Deep Dish Vegetarian Pizza

My goodness today has been great! Unfortunately sometimes our Sundays are on the go and busy busy, whatever happened to the day of rest in this house I'll never know. Due to Derek's school schedule he often has to work Sunday nights so rarely gets to eat Sunday dinner with us, but today was a different schedule and we finally sat down to a delicious family dinner!

I had been wanting to make some homemade pizza for awhile now. I originally was intending to make this pizza vegan, but I caved guys, I did. I used a little bit of fresh mozzarella cheese...and it was tasty!

We added the Boca crumbles and it turned into almost a hamburger type pizza without the ground beef! If you don't believe me that this tasted like ground beef, I don't know what else I can say...I am amazed at how much the Boca crumbles resemble ground beef, in texture and taste...I don't know it's been a long time since I've had it, but these are great!

I wanted to add some greens to the pizza so I added a good helping of spinach and it was perfect! This pizza is now gone, yes my kids ate about three pieces and maybe Derek and I had a few more...don't judge!

My little boy is still being funny when he eats, the fork has become the greatest toy he has. He just sits there and stabs food and scoots it all over his plate...it's cute but getting really old. Sometimes I really start to worry about his calorie, fat and protein intake...but he still is my chunk so each day I'm going to just keep trying!

You will love this pizza, it doesn't have to be deep dish- I just felt like making it that way! Adding  a delicious green salad turns this into a rockin' Sunday dinner!

Deep Dish Vegetarian Pizza

Crust

1 3/4 c whole wheat flour

1/4 c wheat germ

1 packet instant yeast

1 tsp salt

1/2 T raw sugar

1 T honey

1 c warm water

Combine water, yeast and sugar to a small bowl and set aside for 10 minutes. Combine salt, wheat germ and flour to a large bowl and mix in yeast mixture. When it is wet add honey and mix it in well. Mold to form a sort of ball in the bowl. Cover and set it in a warm place for 15 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Flatten dough into a greased deep baking dish and poke holes with a fork all over it. Pre bake for 10 minutes remove from oven. 

Toppings

1/2 bag Boca crumbles

5 chopped mushrooms

1 minced onion

1 T Italian seasoning

1/2 can tomato sauce

1 large handful of spinach

Mozzarella cheese as desired

 In a skilled add 1 tablespoon of olive oil and add onion, mushrooms, and boca crumbles. Heat until crumbles are browned and onions are somewhat translucent.Pour tomato sauce over the pre-baked crust and add Italian seasonings, spread evenly over crust. Add mozzarella cheese, then Boca and vegetables. Bake in the oven for 18-20 minutes until cheese has melted and crust is baked through. 

I forgot to grease my pan so ours turned into more of a pizza casserole since it kind of stuck, but it still tasted delicious.

Again this doesn't need to be a deep dish pizza, it's just what we were craving! 

Crock-Pot Vegetarian Lasagna

 Happy weekend to everyone! I've started adding a few new recipes to my crock-pot list like this fun little creation tonight! I know I called it lasagna, well that is because I had originally planned on using lasagna noodles. Unfortunately I was unable to find a whole grain or wheat lasagna noodle. It was all the enriched white pasta, so I opted for some whole grain penne.

Once again this is a very simple prep and comes out tasting great. I wanted to find a way to get the creamy cheesy feel back into a lasagna dish and I think this end result was really nice! There is plenty of wiggle room for this baby, add any vegetables you want and you will love it~

Vegetarian Lasagna

1 lb whole wheat pasta

1 can tomato sauce

1 can tomato paste

2 T basil

1 T Italian seasoning

1 T parsley

1/2 green bell pepper

1/2 onion

3 garlic cloves

1 tsp lemon juice

1/4 c nutritional yeast

2 BIG handfuls of spinach

12 oz silken tofu

1/4 c almond milk

Combine tofu, milk, garlic, lemon juice yeast and 1 T of basil to a blender. Blend until well mixed, then add spinach. Pulse until there are only a few larger pieces of spinach left. Mix together tomato sauce and paste with bell pepper, onion, parsley, Italian seasoning and remaining basil in a medium bowl. Stir until pretty well combined, it's mostly just to blend the paste. Layer 1/3 of sauce on the bottom of crock pot add 1/3 of the uncooked pasta and 1/3 of blender mixture. Repeat layers until it is all used up. Cook on low for about 5 hours or on high for 2-3 hours. You may need to stir it up sometimes to make sure the noodles are cooking evenly! Serve with salad! Yum!

* This is vegan, but if you'd like just vegetarian, add some Mozzarella  cheese on top and cook for 20-30 minutes!

Crock Pot Peppermint Patty Brownies!

No dinner recipe to post this evening~ it's all sweet tooth tonight! These brownies have been made healthier, but still eat in moderation, the homemade sweetened condensed milk has some sugar in it! The good news....you can make these in a lot of different ways, I kept mine vegan, but you can use an egg, or real sweetened condensed milk, my version is just lighter in sugar than canned milk! It is much faster cook time in the oven for brownies, but you can't beat just throwing the ingredients in the crock pot and letting them cook themselves! And it was just kind of a fun shake up of things! These little babies are quite homely looking in my pictures, but they were so tasty, my kids wanted to eat all of them, I told them they had to save some for their dad who has been at school all day! I'd say these will be a nice treat for him to come home too!

