One of my favorite meals ever!

Ahhh crispy bakes potatoes dipped in Avocado is just a perfect match!  If you like these things, I highly recommend giving this meal a try!

You can use just plain mashed avocado, or add an obscene amount of onions, tomatoes, jalapenos, cilantro, lime...whatever you like in your guac!

 Then just bake fries or chunks of your favorite potato, I used yukon golds here, and bake at 390 for 22 minutes, stir, flip and bake again for 22 mins.  I also bake half the time on a middle rack and half on a bottom rack.  I will then usually turn off the oven and leave the potatoes in there while it cools down, which also makes them even crispier.  I used a 1 tablespoon of olive oil per baking sheet and salt and pepper. Let cool and then dip away!

Totally filling, healthy, simple, easy and satisfying!

Easy and Natural Homemade Sugar Wax!

Super simple recipe for sugar body wax.  Sugar waxing is less painful to me, and has a better result than shaving.  If you can only shave your bikini area so often due to ingrown hairs or razor burn, then you might like this option!  

You only need a few things, so let's get to it!

Items Needed:

1 medium pan

measuring cups

plastic storing container

1 cup white sugar

1/4 cup lemon juice (about 1 lemon)

1/4 cup water

 Method:

Add ingredients to sauce pan and bring to a rolling boil.  It can foam quite a bit, so you really need to watch it.  Keep it at a medium high simmer for 5-8 minutes, until you see it turn golden brown.  Make sure you stir it throughout, and don't let it burn.

Then,
gently pour into your plastic container and let cool for 10 minutes at least before use.  Test the wax on the inside of your arm to make sure it isn't too hot.  The plastic container will reheat more evenly then glass.  Reheat at 10 second intervals.  It doesn't have to be very hot, just warm enough to spread.  You can spread it on with popsicle sticks or a butter knife.  I recommend getting a wax kit that contains a pre cleaner, powder for before waxing, and a post wax lotion.  This is optional, but the powder especially helps the wax only adhere to the hair which makes for less pain.  You can pull the cooled wax off by hand, or pull off right away with cloth strip.  You should be able to buy all these things at a drug or beauty store. Then just be hair and irritation free for weeks!!  I only recommend using this wax for body waxing.  It works well on underarms and bikini areas!

Let me know if you try it, or have questions!

2 Ingredient Breakfast Cookies with Optional Add-Inns

Two Ingredients to a fast, easy, tasty, healthy breakfast!  And I finally got silpat baking mats for my cookie sheets!  Now I can ditch the parchment, and save some money and help the environment a little.  They work great, Here is a link to Amazon where I ordered mine.  Anyway, these cookies are great and you can customize them to your liking!  This recipe makes enough for 2-4 people depending on how many you eat.  I just adjust the oat serving based on how many people you're baking for.  Try and let me know what you think!


Preheat oven to 350

Ingredients:
2 bananas
1 1/2 cup rolled oats

Throw in a food processor and swirl it up into a cookie dough!  If it's too thick add some applesauce or water, or non dairy milk.  If it's not thick enough add more oats.  Spoon onto a baking sheet in whatever size cookie you normally like and bake for 5-8 minutes.  7 is usually perfect for me, then make sure to let them cool and set on the sheet for a few minutes. Enjoy!


Optional Add-Inns

Chocolate Chips
Almond Butter or any nut butter
Chia Seeds
Coconut Sugar
Dried Fruit
Raw nuts or seeds

You could add all these or none, and still have a great result!  What's your favorite thing to add?

My New Food Obsession: Roasting Veggies!

Easy and tasty!  I'm officially obsessed with roasting veggies, so there will probably be a lot of recipes following!

Not only is roasting veggies crazy good, but so easy!  I've mostly been using root vegetables, but you can roast anything and I intend to!  So far, I've roasted carrots, sweet potatoes, white sweet potatoes (which are amazing), turnips, garlic, onions, and parsnips!  I love all of it, and my three year old actually eats it.  Sometimes she won't eat cooked veggies, but seems to like these!

