Fantastic raw tacos!

http://roostblog.com/roost/in-the-raw-tacos-spiced-melon-avocado-shooters-watermelon-mo.html

Zucchini Pizza

My mom and I made this recipe inspired by a recipe in a magazine. Slice zucchini really thin. Add any spices you want. We did garlic salt, basil, oregano, and pepper. Place chopped tomatoes on top and spray with olive oil. We topped ours with Parmesan cheese. At home I will use ground cashews. Bake for 10-15 at 400 degrees. 

Stuffed Poblano Peppers

Wash poblano pepper and slice top off. Fill with vegetarian refried beans, and quinoa. (I added cumin and chili to my quinoa.) spray with olive oil and place in oven at 400 for 12-15 mins. Add favorite salsa! Easy to mix up! Onions, mushrooms, corn etc. 

Lunch Ideas

Here's a list of lunches I have grown to love!

Anything Goes Smoothie

I usually pick something green (spinach) 

A fruit or two

And then add almond milk and flax seed freshly ground. Yummy! If you want something icy freeze your raspberries or bananas before hand :)

The Mac

Boil vegetable enriched mac, add homemade hummus and nutritional yeast. My kids live this one!

The Mexican Mac

^^^^^^ just replace hummus with refried beans. 

Thai Cabbage Wrap

Fill raw cabbage leaves with raw broccoli slaw and walnuts and drizzle Thai peanut sauce over them. I seriously ate seven of these one day for lunch!

Old Soul Quesadilla 

This one isn't my own... My friend Rachel invented it and I love it! Whole wheat tortilla, peanut butter, honey, flax meal. Grill. Enough said!

Zucchini Pizza

My mom found something similar to this so we made it together. Thinly slice zucchini the long way and set on a sprayed pan. Sprinkle basil, oregano, Italian seasoning, garlic salt. Place tomato slices and sprinkle with nutritional yeast. (Since I am a vacation vegetarian we did parmesan :}) bake at 400 until they are a soft as you prefer them.  

Simple Spud

 Another recipe mom whipped up. Baked potato with olive oil, garlic salt, chives, nutritional yeast. 

Alright! More to come :) thanks for reading and let me know if you try anything/ have anything to share!

 

Tomato Basil Revamped

I made a delicious pesto hummus today! I used a pesto that is made from basil-upon further reading it also has cheese in it :/ drats! Lesson learned....read every single label ( I found a cilantro paste that had milk in it once...really?!) BUT I am still going to use it and eat the hummus because I only added a teaspoon in the whole container so that makes very little animal product in it AND I an not going to be wasteful. Anyway-basil pesto,garlic,olive oil,garbanzo beans, a pinch of salt! All into my food processor. I turn mine on and dump ingredients in starting with beans then oil then other ingredients and oil as needed. It turned out so smooth. Dip tomatoes in for an amazing snack!

First Raw Dinner

So excited to try my first raw dinner recipe! This one is raw tacos and I got it from http://roostblog.com/roost/in-the-raw-tacos-

spiced-melon-avocado-shooters-watermelon-

mo.html

It was great! I loved the option or cabbage 

because the cashew sour cream was rich 

and the bitterness in the cabbage 

complemented it and balanced it out! 

The sour cream and the 

"meat" component were pretty rich and

 I thought a little Went a long way. I think I 

will cut the recipe in half next time. I liked 

more avocado ( i used that instead of gauc 

bc i like the texture) and pico in mine. Overall 

it was really good and I will def be making

It again. I love that the cream and the meat

 could Be used in other meals. And sorry 

for my wacky Random caps. My iPhone is 

not my friend today. 

Easy Peasy

 I was talking to my Mom this morning and we were discussing how hard it can be to cut out processed foods when you just feel like you are in a big hurry! It kind of inspired me to share some of my easiest recipes with you! Maybe it will encourage you to eat whole foods a little more-or show you that it really doesn't have to be so difficult. You are just reprogramming your brain :)

One of the best ways I have made our diet successful is carving out time for preparing food. I personally get up in the morning and prepare whatever I can and especially if I am going to have a busy day. I ALWAYS pack snacks. Always. I don't care if I am running to Target for a half hour I will have snacks on hand. If I get hungry I do not want any excuse to cheat. Apples, oranges, bananas, carrots, peanut butter sandwich, dry roasted peanuts are all great ways to stay away from the tempting, easy to reach, processed garbage :)

OK recipes- sorry I have no pics right now...maybe I will work on that?


