a very fast meal, probably only took 20 minutes. You can also omit the chicken and serve it over brown rice.

The recipe as listed makes four large servings. This was enough for my family of six, but my kids eat smaller portions. The picture above is of the recipe doubled. I like to have leftovers.

Each servings contains:
205 Calories
6 g fat
15 g protein
3.5 g fiber

My Philosophy on Family Nutrition

2008-03-26T17:08:00.002-06:00

Last year, we ate out a lot. I was on the go all the time, and we'd often skip meals, then stop at fast food when we were ravenously hungry and wanting something immediately. It was a stressful thing for me. I know better than to feed my kids and myself that way. But things were hectic and healthy eating wasn't a priority. At 8 months postpartum, I weighed more than I did at 6 weeks postpartum. I knew that it was the way I was eating.

Changing my habits wasn't easy. It took some time. I was frustrated because before getting pregnant, we'd been eating better than we ever had and I felt great. I think Jared managed to go about six months of the year with only having sugar once or twice. He was eating so well, and it was really helping me to share in his enthusiasm and rock solid willpower. During my pregnancy, I was busy with finishing up my degree, and my focus was not on health. But I thought as soon as the baby came, I'd get back into it easily. It didn't happen that way. I got discouraged when I'd fail (eat fast food and other junk) then I'd have these feelings of not being able to do it. I wasn't strong enough.

The first step in getting back to where I want to be (still not there yet, but closer!) was not expecting perfection of myself. If I ate a little bag of chips one day, it didn't mean the whole day was ruined. I learned to give myself a break. I was counting calories, and getting in more exercise, and that helped me to get through the feelings of failure. As I logged my food, I realized I could be doing so much better. I wanted to see more healthy, fresh foods on my food logs. I was seeing progress, and I wanted to get there faster. I wanted to feel healthy like I did before.

Over the last few months, I've had some setbacks, but it has been pretty steady progress toward my goal. I've cut out fast food completely, and don't really crave it anymore. Thank goodness! I try to pack stuff in my little cooler if I am going to be out and running around. I have stuff for the kids. We keep water bottles in the car (not good in summer, but it has been cold here) so we never stop just to get a drink and end up with junk food.

Last week was a big setback! I was pretty emotional one day, and for me, being emotional means I eat. And if there is bad food in the house, I eat it. Because those are the moments when I just don't care about food.

But this week we are back! We purged the house of the Easter candy remnants. And we are ready to eat well again.

All this background info is to help you understand my food philosophy. I feel like feeding our kids healthy food is every bit as important as buckling them into their car seats or monitoring their media.

Over 15% of children from ages 5 to 19 are overweight. The risk of a child becoming obese is one in three. And the risks of being obese as a child and an adult are enormous. Obese individuals have much higher risks of heart disease, cancer and diabetes. All things that are prevalent in my family.

As a mom, I want to do everything possible to try to prevent those tragic diseases from hurting my family. We can't prevent everything, but healthy eating makes a huge difference in our quality of life. I feel a personal responsibility to be a gatekeeper regarding the kinds of foods that enter our home, and the choices that are offered here. I don't want my kids to have to choose between Captain Crunch and oatmeal--I know they don't know enough at this young age to make wise food choices regularly. Heck, I don't know if I would choose oatmeal if Captain Crunch was right there in the pantry. I feel I am also responsible to teach my kids good nutrition through example. To help them to like nutritious food, and to help them see where the good food choices lead, and where the not so good food choices lead.

I was watching the Biggest Loser a few weeks ago and was really validated by one of the major points of that particular episode. Jay and Mark went home to visit their families. The families had all kinds of junk food around which the children were consuming. Both of the dads were visibly upset to see the types of foods that were standard practice around their homes. They had experienced what it was like to be overweight, and how difficult it was to lose it, and they wanted better for their kids. They vowed to change the way their families ate. They saw what would happen to their children in the future if they were not taught good nutrition.