The idea from crock pot brownies came from a blog I found on one of my many google searches for unique crock-pot meals! I obviously made some changes from the original to make it better for you, but I think they turned out as tasty as a brownie can be. 

Some ideas for revamping this recipe to make it your own, for your own tastes:

~ Blend 5 pitted dates with 1/2 C almond milk and throw that paste in for all sweeteners

~Use nuts instead of oats

~ add peppermint extract to the homemade sweetened condensed milk or brownie mix instead of using the candy peppermint patties

~ melt dark chocolate chips on top

~ Use a gluten free flour to make it gluten free

Wow, take your pick of how you make this, I'm sure it will still come out awesome!

Peppermint Patty Brownies

1 T vegan margarine

1 C water

1 chia -flax egg (1 T chia seed +1 T flax seed +3-4 T warm water)

1 1/2 C spelt flour (or any whole grain flour)

3/4 C cacao powder

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 C date paste (optional)

1/2 C oats

4-5 small peppermint patties

Homemade sweetened condensed milk

2 T vegan margarine

1/4 C raw turbinado sugar (sugar in the raw)

1 1/4 C vanilla soy milk

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon (optional) 

Add 1 T margarine to crock-pot while on low. While it is melting begin making the sweetened condensed milk. In a small sauce pan add margarine and melt it, in another sauce pan add soy milk and bring to a low boil. Add sugar to melted margarine and stir constantly until it is a rolling boil. Combine with soy milk and heat until low boil. Stir in cinnamon.

After the margarine is melted in the crock pot add the chia -flax egg, water and brownie mix (make sure you mix the dry ingredients together first) Mix until the dry ingredients are wet,

 add sweetened condensed milk and top with oats.

 Cook on low for 2-3 hours. Check with a fork and see if it is done. Add patties to the top and cook another 30-45 minutes. Enjoy

* if you use a date paste add the paste before the brownie mix then mix it well and don't add sugar to the sweetened condensed milk!

We did enjoy dinner tonight, we didn't just eat brownies I promise. I wanted to show how I was able to utilize some great leftovers and make a tasty healthy dinner! I used the leftover sauce from the zucchini boats the other night and cooked up some wheat noodles. I mixed in the sauce so it was lightly coated and let the noodles cool slightly, then I mixed in some spinach and carrot chips and topped it will a small amount of balsamic, or you can use a little Italian dressing. The sauce from the noodles helps create a dressing! And there you go! A tasty quick meal full of healthy ingredients! Use those leftovers! Has anyone been able to create something deliciously healthy using leftovers?

Alphabet Day's End, Zucchini Boats

Well our beloved Alphabet days has come to an end, just in time for school to start. I don't have school aged children, but my hubs is getting ready to start another fun filled semester....hahaha....not so fun actually! I guess we could look at it as one step closer to graduation! Someday it will come!

A few weeks ago my good friend described a dinner she had made out of zucchini! It sounded delightful, she put meat in hers so I wanted to find a way to make ours meatless, but have great flavor! These zucchini boats were so easy and so delicious! I was so happy with the end result. I've felt we haven't been watching as closely what we've been giving our kids the last few days since we've had some busy family get togethers or we've been on the go! So I needed, yes needed for my own guilt to pack them with something nutritious tonight! They loved these little babies, which makes mom all the more happy! These ended up reminding me of a tasty Italian meal, without all the creamy pasta sauces or carbs! So yay for us! Enjoy these easy weekend or weeknight zucchini boats! They are great!

Zucchini Boats

3-4 zucchini squash, cut lengthwise in half

1 C of canned or frozen corn

1-2 C cooked quinoa or brown rice

1 C chopped carrots

1 C peas

1/2 onion

2 cloves garlic

1/2 C green beans

1 T Italian Seasoning 

2 T nutritional Yeast (optional)

1 tsp Mrs. Dash seasoning, (optional)
1/4 C sunflower nuts, for some extra crunch

1 jar of spaghetti sauce (or 1 recipe of easy marinara sauce)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spoon out the inside of the zucchini squash so just the rind is left. Place the spooned squash in a large bowl. Add onion to skillet with a tsp of olive oil and saute, add garlic and finish cooking until garlic is fragrant. Add vegetables, nuts, rice or quinoa, sauce, and seasonings to bowl and stir well. Try and have the zucchini mashed up a bit so you don't have enormous chunks of it. Spoon mixture into the rind of the zucchini. Place on a large cookie sheet and bake for 20 minutes. Serve with salad and garlic bread, yum!!!!

Stuffed Shells

Sunshine, Sweet tooth, Smile, Smooch, Stuffed Shells? Today is "S" day! And it's a double whammy with stuffed shells! These were wonderful, amazing, tasty, and gone in hours. I loved every bite!

