Italian Spinach Pie

My mom cut this recipe out of a magazine years ago and I distinctly remember taking it to work to photocopy right before I moved out and got married. I've made this dozens of times and it's always delicious! 

I follow the recipe exactly although I buy bagged organic frozen spinach (rather than boxed) and just eyeball the amount I put in. A bag of spinach is usually about 16 ounces and the recipe calls for a 10 ounce box; so I use about 3/4 of the bag. Eyeballing it has always seemed to suffice! I also do not add the jarred  red peppers but I do sprinkle in some dried red pepper flakes. Lastly, while this isn't exactly "healthy" I do throw this mixture into a pie crust. I'm sure it would be fine on it's own but I have to try to keep my husband happy and sometimes a little pie crust is all it takes!

I also add veggies to the dish to give it a little substance (and extra nutrition of course)! Zucchini and mushrooms are a favorite in this dish. I've added artichoke hearts, asparagus and even broccoli before. I add a small amount of hydrated chia seeds in place of one egg. Hydrated chia seeds are a known egg substitute. You know me...sneaking that nutrition in any place I can! 

I should also note that I bake this for much longer than the recipe says to. I usually bake it at 350 for at least an hour, sometimes longer. 

Before

After

And a beautiful salad to go with! 

Whole Wheat Pasta w/ Kale Pesto

Once again, I made the Kale Pesto that I found on a blog I follow. It's really simple and tastes delicious. The recipe doesn't call for any basil but I add some bc you just can't have pesto without basil! 

This is one of my go to-basic-no frills-yet healthy meals I make quite often. It's relatively inexpensive and easy to put together....

• One package (about 15 ounces or so) of whole wheat organic pasta. On this night I happened to have shells in the cupboard. I mix it up between penne, shells, rotini, etc. I prefer a pasta that is easy for my kids to handle (as opposed to spaghetti or linguini). 
• Kale Pesto-or sauce. I LOVE tomato sauce but I don't make it very often bc my husband can't eat it; so we usually have pesto. I like to make my own pesto and I usually add some spinach for extra nutrition. I was thrilled to find the recipe for Kale Pesto! 
• Veggies-I have added all kinds of veggies to this dish when I make it. On this night I only had zucchini,  portabello and crimini mushrooms. I used about 2 small/medium zucchini, one portabello and about half a package of criminis. 
• Pine nuts-love them in italian dishes! 
• Garlic-another one of my favs! 

I made the kale pesto and set it aside. While the water was coming to a boil, I washed and cut the veggies and started on some garlic bread. Once the water was boiling and the pasta was cooking, I heated some olive oil in a skillet. I sautéed the veggies for a few minutes and then added the pine nuts and garlic (about 3 cloves, sliced). I let all of that sauté for a few more minutes, until the pasta was done. I drained the pasta and threw it in the skillet along with the kale pesto. Give it a good mix, throw some on a plate, top it with parmesan and enjoy! 
Simple. Tasty. Healthy!

Chocolate Muffins

Have I already made it clear how much I love Pinterest? The recipes are endless! I tried this recipe for healthy chocolate muffins and boy were they delicious! I followed the recipe exactly. For sweetener I put in about a 1/4 cup of agave nectar. Maple syrup would probably be good too; the pure kind of course! The muffins are really moist and the dark chocolate chips I added make it tasty like dessert (with a lot less guilt)! 

All the ingredients waiting to take a spin. 

My favorite way to grease a pan...coconut oil and my silicon brush. 

I made 2 dozen mini muffins and 1 dozen regular muffins. Mini muffins are perfect for my kids and the batter goes a long way. 

The muffins rose perfectly in the oven...

But the collapsed as soon as they came out. 

Veggie Shepherd's Pie

I found this recipe on Pinterest for Veggie Shepherd's Pie! While it took a good amount of time to prepare (definitely a weekend meal), it was worth it. Packed full of nutrition, this dish was really good and my family liked it a lot!

