{Happy New Year's Eve}

It's been awhile since i have posted! We have been out of town for Christmas! I am ready to get back in the swing of things and to post some stuff on here! :) I don't have a recipe for your tonight, but i will share a few things with you that we eat around here to eat healthy...

1. We like hamburgers. Try Bocca Burgers. They are vegetarian and are good. You add lettuce, pickles, tomatoes, onions, etc. just like on a regular burger. It's a much healthier alternative.
2. Bake your fries. Soak your fries in some water for about 30 minutes to 1 hour before baking them. Pat them dry after soaking and mix them in a bowl with olive oil, salt and pepper. Cook at 450 degrees for about 30 minutes to 45 minutes...flipping when necessary. They end up being great fries! Crispy on the outside and perfect in the center. :)
3. Eat sliced fresh fruit as a side with your meals.
4. For breakfast, eat a 100% whole wheat english muffin with an egg and an orange. That's a good breakfast.
5. You can also eat Kashi GO LEAN CRUNCH cereal. It's good for you. You can also add it to your yogurt with some fresh fruit thrown in the mix. YUM
6. OR eat steel-cut oats for breakfast. It has double the fiber and nutrients of regular oatmeal. Then you can add some apples to it, and nuts and raisins with some cinnamon. With all that in there you don't really need brown sugar. The raisins,especially, add sweetness to each bite. You have to add the raisins and apples before it's completely done b/c you want them to soften up a bit. ALSO, add some flaxseed when it's done cooking! It's GREAT for you! :)
7. Some breads say WHOLE WHEAT, but really aren't. Look at the ingredients. If it's whole wheat, it will say it first thing on the ingredients list. If it's not , it will say "enriched" ...ALSO we don't eat bread with high-fructose corn syrup and MOST breads in the store have that in their ingredients. If it's in the bread it will say it in the first five ingredients.
8. Eating healthy is not overrated. If you don't believe it, then try it out. You will notice a difference in how you feel... I have felt the difference and i have talked with others who notice the difference.

There are other things i want to post soon. I want to post a couple Vegan dishes on here. My sister-in-law is eating all vegan food now. So, she has made me want to try a couple things. :)

{Currney Chicken}

So, i wanted to combine two of the main ingredients and make up a name for this. Sounds interesting. :) Honey and Curry= Currney. haha! I had fun with it. We really enjoyed this meal! It was tasty and yummy and pretty healthy. You must try it! AND it's sooooo easy to make!

Also, i have been making LOTS of yummy christmas treats lately, which is why i haven't been posting much. I have been making a yummy homemade hot cocoa mix, Homemade marshmallows(they are good!), the best snickerdoodles i have ever eaten, AND snowball cookies, which most refer to them as mexican wedding cookies. Oh and those are darn addictive. I have gained 10 lbs. over the past few weeks. :)

Currney Chicken

Ingredients

1/2 cup Honey

1/3 cup Dijon Mustard

1 TBS. Curry Powder

4 TBS. Soy Sauce

4 chicken breasts

Directions:

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl or ziploc bag. Place the chicken in and cover well with the marinade. Let marinate over night OR all day in the fridge. Place chicken in a pan and cover. Cook at 350 for one hour. Uncover the chicken and baste and cook for another 15 minutes. Serve. Cut your chicken into slices and and top with some of the remaining sauce. Yummy!

Source: Bakedbree.com

Mexican Cobb Salad

This salad is delcious, simple and you can make it however you like. Here are the vegetables i chose.

Ground Beef with taco seasoning

Red Pepper

Tomato

Red onion

Avacodo

Mexican Blend cheese

Black bean or Corn, which i marinated in lime juice, cilantro and garlic, in the fridge for 1 hour.

You like fajitas?? Try grilled veggies, tomato, onion, cilantro and chicken.