Typically I've found that most stuffed shells are a mixture of cheeses, well not these babies, they have very little dairy in them and it is easily removed. We used lean ground turkey and vegetables for the filling! I enjoyed these shells so much more than typical cheese filled shells.

Even before I limited my dairy intake I thought cheese ravioli and cheese stuffed pastas were too much, I didn't really enjoy them. So needless to say that may be one of the many reasons why I enjoyed these shells so much.

I love it when I do a post for a meal that hit the spot so much, they are much more expressive :) it makes me want to sit here and wait for everyone to post a comment and tell me how deliciously sinful they found them as well! I won't, I do have things to do believe it or not. That doesn't mean I don't know that you'll love them as much as I did though!

The only downside is, I was never able to find whole grain shells, I found some garden shells that had crushed vegetables in them, but I still cringed at the ingredient list that said enriched flour! Yuck, that was the only rain cloud that lingered...for just a second. This is a beautiful meal, so I suggest use it when you want to strut your stuff and show off your skills to people :)

Stuffed Shells

 1 lb lean ground turkey

1 small onion

1/2 green pepper

1/2 red pepper

3 mushrooms (optional)

1/3 C feta cheese crumbles

Sauce

1 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes

1 can tomato paste

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 C water

1 T basil

1 T oregano

1 T parsley

1 bay leaf

1 package of jumbo shell pasta

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook shell pasta according to package directions, drain and set aside. Add turkey and onion to skillet. Brown turkey for about 7 minutes then add remaining vegetables to saute together. Cook until turkey is completely browned. Remove turkey mixture from skillet and place in a large bowl.

Add feta cheese to turkey. Set aside. In turkey skillet add all sauce ingredients. Simmer covered for 10 minutes then remove from heat. Add 1/3 C of sauce to the meat mixture. Spoon small amounts of meat mixture into cooked shells. Place shells into deep baking dish. When all the shells are filled

 top them with the remaining sauce. Place in the oven and bake for 25-30 minuted until the sauce is bubbly. 

Enjoy

Red Pepper Linguini

Isn't pasta just a srumptious, cozy comfort food! I love spooning the noodles and all the flavors that one bowl can hold! I always loved creamy, buttery Alfredo sauces before changing our eating habits! I was so discouraged when I thought I would never again enjoy a creamy, satisfying sauce over noodles! Since then I have been proven wrong on numerous occasions and thankfully I've been proven wrong once again! 

Although I am a HUGE pasta lover I do try and limit the amount we have simply for carbohydrates. When we do have pasta though I take advantage of the golden opportunity I have sitting before me to add amazing ingredients to my dish to make it whole and healthy! If you are new to natural eating, sauces are a great way to throw in some extra veggies or healthy fats! They blend together beautifully and make you wanting leftovers the next day and the next day!

We are still continuing our alphabet journey and today just happens to be the letter "R"! I thought of this pasta to make up for the meal, but tonight I'm also whipping up some delicious raspberry chocolate drops, post to be continued! So after brainstorming how I wanted to make my sauce I decided to add some flavorful red peppers to qualify for "R" day! This was an amazing addition if I do say so myself. The pesto sauce was beautiful and had a kick to it, the peppers simply made it more pronounced, while adding some color! 

My kids LOVED this pasta, my son had thirds! I wasn't sure how it would all come together with the avocado, but it was great. A tip from seeing the leftovers, maybe just make enough for one night. The reheated leftovers weren't bad tasting, my son again just loved them, but the avocado flavor starts to come out more and more. I think the longer it stays in the fridge, the less likely it will become a good tasting leftover! Just my opinion. 

Enjoy~

Red Pepper Linguini 

1 lb whole wheat linguini

1 red bell pepper

1 tsp red pepper flakes

2 pitted avocado

3 C fresh spinach

4 garlic cloves

2 T lemon juice

1/3 C crushed tomatoes or sun dried tomatoes

2 T basil

2  Italian Seasoning

1/4 C water

 Cook Linguini according to package directions. Drain and set aside.

Chop red pepper into small chunks and set in a bowl off to the side. 

Combine remaining ingredients to blender or food processor. Blend until completely smooth. About 2 minutes. 

There are two ways to do this. You can serve the sauce right then with the warm pasta or you can bake it. If you want to for-go the baking, add the chopped bell pepper to your blender along with the other ingredients.

If you choose to bake it (this is what we did) Combine linguini, sauce and chopped red pepper to casserole dish

Make sure you coat the pasta well. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Cover and bake pasta for about 18-20 minutes! 

Serve warm with salad!

Butternut Squash Lasagna- GF

One thing I have missed from time to time is my cheesy, enormous, best tasting lasagna! It probably had a days worth of calories in one serving, but I always got so many compliments on the taste!

Where I am right now with my food choices and how I eat, I honestly don't crave cheese any more and red meat. I do love pasta, but it's always good to balance your carbohydrate intake, for me especially....Pasta is my love!

