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 :)

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 :)

Super Sloppy Joes and Some Sludge

Thought I would drop in and show off a few of my eats/cooks from the last few days. Here's my fruit cereal from this morning...

• half a mango
• whole kiwi
• giant banana
• cinnamon
• NuNaturals Stevia (packet)
• almond butter
  

I have been sticking with tons of fruit every morning since trying the raw/combining detox. That was just one of my many morning bowls :).

I picked this fresh from my garden the other day...
Which in turn produced these...
Yumma delicious and crispy...
I ate that along with a salad for lunch yesterday and my new favorite hummus dressing...

Its Trader Joe's Tahini Free and properly combined :)

For dinner I made pizza for the man and the little one using Trader Joe's ww crust, chicken, leftover roasted potatoes, pizza seasoning and lots of mozzarella....
I ate some AMAZING leftover Tex Mex Turkey Sloppy Joe over a bed of zucchini "noodles" with fresh steamed green beans and brussel sprouts...
Lunch today was a huge ass, juicy portabella sandwich on Ezek...

This x2

Snack...
Another snack...
The sludge above is Averie's Raw Vegan Brownie Recipe. I didn't measure but threw in about 8 dates, 1/4 cup walnuts, dark chocolate cocoa powder a few squeezes of agave, and NuNaturals Vanilla Stevia (good stuff by the way). This was supposed to last a few days. But by accident the little one and I finished it off on one sitting. Man Averie, I don't if I can make this stuff anymore. It is that good!! Averie has a Vitamix so hers looks a bit different. My measly blender didn't make it as pretty but I can assure you it didn't effect the taste!!

TEX MEX TURKEY SLOPPY JOES with Corn & Peppers
Serves 6

• 1 ear fresh corn
• 8oz. extra lean ground turkey breast
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 1 yellow bell pepper, diced
• 1 large red onion, diced
• 4 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 2 medium tomatoes, diced
• 1 cup low sodium chicken broth
• 1 tbsp. no salt added tomato paste
• 2 tsp. low sodium soy sauce
• ww buns/bread
• 1 tbsp arrowroot powder dissolved in 2 tbsp cold water (I omitted)
• 1/2 cup low fat jack cheese, shredded

1. Cut kernels off cob and set aside
2. In a large skillet, cook turkey. Add peppers and cook about 2 min. Add onion and cook about 4 min. Add chile powder, garlic powder, and salt, cook 1 min. Stir in tomatoes, corn, broth, tomato paste and soy sauce, increase heat and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 20 min.
   
3. Add arrowroot mixture to sloppy joe mixture and stir until sauce thickens.
   
4. Serve on buns and top with cheese.

Here's the mans...
Extra sloppy because I didn't have arrowroot. But it was also extra delicious!! There are so many things you can do with this. I think adding beans would make an awesome chili and it worked great over my zucchini noodles!! I know it was a lot of ingredients but it was super simple to throw together. Thank you CLEAN EATING MAG!!!

CONFESSION OF THE DAY: I feel bad for my fam. on days I feel like I have over eaten because I never end up making dinner on those days for some reason and they are left to fend for themselves. Today for example, too much raw brownie sludge = no dinner for fam.

Brownies Baby!!!

Hello loves! Its almost time for the recipe you all have been waiting for. But first, some notable eats of the past few days.
This ^ is Natalia Rose's Raw "Peanut" Sauce. I have been seeing it everywhere and knew I needed to try it for myself. I of course had to make a few changes because I did not have all the ingredients on hand. You can Google it and find the recipe in several places like here. The first adjustment I made was scaling it down to one serving just in case I didn't like it (even thought there is not much I don't like), also I didn't want to sacrifice a whole cup of almond butter :). I nixed the water, the oil and the Nama Shoyu (whatever that is?) and instead of lemon juice I used lime and instead of a jalapeno I used red pepper flakes. The result? A beautifully creamy, tangy but slightly spicy dressing. I loved it and served it over this salad for lunch at my moms...

• leftover broccoli slaw
• zucchini
• carrot
• tomato
• raw corn
• cucumber
  
• sea salt

My mom tasted it and loved it so much she made her own salad and dumped the leftover juice from mine onto hers :) I also had some Ezek smeared with some of the dressing..
For dinner I was craving me some salmon. I marinated and then cooked in the oven and topped with BBQ sauce...
It was a 6 oz fillet and this was half. I went back for the other half :).

Now for the recipe you have all been waiting for.... SWEET POTATO AND CINNAMON BROWNIES
I adapted it from this months Clean Eating Magazine. It says that it serves 16 but I beg to differ!!

• 1 cup ww flour
• 1/2 unsweetened cocoa powder (I prefer Hershey's Dark)
• 1 tbsp cinnamon, ground
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 1 cup cooked sweet potato
• 1/4 cup agave
  
• 1/4 cup NuNaturals More Fiber Stevia Baking Blend (recipe calls for 1/2 cup agave)
• 1/4 cup coconut oil (recipe calls for olive oil), peanut butter would be great as well
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• egg substitute equal to 6 egg white (recipe calls for 6 egg whites)
• cooking spray

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Combine all dry ingredients in a medium bowl and set aside. In a processor combine sweet potato with rest of wet ingredients and puree until smooth.
   
