Avocado Chicken Salad

I will post pictures as soon as I make this again....which will be soon.  I love this recipe....like LOVE it!  It is simple and super healthy and can easily be switched up!  The short version of this recipe is to make guacamole and then mix diced chicken into it.  The longer version is below!  I would love to hear if you tried something different and enjoyed it!

3 ripe avocados

1 Tbsp. Lime juice

1/2 diced vidalia onion

1 can Rotel (Aldi brand is my choice)

2 Tbsp. Minced garlic

1 tsp. sea salt

1 tsp. onion powder

1 Cup or more of diced chicken.

Mash the pulp of the avocados, then add the lime juice.  Once they are mixed, add in the veggies and spices. Taste and see if you want more of any of the flavors.  Once you love it, add the diced chicken.  You can vary the amounts of chicken depending on how avocado-ey want it.  Eat it with a fork, on a chip, on a tortilla or even a salad.  Just try not to eat too much!

Paleo No Bakes vs. Original No Bakes

My sister and I could polish off an entire batch of no bakes before they even had time to refrigerate completely.  My dad said we were crazy, but didn't turn down samples!  I have yet to receive a complaint on this particular recipe.  The best part is that it is so super easy!  We would make them every so often, but then get on a kick of making the recipe a few times over again each time we would make them! This original recipe came from my 7th grade home economics class.  I have used it to teach fractions in my own 5th grade class and it is easy enough that I have made it with kids under the age of 2! Since I used the recipe in my classroom on Thursday and Friday, I decided to make a healthier option today!  I am not disappointed with this experiment and I am hoping you won't either!  It was just as quick as the original and is definitely delicious!  I would love to know if anyone tries this!

Paleoish No Bakes

1/3 Cup of Butter or Coconut oil
1/3 Cup Maple Syrup
2 Tablespoons Cocoa Powder
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 heaping Cup unsweetened shredded coconut

With a mixer or spoon, mix the Maple syrup and butter together until fully combined.  Add the cocoa powder, vanilla, and salt.  Mix until fully combined.  Last, add the coconut and mix completely.  Refrigerate for 20 minutes and then roll into tablespoon sized balls and refrigerate again.  Store in refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Original Snowball No Bakes

3/4 Cup Granulated Sugar
2/3 Cup Butter
3 Tablesppons Cocoa Powder
1 Tablespoon Water
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 Cups Oats

*powdered sugar

Cream the sugar and butter together.  Add the cocoa powder, water, vanilla and salt.  When fully incorporated, add the oats. Scoop into tablespoon sized balls and roll in powdered sugar.  Refrigerate for 20 minutes and up to 3 days.

Doc Cake--The Fabulous Hudson Hornet (This post is about 2 1/2 years late...oops!!)

My wonderful son turned 2 today!! He is amazing in pretty much every way!  He makes me laugh, gives me smooches, and challenges me with his inquiring mind!  He also loves CARS, the movie.  He loves everything that has anything to do with cars in general.  When we see a red car, it's Lightning McQueen.  If we see a green car, it's Chick Hicks  (and he reminds us that he's mean).  This has been going on since about 18 months old or a little before.  When I started planning his 2nd birthday party, I really thought we would be doing something "sporty", however as the party approached, I quickly realized that CARS was the ONLY option.  I began asking him what kind of cake he wanted.  I thought the only options would be Mater or McQueen, but my little guy surprised me and said, "Doc Cake!!!".  He was so certain about this that he reminded us every day for about a month.  My husband and I began teasing him about it and asking about every other character, he would smile and then say, "Noooooooooo, Doc cake.  Mommy teasing.  Daddy teasing."  He just cracks us up with his sense of humor!  Anyhow, this is what we ended up with.





I used 2 9x13 cake pans and stacked those on top of one another and then used a loaf pan and put that on 2/3 of the way back on top of the two.  I used a knife to round out the corners and carve out the hood.  I then made homemade frosting in a variety of colors and "painted" the car.  Titus was convinced I was painting him, which I thought was a great way to explain frosting a cake!

This homemade frosting recipe came from my friend Katie!  I've only known her since 2008, but it seems like we've known one another forever!  I love having her as my friend! We both love making homemade buttercream frosting for our kiddos' birthday parties and we have tried several recipes---this one is light, fluffy and pretty much perfect!  I only mixed it for 3 minutes the first time and that was not nearly enough time, even though it seemed like forever.  If you're not happy with the product, just beat it for a few more minutes!