Sundays are usually when I'll prepare a meal that uses meat. I don't know why, that's just how it's been working out, I stick to lean poultry and always have it balanced well with vegetables and fruits. This meal made it onto the weekly meal list. When I found it here, it sounded great, it was healthy, it used poultry, and I hoped beyond hope that it would stop me missing my old lasagna recipe at some point! I did make a few tweaks to fit our tastes.

I can tell you I thought it was wonderful! It didn't have the cheesy taste, but that was okay with me. It still tasted like an awesome Italian dish, but no pasta. I don't know why I didn't think of something like this before. I've used zucchini squash before to replace pasta with my zucchini noodles. I really enjoyed the texture of the squash and mixed with the turkey sausage I put in it was awesome! I do think if your looking for vegan this would taste just find with some more vegetables thrown in there to give more variety and just X out the meat.

My daughter is having a battle day. She tried it once and said she didn't like it. She saw me squirt some lemon juice on my broccoli so she asked for some. Apparently she doesn't like that taste either. So I said, you eat either all your broccoli or all of your squash. Well she just left the table with all of her lasagna finished. I asked her if she liked it and she just said, "I do like it!" It just takes kids getting over new tastes I think before they realize...hey wait a second this is kinda good!!! At least that's the way it goes in our house. I've stopped listening to the protests and just keep saying okay well you need to try everything! Keep introducing those foods, remember it can take 8-10 times before a kid likes something! Luckily it just took a few more bites for my daughter to like this one! My son is napping, so I don't have a report from him :)

Butternut Squash lasagna

1 Butternut Squash

1 package of Italian Turkey Sausage or chicken

1 recipe of easy marinara sauce

1 bay leaf

1/2 T parsley to sprinkle on top

Easy Marinara Sauce

1 15 oz can tomato sauce

1 can tomato paste

1/2 28 oz crushed tomatoes

4 garlic cloves

1/2 onion

2 T olive oil

1 1/2 T Italian Seasoning

1 T parsley

2 T Italian dressing

1/2 T basil

Peel squash. I've found if you poke holes in the squash before then throw it in the microwave for about 30-40 seconds it is soooooo much easier to peel and cut! Cut lengthwise in half and remove the seeds. Slice into thin slices

and place into a deep baking dish. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cook sausage in skillet over med-high heat until completely cooked through. Leave sausage in skillet and add your ingredients for the marinara sauce. Simmer for 10-12 minutes then add sauce to the butternut squash, stir in the extra bay leaf, cover and bake for about 45 minutes or until the squash is very tender. Top with parsley. We enjoyed this with steamed broccoli, but you can go all out with garlic bread, salad the real deal if you want a real Italian meal!!!

Lentil Taco Pie

I really don't like the days when I look at the clock and I see it's five o' clock and I haven't even given our dinner any thought. I dislike it even worse when I look around and can't think of anything to make for a long time all the while slowly the kids are starting to complain, they are starting to beg for food, they are starting to grab my legs, and then the crying starts. Okay that is when stress levels get heightened! Well, without optimism, I'll look one more time in the very back of the cupboard and what do I see? My hidden jar of lentils, here to save the day!

I absolutely adore lentils! They are so versatile and very nutritious. Lentils are packed with protein, B vitamins, they aid in heart health, they have great fiber and regulate blood sugars and they can replenish our iron stores, so for those who don't eat a lot of red meats (me, me, me) they are wonderful!

I decided to whip up a taco pie since I found some corn tortillas, red peppers, spinach and frozen corn. I was a little worried since I didn't have taco seasoning, but I played around with other spices and I think it actually packed a little bit too much heat for my liking :) I thought of the idea since I've made lentil burritos, so it's not that different in my mind! Probably not my husband, he's a heat fanatic. My kids gobbled this meal right up...the best part...it's vegan, and gluten free and gives them a nice punch of protein! Score for mom or lentils...

Lentil Taco Pie

1 C lentils

2 C water

2 C brown or wild rice

1 red bell pepper

1 1/2 C frozen corn

1/4 C nutritional yeast

1/2 T cumin

1/2 T chili powder

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

1/2 C jar salsa (optional, I didn't use it)

4 corn tortillas

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Heat lentils and water in sauce pan and cook until tender and water is absorbed. Meanwhile add rice and another 2 cups of water to skillet, cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Add vegetables, spices, and lentils to skillet and simmer another 5-10 minutes, until water is mostly absorbed and rice is tender. Place two tortillas on the bottom of baking dish and spread a layer of taco filling over. Add another layer of tortillas and top it with remaining taco filling. Cover and bake for 15-20 minutes, until blended together. Top with lettuce, tomato, avocado and salsa! Enjoy

Mini Vegetarian Shepard's Pies

 

 There was a hint of Fall in the air for me today! It was pretty mild this morning as I left for work, and it hadn't reached it's blazing summer heat as I was leaving work. I feel I'm never quite satisfied with the seasons and holidays.
When it gets to this point in the summer I start planning for my fall and Christmas festivities. I'm already planning food! Derek and I discussed our Halloween costumes today! They're going to be great by the way. I just can't wait for the Holidays. However, the day after Christmas I'm usually wishing the icy snow away and looking forward to St. Patrick's Day and Easter, and for sure by the time the Bi-polar spring is in full swing (as in we get all four seasons in one day) I'm praying for Summer weather! It's a vicious cycle.

