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2 Dinners from this last week (and frozen leftovers tonite b/c of timing)

This first meal show was a slow cooker meal:
2 turkey 'tenderloins'

1 can beef broth

1 tablespoon EVOO

Pour in water to just cover meat and so you'll have enough for rice later

--Cook on LOW 5 hours--

REMOVE turkey.

Add 1 box of RiceARoni Wild Rice Mix half hour before serving.
Tear apart and replace turkey, stir in well, let heat for a few minutes while setting out plates, dishing out sides, etc, serve & enjoy!

Black beans on the side, cooked & drained

Pulled out the frozen leftovers this afternoon to heat up this eve because we were pressed for time.

This next meal was a throw-together:

Tortilla, warmed slightly in microwave

guacamole (store-bought)

black beans

Jasmine rice cooked with herbs and sea-salt in chicken broth instead of water

Zach ate 2 huge ones!

A couple of meals from this week, both with Tilapia

Tilapia in Extra Virgin Olive Oil, garlic, herbs (I love parsley, cilantro, oregano, sea salt, pepper, paprika). Zucc and yellow squash in herbs mixed with a bag of frozen veggies.

Today's lunch was tilapia, made the same way as above, served on a bed of white quinoa (cooked in water with a chicken bullion and sea salt), and a zucc, yellow squash, onion casserole.  If you'd like the recipe, just ask and I'll post it here :)

Healthy Recipes from today's NBC TODAY Show

These looked awesome and I would have no problem trying them! Just HAD to share! ~PhyllisAdelle~

Recipe: Zucchini linguini with omega-rich pesto

Peggy Kotsopoulos

Ingredients

• For the "pasta":
• 2 medium zucchini or yellow summer squash
• For the toppings:
• 1/2 pint cherry or grape tomatoes
• 1/2 cup black Kalamata olives
• 1/2 cup sundried tomatoes, chopped
• 1/4 cup Savi seeds
• 1 teaspoon kelp granules
• Sunflower sprouts
• For the pesto:
• 1/2 cup Savi seeds (plain/sea salt)
• 2 tablespoons hemp seeds
• 2 cups fresh basil
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• Squeeze 1/4 lemon
• 1 teaspoon sea salt

Preparation

This pasta dish looks like pasta and satisfies your pasta craving, but without all the refined carbs! That's because it's not really pasta — it's zucchini.  A kitchen-gadget spirooli slicer transforms your regular summer squash into zucchini noodles!

To prepare the noodles:Add zucchini to spirooli and turn until noodles are formed. Add noodles to a bowl, add sunflower sprouts and toss with pesto (recipe below). Then top with the following: cherry tomatoes, sundried tomatoes, olives, Savi seeds and kelp granules. 

To make the pesto:Add all ingredients to food processor and process until well combined. Add 2 tablespoons of pesto to 1 cup of zucchini linguini and mix until well combined. Top with fresh cherry tomatoes, Kalamata olives and sundried tomatoes.

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Recipe: Chocolate chip quinoa Cookies

Peggy Kotsopoulos

Ingredients

• 1 cup cooked quinoa
• 1 cup uncooked quinoa flakes (or oatmeal flakes)
• 1 cup unsweetened, shredded coconut
• 2 tablespoons almond butter
• 4 large VERY RIPE bananas
• 1/2 cup coconut sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• Pinch sea salt

Preparation

These cookies are SOOO GOOD! The are jam-packed with protein, fiber, stress-busting B-vitamins, energizing goodness and deliciousness! They're also gluten-free and will kick your cravings to the curb.

To prepare the cookies:Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, mash bananas in bowl with a fork and add vanilla, almond butter and coconut sugar. Add quinoa, oatmeal, coconut and pinch of salt. Mix until well combined. Stir in chocolate chips. Line baking sheet with parchment paper and drop batter on to cooking sheet. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool.

Serving Size

Makes about 25 cookies that look more like muffin-tops and are chewy.

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Recipe: Chocolate mousse

Peggy Kotsopoulos

Ingredients

• 2 cups cooked, pureed pumpkin
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/3 cup maple syrup
• 1/2 cup coconut butter (make sure it's heated to point of being liquid)
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Preparation

This mousse is so light, so airy, so decadent, and so HEALTHY! The secret ingredient? Pumpkin! This guilt-free goodie helps to energize, combat stress and lower heart disease. Plus it's super high in fiber, helping to curb cravings and balance blood sugar levels.

To prepare the chocolate mousse:Add all ingredients to a bowl and mix well with a fork. Refrigerate for an hour before serving. That's it!

Serving

I normally serve this in a short martini glass and garnish with berries and/or shaved chocolate.

Peggy has many websites, here's a Bing link to them:
http://www.bing.com/search?setmkt=en-US&q=Peggy+Kotsopoulos

Sugary Truth (from Weight Loss Wednesday/IEatGrass.com)

Sugary Truth

CALLEN, SEPTEMBER 19, 2012

By Callie McBride

The cat’s out of the bag: you’ve been buying frozen dinners and snack bars left and right due to a hectic work or school schedule. We all do it from time to time, don’t sweat it. Instead, make sure you are choosing the right products! Nothing will compare to fresh, home-cooked meals of homemade vegetable dishes and deliciously ripe fruit smoothies; when it’s time to put your health in the hands of your local grocery store, you know it’s time for a game of This Or That. I have a handful of brands that carry amazing vegan products that fit in with my healthy lifestyle. Many mainstream brands that claim unreal nutrition, though, can pack in loads of unwanted sugar. I don’t mean to bash certain food companies by any means, but just inform my fellow vegans of the extra sugar they may be consuming throughout their quest for weight loss.