{Stuffed Baked Potatoes}

If you haven't tried these kind of stuffed baked potatoes, you must. They are easy. You just have to do a little chopping and that's it! :) This picture doesn't show the cottage cheese and salsa that i put on top, sorry! :) This is a meal that we ate occasionally all through my growing up years. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

Large Russet Potatoes

Butter(organic. yummy!)

fat-free sour cream

salt and pepper

fat-free cottage cheese

tomatoes, chopped

green peppers,chopped

onion,chopped

olives, chopped

broccoli, chopped

salsa

shredded Cheddar Cheese

Directions:

Cover each potato in foil and bake at 350 degrees for an hour and a half.

To Assemble:

Open up your potato so it is laying out flat. Butter it all over. Then spread sour cream on it. Then put on salt and pepper. Then sprinkle on your cheese. Then put on all your veggies, as much as you want! Then put on some cottage cheese and then salsa! I love eating my potato this way. It's tasty and FILLING.

{Trying to eat less hamburger meat? Here's a good substitute}

Want to eat tacos vegetarian-style, but need a good substitute for the hamburger meat? Try Chickpeas! Yup. I really liked it b/c it added great flavor. I liked everything about it. My husband wasn't TOO fond of the idea of it, but he ate it. He said they tasted "dry". Well, i guess. But i still liked them. I am not a picky eater usually, so the "dryness" didn't bother me. This is what you do....

2 TBS. taco seasoning
2 tsp. Lime juice
1 TBS. Tamari
1 can chickpeas

Mix all the ingredients together well.

Turn your oven to 400 degrees. Lay all your chickpeas on a cake sheet that has been sprayed with olive oil. Spread them out evenly in a single layer. Then spray the top of them with olive oil. Cook in your oven for 20-25 minutes.

Of course for my family i had to double this. I originally found this for a recipe on veggie-terrain.blogspot.com....They are supposed to be crunchy blue corn tacos. Yummy! But what a great way to use these chickpeas in place of hamburger meat! I liked it.

Tamari is kind of like soy sauce, but thicker. I guess it's better than soy sauce. I couldn't find it at Wal-Mart so i just used low-sodium Soy sauce.

ALSO, instead of using white flour tortillas, use whole wheat tortillas. They are better for you and taste good.

{My homemade Omelletes}

My boys and husband LOVE my omelletes. I must say, i love them too. :) hehe. I think they are nearly as good as IHOP's omelletes, but i don't use tons of butter like they do. If i used lots of butter then they would probably be just the same! I am going to explain how to make an omellete. I have made a lot of trial and error omelletes and i finally figured out how to make them. I made these last night and Gavin said to me "This is the best meal i have ever had!" Honestly, he says that about any good meal i make. :) Here is how i do it...

Ingredients:

1 tomato

1 green pepper

1/2 onion

hashbrowns

sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

Sausage or bacon(optional)

eggs(2 per person)

milk

Directions:

I first start by getting my hashbrowns on the griddle before i even start chopping up the veggies. I then start chopping up the veggies into small chopped pieces. Set those aside. Start cooking your sausage or bacon. I use my round non-stick 9-10 inch pan. Heat it up one notch above medium. Spray with PAM spray. I whip up 2 eggs with about 1 TBS. of milk. Don't poor your eggs in the pan until the pan is completely heated through, nice and HOT. About 5-7 minutes. Poor your eggs in the pan making sure you move the pan in a circular motion to get the eggs up a little higher on the edge(scroll down for a picture). Continue to move in a circular motion to get the eggs to cook faster and evenly and pretty flat. When there isn't much movement left from the uncooked eggs still left on top, flip it over! Be careful not to break it! Once you flip it over start adding all your veggies, and meats, and cheese. Spread it thin and evenly. You don't want it thick b/c it will be hard to fold it up. After you have applied all the stuff on the omellete, gently slide the omellete out of the pan onto a plate. Let is sit for 30 seconds so that it isn't too hot when you roll it up. Then gently roll it up and WAHLLA! It's a beautiful rolled up omellete. You can add more cheese on top if you want.

