Farmer's Market Goodies!

The summer is coming to an end and my little man has begun the first of many, many, many years of school. Yes that's right I now officially have a preschooler! Scary and exciting all at the same time. Time sure flies as an adult. Summer was over in a blink this year and although the days of lounging by the pool are fading quickly, I do have to say my most favorite time of year is coming fast and I have that ich to decorate and bake everything fall! Lately our new family ritual has been to check out some local Farmer's Markets on Saturday mornings and I just happened to find one I'm in love with. Even better it is only about 10 minutes driving distance away. Heaven! We kind of live far from everything, and driving a gas guzzler like I do this was just a perfect opportunity for me to get back into cooking and creating/trying new recipes with fresh, Arizona grown ingredients! Over the  weekend my husband and I kind of splurged on some somewhat, healthy versions of some not-so-healthy appetizers. The first recipe I adapted from a recipe I found on skinnytaste.com, Zucchini tots. The second one my husband I have been making forever I just tried something new.

Zucchini Tots

Fall is right around the corner and what does that mean? Football season! Ok so I don't watch football at all, neither does my husband but this little tot will satisfy fans of all ages. Who am I kidding you really don't need an excuse whatsoever as to why you should make and eat these!!! I'm serious, they are good and instead of being fried they are baked, and with panko bread crumbs for Pete's sake! So instead of feeling extremely guilty after snacking hard you'll just feel slightly guilty, or non at all. The ingredients are as follows:

1 zucchini 

1/4 C panko bread crumbs

extra Panko bread crumbs for rolling

1 egg

1/4 C grated sharp chedder cheese

cooking spray

1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2) Grate zucchini into a clean dish towel and wring out fluid.

3) In a bowl combine all ingredients (minus the extra Panko for rolling). Season with salt and pepper to taste.

4) Scoop out 1 Tbs. of mixture and roll into balls. Roll the balls in the extra Panko bread crumbs then place on a cookie sheet sprayed in cooking spray.

5) Spray the top of the zucchini balls with cooking spray and bake in the oven for 16-18 minutes or until lightly browned.

YUM!

Fried Okra

One of my favorite treats are fried Okra. They are addicting and there is no way of not feeling guilty about consuming these!  Better make sure I'm not the only one in the kitchen when I make these because the minute they come out of the fry daddy they are popped into my mouth. Warning these are fried so there is nothing healthy about them, only one important fact, they are way too good. Please treat yourself and your loved ones to these, they will think you are glorious. They are also easy peasy. The ingredients consist of:

Whole Wheat Flour

2 Large Eggs

Fresh Okra, sliced into pieces (or frozen, if you don't have fresh)

vegetable oil

Panko Bread Crumbs

1) Fill your fry daddy 1/4 full and let heat up. (works fine in a medium saucepan as well)

2) Pour flour on a plate, scramble eggs in a small bowl, and pour Panko bread crumbs on another plate. Make a little dipping station for yourself.

3) Dip the okra in the flour, then in scrambled eggs, then in panko bread crumbs.

4) In small batches fry the okra, about 3 minutes, or until they are golden brown. Drain on paper towel. Then Enjoy!

I know I still have a couple weeks more of summer but I think we will make the conversion to fall early in this household! Next on my list of fall and winter favorites made from my yummy local produce, soups! So let me turn down the air conditioning and let the pretending begin.

Cleaning Secret Numero Uno

Ok everyone, this post is quick, sweet, and simple. I love myself for looking this cleaning tip up! Do you want your granite countertops to look flawless without buying an expensive cleaner made with a bunch of chemicals you never heard of before???? Well I have the perfect solution and it was tile contractor approved. All you need is:

50% rubbing alcohol

50% water

scented oil (optional)

Mix it all up in a spray bottle, spray surface, and wipe clean with a clean dry cloth.

You are all so welcome!!! It looks beautiful and doesn't strip the sealer off like a vinegar and citrus solution would do.

Key Lime Cupcakes and Strawberry Ganache

My daughter's 2nd birthday was this weekend and we all had a blast! A slip'n'slide, water balloons, and squirt guns made for the perfect, hot, July, toddler's birthday party. One tradition we have as a family for all the children's birthdays is baking our own birthday cakes/cupcakes. For my son's 2nd birthday I got so creative I created a cake fire truck! This birthday I wanted to do things a little different. Instead of putting my decorating skills to test I decided to try new flavors and improve my baking skills. I knew I wanted to do a strawberry filling to compliment my fun fetti vanilla cake and came across a very simple recipe for strawberry ganache (strawberries/cream/white chocolate). It was amazing, but what was even more amazing than that was my key lime cupcakes, a recipe I just happened to roll across in my search for a strawberry filling. Let me tell you I could easily eat a dozen of the key lime cupcakes! So... here is goes, I'm sharing my "out-of-this-world" cupcake recipes for strawberry ganache filling and the key lime filling with meringue topping.