3. Gradually incorporate wet into dry, until just combined. Do not over mix
4. In a separate dry bowl, whisk egg whites until fluffy. Then fold into batter gently, using rubber spatula.
5. Spray the sides of a 9x9x2 baking dish. Pour into pan and place batter into oven. Bake 16 to 18 min. Remove and allow to cool for 30 min.
   

The Frosting is as follows (I recommend just straight up peanut butter)

• 1/2 low fat plain cream cheese
• 3 tbsp agave
• 1 tbsp unsweet cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tbsp water (optional)

Mix all together and spread on cooled brownies. Don't make the mistake I did and not let the cream cheese soften if you buy the brick. That's why mine looks lumpy. There is only so much I can remember with 2 sweets crazed kids in the house at 10 o'clock at night.

Nutrition for original recipe: 140 cals, 5 grams fat, 21 carbs, 12 sugars, 4 grams protein

The man didn't even know there was sweet potato in them but if you look close enough you can see it...

....It sure dint deter the little one!! The brownies were polished off in less than 24 hours. They were so thick and fudgy and I absolutely loved them.

Ok, now for the 10 things honest things about me for the Scrap Award I received from dear sweet Linda (this is doubling as my CONFESSION OF THE DAY)

1. I have a brother that's 38
2. I have an older sister that died last September
3. I played volleyball, basketball and softball in my freshman year of HS (I later just stuck with softball)
4. Scary movies make me cry
5. I met, got pregnant and married my husband with in 5 months (yes, in that order)
6. I was the school bus bully in elementary school (that's what happens when you are at least a foot taller than everyone else)
7. I never finished college
8. My littlest kitten is named "Puffin" after the cereal Peanut Butter Puffins
9. I am looking for job (anybody wanna hook me up?)
10. I went to 5 different high schools

Whose excited that's its almost Friday?? Any plans? The lake is calling this mamas name!!!!!

To come....
Tex Mex Sloppy Joe's
Inside Out Reece's Cups

Monte Cristo

Hey guys!! Things are good here. I am back to lots of cooking (and not just raw) and loving it :). I had a couple people ask me if I lost weight while doing the raw/food combining detox and to be perfectly honest, I don't know. I didn't weight myself but I do know that my dress that I bought 2 weeks before was not as snug as when I first bought it.

Before getting into the food I want to just say how honored I feel to receive the Honest Award from my fellow bloggie Linda from Linda Gets Fit. ...

This is what the award is for...
"This award is bestowed upon a fellow blogger whose blog content or design is, in the giver’s opinion, brilliant. This award is about bloggers who post from their heart, who oftentimes put their heart on display as they write from the depths of their soul."

There are three rules that need to be followed upon accepting this award.
1)Brag about it
2)Select 7 Blogs you find brilliant and link to them
3)List 10 honest things about yourself

Woohhoooo I got an honest award!! Take that biaaachesss!!! Ok, I think that's good enough for bragging :).

7 honest blogs that I think deserve this award????

1. http://ksgoodeats.wordpress.com/
2. http://www.thinspiredblog.com/
3. http://www.thesaladgirl.com/
4. http://thehealthyeverythingtarian.wordpress.com/
5. http://ohonemorething.wordpress.com/
6. http://iheartrunningfood.wordpress.com/
7. and this is new bloggie but I can already tell I am gonna love it, http://loveveggiesandyoga.blogspot.com/ (check out her hot abs!!)

Check back for the 10 things in my next post. That one is gonna take sometime. I mean seriously what do not already know about me????
(sorry guys I am stopping at 5)


Now, on to some good ole fashioned cooked food. This recipe is from Clean Eating Magazine. A BETTER MONTE CRISTO...Serves 4

• 1lb turkey breast scaloppini (thin sliced), cut into 4 oz. pieces (I used turkey cutlets)
• 2 tsp. olive oil, divided
• 1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• sea salt and ground pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup egg whites
• 2 tbsp skim milk
• cayenne pepper to taste (I omitted because my man and little one don't like spicy)
• 3 tbsp Dijon mustard
  
• 8 slices whole grain bread
• 1 cup baby spinach leaves
• 1 pear, thinly sliced
• 4 1oz slices low fat Swiss cheese

1. Season turkey with 1tsp olive oil, oregano, salt and pepper
2. Heat skillet over medium high heat. Add turkey and saute until light golden brown at edges and fully cooked. Set aside.
   
3. In a shallow dish, whisk together egg whites and milk. Season with salt and peppers. Set aside.
4. Spread about 1tsp Dijon mustard on 1 side of each slice of bread and place, Dijon side up, onto a flat work surface. Layer equal parts spinach, pear, and turkey onto all four slices. top each with cheese and other slice bread, Dijon side down, pressing gently.
   
5. Heat remaining oil over medium heat.
6. Carefully dip both sides of sandwich into egg mixture (egg should go about half way up each side of bread). Transfer to pan and saute, turning once, until golden brown and crisp. Cut and serve immediately.