So, last night I roasted veggies and put them over brown rice and threw some mixed spring blend lettuce and chopped walnuts, and it was to die!  So I mentioned easy right?  Wash, rough chop, throw on parchment lined baking sheet, sprinkle with oil and spices, and bake.  That's it!  Easy and little prep are key things to me actually getting dinner ready on time or at all.

I've seen many different temperatures, but for now I like to cook them at a lower temperature for a longer time.  At the last five minutes or so I'll crank up the heat to 480 just for fun, because I like it crispy!  Here's what I did last night...

Preheat oven to 390
Ingredients:

1 white sweet potato
2 yellow potatoes
1/2 of a red onion
1 turnip
8 cloves of garlic
3 tbl extra virgin olive oil
Salt/Pepper

Method:

Wash and rough chop veggies, peel garlic.  Throw it all on parchment lined baking sheets with plenty of room.  I used two.  Pour the oil evenly over the veggies.  Season generously with salt and pepper.  Bake for 20 minutes, stir and have the baking sheets switch places and bake for another 20.  I like to crank up the heat for the last 5 minutes to 480 or something, but this is optional.  I just like it kind of burnt.  Do it!  Let me know, how it turns out!

Lettuce and Plantain Hummus Wraps

Okay, so yumminess to the max right here!  Tasty goodness you will love!  I can't get enough of these little tortillas and lettuce wraps.  They are simple to customize, and make any lunch healthy and quick.

Let's get to it!

Check my recipe HERE for the plantain tortillas, or if you want just use lettuce.  I used a combination this time.  Any solid lettuce will do.  Here I used romaine, but you could use collard greens, swiss chard, kale etc...  The options are endless!


I kept things really simple, and didn't even make my own hummus.






Just chop up a bunch of veggies you like and layer it all up!  I added sriracha to mine because it's awesome!

                             

Ingredients:

Plantain tortillas or lettuce
Hummus
Chopped veggies I used carrots, onions, peppers
squeeze of lime optional
Sriracha for spiciness

Plantain Tortillas, Vegan and Absurdly Scrumptious !!

Tasty, crispy, flaky goodness!  This is one of those things I was so overjoyed to discover.  And once I saw how easy they are to make, I loved it even more!

I am obsessed with food, I can't even really explain it.  If you are to, then you may understand.  But, when I discover a new recipe and it turns out well, I get this insane vibration of excitement inside me.  Onlookers may call it crazy, but I call it Success!

Anyway, if you like tacos, wraps, and rolls I urge you to give this a try.  I've just barely played around with this, and have loved it every time.  I've done the recipe a little different each time, and it honestly has always come out well.  So, you can adjust it if you like.

The plantain you choose can be varying in ripeness.  I find from green to spotted all work well.  Also, I haven't been able to successfully store these and keep to where they keep their great just baked texture, if you do let me know.  Until then, just bake as needed.  I've been consistently getting 6 tortillas per plantain.  I can eat 3 easy, so adjust recipe as needed.

Makes 6 medium tortillas
Ingredients:

1 plantain
2 tbl melted unrefined virgin coconut oil
pinch of salt
1/8 cup to 1/4 cup water

Method:
Preheat oven to 350, line baking sheet with parchment

Cut the ends off of the plantain, and then slice all the way down one side to peel off the skin.  Slice plantain into chunks and throw in a food processor.  Add remaining ingredients except water, blend.  Slowly add water to thin a bit.  I usually use about 1/8 cup, but you want it like a thick soup.  Once that is done, spoon 6 equal amounts onto parchment lined baking sheet.  Then slowly spread out each bit into thin, but not holy circles.

Bake on bottom rack for 10-12 minutes, then flip around and bake for 10-12 minutes more.  If baking more and using 2 baking sheets; trade racks and flip half way through.  Remove from the oven once you see some brown spots happening.  Let cool for a few minutes, and carefully peel off sheet and fill to hearts content!  Let me know how yours turn out!