Well today I wanted to have a little "fall like" comfort food for our dinner, and of course it had to be something mini size for our ABC "M" day! I have become the BIGGEST fan of vegetarian Shepard's pies ever since I made my first one! This is just a fun remake of my original posting. This is not a gluten-free version due to the biscuit crust, however the traditional Shepard's Pie is. So check out that recipe here, oh it was one of the first recipes I posted....ahhh a sentimental moment!

Anyway, I love every single bit of the zesty sauce covering all the delicious vegetables that get crammed into this little baby! If it wouldn't add to my hips so much I'd probably eat all of them! Trust me I've eaten the whole original Shepard's pie by myself over a period of 24 hours, it's ridiculous!!!

These were a fun thing for the kids to see, I think they thought it was fun that their dinner was in a little cup from a muffin tin! From my experience with my two kids, this is an excellent way to sneak in those veggies and have them gobble them up. I think it's the mashed potatoes, if it's covered in fluffy potatoes, whatever is underneath it must be just as amazing right! Well whatever it is it works in this house. This meal is almost pure veggies so I'm happy!

I used a garlic biscuit crust, I really liked the taste. The only issue I had was removing the pies from the muffin tin. They fell apart pretty easily. I didn't grease my tin hardly at all so that could play a part, but I also think the biscuits just crumbled under everything and me trying to pop them out. It obviously didn't effect the taste at all, but if you're looking for a pretty appearance I suggest greasing the pan a little heavier than I did. I was really excited about sharing this recipe since it fits right along with my budgeting tips on eating healthy for less. I used some left over vegetables from  my veggie kabobs from two days ago, which is one of the tips I gave. Plan your left overs so that you can use them in other meals throughout the week! This will save money and make sure you don't waste your food. After I had assembled all the mini pies, I still had mashed potatoes left and the vegetable filling, so what do you do with that. I stuck it in a disposable baking dish, covered it really well and plopped it in the freezer! So now I have an original Vegetarian Shepard's Pie waiting for me to stick in the oven in the coming weeks. The sauce is a little different in this recipe, but it will still be wonderful! Easy peasy! You can view my budget post here, there will be more on budgeting to come since it was so popular!

Mini Vegetarian Shepard's Pies

5 potatoes, peeled

1 C low sodium vegetable broth

1 can tomato paste

1 broccoli crown, chopped

1 zucchini

1 small yellow squash

1/2 asparagus bunch

1/2 yellow onion

2-3 carrots chopped, or 1 C shredded carrots

1/2 T cumin

1/2 T Mrs. Dash seasoning

1 tsp red pepper flakes

salt and pepper to taste

For the crust

2 C whole wheat flour

1 tsp raw cane sugar

1 T baking powder

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 tsp salt

1 egg

3/4 C almond milk (or any milk you'd like)

1/3 C margarine or butter (I used vegan margarine and it was perfect)

Wash and peel potatoes. Chop into small pieces and cover with water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10-15 minutes until the potatoes are fork tender. Add small amount of margarine or butter and small amount of milk. Use beater to whip potatoes. Beat until frothy. Chop all the vegetables to the desired size and set aside with potatoes. 

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 425 degrees. For the crust add all the dry ingredients to a medium sized bowl. Melt margarine and add to the dry ingredients. Stir until crumbly.  Combine egg and milk in a small bowl and beat together until egg is well mixed. Add into the dry ingredients. Beat or stir until well combined. Grease muffin tin and spoon in batter 1/4 full. Pre-bake for  4-5 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside. Add vegetables to skillet with seasonings, tomato paste, and vegetable broth. Simmer covered for 5-7 minutes until just tender. Using a spoon make wells in the biscuits in the muffin tins since the dough should not be baked through.

Add vegetables to the well in the crust and top with mashed potatoes.

Place in oven and bake for another 7-8 minutes, until potatoes are golden and biscuits are baked completely through! Let cool for 10 minutes before removing from the muffin tins. Enjoy!!!!

Italian Pesto Spinach Pasta

Alrighty....today was craving day for me! I was sitting there at work thinking of what could I make for our Alphabet day for "I" I knew I wanted to make something for dinner since I had made snacks yesterday and we still had muffins left over, all of a sudden I thought of a sauce made from spinach for pasta! I went over a few different ideas, some involved a creamy cashew spinach sauce, eh... I decided that didn't sound right, another idea was a marinara sauce...eh...not until I thought, Pesto! did I finally stick with it. Well, so I had no idea how I was going to make it, I just knew I wanted it to have spinach...I really have been loving spinach lately...so bring on some more. So I just went through my pantry and cupboards while the kids were napping. I made this pretty early in the day since I went out with the girl's tonight whoot whoot! So I wanted my kids to eat before I left, although I didn't have hopes that my husband would like it....he's kind of picky about pasta.

