Tasty Tuesday!!

Since I was a kid I would eat pretty much everything. I have never been picky. I am lucky that two of my children are the same way. I mean they will enjoy a piece of sushi with me, and some veggies with hummus, while drinking  kale smoothie. It is awesome!! Unfortunately my husband and my oldest son are not this way. They are two of the pickiest people on the planet. It sometimes makes it difficult especially when you want to get healthy stuff in them. So how do I make sure that the two picky eaters in my life get the good stuff like us non-picky people? The answer I put the healthy stuff in with their favorite things. Now my husband knows I do this so I am not revealing some big hush hush secret. Sometimes, however I can fool him, and sometimes he can tell right away. It is all just a matter of tweaking the recipes. I have previously shared my way to get some veggies in with meatballs. We had those last night with quinoa pasta in fact, and they were yummy. So here is another recipe that you can get some more healthy stuff in those picky eaters.

If your family is anything like mine then they love enchiladas. It is seriously one of my husbands favorite foods. He would be happy if I made it twice a week or more. The problem is between the sauce and all that cheese it is so fattening. So here is a "lighter" version that I use. I still use it as a "special" meal and not a once  week meal. The big thing is to make your own sauce and not use the sodium ridden canned sauce, which I know is much much easier. I like my enchiladas with the red and green sauce mixed together. You can choose just one of the sauces if you like that better. I used all fresh organic ingredients in these.


Lightened up enchiladas

Red sauce
1 tbsp olive oil

2 cloves minced garlic

1 tsp minced onion

1/2 tsp dried oregano

21/2 tsps chili powder

1/2 tsp dried basil

1/8 tsp black pepper (ground)

1/8 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp parsley (dried)

1/4 cup diced tomatoes

1/4 cup red bell pepper

1/4 cup diced yellow squash

6 ozs no salt added organic tomato sauce

11/2 cups water

Put your tomatoes, squash and red bell pepper in the food processor. In a large saucepan heat up the olive oil. Then add the garlic and onion. Saute for about a minute or two. Then add the rest of the ingredients, including the tomato, squash and bell pepper except the water. Mix it all together in the pan and add the water. Let it come to a boil. Then reduce it to simmer and let cook for about 15-20 minutes.

Green Sauce

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium yellow onion, diced

4 cloves garlic, smashed and minced

1 pound green tomatillos, husked, washed and sliced into quarters

1/2 to 1 jalapeno pepper, seeds and ribs removed (depending on how hot you like it!)

1 large poblano pepper, seeds removed and cut into large chunks

1 avocado

1 c spinach (you can use kale as well)

juice of 1 lime

handful of fresh cilantro

4 cups no salt added vegetable broth

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon sea salt

freshly ground black pepper

 

Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a heavy bottomed saucepan over medium high heat. Add the onion and garlic and saute until soft, about 5 minutes. While the onions and garlic are working, throw the tomatillos, cilantro, jalapeno, poblano, avocado, spinach or kale and lime juice into the blender. Blend on high speed until smooth, adding the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil to get things moving. Pour the tomatillo mixture in with the onions and garlic. Add the vegetable broth, cumin, chili powder, salt and pepper and whisk to combine. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer. Allow to simmer on low heat for about an hour to thicken the sauce. If desired, blend with an immersion blender or throw the mixture back into the regular blender for a smoother sauce. This sauce takes a little longer to make, but it is worth it!!

Enchiladas

2 lbs organic boneless, skinless chicken breast (you can also do turkey, beef, tofu, beans, or no meat at all)

1 tbsp. coconut oil

1 tablespoon chili powder                                                    

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder                                                    

1/4 teaspoon onion powder                                                    

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1/4 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon paprika                                                    

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin                                                                     

1 teaspoon black pepper

red enchilada sauce
green enchilada sauce
About 2-4c (depends on how cheesy you like it) cheese (whichever kind you prefer. I like organic cheese and will shred it myself. Seriously don't buy the already shredded. I used to, but no longer do. Also I get full fat cheese and not the low fat or fat free. That is just full of chemicals.)

40 fajita size tortillas (whatever kind you like, homemade (I will post that recipe another day), whole grain, Ezekiel, corn, flour)

Preheat the oven to 375. Heat up the coconut oil in a large saucepan. Then add the chicken (or whatever meat you prefer. If you are doing just cheese you can skip this step) and cook probably about 10 minutes or so. You want to try to shred the chicken as much as possible (if you have done a ground meat you don't have to worry). Drain the meat and return to the pan and add all the spices to it with about 1/2c water. Let the meat simmer for about 5-10 minutes or so. I usually use 2 big cake pans for my enchiladas. The good thing about this recipe is you can cut it in half and have less or easily double it for more. You should have plenty of leftovers. If you do the 2 pans you can have one for dinner and freeze the other one for an easy meal another night.

