Eating Good and Doing Good

The past week I have been back on the cooking ball. I had a little cooking lapse, that is why my posts have been kinda scarce but I am back in full force :). The past weekend I made brownies for a football party where we had a great time with family. Were the brownies were great? YES. Healthy? NO!! I got the recipe from this lovely doll that I have been stalking for some holiday recipes. The only change I made was doubling the amount of crushed Oreo's. They were the hit of the bash...

Out of the oven

Chilled over night and cut up at the party

There was another hit at the party but it wasn't food. It was this sweet pup...

On the dinner front, I finally broke out my Clean Eating Mags and decided to make something new for dinner. I present you with..

STUFFED CHICKEN with Veggies & Lemon-Basil Pasta
Serves:4

• Olive Oil cooking spray
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 cup loosely packed spinach, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced and divided
• 3 Roma tomatoes, seeded, cored and diced, divided
• 2 tbsp ww bread crumbs
• 1/2 pkg ww spaghetti
  
• 4 4-oz boneless, skinless chicken breasts pounded thin
• 4 tbsp fresh basil, finely minced
• 1 tbsp evoo
• Juice and zest of 1 lemon
• 1 1/2 tbsp parm cheese (optional)
• Toothpick ( I didn't use them)
  

Instructions:

1. Heat large skillet over med-high heat. Mist w/ cooking spray and add onion, spinach, 1 clove garlic and 1 tomato. Saute for 5 min. or until just cooked. Remove from heat and mix in breadcrumbs. Set aside.

2. Bring large pot of water to a boil and cook spaghetti.

3. To stuff chicken, place 1 1/2 to 2 tbsp of mixture in the middle of each piece and fold chicken over securing with toothpicks.

4. Heat large skillet over med-high heat. Mist with cooking spray. Place stuffed chicken in pan and cook until golden brown (about 3 to 4 min. each side).

5. Drain pasta when done cooking, then put back in pot tossing with lemon juice, zest, basil, oil, and 2 remaining garlic cloves.

6. Serve and garnish with parm cheese.

Close Up

The next day for the little one I added some Trader Joe's Sun Dried Tomato sausage and mozzarella cheese to the leftover noodles for lunch....

She loved it :)

Over these past few days I also managed to go crazy with curry and I whipped up some Curried Butternut Squash Soup and a Fruity Curried Chicken. Recipes in the next post :)

I will now leave you with a breakfast that speaks for itself....

CONFESSION OF THE DAY: I am just now learning to do things for people and not expect things in return. Not that I ever or always did good and expected something but I am just now starting to grasp and understand the concept :)

QUESTION: Anyone one have any experience working with the GIMP program?

Apples and Beef

...exciting title isn't it? I am sure all the vegetarians and vegans just clicked away. hehe (LOVE YOU GUYS :)!!!!

Hello all of you beautiful, happy people!!! Happy Saturday :).

Thank you all so much for your suggestions on apple desserts and head zits. hehe I did decide on a dessert after much deliberation. After blogging I saw an updated post from Healthy. Happy. Life. It was an interview with Karina Allrich of Karina's Kitchen website is the "Gluten-Free Goddess". I searched her blog, key word "apple" and was intrigued to find this recipe. Of course I had to make some alterations to make it fit my pantry, I used all apples, orange juice, regular sugar and honey, and ww pancake mix, and added raisins to the filling and walnuts to the crust but it turned out fab!! Thanks so much for the amazing recipe Karina!!

Fresh out the oven

Bubbling hot

The man said, and I quote "This is good, this is really good. This is the best dessert you have made in a long time." I didn't know whether to take offense or be happy. :) hehe Heres his yummy bowl...

I have been cooking a lot of random stuff lately not really going with a recipe but just by what sounds good to me. I made burgers the other night for the fam and put some of the meat aside for me because I was craving lettuce wraps. My concoction hit the spot!

CASHEW BEEF LETTUCE WRAPS

• 6 oz Laura's Lean ground beef
• 1/3 of a onion chopped
• 1 tsp. finely chopped fresh ginger
• 1 grated carrot
• few shakes of garlic powder
• salt and pepper
• 1 1/2 tsp. cashew butter
• 1 tsp. coconut oil
• few dashes of low sodium soy sauce
  

Add coconut oil to hot skillet and melt. Add beef stirring and breaking up until just browned. Drain. Add onions carrot and ginger and saute about 3-4 min. Reduce heat to low and stir in garlic powder, s&p, soy sauce, and then cashew butter. Stir until well mixed.

Serve in your favorite lettuce.

I served mine in romaine boats and added a little more soy sauce to finish it off...

Absolutely Delish!!

In another quick snip it of news my little one won her 6 and under softball tournament and I was super proud of her and her teammates...

Ready for action

Showing of her championship metal

I hope you all are having a lovely weekend. Anybody watching the UT vs. Alabama game this weekend?