So I rounded up, crushed tomatoes, sun dried tomatoes, garlic, basil, Italian seasoning, onion powder, and of course spinach! I felt pretty good about my choices, so I blended them all together, the sauce came out looking a sickly green color, I was starting to lose hope. So I sadly poured it over my pasta and....pasta bliss....
      I was so happy with the outcome (especially because it wouldn't end up in the trash), it tasted like a pesto I had made from a packet one time, but this was full of healthy happiness!

Okay, mom likes it so I checked that off...now the kids!

My son just gobbled it up no questions asked....

.........his sister....she balled and balled that she didn't like it before she even had a bite, just because it was really green. Well our rule is, you try everything so I explained she needed to try it and I bet she would like it! So finally glaring at me the whole time, she sticks her little fork in her mouth with her pasta...I head to the other room, satisfied knowing once again that mom rules...when I hear her say to Derek, "Dad, I love green noodles, I'm so big, I'm going to eat it all gone!" And she did!
 Now the tricky one. I told Derek I made it so he could have something besides left overs at work tonight, so I told him to try it and if he wanted it he could take it. Well I leave it at that, next thing I see is him loading up a Tupperware with my green creation! So I asked if he liked it and he said, "yeah, it's good" Whatever, I'll take it! So there you have it. This "I" day pesto passed through our family! We really enjoyed it! Now shake things up if you'd like and get yours to pass through your family

Italian Pesto Spinach Pasta

2 large handfuls of fresh spinach

3 garlic cloves

1/3 can crushed tomatoes (28 oz can)

2 T basil

1/4 c sun dried tomatoes

1/4 C Italian seasoning

2 T parsley

1 tsp onion powder

1/8 c water (if needed)

1 lb whole wheat pasta or grain of your choice

Cook pasta according to directions on box. Combine remaining ingredients to food processor or blender and blend until smooth and saucy. Drain pasta and return to pan. Pour sauce over pasta and blend well! Serve warm with green veggies for a side!!! Yum

*If you haven't already, like me on facebook I ask for requests and post different thing on there! Search naturally healthy and happy

Cashew Cheeze Dip

This little spread/dip was really easy and really flavorful! Bring some gum though, just warning you :) I wanted to have something besides chocolate for our Alphabet Days "D" dip day, so I found this recipe at whole food mommies and thought I'd try it out. I found some yummy whole grain crackers in the natural food section and thought it went really well together. I think it's a fun unique way to shake up the typical cracker cheese ball!!!

Cashew Cheeze Dip

1/4 c sun dried tomatoes

1 c cashews, soaked

2 cloves garlic

2 T parsley

2 green onions

1/2 c nutritional yeast

juice from a lemon

1/2 tsp salt

Place cashews in small bowl and cover with water. Soak for 2 hours. Drain and combine all the ingredients into a food processor or high powered blender. Blend or process on high, scraping the sides as needed. When the nuts have been smoothed it should be processed enough. You can serve it as it is right out of the blender or you can put it in ice trays and let it set up in the fridge! Serve with crackers, or use it as sandwich spread!!!! 

Feta Couscous Salad

As I am writing this down to share with you all...I am stuffing my face with it! Wow I think I've found a new favorite salad! It uses couscous and pasta noodles if you'd like, I ran out of couscous so I ended up using both! Honestly I don't know if couscous is a grain, or pasta. I've researched it, and it seems to be an ongoing debate, but who really cares right it just tastes good and it's very nutritious. I used Israeli couscous since they are quite a bit larger than other couscous grains. This beautiful salad is so colorful and has a lot of flavor because of all the different veggies and the dressing! I couldn't wait so I ate it warm and it rocked, it's in the fridge cooling right now, but I know it's going to be awesome cold too! I added just a little Feta cheese just for a fun flavor, but if you don't want the cheese in by all means take it out, I think it's great without it also! This is a perfect salad for get together's and pot lucks! Enjoy

Feta Couscous Salad

2 c Israeli Couscous

2 C pasta of your choice

3 crowns of broccoli

1/2 red bell pepper

1/2 red onion

1 C sun dried tomatoes

1/2 can of black olives

1/2 large cucumber sliced

1/4 c chopped or crumbled Feta Cheese

1 C raw spinach

2/3 C apple cider vinegar

1/3 C red wine vinegar

1/3 C canola or olive oil

1 1/2 packets of Italian dressing seasoning

1/3 c agave or honey

Add 2-3 C water to pot and add couscous. Cook until tender. Drain and set aside. Cook pasta according to package directions drain. Place spinach in the bottom of the bowl you plan to use and pour warm couscous and pasta over the top. Cover bowl with a towel and set aside (this will wilt the spinach). Mean while chop all other vegetables to the desired sizes and combine with pasta and couscous. For the dressing combine all the ingredients to small sauce pan and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and pour over vegetables and pasta. Cut up Feta cheese or crumble it over the top of pasta and mix to combine. Place in the fridge and let it cool for 2 hours. Or eat it warm!

