Grain Free Taco (aka Taco Style lettuce Wrap)

Grain Free Taco AKA Taco Style Lettuce Wrap

Ingredients:

• Refried Beans (I make refried beans from dry beans)
• Cooked Ground Beef (I cook in bulk and freeze to make this a quick fix)
• Tomato
• Cheese of choice
• Green Leaf Lettuce leaves, whole (or you can just make this as a salad)
• Sour Cream (just a little bit)
• Spices to taste (I use these Mrs. Dash flavors)

I slice tomatoes instead of dicing so its less messy... unless I'm making this salad style

I mix a little bit of refried beans into the taco meat to extend it (because, hey, meat is ExPenSive!) and also to make it stick together a little bit more for less mess!

Add the tomato and get ready to fold and eat!

Viola!  Grain Free Taco!

Verdict:  Um, yeah.  I've had one of these every morning this week.  I LOVE it.  Having the seasoned ground beef and beans already put together in the fridge or freezer has been perfect for a quick fix meal!

OAMC:  Add some extra ground beef to your Once a Month Cooking plan and leave seasoned ground beef and refried beans to your list to make this a quick and healthy fix for your family!

What are your favorite quick fix meals?  How many grain free meals do you suppose you make in the course of a week?

Quick Smoothie Tip for Quicker, Healthier Smoothies!

Quick Tips for Yogurt Smoothies!

Strawberry Blueberry Yogurt Smoothie

Hey guys, sorry I didn't post on Friday, but we didn't even get groceries until late last night.  Being down to one car and Patrick working full-time, plus some, has greatly hindered my errand running.  This is actually somewhat good for our budget, bad for keeping food in the house!

Anyway, one of our favorite things to have for breakfast or snack time are smoothies.  I want the kids to keep yogurt in theirs, but they tend to not want to bother.  They end up with milk, frozen fruit and protein powder.  That, and more often than not, they end up with more fruit than anything.  For those on a tight budget, you know that fruit can get expensive, and we need to make it last.

This is what I use to get the yogurt in there!:)

So, the other day I made myself some strawberry protein yogurt (just plain, unsweetened yogurt, strawberries, blueberries and some protein powder.  And I made WAY too much.  This gave me a great idea.  When the kids were babies, I always pureed our food in a blender for them.  I then froze the puree in ice cube trays, leaving me with perfect serving sizes for a baby.  I thought this would be a perfect way to ration out the fruits and make sure the kids were getting some yogurt, too!

Blend the whole container of yogurt, strawberries and blueberries, some liquid stevia for sweetener.  I also added some vanilla protein powder.

I don't happen to have ice cube trays (but I'm going to get some now!), but I poured the rest of my yogurt in ziplock bags and told the kids these were our new smoothie cubes.  Now all they have to do is take some smoothie cubes, add some milk and blend away.  For moms with little ones, it can make smoothie time quicker for you too.

Tada!  I froze them in thin layers in ziplock bags, so one good knock on the edge of the table and it breaks apart for the blender!

Oh!  And a money saving tip... if you can find overripe bananas at your store (I've gotten a 5# bag for less than $1.50 before!) you can take them home, peel and chop into thick slices and freeze in zip lock bags... or, like I mentioned today, puree them with protein powder and yogurt for future smoothies.

*I say "protein powder" often, when, although I use extra protein powder, we use a raw, organic meal replacement powder for our kids snacks or breakfast.  Since we simply can not afford organic all the time, it is nearly impossible in this day and age to get enough nutrition out of our food.  This is not a typical diet meal replacement with artificial sweeteners and sugars, so read your labels.  I do NOT recommend feeding your children 'diet' foods or any meal replacements with artificial sweeteners, high fructose corn syrup or refined sugars.

Another great thing to add to smoothies is spinach, bee pollen and if you're not using yogurt already, probiotics are great as well.

Oh!  And in a "Why didn't I think of this before" moment, my freezer is SO much more useful now, since stuff isn't falling out every day!

Dollar Tree baskets and I'm good to go.  One for fruit, one for veggies!

Have a great week!  I'll see you next week with a video on juicing and possibly wheat grass juicing too, if all goes well!