In your cake pans cover the bottom with some red and green sauce (if you are just doing one sauce then cover with that one sauce) take your tortilla and fill with the meat and a little bit of cheese (not a whole lot because you will also be topping it with cheese. Of course if you are doing just cheese you can add a little bit more). Then roll up the tortilla. Repeat this step for the remaining tortillas. I can usually get about 20 tortillas in one pan. After rolling them top with green sauce and red sauce (or whichever you choose). Top that with as much cheese as you would like then top again with the sauces. Bake for 30 minutes. You want the cheese to be melted and your tortillas to brown a little. You can cook less time if you would like because your meat is already cooked so you do not have to worry about that, or more time if you like your cheese melted a little more. You just judge how you like it.

This recipe is a little time consuming, which is another reason why I do not make it all the time. As you can see with all that cheese it is definitely not an everyday kind of meal. The leftovers you can freeze or eat the next day for lunch (which I think is usually better after it has sat a little while). I like to top mine with a little full-fat plain Greek yogurt, salsa verde, black olives and avocado and tomatoes. You can serve with some Spanish rice and/or black beans, but as filling as it is you really do not need it. See how many vegetables we got in there, and your picky people won't even be able to tell.

* I made these last night, and I realized I didn't have a picture on here of them. So here is what he finished product looks like. I topped mine with spinach and arugula, black olives, salsa, avocado, plain Greek yogurt and I had black beans topped with the same and watermelon. It was delicious! My picky hubby said today that he was worried we would eat them all for lunch, and there wouldn't be any left for him. Try them and let me know what you think.

Scrumptious Saturday

I love trying new recipes, my family is so-so on this. I think they would happy having the same things they like over and over again especially my 6 year old. Food is what we fuel our bodies with so we should use premium right. We should enjoy this fuel too. I do not believe we should eat boiled chicken and steamed broccoli every night in order for us to be "healthy" and lose weight. No thank you that sounds so boring to me. There are so many yummy foods out there if you are just willing to try them. I like to go on pinterest and find new "clean eating" recipes to try. I also enjoy making up my own recipes. I am currently putting some recipes together to write an ecookbook actually. I'm not sure how long it will take me, but I am very excited about working on it. Sometimes the recipes I try are failures, and sometimes we have major successes, but you never know till you try right. Today I made up a new recipe, new for me I'm sure a lot of other people have done it before I just have not seen a recipe for it. I did peach chicken. We are having it for dinner, and I will update on how it tastes later. I can say that it does smell good; which is always a plus right?



Peach Chicken

2lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts or cutlets
2 peaches
1/2c honey (you can also use agave. I would just use a little less because it is much sweeter)
1/4tsp sea-salt
1tsp black pepper
1tsp cinnamon
1tsp dried oregano
1tsp onion powder

Cut your peaches in slices and put in the bottom of the crock pot. Then top with chicken, honey and spices. Cook on high 2 hours then low 3 hours. I will probably serve this with either quinoa pasta or wild rice and steamed carrots. I will let you all know how it turns out.



*UPDATE~ This turned out very good, but it I think next time I will add some no salt added vegetable broth. I think that will keep where it won't get too dry. My daughter had thirds on it so I guess she enjoyed it.

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

I'm going to be posting my favorite healthy recipes on scrumptious Saturdays. We all know that nutrition is major part of fitness you cannot out exercise a bad diet! I love to cook, and my family loves for new to cook. I also like trying new things. I think it us important to vary what you are eating so you do not get bored quickly with healthy foods. So this week I am going to start off with an easy recipe. Turkey meatballs. You can eat them by themselves, in a sandwich, with pasta, on pizza. There are so many things you can do with these yummy treats. I bet they would be good in a clean eating barbeque sauce as well. You can make the serving you need or make a big batch and freeze them to reheat for a later meal.



Turkey meatballs


1 lb 99% fat free ground turkey
1/2 cup organic oat bran 2 egg whites (if you do not eat eggs you can substitute with Chia seeds and water)
1 tsp red pepper flakes
2 tsp mrs. dash Italian seasoning
2 tsp organic ground flax seed
2 shredded organic carrots
1/4 cup diced red onion (if you do not like onions you can substitute with 2 tsp onion powder 1 tsp organic coconut oil


Preheat your oven to 400 Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl. I usually just use my clean hands to do it, but you can use a wooden spoon as well. After thoroughly washing your hands line a cookie sheet with tin foil. Then it's time to make the meatballs. Just round them out to balls. You can make them whatever size you wish. Thoroughly wash your hands again and place the cookie sheet in the oven. Bake them for 30 minutes.



You can double, triple etc this recipe or you can half it. Super easy right. They are healthy and delicious. Also they are picky husband and picky kid approved! Please feel free to comment with any of your favorite recipes.

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/