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Caprese Skewers

By on February 5, 2016 in Side Dishes

We’re not fancy people in our house. We spend Sunday afternoon in sweats, we spend more money on books than I do on make up, we eat every meal on mismatched plastic plates, and I have on several occasions walked into a store before realizing I was still wearing slippers. So the fact that I would take the time to make this “fancy” dish for a random Tuesday night dinner, shows how easy it is. I’m always trying to mix up how we eat our vegetables so we don’t get bored and this method is easy enough for any weeknight but still makes us feel “fancy.”

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It’s as easy as sticking everything on a skewer (or a long toothpick) and drizzling it with vinegar and salt and pepper.

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Depending on the size of the basil leaf, I either wrapped the leaf around the tomato or just layered it. It really doesn’t matter which you do. I also tried them with half a cherry tomato and a whole cherry tomato. Because my mouth is smaller, I preferred the tomatoes cut in half. But my sweet husband, who has a rather large mouth (I mean that in the best way. I really do love you, honey!), did great with the whole cherry tomato. It’s just a matter of what you like best.

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I used fresh mozzarella balls because they are so creamy, but feel free to cube up a brick of mozzarella instead. It will be a bit harder and the flavor is a little stronger, but I’ve used both with great results. I didn’t list exact measurements, but one package of basil (purchased with the organic herbs in the produce section) made enough skewers for four of us.

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Maybe one day I’ll serve these at a PTA dinner party, on a china platter, while wearing a pink cocktail dress. Until then, we’ll stick with our plastic plates and my over-sized Yoda t-shirt.

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Seven Guilt-Free Hot Chocolate Recipes

By on January 29, 2016 in Guilt-Free Treats

2015-02-23 11.47.20My 5-year-old loves to play in the snow. She wants to sled, build snowmen, make snow angels, shovel, etc, etc, etc. And she has more snow stamina than I do. After about half an hour I’m totally done and want to come inside and heat up a rice sock. She stays out until she can no longer feel her hands. Oh to be five again. Every time she comes in from a snow extravaganza, she declares she needs hot chocolate. After all, nothing warms up cold feet like drinking hot chocolate. At least that’s what my daughter tells me. Since I’m not a big fan of the ingredients in packaged hot chocolate, we started making our own. Luckily, it passes my daughter’s after-snow hot-chocolate requirements.

For basic hot chocolate, just whisk together the almond milk, cocoa and sweetener of your choice. For my kids (including my husband), I always use the honey instead of stevia. I always use stevia in mine.

Start on the lower end of measurements and add to your tastes. I use a full tablespoon of cocoa while my daughter prefers two teaspoons. You can always add but you can’t take away.

To make life more exciting (because now that I’m a mom in my 30’s, new hot chocolate flavors really does qualify as exciting), try these variations.

Almond Hot chocolate

  • 1 recipe Guilt-Free Hot Chocolate
  • Stir in 1/8 t almond extract

Peppermint Hot Chocolate

  • 1 recipe Guilt-Free Hot Chocolate
  • Stir in 1/4 t peppermint extract or 1 drop pure peppermint essential oil

Coconut Hot Chocolate

  • Make 1 recipe Guilt-Free Hot Chocolate, but use coconut milk instead of almond milk
  • Stir in 1 tsp coconut butter

Mexican Hot Chocolate

  • 1 recipe Guilt-Free Hot Chocolate
  • Whisk in 1/4 t cinnamon and 1 pinch cayenne pepper

Orange Hot Chocolate

  • 1 recipe Guilt-Free Hot Chocolate
  • Stir in 1/4 t orange extract

Raspberry Hot Chocolate

  • 1 recipe Guilt-Free Hot Chocolate
  • Smash 3 raspberries in bottom of mug before adding milk. Whisk together with the cocoa powder.
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Slow Cooker Pesto Chicken

By on January 22, 2016 in Main Dishes

Every year we try to grow basil. I have dreams of jars and jars of homemade pesto and Caprese salad. I plan to spend the summer sprinkling basil on everything. I’ll look like the cover of a magazine, smiling as I harvest my basil surrounded by my perfectly dressed children who never fight and always obey me.  Sadly, I generally kill everything I plant. Luckily, jarred pesto is getting healthier and tastier than it once was.