Orzo Pasta Salad

If you love a good pot luck like I do, you'll also understand sometimes it's not easy to eat naturally and healthy at a fun potluck get together! There typically (if your's are like ours) are tons of desserts, creamy salads, meats, etc. To me almost a stable side is pasta salad! I love pasta, but many times the pasta salads I've made or eaten at pot lucks are full of oils, and ranch sauces! Well I found this pasta salad recipe at whole food mommies, it has little oil and is full of veggies! I love larger noodles, but I really wanted to use a bag or orzo pasta I had recently gotten. I tweaked this recipe a little for our tastes and I think it turned out really great. The vegetables give it natural flavor and I love the sun dried tomatoes in it! If you want a lightened up pot luck/BBQ side this summer this one is for you! You can view the original recipe here

Orzo Pasta Salad

1 lb whole wheat orzo pasta

1 red bell pepper

3 broccoli crowns, chopped

1 c black olives, cut into pieces

1 cucumber

1 c sun dried tomatoes

cilantro to taste

4 T olive oil

4 T white vinegar

4 T red wine vinegar

1/4 c pasta water

2 packets Italian dressing seasoning

Cook pasta according to directions. Drain, reserving 1/4 c pasta water. Combine cooled pasta with vegetables in large bowl. Mix together, oil, vinegars, water, and Italian seasoning packets, stir until well combined. Pour over pasta and vegetables until well coated. Put in fridge and chill about an hour. Enjoy. You can top with parmesean cheese if you'd like!

Sun Dried Tomato Veggie Pizza

Pizza was always a favorite for me, especially in early marriage, and college! It's so easy right, just order it, go get it, pay 5 bucks for it! Super easy, super tasty, but super greasy, super unhealthy! With our way of eating my husband and I have tried to make our own homemade pizza with vegetables. Now I never thought this was possible, my husband is a supreme pizza kind of guy, I am typically a boring pepperoni pizza kind of gal, how could we ever just settle for veggie pizzas (especially since I have weird texture issues with peppers) Well we've made a few veggie pizza's now and I've been a big girl and eaten all the peppers, I still have a texture thing and I may pick some of them off, not all, but some... but both my husband and I love eating pizza without so much guilt. My kids love the pizza too, I secretly think my daughter is the same as I am with peppers, she picks some off, but then eats some...hmmmm. But you know you can add any veggie you want, we had an overload of peppers, next time I'm adding spinach to mine, but pop on some mushrooms, olives, whatever!

Anyway, we added some left over sun dried tomatoes we had to this baby and I really thought it gave it a yummy taste. We only added a small amount of cheese...yes you can enjoy pizza without a block of cheese on it, and we just loaded it with peppers, onions, tomatoes everything. For the sauce I used some of my Easy Marinara Sauce, the garlic and the onion in that sauce made this so yum! We used my Honey Whole Wheat Pizza Crust for the crust which is always great.  It took us about 30 minutes to get this baby in the oven and about ten more to start eating! I estimate that with the amount of flour, veggies, sauce, and cheese we used this pizza cost around $6 to make!  So next time the pizza craving comes up maybe stay in and try out a homemade, guiltless pizza...just to shake it up a bit :) Enjoy

Sun dried Tomato Veggie Pizza

1 Yellow bell Pepper

1 Orange bell pepper

1/2 green bell pepper

1/2 onion

1/2 C sun dried tomatoes

1 c Easy Marinara Sauce

Desired amount of cheese

1 recipe Honey Whole Wheat Pizza Crust

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Assemble crust and roll it out, pre-bake for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, cut up vegetables. Spread sauce over crust, sprinkle light layer of cheese on top of the sauce, add half vegetables, add rest of the cheese, finish with add the rest of the vegetables. Bake pizza for 12 minutes or until cheese is melted and crust is completely done! Enjoy

Spinach & Sun dried Tomato Pesto

If you haven't noticed by now I am a huge pasta fan, it's probably my favorite meal, but it does bring a lot of carbs with it. I always try to use whole grain pastas or the pastas made with vegetables and whole grains. You have to be careful when you buy "whole wheat" or "whole grain" pastas....if you look closely at the boxes, sometimes you'll see them say-made with 51% whole wheat- or something to that affect. I'm pretty sure if I am trying to be healthier I don't want to be half healthy, I want to be all the way! So just watch your pasta, health food stores with generally have the 100% whole grain, but always look to be sure. That was my tangent now on to the food!

I've never really done much with pesto pastas, I've always been into marinara or cream sauces, so I wanted to shake up my taste buds and try a pesto. I was being a really brave girl on this one, tomatoes are not my favorite thing in the world! I know they are suuuuuper good for you, but I try guys, I really try to like them. I taste them, but I don't know I just don't really like them, anyways so I went out on a limb with the sun dried tomatoes. I tried them on pizza once and I remembered they didn't taste like fresh tomatoes. I found the recipe at angela's blog and the finished result was yum. Well I kind of was in the mood for a little bit more than yum, I wanted something that would get me to make this again...for me! So I stood there looking at my little creation and decided why not spinach with the tomatoes and maybe I'll add a little milk to the sauce to make it go a little farther for the amount of pasta. Simple right, well these additions made it go from yum...to me saying "you complete me"! I really enjoyed it, the tomatoes gave it some zap that I wasn't expecting, and I really enjoyed the spinach mixed in, I'm all for sneaking in more veggies! Play around and see what you come up with, try the original, try mine, add something else...go for it!!!!

