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.

Living Simple and Healthy

 I feel I haven't been able to post that much lately (if I don't post everyday I feel like I'm neglecting the blog). One reason is I've been slamming with the final wrap ups of the eBook design and also my stinking computer has been having the hardest time uploading the pictures I take...it's a bummer. Well I've been trying for  few days to upload some now finally this morning it decided to be nice to me and let me get some pictures to post for you guys.

As a working mom I don't always have the energy and time to make time consuming meals. Sometimes I do, most times they taste great and I'm proud of my hard work, but there are other times when I  am so stressed out that I don't even enjoy the meal because it doesn't taste that great-then it just makes me sad.

It is awesome when I can make something nutritious and delicious without a huge mess or without a huge prep time. I wanted to share some simple food ideas that I've made that my family has loved! These meals are easy to make and the other plus...they are cheap and go a long way! Bring on the healthy and happy in these dinners!

Meal #1 Maple Baked Beans with Baked Potato

Beans:

1 can chili beans

1 can black beans

2 tsp pure maple extract

2 T honey

1 tsp cumin

1/2 onion, finely chopped

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Add all ingredients into and 8x8 baking dish, use the bean liquid too, don't rinse the beans. Mix well. Cover and bake for 15 minutes. Remove cover and bake another 10 minutes. Delicious! 

* I had the potatoes baking before hand, I added the beans about 25 minutes into the baked potatoes and took them out together! Easy.

These are called Pantry tacos since I just looked around and used anything I saw that would go well together in my fridge and pantry! It worked great! That's all I have to say...delicious. 

Meal #2 Pantry Tacos and sweet potato fries

Taco filling

 1 can beans (any kind) drained and rinsed

1 c low sodium vegetable broth

1/2 chopped onion

1 red bell pepper chopped

1 handful spinach finely chopped

3-4 canned jalapenos with juice

1 T cumin

Add all ingredient to a medium sauce pan. Heat on med-low and cover. Let simmer for 15-20 minuted until vegetables have achieved desired tenderness.

Sweet Potato Fries

2 julienne d peeled sweet potatoes

paprika, salt and pepper to taste

2 tsp olive oil

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Pour olive oil over potatoes and add seasonings. Bake for 15 minutes then flip the fries over. Bake another 15 minutes until they are golden and crispy! Enjoy

It is so nice to have healthy meals that are easy and fun to eat! Does anyone have some easy fun, healthy recipes that they enjoy in their families? Leave a comment!

 

Vegan Cheezy Quesadillas

One of my greatest loves, especially during pregnancy, are cheese quesadillas! I obviously don't eat them anymore. Cheese offers tons of saturated fats and really unhealthy stuff for our bodies! I don't know why I loved them so much, but lately I've been wanting a make over of a quesadilla so I can enjoy again and my kids can have some variety for lunch!

These little quesadillas took a little bit more time to make than original ones, but they were so delicious! I loved them and my kids loved them too! It's so nice to make something that turns out even better than the original and that is better for you! As you can see from the picture of my son's cute little hand they kept coming back for more!

Cheese Quesadillas

1 c raw cashews, soaked in water for an hour

1/2 c nutritional yeast

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

1 garlic clove

1/3 c milk

4 tortillas

1 can beans (any kind)

Drain nuts. Add nuts, yeast, nutmeg, red pepper flakes, garlic and milk to a blender. Blend for two minutes until completely smooth. Add beans to two tortillas. Pour cheeze sauce over the top and top with remaining two tortillas. Microwave for 30 seconds. Garnish with your favorite salsa or avocado. Enjoy

Skinny Enchiladas- trial 2

These magnificent enchiladas were initially intended to be part of the crock pot challenge. Well it ended up very mushy and a weird texture....so I ended up just baking them.

These are full of nutrients...seriously guys so good! I loved every bite and even told my husband "These are perfect for neighbor food! You know after a baby comes or something I'm taking these!" Everyone loved them...well my son is still being funny with food...he threw a lot of it, but my three year old gobbled them up like she had never eaten before!

Derek suggested that I call them What?! No Meat Enchiladas...catchy but I don't know I just didn't. These are ideal for the fall season that will be here in no time, they were colorful and delicious and I will be making these again shortly I'm sure! You can have a gluten free option by just using corn tortillas.

I added maybe a half a tablespoon of shredded cheese, I don't know why- I just did. It added nothing to this dish I couldn't even taste it, so next time I'll leave the unnecessary saturated fat out! I also found this adorable little bag of butternut squash pre-cut into perfect little squares so I didn't have to cut and peel a squash. If you guys want a delicious healthy, fall  meal to impress your family's without adding to the hips...ladies am I right? Then these are for you!