I love to use pesto for salad dressing, veggie dip, mixed with mayonnaise for a spread and a topping for chicken. This pesto chicken is one of my favorite uses for pesto. And it comes together in the slow cooker, which just makes life better in general.

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Just drizzles avocado oil in the bottom of your slow cooker, top with chicken breasts and top each breast with jarred pesto and cook on low 4-6 hours. It’s hard to think of a recipe that’s easier.

The oil keeps the chicken moist and cooking it slowly allows the pesto to really penetrate into the chicken and give it lots of flavor. Maybe one day I’ll make this with my pesto made with home-grown basil. Then when I serve it to company and they “ooh” and “aah,” I can tell them I grew the basil myself and act like it’s no big deal. Yeah. I want to be that person.

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Healthy Slow Cooker Chuck Roast

By on January 15, 2016 in Main Dishes

Few things are as comforting on a busy day as coming home to the smell of a roast in the crock pot. Throw some whole wheat bread in the bread maker as well and the comforting smells are right up there with world peace. Plus, using a slow cooker always makes me feel like someone else made me dinner. Life doesn’t get much better.

In my opinion, the best roast for a slow cooker is a chuck roast. They’re not as thick as other roasts so they cook more evenly.

The secret to cooking tender beef is to brown the meat before putting it in a slow cooker and to cook it low and slow.

2015-10-08 09.37.41Before you brown your meat, rub it down with a spice mixture.

Then place the browned meat on a bed of root vegetables. I use carrots and sweet potatoes. If you don’t like sweet potatoes, russet potatoes are fine. I just like the flavor and health benefits that come from sweet potatoes.

Then top the meat with sliced onions and a can of diced tomatoes and cook the whole thing in a flavorful broth for eight hours.

Cooking it this way makes the meat just fall apart. This is perfect on a cold night. Or a warm night. Or a Tuesday. Whatever. There’s no reason not to make this for dinner.2015-10-08 18.01.39

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No Sugar Chocolate Banana Muffins

By on January 8, 2016 in Breakfast, Guilt-Free Treats, Healthy Snacks

Every morning my son’s breakfast includes a mini muffin. This is my way of cramming a bit more protein and nutrients into him in an unprocessed way before sending him off to second grade to solve the world’s great problems. I always look for muffin recipes heavy on nuts and/or eggs and low on sugar. We generally stick to banana muffins, but to keep things interesting, I’m always trying to find something else. I found this recipe from Yummy Mummy. It looked delicious, but since I was giving it to my son every morning for breakfast, I wanted something without added sugar or sugar substitutes and without chocolate chips. So using Yummy Mummy’s recipe as my base, I came up with a version without sugar. We’re all very pleased with the results and I can continue to give my son a muffin every morning without feeling guilty. Luckily as a mom, there are still plenty of other things I get to feel guilty about every day.

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Perfect Mashed Sweet Potatoes

By on December 18, 2015 in Side Dishes

When I was a little girl, my mom tried to give me a sweet potato for dinner. After tears, screaming and a fair amount of pouting, it was accepted in our house that I did not like sweet potatoes. I lived for years thinking this to be true until one day I decided to be daring and eat a sweet potato. It was like making a new best friend. Since that day we buy a large bag of sweet potatoes every week. We eat them as fries, as cubes, roasted, in potato salad, in breads and pancakes, baked and loaded, and most popularly, mashed. Mashed sweet potatoes serve as a great component to a lot of dishes. You can use them as a side dish or a base for meatballs or stew. After trial and error, I’ve found the best way to make mashed sweet potatoes.

You can cook the sweet potatoes by boiling them or baking them whole. I usually boil them.  Just peel, cube and boil them until they’re tender.

Then mash them with the coconut oil, milk and seasonings. They’re so easy and delicious! My 5-year-old does not like regular potatoes, but loves these mashed sweet potatoes. Enjoy your Christmas sweet potatoes!

