Quick Lunch Snack/Quick Post

Hummus, Guacamole and Toast

A quick lunchtime snack I've been enjoying lately has been Ezekiel bread toasted, with Sabra hummus and guacamole from Wholly Guacamole. Who needs mayo?

Holy Cow Chocolate Syrup

Its my cheat weekend and I will drink chocolate milk if I want to. But I'm at home at 8 p.m. and I want my favorite chocolate milk, which I can only find at my grocery store, not anywhere closer. I once saw Alton Brown make a homemade chocolate syrup so I looked it up. Like my husband said, Alton Brown is a genius.

Here is his recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/cocoa-syrup-recipe/index.html

I don't usually have dutch processed cocoa regularly in my home, but I always have cacao powder. (see my banana milk smoothie recipe that I have almost daily). If you don't know much about cacao, here's some good info for you featuring Drew Canole. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXflcI7YtEk&feature=g-u-u

Here is my recipe:
1 cup of sugar
1/3 cup cacao powder
1 cup of water
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
2 teaspoons of light corn syrup
pinch of salt

Bring the water and sugar to a boil, then mix in the remainder of the ingredients until dissolved. Reduce sauce until slightly thick. Strain and cool, then enjoy!

My chocolate milk was delicious! It's almost as good as or BETTER than the store bought kind!

Green Smoothies

I revamped my old green smoothie recipe into something that seems more filling. It was time for a change. I had taken the same dark green smoothie drink to work for over two years. Same old taste, same old strange looks when I brought it out of my lunch bag.

Here is my old recipe:
1/4 or 1/3 cup of frozen pineapple
1/4 or 1/3 cup of frozen mango
1/3 slice of frozen banana
1/2 cup of orange juice
1/4 cup of spinach
1/4 cup of water
1 teaspoon of spirulina powder
1 tablespoon of hemp protein powder

Blend the spinach and water together until completely blended. Then add in the rest of the ingredients and blend.



I throw my new recipe into the vitamix

Yummy green goodness

New recipe:
2 slices of frozen peaches
4 cubes of frozen pineapple
4 cups of frozen mango
1/3 slice of banana
1/4 organic french vanilla yogurt
1/3 cup or splash of almond milk
1/4 cup orange juice
1 teaspoon spirulina
1/3 cup pecans
1 kale leaf

Chicken's Chicken Cacciatore and Veggie Cacciatore

My husband and I purchased a cast iron dutch oven (see link below) that sat on our stove and looked beautiful sitting there for several months. So I looked up recipes and I found this lovely youtube video: Chicken Cacciatore - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MCjC3vd-sA

I made different variations on these two, one vegetarian version. Here is what I did. I apologize for the sometimes strange directions, I know I usually don't measure.

Ingredients:
Three or four boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 diced tomato
1 medium diced onion
8 oz sliced mushrooms
1 diced bell pepper
2 tablespoons garlic
1 can of tomato sauce
Vegetable and Chicken broth
Red wine vinegar
Flour
Salt and pepper
Olive oil

Cook the chicken breasts in the pan with the oil on high heat after covering them in flour and adding salt and pepper to them. After the breasts are browned, remove them from the pan and start cooking the onion in the remaining oil, you may have to add more oil if needed and lower the temperature. After the onion has softened a bit, add one tablespoon of garlic, the bell pepper, mushrooms and tomato sauce into the mixture. Then add the chicken back into the pan. Add about two tablespoons of redwine vinegar and 1/2 cup of chicken broth. Cover and let simmer for twenty minutes or so.

For the Veggie Cacciatore: Since I'm making this at the same time as the chicken cacciatore, I use some of the same ingredients in a smaller pan, since this will only be for one. I start with olive oil and onions, then add garlic, mushrooms, tomato sauce (no bell pepper for me). I usually use 1/4 of what I've diced for the chicken cacciatore for the veggie cacciatore. I then add about a half a tablespoon of red wine vinegar and a tiny bit, maybe 1/4 cup of veggie broth if needed. This only needs to cook for roughly 10-15 minutes.