Skinny Enchiladas

1 can black beans

1 can pinto beans or chili beans

1 c cubed butternut squash

1 handful of spinach finely chopped

1 can green chili enchilada sauce

1 T nutritional yeast

1 c cooked brown rice

10 whole wheat tortillas (or corn)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Drain and rinse beans. In a small bowl combine beans, squash, spinach, rice and a tablespoon of enchilada sauce. Coat well. In a baking dish fill tortillas with bean mixture and roll the tortillas over the mixture. 

top with remaining enchilada sauce, nutritional yeast and a small amount of cheese if you'd like. Cover and bake for 20 minutes. Remove cover and bake an additional 10 minutes. Serve with salad and corn!!! You can thank me later!!!!

This is all that was left after we devoured them!

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!

Crock Pot Vegetarian Chili

Fall is in the air! I love chili during the cooler months- we especially love chili on Halloween with some cornbread to dip into it! There always seem to be parties and get together and chili is the eatable guest of honor! I love the spicy flavors all meshed into one awesome bite! That is why I love the crock pot for soups...it just seems to blend it so well together.

This vegetarian chili cannot be beat with how easy it is. Seriously this is a "drop" soup....all you do is drop everything into the crock pot and walk away! Easy Peasy!

My kids always devour this bad boy! It is filling and if your looking for a meat chili you can easily add ground turkey to this, but it is so satisfying even without meat! We love it! Chili and cornbread here we come! Welcome the Fall season and make this easy dinner tonight!

Vegetarian Chili

1 can crushed tomatoes (28 oz)

2 c vegetable stock

1 packet low sodium taco seasoning

1 can black beans

1 can kidney beans

1 can pinto beans

1/2 green bell pepper, minced

1/2 onion, minced

1 T cumin

1/4 c nutritional yeast (optional)

Rinse all the beans together and drain liquid. Take 1/3 of the beans and mash them in a separate bowl. Add mashed beans and remaining ingredients to the crock pot. Do a quick stir to mix in the seasonings. Cook on high for 3-4 hours! Delicious, and easy! Enjoy 

White Hot White Chili

I haven't forgotten about Alphabet Days! It is coming to a close and it is "W" day and we made it spiiiiicy!
I have never been a huge fan of insanely spicy foods; I can never quite understand how it's enjoyable to eat food while you're tongue is burning slowly out of your mouth! Derek on the other hand can't get enough of the "tough guy" spice. He told me he thought this chili had an intense kick to it! So that means I could only eat half of it before I was done. It was really tasty, but tooooo spicy for me!

This chili is a perfect shake up to typical every day chili, a creamy base with tons of white beans floating around. Yes please. If you want to add a major wake up call to your tastes tonight this if for you! I made mine in my crock-pot, but it can easily be made in a sauce pan.

White Hot White Chili

2 cans of white beans

2 C frozen corn

1 onion

1-2 green or yellow chili's, chopped

2 C water

2 C milk ( any milk will do. A good one to try is canned coconut milk)

2 T cornmeal

1-2 T cornstarch

2 cloves garlic

1 tsp salt

1 T cumin

Add beans, onion, chili's, corn and 1 cup of water to the crock-pot or sauce pan.

 Combine milk, one cup of water, cornmeal and garlic to blender. Blend for 60 seconds. Add corn starch to the blended milk and stir to help thicken it. Add salt and cumin and pour over the top of beans and vegetables.

 In crock pot cook on low for 4-5 hours in the sauce pan let simmer together over med-low for 30-60 minutes Enjoy

*you can also use cashews in place of the cornstarch, just add them to the blender to thicken.

Hawaiian Haystacks

As summer is kissing this year good-bye I feel the need to take full advantage of all the delicious, sweet fruit out there! Pineapple is one of the greatest gifts given to this earth! Okay, I'm sure there are a lot of other awesome things, but isn't pineapple so delicious!