I really liked that episode, because I think it sheds light on how parents can influence their families for the better, and how kids need direction and support just as adults do. I am a firm believer that a healthy diet is important for the whole family, not just the moms, dads, or whomever is trying to lose weight. I believe that feeding the kids junk foods while the parents eat healthy sends the message to kids that eating healthy is all about weight control. They can eat all the hot dogs, mac and cheese or fruit snacks they want, because they are not overweight.

I know that as my kids grown older, they will make their own choices and decide how to feed their families. I hope that my influence will direct them and help them to remain healthy throughout their lives.

My mom was raised in a home where the smell of a cake baking got her out of bed in the morning. My sweet, sweet grandma loved to have treats! My mom really didn't have much healthy food at home. It was hard for her to be a chubby kid, and she decided to change. She learned all she could about healthy eating, and has raised all of her children to have a good appreciation for healthy foods. She'd often praise me for eating a chunk of cabbage as a snack when I was a kid. Growing up, there weren't many tastier options! We had healthy food, or healthy food. If there were something more appealing, I am sure I would have picked that instead. I know that her decision to change has affected generations. My kids are healthier because she changed. I appreciate that, and I hope that I can continue to teach my kids so that we can all have a better life.

Walnut Chicken Salad

2008-03-26T14:20:00.003-06:00

This is another version of a salad I loved from Real Foods Market in Orem. It was so delicious, I tried it out at home. My pictures are too dark this time. Sorry!

My version contains:

2 cups grapes cut in half
4 stalks celery sliced
2 large cups cooked diced chicken (about eight chicken tenders)
3/4 cup of yogurt ranch dressing
1/4 cup walnuts broken into small pieces
1/4 cup chopped green onions

Yogurt Ranch Dressing:
1 1/4 cups yogurt
1/3 cup milk
1 Hidden Valley Ranch dressing packet

You will have about a cup of dressing left over.

Makes 6 1 cup servings. Each serving has 166 calories, 19 g protein, 1.5 grams fiber and 4 grams fat.

I roughly doubled the grapes and chicken from what is pictured. I found that when I put it all together, I wanted more chicken and grapes. I also added walnuts. I love the ranch dressing made with yogurt.

This Straus yogurt is my favorite! It is so creamy, the texture is delicious. I was buying other brands like Dannon, etc and we pretty much never finished the cartons. They were nonfat, which I am sure contributed to me not liking the flavor. But this stuff tastes really great. My kids love it over mixed berries with agave nectar or honey. When I use it in recipes, I feel like I am getting something yummy, not a nonfat diet food.

Also, this is great for pita pockets or sandwiches. I like it plain too. These are the pitas I've been buying from Wal-Mart. They are sold in the Deli section in front of the sandwich meats. They are pretty good, cheap, and the ingredients are not too long:

Fiesta Salad

2008-03-26T14:02:00.004-06:00

This recipe is very simple, filling and low calorie. There are lots of variations too. You could substitute tomatoes for the peppers. Avocadoes would be wonderful too. I actually bought this salad at Real Foods Market the other day and went home to try it on my own because it was so tasty! I love bell peppers, and so do Miles and Monet, but Elise and Jared would have preferred it with tomatoes instead. The picture above is of the recipe doubled.

Here are the ingredients:

1 can of Kidney Beans

1 cup rice

1 cup corn

small amount of green onions

cilantro

2 bell peppers diced

Taco seasoning. I use the kind pictures that Vita Mix sells at Costco when they do their demonstrations. You could use regular taco seasoning.

Juice from 1 lime

This makes 5-6 1 cup servings.

Each serving is 127 calories, 5.5 grams protein, 6 grams of fiber and 0 g fat.

Lettuce-wich

2008-03-13T13:06:00.004-06:00

This is what I've eaten for lunch for the last few days. I love it! It is so tasty, and crisp. And so fast!

It is just organic leaf lettuce (while I don't eat all organic foods, I try to eat organic greens--get your spinach and spring mix at Costco and the others at the health food store, here in Utah it isn't much more than conventional), tomato, onion, turkey, avocado, and Annie's Naturals Honey Mustard. I had a side of steamed broccoli with mine. One of these is about175 calories (estimating high). I usually have a couple of them.

