Fruit Salad

Fruit Salad

Ingredients:

2/3 cup fresh orange juice
1/3 cup lemon juice
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups cubed fresh pineapple
2 cups strawberries, hulled and sliced
2 bananas, sliced
2 oranges, peeled and sectioned
1 cup seedless grapes
2 cups berries

Directions:

Bring orange juice, lemon juice and brown sugar to a boil in a saucepan.  Reduce heat and simmer until slightly thickened, around 5 minutes.  Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.  Let cool.

Layer the fruit in a large bowl (you will want to put the more delicate ones like the berries on top).  Pour the cooled sauce over the fruit.  Cover and refrigerate for 3 to 4 hours before serving.

Sweet and Sour Chicken

Caleb, my teenage food snob, declared this chicken to be 'on point' and a 'flavor explosion in my mouth.'  Either he has watched way too many Guy Fieri cooking shows or this chicken is just that good!!  (Or possibly both could be true, let's go with that!!)


Sweet and Sour Chicken


Ingredients:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1 in. pieces
1 1/2 cup cornstarch
3 eggs, beaten
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup canola oil
1 cup granulated sugar
4 tbsp. ketchup
1/4 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp. low sodium soy sauce (Ahola brand is the best!)
1 tsp. granulated or minced garlic

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Place cornstarch and beaten eggs in separate bowls.  Dip chicken into cornstarch and then dip in beaten eggs.  Meanwhile, make sure the canola oil is heating up in a large pan over medium high heat.  After all the chicken has been covered with the cornstarch and egg fry it in the oil until browned.  Remove chicken from the pan when browned and place in a 9X13 greased pan.  In a bowl whisk together sugar, ketchup, white vinegar, apple cider vinegar, soy sauce and garlic.  Pour over the chicken and bake for one hour.  Yum!!

Carne en su Jugo

Since Colby is serving a mission in Mexico, we have enjoyed embracing the Mexican culture.  Every Monday we have Mexican Food Mondays - it is our favorite day of the week because that is the day we hear from Colby via email and we get to eat delicious food as a bonus!!  In one of Colby's emails we asked what his favorite meal he had so far was, and his answer was Carne en su Jugo.  Thom decided right then he was going to make it and we were SO GLAD he did.  It is delicious.  It is a popular soup in the city of Guadalajara, where Colby was living close to at the time.


Carne en su Jugo


Ingredients:

4 fresh tomatillos, husks removed
3 serrano chile peppers, seeded and chopped
1 clove garlic, peeled
3 cups water
6 slices bacon
2 pounds flank steak, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
4 tsp. chicken bouillon granules
2 (15 oz.) cans pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 onion, chopped
6 tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro
Black pepper to taste
Limes and radishes for garnish

Directions:

Combine the tomatillos, peppers, garlic and water in a saucepan over medium high heat; bring to a boil.  Cover and simmer for 10 minutes.  Remove the pan from the heat and allow to cool.  Transfer the contents to a blender and blend until smooth.  Set aside.

Cook the bacon in a skillet until crispy, about 10 minutes.  Drain on a paper towel lined plate.  Crumble the bacon and set aside.

Heat a large skillet over medium high heat and cook the flank steak until browned.  Pour the tomatillo mixture over the beef and bring to a boil.  Stir the chicken bouillon into the mixture and reduce heat to medium.  Cover and simmer until tender, about 1 hour.

Meanwhile, heat the pinto beans in a saucepan over medium heat until warm; reduce heat to low to keep warm until needed.  Stir the bacon and pinto beans into steak mixture.  Serve with possible garnishes of onion, cilantro, black pepper, lime and radish.  (We also used avocado and cotija cheese).

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Muffins

(Obviously the muffin is the bottom one!  The top one is Chocolate Chip & Coconut Banana Bread Muffins, found here.)
 

I love this recipe for three reasons:  (1) You can use applesauce OR oil (I know you can do this in most recipes but I prefer someone to try it out first!!)  (2) I like recipes that use cocoa powder instead of having to melt baking chocolate (read: laziness) (3) I can use goodness from my garden (zucchini).  Wait, make it four reasons I like it!! (4) It is super delicious.