I mean you throw it in some ice cream or make a tropical smoothie and you can be sitting on beach getting tan while there's a blizzard going on outside (I don't know why you'd eat ice cream during a blizzard, but in case you do...I'm sure that's how you feel)

Tonight I was missing Hawaiian haystacks. We haven't had them FOREVER! I also haven't made them with anything but cream of chicken soup before or without ham....and those two ingredients just aren't going to fly with me anymore. So I tried two sauces. The ginger vinaigrette and I made a creamy version of the dressing by using cashews. I'm still not sure which I like better. I'm also very open to another saucy idea so leave a comment if you have a tasty creation! I was satisfied with the Asian swing of these haystacks, and honestly I didn't miss the ham...yes you can do meatless and have a flavorful meal! Enjoy the last big of summer with chunky, tangy pineapple over your haystacks....you can thank me later :)

Hawaiian Haystacks

2 C uncooked Brown rice

1 C green onion

1 pineapple, chopped

1 C sweet peas

1 C corn

1 onion finely chopped

1 C shredded carrots

Rice Chow mein noodles, tortilla strips ( I used these) or nuts for some extra crunch 

* other toppings

Black Beans

Red Bell Pepper

Mango

Broccoli

Mushrooms

black olives

cashews

Ginger Vinaigrette Recipe 

Cashew Ginger Dressing

1/3 C raw cashews

1/2 T ground ginger

2 garlic cloves

1/3 C soy sauce

1/4 C almond milk

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

Cook rice in rice cooker until very tender. Two options: you can leave your vegetables raw or if you're like me and have an onion texture issue you can saute some together for a stir fry taste. I sauteed the onion, peas,  carrots and corn for 5 minutes in a skillet to tenderize the vegetables. For the Cashew dressing add all ingredients to blender and blend for 2 minutes until completely smooth. Add pineapple, choice of dressing, and vegetables to the rice. Top with chow mein noodles. Enjoy

Healthy Garden Vegetable Soup

Rain is a blessing! As I've gotten older, I've really started to enjoy overcast and rainy days....if we have rainy days for a long period of time, I do start to glare out the window and mutter rain complaints under my breath! Every once in awhile I'm completely happy with a nice rainy day though!

I feel I've been neglecting my recipe inventing, searching and just general cooking! I've been so wrapped up with family and our eBook that dinner hasn't always been my first thought. So as the afternoon drew to a close today and I realized I'm going to have whiny, hungry kids in a few minutes I started to panic! Okay, not really panic, but I started to pace the kitchen trying to find something to pull together-quick!

One thing we don't want to do when there is no dinner planned is????? Go out! Right, it's not nice to the wallet or waist! So....I looked out the window, looked at my fridge, looked out the window again and decided on...soup, comforting, steamy, rainy day bliss, soup.

Derek told me a few days ago we needed to add more beans into our meals, he's right. With meat on the back burner at our house we need the protein from nuts and beans, so I added beans to this delicious soup, you however can leave them out if you'd like...it's not a totally crucial ingredient.

All I did for this soup is raid my fridge and pull out any vegetable I wanted to throw into this! It blended together so nicely, it coupled some whole grain toast with ease and my kids turned into dippin' fools! Come on now, that's one of the best parts of soup is dipping the roll into right!

My daughter was adorable tonight, she dipped, then sipped...after about doing this three times she looked at me and said "Mom, I just love this so much!" Seriously guys, pure vegetable soup! What more could  I ask for! Shake this up to your heart's content....you really can't go wrong

Garden Vegetable Soup

2 C low-sodium vegetable broth

3 C water

2 C chopped carrots

2 C cubed potatoes

1 chopped broccoli crown

1/2 onion

1 C frozen corn

1 zucchini

2 cloves garlic

2 celery stalks, chopped

1 C white beans, rinsed and drained (optional) 

1 T Mrs. Dash Seasoning

1/2 T Italian seasoning

1/2 T paprika

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)

Combine water, broth, onion and garlic, heat over medium heat while you chop the remaining vegetables. Add vegetables, beans and seasonings to pot. Cover and heat over med-low until potatoes are very tender. Scoop half of soup and put it in the blender, blend until puree texture, return puree to the rest of the soup. Serve with warm rolls and salad! 

*this soup will freeze well, so if you have a lot of left overs or want to use it as a freezer meal go for it!

Quinoa Garden Burger

A few weeks ago my hubs took me out for a nice dinner. It can be really challenging to find healthy food to eat when you go out to eat. We settled on a local restaurant and much to my surprise they had menu that was entirely vegetarian!!! Wow, I was impressed. I ordered a really flavorful garden burger and I loved it. I knew I had to recreate something similar at home where I knew for sure everything that was going into it!

I'll admit I've never had much luck with garden burgers. They either are really bland or they fall apart. It's been quite disappointing.

After playing around a little bit I decided instead of rice I wanted to use quinoa with the beans and vegetables. I wanted to have kind of a southwest burger that had some kick to it. I will say I think I should've added a few more spices, but this has turned into the best garden burger I've made! I was really happy with how it turned out. Thank goodness! It makes me feel much better knowing that I've got natural, whole food in these babies and very low sodium! You can add different vegetables, or use rice instead of quinoa. You can change the beans you use, these are very versatile!

