Clean Eating Super Yummy Spicy Goulash

Spicy Goulash

Ingredients:

5-6 carrots (my carrots were pretty puny:) sliced thin

1 16 oz. bag of frozen corn

3 zucchini, sliced thin

5 cans of diced tomatoes

**You can add some white beans or lentils, especially if you're making this for the vegetarian version.

1/2 carton of beef broth

1 capful of Mrs. Dash Extra Spicy seasoning

1 capful of Mrs. Dash "Garlic and Red Pepper" seasoning (I would have generally used actual garlic and red pepper, but I was out)

few shakes of black ground pepper and you should be good!

*You can use simple spices like chili powder instead, if you prefer.

I used my grater for slicing the carrots and zucchini

Mmmmm... spicy!

Dump all of the ingredients together in a pan (again, I pureed some of the diced tomatoes... not even sure why we HAD cans of diced tomatoes in the first place!) and cook on medium heat for at least an hour.  I left mine cooking for probably 3?  It would be fabulous in a crockpot if I had one that didn't burn half of everything I make!

Serve with whole wheat pasta for a "Clean Eating" vegetarian meal...

Or, you can serve with the Spicy Meatballs for the non vegetarian in your life.

This recipe turned out REALLY well.  It was a little watery, because I forgot the beef broth until it was almost done, but it was SO full of flavor, we loved it!  We had a nice big salad and some garlic bread with it (the garlic bread was NOT clean eating, but my kids aren't terribly concerned with being THAT clean!)

Clean Eating #106 : Momma Bear's Kick Butt Flaming Hot Sauce

Flaming Hot Sauce Base

2 cups of peppers, diced (I used the above peppers, 3 jalapenos, 1 pablano, 4 habanero, 1 each red, yello & orange sweet mini peppers, 2 serrano peppers and one red chili pepper)

1 large carrot or four baby carrots

Juice and pulp from two oranges

1 cup of apple cider vinegar

1-2 cups of tomato sauce (depending on how "red" you want your hot sauce)

Directions:

Soak the chopped peppers in the vinegar mixture for about 20 minutes.

Throw everything together and puree in the blender until it resembles something like baby vomit.  Or grown up vomit, I guess, since babies probably aren't chugging down Habeneros.

Anyway, it looks pretty gross, so don't focus on it.  Just dump it in a sauce pan, add your tomato sauce and let it simmer for a while.  About twenty minutes or so... or however long it takes you to get this image out of your brain:

After that, it looks more like 'normal' hot sauce.  I guess the tomato sauce helps a lot.

Take the sauce and pour into pint canning jars with lids.  Boil ON A RACK in a covered pan for about 20 more minutes and viola!  You're good to go.  I put half of ours in the freezer since I didn't have proper canning seals and all that.

I made this for my uber picky, really misses his now no longer in our store "Pain is Good" hot sauce and he REALLY liked it.  I made it first without the carrots and OJ, and that was... "eh, okay" but THIS, this was THE ONE.  I did it!!!  I made "The" best hot sauce.  I can rest now.  And it only took me three tries.  That's pretty EPIC (yeah, that's a quote directly from the kids:)

This was his favorite FAVORITE Hot Sauce ever (and my hubby loved it too... it was flavorful before you noticed the HEAT, which apparently in my man's land a really good thing)... until they stopped carrying it at our store and Momma Bear took over.  Perhaps I should name mine Momma Bear's Kick Butt Hot Sauce??

Clean Eating #101: Pineapple Mango Sauce for Stir Fry or Rice

Pineapple Mango Sauce

Oh. My. Wholly. Beans.

Not even joking, this stuff is make your mouth water, make your tears overflow with happiness good.  Yeah, someday my husband is going to get his revenge for video taping him and get ME on video... we can all look forward to that day.

Ingredients (The base is the marinade from THIS recipe):

• 1/2 tsp Black Pepper
• 1/2 tsp Red Chili Pepper
• 2 tbsp Sesame Oil
• 2 tbsp melted Coconut Oil
• 4 tbsp Dark Agave Nectar
• 4 tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
• 3 tbsp Ginger; grated
• 3 tbsp Sesame Seeds
• 1/2 fresh pineapple, diced
• 1/2 fresh Mango, diced

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a sauce pan and bring to a boil over medium heat

Simmer for 20-30 minutes

Puree all ingredients in a blender

Viola!

Goes incredibly well with the Stuffed Veggies, especially the onions.  I just made myself a plate of the leftover rice from that recipe, topped it with a sliced stuffed onion and this sauce... it was HEAVENLY.

Clean Eating #82: Tangy Barbecue BBQ Sauce

Tangy, Flavorful Barbecue Sauce

We found this recipe and decided to tweak it slightly.