Getcha Goin' Nanner- This banana is our FAVORITE breakfast. Every single one of us Hagers LOVE it

1 Banana
Natural Peanut Butter to taste
Agave Nectar or Honey
Flax Seed Meal (I personally grind my own in my coffee grinder but meal may be easier for some)

take your banana-slather with generous portion of peanut butter-sprinkle as much flax seed meal as you want-top with agave nectar/honey. You can be "bad" once in a while and toast a whole wheat English muffin instead of using a banana.

Cold Oats- I know this one sounds strange but I really enjoy it

1 cup quick oats
3/4 cup almond milk or soy milk
and toppings! I love cacao chips, shredded coconut, almonds- so good!
other ideas: raisins, bananas, peanuts, sunflower seeds, raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, cinnamon and I am sure you can think of others
you just eat it like cold cereal!

Pumped Up Pita

1 Pita
1 TBSP your favorite hummus
Cherry Tomatoes
Spinach
Cucumber Slices

This is my favorite way to eat pitas but of course you could be so creative!  Kale, peppers, mushroom, olive its all good for you and you can pile it up as much as you want!

Wrap is Yourself- wraps are so versatile!

1 tortilla shell
refried beans/black beans
salsa
avocado slices
cucumber

once again-so easy to make it to your own tastes. Sometimes I just pull out whatever produce needs to be used up! see how things taste together. Kidney beans, mushrooms, carrots, alfalfa sprouts, celery- mix it up! You may be surprised!

Quinoa Fiesta- I always make this one in a mason jar just because it is easy to grab and go

1 Cup quinoa
avocado
lime juice
cilantro
cumin
salsa/diced tomatoes
black beans

Cook up your quinoa and mix in black beans and cumin. Let cool. Put in the bottom of a mason jar, layer with avocado with a squeeze of lime juice so it doesn't brown, layer with salsa and then a little cilantro. I love this meal and it is good cold! Best for when Jamie and I have a busy day- I just make two and send one with him.


Stir Fry, salads, fajitas- these are all things that are super easy to make! Just cut out the meat/ replace half the meat with veggies.

If you have a crockpot-use it! Make a veggie chili in the crockpot and bring home a microwaveable baked potato with you. Soups are a great way to get veggies and to get full!

Replace meats with things like tofu, potato, beans, lentils, and mushrooms.

Snack ideas:
sunflower seeds
peanuts/almonds/cashews/pistachios
apple
orange
carrots and hummus
pretzels and hummus
cherry tomatoes and hummus
HUMMUS : }
celery
green peppers and salsa
wasabi peas
cacao chips, pretzels, and raisins
peanut butter and apple
peanut butter and banana
kiwi
and if you want to be a little bad-BELIEVE IT OR NOT- lays chips-just plain old lays aren't so awful for you. They have the least amount of ingredients (potatos, sunflower/canola oil, salt)

Alright there ya have it! Fast and easy to get ya started on the road to healthy and happy :) PLEASE feel free to share some of your healthy, easy on the go recipes!

Teriyaki Pineapple Salmon Burgers

I tried to get a picture of this AWESOME meal Jamie made us tonight, but it just didn't turn out.

Simple and delicious...I can not WAIT to make this for my parents this weekend.

I found these Salmon Burgers at Aldi (4 for about 3 bucks...not bad!) and was trying to figure out what to make for them. I didn't want to do a traditional burger...

Jamie started by putting some oil, onions and garlic in a skillet and letting it warm up a bit. Then he added the salmon burgers. I made the teriyaki sauce which was just brown sugar, soy and worcestershire sauce. I usually make mine really sweet but I tried to hold off a little since we were going to add pineapple. Jamie added the sauce to the patties and let them cook until done. The sugar caramelizes and just fills the kitchen with an awesome smell! I personally didn't want to put the pineapple in the skillet...I waited because warm/cooked pineapple to me is weird.

After Jamie took them out he put honey roasted almond slices on the patties (we ate our burgers with no buns) and then we layered the pineapple on it (I had bought my pineapple fresh/already cored in produce. I only do that if it is manager special or I am just craving it way much HAHA) The fresh cold pineapple just really added to the taste and the almonds made this amazing texture. It inspired an idea to have almond crusted salmon next time. Let me know if you try this and if you enjoy it!

A Couple of Tricks I've Learned

Alright ya'll...its been about a week and a half since Jamie and I started our veggie diet. Jamie has lost 12 lbs and I have lost 2 (I didn't expect to lose being pregger and all so I was delightfully surprised.)


