A feast for the belly and the body!

I've mentioned before how important it is to me that every meal have some type of nutritional value. That doesn't mean that it's always super healthy or low fat, but I try to make every bite count. So if we're having brownies, it's nice to use dark chocolate and receive all the great benefits of antioxidants and stress relieving serotonin - while enjoying my treat. The other day I made my daughter a meal that she loves and so do I - because I sneak good for you ingredients in. I made Collard Greens, Chicken & carrot meatballs, and whole grain Rotini pasta in sauce. It's so easy, very delicious and quite nutritious. And she enjoyed it for lunch and dinner! Here's what I did. Feel free to substitute in ingredients or switch things around and let me know how it comes out!


Collard Greens
-1lb Collard Greens, washed & chopped
-1 14oz can of beef broth or chicken broth
---OR---
-1 slice of Bacon
-Salt & Pepper to taste
***In the absence of broth, use a piece of flavorful meat. In my case I use 1 strip of Bacon. I fried it a little first to render off the fat and then added my washed greens to the pot. Then I added Water to cover the greens and added my seasoning. Usually I use Salt & pepper, but this time I used a half packet of Wiley's Greens Seasoning - wonderful stuff! (1 pack for 2lbs of Greens). Cook on medium heat until tender and check frequently to add more water as needed. I cooked mine for about 4 hours.

Chicken & Carrot Meatballs
-1 1lb pack of ground chicken
-1 cup of carrots
-2 garlic cloves, peeled
-1 large OR 2 medium Shallots diced
-2 Tablespoons Badia Complete Seasoning
-1 tablespoon Bell's Seasoning
- A little salt
-2 Tablespoons olive oil
-Approx 1 to 2 cups water
***Add the above ingredients into the ground chicken and mix well. Reserve 1 tablespoon of oil for cooking. Form into meatballs (I use a spoon to scoop meatball-like shapes and drop them into the pan) and fry in the remaining Tablespoon of olive oil. Let brown on one side and flip to brown the other side. Add water to about halfway of the meatballs. You want them to cook, but not drown. Cook until water has cooked out and turn off heat.

Rotini Noodles in Sauce
-1 1lb box Whole Grain Rotini Noodles (or whatever noodles you prefer)
-1 Jar of spaghetti sauce
-Italian seasoning
-2 Teaspoons of sugar* (Optional)
***Cook Noodles according to package directions and and drain and take off of heat. Add the sauce and some seasoning if you like and enjoy! The sugar is for the little ones, but it's not necessary.

This meal takes some prep work but the end result is amazing and hearty.

30 Nights of Salad - Day 9

Pork Chop salad? It's whats for dinner! Grilled pork chops (thin sliced or thick cut) are so delicious. We throw them on the George Foreman grill and in a few minutes we have completely cooked through - tender delicious pork chops. Grilling your meat instead of frying it is a great way to maintain crunch but with way less calories, fat, etc. Alas my Grill conked out recently so I am using olive oil to fry my chops. I used less than 1 tablespoon to fry 4 thin Pork Chops and of course I drained them on a paper towel after they were done. Pork is a fun alternative to our everyday fare of Chicken - chicken breast, chicken wings, ground chicken - ugh. And it pairs really nicely with apples and cranberries, so I used this as an inspiration for my salad. It came out amazing and neither of us left food on our plates! And our daughter loved this salad - even the cranberries. Here's the ingredient list - Enjoy!

Pork Chop Salad
-4 thin sliced pork chops (seasoned to your taste)
-1 tablespoon of olive oil (Omit if using a grill)
-1 onion, sliced
-1/2 yellow bell pepper, thinly sliced
-1/2 apple sliced (I prefer Gala)
-scallions, chopped
-dried cranberries, handful
-lettuce

***I cooked the pork chops in less than 1 tablespoon of olive oil and drained on paper towels. You can also grill if you like. Also I prefer my onions cooked, so I fried the onions in the remaining oil. Feel free to grill these also or leave raw - however, cooking them just a bit brings out the natural sweetness in onions and goes well with the chops! Wash & assemble the remaining ingredients and voila! Pork Chop Salad!
I used the raspberry vinaigrette on mine and it went so great! Although hubby does not like the raspberry pits - I barely notice them.

Try it and let me know what you think!

A Powerhouse Lunch!

I put together a yummy and flavorful lunch that was packed with vitamins and nutrients! Brown rice with Pinto beans, Teriyaki tofu and Broccoli. It was really easy and very delicious and the only thing my daughter didn't like was......the beans! Did you think it was the tofu? No she loves tofu! And if you don't - you could. Below are my instructions for each part of the dish. Adding flavor to every layer helps the finished product to be incredibly dense and delicious. Start here:

Brown rice
1.5 cups brown rice
4 cups water
teaspoon of olive oil
1 packet of Lipton's Onion Soup Mix
***cook for approx 1 hour on very low heat

Pinto Beans
1.5 cups Dry pinto beans
2 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
3 cups of water
***Rinse beans thoroughly. Soak beans overnight. Place them in the fridge or leave out on the counter. They should almost double in size. Add the beans and their water to a pot with another 3 or so cups of water. A Scallion and some salt. Also fresh thyme cooks well with any kind of bean - add a sprig to the pot.

