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The Easiest Meatballs You’ll Ever Make

By Ami on November 9, 2016 in Main Dishes

You know what makes me crazy? (I promise it won’t be a long tirade this time) Meatballs. By the name we should be able to infer it’s just a delicious ball of meat. Sadly this is not the case. Next time you go to the store, check the back on a bag of meatballs. All meatballs are made with bread crumbs but often also have soy, sugar and even corn syrup. Why must we defile a beautiful ball of meat this way?

Because meatballs are an important part of life, I came up with my own recipe with, wait for it… MEAT! Aside with the meat and an egg to bind it together, the only other ingredients in these meatballs are Italian spices and seasonings to make said meat taste amazing. The best part is, these meatballs are SOOO easy to make. Way easier than a meatball full of strange ingredients.

At first I chopped my onion and garlic with a knife. I realized they weren’t chopped finely enough but decided I was way too lazy to try to chop them smaller. I threw them in my mini food processor and they were finely diced in about five seconds. That moment changed my life. I decided to never use a knife to chop onions again. I feel a freedom I haven’t felt since the day I graduated from college.

See that cute, little hand. That’s my 5-year-old daughter. She loves to help me cook.

The key to a tender, juicy meatball is to mix everything but the meat together first. I learned this tip on the Food Network. Thanks celebrity chefs. After I mixed the onion, garlic and seasonings together with a fork, I added in the meat.

Another key to a great meatball is to use your hands to mix it together once you add the meat. No it’s not your most glamorous moment, but you can’t mix everything properly with a spoon. You need to use your hands.

I like to bake my meatballs rather than fry them because it’s a lot less work. Once you bake them you have two options. At this point, you can stick them in a freezer bag and have delicious, Italian meatballs for another day. Or, you can simmer them in my sugar-free marinara sauce (click here for recipe).

When I make them for my family, they eat them over a whole grain pasta. I eat mine over a bed of spinach. I love the slight wilting the heat gives the spinach, which makes it warm but still slightly crunchy.

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The Best Pumpkin Dish You’ll Make This Fall

By Ami on November 4, 2016 in Guilt-Free Treats

Excited doesn’t really cover how I feel about this recipe. I made it on a Sunday and literally dreamed about it the night before. Yes, I am that big of a loser and yes, it did live up to my dream.

I used to make a pumpkin dump cake that made my heart happy. It was creamy and warm on the bottom with a crunchy, sweet top. I LOVED it! The problem was, it was loaded with both white and brown sugar and was topped with a cake mix…. which you had to add even more sugar to. I thought about cheating and just making the darn thing (Yes, it would have been worth it), but before I sold my soul I decided to try to make a healthier version.

I’m SO glad I did. The pumpkin layer is warm, creamy, sweet and bursting with fall flavors. The topping contrasts nicely with the creamy base and the flavors work perfectly together. This is a perfect dessert for a cold night. Though since this dessert is so good I almost cried, I’ll probably make it for my birthday… in April.

So if you believe all men (and women) are entitled to the pursuit of happiness, make this… now. No really. Go do it.

A few tips first (sorry for the false alarm. Hopefully you aren’t running to grab your slow cooker).

Make sure you grease your slow cooker. If you don’t, instead of talking about how much you love me, you’ll be cursing me to the depths of Hades. Grease that sucker!

Yes, this has a lot of ingredients, but it truly is a dump cake. Two bowls and a slow cooker. That’s it. You don’t even have to beat the pumpkin layer in stages. I really did just throw everything in a bowl and beat it.

Make sure you distribute the topping evenly when you sprinkle it over the pumpkin. This is basically going to cook up like a cake layer, so you want it as even as you can get it. Though since it is a dump cake, you really can’t ruin it. This just makes it better.

The same goes for the butter. This provides a lot of the liquid for the cake layer, so you’ll want it even. But again, you can’t ruin this. The moisture from the pumpkin and the steaming affect of the slow cooker will get any spots you miss.

