Recipes

Ok, first I have a totally awesome and healthy salad I made up the other night. You will have to excuse the lack of exact measurements. I need to make it again and write down exacts...but you will get the general idea.

One sliced cucumber (skin ON, and sliced horizontally so they are in disks)
About 3/4 cup of goat yogurt
1 Tbls fresh dill
1/2 Tbls of rice vinegar but I think that cider vinegar will work too
Sprinkle with salt and pepper
You can also use some sugar if you like a tangier taste

It's SO yummy and cool and crisp

Tuscan white bean and spinach soup

1 finely diced shallot or 1/4 large onion finely diced
1 Tbls bottled garlic or 2 garlic cloves
1 Tbls olive oil
1 can rinsed white beans (I'm sure any type of bean will work aside from green beans Ha Ha)
1 can chopped tomatoes or italian stewed tomatoes (entire contents, do not drain)
3 cups chicken broth
dash of red pepper flakes
1-2 tsp rosemary
1-2 handfuls spinach

Saute on medium heat the shallot/onion and garlic till onion starts turning translucent (approx 15 mins). Add chicken broth, beans, red pepper flakes, and rosemary. Simmer for 20 mins on med/low heat. Add spinach about 1 minute prior to serving.

Now, if you have meat lovers in the family...I will get italian turkey sausage links, grill up, then slice and add to the soup. Julia and Chris had this at my house one time. It's a very nutritious and filling soup :)

Carrot Curry soup

1 Tbls olive oil
1/2 onion diced
1/2 - 1 tsp curry powder
1/2 - 1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 - 1m tsp honey
3 cups chicken broth
4 tsp flour
1 egg white
1/4 cup skim milk

Saute onion with olive oil on medium heat until translucent (about 15 mins). Add honey, coriander, and curry and saute on low for another 5 minutes. Add chicken broth and carrots. Cover and simmer for 20ish minutes on med heat until carrots are tender. Take off heat. Whisk egg white, milk, and flour and set aside. Put carrot mix in blender and puree. Add milk mix and mix well. Put back in pan and simmer on low for another 5-10 mins until thickened. Salt and pepper to taste.

This is seriously one of my favorite dinners. It is SUPER low calorie, filling, and SO good for you. You can also use almost any squash instead of carrots. I like it more flavorful, so I use 1 tsp for the honey, coriander, and curry. I also will garnish the soup with goat yogurt or fat free sour cream. Kyle even likes it and my mouth is watering as we speak lol!!

Take care GG's. Hope you don't mind the recipe overload ;)

Salsa recipes :D

Ok GG's here are the salsa recipes!

Pico de gallo
2-3 medium sized tomatoes or 6 roma tomatoes
1/2 red onion diced
1/2 cup diced green pepper
1 jalapeno pepper (stems, ribs, and seeds removed)
1 serrano pepper (stems, ribs, and seeds removed)
juice from one lime
1/2 cup finely chopped cilantro
salt, pepper, and cumin to taste (I normally do about 1/2 tsp salt and about 1 tsp cumin)

Mix together and enjoy! I personally like to use roma tomatoes because they are more meaty and less juicy. If you use regular tomatoes after you slice them, put them in a sieve and let the juices drain.

Fire and Ice salsa recipe

3 cups chopped watermelon
1/2 cup diced green pepper
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
3 tablespoons finely diced cilantro
1-2 tablespoon finely diced green onions or chives
1-2 tablespoon diced jalapeno pepper (stem, seeds, and ribs removed)
1/2 tsp garlic salt (or 1/2 tsp fresh crushed garlic with salt to taste)

The great things with salsas is you can add or lessen any of the ingredients until you get the exact taste you like. I like more potent flavors so I always add more lime juice, peppers, and cumin. What I have listed makes pretty mild salsas so feel free to add or play with the ingredients. SO fun :)

Arroz con Pollo

Recipe to Arroz con pollo
2 cups organic chicken broth
1 cup brown rice
2 Tbls minced fresh cilantro (or processed in a food processor with some water)
Dash of salt
Opt fresh jalepeno seeded and sliced into small thin strips (it really doesnt make it too spicy, just adds extra flavor)
Boil chicken broth, salt, jalepeno, and minced cilantro add rinsed brown rice, lower heat to low.

While rice is cooking prepare the following ingredients:
1/2 chopped onion
2 crushed garlic cloves
1-2 Tbls olive oil
4 chicken tenderloins (I like to buy the frozen ones then just cook up frozen, no need to thaw (actually makes them juicier and more tender)
Salt
Sliced red or green bell pepper
1 cup frozen peas thawed (or canned or fresh)
Add onions, olive oil, and garlic in large skillet and cook on med low heat for 5-7 mins. Add chicken and salt and raise temp to med heat. Keep turning chicken until cooked. Add rice, peppers, and peas, then stir together. Garnish with fresh cilantro.

Serves about 4 people with a salad side dish.

Strawbana Spinach Smoothie

I made a smoothie this morning with strawberries, banana, and spinach. And since my little boy's been sick I added a clove of garlic. It's not too bad but if you don't like garlic don't add it to this one. You don't taste it at first but then the garlic hits you in the aftertaste. I do think that strawberry, banana and spinach are a great combination though.

WebMD article

A good little read (of course, I'm sure most of us already knew this)

http://www.webmdhealth.com/nl/nlv.aspx?id=gbfDtOUkhUw=&s=11353

Savory green smoothie recipe

Ok, so HOW yummy does this sound? Once I make it to the store I am going to buy some more basil and parsley to try it out. I may try putting some tabasco and pepper in it.

1 cup tomato
Romaine leaves (I think any green would be fine)
1 celery stalk
handful fresh herbs like basil, parsely, cilantro

Mmmmm it REALLY sounds like a good one :)

Wedding chow chow, and Tara's smoothie Idea

Wedding Chow Chow
1 ear sweet corn (cooked however you want to cook it), I'm sure you can use a can of corn too.
2-3 tomatoes chopped
1 cucumber chopped (skin on)
1/2 red pepper chopped (you can use any type of bell pepper I'm sure)
1/2 cup chopped green onions (this you will need for sure, the other veggies can just be whatever)
1/2 cup chopped cauliflower
1/4 cup chopped celery (I just used two stalks)


Sauce
3 tsp red wine vinegar (I'm sure you can use cider, rice, or balsamic) I actually added 5 tsp becuase I had so many veggies
1 tsp dry mustard powder
1 tsp sugar or agave nectar
2 tsp salt (it was WAY too salty, so I would only add 1 tsp next time)
4 Tbls olive oil (I felt it was just too much oil, so next time I am only going to use 1 or 2)
2 Tbls chopped fresh dill (however, dried dill tasted just fine)
Chop up all veggies then mix sauce in separate bowl. When all veggies are chopped and tossed in bowl, mix in dressing.



Also,
Tara's smoothie Idea:
Raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, peaches, bananas, and an orange.


mmmm, mmmmm