I followed the recipe pretty closely except for a couple of things: 

-I didn't have an open bottle of wine on hand so I omitted that ingredient altogether. 

-I used ketchup instead of tomato paste (my non-tomato eating husband gave his blessing to use one tablespoon of ketchup). 

When I first read this recipe and then decided to make it, I thought I would use regular potatoes rather than sweet potatoes. I really like sweet potatoes but I was afraid they would be too much for this dish; too overpowering if you will. While the meal was really good, I did regret not following my potato instincts. I will definitely make this again but next time I'm going to try it with regular potatoes.  

I roasted the sweet potatoes while the Chocolate Muffins and Almond Milk were being concocted (see other posts). 

Mashed and ready to go. 

Veggie prep!

I used green and red (orange) lentils and I just happened to have the exact amount of steel cut oats left in the can! 

Imagine how good this smelled!

Step by step by step...

Ready to bake. 

All done. Letting is rest for a few minutes. 

Really tasty and SO HEALTHY! 

Almond Milk

A couple of weeks ago I made cashew milk and it was so good. I like the flavor of nut milks but I don’t agree with some of the *extra* ingredients in the store bought cartons. I looked up some recipes online and they are anything but (a recipe that is). All you need is nuts and water (and sweetener if you like). Since the cashew milk was so good I thought I’d try some almond milk this weekend.

I bought a 12 ounce bag of organic raw almonds (I get these at TJs or Whole Foods) and soaked them overnight. From what I read online, you only need to soak them 4-5 hours but I ended up leaving them overnight. After they were done soaking, I strained the water and threw them in the blender. I turned my blender on and then poured water in while they were grinding up. Eventually the entire blender was full and I let it run until the almonds were good and “pureed”. You can drink (or chew) this mixture as is but it’s really gritty. It tastes good and the consistency is almost like a milkshake but it’s full of little nut pieces; it’s kind of strange in your mouth. 

To make “milk” you need to strain the mixture. You can run it threw a strainer but you’ll end up with nut remnants in the milk. The best thing to do is run the mixture through cheese cloth, through the strainer (instructions I found online). Because it is so thick, it takes a really long time to strain through and you have to pour more mixture into the strainer, working in batches. I basically just let this sit on the counter and take its time while I did other things in the kitchen. Once I had poured everything out of the blender, I added more water to the nut mixture to “steep” through and get a little more milk out of it. 

 Once everything has dripped through, pick up the cheesecloth and gather it at the top so you can wring out the remains. You can squeeze a lot of liquid out of what’s left in the cheese cloth.  Toss the cheese cloth filled with ground almonds or set it aside to roast and make homemade almond meal. 

I completely eyeballed the amount of water but I ended up with the exact amount a small jar of juice. I added a little cinnamon to the milk (bc I love it and it just sounded good). From what I read online, you can sweeten the milk with honey, agave, maple syrup or your sweetener of choice but I for one don’t like sweet milk and I think it tastes great in its own. 

Note: This is the exact same process I followed for the cashew milk.

Giving the almonds a good soak.

Cheesecloth coating my strainer.

Slowly dripping through.

Ground almond remnants.

 

Yum!

Fish Tacos

We love fish tacos in our house. Surprisingly, my kids both love salmon (and any other fish I serve them) so I always know I won’t have any trouble with this meal. The way I prepare our tacos is really simple and doesn’t take much time at all.

• Salmon-I ONLY buy wild salmon, never farm raised. If TJs has wild salmon (sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t) I get it here otherwise I’ll pick some up at Whole Foods. I usually buy around a pound for fish tacos. It goes a long way with all of the other ingredients. If fish is our main course for dinner I will buy a larger quantity.
• Cabbage-I cheat and buy the shredded cabbage at TJs. It’s not organic and this is one of the few exceptions I make but I refuse to stand in the kitchen and shred a head of cabbage. The package I buy is ready to go which helps with the time saving aspect of this meal.
• Shredded cheese-I buy white and regular organic cheddar from TJs. No preference really; they taste the same to me.
• Beans-I usually use black beans for fish tacos but on this particular night I was fresh out so I used a spare can of white/cannellini beans I had on hand.  Pinto beans are good too. (I restocked my bean supply this weekend).
• Tortillas-I really like the Organic Whole Wheat flour tortillas from TJs. They’re the perfect size for these tacos.
• Limes-A must. This is what makes this “dish” as far I’m concerned. I love limes and I really love limes on fish tacos.