As far as the pecans go, they are totally optional. If you hate pecans or they kill you if you eat them, you should leave them out. I love the flavor of pecans with pumpkin and fall spices so I left them in. You can even substitute them with another nut if you like. Not peanuts though. I like peanuts as much as the next squirrel, but that just sounds wrong.

Lastly, this is a dish that is amazing on its own, but is even better topped with something cold and creamy. While ice cream would be amazing, we decided to go with something a little healthier and use coconut cream. Don’t worry. If you can hold a hand mixer, you can make coconut cream. Click here for instructions from The Pioneer Woman. We sweeten ours with honey.

Okay. Now you are armed with what you need so go and make it. Now. It’s not a false alarm this time…

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One Pan Autumn Chicken and Veggie Dinner

By Ami on October 28, 2016 in Main Dishes

I recently got a new set of knives. I didn’t exactly need them, but they were at Costco and they came in different colors. They were so pretty I couldn’t resist. I’m kind of like a fish drawn to shiny things. I brought my lovely knives home and unpacked them (which was quite an accomplishment since the package was pretty much welded together) and selected which knife to use based on color. The massacre began when I was slicing an onion. My new, very sharp knife slipped and I cut my pointer and middle finger. Luckily we have a rather extensive collection of Star Wars band-aids, so I wrapped up my hands and went back to making dinner. The next cut was to my knuckle. I’m still not totally sure how that one happened, but there it was. Another R2D2 bandaid and I was set to go.

A few days later I was making something with coconut milk and cut my other knuckle on the can. It’s been so bad lately that my 8-year-old who is as oblivious to what’s going on around him as any 8-year-old said, “Mom. Why do you keep cutting your hands? Maybe you shouldn’t use knives anymore.” Seriously! Am I the only one who is a total spaz in the kitchen? Am I the only one who goes through more band-aids than their children?

To make my story relevant, I have a recipe for you that requires a lot of chopping. One thing it doesn’t require though is a lot of is dishes. I wanted a complete meat and veggie meal that could be made with one pan. Done!

Not only does this dish come together in one pan, but it’s a savory dish that has all the delicious flavors of fall.

To make things easier, chop all your veggies and add them to a large plastic bag with the oil, salt and pepper. Then shake it up to coat the veggies.

Here’s where the fall flavors come in. We get to make a fabulous spice blend that has slightly sweet flavors like cinnamon and orange, and warm flavors like paprika and cumin.

Using the same bag you tossed the veggies in, toss some chicken thighs with the seasoning mix. Remember that commercial back in the 80’s/90’s with the little girl who helped make the chicken? “It’s shake and bake and I helped.” Funny. I don’t remember freshman science, but I remember that commercial. That’s basically what we’re going to do here.

So if the veggies and chicken covered in delicious flavors isn’t enough, we up the flavor with the ingredient that improves anything: Bacon! I ended up using 8 slices of bacon to wrap all 6 thighs but use however many you need/want based on the size of thighs you have.

The chicken goes on the same pan as the veggies and it all goes in the oven together.

I like to eat mine over spinach, but my husband thinks that’s a terrible idea. You choose.

However you eat it, be careful cutting those veggies.

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Sugar Detox Sloppy Joes

By Ami on October 7, 2016 in Main Dishes

1969. It was a big year the world. Richard Nixon became president, man walked on the moon and Hunts came out with a can of deliciousness called Manwich. Yes, Manwich. Just add ground meat and you have yourself a delicious sloppy joe. I grew up with this stuff. We kept it on hand a long with emergency water and matches in case of power failure. So when I got married and started my own family, I knew I had to stock up on the Manwich.

Sadly, life changes. Richard Nixon resigned after questionable activity, NASA had budget cuts and had to put an end to the Apollo missions, and I read the label on the back of a can of Manwich. The second ingredient listed is high fructose corn syrup, followed by regular corn syrup. A few ingredients later we have sugar and down the list we have ingredients with a breakdown that include high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup and sugar. That’s one giant crash for mankind, Manwich.

Yet if we learned anything from Adam Sandler and Chris Farley, it’s that sloppy joes are awesome. So something had to be done.