The vanilla cake recipe I use is found on the back of the Pillsbury Softasilk Cake Flour, it is always a crowd pleaser and you can add a few extras to make it your own. for my Strawberry Ganache I added sprinkles to make it a fun fetti cupcake. Also the frosting I used for the fun fetti cupcakes is my cream cheese buttercream frosting you can find the recipe under my mint chocolate cupcakes post.

Strawberry Ganache 

This is a super easy recipe and taste great in vanilla cake and would be heavenly in a chocolate cake as well. The ingredients you will need are:

1/4 cup strawberries

3/4 cup heavy cream

7 oz. white chocolate

1) Chop the strawberries up into small chunks.

2) In a small bowl combine the strawberries and heavy cream, place in refrigerator over night.

3) Drain the cream and strawberries mixture into a sauce pan using a wire mesh strainer. Make sure you press the strawberries down to get as much cream as possible off the berries. Scrape the bottom of the strainer with a spatula to get the excess cream off.

4) Heat the cream over medium heat, when the mixture begins to boil pour in chocolate stirring from the center out until the chocolate is completely melted.

5) Place in refrigerator for 10 minutes.

6) Pipe or spoon filling into cupcakes or use as a filling in cakes.

Key Lime Filling and Meringue Topping

If you were amazed at how easy the strawberry ganache filling is to make just wait until you read how easy it is to make the key lime filling! The ingredients needed are:

1/3 cup key lime juice*

14 oz. can condensed milk

*if you can't find key lime juice use 1/2 lime juice and 1/2 lemon, that's what I ended up using

1) Stir together condensed milk and key lime juice

2) That's it! Pipe it into cupcakes :)

For the meringue it was also easy, just takes a little patience.

3 egg whites

1/4 tsp cream of tarter

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1) Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Beat egg whites and cream of tarter until soft peaks form.

2) Add 1/3 of the sugar and beat for 1 minutes, repeat until sugar is gone.

3) Pipe on top of cupcakes. Bake in the oven for 5 minutes.

Of course I made way too many cupcakes, but still enjoying them!

Farmer's Market Zucchini Bread

My kids and I just love visiting the farmer's markets over the weekend. My kids love all the fresh, organic, locally grown vegetables.

Colbie enjoying some cherry tomatoes! At the Maynard's Farmer's Market

Who can pass up fresh, organic zucchinis? Not me and one way I love them, my kids as well, is in bread. Today the kids and I made the yummiest zucchini bread so I thought I would share the recipe!


The ingredients include:

2 zucchinis grated

2 eggs, beaten 

1 1/3 C sugar

2 tsp baking soda

pinch of salt

2 tsp vanilla

2/3 C unsalted butter, melted

3 C whole wheat flour

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1 Tbs chai seed

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray two loaf pans with cooking spray.

2) Mix together in a large bowl: eggs, sugar, and vanilla.

3) Add the grated zucchini and melted butter to the bowl and mix.

4) Sprinkle baking soda and salt into mixture and stir.

5) Add flour a third at a time.

6) Mix in cinnamon, nutmeg, and chai seed.

7) Divide batter evenly into two pans and bake for 1 hour checking bread at 50 minutes.

*You can fold in dried fruit or nuts to add more protein.

Low-Cal Banana Muffins

If there is one thing my family loves it is bananas, and even more than bananas, banana muffins! Today I wanted to try something different to try to make these heavenly snacks a little bit more healthy for my little ones. So I found a recipe on a low-cal site for muffins using unsweetened applesauce in place of butter/oil. Of course I substituted the flour for whole wheat pastry flour and added some chai seeds. The result was a success, hooray! According to the low-cal site these babies only have 75 calories and 0.5 grams of fat. The ingredients are:

1 C Whole Wheat Pastry Flour

1 Tbs baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp kosher salt

2 bananas, mashed

1/4 C sugar

1/4 C applesauce

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla 

2 tsp chai seed

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray muffin tins with cooking spray.