Ingredients
2 Tbsp Coconut oil
1 medium onion, finely diced
3-4 cloves of garlic, finely diced
1 (6oz) can of tomato paste
1 (29oz) can of tomato sauce
2 tsp ground mustard
1/4 cup of molasses
3 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
3 Tbsp brown sugar Xylitol
1 Tbsp Tabasco
2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground red pepper

Directions
Sautee onions and garlic in coconut oil
Add tomato paste and heat
Add all other ingredients and bring to a slow boil on medium heat.
Turn to medium low and simmer until thick.
Remove and cool before use.

YUM.  YUM!!  OMG.  YUMMMMMMMY!!!

Clean Eating #81: Tropical Spicy Orange Mango Fish

Tropical Spicy Orange Mango Fish

My poor peas had freezer burn:(  But the fish was DIVINE!

I used the same sauce that I used for the Tofu with Vegetables & Rice yesterday, and instead of adding tofu, I cooked it down until it was thickened, then topped the Tilapia with it and stuck under the broiler for about 7 minutes.

Ingredients

1/2 mango

1/2 cup orange juice

1/2 cup coconut

1 red chili pepper, diced

• Puree ingredients in blender
• Cook in sauce pan on med-med/high until boiling and thick
• Top thawed Tilapia Filets with sauce
• Stick under broiler with the over slightly cracked open until the fish comes apart easily with a fork (About 7 minutes)
• Top with more sauce half way through cooking.
• Serve with Vegetables and Rice.

This was DELICIOUS!!

Clean Eating #72: Hearty Vegetable Sauce for Pastas, Eggplant Parmesan, Stews & Much More!

Hearty Loaded Vegetable Sauce

I needed some pasta type sauce for a recipe I have on my plan for this month.  Since I used all of our marinara sauce in the lasagna, I needed to make more.  This stuff reezes REALLY well, so I make a LOT.

Because of the recipes I have planned, I wanted this to be REALLY chunky and loaded with lots of veggies.  I stopped by the store and bought my ingredients:
1 Inusdtrial sized can (105 oz) of Crushed Tomatoes
1 Industrial sized can (105 oz) of Diced Tomatoes
10 medium sized carrots, shredded or sliced
4 Large Zucchini, shredded or cubed
2 EACH Red, Yellow, Orange Bell Peppers
1 Super large onion diced
1 16 oz bag of frozen Spinach
2 red chili peppers
4 heads of Roasted Garlic and chopped
64 oz of Vegetable Broth
4 Tbsp Itlaian Seasoning (more or less to taste)
2 Tbsp Ground red pepper (more or less to taste)

3 Tbsp Xylitol Brown Sugar Substitute
1 Tbsp Sea Salt
Bring vegetable broth and all chopped veggies to a boil.  Boil for about 5-10 minutes, then add tomatoes.  Simmer for a few hours and have divine sauce. 

*My Man Version (My guys love mushrooms and green peppers and LOTS of onions, us girls? Not so much.  This is an easy way to alter SOME of the sauce):
8 oz. mushrooms, sliced/chopped
2 green peppers
1 small onion
Sautee in separate pan, add some of the other 'complete' sauce to this to make your alternate version.

Kid Friendly Tip:

If your kids don't like all the chunks in their sauce, you can puree this in a blender.  All but one of my kids loves all the chunks, so we just use a mini blender to smooth out the sauce for my yougnest before putting it over her pasta/quinoa/whatever!

The Verdict:  Wow.  This actually got probably the BEST reaction.  Ever.  I can't imagine a better reaction.  It was such a good reaction, it would be inappropriate to even post it on a public blog. My hubby is really really glad that I wasn't video taping him.  Seriously.  He had tears running down his face.  I'm not joking.  He was SO seriously happy.  He ate this whole big bowl of sauce with his broiled/toasted bread topped with Mozzarella (I just discovered in my last post that I've always spelled Mozzarella wrong!  Oops!:)

Seal in freezer bags when cool and freeze for later use!

I am going to use this for eggplant parmesan, wrapped stuff chicken breasts, pasta as well as a dipping sauce for bread, apparently... and whatever else I can find.  It was definitely a big hit.

Clean Eating #64: A Love Story of Epic Hotness (Super Tropical Hot Sauce)

Hot, Burnin', Spicy Tropical Twist Hot Sauce

My husband loves really hot things.  That's why he married me:)

My son likes SUPER hot things.  As in SPICY.  Actually, most of us love hot things, and Squatch moreso than anyone.  Last year I bought some hot sauce that he loved. Not 'liked'... Loved.  Fell head over heels in love with. 