I broil the salmon for about 10 minutes (or however long it takes until it looks done) and then run a fork through a few pieces to break it up on a plate. Don’t forget to check for bones! I heat the beans and tortillas and basically just throw it all together, squeezing lime on top (a lot of time on my tacos). Very simple and super delicious!

Mexican Casserole

I found this recipe for Mexican Casserole on a blog I follow, Food Babe and thought I'd give it a try. I didn't follow it 100% but the general concept was there! This is extremely similar to how I make "enchiladas" (with chicken) which is basically just a casserole (my mom's version that I learned how to make as a youngster). 

Take a look at the recipe (link above) and then see how I adapted it for my family. Try following the recipe exactly or create some other variation of it! My Mexican Casserole (or veggie enchiladas) went something like this:

• One onion, 2 bell peppers
• Half a head of cauliflower 
• 2 portabello mushrooms (recipe didn't call for cauliflower or portbellos but I always like to add these 2 ingredients to veggie dishes; both for extra nutrition and a little bulk)
• 2 zucchini (recipe called for 3 but I only had 2-oh well)
• Black beans (I forgot to soak kidney beans the night before and I don't have any cans on hand-again, oh well)
• Small can of diced green chiles-this was my replacement for the jalapeños bc I didn't want to put those in the dish. I love the flavor of green chiles and they're not quite as spicy. 
• Corn tortillas
• Enchilada Sauce-I use Las Palmas bc it's about the only brand I can find that doesn't have tomatoes. 
• Decent amount of cheddar cheese (probably about 2-3 cups worth)
• Teaspoon each of Cumin and Chile Power. 

I sautéed the veggies in a skillet and then added the beans and seasoning. Sticking somewhat close to the recipe, I poured enchilada sauce in the dish and submerged a layer of tortillas before topping with half the veggies. I added a little cheese and then repeated with another layer or tortillas, the rest of the veggie mix and more cheese. I put a third layer of corn tortillas to top the dish before pouring more sauce over the top and finally topping with cheese. I baked it a 350 for about 30 minutes. 

It came out very well except it was a bit spicy for me. My 3 year old likes spicier food than I do. Next time I will probably omit the chili powder and green chiles. The enchilada sauce has plenty of spice on its own. I think lentils would be really good in this also. Will definitely make this again! 

*Mom note-I did reserve a bowl full of the sautéed veggies for my 16 month old. I knew the finished product would be too messy for him (he hand feeds himself) and I was afraid it would have been too spicy; which it was after all. 

Layers!

Pinecones

Thanks to yet another Pinterest recipe, I have probably made 10 batches of these tasty little "no bake energy bites" over the past few months. They're very simple and consist of ingredients I always have on hand. My husband and older son LOVE them. He even requests to bring extra ones to school to share with his teachers who enjoy them as well. It's almost funny bc these little balls have gotten a lot of attention and they are healthy treats!

I pretty much follow the recipe (link below) but I add quite a bit more peanut butter (bc I love it) and honey (to help them stick really well). I also add organic dark chocolate chips as well as a good handful of puffed brown rice cereal (rice crispies). I love the crunch they give!

With regards to my habit of trying to pack as much nutrition into everything as possible (to a fault), I did add some hydrated chia seeds the last time I made these...not so much! While my husband (and Dylan's teachers) commented on how delicious they were, I thought they were all wrong. It seemed to dilute the flavor and it made them somewhat soggy. They weren't mushy but they were lacking that nutty/rice cripsy crunchiness that I like. Needless to say I will not be adding chia seeds to these again. 