                Before Baking...                                                   Crispy After Baking

The first way I ate these guys...Simple avocados, lettuce, and cilantro, and I probably added some sriracha

Healthy Easy Meals For Kids and Blogs I Love

This blog is not about judging anyone, or telling anyone what to do.  This is simply about offering some guidance to anyone who might want some.  I looked for help when I started cooking, and I had no idea what I was doing.  And had no idea how I would have the time, and at the time, money to cook healthy meals.

Cooking healthy seemed like a daunting task, but after helpful blogs and research I found that it can be simple!  Especially for kids, they don't generally like fancy meals.  

These are just some examples of meals I've served my kids.  And I find they eat the best when things are basic and simple.  Like applesauce, peas, carrot sticks, cucumbers, brown rice with vegan butter and maybe a little cheese.  

It doesn't have to be hard or complicated.  I love cooking a crazy meal if I have time.  But, even as a stay at home mom, I don't always have time.  In fact, I rarely have time.  So, in my craziness, I've found simple is best for the kids.  Sometimes my four year old won't eat things mixed together, or cooked vegetables.

So, again this is just to maybe help someone who is trying to feed kids or anyone healthy and affordable meals.

Frozen veggies are cheap!  And if your kids are hungry they will eat them.  You know what isn't cheap?  Chips, fruit bars, and other processed snacks.  Sometimes I buy that stuff too, I mean hello convenience.  But, the best kind of snacks are natural; apples with raw almond butter, veggies with hummus.  I've heard people say they don't want to give their kids too much fruit because of the sugar, which is fine, but I would rather give them lots of fruit over anything processed.

There are great sources of protein in things like broccoli, peas, legumes, and even complete protein in quinoa if you're worried about it.

And if anyone has questions or needs guidance, I would love to help!  I'm no expert, but am happy to pass on any information I've learned so far.

Do my kids eat perfect every time, no.  Do they sometimes not even try something I've worked so hard on, yes.  Will that stop from giving it to them again, no!

Want any further information or help? Leave me a comment, and let me know!



Just a Few Blogs and Sites I Love:

http://kblog.lunchboxbunch.com/  Amazing all vegan , all types

http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/   Perfect if you're sweet treat obsessed like me, all healthy vegan treats!

http://allrecipes.com/recipes/everyday-cooking/vegetarian/  They've got it all, and a lot of simple

http://ohsheglows.com/  Vegan and lots of gluten free, the Sweet Potato, black bean, and quinoa soup is bomb!

Minimalist Baker  Because tasty and easy should go together

CleanFoodDirtyGirl Title pretty much says, I love reading her blog, it's hilarious!

There's so many blogs and helpful sites I love, but these are just a few.  I'm finding new ones all the time, and pretty much always hungry because of it!

One Bowl Vegan Banana Bread

This doesn't need much of an introduction or explanation.  Got ripe bananas, make banana bread.  It's that simple!  Super quick and tasty and all those other gross sounding descriptive words! I'm not sure why, but this is my favorite banana bread recipe.  It's bomb, try it!

And everything in one bowl!  Oh if you've seen my last few posts I've been talking about the Fodmap diet.  Really it's a lifestyle change, not a diet, and you will be seeing it mentioned more and more as people discover it.

I will be talking about it in a lot of posts I'm guessing, because I'm trying to implement it into my life a little.  If you are too, you can make this recipe Fodmap friendly by removing the apple sauce and just using more oil!

Ingredients:

2 big ripe bananas
1/2 cup brown sugar (any sugar works)
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup apple sauce
1/4 cup oil
1 tsp ish cinnamon
1 1/2 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp pink salt
3 tbl choc chips (or nuts or dried fruit)

Method:

Preheat oven to 350

Add first six ingredients to a medium sized bowl and mash well.  Then, add the flour of choice and before stirring add the baking soda, powder, and salt on top of the flour.  Stir to incorporate. Add in the chocolate chips and pour into a greased or lined bread pan.  I like to use extra virgin unrefined coconut oil.  Bake for 35-45 minutes.  Bake until a toothpick comes out clean.  Eat!