2) Mix together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, chai seed and baking soda.

3) In a separate bowl blend together applesauce, bananas, egg, vanilla, and sugar.

4) Pour banana mixture into the flour and mix until well blended and scoop into muffin tin.

5) Cook about 15-20 minutes, or until tooth pick comes out clean. 

Chocolate Mint Milk Shake

Yes!!! These might be dangerous because they are so freakin good! I've been sitting night after night trying to come up with a way to feed my toddler fresh vegetables without him noticing. Since he began consuming solids he is a vegetable detective, anything green was tossed to the side. Today with my brilliance and a little help from the Diva Dish I snuck spinach into a tasty chocolate mint smoothie. It is the perfect healthy "kid friendly" treats for these hot summer days! I will post a picture later I was just experimenting today. The ingredients include:

1/2 C Organic Chocolate Milk (future I will use chocolate almond milk)

1 C (or more) of Fresh Spinach

2 tsp coco powder

1/2 tsp Organic Agave Nectar

3 Coconut Milk Ice Cubes

1 Frozen Banana

Some Fresh Peppermint Leaves

Put everything into a blender and liquefy. The perfect summer treat!

Oven-Roasted Beets

My love used to be brussel sprouts but after having them a couple times a week my husband and I got tired of them. Now my new love is roasted beets. When eating out if a salad had beets in it that is what I was getting, it beat any other dish every time, so when the kiddos were at Oma's for the night and I actually had time to watch tv and it wasn't Peppa Pig or Mike the Knight, Guy, my roasted beet super hero, was making roasted beet and bacon kale salad. By the way that is also the day I discovered sauteed kale! It is easy and the beets taste phenomenal!


I get the organic beets from the store because they are always much larger. Trim off the greens and cut off the top and bottom. Double wrap in aluminum foil, drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle some Kosher salt over them. Seal them up and bake in oven at 425 degrees for 1 hour and 20 minutes. You know they are done when you can stick a fork through them. Peel and enjoy!

Since my husband doesn't eat them I sliced them up and stuck the left overs in the fridge for a salad the next day!

Coconut Brown Rice and Watermelon with Feta

 Last night we had an amazingly good, healthy, dinner! I also found a good recipe to use up some of my sweetened coconut flakes that I had left over from some cupcakes I made awhile back. It sounds odd, coconut and rice but if you have ever had the chance to try sticky rice, a Thai dish, then you would totally see the two coming together in a delicious symphony. This rice is more of a side dish without such a sweet flavor but yummy! My husband even liked it! Another hubby favorite is the watermelon with feta and mint. Super easy to make and it is that season again for watermelon. I'm jumping up and down with excitement, you just can't see. ^-^. That's my jumping face. I love anything with watermelon! 

Coconut Brown Rice

I got this recipe off of the site skinnytaste.com. Love that website for some good, healthy, goodness. This is what you will need:

1 C uncooked brown rice

1 C coconut milk (I used the carton)

1 1/4 C water

1 tsp grated fresh ginger*

1/4 tsp salt

2 tbsp sweetened grated coconut flakes

3 tbsp chopped cilantro

1) In a heavy saucepan add coconut milk, rice, water, ginger, salt, and coconut; bring to a boil over medium heat.

2) Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer until liquid has evaporated, about 40-45 minutes. Remove from heat and keep covered for 10 minutes. Fluff with fork and stir in cilantro.

Also what is great about this rice is you can mix in any vegetables, meats, or tofu to make it a main dish. Tonight I mixed it with baby portobello mushrooms that I sauteed in sesame seed oil and butter.

Enjoy!

*To keep your ginger fresh just pop it into the freezer and cut off knobs as you need them for cooking, who uses a whole ginger root at a time... not me!

Watermelon and Feta

For this salad just cut up 1 small seedless watermelon, add a container of plain feta, chop up some fresh mint and stir it all together. I also added a dash of Kosher salt. Yum!

My adorable kids at the new Elephant exhibit at the zoo!

Easter

It's been awhile since I have done a post I've just been so busy and stepped up my running so super exhausted as well. My kids Easter was filled with a dangerous amount of candy. My neighbors, in-laws, and parents went wild when it came to the "Easter Bunny." I'm not exaggerating, 8 baskets and 5 zip lock bags full of chocolate, gummy bears, and jelly beans, also 6 chocolate bunnies to go along with that. Next year I plan on Easter outfits, movies, and books for this Easter Bunny to kindly donate to my children. All the candy is hidden in closets throughout the house and I really have no idea what we are going to do with all of it.