Clean Eating #148: Convenience Foods: Bulk Breakfast Burritos

Bulk Breakfast Burritos

Okay, okay, the truth comes out.  In spite of the fact that I have been really busy this month with movie stuff, I just hate cooking when its hot.  I hate even thinking about cooking, meal planning, any of it.  If only I hated eating... nah.  No such luck.

I would think that logically I would crave fresh fruit, salads and the like.  No such luck.  I eat junk.  I also find that I eat a lot of convenience foods because I'm running around too busy to want to think about cooking.  So not only am I eating less healthy, I'm paying too much for it.

Today was my last straw when I bought a breakfast burrito at Quick Trip... ugh.  I ate a gas station burrito for Heaven's sake.  It is ridiculous.

So I came home and made a dozen breakfast burritos for my hubby and I, and a pan full of kiddable eggs for their own breakfast burritos.  Kids and teenaged boys don't really need to worry about having full out eggs and extra cheese:)

Ingredients:

• 24 egg whites
• 12 eggs
• 1 large onions (diced)
• 8 oz frozen spinach
• a little finely shredded cheese of your choice
• coconut oil
• seasonings to taste
• 12 whole wheat tortillas

Directions

1. Sautee the diced onions and spinach in a little coconut oil until tender
2. add mixed eggs & seasonings, cook on med-low with a lid, flipping occasionally (try to keep it all in one piece for less mess later
3. cut your eggs into "bars" and roll up in tortillas sprinkled with a little cheese
4. Wrap in waxed paper and refrigerate for heating later.

*Kids variations:  I used all eggs, extra cheese, plus added a couple of chopped baked potatoes to stretch out the eggs a little so they would last longer.  Kainan added jalapenos to his (eww!!)

And here is what happens at my house when I go out to a really long lunch with a friend and Paris and Abyni have a lot of time to kill... Its rockstar makeover and modeling time!!  I came home to find nearly 200 pictures on my camera!  My 13 year old is quite talented at the makeup and photos, and my 10 year old loves being in front of the camera:)

Those EYELASHES!!!  

The pouty lips...

Clean Eating #137: Super Easy Cajun Tilapia w/Rice and Corn

Broiled "Cajun" Tilapia

Okay, so the title says with rice and corn, because I served it with rice and corn... however, my silly old camera died as soon as I took a half was decent photo of the fish.  I actually had my fish with a salad, but my kids love corn, and the rice fills them up enough so that they eat something other than four pounds of fish!  

Rice:

I cook a mixture of brown and wild rice according to directions.

When it is nearly done, I throw in a bag of frozen corn and about a 1/2 a cup of finely chopped red bell peppers that I stuck in my freezer on prep day.

I add a bit of paprika as well as some pepper, and they're good to go.

"Cajun" style Tilapia

This is SO easy:)

Take your Tilpia filets and place them "dull" side up on a baking sheet (one side should appear more shiny than the other, so put the dull side up)

Rub the fish with your preferred oil (I use cocount oil)

Rub with a sprinkle of Paprika and Ground Red Pepper

Broil on the top shelf with the oven door vented open a little for about 7 minutes until the fish flakes apart easily with a fork.

Serve hot and enjoy (with a lot of water!  Its spicy!:)

Verdict:  This was SO easy, so simple and I always have these ingredients on hand.  It was great with a salad and the kids loved it with rice.  I will definitely be making this again.  Especially since I'm really trying to drink more water and the spiciness of this dish forces me to drink a LOT!

Clean Eating #107: Super Quick & Easy Quinoa Spaghetti with Zucchini Tomato Sauce

Super Quick & Easy 

Quinoa Spaghetti with Zucchini Tomato Sauce

Ingredients:

• Quinoa Spaghetti Noodles, cooked.
• 2 medium Zucchini, sliced thick
• 3 medium tomatoes, diced in large chunks
• 1 head of roasted garlic (or you can just dice it and throw it in with the Zucchini and Tomato, but I prefer the roasted method just because I hate peeling garlic:)
• 3/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Italian Seasonings, Pepper and Sea Salt to Taste

Directions:

Super Simple!  While your pasta is cooking, heat EVOO in a skillet.

Add in Zucchini, Tomatoes, garlic and seasonings.  Cook until tender, top pasta with your new sauce and you're good to go.  This was SO simple and quick, I make it often for my husband on quinoa or quinoa pasta.  Yummy!!

I would have taken better pictures, but the food was gone by the time I realized that these were blurry.  Sorry!