As for our name for these treats...Dylan took one look at them on the plate and called them pinecones. So these are referred to as pinecones in our home! Try them! 

http://www.gimmesomeoven.com/no-bake-energy-bites/

Mango Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Tonight we enjoyed a new creation I came up with. I am using the term "enjoyed" loosely bc I went a little too far with this dish (I'll get to that in a minute). Although it's not organic, I really like the Papaya Mango Salsa from TJs. Husband does not eat tomatoes so I can't cook with regular salsa (boo) therefore I love this tomato-free salsa. I think I saw a recipe on Pinterest for something of the sort bc a while ago I started making a crock pot dinner with chicken, the salsa and a can of black beans. Throw all of that in the slow cooker and enjoy when you get home. It's incredibly simple, really delicious and my family really likes it. 

So...a pin on Pinterest inspired me to cook chicken in the crock pot with the salsa only to turn it into lettuce wraps for dinner. Instead of adding the black beans in the crock pot, I kept those on the side and just heated them right before dinner. I got a little too creative and decided to place the chicken on top of sliced limes in the slow cooker. I love limes. Bad idea. The lime completely overpowered the dish. It was edible and fairly "decent" but I'll just call it ruined in my book. If I had not gone overboard with the lime, it would have been great. The mixture wrapped in a piece of iceberg with some black beans was really good. The concept was great, but the limes were overkill! I will definitely make this again but will absolutely leave out the lime! 

Wrap it up like a burrito/taco thingy and enjoy!

Taco Salad

I have my parents to thank for this "recipe". We have been eating taco salad as long as I can remember. It is a Monday Night Football tradition although we enjoy it year round, and on other days of the week as well! My parents' version of taco salad is simple...lettuce, tomato, olives, taco meat, cheese, crushed chips and salsa. In addition to those items, I also add kidney beans and pumpkin (pepita) seeds. My version of taco salad:

• Romaine lettuce, although I use any type of lettuce I have on hand. I've thrown spinach and kale in before. Any lettuce will do.
• Shredded cheddar cheese. I buy the organic white cheddar or sharp cheddar (or both) from Trader Joes. 
• Tomatos-Love them. Lots of them!
• Sliced black olives
• Kidney beans-If I remember to do so, I soak dried kidney beans the night before or in the morning before work; or I just use a can of red kidney beans and drain them. Beans add an extra protein punch and my kids LOVE them.
• Handful of pumpkin seeds
• Handful of crushed tortilla chips
• Avocado-While I detest avocados, my husband and kids love them so I of course buy them (or get them from my parents tree if we're really lucky). So gross.
• Lots of salsa
• Taco meat-I usually only use about 1/4-1/2 pound of ground beef or turkey meat. Sometimes I don't put any meat in mine but my husband won't accept taco salad without the meat! I brown the meat in a skillet and then add some of my homemade taco seasoning (about a tablespoon or 2 or 3) and enough water to almost cover all of the meat. Give it a good stir and then let it simmer until all of the water is absorbed, stirring every now and then. This usually takes about 20 minutes or so. If I want it to cook faster, I just turn the heat higher.

Toss all of the above and enjoy!

Following is the recipe I use for taco seasoning. I increase the quantity from about 1 tablespoon of each to about one whole bottle of each. I prefer to make a larger batch and store it in my spice cupboard. I also add dried onions to the mix. Homemade taco seasoning is simple to make, very cost effective in comparison to store bought envelopes and free of additives, sodium and all those mystery ingredients. 

http://pinterest.com/pin/13229392626094626/

This is half of Brian's plate. He got home from work really late so I didn't add any meat to his salad (so he could reheat it after he got home) and I left the pumpkin seeds and chips out (again, so he could add when he ate the salad). There are no tomatoes on his salad bc he doesn't eat them. My salad was covered in tomatoes! Yum! 

