Cooking
Power Balls
Power Balls are a great snack for a busy, on-the-go day or when you need a protein packed, peanut buttery deliciousness pick-me-up after a hard workout! They are delicious, healthy, and so easy to make!
[Makes about 20 balls]
INGREDIENTS:
2 Cups Dry, Old Fashioned Oats
1 Cup Peanut Butter (I used Trader Joe’s Creamy Salted Peanut Butter from unblanched peanuts in one batch and Skippy Creamy Peanut Butter in the other for a sweeter version for my husband)
1 Cup Ground Flaxseed
1/3 Cup Honey
2 Tsp Vanilla
3/4 Cup Chocolate Chips (Optional, but a good option :D)
1/4 Cup – 1/2 Cup Raisins (Optional)
Saran Wrap
The fun thing about this recipe is the possibilities are endless. You can add other dried fruit, coconut flakes, nuts or other types of chocolate 🙂
DIRECTIONS:
Combine all ingredients into a large bowl and stir well (you can also use a stand mixer on low with a paddle attachment to mix the ingredients). Because there are so many options for this snack, you can also separate the recipe into two halves to make two different flavors. Once everything is thoroughly mixed, cover the bowl with saran wrap and place in the refrigerator to chill for about 30 minutes. Once it is completely chilled, roll into balls and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
Your kids and husband will love these! And, you will too! It is also a great recipe to let your kids help add the ingredients and use as a fun activity! Here are some fun ideas to make an easy recipe into a great learning experience for your kids! A peanut butter protein power ball is a filling, but light snack so one batch will go a long way! Enjoy! 🙂
…
Bombay Bowl
This weekend, I went to a fantastic restaurant called the Veggie Grill with some really special friends. I ordered a vegetarian meal called the Bombay Bowl, which came highly recommended. This is my best re-creation of that fantastic bowl of healthy deliciousness.
Ingredients
1 yellow onion
20 large or 30 medium brussel sprouts trimmed and cut in half
1 head of cauliflower
4-5 carrots
1-2 parsnips
4-5 small red, white or purple potatoes
(any other veggies that you want to try-beets, broccoli, squash)
1-2 Tablespoons olive oil
1-2 teaspoons curry powder
1 teaspoon tumeric
1 teaspoon dried ginger or 1 Tablespoon grated fresh ginger
1 ½ teaspoon kelp seasoning (Bragg’s Organic Sea Kelp Delight Seasoning)
2-4 cups fresh kale chopped
2 cups cooked quinoa
1 can white cannellini beans (or great Northern beans) drained and rinsed
20-25 raw almonds
COCONUT MILK CURRY SAUCE
1 can coconut milk
1 Tablesoop curry powder
1 Tablespoon brown sugar
2 teaspoons Braggs Liquid Aminos
Serves 4
Prepare the vegetables for roasting by cutting them all into 1 inch bite sized pieces. Place them in a large bowl and pour on 1-2 Tablespoons olive oil and sprinkle with curry powder, turmeric, ginger and kelp seasoning. Toss until vegetables are coated with seasonings. 
Place vegetables in a single layer on 1-2 jelly roll pans covered with foil (for faster clean-up). Roast vegetables in a 450 degree oven for 30 minutes or until fork tender. Stir occasionally and remove from oven.
While veggies are roasting, prepare the quinoa according to package directions (3 cups water and 1 ½ cups quinoa in a pot bring to a boil and turn to simmer and cover for 15 minutes or until water is absorbed and quinoa is tender).
Steam 2-4 cups of kale in a microwave safe bowl with …
Read MoreSimple Chicken Noodle Soup
Simple Chicken Noodle Soup — An EASY, HEALTHY meal that everyone in your family will enjoy! While we were eating this meal, my husband, a self proclaimed expert in the area of EATING 🙂 said,
“I really like this meal! It’s simple, but really good!”
And it is! I like eating the soup plain with lots of the veggies, but my husband loves adding the noodles to his bowl for a more hearty meal.