 

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No Sugar Hot Apple Cider

By on December 11, 2015 in Guilt-Free Treats, Holidays

Apple cider is fabulous for many reasons. I love to use it in bbq recipes, it makes the house smell great while it’s cooking and it’s so fun to drink on a cold day. Sadly, most apple ciders, homemade or bottled are packed with sugar. This is one of my pet peeves [Warning: Rant ahead]. Why do we always need to add sugar into fruit. Fruit is nature’s sugar. It’s naturally sweet. It doesn’t need sugar! [Rant complete… for now].

This apple cider combines all the things that make apple cider so delicious, without the added sugar. Plus it’s a slow cooker recipe so you can let it brew all day and come home to amazing smells.

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Add the apple juice to a small slow cooker. We like Motts Tots. It has half the sugar of other apple juices, which makes this even lower in sugar than it would otherwise. But use your favorite apple juice, as long as it’s 100% juice.

Slice the orange and add it to the slow cooker along with the rest of the ingredients. Now just let it simmer on low for at least 4 hours. If we want it the next morning, Waking up to that smell makes life better, no matter what else happens the rest of the day.

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Healthy Pico Frittata

By on December 4, 2015 in Breakfast, Main Dishes

Last week we were supposed to have chicken for dinner. About an hour before dinner, I realized I had failed to thaw said chicken. This always leaves us with two options: Go out to eat or throw together something quickly with what we have on hand. In the past I would have boiled some pasta and topped it with canned sauce. That amounted to very little protein, lots of sugar, and basically just a lot of processed junk. So I needed a solution that would give us a protein and vegetables without loading us down with processed ingredients. The solution: eggs. Eggs are packed with protein, vitamins, minerals and iron. It’s hard to beat the nutrients of an egg. Plus, turning it into a frittata makes it seem more fun and elegant. If I were Fancy Nancy I’d say, “We’re eating frittata. That’s a fancy word for eggs.” Can you tell I spend a lot of time with a 5-year-old girl?

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Brown a pound of turkey sausage. Let this cool a bit or the eggs with scramble as soon as you add it.

Whisk together the eggs and almond milk. Stir in some Pico de Gallo. Pico is so versatile and adds all the seasoning this dish needs. Add the sausage and mix everything together.

I like to bake this in a pie dish but you could also bake it in a 9×9 pan or an oval casserole dish.

This dish is great because it’s so versatile. Add whatever meat you want or leave it out completely. If you’re not a fan of pico, switch it out for different vegetables. Use what you have on hand and what your family likes.

This goes great with roasted veggies, a green salad or sliced fruit.

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Leftover Round Steak Salad

By on November 27, 2015 in Main Dishes

Even though I enjoy making dinner for my family, there are nights I’m tired, cranky, hungry NOW, or would rather sit on my tuckus and not make dinner. That’s when I love “2-for-1” dinners. That’s when I make dinner one night and can use the leftovers to make dinner the next night. That’s what I do when I make Grilled Round Steak. The night after we have this delicious steak, we have Steak Salad.

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A salad is a great meal option for families with picky eaters. Each person can customize their own salad based on what they like. I’ve listed our favorite ingredients, but feel free to customize this however you like. I like to top it with guacamole (my favorite salad dressing) but use what dressing you have and like.

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Creamy Cauliflower Soup

By on November 13, 2015 in Main Dishes

I love to trick my family by adding healthy things to their food. I add beans to their brownies, avocado to their frosting and now cauliflower to their cheese soup. I gave them the soup, listened to them “ooh” and “aah” and never said a word about what was in it. Mwa ha ha! I love the small victories.

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Start by steaming the cauliflower. I got this lovely steaming basket at Ikea years ago. It’s one of my favorite kitchen tools because it fits in any pan and is dishwasher safe.

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While the cauliflower steams, cook the onion and garlic in the butter and avocado oil. Do this right in your soup pot. Add the salt, pepper, almond milk and chicken broth and heat this all together.

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Add the steamed cauliflower and puree with an immersion blender. I love my immersion blender for the same reason I love my veggie steamer. It’s extremely versatile and dishwasher safe.

Add the cheese and continue to cook the soup until the cheese melts.

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Top each serving with green onion, turkey bacon and more cheese.

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