A couple of things I have learned about being vegetarian- you really just cannot buy ENOUGH fresh fruits and veggies. You need LOTS of snacky things (nuts, dried fruits, trail mixes, popcorn) Also, black bean burgers are very difficult to make : )


Here are a couple of recipes that just reallly worked for our family!


Pollock- Last night was our fish night (once a week we have fish or chicken) and we had frozen pollock. It is cheap and it is tasty. I let it thaw then sprinkled pepper on it. I then took margarine and Parmesan grated cheese and mixed it together and just kind of coated the fillets with the mixture. The recipe actually called for sour cream but I just didn't have any. WOW the fillets were tender and falling apart and also kind of had a caramelized cheesy taste to them. SO good. 30 minutes at 450 (I did 425 because I have an electric stove and everything seems to burn...so I put it on a lower heat and let it cook a little longer.) The Parmesan/butter mixture will be excellent on top of a casserole dish of baked broccoli, cauliflower, corn or even potatoes. Can't wait to use it more!


Poor Man's Bruschetta- I am not lying with this one! I literally have no groceries until tomorrow morning. The recipe called for a french loaf of bread, fresh tomatoes, olive oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, fresh crushed basil, fresh crushed garlic. O didnt have hardly any of those things SOOOO I grabbed the can of stewed tomatoes out of my cabinet (I usually save those for soups and chilis) and drained them SUPER DUPER WELL. Added canola oil, salt, pepper, already crushed basil, minces garlic from a jar in my fridge and in replacement of vinegar...just a little bit of pickle juice. You heard me. Pickle juice. Bruschetta kind of has a crunch to it...this didnt because of the stewed tomatoes but it was pretty good. Jamie loved it. I made my own french bread and topped the bruschetta on it. The recipe for bread actually is enough for two loaves to I also made a sauteed onion and green pepper mixture with soy sauce, butter, salt and pepper for the other loaf. Jamie just stacked the bruschetta and onion and green pepper mixture together and sprinkled Parmesan cheese on it. It worked...I lot better than I had expected. It was just an interesting event : )




Thai peanut greens- This one was totally inspired by PF changs lettuce wraps and by oriental chicken salad at different restaurants. I took mushrooms, green peppers and thai peanut sauce and sauteed it in the skillet. Put it over a bed of romaine with honey roasted peanuts, chow mien noodles and a little but more thai sauce. To cool it down I put just a hint of ranch and they complimented each other well. The mushrooms are so meaty you just don't miss the chicken. Yummmm this one was definately a winner!

This dish would be EXCELLENT with thinnly sliced carrots for a great crunch and color : ) OR you could make the mixture and put it in big 'ol lettuce leaves...yummmm

And last is my fav, but sooo not good for you. Just a little treat/guilty pleasure.
Deep fried banana peppers...just take them right out of the jar...bread them in flour, throw them in some canola oil until crispy and salt just a little. Oh yum....just a fun little snack

Well there are some of our recipes. I am sure there will be more to come!

New Recipes

I have been pretty adventurous lately and thought I would share some of my successful recipes! These may not be necessarily the healthiest...but are really tasty and usually fit in a tight budget or are just easy. I posted the hardest one with the most ingredients first but it is SO FUN!


Flautas (made these for Cinco de Mayo)


You will need shredded chicken (you can use a rotisserie chicken or boil chicken in a pot for a couple of hours until it shreds, just poke holes to help it shred faster) If you want to go vegetarian try more of the following vegetables and maybe mushrooms or rice
Tortillas
peppers (jalapenos or green)
drained can of tomatoes with green chillies
chopped onions
canola oil (I use this one because it is cheaper)
minced garlic
cheese
lime


Take a little oil and put it into a skillet. Let it get hot. Add your onion (I add onion first because raw onion can hurt my stomach.) Then add your peppers and garlic and lime juice. I added some lime zest too to make the flavor pop! Once you have those sauteed pretty well dump your can of tomato and chillies. Cook out some of the juice. Once a good portion of the liquid is cooked out add cheese to your taste and the chicken. Just mix it all together really well...it will kind of look like a breakfast skillet...believe me I was tempted to eat it just like this.