Ingredients:
Olive Oil
2-3 Chicken Breasts, cubed
Chicken Seasoning
2 Cans Chicken Broth Low Sodium (14.5 oz each)
2 Cups of Water
1/2 Onion, Chopped
2 Large Carrots, Peeled, Sliced, and Halved
1/2 Stalk of Celery
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Pepper (add more to taste)
1 Lb Bag Whole Wheat Pasta (Optional- We use penne or fusilli but any pasta will work)
Directions:
1. Chop onion, carrots, and celery. Coat a frying pan with the olive oil and sauté the vegetables, with the salt and pepper, for 5-8 minutes or until almost tender. (We like the veggies to be a little crunchy to add something different to the soup, but this is preference. If you don’t want it as crunchy, sauté longer)
2. Cube the chicken. Coat another frying pan with olive oil and cook the chicken, season with a mild chicken seasoning, until fully cooked.
3. Place the water and chicken broth into a pot. Set aside.
4. Combine the vegetables and chicken in the pot with the chicken broth mixture. Put the burner on medium and stir. Cook until fully heated. Add pepper to taste.
5. (Optional) Cook noodles as instructed on the package while stirring the soup.
6. Serve and Enjoy! Add a delicious cheese bread from a fun bakery or make your own grilled cheese with whole …
Read MoreItalian Kale and White Bean Soup
Kale is one of the new SUPER foods that everyone is talking about. I am always looking for recipes that use kale and this one is absolutely delicious! A friend gave it to me and I made a few adjustments in the seasoning to make it my own.
Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion chopped
3 cloves garlic chopped
1 red or yellow bell pepper chopped
4 chicken or turkey Italian sausages (I used Trader Joe’s Sweet Basil Pesto Chicken/Turkey sausage)
1 bag (10 oz) Italian Kale
2 quarts chicken stock
2 cans (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes
1 can (15 oz) Great Northern white beans
1 tsp salt
1 teaspoon seasoned pepper
1-2 teaspoons oregano
Saute the onion and garlic in olive oil. Add the chopped yellow bell pepper and Italian sausages that have ben sliced thin and cook until sausage gets a tiny bit brown. Add chicken stock, diced tomatoes, beans and seasoning. Add kale and bring to a boil. Turn to low and simmer 30-45 minutes until kale is soft and tender. Serve with crusty rustic wheat or sourdough bread.
Have you tried a new recipe using kale? Please share it with us!
…
Pizza Sauce with Pizzaz
We love making homemade pizza in our family. Pizza has always been our go to Friday night dinner. So when we were growing up we started a tradition of having Friday night-Weisser Pizza night. The last time my mom was visiting we decided to try a new recipe for homemade pizza sauce with pizzaz. We started with a recipe from Kitchen Treaty and we changed it up a bit and made it our own. It was fantastic.
Ingredients
1 Tablespoon olive oil
4 cloves garlic smashed
2 cans (14.5 oz) petite diced tomatoes
4-6 leaves fresh basil chopped fine or 1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Saute garlic in olive oil, in a sauce pan. Add basil and oregano and stir for 1 minute. Add canned tomatoes, salt, pepper, sugar and red pepper flakes. Stir until combined. Bring to a boil over medium heat, turn to low and simmer for 60 minutes. Sauce should thicken up. We like chunky pizza sauce but if you want it smooth, pour into blender and blend until smooth. Store in a mason jar. Lasts at least 1-2 weeks in refrigerator, but we used it up the day we made it on two large pizzas.
This really makes the homemade pizza even better that ever!
To see another pizza sauce recipe that we love, check out Bethany’s past post “Food for Mommy’s Day” from Mother’s Day last year.
…
Chicken White Bean Tomato Casserole
Chicken White Bean Tomato Casserole
Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
6 chicken breasts(about 2-1/4 pounds total)
2 Tbsp lemon pepper
2 medium carrots, thinly sliced
1 medium onion, cut into thin wedges
3 stalks celery, sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 can Great Northern beans
1 14 1/2 – ounce can no-salt-added diced tomatoes, undrained
6 ounces light, cooked smoked sausage, cut into bite-size pieces (optional)
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon dried thyme, crushed
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large skillet, heat oil over
medium-high heat. Add chicken; season with lemon pepper, and reduce heat to medium-low. Brown chicken about 10 minutes, turning once to brown both sides. Remove chicken from skillet, but leave drippings.
