Reduced Ebook pricing!

Now that we are well into the new year, I wanted to re-post OUR EBOOK at an even lower price to help you keep going in your resolutions. By the end of January is when I'd rather let go of some of the 'uncomfortable' changes I've tried to make for myself. I hope that our book can give you some motivation to keep going, eat clean, add more fruits and veggies. You are worth it and I know you can do it, because you can do hard things.

Baby steps remember. Maybe add a few more vegetarian meals, a few more salads and work up from there. It doesn't have to be cold turkey on every guilty pleasure all at once!

Keep going, and hopefully this $0.99 book can help you along your way!

Chicken Lentil Soup

Fall is here and soups comfort my soul! I had a friend who asked for a soup that used lentils. I love lentils, and I love lentil soup...some though find lentils an acquired taste. I admit if you don't season things good when using lentils they can be quite bland.

This soup is chuck full of stuff! It's hearty, healthy and perfect for a chilly day. I felt mine had a good flavor, a good consistency. However my basil kind of spilled into the soup so I had a little too much basil. I'll put the correct amount though- hopefully you don't have the same problem! Also, this soup is so easily turned vegan/vegetarian...just leave out the chicken. What other soups do you like? Do you prefer really hearty soups with lots of textures, or do you prefer a really smooth soup texture?

Chicken Lentil Soup

6 cups vegetable broth

4 small potatoes, cubed

1 1/4 C lentils

1 cup cooked quinoa

2 T basil

1 T garlic, minced

 salt and pepper to taste

dash of red pepper flakes

1 1/2 cup cubed cooked chicken

Add broth to a large pot. Add cubed potatoes with salt, pepper and red pepper flakes. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer and simmer for 5 minutes covered. Add lentils, quinoa, basil, and garlic. Simmer for 10 minutes until potatoes are tender. 

This is optional- I put half of the soup into the blender and blended it. Then poured it back into the pot. You don't have to do that if you don't like that consistency. 

Add cubed chicken and cover and simmer together for another 5 minutes!

Remove from heat and serve! Enjoy

Hearty Fall Crock Pot Vegetable Soup

Crisp fall air just screams for soup that warms your whole body. It is beautiful during this season, the leaves all up and down my street are so colorful...the only problem is...the bugs are trying to come inside for the winter! Seriously they are everywhere!

 

But one thing I look forward to is soup, soup and more soup...maybe a few bread bowls thrown in there. In the past most of my soups contained a lot of cream and cheese. If I'm going for creamy soup I try to stick to a cashew cream sauce base instead of cream cheese!

Soup is so diverse also since you can use almost anything you have on hand and usually turn up with a great tasting creation! That's what happened with this hearty vegetable soup. It was delicious and I used vegetables I just had in my fridge. It was so simple and may entire family devoured it. I made some homemade garlic biscuits to go with it and it was a very filling meal. I made this soup in the crock pot but you could easily do this on the stove top if you wanted to! Enjoy--this is sure to warm you up and make your stomach's very happy!

 

Fall Vegetable Soup

 

3 russet potatoes, peeled and chopped

1 onion chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

2-3 large carrots chopped

2 stalks celery, chopped

1/2 head cauliflower

1 c fresh or frozen peas

1 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes

2 c vegetable or chicken broth (low sodium)

2 c water

1 T Italian seasoning

salt and pepper to taste

 

Heat small amount of olive oil  to a skillet add chopped onion. Saute for about 7 minutes over med-high heat, add garlic. Saute together another 2 min. Reduce heat to medium and add all remaining vegetables. Cook for about 5-10 minutes until the potatoes begin to get somewhat soft and onions are translucent (this sauteing is what really pops the flavor). Meanwhile add tomatoes, broth and water to a crock pot. Add seasonings to skillet over the vegetables. Add vegetables to the crock pot. Cook on low for 7-8 hours or on high for 4 hours! You can mash the potatoes against the side of the crock pot once cooked to thicken it up! Enjoy

 

 

 

 

Remember our Ebook has recently been put out, don't miss out on your chance to win a Professional Grade Ninja Blender, all you need to do is buy our Ebook for $3.99 and you're in the running! Here is the link to the prizes

 

Better Than Chicken Salad Alternative!