And then, of course, in the way of doomed teenaged love... the relationship ended.  His new 'hottie' was nowhere to be found.  Not online, not in the stores, nowhere.  NO WHERE!

I can't describe the agony that our whole family endured as he tried 'the other fish in the sea' to no avail.  None could compare to his first true love.

Therefor, being the true and wonderful mother that I am, I made it my goal this month to make the best hot sauce of all time.  My aim is to make that 'other' love disappear from his memory like a bad dream.

Today, my first attempt.  WAS. EPIC.

EPIC!

I found the recipe here at pepperfool

Ingredients:

2 Mangoes, peeled and seeded 3 whole kiwi fruit, peeled 4 Habanero Peppers, stemmed and seeded 2 whole limes, juiced 2 lemons, juiced 1/2 cup Orange Juice 1 cup water It was a HIT!  I touched my tongue to the spoon and my lip and tongue were burning to the point of being numb for the next 15 minutes.  I knew then that I may have found the key to healing my son's broken heart!   Nothing tastes as burning hot as SUCCESS!! Chop up your ingredients and put in your crockpot for the day.  Once everything is cooked fairly thoroughly, puree it in your food processor or blender.  Delicious.  Feed it to your spicy loving peeps and watch their eyes tear up with thankfulness.  I think it was thankfulness...

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 #58: Green Enchilada Sauce

Green Enchilada Sauce

I had several requests from my family for chicken enchiladas... but I couldn't find any 'clean' sauce in the stores.  I was also wanting to avoid canned goods.  I was able to find a recipe and ALMOST avoid canned goods.  However, my hubby went and did the shopping for me one night, and couldn't find the fresh green chiles in our local store.  I decided that this time, I'd just go ahead and use canned.

 

Tomatillos were something I'd never seen or even heard of before.  They reminded me of tomatoes, almost.

This is the recipe I used from Cooks.com.  I will have to adjust it in the future as it was almost too... sweet and definitely not spicy enough for our family.  It still resulted in a lot of happy people, because we love our enchiladas:)

Ingredients & Directions:

• Chop & Puree:
• 1 1/2 lb. fresh tomatillos or 2 (13 oz.) cans tomatillos
• 2 green chiles, charred, peeled and seeded
• 3 jalapeno chiles, partially seeded, veins removed
• 2 cloves garlic
• Add the Puree & the following ingredients to a sauce pan & Simmer for 15-20 Minutes:
• 1/2 c. chicken broth
• 1/4 c. rice vinegar
• 1 tbsp. light oil
• 1 tsp. ground cumin
• Salt to taste
• 2 tbsp. lime juice 
• 1 tsp. xylitol

• After Simmering, Add 1/4th to 1/2 cup of Cilantro, snipped to the sauce.

At this point, it seemed to be lacking a little bit of flavor (which could have been because of the veggies being out of season) so I added a big handful of chopped spinach to the sauce and to the chicken mixture that we used for enchiladas.

My blender also died in the middle of this, and the one I had to use is not very useful!  It didn't puree very well, but that was okay... it was just a little bit chunkier than we're used to but still yummy!

What I'd do Differently Next Time:  Definitely add some more spicy peppers!  I'm going to have to research my peppers more, or buy just organic or in season.  This had a nice flavor, but was too sweet.  I will use less sugar and probably leave more seeds in next time.  All in all, though, it was a success!

 

Tomorrow:  Chicken Enchiladas!

Friday:  Black Bean & Cheese Vegetarian Enchiladas!

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!

Clean Eating #46: Simple Yogurt Cheese (Greek Yogurt Substitute) for sauces & icing

Simple Yogurt Cheese

Ingredients:

One large container of plain, all natural low-fat yogurt.

You'll also need cheese cloth & preferably a metal strainer/sieve. 

*The first time I did this, I used a thin dish towel, some rubber bands and a plastic container and it worked, but not quite as well as this did!

Line the Sieve with 3-4 layers of cheese cloth.
Place over a container so that the kiquid can drip out without touching the sieve.
Fill with plain yogurt.
Leave refrigerated overnight.
In the morning, it should resemble the consistency of cream cheese.
Put back in original container and use as a replacement for cream cheese, for creamy sauces (tuna noodle cheese, beef stroganoff, etc.)

 Draining most of the liquid off seems to drain off a lot of the 'sour' taste of yogurt.  I really like how it tasted and how well it worked!

Use it to make Chocolate Icing for Black Bean Brownies (or anything, it makes a DELICIOUS 'real' tasting icing) or vanilla icing for Fruit filled Crescent rolls like our Apple Cinnamon Crescent Rolls.