Let me know what you think!  Thanks for stopping by!

A Stupid Good Morning Smoothie

This is a massive smoothie packed with calories, but good ones.  And it's crazy good!
I used my homemade almond butter, but any will do.
 So lets get to it!  I shared this with my kids, but you could drink it yourself.  However it's 800 calories.  But it is a healthy 800 calories.  Not all calories are created equally.  You get lots of vitamins, 21 grams of protein, and 60% of your daily fiber.  So depending on your activity level and amount of calories you want to consume in a day, you can decide how much you want to have.  You could also cut the ingredients in half or so for a single serving.  I like to have a really big calorie filled breakfast to get my day started!

Also, for anyone following a Fodmap diet, you would want to remove the hemp seeds, date, and change the almond butter to peanut butter or cashew butter, and switch to coconut or rice milk.  you would then be all set for tasty smoothie goodness






Serves 2-3

Ingredients:

1 tbl hemp seed
2 tbl chia seeds
2 sliced frozen bananas
1/4 cup frozen cherries
1/2 fresh blueberries
3 chopped dates
1/4 cup raw almond butter
1 tbl cocoa
unsweetened almond milk, enough to blend
I'm not sure how much I use, somewhere between 1/2 cup to 1 cup





                                                                                                                   

My kids definitely loved it!  Give this smoothie a try, and let me know what you think!

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 365 g

Amount Per Serving

Calories 810 Calories from Fat 514

% Daily Value*

Total Fat 57.1g 88%

Saturated Fat 17.1g 85%

Trans Fat 0.0g

Cholesterol 0mg 0%

Sodium 11mg 0%

Potassium 1395mg 40%

Total Carbohydrates 65.0g 22%

Dietary Fiber 15.0g 60%

Sugars 29.7g

Protein 21.6g

Vitamin A 5% • Vitamin C 31% Calcium 35% • Iron 41%

Nutrition Grade B-

* Based on a 2000 calorie diet

Nutritional Analysis

Good points

• No cholesterol
• Very low in sodium
• High in manganese
• High in magnesium

Bad points

• High in saturated fat    

            I don't post these normally, but I wanted you to see.  I also posted the analysis.  The bad point it says it lots of saturated fat which would be from the almond butter.  But, I made it myself so that my be inaccurate.  But even so, some saturated fat is good for you depending where it comes from.  Things like unrefined virgin coconut oil, raw nuts, avocados, and unrefined virgin olive oil are good sources of saturated fat.  You can also see it's low in sodium, and importantly all the sugar and everything else is from real food.  It's natural, not added or processed!  That's what matters, not the calories!  The more plant based your diet it, the healthier you will be!!

Low Fodmap Pancakes Vegan and Awesome!

These pictures were not good, but I wanted to quickly post this.  I made these this morning because after doing some extensive research I've decided to start a low Fodmap diet.

You may have seen this around the internet or maybe not.  Here is a good definition of what a Fodmap diet means.  Your basically eliminating certain types of complex sugars found in lots of food.

This is supposed to help someone with stomach issues in a range of severities. So, I'm going to try my best to be strict to this for 2 weeks or so and see how I feel.

This will be kind of difficult since some of my favorite fruits and veggies and nuts are on the no no list.  But I think anything can be done for a short amount of time, but we shall see.

I've seen a few different Fodmap food charts, this is the one I liked the best.  I've seen some different information here and there, but it's still being tested and there's also still a lot of food that is unknown.

So, this morning I made these pancakes that are supposedly Fodmap diet safe!


Serves 3
Ingredients:

1 ripe banana mashed
1 tbl oil
1 tsp vanilla
juice from 1 cutie or lemon would work
3/4 cup rolled oats ground
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
pinch of pink salt
up to a cup of unsweetened coconut milk

Method:

Mash banana in medium bowl with juice from orange, vanilla, and oil. Mix.  Add the rest of the dry ingredients and stir.  Slowly add milk until you get the consistency you want.