I was worried that I would spend two hours making them, but they were put together really quickly that is always a plus in my book! Make these your own, and you will adore them! Enjoy

Quinoa Garden Burger

2 C cooked quinoa

1 can white beans, drained and rinsed

1/2 red bell pepper

1 C frozen corn

1/2 C chopped green onion

3 carrots, grated

1/2 C sunflower nuts

1/2 T cumin

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 T Mrs. Dash seasoning

1 tsp taco seasoning (optional)

Chop vegetables and combine with seasonings in small bowl

In a large bowl combine cooked quinoa and beans and mash together. You can leave some beans whole or mash them completely! Get a great arm workout while you cook! Combine quinoa mixture with vegetables in the large bowl.

Shape into small patties and place them in oiled skillet. Cook over medium heat until browned on both sides. Be careful not to let them burn, however you don't want the insides to be mushy and cold. 

Serve warm with all the burger fixins you want! For a gluten free option try them in a lettuce wrap, or just eat the patty with a BBQ dipping sauce! 

Yes I love pickles, and I added a big fat one to my burger :)

Mini Double Chocolate Cookies

It's "M" day, so I must honor the Disney Freak in me!!!!

Today is all about mini size!!! 

I've posted before that when I first was discovering healthy alternatives for baking and recipes I found beans to use in baked goods. At first I was disgusted and was sure that they would be gross and your cookie would taste like a sugary burrito!

Well I finally was brave enough to try a recipe and have now since made many different bean baked goods, two of my favorites are the Heavenly Bean Cookies and Butter Bean Scotchies! 

So today I thought about making one of these cookies but just making them into mini balls, after awhile I thought...no. They are both white bean cookies that are quite similar, they're delicious, but I needed to go out on a limb and try a different type of cookie with a different bean! I've made black bean brownies before since I have a gluten free recipe and I made them for my mom (I just need to make them again, take a picture and post them, they're great), but I've never used the black beans in a cookie!

After the cookie making today I can now say that beans in themselves could have their own cookbook. 100 ways to use beans in baking and cooking!!!! They offer protein, vitamins and they don't bust out they're flavor and make your sweets all beany. They can be bold when they want, and invisible when they want!

So obviously we had another bean cookie hit! They were cute, tasty, healthy, and chocolatey! Yay! They are about 30-40 calories a cookie due to the size and it'll depend on how many chocolate chips you use!!! You can't beat that. My daughter settled in the second they were out of the oven with her glass of almond milk, and popped down two cookies!!!!

Be brave, try these! I am such a fan of beans in my cookies and baking. These are not gluten free, but there are so many recipes available that use beans instead of flour for those who can't have gluten! I also feel that beans are an important part of a natural diet, so what better way to get them in than through a cookie!!!

Mini Double Chocolate Cookies

1/2 C oats

1 cup whole grain flour (I use spelt)

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 C cocoa powder

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/2 C canned black beans

1 T bean liquid

1/8 C coconut sugar 

1/4 C Raw cane sugar

1/4 C agave sweetener

1/4 c unsweetened applesauce

1/2 tsp vanilla

4-6 T water

1/4 tsp almond extract (optional)

1/2 c. semi- sweet  chocolate chips

dash of salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all dry ingredients in medium bowl. Add wet ingredients including beans to blender. Blend on high for one minute or until smooth. Combine wet and dry ingredients. Fold in chocolate chips. If it is too dry add some more water, slowly!

  Drop by 1/2 table spoons onto greased cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes. You can make them smaller if you want, but just make sure you lower the bake time! Let them cool about 5 minutes before taking them off the sheet! Enjoy

Butter Bean Scotchies!

My mother-in-law gave me a recipe when my husband and I were first married for oatmeal scotchie cookies! They are Derek's favorite cookie, the only problem is they use about two sticks of butter and tons of sugar!
Today my nephew came to play so I wanted to have some fun with all the kids and make some cookies, well I wanted to clean up those scotchies....we all love that recipe and we've missed it, but can't justify eating. Well I'm happy to report we've done it! We cleaned up those cookies and now there are no worries when I plop one into my mouth! It's awesome when you can keep the taste you love without all the harmful ingredients!