Getting back to food! I made the most adorable candy coated ducks and strawberries ever for my kids baskets, of course they didn't live up to all the store bought candy so the adults munched on those, but they were delish. I also plan on trying different colors and shapes for other holidays.

Ducks

This is what you need:

1 bag yellow candy coating (get at local craft store)

1 bag pretzel twists

small tube black frosting gel

candy coated orange sunflower seeds (I used left over orange candy coat from my strawberries)

1) Melt candy coating 1 minute in the microwave at 50% power, stir, then return to microwave for 30 seconds at a time on 50% power, stirring after every 30 seconds until candy is all melted.

2) Spoon melted candy over pretzel, stick into freezer until hardened, about 10 minutes.

3) When hard add the nose and eye.

Candy Carrots (aka strawberries)

This is what you need:

1 container strawberries

1 bag orange candy coating

1) Melt candy in microwave same as above.

2) Dip completely dry strawberries in candy and stick in freezer until hardened.

3) Keep these in the refrigerator.

See no joke, oh and I forgot to add to all of that the baskets the kids got from Oma and Papa, so that would make it a grand total of 10 baskets!

Kid Friendly Whole Wheat Pancakes

Pretty much every morning my kids ask for pancakes and I used to buy the Buttermilk mix at the store, god forbid if I ran out. So what is the logical thing for a mom to do??? Look up a easy recipe that I can have the ingredients on hand to quickly whip some up, also the great thing is they only eat about two so the rest I can freeze. Another plus about the recipe I found is they are whole wheat and taste better than the buttermilk mix I get, also I know exactly what I am putting into my little one's bellies. I got the recipe from skinnytaste.com and since this is the first time I have made them I would like to discover a way to make them a little thicker. They don't look as attractive as the store mix but I guarantee you they taste great! Here is what you will need:

2 C whole wheat flour (I used white whole wheat flour)

4 1/2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp cinnamon

2 drops agave nectar

2 large eggs

2 C + 2 tbsp milk

2 tsp vanilla

1) Mix all the dry ingredients together.

2) Mix wet ingredients with dry until all lumps are gone but don't over mix.

3) Spray pan and cook over medium heat until bubbles form, flip, then done. Repeat with remainder of mix until done. Enjoy!

Hot Well Dunes

Once again we had a successful camping trip. Kameron had a blast and so did we! I tried some new recipes, some worked, some did not what-so-ever, but all I can say is we ate well and played hard. I love going to the Hot Well Dunes, it is a beautiful spot and has great camp sites with shade and water. It was a little on the toasty side for the hot springs guess I will just have to wait until next year for those but we really didn't have much time for sitting and relaxing with all the riding we did.

Kameron loved playing in the stream that ran through our campsite.


So the campfire popcorn didn't work and let me tell you my son and I were pretty disappointed. We will have to find another way of doing it because popcorn on a camping trip is pure genius, especially for our family, we are popcorn lovers! The campurritos were perfection, I actually wish I had made more. My husband, son, and our good friend enjoyed these greatly. 

Campurritos

These breakfast burritos were super easy to make. The morning before we left I threw these together, you could even do it the night before you leave and put them in the fridge. What you will need:

Bacon/Sausage (I used bacon)

8 eggs

5 small potatoes

foil

2 C shredded cheddar cheese

6 large tortillas

1) Peel the potatoes and cut into chunks. Boil until potatoes are tender.

2) While potatoes are boiling, cook bacon. 

3) Dispose bacon grease and scramble eggs, cook in pan that you cooked bacon.

4) After you drain potatoes, chop bacon into pieces, and pour all ingredients into a large bowl and mix together.

5) Lay large tortilla on a piece of foil, pour some of the mixture onto burrito and wrap. Wrap with the foil then refrigerate.

6) When it's breakfast time place over hot coals until warm. Enjoy!

Unfortunately other than steaks, portabello mushroom burgers, hot dogs, and asparagus over the hot campfire, I didn't try any other campfire recipes this time like I had planned. Happy camping to you all and you better hurry the season is warming up quickly! Oh before I forget... I also made some of the best oatmeal bar cookies hand down that I wanted to share! Butterscotch Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Bars. They are perfect for picnics or camping.

