Dinner yummies

We rarely eat red meat anymore. For the few times that we do I always try to get grassfed beef that is low in fat content. Well tonight we had some. I got some organic grassfed steak that was very low in fat. I made stir fry with it, and it was delicious!

Steak Stir fry

1lb grassfed steak
2 tbsp. organic coconut oil
1 yellow squash
8 asparagus spears
1/2c chopped red cabbage
1/4c kale
1/4c spinach
1/2c organic baby carrots
1/4c sliced mushrooms
2 tbsp. minced garlic
2 tbsp. ground flax seed
1/4c chopped green bell pepper
1/4c chopped red bell pepper
1/2c all natural, gluten free Thai noodles
1/8c chopped onion
1/8c agave
1/8c liquid aminos (or low sodium soy sauce)
pepper
no-salt


Cut the steak into either strips or cubes. In a baggie add the agave, liquid aminos, steak, pepper and no-salt. Let marinate in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. Cook the steak in 1 tbsp. coconut oil. In 1 tbsp. coconut oil cook all the chopped up vegetables and add flax seed. Cook the Thai noodles in a separate pot. Then add them to the vegetables after they are cooked. You can add different vegetables if you would like, broccoli, pea pods, baby corn, zucchini etc. would all be good. I think next time I may add some fresh squeezed orange juice to the marinade on the steak. It was a very yummy and easy dinner. Like I said we don't eat red meat often, but this meal I did not feel guilty about at all.

Scrumptious Saturday!!

Have you tried spaghetti squash yet? If not you should it is very yummy, and very good for you. When you cook this squash the strands fall away to look like spaghetti.

There are a million ways you can prepare this delicious vegetable. I have one easy, healthy, delicious way. I don't know about you, but those three words always sound good to me in a recipe.


Spaghetti Squash

1 spaghetti squash
2 tbsp. oil (Olive, coconut, or grapeseed)
1 tomato
2 tbsp. chopped fresh basil
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp black pepper
1/4 c finely shredded mozzarella cheese (or nutritional yeast)



Cut your squash in half and remove the seeds and the center strings. Drizzle the squash with the oil, garlic powder and black pepper. Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes open side down. Then take it out of the oven and scrape the squash with a fork to make strands in the squash. Turn the oven to broil and add the tomatoes and basil and top with mozzarella. Broil it for about 5 minutes until the cheese is melted.

There it is a super simple, yummy recipe. You can eat this by itself or with some sort of protein (fish, chicken, turkey). This is a good side to use in place of pasta.

Scrumptious Saturday

I made this dish the other day. It is very yummy. I had always heard about quinoa for a long time, but was always scared to try it. Now I eat it a lot. It is good with breakfast, on salads, just as a plain side, in casseroles etc...This recipe is very filling you really do not need to eat anything else with it. I did have some extra protein with it, however. Quinoa does have 8g of protein in it. Which makes it very good for vegetarians or vegans. I froze some of this in 1 cup bags so I can just pull out a serving when I want something quick for lunch.


Quinoa veggie bake


1c quinoa
2c water
2 zucchini
2 yellow squash
1c sliced portabella mushrooms
1/2 c purple onion
1c organic cherry tomatoes
1 eggplant
2c asparagus
1/2 c spinach
1/2 c kale
2 tbsp. organic coconut oil
2 tbsp. ground flax seed
salt and pepper to taste




Preheat the oven to 375. Cook the quinoa in the 2 cups of water. While that is cooking chop up all the vegetables. Put the 2 tbsp. coconut oil in the baking dish. Put all the vegetables in there and mix in flax seed and quinoa. Add some salt and pepper to taste. Bake 45 minutes.


That is it. Super easy and super yummy. It would be good with some avocado, hummus or fresh salsa mixed in. I have eaten it by itself and also with chicken. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

Tasty Tuesday

I know that healthy eating is where I have struggled in the past, and a lot of people I talk to this is the area that they struggle in as well. So here is another day that we can do some yummy healthy recipes. I know it is still summer, but I LOVE fall. I am so ready for it to be here. Today in honor o my love of fall I am doing turkey chili. I am actually making a batch of this right now, and will be eating it for lunch for awhile. What is good about this recipe is you can make it as big or as small as you want. You can also freeze it, and pull it out when needed. What I am doing is freezing 1 cup servings, and that way I can just pull out one serving at a time.