Vegetable Beef Barley Soup

Last week I made veggie beef barley soup in the slow cooker. I make soups often and it's alway some random variation of whatever I've got on hand! On this day, the soup contained the following:

• 1/2 pound of stew meat (I buy a pound of organic meat at a time and split it among 2 meals. This is for two reasons: 1)money-organic meat isn't cheap and 2) health-you just dont need to eat that much meat. In soups and chilis, a half pound of meat goes a long way!
• Veggies-chopped onion, about 4 or 5 celery and carrots sticks, one red potato, a few mushrooms I had leftover and needed to use and some frozen peas.
• About 1/2 cup (or more) of barley. I love barley and put it almost every soup I make. It's healthy and it adds a little body to the soup.
• Thyme, pepper and a bay leaf
• Broth-If I don't have any homemade broth on hand I use organic veggie broth from Trader Joes. Its ingredients are acceptable as far as I'm concerned!

I prep all the ingredients the night before by washing and cutting the vegetables, cutting the stew meat into small pieces and gathering the staples out of my pantry and spice cupboard. I pretty much eyeball the liquid; in this case I used one carton of vegetable broth with nearly equal parts water. I don't like to use more than one carton of broth bc its too much sodium. In the morning I throw all the ingredients in the crock pot and set it on low for 8 hours. On this particular day we enjoyed our soup on some sourdough bread bowls. This is a rare treat that we don't have often. 

Stuffed Bell Peppers

Years ago I found a recipe in a magazine for zucchini boats. I believe it called for ground turkey, sour cream, Parmesan cheese and some spices for the filling. This was the "inspiration" for the filling I now use for the very same zucchini boats as well as stuffed bell peppers. Each time I make this I am winging it; but I'll do my best to write it out as a recipe in case you want to give it a try!

• 1/2 pound of organic turkey meat. This time around I went w/ dark meat; just because!
• 1 or 2 containers of plain greek yogurt. I substitute plain greek yogurt for sour cream in pretty much all recipes. It's just better for you! Sometimes I use one container, other times I use 2 depending on how creamy you want the mixture (I think two is better).
• 1 egg
• About 2 cups of cooked quinoa. I cooked about 1/2 cup of quinoa and it came out to about 2 cups.
• Veggies: a few chopped mushrooms, artichoke hearts, zucchini or anything you have on hand. On this particular day, I didn't have any zucchini but I did have some cauliflower that i need to use so I chopped it pretty small and threw it in! I probably throw in about 1-2 cups worth of chopped veggies. Again, I eyeball everything.
• A few dashes of basil, oregano and pepper.
• About a 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese
• Chia seeds-I hydrate about 1-2 tablespoons of chia seeds at the beginning of this process so they're good and gooey and ready to mix in by the time I've thrown everything else together. *You don't need to include these if you're not into chia seeds. I sneak them in bc you don't even know they're there and they add A LOT of nutrition. Again, I try to pack as much nutrition I can into everything I make.

Basically I just combine all of the above ingredients. Again, I eyeball this entire "recipe" but it more or less turns out the same each time! To save time, I browned the turkey meat and cooked the quinoa the night before. When I got home from work I mixed everything all up, washed some bell peppers, cut the tops off and threw away the seeds, stuffed them with the mixture and popped them in the oven (in a casserole dish) on 350 for about 45 minutes to an hour. I prefer them after they've cooked for about 45 minutes but my husband likes the pepper to be really soft (and mushy if you ask me) so I cook them a little longer for his sake. I use a variety of peppers-red, green, orange and yellow (whatever I can find that is ORGANIC)!

My 3 year old has an aversion to anything red (doesn't like tomatoes) so he wasn't keen on the red pepper but he ate all the filling (loaded with veggies!) and a lot of the green pepper. My 16 month old is an easy sell! He eats more than his brother and happily gobbled everything on his plate, peppers and all!

Hope you try this and hope you like it!

Breakfast

I make homemade granola (recipe by 100 Days...) and it is super delicious! I prefer it with yogurt and a handful of blueberries or rasberries. Whenever I don't have any granola on hand I just throw in a handful of walnuts, pumpkin and sunflower seeds and slivered almonds. Delicious!