Clean Eating #94: Super Simple Apple Sweet Potato Casserole

Super Simple Apple Sweet Potato Casserole

by Paris

My kids all made recipes for me this weekend while I was busy painting.  This is Paris' recipe... a nice side dish that I've made for Thanksgiving for years.  Serve with a good source of lean protein and a fresh salad for a well rounded meal.  My kids LOVE this dish so much, even the ones that generally don't care much for sweet potatoes!

Ingredients:
5 large sweet potatoes
4 apples, cored & sliced
1/8th cup of Ideal bread Brown Sugar Xylitol substitute
a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil





Directions:

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
2. Carefully put the sweet potatoes in the boiling water for about 10 minutes.
3. Remove from the pot and rinse with cold water to cool.
4. The peels should just slide off.
5. Slice the potatoes and the apples thickly and line your casserole pan with them.  
6. Drizzle with a little EVOO and sprinkle with sugar.
7. Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes and you have a wonderful side dish that your family will love!

Paris actually used regular Xylitol because she thought we were out of the brown kind.  I recommend that brown sugar version instead:)

Delicious!!!  We ate this all up with a bunch of salad since leaf lettuce was on sale this week!

Clean Eating #91: Salmon Patties

Salmon Patties

A GREAT meal after a twenty mile bike ride with your family!  Lots of Omega3 & PROTEIN

It must first be stated that my mother used to make these ALL THE TIME when I was growing up.  I always hated them.  Early in my marriage I made them for some insane reason and most of my kids LOVED them.  I try to remember to make them occasionally.  I cleaned them up by replacing the bread crumbs with clean ingredients.

Ingredients:

3 cans of pink salmon

1/2 cup shredded wheat cereal (blended)

1/4th cup ground flaxseed

1/4th cup wheat germ/oat bran

6 egg whites

3 TBSP finely diced onion

pepper to taste

Directions:

Have your most unsqueamish child pick the bigger bones out of the salmon (my hubby insists that the other bones are fine to eat and are filled with a lot of nutrients, so chomp away)

Mix salmon with egg and dry ingredients

Form into patties

COOKING:

People without A.D.D. : Cook on medium heat for about 5-8 minutes per side

The rest of us:  Cook on 3-4 with a lid on the pan if you plan to leave the stove for ANY reason.  Cook until you smell fish and think, "Hmmm... that smells good... what was I doing?"  Then flip them over and start again.  Eat them before you smell smoke.  Alternatively, you could have your kids cook them, but my kids are as bad as me, so it wasn't an option.

We rode twenty miles today.  I used four cans of salmon, intended to be served with a bag of broccoli.  Everyone ate all the broccoli waiting for these to be cooked, then ate ALL of the salmon patties as well.  I should have made pasta or rice to go along with it, but I was too tired.  My husband sat down in front of the serving plate and not even thinking ate all that was in front of him.  Thankfully, the rest of us had already had ours!

Clean Eating #60: Super Easy Dipping Sauce for Chicken Fingers & Sweet Potato Fries

Sweet Cinnamon Dipping Sauce

*Goes great with Chicken Fingers & Sweet Potato Fries

1/3rd - 1/2 cup Yogurt Cheese

1 - 2 Tbps Agave Nectar (to taste)

1 tsp Cinnamon

few drops of vanilla extract

There you go!  Mix it up and serve with your chicken fingers or sweet potato fries!  Super Yummy!

My kids FLIPPED out over this with oven fries.  The girls wanted to make chicken fingers RIGHT NOW, but the chicken isn't thawed.  I will definitely be making this again!  I may add some pureed berries at some point too, for the chicken finger dip.  It seems like it would be yummy with some pureed raspberries, too!

Clean Eating #56: Quick and Easy Leftover "Panera" Chicken Raspberry Sandwich

"Panera" Style Chicken Raspberry Sandwich

I took some leftover whole grain sub rolls from Walmart (I would normally use our homemade bread, but these were leftover from when we got stuck in town the other day) and made some yummy sandwiches that Squatch said, "Yum!  These are as good as Panera Bread sandwiches!"