How many bridal shower, baby showers, or parties have you been to with the little rolls of chicken salad or tuna salad sandwiches? I love those little things! I love the textures of good chicken salad. Since I don't eat meat in my diet as a staple I wanted to find a delicious, easy, healthy alternative to have for lunches and snacks! Well I had this recipe come into my mind, because I saw a picture of it months ago on another blog. It uses garbanzo beans in place of the tuna or chicken!

Open a can of those babies they honestly smell a little like the canned meats. I fell in love with this sandwich. The first time I made it I'm pretty sure I had a wrap, a sandwich and a slice of bread with some on it...in one sitting! Carb overload...I'd say so.

The beauty of this spread is you can add whatever you want in it and it has turned out great every time for me. The first time I added broccoli slaw and sun dried tomatoes in the mix, next I added red peppers with a dash of Annies roasted red pepper dressing, this time around I made it traditional chicken salad style with grapes and celery! Fantastic every way you do it. I'm going to do the traditional style recipe, but keep in mind you can add whatever you'd like and it will be amazing.

Step 1- drain, rinse and mash the beans with a potato masher

Step 2- add 1 1/2 T mayo or veganaise, 1/2 c cut up grapes, 1/2 cup chopped celery.

Step 3- Mix it all together

Step 4- devour it on your favorite wrap or sandwich!

My family loved this! I haven't been this obsessed with a recipe in a long time, very rarely will I make something multiple times in a week...well this one hits the spot! Enjoy...yay for easy lunches! Lettuce wraps would be great, and maybe some chopped up pickle or plain cucumber...just some extra thoughts of mine.

Failure and Winner!!!!

Let's get honest shall we? I don't always have delicious dinners to serve my family. There are times when I have to bust out the old PB&J. When I started this crock pot challenge I had envisioned lovely dinners and desserts every day. Well sometimes life happens so I don't get to make dinner that night or we have a lot of left overs to eat or maybe I just have a disaster of a meal that I am so sad I can't eat. Last night was no exception

I attempted to make the Honey, Orange Broccoli and Tofu. I thought it would be great since I have been loving using silken tofu in my desserts, so I thought I 'd have no problem with firm tofu. Remember how I always talk about we need to allow our kids time to adjust their tastes...well apparently eating tofu like chicken is a taste I need to adjust. I just didn't like how everything turned out....the broccoli was too cooked, the tofu was bland and tasted like just a piece of soy (which I guess it is) and the sauce was not sauce it looked like water. So, not a good dinner and yes I pulled out the peanut butter!

On a brighter note, today for lunch we had a great creation, tasty hummus!. It wasn't from the crock pot, but it was so tasty and really good for you. It comes straight from my Eat to Live book. I was laughing the other day about how after my daughter was born and I first did the Eat to Live Challenge to lose weight I looked at the recipes and thought they sounded gross, and I didn't know what half the ingredients were....I didn't know ANYTHING ABOUT FOOD! Now I read it again and everything sounds so delicious to me...funny how things change. 

Dr. Fuhrman's Tasty Hummus Spread

1 1/4 C chick peas (garbanzo beans)

1 heaping T sunflower seed butter (tahini)

2 garlic cloves

2 T lemon juice

1/3 c bean liquid or water

cumin to taste

Add all ingredients to blender and blend until completely smooth. If you want it thick add more beans or sunflower seed butter. Use on sandwiches or wraps!

I made myself I salad wrap on corn tortillas filled with tons of lettuce, it was so awesome! What an easy lunch!

I sandwiched them together and made it like a tostada!

Tastes Traditional Chocolate Chip Cookies

So last night was a major craving night! I really wanted a nice homemade chewy, chocolaty chocolate chip cookie! Well, I pulled out one of my old cookbooks to see how I could revamp the recipe...even though the craving was strong I couldn't actually bring myself to follow the recipe (2 sticks of butter and almost two cups of sugar...no thank you) So I had planned to use a bunch of different things like dates, applesauce- things like that. Well after a quick look at my pantry I realized it was time for a shopping trip, but I moved forward anyway. I used honey and some vegan butter I had, I used one egg and one flax egg, but you can easily use two flax eggs, I did add a few tablespoons of raw cane sugar, I used whole wheat flour and you know the end result was awesome! Seriously the cookie dough smelled and tasted like traditional chocolate chip cookies and the report Derek gave me was they were like chewy Chips Ahoy....he did say he will always love the bean cookies the best!