Chocolate Chip Zucchini Muffins
Recipe adapted from Taste of Home


Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup applesauce or canola oil
3 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup baking cocoa
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. baking powder
2 cups shredded peeled zucchini

In a large bowl, beat the sugar, applesauce, eggs and vanilla until well blended. Combine the flour, cocoa, salt, baking soda, cinnamon and baking powder; gradually beat into sugar mixture until blended. Stir in zucchini. Transfer to muffin tins. (approx. 24) 

Bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from muffin tins to wire racks to cool completely.

Healthy Almond Joy Bites

So thankful to my friend Dionne for giving me the recipe for these yummy treats!!  Sometimes you just REALLY need a chocolate fix and these are perfect for that!  It doesn't hurt that they also have two of my latest obsessions, coconut and almond butter, in the mix either!!

Healthy Almond Joy Bites

Recipe from Dionne

Ingredients:

5 oz. bag unsweetened coconut (I got it from the bulk bin at Winco, I used 1 1/2 cups)

2/3 cup coconut oil, melted (plus 1 tbsp. for chocolate coating later)

1/2 cup almond butter

1 tsp. vanilla

1 cup dark chocolate chips

Directions:

Mix 2/3 cup coconut oil, vanilla, coconut and almond butter in a large bowl.  Place in refrigerator until a little set.  Roll into 1 inch balls and place on cookie sheet with wax paper/parchment.  Place cookie sheet in freezer until balls are frozen.  Meanwhile, melt chocolate chips and 1 tbsp. coconut oil in microwave at 30 second intervals until smooth.  Dip the frozen balls into the chocolate topping.  Put back into freezer for a few minutes until set.  Store in the refrigerator or freezer.

Overnight Oats in a Jar

So confession:  I have never had oatmeal before.  I know - weird.  In my defense, I grew up in sunny Arizona, where eating hot cereal for breakfast could possibly put you on the road to heat exhaustion.   I have seen these oats in a jar thing on pinterest, and they looked yummy and all, but since I didn't know what oatmeal tasted like I was just like, "Meh, I'll pass."

WHAT IN THE WORLD WAS I THINKING???

I have been missing out people.  This was the most delicious, dessert like breakfast I have ever had!!  I.  LOVE.  IT.

This recipe can be completely customized to your personal tastes, so here is the bare bones and you just need to take it and run with it.  Make it your own.  I have seen it made with yogurt, but I don't really care for yogurt, so this one is yogurt free.  If you want to add it, go for it.

Overnight Oats in a Jar

Ingredients:

1/4 cup quick oats
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut milk (or almond,skim, soy)(I used Silk coconut milk, found in the dairy section right by the regular milk)
1/2 tbsp. chia seeds
1/2 cup berries (today I used strawberries and blackberries)(and more like a 1/2 cup of each)
1/2 banana (ok, ok, I used the whole thing, IT WAS SO DELICIOUS!!!) 
sweetener to taste (brown sugar, honey, stevia - whatever you like best)
dollop of almond butter
pinch cinnamon

For the topping:

1 tbsp chopped pecans (or any nut)
Granola for crunch factor

Directions:

Place all the ingredient in a jar; shake, cover and refrigerate overnight. I only had the oats sit overnight, I have to be honest.  I didn't want the fruit all mushy, but I am weird like that.  I know, but remember, I just barely found out oatmeal was good!!  There are so many weird things about me, you don't even know!!  Add your favorite crunchy toppings such as nuts, granola, etc and enjoy the next day.  Other things you could add - vanilla or almond flavoring, puffed rice cereal, coconut, gojis, sunflower seeds, pepitas, dried fruit instead of fresh fruit - whatever you have that sounds good!!!

Flourless Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Flourless Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

recipe adapted from Tasty Kitchen

Ingredients:

⅔ cups rolled oats
1 tsp. baking soda
1 cup peanut butter (I used crunchy, but creamy would be good too)
1/2 cup brown sugar
2  eggs
1-½ tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips


Directions:


Preheat oven to 350ºF.
In small bowl, mix together the oats and baking soda; set aside.
In a large bowl, beat peanut butter, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla with an electric mixer until smooth. Mix in dry ingredients with a wooden spoon, then gently fold in chocolate chips. Using a cookie scoop drop the cookie dough onto prepared cookie sheet.
Bake cookies for 9-11 (I did 11) minutes and remove when edges barely begin to turn a golden brown.  Cool for 2 minutes on the cookie sheet then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining cookie dough.  Makes 16-20 cookies.