Cook in virgin unrefined coconut oil over medium heat for 3-5 minutes on each side.  I then topped mine with vegan butter, peanut butter, and maple syrup!

Let me know if you like this, and want to see more Fodmap friendly recipes!

Purple Power juice (without a juicer) and I Just Became a LivBetter Ambassador at Liv360.com!

If you want to check out Liv 360 click on my link HERE where you will be able to follow me for blog updates and resources that I share as well as countless other contributors from parents to professionals with an extremely wide range of health topics

Liv360.com is an easy to use website with great information for a healthy lifestyle!  There's everything from recipes, tips on raising healthy kids, workout advice, to natural forms of dealing with disease and illness and so much more!  Check it out, and join today for free!

On to the Juice!

So, I made this smoothie/juice based on this Bolthouse Farms juice I bought and didn't really like.  I don't buy these that often, but I didn't want to just throw it out and I didn't want to drink it. So, I made it a tasty smoothie!

I called it a juice because the consistency was more juice than smoothie, but I just used my blender. 

1. • Beets are high in many vitamins and minerals. Potassium, magnesium, fiber, phosphorus, iron; vitamins A, B & C; beta-carotene, beta-cyanine; folic acid. ...
   • Beets cleanse the body. ...
   • Beets help your mental health. ...
   • Beets are used as a stomach acid tester. ...
   • Beets are a high source of energy.  Information came from FullCircle.com   

   
   
2. This bottle of juice also has purple carrots, and purple sweet potato, give it a try if you're lacking in some root veggies!  

                                    The babes enjoying some purple root power

Quick and kid approved!

Comment if you try it, and what you think of the taste of the juice.  It's a quick way to get some beets into your life!

 Ingredients:

1 banana
2 cutie oranges
1/2 bottle of Bolthouse Farms Daily Roots

Method:

Put all into blender, blend, drink!

Don't forget to do some exploring and follow me at Liv360 !  The new fantastic community geared towards you and your healthy lifestyle! 

Vegan Quinoa Pizza Bites

Super tasty and easy and awesome!

I got this recipe from Chocolatecoveredkatie.com , her site is amazing for treats and a few good non dessert recipes as well.  Here is the link for the original recipe and I will tell you how I made it a little different, since it's impossible for me to follow a recipe.  

After Baking                                                                    Before baking

The awesome cheese I used, and had a bunch leftover.  And I stuffed as much in there as I could!

Before the cheese.  I stuck the cookie sheet in the fridge for an hour before I stuffed and baked them (optional)

Things you need:

Cookie Sheet

Parchment

1/2 cup dry quinoa cooked

1 1/2 cup beans (i used white beans, cause that's what I had)

Any spices you like for example: oregano, rosemary, parsley, thyme, salt, pepper

Tiny little can of tomato paste

Vegan cheese (daiya mozzarella)

For the full recipe click here...  

Method:

Preheat oven 350

Cook Quinoa, and while this is cooking, put beans into a large bowl.  Smash beans as well as you can, and cooked quionoa and all other ingredients except cheese.  Mix it up and place as many tablespoon sized bites on a parchment lined cookie sheet as you can.  I think I got 14.  Then, I stuck it in the fridge for an hour or so.  This step isn't necessary I just wasn't ready to make dinner yet, however it may help hold them together.  Then, I put some cheese in a bowl so it was easier to get to and just opened them up and stuffed as much cheese in the middle as I could and then tried my best to seal them back up.  I probably got around a teaspoon in each one, and then I sprinkled some on top just cause.  Then bake for 30 minutes, and I broiled them for the last 3.  Done!

Do it! Kids and hubby approved, no one could tell the cheese was vegan and mine made a full sheet of good sized pizza bites, with leftovers!  Great simple, versatile recipe!!