After it is all nice and hot turn off your burner and let sit for a minute. In a separate deep skillet or pot start heating some canola oil. You want it to be around 350 degrees or to see bubbles when you place your tortillas in it. Take your tortilla shells and cut them in half....like a half moon. I like to do this because they are easier to wrap and handle. Take your skillet master piece and spoon a portion into the middle of a tortilla half. It may take you a couple of times but find the best way to roll it. I roll ALL of mine before I start frying. If you have toothpicks it is a great idea to stick a tooth pick in these to help them stay put!

You can drop them right in your oil that way. I did not have any so I took the roll with a pair of tongs and placed it gently in the skillet with the roll flap face down. I waited till it was nice and crunchy to roll it over and almost all of them stayed together. You can have several in the oil at a time...you want them to be a dark golden brown color. Place on a paper towel to drip of extra oil.


As a dip just blend avocado and sour cream and lime juice in a bowl. If you don't like avocado there is always ranch!

There you have it! A meal that will make you feel like a chef! My husband LOVES these and so does my lil Juju...and of course I thought they looked and tasted great!






Easy Fruit Salad


This recipe is not so new as old and I forgot about it and made it recently. SO easy...


Take a can of your fav fruit in light syrup (I chose pineapple...of course you can do peaches, pears, mixed fruit...) Drain most just leaving a little but of syrup
Cut up apples, bananas, grapes, kiwi, oranges....whatever you have laying around. Mix with the canned fruit and small amount of juice. Take a packet of vanilla pudding and sprinkle some of the powder in to taste. Mix and there you have it : ) If you do bananas make sure they are mixed in very well and cover left overs. The ones on top may brown slightly but are easy to pick out and discard.




French Onion Chicken


I only buy chicken when I can find a good deal. This recipe I used on chicken tenderloins that I found for a fraction of the cost of breasts. Also if you get frozen chicken breast in a bag it is cheaper than fresh.


Since it was tenderloins there wasn't much cutting that needed to be done..if you have chicken breast I would cut it into quarters.


Take chicken and poke holes in it with a fork...put in a large bowl, salt and pepper really well. take one can of cream of mushroom and pour onto chicken. Add a few dashes of soy sauce. Mix well and place in fridge to marinade for half an hour.


In the meantime take french fried onions (Doesn't have to be French's their are plenty of generics for half the price) and put them in a Ziploc freezer bag then crush them.


Take your chicken our and roll in the french onions (wash hands well when dealing with raw meats) place chicken in a sprayed dish and cook at 400 degrees for 20 minutes (I always cut a piece after 20 minutes just to be sure it is done) and there you have it! SOOOO tastey!




Sherbet floats

Diet soda of your choice....I choice 7up and just a couple of scoops of rainbow sherbet. You can add pineapple juice if you have some handy but it isn't necessary....so cute especially with a straw!

Glover's Grandma's Chicken


Glover made me this one and I HAVE to post it


Chicken breast in a pan with cheese on top, cream of mushroom on top of that, and croutons on top of that. Oven for an hour at 400....it is AMAZING! and great with green bean casserole : D






OK I have not tried this recipe yet but I am DYING to...if you try it let me know.


Just take plain white rice that is already cooked. Add avocado (already blended well) basil and fresh lemon juice...I think it sounds AMAZING!




Here is another older recipe that I hadn't had in a while...not the best for you but sooooo comforting


Browned ground beef in a dish with cream of mushroom (I know I love cream of mushroom...you can always try cream of chicken as a substitute in any recipe.) Add cheese, place frozen tator tots on top and bake for an hour at 400 degrees.


AND seeing all of these I realize I need more vegetarian recipes to work with! Maybe that will be something I try soon! If you try any of these or substitute anything or tweak something I would love to hear it!

Stir Fry, Baby!

Jamie and I, as you know, are trying to eat healthy. We keep pretty close tabs on most of the day and then eat a little more casually at dinner, but try to make it healthy. Here is our favorite thing right now. I have made it twice this week, once for friends, and thought I would just share. I have to tell you in advance that the original recipe is from my Daddy. Thanks Daddy : )

You will need:
A main ingredient such as steak, pork, chicken, potato, shrimp...I used steak with ALL the fat trimmed
Veggies of your choice (I used sliced green peppers, mushrooms, and frozen broccoli)
Soy Sauce
Brown Sugar
Olive Oil or Rice Cooking Wine
Margarine
Italian Seasoning
Cooked Rice (I prefer brown since it is better)