CONFESSION OF THE DAY: I have been having an internal struggle with exercise lately and whether or not I am doing to much. How do you know when enough exercise is enough or if you are doing to much? How many times a week do you all feel is adequate?

Looking froward to hearing your thoughts :)

I'll Drink To That!

*Disclaimer* I apologize in advance for the excessive amount of pics but I got a new camera (me clapping hands and jumping up and down for joy). No, its not an slr but its not to late to take it back. I am just giving it a test drive :)

So I have been meaning to do the rest of my review for the wonderful products I won in Averie's Zevia giveaway like ages ago and I am finally here to do it. You can find some of my review here and more here.

These are two more flavors...
Well, I cant lie......I loved them both. Honestly! I will start with the Black Cherry. The first thing I loved about the Black Cherry was that it was clear. I am such a freak about my teeth and drank everything through a straw and it was a nice surprise to see that this was clear. The second thing was that it did taste just like black cherry soda expect it didn't have that super sweet sugary taste that makes me gag if I drink real soda. Third, it tastes good with Bacardi :), don't judge!

As a kid I always loved Root Beer and while this was good it just wasn't the same but it is definitely great if you are trying to deter a craving for the real thing. Zevia, are you listening to me we need a Cream Soda flavor!!

Unfortunately my hubby ever so rudely drank the Cola flavor while I was not home. I am not going to tell you what he said because I feel his palate varies greatly from most of ours :). hehehehe

I am going to have to say my fav was the Orange.

On to some more beverages of my choice. If you know me you know I love me some kombucha. GT's Kombucha to be exact :). A while back the Millennium company ever so kindly sent me a butt load of of coupons so I could try out several of their flavors. Well, that's exactly what I did. Check it...
I really love the bottles and don't want to throw them away. They are so pretty! Twist your head to the right for this one....
OK, so I am going to spare you every last detail of the flavors. Basically there are a lot of fruit flavors that pretty much all taste the same to me...

and then there are these babies....
...my favorite flavors so far by a mile!! The one on the left tastes like a yummy tea and well the one on the right tastes just like its name, DIVINE!!

Now, I will leave you with my latest obsession (you must try this if you like ketchup), roasted veggies (yes, that's kabocha in there) smothered in ketchup...
More of that red goodness was added after the pic

CONFESSION OF THE DAY: I get zits on my head. Not my face (well, that too) but my actual head. Like, in my hair!! Gross I know. Anyone else have this problem? Or is it just weirdo me? I think its from sweating a lot while my hair is in a pony tail. Ugh, they hurt!!!

P.S. I have some apples that desperately need to be used. Anybody got a good dessert recipe using apples for me??? Looking for something semi healthy :)

PIMP YOUR PUFFINS!!!

Wanna see how trick mine out? I mean, 1 serving is like 10 puffin biscuits, hardly enough to fulfill my puffin needs so I pimp mine out.....

I has this one this morning. Its one serving on PB Puffins, 1 serving of Kashi Warm Cinnamon, chunk of chopped banana, almond butter, almond milk and on the side is Fage mixed with stevia and dark choc. cocoa powder. MMmmmmm!!!!!!

Closer look

Next up is tricked out double Puffin love...
That's my new favorite Puffins, Honey Rice (go buy these you wont be sorry, they are way better than Kashi Honey Sunshine!), 1 serving PB Puffins, Crunchy Kroger PB, bananas, almond milk and cinnamon on top along with a side of Oikios with dark choc. cocoa powder and stevia.
Close up

This is bowl of detox Puffins after a brutal night out with some pals....
In the bowl in an unmeasured amount of puffins, PB, banana and cinnamon and almond milk and a side of my new favorite Kombucha.

Here's 2 more pimped out bowl of my Puffs...
1 serving Puffs, banana, PB, Greek yog., almond milk and cinnamon

Puffins, pear, apple, banana, PB, almond milk, cinnamon

*Big shout to Kroger for putting all your Puffins on sale for a $1.99!!!!!

My pantry looks like a Puffin factory. Do any of you pimp out your Puffins? Or any cereal for that matter? Tell me your favorite mixtures. I am all ears :) :)

Also, I just want to say Honey, I love and you, I am so glad we found each other, I could never imagine being married to a better husband/dad. I am so glad we have made it these 5 years and I cant wait to spend 100 more with you!!!

Special date planned tonight for the hubs and I. Cant wait!!!

CONFESSION OF THE DAY: I am having dessert tonight (not that kind you dirty girl! Well, ya I am but that's not what I meant) and I am not going to fell guilty about it!!!

Ginger Lime Tilapia With Banana Ketchup & Curried Quinoa

Hey lovely ladies and gents. Thanks so much for all the comments on my last confession. You guys made me fell so much better!! And I was cracking the freak up at some of your comments!!

I know my posting has been scarce but for right now its whats working for me even thought there are like a million things spinning around in my head that I want to post about!