Butterscotch Chocolate Oatmeal Bars

I got this recipe two Christmases ago and they have become a favorite! They are easy to make, transport, and non messy. Here is what you will need:

2 C all purpose flour

1 1/2 C brown sugar

1 C quick-oats

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 C melted butter

1 C semisweet chocolate chips

1 C butterscotch chips

1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk

1) Pre heat oven to 350 degrees and spray a 13x9-inch pan with cooking spray.

2) In a bowl mix flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, and oats. Stir in butter.

3) Press 3 C of the mix into baking pan and cook 10 minutes.

4) Remove pan and sprinkle evenly with chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, and sweetened condensed milk. Then sprinkle the top with the remainder of the oat and flour mixture.

5) Bake an additional 30 minutes. Very important that when you remove it from the oven, before cutting the bars into squares you let the pan cool completely. I usually bake them at night and let them sit over night before I cut them up and remove them from the pan.

Enjoy!

 

Camping

This weekend we are taking my 3 year old son on his first camping trip. I feel really bad for my parents because my baby doll has been acting crazy these days and we are leaving her behind solo for the first time. She has hit the stage I can not stand. Too young to know what is wrong and doesn't quite understand any form of punishment, at least I think she doesn't. She is a smart girl and she always has this look after she hits me or demands candy in the morning, like what are you gonna do about it, lip turned up and eyes wide filled with tears. I remember my son hitting this stage and it just happened to be when I was 9 months pregnant. At least I'm not putting any other humans at risk when I receive a swift kick in the belly when she wants to run wild through the grocery store. 


Back to the camping, I really have been pulling my hair out this week, the kids have really been driving me bonkers! I'm double excited about the camping trip because I looked up campfire recipes and excited to try them out and love camping. Pizza on a taco shell, jiffy style pop corn, easy corn on the cob, and campburritos just to name a few. Ugh girls are so sweet and evil at the same time, she is cuddling me while I type and melting my heart, she just got done screaming at me for 30 minutes, for what, I'm not quite sure. Stay tuned for the post camp review!

Portabella and Kale Burger

Tonight I'm making a family favorite. I love it because it is very tasty and super easy and quick to make. This is what you need:

olive oil

large portabella mushrooms

fresh basil

kale

cheese

buns

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2) Remove stem from mushrooms and brush with olive oil. Cover a baking sheet in foil and bake portabella mushroom stem side down for 10 minutes. Flip mushroom, add some fresh chopped basil, and bake an additional 10 minutes. Optional, add cheese and bake for a couple minutes longer until cheese is melted.
3) Toast bun, place some sauteed Kale on top of mushroom.  Quick tip when you are sauteing the Kale add some lemon or lime juice, it makes the Kale so yummy.

My Dirty Weekend

This weekend was an unexpected, delightful, dirty, crafty, kidless weekend! So it all began Friday afternoon when I finally decided to check my beyond full voicemail and got some very upsetting news, well at least to me, my mud run for April 7th was postponed till October 6th. Who does that? That was a big bummer but I did just hear about another mud run strictly for women called Kiss Me Dirty and it just happened to be going on this weekend. My husband saw how bummed I was and agreed to let me do this one, hmmm was it me or the fact that he got to watch thousands of woman play in the mud in minimal clothing??? I had a blast even though it wasn't competitive, I am competitive at an unhealthy level, and I ran it solo with out teammates to cheer me on. It did live up to it's name, it was very dirty and I was covered in mud, so much so I had to hold up my shorts as I ran through the finish line, not to mention leaving behind my beloved running shoes that were beyond repair.


Kiss Me Dirty is a great race just for women. It is a 5K with about 10 obstacles and some of the money raised goes towards gynecological cancer research. The race takes place in several cities throughout the U.S. I suggest getting a group of ladies together young and old, dressing crazy, and having a fabulous time. Also keep in mind for the men not only do they get to see a bunch of ladies get dirty, they also have beer on site, my husband thoroughly enjoyed that plus. Like I said it's a non-competitive race so it isn't timed but they do give out awards for best costume and best cocktail dress. I did see some crazy prom dresses out there. They also have a shoe donation and I seriously suggest you take this into consideration when choosing your shoe apparel because they will be extremely muddy and could possible be sucked into one of the mud pits, just saying.


This is me pre-race:

And after, I may look dirty but this was actually after I rinsed off and as you can see shoeless, bye bye old running shoes, tear:

Next mud run, October 6th, Terrain Mud Run! Oh and since this weekend was kidless there was lots of drinking going on :)


www.kissmedirty.com

www.terrainracing.com

Poop and Tacos!