What I came up with was a delicious, healthy, saucy mixture to go with my ground beef for a sloppy joe that puts Manwich to shame. Eat your heart out, Manwich! But first, drizzle a little high fructose corn syrup over it.

The key is to let the ingredients simmer together.

After you brown your beef and onion, add the liquids and spices and let the whole mixture simmer together for 20 minutes. One of the ingredients in this recipe is that amazing bone broth I told you to make a few weeks ago. Now it’s even healthier than before.

We sometimes have this on whole wheat buns, but my favorite way is to scoop some into a lettuce cup. The crunch pairs nicely with the meat.

My husband and kids eat this with shredded cheese on the top, but dairy makes my hand beak out in eczema like I have a zombie hand, so I pass on the cheese.

Now if I could just find another way to put man on the moon…

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Forget Taco Tuesday! Let’s do Taco Burger Tuesday!

By Ami on September 23, 2016 in Main Dishes

A few weeks ago our family was in Breckenridge, CO. It’s one of the most beautiful, peaceful places I’ve ever been and one of our family’s favorite vacation spots. Seriously, if it didn’t snow six months out of the year, we’d live there. Our first night there we ate at a steakhouse. Steakhouses are great for healthy eating because it’s usually really easy to order any cut of meat you want and a ton of veggies.

I saw a “Spicy Santa Fe” burger on the menu that looked delicious. I asked if they could serve it without a bun and they were more than willing (side note: most restaurants will happily serve a burger without a bun). The burger was so amazing I wanted to recreate in at home. While I love the name “Spice Santa Fe” burger, It basically seemed like a taco in burger form to me, so I decided to just call it a Taco Burger.

I seasoned the meat with my Healthy Taco Seasoning (click here for recipe). This gave the patties themselves great flavor. Then add the toppings to the cooked patties and they tasted like a taco, but even better.

We all used different toppings in our family, but some suggested toppings are:

Better than Restaurant Pico de Gallo (click here for recipe)
Avocado
Sauteed bell peppers (green, yellow, red, orange, whatever combination you like)
Caramelized onions
Pepper Jack Cheese Slices
Salsa
Mayonnaise

The rest of my family had their burgers on whole wheat buns, but I had mine on a lettuce cup. You could even serve it on a bed of spinach like a salad.

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Better than the 70’s: Healthy Peanut Butter Fruit Dip

By Ami on September 9, 2016 in Guilt-Free Treats, Healthy Snacks, Holidays

I clearly remember New Year’s Eve growing up. We’d get together with my BFF’s family (no, seriously. We’re in our 30’s now and we still talk multiple times weekly). The adults would do horribly boring things (like chat about things other than Barbies and tutus) and the kids would run around all night. A few weeks before, we’d order a bunch of those super junky toys from Oriental Trading. We would play with those toys all night, or until they broke 20 minutes later. The most memorable toy was an ice cream cone with a trigger. When you pulled it, the ice cream part shot off the cone part. Yep. My childhood rocked.

We always had a ton of awesome food too. I’m sure there were cookies and meat trays, but the thing I remember the most was my mom’s fruit dip. I know that seems strange for an 8-year-old to have a hankering for fruit dipped in a sugary substance over a chocolaty brownie, but it was just so good! It was straight from the 70’s complete with a tub of cool whip, cream cheese and a crap-load of sugar. Nothing says “Happy New Year” like a sugar coma.

I was thinking about said dip and my ice cream cone shooter the other day and became sad that I can no longer live in ignorance about the unhealthy reality of my beloved fruit dip. That’s when I went on a mission to create a new fruit dip. A fruit dip that would put the 70’s fruit dip to shame and wouldn’t give you diabetes.

I wanted it to be easy, so I decided to keep the ingredients to a minimum. Instead of the cool whip portion, I used a full-fat Greek yogurt. It helped the dip have the same creamy consistency without all the artificial ingredients. I found this fabulous Greek yogurt at Sprouts. Make sure you pick one without a lot of added junk.