Since its been a while since I have posted a recipe I thought I would share one from Cleaning Eating Magazine that I really enjoyed recently. One of my favs fo sho :). Those of you that have Clean Eating Mag. need to try this recipe stat!! It sounds complicated but I promise its easy and delicious. The magazine estimates 20 min. prep time.

Ginger Lime Tilapia With Banana Ketchup & Curried Quinoa Serves 4

INGREDIENTS:

Curried Quinoa

• 1 2/3 cups low-sodium chicken or veggie stock
• 2 tsp curry powder
• pinch cayenne pepper or your fav hot sauce (optional)
• sea salt and black pepper, to taste
• 1 cup quinoa

Ginger Lime Tilapia

• 2 tbsp fresh lime juice
• 2 tbsp agave nectar
• 1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
• 4 6-oz tilapia fillets
• sea salt and ground pepper, to taste

Banana Ketchup

• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1 small white onion, finely diced
• 1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
• 3 medium ripe bananas, peeled and mashed with a fork
• 1 tbsp agave nectar
• 2 tbsp white balsamic vinegar (I used the dark)
• 1/2 tsp allspice (I omitted)
• cayenne pepper or hot sauce (optional)
• sea salt and pepper, to taste

1. Preheat over to 425
2. Prepare quinoa: Add stock, curry, cayenne, salt and pepper to a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, uncovered. Add quinoa, bring back to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 12 to 15 min. Remove from heat, remove lid and fluff with a fork. Set aside.
   
3. While quinoa is simmering, prepare tilapia. In a small bowl, stir together lime juice, 2 tbsp water, agave and ginger. Place tilapia on a parchment-lined baking dish. Spoon lime juice marinade over tilapia fillets. Season fillets with salt and pepper. Cook in preheated oven for 12 to 15 min, or until fish is fully cooked and opaque and flakes easily when pierced with a fork. Remove from oven and cover and set aside to keep warm.
4. While tilapia is baking, prepare banana ketchup: Heat oil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion and ginger and cook, stirring frequently for about 2 min. Add bananas, 1/4 cup water, agave, vinegar and all spice. Bring just to a boil, then reduce heat to low and allow to simmer for about 5 min, stirring frequently. Remove from heat and season with cayenne, salt and pepper. Set aside.
5. To serve, scoop 1 cup quinoa into center of plate, top with 1 tilapia fillet, about 1 tbsp fillet pan juices and a dollop of banana ketchup.
   

Nutrients per serving: 405 calories, 6.5 grams fat, 48 carbs, 4 grams fiber, 16 sugars and 42 grams protein

My pics aren't very flattering because I was ravenous and the sweet smell of the banana ketchup had me drooling all over myself....

(my husband even gave this 2 thumbs up and his palette is not that broad)

CONFESSION OF THE DAY: I am sure you all know the term Jaywalking. Well until about a year ago I honestly thought the word meant walking outside naked!!! Bahaha, Until my my dad was telling a story about how he got a ticket for jaywalking in college or something and I was like "OMG, you were walking outside naked??!!" Glad we got that cleared up :)

Steam Me Up Buttercup...

....squash that is (aka: kabocha). I have to say thank you for all the cooking suggestions for my yummy kabocha squash. I finally decided to depart from my beloved fry form and try something new....
Per your suggestions, I steamed that baby. Look at the yumminess...
I love the thick soft texture of this type of squash. What is your favorite type of squash?

I ate my squash with a salad, some roasted turkey, and a huge mug of pumpkin spice tea...
I seasoned the squash with salt, stevia, cinnamon, and chili powder...
That's not all I did with steamed squash. I also made some souffles based off of a recipe I found online. I healthified and veganized it. Here is one of the souffles I made topped with dark chocolate chips and almond butter (Friday night sweet tooth)....
YUMMY!!!

This is the recipe I based them off of. Like I said I changed some things but they still turned out really really yummy!!

I have been enjoying so much food and variety lately that it really is a shame that I cant share it all with everyone but I can share a few of my Hot Cereals in a jar...
That is Bobs Red Mill Gluten Free Hot Cereal with my two favorite nut butters, Trader Joe's Raw Unsalted Almond Butter and Kroger Natural Peanut Butter.

Hope all you lovelies had a great weekend. I had an awesome Saturday with no hubby, no little one, lots of shopping and lots of mojitos made my way...
So, probably too many mojitos but hey, it happens :)

CONFESSION OF THE DAY: I totally got into a facebook fight with a relative over a picture of someones hair. I made a comment about this pic...
I think I said "amazing hair". Totally not meaning to offend. I really was captured by it (I suck at doing hair). Then the person commented back saying that she was a hair dresser and liked big hair. I replied by saying "obviously". Which then the next day I was greeted with a message in my inbox saying how rude I was and that I shouldn't judge other people and if I cant say anything nice than blah, blah, blah....

Anyway, I just wanted to ask you all, do you think my comments were rude and judgemental? I didn't mean them that way. I am a very blunt and honest person. I guess it could be a character flaw but I see it more as a personality trait :).