So some subs that origianally I had planned on using...

applesauce in place of all oils

banana or flax eggs for egg replacers

and I had planned on using date paste to use for sweeteners...but here we are and it didn't go according to plan...

...does that mean I didn't eat them...heck no I just didn't eat the three I usually eat in one sitting! These are wonderful, if you're looking to clean up your chocolate chip cookies a little here you go!!! Amazing!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

3 c flour

3 T vegan margarine or 3 T c applesauce

3 T sugar in the raw or 1/4 c date paste

1/4 c raw honey or pure maple syrup

1 tsp vanilla 

1/4 tsp almond extract

1 egg

1 flax egg or you can use only flax eggs

1 tsp baking soda

pinch of salt

1/2 c dark chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees! cream butter and cane sugar (if you are using applesauce and date paste just combine all wet ingredients and mix) add egg and flax egg to creamed butter, add vanilla and almond extract. Add in dry ingredients and to the wet ingredients. Mix well....this dough is thick, I had to get in there with my hands and knead it. Fold in chocolate chips. Bake for 10 minutes until golden on top.

Note: these didn't flatten very well so I would press the dough into a flat cookie before baking or just flatten them right out of the oven! Enjoy!

Healthy Waffle Trifle

Breakfast for dinner is a favorite meal from time to time! Why not shake up the dinner table with breakfast! This meal doesn't consist of sausage, hash browns, bacon or eggs! This is filling, fruity, sweet, gluten free, and full of fiber and protein! And you want to the know the absolute best part? Kids devour this! No problem. My kids couldn't get enough. Ever since I discovered the recipe for the whole grain blender waffles I've been wanting to try this, I found this remake of the waffles from wholefoodmommies, they never let me down! I was so pleased, I only made a few tweaks to the whipped topping.

I had originally planned to make waffle fruit pizzas, which I still plan to do, but unfortunately the first few waffles I ruined somehow. Really how is that possible it's not that hard to watch them on the waffle iron. Anyways, I ended up following the original trifle idea and it was wonderful. We are using these for "Y" day, yes I skipped "X" I mean really, that's a hard one. We're calling these "Yummy" Waffles! Okay, it works. I have a great "Z" meal planned....and yes it really does start with "Z"!

 I do think the pizzas would be fun though! After I put this together I thought "This is so pretty!" This is a perfect brunch or shower dish! No one even needs to know it's GOOD for them! Go ahead, be the talk of your next get together with this beauty!

Healthy Waffle Trifle

Waffles

 2 C water

1 T honey

1 C oats

1/4 C millet or corn meal

1/4 C ground flax seed

1/4 C raw almonds or cashews

1 T cornstarch

1/4 tsp salt

 

Combine all ingredients to the blender and blend on high until it is well combined. Pour generous amount to waffle iron. The waffles should be a dark brown, then they are done. 

 

Whipped Topping

 12 oz silken tofu

1 tsp cinnamon

1/3 C maple syrup

1/2 C non-dairy milk

1 tsp vanilla

 

Combine everything to the blender and blend until it is well mixed. 

 

Tear small pieces of waffle and spread onto the bottom of a trifle dish or bowl. Add desired fruit in a layer. I used mango, strawberries, and grapes. But any type of fruit would be awesome. Top fruit layer with whipped topping and repeat for two or three layers! Serve chilled. Enjoy

* If you'd like a vegan option take out the honey from the waffles and use 2-3 dates or agave

New SPARK challenge & Eating Healthy Eating Out!

I am really excited for a NEW review! A friend of mine who is a representative for advocare   asked me if I would be willing to participate in a 31 day challenge to promote one of their products called SPARK. Spark uses vitamins and minerals to give you energy and focus.