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

Kapree and I love hummus, and since it's a 60 Day BMS approved food we've been having a lot of it lately.  I really like the smokiness of this recipe, from the roasted red peppers and the cumin.


Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

Ingredients:

1 jar (12 oz.) roasted red peppers (drained) (don't give me crap because I didn't roast my own!!!)
2 cans (15 oz. each) garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
1/3 cup lemon juice
3 tbsp. tahini
1 tbsp. olive oil
2 garlic cloves, peeled
1 1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground coriander
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. pepper

Directions:

Add all ingredients to blender; cover and process until blended.  Transfer to a serving bowl.  Chill in refrigerator for one hour before serving.  Garnish with additional red peppers or additional garbanzo beans if desired.  Serve with pita bread, pita chips, crackers or tortilla chips.

Green Chile Stew

Thom loves green chile stew, and I have been looking for years for a good recipe for it.  I'm pretty sure I don't need to look anymore, this was fantastic!!!

Green Chile Stew
Recipe adapted from Shockingly Delicious

Ingredients:

2 tbsp. olive oil

2 lbs. boneless pork, cut into 1-inch cubes

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 clove garlic, minced

1/4 cup flour

1 15 oz. can fire roasted chopped tomatoes

2  7-oz. cans chopped green chilies

1 fresh jalapeno chopped

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

1/2 tsp. sugar

1 cup chicken or beef broth

 

Directions:

 

Heat olive oil in dutch oven.  Add pork and cook until browned.  Add onion and garlic and stir with the meat.  Add the flour and stir for 2 minutes.  Add the tomatoes, green chiles, jalapenos, salt, pepper and sugar; mix all ingredients together.  Add the broth.  Lower heat, then cover pot and simmer for 1 or 2 hours, until meat is tender. 

 

Fruit and Seed Bars

These bars are delicious.  I love seeds and coconut so it just couldn't go wrong for me.



Fruit and Seed Bars
Recipe found at With Style & Grace

Ingredients:

1 cup gluten-free rolled oats
1/2 cup pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
2 tablespoons flaxseeds, whole or ground
1 cup dried fruit  (dried blueberry, cranberries, apricots, etc.)
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
pinch of ground cinnamon
1/3 cup agave or honey
1/2 cup sun butter (sunflower seed butter)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease a 9×9-inch baking pan, then line it with parchment, allowing the parchment paper to come up two sides of the pan.  In a food processor, pulse the oats, pepitas, sunflowers seeds, flaxseeds, dried fruit, coconut and cinnamon until finely chopped.  Add the agave (or honey)(I actually used a combination of the two) and sunflower butter and pulse until the mixture is combined.  Pour the mixture into the pan and spread it out evenly.  Bake for 20-25 minutes or until firm to touch.  Let cool completely, then use a serrated knife to cut into the 2-inch bars.  The crumbly bits left over on the bottom of the pan are perfect over fruit or yogurt!!!

Healthier Three Cheese Beef and Ziti

(This is actually a picture of the original recipe, I didn't think to take a picture yesterday when I healthified it!!)

 

 

 

Right now I'm doing the 60 Day Body, Mind and Spirit Challenge (you can find details on it here on April Kennedy's blog).    I love this challenge!!!The challenge includes exercising, clean eating and random acts of kindness every week.  It also has bonus challenges every week, and one of this week's bonus challenges is to make a healthier version of a favorite recipe.  I'm excited about trying this with a lot of our favorite recipes, but today I started with an oldie but a goodie, Three Cheese Beef and Ziti.  It was so easy to healthify it!!  (I made up that word and I don't care if it's not proper English!!)  I swapped out whole wheat pasta for the regular stuff, fat free ricotta for the part skim (I guess low fat cottage cheese could be used also, but YUCK, I hate cottage cheese!!) and ground turkey for the ground beef.  I also put less ricotta, mozzarella and parmesan cheese in one section of the pan where I got my portion from, but I don't even think that was totally necessary.  It tastes exactly the same as the regular version to me, EXACTLY!  This is a super easy meal that the whole family loves and makes A TON. 

 

**  The original recipe can be found here.

Healthier Three Cheese Beef and Ziti
Recipe from some old Reader's Digest Cookbook from about twenty years ago!