I was standing in line at the deli at Wild Oats and learned a great little trick. The man in front of me ordered some turkey that normally is just sliced off in a chunk I guess. It is real turkey, not the pressed stuff. So it is shaped like the real deal (I should take a picture) and he had it sliced up for sandwiches. It is really good! Just like your thanksgiving turkey --no slimy stuff like most packaged turkey. I put a few apple juice sweetened dried cranberries on it yesterday, and it was really good. Ooh, those are a new favorite too. Good Earth sells the tastiest little TART cranberries. I love tart things!

I haven't converted to buying free range chicken yet, but if I get sandwich meat, it has to be good quality. I love the pastrami spiced turkey at Wild Oats. Even Wal-mart has one that is pretty good. It doesn't have nitrites added. It is the Prima Della peppered turkey breast. Jared is the one who actually read the ingredients, and it has been a couple of years--so you may want to recheck.

Nitrites are really scary! They are known to cause cancer, but are found in most processed meat as a preservative. Here is a link to more info on it: http://www.naturalnews.com/022288.html. Good idea to stay away from hot dogs. But we all knew that anyway, right? :)

Don't leave out the onions if you like them! Onions are so good for you. I had no idea, and even though I like them, I haven't been eating them as much because Jared hates them raw. But onions are great for lowering cholesterol, helping digestion, and are also great for diabetics. They truly are a healing food! Read more about them at www.whfoods.org.

Green Smoothie with Kale and Blueberries

2008-03-13T12:31:00.001-06:00

I thought I'd share a few of my breakfasts too, since there are really only 3 or four that I eat regularly. I made a green smoothie this morning, and it was so good! If you've never thought to put spinach or kale in your fruit smoothie, don't worry, it doesn't taste as bad as it sounds! I don't mind the mild flavor of spinach and it is really camoflauged by the fruit and vanilla flavors, but kale is a little more bitter. So for just starting out, I'd recommend spinach. I usually just pack in as much as I can, but if you aren't too sure about it, start with less and see how you like it.

This is what went in my smoothie this morning:

This is kale (I put about eight leaves, but that makes it pretty potent, try 4 first), 1 Cup frozen blueberries, 1 T flax seeds, 1 Scoop Jay Robb's Vanilla Whey Protein, 1 t Carlsen's Lemon flavored Cod Liver Oil, and 1 t Barlean's Lemonade Flax Oil. I put all this in my Blendtec blender, and it makes about 2 large glasses.

The lemon in the oils gives it a bit of tang that I like with my smoothies.

I like to change up my greens in my smoothies to get the different nutrients. Kale contains sulfur-containing phytonutrients and is in the same family as brussel sprouts and cabbage. I get organic Kale from the health food store. The flaxseeds are great and bring a nutty flavor, there are too many health benefits to list! I really notice a difference in my skin when I am eating flaxseeds and fish oil. Blueberries are known for their antioxidants. These are just frozen ones from Costco. Jay Robb's Whey Protein is the best we've tasted for the calories. I love adding it with the fruit. It is pricey, but good quality. Only five ingredients, sweetened with stevia.

Anyway, this makes 2 servings, at about 200 calories per serving.

Healthy Dinner Ideas

2008-03-12T13:16:00.000-06:00

So my new blog is all about yummy, healthy dinner ideas! This is the place if you are looking for variety and healthy recipes. My goal is to do two per week, so we'll have a hundred by the end of the year. I'll be taking lots of pictures of the cooking process too--I am very visual with food. I need to see what it is supposed to look like.

There are so many different thoughts about what is healthy, but what I am focusing on here is just lots of vegetables, fruits, legumes, whole grains, chicken, fish, and other whole foods. We'll tag recipes for being quick, inexpensive, etc so you'll be able to find what you are looking for quickly. We'll have some great ideas to try at home. Jared and I have eaten some incredibly delicious healthy foods, and want to share those recipes with others who are looking for variety.

I think this will be fun, and it will help me feed my family a little more mindfully.