Spinach & Sun dried Tomato Pesto

For the Sauce

2 garlic cloves

1/2 c fresh basil

approx 7 sun dried tomatoes

6-8 T water

1/8 c non-dairy milk

1/4 c olive oil

1 T nutritional yeast (optional)

salt to taste

crushed red pepper flakes to taste

1 small handful of spinach

your choice of pasta

For the spinach

1 T olive oil

2 large handfuls of spinach

1/2 c sun dried tomatoes

In blender or food processor, while machine is running add cloves of garlic and mince, add basil until finely chopped. Pour in olive oil, water, milk, tomatoes, yeast while machine is going. Go as slowly as you need to so you don't get splashed! Blend until smooth or mostly smooth. Season with salt and red pepper flakes.

 Cook pasta according to package directions.  Meanwhile, pour 1 T olive oil in skillet and heat over med heat. Add spinach and sun dried tomatoes and saute until spinach is wilted.  Pour pesto sauce over the top of pasta and coat completely add spinach and tomatoes and coat! Serve warm! Enjoy

Easy Marinara Sauce

I love homemade pasta sauces...you just can't beat them no matter how hard store bought brands try! This was a tasty, and super easy marinara sauce that you can use for pasta pizza or whatever you'd like.

Easy Marinara Sauce

1 15 oz can tomato sauce

1 can tomato paste

1/2 28 oz crushed tomatoes

4 garlic cloves

1/2 onion

2 T olive oil

1 1/2 T Italian Seasoning

1 T parsley

2 T Italian dressing

1/2 T basil

Put olive oil in pan and heat over med-hi heat. Add garlic and onion and saute until onion is transparent. Add  tomato sauce, paste, and crushed tomatoes stir to combine. Add dressing and seasonings, mix to combine. Cover with lid and reduce heat to med-low and simmer for 15 minutes! 

Enjoy

Tomato Basil Sauce

This sauce is super creamy for creamier tomato pasta. I'm not a super huge fan of a strong basil taste so I halved the basil from the original recipe from ohsheglows.com . But you can adapt whatever you want to fit your tastes

Tomato Basil Sauce

1/2 C Raw cashews

1/4 C water

1 T tomato paste

1 T olive oil

2-4 garlic cloves

1 tsp salt

3-4 T water

1/2 C basil

Combine olive oil and garlic in large sauce pan and saute until tender. Meanwhile combine remaining ingredients to blender and blend on high for 90 seconds or until completely smooth. Pour tomato mixture into sauce pan to combine garlic. Toss with pasta. 

Easy Turkey Taco Soup

Taco soup is a yummy comfort food. This version is super easy and a little bit cleaner than typical taco soup. You can leave the refried beans out of this recipe if you'd like they just make it a thicker soup and also keep out the turkey if your going for vegetarian.

Easy Turkey Taco Soup

1 lb lean ground turkey

1 can kidney beans

1 can black beans

1 can red beans/or pinto

1 can fat free refried beans (optional)

1 can low sodium vegetable broth

1/2 packet taco seasoning (or the whole packet if you like more taco taste)

1 1/2 c frozen corn

1/2 T cumin

1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes

Heat pan and add ground turkey and cumin. Heat until browned. Drain any grease from turkey. Combine all other ingredients into crock pot or soup pot be sure to drain and rinse beans before adding. Add seasoned ground turkey to soup. If in the crockpot cook on high for about 4 hours, if on the stove top let simmer for 30 min. Serve with tortilla chips, optional toppings, avacado and diced tomatoes. 

Zesty Couscous Medley

This was a yummy side or main dish. If you enjoy couscous you'll enjoy this. It was creamy and the Italian dressing made it pretty tangy. I love vegetables and potatoes, they tend to be my comfort food, so creamy comfort food without the guilt, I'm happy :) We had this along side some baked chicken and salad, but I look forward to having it as a yummy lunch.

Zesty Couscous Medley

1 1/2 C  couscous

3-4 medium potatoes

1/2 bag of frozen mixed veggies

3/4 C vegetable broth

3/4 C water

Creamy Tomato Sauce

3 T Italian dressing

* other vegetables to add if wanted, bell pepper, broccoli, asparagus, spinach...the sky's the limit

Add vegetables and potatoes to pot with 1/2 filled with water. Let simmer 10 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Meanwhile, combine water and vegetable broth and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and add couscous and cover. Let stand for 5-7 minutes until couscous is tender and fluff with fork. Meanwhile make creamy tomato sauce from this recipe here. Add vegetables and sauce to skillet stir to coat. Add couscous and  Italian dressing. Let simmer and heat together 5 minutes stirring often. Sprinkle with parsley and serve

* for a cheesier flavor you can add 2 T nutritional yeast, or just some shredded cheese.