These can easily be made vegetarian or vegan with the proper substitutions. Such as portabello for turkey and an egg, milk and cheese substitute.

Approximately 420 cals per sandwich, 7 grams fat, 34 carbs, 53 grams protein

I did not eat the sandwiches but they got 4 big thumbs up from the man and the little one. This was my dinner....

(the green beans are fresh from my garden)

Stay tuned for the SWEET POTATO AND CINNAMON BROWNIES


CONFESSION OF THE DAY: I burst into tears this morning at the gym while on the treadmill listening to the story of how 8 people were killed in a car crash in New York. The part where the ladies brother was talking about his three children at the funeral really got me. Such a sad story. Did you here it??

5 Calorie Frozen Chocolate Bar, What????

Totally been craving chocolate lately. Heres some of my creations/recreations. Chocolate Chia Stuff....

• 1 cup unsweet. choc. almond milk
• 1 tbsp. chia seeds
• NuNaturals Stevia
• Now dark choc. stevia

Stick in fridge, let thicken, enjoy :)

5 Calorie Frozen Chocolate Bar...

• 1 tbsp. Hershey's dark choc. cocoa powder
• 4 tbsp. water
• few drops of NuNaturals Stevia
• few drops of NOW dark choc. stevia

Mix in a small bowl, cover and freeze. Then eat when frozen :)

Dinner last night...
BBQed pork tenderloin, sugar snap peas, and a salad w/ homemade dressing.

After the gym this morning I had a different twist on my fresh fruit "cereal". I present you with Banana Soft Serve Breakfast Sunday...
It was FREAKING AMAZING!!!!....
The only thing missing was a big heaping spoonful of nut butter :(

After breakfast and cleaning up the little one, me and my madre and padre headed to the Nashville Sounds minor league baseball game. On the way I ate my current fav sandwich...

• Portabello mushroom
• romaine
• avo
• red bell
• Ezekiel
  

We had great seats a the game. Directly behind the back stop...
And a great view of the hotties in both dug outs...The little one got her wish of sugar laden, cotton candy...
Which somehow invoked another chocolate craving in me....

Properly combined? No. Good? Hell yes!!

My dad had his two favorite beers....

Shocktop and Blue Moon

He also had a heaping helping of "plaque" to add to his already 163 point cardiac calcium scoring. ...

Italian Sausage and other crap

Way to give that heart disease another head start.

The little one wasn't leaving without seeing "Ozzie" the mascot...
After a special request I came home and made Lasagna for the little one and the man. I made myself some "spaghetti"...
Now I am just chillin catching up on some shows and my tum tum is already starting to talk to me.

CONFESSION OF THE DAY: The little one totally "walked in" on me and the man this morning!! First time this has happened and I think I am more traumatized then she is!!!

A Raw Nut Butter And Lunch With My Favorite Girls

Hey guys. I am thrilled for the turn out of my giveaway. If you haven't already entered its OK because you have until Friday at midnight. Click here and scroll to the bottom for the rules. Some of you are commenting but not doing what the rules say. I am a by the rules chick so make sure you read it thoroughly :)

I am going to rewind to yesterday. I hit the gym for a great sweat sesh first thing in the morning. This was my breakfast and lunch...

Salad topped with leftover Black Bean Fajita Meatballs

Dinner wasn't very interesting so I will spare you. After dinner the little one insisted on going for a ride in daddy's "motor thing", aka his jeep. So we took it for a ride over to my parents house to bring in the mail and check on the cat (they are in Fl.). Here she is on the Renegade...
When I got home I decided to make some nut butter with some red skinned peanuts that had been chillin in my pantry. I used a recipe from a raw cookbook which called for

• 2 cups favorite nuts
• 1 cup coconut water, orange juice, or apple juice

*Grind nuts into a fine powder then add liquid and blend well.

I halved the recipe and used the red skinned nuts (deskined), cashews and fresh squeezed OJ. Here's the nuts before deskinning...
My final product...
Turned out pretty good. I love the texture!

I was so tired last night I hit the sack at about 9. Good thing because I got up at 4:40 am for my class at the YMCA. After getting home I had breakfast and hit the sack again for about an hour more rest. By then it was time to get ready for my lunch date with HEAB. I love her and was looking forward to our lunch because I have not seen her since before my trip to the Dominican.

Lunch was great as always and my bestie that I threw the baby shower for also meet us there. We opted not to add lettuce from the salad bar this time because I bought some spinach to use in there (didn't want to waste the extra weight). Well, I don't know if that was such a great idea.

Wanna see what an almost $20 salad looks like? HEABS girl you were hungry!!! teeeeeheee...
My salad...

Little ones lunch...

Your right she didn't brush her hair today.

Pregger girls salad...
Group pic minus the preggers friend. She wasn't feeling up to a pic and I totally understand!!...
Again don't forget about all the yummy things in my giveaway. I would hate for you to miss out.

CONFESSION OF THE DAY: This isn't really about me but I have to share it anyway. Last night I realized that my husband didn't know what a bikini was. BAAhahahaa!!!! He made a statement about a girl "in a one piece bikini". I had to explain. It was to funny!!!