Instead of cream cheese, I used peanut butter. I mainly did this because peanut butter is just awesome, and has the ability to make things feel sweet without adding sugar. Since we nixed our artificial sweetener by removing the cool whip, we needed a little flavor. The peanut-butter made it PERFECT!

To bump up the flavor, I just added in a little vanilla and cinnamon. The dip isn’t overly sweet, but since fruit has natural sweeteners, the combination of fruit and dip gave this the perfect sweetness. If you want a little more sweetness though for a special occasion like a New Year’s Eve party complete with awesomely-cheap toys, feel free to add a little honey.

So now not only do you have a fruit dip free of sugars and artificial ingredients, but one packed with protein and healthy fats. It’s good enough to have for breakfast!

Hopefully this dip will help my children make as many awesome memories as I had as a kid. But I need to find the ice cream shooter to ensure that.

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Make-Ahead Egg Muffins

By Ami on August 26, 2016 in Breakfast

My kids started school this week. This was a big deal because my youngest started Kindergarten! I’ve never seen someone so excited to go to school. So now I have 3 1/2 hours to myself every day because we opted for half-day Kindergarten. My daughter is a smart little coconut and I’m sure she’d do just fine in full-day, but I needed the adjustment from half to full day. Here are my cutie patooties ready to go! In the words of my mom, one of these kids was okay with going to school (school is old hat once you hit third grade) and the other one is excited beyond all reason.

Day 1, I was so excited. I went grocery shopping by myself for the first time in years. It was so liberating. But then my daughter’s favorite song came on the radio. It made me a little… sad. I’m a complicated person.

Anyway… that’s what’s going on in our lives. That cute little girl in the picture loves to have eggs for breakfast. The problem is, I don’t have time to make eggs every morning now that we have to leave for school at 7:30 a.m. I wake up at 5:45 and work out while my husband gets the kids breakfast. In order to save on time and make sure the kids have a good breakfast, we set it out the night before. So how could I give my daughter eggs, but make breakfast the night before (and scrambling eggs at 9:30 p.m. was not an option for me)?

The solution: Egg muffins. These are SOOOO easy to make. Just scramble eggs and flavor them however you want. My daughter loves salsa and this makes them even easier to flavor. Be careful with salsa. There are some great options out there but read the labels. It’s really easy to find salsa without sugar, but you have to check and make sure they didn’t sneak it in. My daughter also loves bacon, so I cooked some bacon before, chopped that up and added it in.

Then I just put the eggs into a muffin tin using an ice cream scoop. Make sure you grease the pan well.

Just bake them at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes.

After the egg muffins cool put them in a Ziploc freezer bag and put them in the freezer.

When I want to serve one, I put it in the fridge the night before. Then in the morning I (or my husband) just stick it in the microwave for about 30 seconds.

This breakfast will give your kids the energy they need to leave you and go out into the world… I’ll get through this… give it a few weeks and I’ll be fine…

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Salted Caramel Cookie Dough Brownies

By Ami on August 5, 2016 in Guilt-Free Treats

Back in the day (the day of processed sugars), I used to have a reputation for baking. People asked me to make cookies and cupcakes for events and whenever people came for dinner, they were always most excited for dessert. So when I gave up sugar, I was scared to lose that reputation. I still love to make (and eat) yummy treats. I just have to do it with healthier ingredients and eat it in moderation (meaning i can’t have an entire pan of brownies myself. Sad day.)

Last Sunday we had friends over for dinner for the first time. I was confident I could make a healthy dinner anyone would like because who doesn’t like meat and potatoes? But the dessert had me a little scared. So I decided to combine three different recipes to make one amazing dessert. Everyone was impressed and I still get to experience the joy of watching people eat my treats.

I started out with the Coconut Flour Brownies From Empowered Sustenance. I added 1/2 a cup of dark chocolate chips to these because…. well I don’t think I ever need to give an explanation for adding more chocolate. These brownies are amazing, if you make them right. The first few times I made them, I overcooked them. Check them halfway through baking time and frequently after. If they feel set in the middle, you’ve overcooked them. Watch the edges and make sure they don’t get too dark. These brownies are gooey and soft, unless you overcook them.