TIP: You can put whatever you want in your omellete. We make them all kinds of ways. Strictly veggie, veggie and meat and hashbrowns, you can add a taste of garlic to your eggs, you can add herbs and spices of your choice. Do whatever you want!

Here is your omellete in the pan right after its been flipped and ready for the veggies to be put on top!

Stuffed with goodness! Look at that thing! :)

{Chicken and Veggie Sandwiches}

When we were in Idaho over the summer Shane and I made a BBQ dinner one night for everyone. The next day for lunch my brother-in-law put together a YUMMY sandwich with the leftover chicken. We have been eating these for dinner every month ever since then. They taste soooo healthy and so flavorful. You will like them! You must try them. You can also make these for lunch. Whatever your desire!

Chicken and Veggie Sandwiches

Source: My brother-in-law, Luke.

Ingredients:

1 yellow bell pepper

1 tomato

3 carrots

1 large cucumber

1/2 onion

1/2 bunch of cilantro

Chicken

Soy Sauce

minced garlic

honey

Mayo

1 loaf French bread

For the sauce:

Mix together the soy sauce, garlic, and honey. I don't have measurements, but if i am guessing i would say i use about 2-3 TBS. soy sauce, about 2 TBS. Honey, and about 1/4-1/2 tsp. minced garlic. Stir it all up. I throw mine in the microwave for about 15 seconds so that the honey is stirrable and gets all mixed in.

Directions:

Thinly slice all the vegetables. As thin as you can. This is where a good knife comes in handy, otherwise slicing is a pain! If you have a good knife you can get through the slicing pretty quickly. Also, for my carrots i just use a peeler. I just press harder than usual with the peeler and i get nice long thin strips. No need to chop up the cilantro. You just pull the cliantro apart. Either use your leftover chicken or grill up some. Slice your chicken into thin strips. Slice your bread into about 1-inch pieces. Put some mayo on your bread. Then spread some sauce on top. Then start layering all your food. Put the chicken on, then the veggies, then the cilantro. And eat! It's yummy!

{Black Bean Tostados with Corn Relish}

I made these last night and they were surprisingly tasty. Not only that, but it's healthy so it just felt good to my body in every way! :) This is vegetarian, but you can make it Vegan by not adding cheese. It was easy to put together and everyone enjoyed it!

Black Bean Tostados with Corn Relish

Ingredients:

1 (15oz.) can black beans, rinsed & drained
1 pkg (10 oz.) frozen corn kernels
1 avocado, cubed
1 lime, juiced
2 scallions, white + green parts, thinly sliced
1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
1 jalapeño, de-seeded & minced
3 Tbsp. olive oil OR 1 Tbsp. olive oil & olive oil/non-stick spray
1 hand-full fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
4 (6 in.) whole wheat tortillas
Salt & freshly-ground pepper

Directions:
1.) Pre-heat oven to 475 degrees.
2.) Combine corn, avocado, lime, & scallions in a small bowl, along with 1 Tbsp. of olive oil & a sprinkle of salt & pepper. Stir & set aside.
3.) Combine tomatoes & jalapeños in a small bowl, stir & set aside.
4.) Place tortillas on two baking sheets. Brush or spray both sides with remaining olive oil or non-stick pray.
5.) Sprinkle tortillas with a few shakes of cumin. Add black beans, & top with tomato mixture. Bake until golden & crisp, approx. 8 mins. Be careful not to burn it!
6.) Remove from oven & generously top with corn relish & a sprinkle of cilantro. Add salt & pepper, to taste.
7.) Serve right away - Enjoy AND eat with both hands!

Source: Martha Stewart

Advice: I doubled this recipe for my family of five. We had some leftover for shane to take to work. Also, I don't always stick strictly to what the recipe calls for when it comes to cooking. So, i added more avocado than this recipe called for b/c we love avocados. We also LOVE cilantro. I could use it on everything i eat! I also added a bit more lime and scallions. It was nice and tasty! I also added some monterrey jack cheese on top of the tomato mixture before throwing it in the oven.