Veggie tacos

Great way for a quick dinner, melt Monterey Jack cheese on tortilla, add hummus and/or vegetable cream cheese. Then stuff with favorite veggies. Here I have cucumbers, red peppers and alfalfa sprouts. 

Crab Taco

Melt one small slice of Gouda cheese on small corn tortilla shell (I do four at a time) add three pieces of imitation crab and cook covered on medium heat until crab is warm. Add green taco sauce or homemade tomatillo sauce then cover with spinach. Enjoy!

Girl Scout Cookies vs Protein Bars

The other day I struck up a conversation with a lady in the local grocery store. We were standing by the protein bar/protein shake section and she was raving about the chocolate mint protein bars.  "They taste like Girl Scout Cookies," she said. She also had mentioned that she ate them instead of Girl Scout Thin Mints, alluding to the idea that the protein bar was way healthier than the Thin Mints.

So I looked at the nutrition facts for both.  Here are the facts for Girl Scout cookies. Four cookies are 160 calories, 7 grams of total fat and 11 grams of sugar.

 For the Clif Cool Mint Chocolate bar you have 250 calories per bar, 5 grams of total fat, 22 grams of sugar and added caffeine. The company says chocolate and mint are a match in Heaven; add a little caffeine and you are flying to cloud nine. Sugar/caffeine buzz with a crash to follow! There is nothing wrong with a treat and if you are exercising your brains out and need a protein boost then grab the clif bar, it will definitely keep you going. But if you are planning on couch potato/channel surfing, go with the Thin Mints (and stick to the four!).

Plus you help out a great organization and a bunch of really cute girls! (who will probably be your kid's boss in 15 years)

Cold Season is Here

It is that time of year where it seems everyone around you is sniffling, coughing or sneezing. How do you keep healthy when you are surrounded by germs?

Foremost is keep drinking plenty of fluids, I always add lemon, lime or orange slices in my water for an extra Vitamin C burst.

Next is get plenty of rest, keep your body at low stress during cold and flu season and a good night's sleep keeps your stress level low. I also recommend power naps during your lunch break, 15-20 minutes in the middle of your day really helps! (I like to find some sunshine to catch some rays with my zz's)

 Also remember to power up! Eat a healthy breakfast in the morning, cut your sugar intake and definitely cut the sodas at lunch. Load up on the veggies at dinner, this time of year is a great time for root vegetables, sweet potatoes and turnips are my favorites. 

Last is to take time to listen to your body. If you feel a cold coming on, along with everything above, I really am a believer in hot lemon juice with either agave or honey. To me it is the go to comfort food (drink) along with herbal teas. I also recommend probiotics, they are great in keeping your insides healthy, and if you have read that the more expensive ones are better, you have heard right. I have found it does make a difference, not that I suggest you buy one brand over another, buy what you can afford, but check your labels and ask your doctor,  ruse practioner or pharmacy what they recommend.

Stay healthy!

Quick soup for dinner

November is starting to bring the beginnings of winter weather with it and there is nothing like warm soup on a cold night.  Ah but who has time to cook soup when you just get home from a long day at work and you're starving?

Ok, into the fridge.

Grab the following items

1 leek (everyone has a leek in their fridge right???)

2 good size mushrooms

1/4 cup egg whites

2 cups vegetable or chicken stock ( broth)

Slice three rings from the leek, it's about 1/8 cup

Slice the mushrooms thin

Put these into a pan with the stock, heat to boiling for 3 minutes.

Gently stir the mixture while slowly pouring in the egg whites. Cook for 5 more minutes.

Add a couple shakes of salt, pepper and 1/2 teaspoon ginger.

Serve.

Quick and easy.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

The final product

One of the joys of summer is Strawberry/Rhubarb Pie, and it is probably the only thing that will get my 20 year old daughter out of bed on a Saturday morning and drive across town just to have a piece.
Fun part about this recipe is even though it is healthier than a normal store bought pie, you would never know it!  Actually my kids like the gluten free crust better than regular flour crust.

WARNING!!!
This crust is not low calorie, it is only gluten free and low fat, or lower fat I think I should clarify.

Ingredients for crust:

Gluten Free Crust

1 8-ounce package of Philadelphia Fat Free Cream Cheese
1 cup butter
1 cup rice flour
1 cup gluten free flour mixture (this is made by taking 1/2 cup flax meal, 1/4 cup chia seeds, 1/4 almond meal and blend in the blentec until flour consistency)
Blend the cream cheese and butter, then add the flour and mix all in a mixer, roll into two balls cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight, or at least three hours.
Roll crust out, using rice flour to keep from sticking.

Strawberries, Rhubarb and Blueberries

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Ingredients for filling:

2 1/2 cups fresh strawberries stemmed and sliced,
2 1/2 cups rhubarb cut into cubes
1 cup blueberries (optional)
1 cup xagave syrup
4 tablespoons minute tapioca
1 tablespoon lemon zest
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla

Placing the crust over the fruit

Mix the strawberries, rhubarb, blueberries, xagave, tapioca, lemon zest, cinnamon, and vanilla in a large bowl and pour into a glass pan or if you are doing a two crust pie, onto the bottom crust. Roll out the other piece of dough and place over filling. Crimp to seal edges.






Place foil around the edge of the pie crust and bake at 425 F for 15 minutes, decrease temperature to 375 degrees F and bake for an additional 40 to 50 minutes, or until the filling starts bubbling.

Baked to golden brown crust and bubbly filling

Healthy Grilled Cheese Sandwich

 I love using goat's milk Cheddar Cheese for grilled cheese sandwiches.
Take two slices of bread (I use gluten free, but you can use whatever you want)
Add butter on the outside of one slice of bread and put in a fry pan on medium heat.  Add slices of cheese onto the slice of bread, as you can see on the picture to the left this is a 6.7 ounce bar of cheese. I cut about 4 slices.  After letting the bread get toasted and the cheese begins to melt I put kale on top of the cheese and the other slice of bread, buttered.

Mushrooms grilled next to the sandwich

At the same time I am grilling the bread I take two slices of a large portobello mushroom and grill next to the sandwich in the pan.  By the time I am ready to turn the sandwich I put the cooked mushroom on top of the kale and then turn the sandwich.  Toast the other side and then serve.

Kale, mushroom grilled cheese sandwich