Homemade Frosting-- I double this (so a box of butter and a 2 lb package of powdered sugar)
1 Cup Butter-Softened (REAL BUTTER)

 

3 1/2 Cups Powdered sugar
1/8 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Milk
1 tsp. Vanilla

Directions:
Mix softened butter, powdered sugar, and salt until fully combined (this works with a hand or stand mixer).  Once it is fully combined add milk and vanilla and beat for 5 minutes (or longer).  The more time it beats, the more air it has, which makes fabulous fluffy frosting!

No Bake Cookies

Healthy No Bake Cookies...impossible?  Nope!

No bake cookies pretty much make my day!  I love them...to the point that I could make myself sick on them (not that I ever have...).  I learned to make them in middle school during home economics. We made a buttery & sugary cocoa mixture, then added in oatmeal and rolled the balls in powdered sugar.  I have learned that this is not the version that most people enjoy, but my personal opinion is that these are leaps and bounds better than the typical chocolate bark ones.

Once again, I have found myself craving those, but clearly they scream high glycemic.  I may ingest my daily sugar intake just from making them!  I needed an alternative.  I found this recipe and liked the idea of it, but I like coconut along with other flavors.  I am not a big fan of that flavor being center stage. I started mixing and thought mocha would be a great addition. I love them, but my husband thought it was too much coffee flavor.  You may want to tweak it to suit your needs!  I am also planning to make some "snicker doodle" ones this weekend! I will post that recipe if it is as delicious as I am hoping!



It is pretty great, just to add everything to the food processor and turn it on!!

This is the cocoa powder and coffee mocha mixture...very rich!!!

This is what your mixture will look like before you add the coconut flour.

This is what your mixture will look like after you add the coconut flour.

A cookie scoop is not a luxury, it is a necessity.  I think I have 5--different sizes (which is a luxury)!

I used my smallest size, so they are bite size!  About a tablespoon each!  They will sit up nicely once refrigerated!

Main Ingredients:

1 Cup shredded coconut (unsweetened)

2 Tablespoons coconut oil.

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/8 teaspoon salt

Mocha Mixture--See Below

***1-5 Teaspoons of coconut flour---added last

 

Mocha Mixture:

1 Tablespoon water

1 Tablespoon cocoa powder

1 Tablespoon coffee

 

Directions:

Put all main ingredients (except the coconut flour) into a food processor.  Pulse until fully incorporated.  Move the mixture into a small mixing bowl.  This mixture will be a little too thin, so you will be adding coconut flour 1 teaspoon at a time until it is a typical cookie dough texture.  I used 4 teaspoons.  Then you will scoop into balls and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.  It makes about 1 dozen small  cookies.  

 

Variations--I'm sure you could vary this mix by switching out the mocha mixture with anything from straight cocoa to cinnamon or any other ideas you may have!  Happy experimenting to you!!

 

 

 

 

Coconut Flour Zucchini Bread

I seriously love bread!  It is incredible to think about all of the delicious bread options available! Sweet, savory, or somewhere in between...the options are seriously endless.

One of my favorites is Zucchini Bread. My Aunt Betty would give us a loaf of foil -wrapped, frozen zucchini bread every year at Christmas.  We could hardly wait for it to thaw enough to slice it...and it certainly wouldn't last for more than a day or two.

Last summer, we had so much zucchini that I could hardly store it or use it!  We were eating it every day and sharing it with lots of friends.  We still had a lot left, so I started grating and freezing it.  I ended up having over 50 cups in the freezer for this winter.  I decided I needed a healthy zucchini bread recipe.  I found some, but decided that I would just use a regular one and tweak it to fit the ingredients I have and use regularly. I found this simple recipe and made some of my own variations.  Hope you enjoy the results. I will get pictures up as soon as I make it again (I know some of you are ready for the recipe though!!!)!

Ingredients:
Dry:
1 Cup coconut flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon cinnamon

Wet:
4 Eggs
3 Tablespoons mayonnaise
1 Cup Oil
1/2 Cup honey
3/4 Cup maple syrup
2 Tablespoons molasses
1 Tablespoon Vanilla

2 Cups Zucchini (grated and drained)
1/2 Cup chopped nuts (optional)

Directions:
Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside.  Beat all wet ingredients until fully incorporated and until the mixture looks uniform.  Gradually scoop the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, mixing a bit after every scoop.  When the wet and dry ingredients are incorporated, fold in the zucchini.  Depending on the moisture of your zucchini, you may have to add a tablespoon or 2 of extra coconut flour.  It should look like typical muffin mix or a very, very thick pancake batter.  Scoop into two loaf pans or 4 mini loaf pans and bake at 350 for 50 minutes.  Since baking with coconut flour can be a bit tricky, check it at about 40 minutes, but your toothpick should be fairly clean when checked.  It took me 53 minutes.