Tofu
1 pack of firm tofu
1 tablespoon olive oil
3oz water
3oz Teriyaki sauce
Onions if you like
***Drain the tofu, and wrap in a paper towel to soak up excess water. Cut the Tofu block into thirds, then slice into small squares. Add the oil to a pan and let it get warm then add the tofu pieces and fry until crisp and brown on each side (onions too if you like). Add the teriyaki sauce & water to the pan and continue to cook on medium heat until the sauce reduces and leaves a thick glaze on the tofu - stirring constantly.

Broccoli - the easiest bit. Cook or steam until barely tender. Add a little salt if you like.

Add them all together and enjoy your hard work. Remember - beans are good for your heart. There's even a song. :)
Enjoy!

Fresh Peaches

My supermarket recently received the most beautiful picture perfect peaches and I couldn't help but grab a couple just because they were there and looking gorgeous. So this morning I cut into one and oops! not ripe enough, but that's okay! I had a plan. I cooked them with a little drizzle of honey and a pat of butter (a thin slice of butter). The honey balanced out the tartness of the not so ripe peach. Then I baked some Pillsbury buttermilk biscuits and spooned the peaches over the top. It was simple, it was easy, it was yummy. I'd rather not have cereal everyday nor do I want pancakes/bacon/grits etc. very often. So it's important to me to mix it up a bit and try something different. Hope this inspires you too!

Lunchtime Quesadillas

A great lunchtime treat (or anytime really) is a warm yummy quesadilla! So I took a little Monterey, some leftover chicken breast, sliced tomato and some ground FlaxSeed and made a delicious, and easy lunch for us. This is a great way to sneak something healthy into a treat. My 2 year didn't even notice as she gobbled down all that good-for-you flaxseed with fiber and Omega-3s - great things to have in your daily diet. Check it out, it's so easy you can do it too!

2 Tortilla wraps (I used 8" diameter wraps)
1oz Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
sliced Roma Tomato
Sliced chicken breast
1 teaspoon (or more) of flaxseed (sprinkled throughout the quesadilla)

***Put 1 tortilla wrap down and spread the cheese, then add the tomatoes and sliced chicken, spacing them out so that you can get some in each bite. Sprinkle the ground flaxseed onto your "pizza" and then place the other tortilla wrap on top.
Place into a warm pan over low heat (with or without oil/butter) and cook on each side for 3-4 minutes until brown and using a spatula, flip onto the other side. Cook for an additional 3-4 minutes. Place warm quesadilla onto cutting board and cut into eighths! ENJOY!!!

Father's Day Picnic

For Father's Day, I wanted to show my husband how much he was appreciated, so I put together a little picnic for us and took the gang to the Park. It was a gorgeous day today, a little hot but lovely nonetheless. We took our daughter out on her bike and rolled down the hill to Riverbank State Park. We were lucky to find a spot in the shade considering how crowded it was, but it all worked out! I made something he loves, Fried chicken wings with mango washed down with raspberry lemonade iced tea and for dessert! Ah dessert! We had chocolate pudding from a wonderful bakery called Sugar Sweet Sunshine - this pudding is amazing ohmygoodness out of this world and their Banana pudding is better than that! It's a treat and an indulgence we try not to overdo. But it was necessary for today, a small token of thanks to my man, an amazing husband and truly a wonderful father! The recipes are below! Enjoy!

Yummy fried chicken with mango
-15 Chicken wings
-Seasoned salt
-Bells seasoning
-Garlic Powder
-Onion Powder
-Badia complete seasoning
-some olive oil

***I fried these in canola oil very slowly. Low medium heat for about 10-15 minutes on each side.
***I use the amount of seasoning that I'm comfortable with. Try it your way and feel free to add or omit any ingredient!
***MANGOES!!!! Cut up some Mango slices and out them in a tupperware on top of the chicken so that the juices drip onto the chicken and flavor them that way! YUM!

Inspired by Giada

There's a constant in our lives around here and that's me watching Giada De Laurentiis on Food Network (or recently on the new Cooking Channel) and jumping up immediately after or even during the show to go make something I just saw her create. Well today I watched while she cooked up yummy food for her daughter's first birthday party and of course, got creative in my kitchen while I cooked up some yummy lunch for my daughter. She made mini bowties with peas and carrots. She used Mascarpone cheese and Cream cheese while I used Cheddar, Monteray Jack, American and some frozen pureed winter squash. I only used a little butter and 1% milk, I wanted to keep it light. I tell you, it was a hit! Well...mostly, my daughter picked the peas out of hers! Ah well, next time I'll try broccoli. Here's my recipe below:

6oz (or half box) of Mini Bowtie pasta (or sub in whatever's in your cupboard)
1 cup green peas (I used frozen)
pat of butter
4oz Monteray Jack cheese - shredded
2oz mild Cheddar cheese - shredded
2 slices American cheese
2oz frozen pureed winter squash (chopped or melted)
splash of 1% milk

*Boil water, add pasta and green peas. Follow directions on box for cooking time - usually 9-10 minutes. Drain cooked pasta leaving about a tablespoon of pasta water behind in pan. Put Pasta and peas back into pot and turn heat to low. Add Shredded cheeses, slices of American and butter into pot. Stir until melted. Add splash of milk (eyeball it, you're just using milk as a thinner if needed) and frozen winter squash and stir. Once everything is melted, turn off fire and scoop into bowls and EAT! Enjoy!

P.S. I added a bit of tuna into my bowl for a texture and taste distinction.