2. Add carrots, onion, celery, and garlic to drippings in skillet. Cover
and cook about 10 minutes or until vegetables are just tender, stirring
occasionally. Stir in beans, undrained tomatoes, sausage (optional),
thyme, oregano, salt, and, if desired, cayenne pepper. Bring to boiling.
Transfer mixture to a 2-quart rectangular baking dish. Arrange chicken
on top. Try to put some of liquid mixture on top of chicken to keep chicken moist.
3. Bake, uncovered, about 25 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink
(180 degrees F). Makes about 6 servings
4. Enjoy
…
Quinoa Pizza Bites
Quinoa has become quite the craze! It has become one of the most popular Superfoods in the US in the last 10 years! However, a lot of people still do not know much about it. Here is some info about Quinoa from quinoa.net…
“It is called quinoa (pronounced keen-wa), and is a seed that comes from the Andes Mountains of South America. Quinoa’s origins are truly ancient. It was one of the three staple foods along with corn and potatoes, of the Inca civilization. Quinoa was known then, and still is known, with respect, as the mother grain. We call it the ‘Supergrain of the Future.’
Quinoa contains more protein than any other grain; an average of 16.2 percent, compared with 7.5 percent for rice, 9.9 percent for millet, and 14 percent for wheat. Some varieties of quinoa are more than 20 percent protein.
Quinoa’s protein is of an unusually high quality. It is a complete protein, with an essential amino acid balance close to the ideal … similar to milk!
Quinoa’s protein is high in lysine, methionine and cystine. This makes it an excellent food to combine with and boost the protein value of other grains (which are low in lysine), or soy (which is low in methionine and cystine).
And here are 10 things you may not know about quinoa:
Quinoa is a versatile, protein-filled superfood. While similar staples like bulgur and barley tend to be relegated to health food aisles and your hippie aunt’s vegetarian casserole, quinoa is a crowd-pleaser with enormous global appeal.
Here’s the truth about quinoa…
1. Though it is often called a whole grain, quinoa isn’t a grain at all. True grains like wheat and maize are derived from grasses, whereas quinoa is part of a protein-rich plant family that includes fellow …
Read MoreHealthy Apple Cake and more Super Bowl Treats
The SUPER BOWL is this coming Sunday and many of you will be gathering with family and friends to watch the game and celebrate. I am going to share a wonderful dessert recipe that is easy to make and healthy too and would be a delightful cake to take to any Super Bowl party. Before I share the apple cake recipe, I am including links to other recipes we have posted in the past that would also be excellent to make for any Super Bowl party.
Mexican Taco Cupcakes
White Vegetarian Chili
Salsa, Corn and Black Bean Salad
The “I’m Never Hungry for Dinner Kind of Salsa”
Hummus
Honey Whole Wheat Pita Bread
Tabooleh
Mexican Quinoa Salad
Rice Salad
Family Favorite Salsa
And don’t forget, the “”Magic button that you see on each one of these recipes is a link to a wonderful website where you can get nutritional information for each of these recipes.
Healthy Apple Cake
This apple cake is moist and full of flavor. You can make it gluten free and it is full of fiber, so as far as a healthy dessert recipe goes, this is a keeper. Since I chop all the apples in a food processor with the peel on and I also chopped the nuts and raisins together in the food processor, it is a quick and easy dessert to make and take to parties.
Ingredients
2 cups flour (you can use gluten free flour here without changing the taste or texture)
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 ½ cups walnuts
1 cup raisins
5-6 large tart apples (4 cups when chopped)
½ cup oil (I use coconut oil)
1 cup sugar (you can use honey, coconut sugar or brown sugar)
2 eggs
1 …
Mexican Taco Cupcakes
I have a friend who is very adventurous in the kitchen and actually tries all the fun recipes she finds on Pinterest. You can always count on her to bring something different and yummy to a party.
Last night I hosted a finger food party, so I wanted to try one of my friend’s Pinterest recipe finds. The original recipe can be found here.
Mexican Taco Cupcakes
…
Read MoreSkinny Vegetable Minestrone Soup
Skinny Vegetable Minestrone Soup (adapted from http://www.gimmesomeoven.com/minestrone-soup/)
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Ingredients…