Ingredients:
Whole Grain Sandwich/Sub Roll
Leftover Marinated Raspberry Vinagrette Chicken Breasts (Or you can use the prepped cooked chicken of your choice)
Swiss Cheese, thinly sliced
Tomato, thinly sliced
Greeen leaf lettuce
Onion, thinly sliced
Raspberry Vinagrette Dressing
McCormick's Rotisserie Chicken Seasoning

Directions:
Cut your sub loaf in half, pull out extra bread from top to lower carb count if you want (you can also just use sliced bread in the same way)
Place tomato slices topped with swiss cheese on one half
Place cooked chicken on other half, sprinkle with "Rotisserie Chicken Seasoning"
Stick under broiler set to 450 until the cheese bubbles
Remove, add extra raspberry vinagrette dressing
Add lettuce, sliced onions and other toppings (cucumbers, peppers, etc)

Eat it up!  Yummy, healthy and delicious and a great way to use those leftovers!  That's why I love to make extras!!

Clean Eating #53: Quick & Easy Tomato Vegetable Soup Vegetarian OR meat

Great Last Minute Dinner Idea

Tomato Vegetable Soup

If you have a prep day, or use store bought marinara, this is a super easy one to make and you can easily make two batches, one with meat and one without, if, like me you live in a house with both carnivores and omnivores!  I'm finding that keeping healthy food in the house really gives us a lot of options.  This was inspired by the Vegetable Beef Soup that I LOVE from Souper Salad.  It was really close, although mine was a little spicier, which, of course, my guys loved!

It was SO delicious that my guys ate more as a midnight snack and ate ALMOST the whole pan! Holy beans! That was a LOT of soup.

I realized in looking at this photo that I've had this Club Aluminum stock pot  from my mother for well over 12 years.  And she had it before that.  I think I need to get a set of these.  They last for ever!

Ingredients:
Clean out those freezers and get all the diced up frozen veggies you want.  I used
1/2 large bag of frozen vegetables
small bag of yellow bell pepper
1/2 large onion, diced
some frozen cooked ground turkey or cooked flank steak
*Vegetarians can add some cooked lentils or quinoa for extra protein.
2-3 cups of your marinara sauce
2-3 cups of beef or vegetable broth


$$$  Budget Friendly:
I took the last bit today and added some more marinara and a box of Whole Wheat Penne Pasta to stretch it out. I'm all about saving money when I can and stretching yummy food! We're planning to keep our grocery bill under $800.00 this month (that's $400 down from last month!), and its actually been really easy, since we had to spend a lot last month on things like spices that we didn't have and won't need to buy again for a long time. I'm actually glad that we bought them, though, because they really are yummy, and they are lasting a LOT longer than the old cheap standbys that I used to buy!

Variations for leftovers and budget conscious people... just add some pasta!  My kids ate theirs with mini grilled cheese sandwiches made from our '5 Minutes a Day' bread.

Clean Eating #51: Valentine's Day Raspberry Vinaigrette Marinade for Chicken or Fish

Valentine's Day Raspberry Vinaigrette

Ingredients

3/4th cup frozen mixed berries or raspberries

1/4th cup white wine vinegar

1/4th cup agave nectar or honey

1 to 1 1/2 Tbsp of spicy brown mustard

pepper to taste

Puree all ingredients in a blender.

Pour into a ziplock bag with thawed chicken breasts, white fish or tofu & refrigerate at least 30 minutes (best if you leave it overnight, but I was too hungry for it now!)

Bake at 375 wrapped in foil/in a pan covered with foil.

Individually wrapped 'packets' cooked A LOT faster, and since I put it off so long... well, I needed it done fast.

Make extra 'sauce' for a topping

I sauteed red and orange bell peppers and some onions and added some of the marinade to them and this made an AWESOME topping for the fish and rice.  It cooked down and was nice and thick. YUMMMMY 

**It would make a great dipping sauce for chicken strips, too!

We had ours with steamed brocooli and carrots and long grain brown rice seasoned with a little thyme & sage... topped with out pepper-ed up marinade sauce.

Delicious!  Next time I might add a little bit of orange juice as well... but that would just be for variety.  Paris wanted to use it as a salad dressing, but we were out of salad:(

I know I promised a Valentine's Day story, but instead its been a crazy busy day, and all I want to do right now is curl up with my hubby.  The love of my life that I met over 20 years ago!  We've been married for almost 18 years!!  I can't believe it:)  This guy changed my life and most definitely saved it.

Happy Valentine's Day!