Turkey Chili


1 lb 99% fat free ground turkey
1 can organic low sodium black beans
1 can organic low sodium dark red kidney beans
1 can organic low sodium pinto beans
1 can organic low sodium great northern beans
1 can organic low sodium fire roasted tomatoes
1 can organic low sodium tomato sauce
1 small red onion chopped
1/2 red and yellow bell pepper chopped
2 chili peppers chopped
2 seeded and chopped poblano peppers
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 tbsp. chili powder
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp sea salt or no-salt
1 tsp olive oil



Open and rinse all of the beans from the cans. This will help reduce some of the sodium in them. Put the olive oil in a pan and sauté the turkey with the onions and garlic. Combine all the other ingredients in the crockpot and stir to combine. Once the turkey is browned add it to the crock pot. Cook on high for 5-6 hours.

Browning the turkey

 

Rinsing the beans

 

 

 

 

This is a super simple recipe. If you do not like all these beans you can interchange them with others or just do one or two. I like this many because it gives me extra protein. You can also do dry beans instead of the canned ones. When I do dry beans it just takes so much longer of course. You could also do this with some grass fed beef or chicken as well. You can add more spice to it as well. I just do not like my chili really spicy. You can eat the bowl of chili plain, add sour cream or nonfat plain Greek yogurt, add olives, low fat cheese, avocado, salsa verde or red salsa. Really any toppings would be good with it. You can also eat it over some whole grain, quinoa or brown rice pasta. I have some garden of eatin no salt added blue corn tortilla chips that I am going to eat with mine. I am going to try to come up with a clean recipe for corn bread. If I do I will post it here.

Feel free to add any of your favorite healthy recipes in the comments.

My favorite green fruit

AVOCADO!!!!

Yes I said fruit and not vegetable. I always thought this wonderful food was a vegetable, but I was wrong. Either way whether fruit or vegetable it is a SUPERFOOD. Avocados have gotten a bad wrap because they are very high in calories, 322 calories, but it is a very healthy fat. We all need healthy fats in our diets every day. Avocado is called "the alphabet fruit" because just one avocado provides your body with vitamins A, C, E, K, B6 and many more, almost all alphabet letters! Avocados have 54% of your recommended daily value of fiber, which gives this fruit much of its fat burning abilities.

I cut them out of my diet for awhile because of the high calories, but I have returned to my love of avocado and eat at least a half every day. My son Collin and daughter Callie love it as well. They eat some everyday. That was actually miss Callie's first food, and she has been in love ever since. My husband tried it once and did not like it, and Riley refuses to even try it. Hopefully I can get them to come to the dark side :) 

Perhaps the biggest health benefit of avocados is that by adding avocado to certain foods, you can improve your absorption of nutrients. This means that when you combine other fat burning foods with avocado, you can improve your nutrient absorption up to 400%! Avocados can also reduce the signs of aging, regulate blood sugar and improve eye health. The fat content of an avocado provides protection against heart diseases. Studies have shown that oleic acid improves cardiovascular health. Oleic acid is the primary fatty acid in avocadoes. Avocadoes are rich in omega-3, delivering 160 milligrams per cup of alpha-linolenic acid. Avocadoes provide all 18 essential amino acids necessary for the body to form a complete protein. Unlike the protein in steak, which is difficult for most people to digest, avocado protein is readily absorbed by the body because avocadoes also contain fiber. Here a couple of choice items to chew over. Once an avocado is picked, it takes between 7 and 10 days to ripen. Keeping it in the refrigerator will slow down the ripening process, while putting it in a paper bag with a ripe apple will speed up the process. Avocados have the highest protein content of any fruit. I could go on all day about how wonderful this fruit is, but you should just go try it for yourself.

 

 

 

You can eat the avocado by itself which is yummy and delicious, but there are also about a million other things you can do with it. I put it in smoothies, on sandwiches, mixed with pasta, with egg whites, use in desserts such as avocado pudding and popsicles, I bet Collin and Callie would love these. It really is one of the most versatile foods.

 

 



http://thefoodexplorer.com/dessert/39-healthy-and-delicious-avocado-recipes/

http://www.aroundmyfamilytable.com/2013/07/50-scrumptious-avocado-recipes/

http://www.damyhealth.com/2013/06/11-sneaky-avocado-recipes/

http://sunshineandsippycups.com/2011/12/cookin-with-kids-avocado-recipes-and-mini-chef-contest/