Coconut Flour Pizza Crust

We love pizza! Ok, so it is more than love...obsession might be the correct word.  We need to have it on the menu once a week at least! My husband worked in a college cafeteria to help pay for his masters work and even got to go to "pizza school" for a day.  We do not take homemade pizza lightly, or any pizza for that matter.  Our favorite is probably Lou Malnati's.  We do like just about any variety though!

On our quest to eat healthier, we have been trying to find meals with a low glycemic index.  Traditional flour is pretty much the opposite of what we were going for, but elimination of pizza was not an option.  We needed a yummy crust option....so the trials began. Fava bean flour, garbanzo bean flour and almond flour resulted in really dry crunchy crusts.  The taste wasn't terrible, but it wasn't something we looked forward to eating.  We really liked the cauliflower crust, but it was too time consuming and costly  to make regularly.  When I found this one and tweaked it a bit, I knew it was the answer to our dilemma!

We make the crust ahead and freeze them so they are just like pre-cooked pizza crust:)  It is a great way to use up extra ingredients as pizza toppings!

There are some things that you have to know before working with coconut flour.
   1. It absorbs between 2 & 3 times the amount of water compared to traditional all purpose flour.
   2. It is not very sticky since it has no gluten.
   3. It is a bit sweet. (Since it is just coconut)
   4. It is healthy! (Low glycemic, high in fiber, good fats and protein)


Coconut Flour Pizza Crust--Preheat your oven to 400 and get ready for some delicious pizza!

This picture is of a crust I pulled from my freezer, so it is a bit wrinkly on the edges and flattens during baking.

Make sure your toppings get close to the edge!!!  Yummy all the way to the edge!

What you will need:

4 eggs
1/4 C. Greek yogurt
1/4 C. Coconut flour
1 tsp. Garlic Powder
1 Tbsp. Italian seasoning
1 tsp. Salt
3 oz cheddar cheese
2 Tbsp. Parmesan cheese
*Silpat or parchment (I really like my Pampered Chef baking mat!!!)
    --Do not cut your pizza on your Silpat:)

 

 

Just melty....I like mine a little toasty, but my hubby likes it melty!

Directions: (I will add more pictures once I make it again)

1. In a medium mixing bowl, whip the eggs and yogurt together until completely smooth. 
2. Add in the coconut flour and mix until completely incorporated (it will take a minute longer than regular flour to absorb the liquid)
3. Add in the garlic, seasonings and salt.  Mix again until completely incorporated.  This mixture will be similar to typical pancake batter. 
4. Add in the cheeses and mix again and let rest for about 2 minutes.
5. Spread the mixture onto a greased silpat or parchment sheet as thin as you possibly can **The recipe should make 2-9 inch pizzas.
6. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the edges are just turning brown.  
7. Let cool for about 5 minutes and then remove from silpat.  (You can put it back on to cook the toppings, but it will be much easier to remove once it is topped and cooked if you take it off for a bit.)
8. Top with whatever you enjoy on pizza (or whatever leftovers you have in your fridge) and then bake again for 10-15 minutes or until the toppings are cooked the way you like them!

What do you like on your pizza???

2014-A year of CHANGES!

A year ago, I made a commitment to myself to get healthier.  I was induced with my second son because I  suddenly had blood pressure issues.  While the issues didn't last long, they scared me enough to get myself serious about living a healthier life.  I set a measurable goal of losing 100 lbs by the time he turned ONE!

Well, this awesome kiddo is turning 1 this weekend, and I am proud to say I lost 83 lbs! Yes, I know I didn't reach my goal!  Something even better happened...I made lifestyle changes that are not just short term "diet" options but a way that my family and I can eat and live for good!  We really enjoy food and just eating bland and boring food doesn't work for us.  Even if we manage that for a bit, we will rebound in a terrible way.  I have been taking the things we like to eat and improving the recipes and we have also been trying some things we never thought we would. 

We have learned that moderation is what works for us.  We aren't cutting anything out completely and we are trying to have treats truly as treats. We are drinking lots of water and trying to get away from too many processed foods.  We have also learned to glean recipes from some "fad" diets, without falling into some of the pitfalls that can come from exclusivity.

I am going to be sharing some of the recipes and ideas that have helped me on this journey.  I have become more creative with my cooking to make it healthy and still tasty.  Some of my experiments have failed terribly, but others have been grand!  I will share the more positive outcomes!

The picture below shows the difference between Thanksgiving 2010 and Thanksgiving 2014.  And, yes, I totally enjoyed my Thanksgiving FEAST!