Butter Bean Scotchies

1 c oats

1 c whole wheat flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

dash of salt

1/2 c butter beans

1 T bean liquid

1/4 c raw cane sugar

1/4 c agave nectar

1/4 c applesauce

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp almond extract

1/2 tsp honey

1/2 butterscotch chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Add 1/4 c of oats to blender. Pulse 6-8 times and pour into a bowl. Combine remaining oats, flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt to bowl, whisk together. In blender remaining ingredients including sugar. Blend until smooth, combine wet ingredients to dry ingredients.  Fold in butterscotch chips. Form into balls or flatten with palms (they don't flatten by themselves very much). Bake 8-10 minutes at 350 degrees! Enjoy

They are delicious!

* p.s. follow me on facebook, naturally healthy and happy!

Chocolate Dream Cookies

Have you ever just thought of an idea for a recipe but had no idea where to start? Well that's what happened here. I thought a chocolate cookie with coconut flakes would just be wonderful, but how would I make it natural, and healthier? I could've jumped on my friend google and probably found a trillion different recipes, but I decided to take on the challenge myself and see if it was even possible for me to invent a cookie from my head! Well I'm happy to say after two tries I think I have a winner! The first batch to me had a great flavor but they were super dry...like take a bite, drink something, take a bite etc. So that had to be changed asap! My son, absolutely loves these...he sits at the counter where they are cooling just trying his hardest to reach too bad he's only two feet tall! These were pretty simple, once I had my flow going and figured out the ingredients I needed to make these.

I had originally planned on using eggs, but when I went into my fridge...well they were all gone. So that is where the beans come into play, so just to let you know they may work fine with 2 eggs, they may not I haven't tried it. If the beans don't sound great (you can't taste them I promise) then try some eggs, better yet try a flax egg (1 T ground flax see +2-3 T water, simmer together 5 minutes and cool)...let me know how it goes! I still think you should get out a glass of almond milk with these...who doesn't like milk with chocolate!

Chocolate Dream Cookies

1/2 c vegan margarine (or I've used smart balance, lite)

1/2 c coconut oil

1 c cane sugar

2 c whole wheat flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 c coconut flakes

1 cup agave nectar

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 c black beans, rinsed and drained

1/2 c cocoa powder

1/4 c applesauce

1/8 c almond milk (optional)

1 c semi-sweet chocolate chips

 Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream cane sugar, agave, coconut oil and margarine in small bowl. Add to blender along with remaining wet ingredients. Blend until smooth. Whisk together dry ingredients in medium bowl, add in wet ingredients. Fold in chocolate chips. Roll dough into small balls and place on lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes at 350 degrees! 

*these won't really flatten out thin, they stay more in the ball form. If you'd like them flatter before you bake them flatten them with your hands.

Crock pot Mango Chicken

Summer screams fruit to me. I love all the different things you can do with fruit, in salads, treats, breads even with meat. I thought to put the mango salsa recipe to good use with this recipe. It turned out really nice, it had a lot of flavor and gives you some good servings of fruit and vegetables! I also love the crock-pot, worry free dinner! This makes a great freezer meal for future planning! I served this with brown rice. I think next time I'm going to go for more of an island taste so I'm going to add some teriyaki sauce! I am not the biggest fan of cilantro, so I also might leave that out next time also, but cilantro fans knock yourselves out you can add as much as you want! The sky is the limit on this... take things out, put things in make it taste perfect for you!

Crock pot Mango Chicken

2 lbs boneless skinless chicken

1 c vegetable broth 

1 green bell pepper 

1/2 onion

1/8 c salsa

1/4 c mango salsa

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp paprika

1/2 can black beans

1/8 c Italian dressing

1/4-1/2 c low sodium teriyaki sauce (optional)

Put chicken in crock-pot with 1 cup vegetable broth. Cook on high for two hours. Add onion, green

pepper, salsa (not mango salsa), beans, dressing and spices and teriyaki sauce if your adding it. Cook another two-three hours. Add mango salsa and cook one more hour. Serve over brown rice or quinoa! Happy summer!

Quick Bean Quinoa Medley

This is one way to make a super satisfying lunch with some leftovers in the fridge. I had left over Quinoa filling from my Quinoa Burritos and a baked potato....what to do they both sounded good....well why not combine them :) you can add whatever other raw or cooked veggies you want and you've got yourself a super quick satisfying, tasty lunch! Also, this can be used as a great side with dinner or the whole meal!  I topped mine with a tablespoon of Italian dressing and was very happy!

Quick Bean Quinoa Medley

Quinoa Burrito Filling

1-2 T Italian Dressing

1 baked/boiled potato

assorted vegetables (optional)

Combine all ingredients and heat on stove for approx 5 minutes or in microwave for  1.5 minutes! Enjoy!