Serve over egg noodles:




Chicken's Chicken Cacciatore

Veggie Cacciatore

Blended lentil, tomato and onion

I was ready to make green beans, only to find that I had waited too long to make them and that they lived a short life in the fridge. I realized that I had lentils, but I didn't like any of the recipes I found online, so I decided to make my own simple blend.

Blended lentil, tomato & onion
Ingredients:
1/2 cup lentils
salt & pepper to taste
2 tablespoons of butter
1 tomato
1/4 chopped onion
1 tablespoon of garlic

Cook lentils in 1 cup water and salt until they soften. At the same time, melt butter in a small pan then cook the onions until they start to soften. Dice the tomato, and add the tomato and garlic to the pan. Cover for 5-10 minutes until all ingredients are soft. Mix in lentils then cover for another 10 minutes. Blend or mix the contents of the pan in a food processor until everything is smooth. Add about 1/4 water from the lentil water if there is any left if the paste is too thick. It reminded me of refried beans. It went great with our quinoa tonight!

Makes 2 1/2 servings

New Experiment!

New sweet potato enchilada recipe! Tonight's dinner was all experimental, with the exception of the spanish style quinoa that I've made before. Let's get to it, here is what I did:

Sweet potato enchiladas:
One sweet potato
Chopped chicken (optional)
cumin
3/4 cup of diced tomatoes
olive oil
vegetable broth
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup chopped spinach
One onion
Red enchilada corn tortillas
2 cloves of garlic

Set oven to 425 degrees. Cut the sweet potato in half and bake for about 35 minutes. In the meantime, heat onions and garlic with olive oil in a large pan until transparent. Add diced tomatoes and salt, pepper, and cumin to taste. When the sweet potato is soft, place in a food processor with the onion mix and blend, then add a little vegetable broth as needed. (Mixture should be thick and soupy). Return the blend to the large pan and heat. Add a 1/4 cup of cheese, chopped chicken and spinach. Heat a small pan with olive oil and saturate and heat the corn tortillas until soft. Add mix to inside and outside of the enchilada, and top with remaining cheese.

Spanish style quinoa:
1/2 cup of qunioa, rinsed
1 garlic clove
1/4 cup of onions
cumin
Diced tomatoes (about 1/4 cup)
salt and pepper to taste

Mix one cup of water and quinoa under medium heat in a sauce pan. Add chopped onion, garlic, cumin and salt and pepper. Stir and mix until quinoa is fully cooked. Taste and add seasonings as needed.

Blackbeans, canned, I only added about 1/4 cup of cream cheese.

Asparagus, Quinoa & Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

I have to admit, I never really had asparagus until I was an adult, and the first time that I tried it, I didn't like it. After we made stir fry sauce with ginger, I was looking around for other recipes that used ginger and I found this awesome video: Asparagus Ginger Recipe. I will definitely be eating more asparagus from now on!

We made this with quinoa. If you have never made/heard of/tried quinoa, here is a great explanation from Dani Spies about what quinoa is and how to cook it: Quinoa 101. Quinoa is easy to make, we rinsed about half a cup in a strainer, then put 3/4 cup of water with the quinoa into the steamer and then it's done in about 20 minutes.

I picked up some organic pumpkin seeds but I didn't really enjoy their taste. I cooked about a cup in a frying pan on medium high heat with a tiny bit, maybe about 1/4 teaspoon of olive oil, and I added about 1/4 teaspoon of paprika, and salt to taste. When I turned off the heat and squeezed the juice of 1/2 lemon into them, then spread them out on a baking sheet. With the oven set at 350, I roasted the pumpkin seeds for five-seven minutes. (Keep an eye on them, they should be a little bit brown but not burned.)


Links:
Why You Can't Lose Those Last 10 pounds: http://shine.yahoo.com/event/loveyourbody/why-you-cant-lose-those-last-10-pounds-1964849/

6 Beverage Industry Secrets they Don't Want You to Know. http://health.yahoo.net/experts/eatthis/6-beverage-industry-secrets-they-dont-want-you-know-0

Great Health website: http://www.healthcastle.com/

The benefits of Exercise - http://health.yahoo.net/articles/fitness/5-mind-blowing-benefits-exercise