Take your meat or potatoes and put them in just a little bit of oil or wine. Cook thoroughly.
Take your brown sugar and soy sauce, whisk it until well blended. You will probably need about a half a cup of brown sugar and add the amount of soy sauce. (If you want it as a thicker sauce then add less soy sauce and for thinner add more)
Take your mushrooms and green peppers and just a teaspoon of butter and add it to your main ingredient. Add Italian seasoning
Pour your brown sugar, soy sauce mixture
Turn your skillet up really high and keep uncovered...this will boil out some of the liquid and make your meat or potato tender
When you have boiled out water to desired consistency add your frozen broccoli and cover
This will give your broccoli a steamed effect and cook it at the same time. I LOVE it this way...I would rather have broccoli with a little crunch
If you want a little more of a caramelized effect sprinkle a LITTLE bit more brown sugar over everything and then kind of fold it into your skillet.
Serve over brown rice...you don't even need to add anything else to the rice because there is so much flavor in the stir fry


OKAY that's our fav right now : ) just be sparing with your brown sugar and soy sauce...lots of sugar and salt! Drink LOTS of water during your meal to make yourself fuller faster. I hope you enjoy it

Snacky Snack

Fun Snack:

Make up some oatmeal, put a handful of choc chips in your bowl and mini marshmellows while its pipping hot. Yummy....you could actually use unsweetened chocolate from the baking asile if you wanna behave a little more : )

ALSO you could use organic ingredients (although expensive) then we could call it s'mor-ganic oatmeal, in the meantime I think I will just call it S'moatmeal? or Oat-shmeal? (yea there is no h in oatmeal or smore but I liked the sound of it.)

Poor man's recipes

Some of my easiest and best recipes have come when I have had two or three things in the cabinet. Alot of it is cheap and easy because it is canned....sometimes frozen. May not be the healthiest but once again...when you are on a budget you can't be too picky. Thought I would share some of them : )

Chicken tacos:

(This one is so easy and is best if you have an Aldi because Aldi is super cheap...you could probably still make it cheap if you have a Walmart but Aldi is best.)

Canned chicken (< $1.50)
Black Beans (< $1)
taco seasoning (<$.50)
spanish rice (< $1.00) Rice is optional...I use it more for a filler if I am feeding more people : )
Flour or Corn Tortillas or a bag of Corn Chips (All less than $1.00)
Salsa of course : ) (<$2.00)

Drain the chicken and put it in a pot with the black beans and little bit of water...add taco seasoning. Sometimes I put it all in the crockpot and just let it simmer all day if I have other stuff to do....then you have all kinds of ways to eat it....rice in the shell? rice on the side? tomatoes and corn are items you can use once in a while too if you have them on hand. This meal is well then 6 dollars and has fed the three of us with left overs before.

Thanksgiving Casserole:

This one is a perfect idea for your Thanksgiving leftovers but you can also use chicken if it happens to be summer and you dont want to make an entire Turkey : )

Turkey or chicken (Once again I love the canned chicken...so easy to use for this kind of thing)
Corn
Green Beans
1 box of stuffing or 1 box of French's onions
1 can of cream of mushroom
1 bag of instant potatoes (I usually get something garlic and cheesey)

Preheat oven to 350
Make potatoes and spread in the bottom of a casserole dish
mix corn, green beans, chicken or turkey, and cream of mushroom-pour on top of mashed potatoes
Make stuffing and put as final layer
Put in the oven and bake for 35 minutes
If you use French onions instead place on top last five minutes

This is another one that is less than $6 if you shop right AND if you have an extra dollar Jamie likes to eat his with a side of cranberry from the can


Terriyaki

You dont need fancy smancy sauce from the store to make this! Just mix brown sugar and soy sauce to taste. Dump it in a skillet over your favorite meat (or whichever happens to be on sale) and make with a side of rice and steamed broccoli. I usually brown the meat a little and add garlic...but we are garlic people : )


Stir Fry

I learned how to make stir fry a couple of years ago and I looooove it!
For this one you will need
2 cups of white rice prepared and cooled (I usually make it in the morning and then put it in the fridge till I use it. This recipe works best if it is cold rice)
2 beaten eggs
corn
peas
carrots
soy sauce

Take a little bit of vegetable oil (or whichever you have) and put it in your skillet and just let it heat up...nearly to bubbling. Drop eggs in the oil and scramble in the oil. Add all of your veggies and rice. Let the rice cook in the oil for a while and flip every once in a while. It all just depends how much oil you use and how you like your rice. I like mine a little toasty. Add soy sauce to taste at the end. You can use meat for this one too if you have it....but this is one recipe I enjoy "vegetarian".

Well those are some of my favorite meals. Hope you enjoyed them : )