Buffalo Burgers

While I did not take any photos, tonight's dinner consisted of buffalo burgers, on whole wheat, minimally processed buns of course and a side of sweet potato medallions. I do "splurge" on a meat meal one to two times per week (three if I'm being lazy or lacking creativity/inspiration by a blog or Pinterest) and I like to change up the meat that we consume. I don't want to eat too much of anything. Once every 3 months or so we enjoy some locally grown, ground buffalo from Whole Foods! 

As for the sweet potatoes, I just slice them so they resemble a potato chip, toss them in a little olive oil with a very small amount of salt and a decent amount of pepper and roast them for about 20-30 minutes. It helps to flip them over half way through. We eat these all the time! 

Pizza

 

Real Food

Copied from my personal blog (bc it pertains to food)! 

If you know me at all, you know I'm big on nutrition, especially when it comes to feeding my family. I'm not a hardcore vegetarian or vegan nor do I claim to be an über healthy eater! We eat VERY healthy at home but we also eat out often. When we do eat out, I try to make the best choices; but sometimes I would just much rather have a cheeseburger than a salad. I'm also a sucker for a bowl of ice cream. I can usually decline having dessert unless it's already in front of me, then all bets are off! My motto (I hate that word) is that we eat extremely healthy at home with limited sugar, treats, etc that way when we go out for pizza and ice cream, we don't have to feel guilty about eating like crap. At least we didn't eat like that all week long! Sometimes you do have to live a little.

I am big believer in moderation. We eat meat, just not a lot of it. I feed my kids cows milk, but I also give them rice milk so they don't get too, too much dairy. When I cook at home, I try to pack every ounce of nutrition possible into the meal. We eat things that might seem strange to the average American eater, like lentil tacos and chia seeds and kale chips. I make mac n cheese w/ cauliflower and pureed pumpkin or butternut squash with hidden veggies like cauliflower and yellow squash-so good. I make really delicious and filling veggie burritos. I've gotten really into meatless meals and there usually always a hit! Luckily, my husband is very supportive of my (sometimes) obsessive ways. As long as I feed him something w/ meat once or twice a week, he usually doesn't complain!

Yesterday I roasted a whole chicken in my slow cooker on a bed of carrots, celery and onions. After dinner I threw all the chicken bits and bones into a stock pot along with the veggies and juices left in the slow cooker. I filled the pot with water to make a stock for tonight's dinner-bean soup. This morning I threw solider beans in the slow cooker along with carrots, celery, onion, left over chicken and my homemade stock. There's enough stock left to freeze for another dinner also and due in part to the spice rub that I put on the chicken, the stock is SO GOOD. I think these two are the first meals I have made with meat in almost 2 weeks (not counting the bacon we had on Sunday!!).

I am a complete nut about the ingredients I use to cook with and the snacks my kids eat. I make homemade granola (so delicious) and I mix my own taco seasoning. I prefer pretty much all of our produce to be organic as well as dairy and all other animal foods (meat, eggs, etc). I LOVE to shop at the local farmer's market and I really enjoy making snacks for my kids, oatmeal snack balls, granola bars, baked apple chips... the list goes on and on! We eat a ton of beans and quinoa and any bread, crackers, etc MUST BE whole grain.

Do your research people and you too will become a nutritional headcase just like me! Some of the ingredients our FDA has "approved" as "safe" are down right terrifying. It's just not that difficult to cut the crap and eat "real food". If you don't know what something is on a food label or you cant pronounce it, you probably shouldn't eat it. Did you know that grocery store cakes have 50, sometimes 60+ ingredients in them. Why is that necessary? Realistically, it takes about 5 ingredients to make a cake from scratch, NOT SIXTY.

Which brings me to my favorite blog! I am in love with this blog and am in 100% agreement with all of its content. I have pasted a link below to a post that I think everyone should read about Real Food! Jump on the bandwagon and make some lifestyle changes that will really pay off in the long run! It feels really good to eat really good!

http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2013/01/04/healthy-eating-defined/