I’ve topped these brownies with peanut butter frosting and chocolate frosting and mint frosting, but I wanted to do something more fun. I decided to top them with Edible Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough from Wicked Spatula. When you make this cookie dough, make sure you process it for a long time. If you don’t, it won’t be fluffy. If you keep it going, the dough turns out fluffy and soft just like regular cookie dough.

The brownie and the cookie dough would have been plenty, but I wanted something to really send this over the top. I went with Salted Coconut Caramel Sauce from An Edible Mosaic. This sauce was my favorite part of the dessert. This sauce is great over ice cream, brownies or just a spoon. A massive spoon. A ladle really. It’s that good. This thickened up really well after a bit in the fridge. And it stayed soft and pourable right out of the refrigerator. I just drizzled this over the top of the cookie dough layer. I have a lot left over. Hmmmm… Maybe this would be great with just a straw too.

If you’re looking for an awesome dessert to wow a crowd, this is definitely it!

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Tender Slow Cooker Salsa Beef

By Ami on July 29, 2016 in Main Dishes

I’m officially insane. Every time I try to simplify my life, I find something fabulous I need to add to it. My son has been taking piano lessons for three years. Plus he goes to karate twice a week and has cub scouts once a week. My daughter is in ballet and tap. Every Sunday I sit on my porch swing and think about how nice it is to relax and how we need to get rid of some activities in our lives. So what did I do last week? I signed my daughter up for piano as well. What’s worse is that it was my idea. She was content with ballet and tap but then I opened my big mouth and asked her if she wanted to take piano. She was thrilled! She’s been “practicing” every day since. The good mom in me is really excited for her. Learning music is important and she’ll love it. But the other side of the good mom is not so happy. I’ve added one more thing to our lives. Sigh. Oh well. It will all work out in the end. Or else I’ll die of exhaustion. Guess I won’t know until I try, right?

So for all you other insane moms out there who are also stretched beyond your limits, I have yet another slow cooker recipe for you. I believe the slow cooker was the best invention since 2-ply toilet paper. Some days, it’s the only way we have a warm meal on the table at dinner time. I can throw everything together in the morning and then come home from ballet or piano or karate or cub scouts or the therapy sessions I should sign myself up for and still be able to give my family a delicious, healthy dinner.

This salsa beef meets all the criteria of comfort food. It’s packed with flavor, tender and super healthy.

This is another fabulous dump and go recipe. While that doesn’t sound glamorous, it’s way better than a bowl of cereal, which is plan B on busy days. Just pull out the slow cooker and add stew meat, carrots, stewed tomatoes, salsa, molasses and garlic. Then let all the flavors meld together. Mmmmmm. A word about salsa. You have to be careful when picking salsa. A lot has added sugar, but it’s still easy to find one that does not if you’re willing to read labels.

Stir this together and cook the entire thing on low for 6-8 hours.

My husband eats this over rice, but my daughter and I like it over mashed sweet potatoes. Either way, you can congratulate yourself at the end of the day for preparing a delicious, healthy dinner for your family even though you spend your days as a taxi driver.

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The Easiest, Tastiest Roasted Vegetables

By Ami on July 22, 2016 in Side Dishes

I love to roast vegetables. It doesn’t make them mushy, but rather crunchy on the outside, warm on the inside and gives them a great smoky flavor. Plus, you can use whatever vegetables you want. In our house, we have to separate them into rows in the pan because my husband is convinced if certain vegetables touch the food he eats, he’ll die. Since I don’t want him to die from zucchini contact, we do ours in rows, but you can just as easily toss all the vegetables together.

Just cube up what veggies you want, drizzle them in avocado oil and season them with salt and pepper. Rather than do this in a bowl, I just toss the whole thing right on the pan.

Then bake them in a 400 degree oven for 30-40 minutes. I like to go with 40 minutes because I like them to have some black char on them. If you’re not a fan of that, go with 30 minutes.