For instance, the well-known brand Special K advocates for eating a balanced and nutritious diet for women, yet its latest product, the Dark Chocolate Protein Shake, has 190 calories per serving and contains 13 grams of sugar. Yikes! A better option for taste, protein, and fiber is Kashi‘s Go Lean Toasted Berry Crumble Cereal, offering 180 calories and only 10 grams of sugar per every 3/4 cup.

We vegans love our milk: soy, almond, coconut, rice, the list goes on! The brand Eden has an “original” soymilk product that, for 8 ounces, has 170 calories and 13 sugars. Whaaa?! I prefer West SoyUnsweetened soy milk, which offers half the calories and only one-ONE!-gram of sugar. Oatmeal, meet West Soy. West Soy, meet oatmeal.

You all know I am a huge fan of coconut water. Aside from its awesome flavor and incredible taste, it has a much better track record than a leading competitor for flavored drinks, Vitamin Water. Hey-the packaging is fun and the titles are awesome, but 120 calories and32 sugars per bottle? Taste Nirvana has as only 50 calories and 9 grams sugar…I’ll take two, please.

College life = snack bars. It’s that simple. But snack bars do not need to equate to meal replacement bars! How can a measly little bar replace an entire meal!? I may be crunched for time, but never to the point where I must forgo my beloved vegetable and quinoa stir-fry from my awesome campus cafe. ProBar, an entirely vegan meal replacement bar line, offers its products with 370 calories and 26 sugars. Whoa! Kind Bars, however, as a simple afternoon snack, are a better option for your body’s sugar levels. The newest flavor, Dark Chocolate Nuts & Sea Salt (need I even go on?) has only 200 calories and 5 sugars!

Finally, when dinnertime rolls around and your oven has become more of a storage unit than a functional kitchen tool, frozen meals do come in handy (yep, I said it). Lean Cuisine is a very popular brand for properly proportioned and tasty frozen dinners; don’t be fooled: the sodium and sugar content is through the roof! The Vegetable Egg Roll, for instance, packs in 320 calories and 12 sugars. I spent a few minutes on its website and learned that none of its products are vegan yet. So, passing on this brand is a no-brainer! A better option, still, is Amy’s Kitchen. Her Veggies & Brown Rice meal is a mere 260 calories and 7 sugars. Quickly broil up some tofu squares or heat up a sweet potato, and that’s a dinner of champions right there.

Keep these facts in mind when you are stocking up your pantry. Sugar is everywhere, but there is no need to add unncessary amounts to your diet. You’re sweet enough! (I said it. Not sorry.)

*All images and nutritional information of the mentioned brands came directly from their official websites.

This entry was posted in Weight Loss and tagged Amy's Kitchen, frozen dinners, Kashi Go Lean, Kind bars, snack bars, sugar, Taste Nirvana, vegan, weight loss, West Soy. Bookmark the permalink.

Spiced Apple Muffins (Gluten, Grain, and Dairy-free)

Spiced Apple Muffins 

Makes Ten Muffins
The first time I made these I used a scant 1/2 of a cup of apples. It didn’t have enough apple flavor, nor was it moist enough. The second time I made it, I went a little overboard and used a heaping full cup of apples. The taste was great and it was really moist, but it was almost a little too moist and it got stuck on the muffin papers. For that reason, I am suggesting the middle ground, 3/4 cup.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Prep the muffin tins. I suggest using muffin papers (baking cups), otherwise you can grease it.

Dry Ingredients:

1/2 cup of coconut flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon medium grind sea salt (if you use fine, use 1/4 teaspoon)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

In a medium size bowl combine the dry ingredient and briskly whisk until all lumps are removed.

Add:

1/3 cup of coconut oil
1/4 cup of honey

Melt together on the stove top, just until melted (don’t get it hot, otherwise it could cook your eggs prematurely).

And:

3 eggs, lightly whisked.

Whisk until everything is well combined, and then add:

3/4 cup of shredded apples (wash, and core the apples, and then shred, peel and all)*see note above*

Divide between ten muffin tins, and bake for about 25 minutes or until the tops are lightly browned and a toothpick comes out clean when poked in the middle of the muffin.

Allow to cool for a few minutes and take out of the muffin tins and serve!

*To make these Gaps Friendly, add a bit of lemon juice or vinegar and baking soda in place of the baking powder.

This post is part of Fight Back Friday’s

Raspberry Mini Cupcakes (Dairy, Gluten and Grain-free)

Raspberry Mini Cupcakes 

(Makes between 24 and 30 mini cupcakes )
I call for mini paper cups (muffin paper cups) because these cupcakes are very moist and it could pose a problem in getting the muffins out of the tins without leaving half of it in the pan. You could leave the raspberries whole in the recipe, but I find that in mini cupcakes or muffins, having a whole berry in the middle of a tiny cupcake doesn’t work very well. 

1/2 cup of coconut flour plus 2 tablespoons
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup of coconut oil
1/4 cup of honey
1/2 cup of raspberries, fresh or frozen
3 eggs, lightly beaten

1-Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and place mini paper cups into the muffin tins.

2-n a small saucepan, place the raspberries and heat over medium high heat until the raspberries are defrosted, if frozen, and soft and cooked a bit. Smoosh with a fork. Set aside.

3-In a medium size bowl, place the coconut flour, baking soda, and salt. Whisk to remove any lumps.

4-Melt the oil in a small saucepan just until it is melted (if you honey is at all thick or solidified add it to the coconut oil as well).

5-Whisk the raspberries, honey and oil into the dry ingredients. Then whisk in the eggs.

6-Spoon out the batter into the muffin tins, filling them about 3/4 of the way full.

7-Place in the hot oven and cook between 10 and 15 minutes or until the tops are lightly browned and a toothpick comes out clean. Enjoy

To make this GAPS friendly, take out the baking soda.