Did I say poop? Yes I did. So I told you all earlier I was having trouble keeping my 1 year old's pants and diaper on. She did the unthinkable yesterday while my husband and I were preparing tacos for my mother-in-law and father-in-law to come over, she removed her diaper, sat down in her cute little princess chair and took a dump. Of course I had no clue she did this until my 3 year old son yells to me I smell poop mama! So gross and let me tell you it is not the first time she decided to poop without a diaper on and romp around the house. It seems like all my life consists of is poop and screaming these days but hopefully one of the two will come to a stop soon, I would be too greedy if I wanted both to go away. One thing I have learned parenting is that when one problem ends another, more severe, problem begins. Yay!


Now the tacos part. This is a team dinner in my house hold. I am horrible at frying taco shells but my husband is a genius, even my dad is impressed, and we are the Mexicans around here... my husband is Italian. Anyways I used to make him my dad's special beef taco recipe but since his diet it restricted, I just put some chicken in the crock pot in the morning, cover with chicken broth and let cook on low all day. Easy! For me I just make beans and my Mexican Rice and load that up onto a tostada.

Mexican Rice

1 C Jasmine Rice (or any white rice)

2 cloves garlic finely chopped

1 medium onion (white/yellow) chopped

2 TBS olive oil

2 TBS cilantro

15 oz can diced tomatoes

4 oz tomato sauce

15 oz vegetable broth (or chicken broth)

1) Heat oil in skillet and saute onions until become a little translucent, add rice and stir until begins to brown. 

2) Add garlic, broth, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, and cilantro. Bring to a boil, turn heat to low, cover, and simmer for 25 minutes.

Enjoy! Sorry no pictures I actually just made white rice last night.

Pinto Beans

1 Pound pinto beans

1 large onion (white/yellow)

3 large garlic cloves

dry basil

salt/pepper

For this recipe you can make it in the crock pot and let it cook all day or you can make, I think, about an hour in advance. It has been awhile since I made it on the stove.

1) Let pinto beans soak in water over night.

2) Fill large pot 3/4ths full of water and add pinto beans.

3) Cut onion into large pieces and chop garlic. Put into pot with beans. as well as the dry basil and salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Let boil for about an hour stirring every once and awhile, if water gets low just add some more. Cook until beans are soft.

Enjoy! My husband and I eat the beans with shredded white cheese as a bean soup then the next day I will make tacos. You can either eat the whole beans or mash them up and fry them up in some grease (I would use olive oil, my dad would use lard, and my husband would use bacon grease) for a refried beans. Oh and if you are a bacon lover my husband and dad add bacon to the beans.

Sorry no pictures, next time I will take some and add them! Also the beef taco recipe, I need my dad to refresh me.

Veggie Coma!

Oh geez! Oh geez! Should I say it a third time. I'm in a serious veggie coma! Today I decided to try a new recipe and it was great considering the ingredients involved. The best part is it is full of vegetables with a carb loaded full feeling. Paleo, I'm really not sure what that is exactly and it really doesn't appear to be much of a diet, many of the recipes include bacon and frying up vegetables in bacon grease. I guess that is one subject I will need to research and get back to you, all I know is that this is a diet that would totally make my husband feel like he died and went to heaven. The reason I'm bringing it up is because tonight I tried a Paleo Asian Cauliflower Fried Rice for dinner, and yes it required bacon, but not in my version :) Along with the "rice" I also made a spring roll, love, love spring rolls! Of course all this following my famous Green Smoothie. 

Asian Cauliflower Fried Rice

This recipe is so interesting because it mimics Asian Fried Rice minus the rice, yes rice! In substitution of the rice you use Cauliflower. Here is what you will need;

1 small cauliflower

2 large carrots (chopped)

5 oz mushrooms (sliced)

olive oil

2 eggs

1 inch nob of fresh ginger (finely grated)

1 TBS fresh mint

2 TBS fresh basil

2 TBS cilantro

1 tsp soy sauce 

1 tsp sesame oil (or coconut oil) optional

So my recipe is quite different from the Paleo recipe so I'm not quite sure if it is still Paleo because I have no clue what that means, lol, but mine was good and still full of good stuff so there!

1) Put cauliflower in the food processor and pulse until small and grainy and looks like the consistency of rice.

2) Scramble 2 eggs, spray a large skillet with cooking spray and cook eggs. Set them aside.

3) Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium high heat in skillet and saute carrots until softened then add mushrooms and ginger. When mushrooms brown add cauliflower, cover and turn down heat to low for 5 minutes.

4) Remove from heat add diced mint, basil, cilantro, and eggs. Drizzle with soy sauce and oil.

Enjoy!

Spring Rolls

I just love spring rolls, they are so light and delicious! When someone posted this on pinterest I got so excited. I have a picture of them with soy sauce which was no bueno, next time I will take time to make the tasty peanut sauce that always comes with them in the restaurants. I actually don't mind them plain. Here is what you need:

Rice Paper (in Asian Aisle at store)

2 avocados

1 carrot

1 cucumber

green leaf lettuce

fresh mint

fresh basil

1) Fill a wide shallow bowl with warm water and place a paper towel on the table. Have an extra paper towel handy for drying rice paper.

2) Dip 1 piece of rice paper in water for a few seconds place on paper towel then dunk 1 more, place on top of other rice paper and pat dry with other paper towel.

3) Chop cucumbers in thin strip, pull green lettuce leaves apart, finely shred carrot, and chop avocado into 1/2 inch cubes.

4) Place lettuce leaf on rice paper, 2 mint leaves, 2 basil leaves, couple strips of cucumber, some avocado, and carrots. Fold it up like a burrito nice and tight. Place on plate seam down.

5) Repeat each step until done.

Enjoy! Get creative and create a yummy dipping sauce! Now do you all know why I was in a vegetable coma!

Great Workout and Post Workout Fuel

Lets just start with this:

Maybe I should have done the photo shoot before my run but the point I'm trying to get across is that if you are a runner these are a must have! I have had them since January and I have no clue why I have never tried them out. I'm in love. They are warm and so freakin comfortable! Yay for me considering in a couple days the weather will be in the 80s. Well now I know, right!


I just ran 5 miles and feel like I could run another 8 right now, wanna know how the heck I have all this energy?  The reason I feel like I have consumed a pot of coffee is because I had a great post workout shake. I also made one for my husband to try to keep him around for a couple more years, ha ha. Anyways since he did not work out I just made him a simple Green Shake:

1/2 C coconut milk

2 coconut ice cubes

1 banana (frozen)

1 tsp agave nectar

1 TBS flax seed

1 C spinach

All you do is through all that in a blender and you have an instant healthy energy drink. To my shake I did all the same but added a tablespoon of peanut butter for some added protein. You need to try one of these Shakes you will be impressed!

Flax Seed

Now I can't tell you how drinking this shake has improved my workout or tomorrows energy level I will have to get back to you, but what I can tell you is that for my last couple workouts I have been eating good sources of carbs and proteins (4:1 ratio) immediately after my workouts and I have been feeling amazing, lots of energy! I also just feel lighter. I really can't even feel the 8 miles I ran, those 40 burpees, 300 sit-ups and 40 push ups I did yesterday at all, no joke.

Oatmeal Bars and Crafts!

Lets start by this picture of my two little cutie pies, they were lounging in their chairs while watching Barney :) Oh and I hope nudity does not offend you because I am having such a hard time keeping both of their pants on these day.

After I had my morning "Green" Shake I noticed I was all out of my oatmeal bars, as well as most everything in the house. I did have some oats, some craisins, sunflower seeds, applesauce, a banana... hmm sounds perfect for a batch of oatmeal bars! I'm posting this recipe because although I did enjoy the last recipe, these taste way better. These are the ingredients I used:

2 C Quick Oats

1/2 C Applesauce

1 Ripe Banana

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp allspice

1/4 C unsweetened coconut flakes

1/4 C unsalted sunflower seeds

1/4 C craisins

1 tsp agave nectar

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2) Mash banana and mix in with all ingredients.

3) Place in baking pan, I used a round cake pan, bake for 15 minutes.

Enjoy!

The great thing about these bars is that you can add any dry fruit, nuts, or seeds that you want. Also you can substitute in any sweetener you like: honey, stevia, maple... Today I'm going to pick up some Chai seeds and through them in the next batch.

While these babies were cooking the kids and I got creative. I saw a cute idea on pinterest with a homemade family tree. I got the paint out and the kids and I got dirty. So doing this with a 1 year old wasn't the easiest and quite messy, but after a few mess ups I really like this one:

The only thing missing is daddy's hand. I'll be sure to post a picture of the finished, framed product!