As a "re-covering pop-a-holic" I understand what it means to need your caffeine energy for the day. Soda gives you so much yuck at the same time as giving you your boost in energy. One time I was watching a show, I think it was The Dr.'s or something and a lady was on there discussing soda. She said if you are a regular soda drinker, like every day, if you cut it out you had the potential to lose 40 lbs a year! Just for cutting out soda! It's pure sugar and just flat out not good for us! If anyone knows how hard it is to give it up, it's me. When I decided not to drink the stuff anymore I remember how hard it was to come off the addiction. It was an addiction for me. I remember going into work and seeing other employees with their huge 44 oz mugs of Diet Coke and I would just salivate...literally. I felt like I was in AA I needed co-worker support and intervention to not let me run to the vending machines to get a bottle of pop! 

I currently do not crave soda or any type of drink like that. I agreed to do this challenge since I understand the need for a pick me up. For any friends or readers who struggle with "needing" their soda fix or coffee or whatever you need to pick you up, I wanted to find a healthier option for you to wean off the liquid sugar that soda is. So what does the challenge consist of:

So for 31 days replace all other drinks with one package of SPARK a day and TONS of water. I'll journal about how I'm feeling and then at the end I'll let you know what I think. 

I want to note that I believe that we can get natural energy from eating a diet rich in plant foods, however I realize that many people are not quite there in their road to health or maybe don't feel the same as me, so this may be just what you're looking for! 

Okay- So I also wanted to show you how it is possible to choose healthier choices when you eat out. We decided yesterday to take our kids to the park and have a picnic. We have the cutest, cheapest, and tastiest bakery in town. We love it! So we decided to get some dinner from them. My husband was in charge of going and getting the food. He is very supportive of my decision to not eat animal products! He did so good, this is what he came back with for me

Just a pure veggie sandwich. He did have them put fat free mayo, but he tried and I was very grateful! It's nice to have support! It may take some creativity, but eating out can still be fun and healthier for you. I still believe it's healthier to eat your own food, but every once in awhile it is so much fun to go out with friends and family! Meatless meals, whole foods, and gluten free foods are spreading like wildfire and a lot of restaurants are integrating these foods into their menus. I was a waitress through college so I get it, all you need to do is ask. It's okay to work for tip :)

*If you'd like to order some of your own SPARK and do the challenge with me, email me or leave me a comment with your email and I'll put you in touch with my friend! 

 

Rumbi Voodoo Salad

Today I decided to throw my kids for a loop and instead of doing "U" day we'll do "V" for alphabet days!!!

Honestly....it's because I just couldn't wait to try and recreate this salad.

Island foods to me have the most amazing flavors! I adore the sauces with fruit pour over coconut rice or noodles! I feel like I'm sitting on a sandy beach sipping pineapple juice with my little umbrella every time I eat a savory bit of coconut or mango! Delicious.

Well although my husband and I don't eat out much for the mere fact that we can't find a whole lot of healthy foods when we eat out, I did fall head over heals in love with my last salad from Rumbi Island Grill. If you haven't eaten there it's awesome! Unfortunately it doesn't span the country. It's only found in a few states in the West. But no tears....that is why I've recreated the salad for you here! So you can bring this savory salad with tangy dressing to your own dinner tables. I changed a few things from the original salad. It had feta cheese crumbled over it, but I didn't put it in my own. I also added nuts and seeds to mine as well as a few mandarin oranges! So tasty

This salad does include chicken. If your are looking for vegan options or vegetarian, it's simple to just take the chicken off. It will still be amazing, I promise! If you enjoy Asian sauces or ginger you will drink this dressing by itself!  Enjoy

Rumbi Voodoo Salad (2 salads)

4 C romaine lettuce

1 C tortilla strips

1 C cooked chicken, cubed

1 C raw cashew nuts

1/2 C almonds

1/4 C sunflower nuts

1/4 C celery

1/4 C mandarin oranges 

Ginger Dressing

1 T ground fresh ginger root (if using already ground ginger use 2 T)

1/3 C olive oil

1/4 C rice vinegar

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 C low sodium soy sauce

1 1/2 T honey

Place lettuce on plate and top with remaining ingredients in the desired amounts. 

For the dressing, place all the ingredients in a high powered blender and blend for one minute until everything is very well combined and there are no chunks. 

Pour a tablespoon over salad! Enjoy

Optional toppings

Carrots

broccoli

feta cheese

rice noodles

beets

corn

beans

rice

quinoa

etc.

source: Rumbi Island Grill