Ingredients:

8 oz. ziti, macaroni, or other small whole wheat pasta (any shape will work!!)
1 lb. lean ground turkey
1 medium yellow onion, chopped (of course I don't add this, are you kidding?  I HATE ONIONS!!!)
1 jar spaghetti sauce
10 oz. frozen french style green beans, or whatever kind you like, partially thawed
1 cup fat free ricotta cheese
1 cup shredded low fat mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese


Directions:

Boil the pasta according to package directions.

Meanwhile, saute the turkey and onion(bleh) in a large skillet over moderate heat, stirring frequently to break up any clumps, until the turkey is browned - about 5 minutes. Drain off the excess fat. Stir in the pasta sauce and bring to a simmer. Add the green beans, reduce the heat to low, and simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes.

*** Let me just take a second to confess that I don't ALWAYS add the green beans. I would love for them to be in it, but I get a lot of complaints when I do, and sometimes, I just don't want to deal with that.

Stir in the cooked ziti, then place large spoonfuls of the ricotta on top but not touching. Sprinkle the mozzarella in between. Cover and cook just until the mozzarella melts and the ziti and beans are heated through - about 10 minutes. Sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese.

Pot Roast Pappardelle

I've been looking for a recipe like my beloved dish at one of my favorite places to go on a date, Caffé Molise, and I think I found a good one!  Of course the boys put their noses in the air because, gasp, there are tomatoes in it, but Thom, Kapree and I all loved it.  Thom and I agreed that next time I will double the 'sauce' because there wasn't nearly enough of it's goodness to smother the pasta and meat.  This recipe is a winner!


Pot Roast Pappardelle
Recipe adapted from The Crumbly Cookie


Ingredients:

1 (2½ to 3 pound) boneless chuck roast, tied
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 large yellow onion, finely chopped
2 carrots, peeled and finely chopped
2 celery ribs, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, lightly crushed
1½ teaspoons finely chopped fresh thyme
1 cup dry white wine (I used cooking wine)
1 (14-ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 package papardelle pasta (I got mine at Trader Joe's, I have also found it at Harmons)
freshly grated parmesan cheese, for serving

Directions:

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Season the roast on all sides with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Once the oil is hot, place the roast in the pot and brown it on all sides, turning it every 3 to 4 minutes for even coloring. Transfer the browned roast to a plate. Reduce heat to medium, add onions, carrots, celery, and garlic, and sauté, stirring frequently, for about 10 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender and the onion is golden. Stir in the thyme, wine, tomatoes, and ½ teaspoon salt. Return the meat to the pot, along with any juices that accumulated on the plate. Bring liquid to a simmer, cover, and place the pot in the oven.  Braise the meat, turning it every 45 minutes or so, for about 2½ hours, or until the meat is fork-tender and the sauce has thickened.
When the meat is almost done, bring a large pot of salted water to a rolling boil. Add the pasta and stir to separate the noodles. Cover the pot until the water returns to a boil, then uncover and cook the pasta according to package directions, until al dente. Drain the pasta.  Remove the roast from the pot, and slice or shred it. Serve with the pasta and sauce, topped with the cheese.

Pasta Pomodoro

Yesterday I wanted to make something that embodied these three things:

FAST
EASY
DELICIOUS

Oh yeah, I also wanted it to be something kind of light and summery, nothing too heavy.  Well, this Pasta Pomodoro was just what the Kathee ordered!!  By the time the pasta is boiled the rest of it is done and then you are READY TO EAT!  This meal will be going into heavy summer rotation for sure.

Pasta Pomodoro
recipe found here

Ingredients:

16 ounces angel hair pasta
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 medium onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups Roma tomatoes, diced and seeded
2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
10 3/4 ounces low sodium chicken broth
freshly ground pepper, to taste
2 tbsp. chopped fresh basil
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

Directions:

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. (Be sure to add some salt to the water.) Add pasta and cook for 8 minutes or until al dente; drain.  While the pasta is cooking, pour olive oil in a large deep skillet over high heat. Sauté onions and garlic until lightly browned. Reduce heat to medium-high and add tomatoes, vinegar and chicken broth; simmer for about 8 minutes.  Stir in black pepper, basil and cooked pasta, tossing thoroughly with sauce. Simmer for about 5 more minutes and serve topped with grated cheese.