Protein Pancakes

Hello my friends, you will have to forgive me on lack of posting that I am doing, I have not been feeling my best. I hope to be feeling better soon, and back to posting more:) Here is a great breakfast for all you breakfast lovers, which better be all of you because breakfast is such an important meal that your body needs to burn fat. Don't skip breakfast. Protein is amazing, it is also a fat burner, and is a great thing to take after a great workout. This recipe is simple and tastes great, I hope you enjoy!!

Ingredients

1. 1/4 cup egg whites
2. 1 scoop of vanilla protein powder
3. 1/2 mashed banana
4. 1 tsp. cinnamon
5. 1 tbsp. flaxseed
6. handful of fresh or frozen blueberries after the above ingredients are mixed together

Pour into a pan with olive oil spray- heat on medium. Cook one side until you see the little bubbles....just like cooking any pancake! Flip over carefully and cook on the other side until the middle is done. Top with sliced strawberries and powdered stevia

Energy Sustaining Breakfast Bars

Alright, I know, I am the worst blogger ever!!!!! I have been slammed trying to plan my cute sisters bridal shower and dealing with sick little cutie pies, time just seems to be gone!! So I do apologize. I am leaving for my sisters shower this week, so I will not be posting until Friday, but after that, deliciousness will be headed your way:)

I love these breakfast bars, and my kids do as well. They are so great to have in the freezer for a little snack when time is running short. I hope you and your kids will love these as much as my family does:)

Ingredients

1. 2 1/2 cups old fashioned organic quick oats
2. 1/2 cup whole flax seed
3. 1/4 cup organic dark cocoa powder
4. 1/2 cup natural peanut butter
5. 1/2 cup honey
6. 1/2-1 cup HOT water

Instructions

Stir ingredients together. Form into individual size paddies, like hamburgers. Wrap in plastic wrap and keep in freezer or fridge. Easy as that:)

Kale chips and Guac

One of my favorite snacks right now!!!! I love this guac, it's amazing:) I hope you enjoy it.

Preheat an oven to 350 degrees. Wash and dry kale, break into chip size pieces. Drizzle kale with 1 tbsp. olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt. Bake until edges are brown but not burnt, 10-15 min.

Mash together 1/2 avocado, 1tbsp. chopped onion, 1/4 lime squeeze, 1/2 tomato diced, pinch of cilantro leaves, pinch of sea salt. Easy as that:)

Mountain Dew Apple Dumplings!!!!

Mountain Dew in apple dumplings? You think I'm crazy I know, but let me just tell you, you are crazy if you do not try these:) I am in looooove with this buttery goodness!!! I dare you to try and eat just one, I know I can't!!! I love weekend goodies:)

Ingredients

1. 2 medium granny smith apples


2. 2 cans crescent rolls


3. 2 sticks of butter


4. 1 1/2 cups of sugar


5. 1 tsp. vanilla


6. cinnamon for sprinkling


7. 12 oz of mountain dew

Preheat oven to 350. Spray a 9x13 and set aside. Peel and core your apples and slice into 8ths.. Open the cans of crescent rolls and carefully separate the dough along the perforations. Place a couple slices of the apples in the crescent rolls and roll up. Place in prepared pan and repeat. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter and add sugar and vanilla. Stir to combine. Pour mixture over the apple dumplings, then pour the mountain dew on top of everything. Sprinkle with cinnamon. Bake for 40 min. When dumplings are done make sure that you serve them warm, and don't cheap out on the sauce, pour lots of that bad boy on top of your dumpling. And if you feel a little crazy, pair it with vanilla ice cream!!! Enjoy

Green Machine Sandwich

I so need to apologize for the lack of recipes lately. Our laptop broke and our computer down stairs is slower than Springtime coming to Rigby, so I have slacked. But I am on board again:)!! This recipe I have not tried yet, but plan to tomorrow. It's from Totally healthy recipes and I love her stuff. This recipe sounds amazing and is full of so many amazing things for your body. I hope you enjoy!!

Ingredients

1. 1 ripe avocado


2. 1 orange


3. 1/2 to 1 tsp green Tabasco sauce


4. 1/4 tsp ground coriander


5. 1/2 tsp sea salt and freshly ground black pepper


6. 1/2 cup yellow grape tomatoes, halved


7. 1 small cucumber(peel and cut lengthwise, spoon out the seeds, then dice)


8. 1 large or 2 small radishes(cut in half, lay on flat side, and slice thinly)


9. 2 whole wheat pitas, top third cut off

Cut avocado in half and remove pit. Scoop out avocado flesh and dice into cubes, and place in a medium bowl. Slice orange in half. take the one half and give it a squeeze over the avocado bowl. Just once around the bowl is fine( about 1 tbsp.) Add Tabasco sauce, coriander, salt and pepper. gently toss mixture with the tomatoes, cucumber and radish. Divide mixture into 2 servings and stuff into whole wheat pitas and enjoy!!!

Lion House shortbread cookies

Love that it's the weekend, which means, GOODIES!!!! Well I should follow that rule a bit better, because it seems that lately we are having goodies all the time:) But let me just say that these cookies are sinful. I LOVE these cookies. It's so bad when I make these because I can never stop eating them:) I hope you enjoy these little beauties as much as my family and I do.

Ingredients

1. 1 cup butter


2. 3/4 cup of sugar


3. 1 egg


4. 1tsp. vanilla


5. 2 and 1/2 cups of flour


6. 1/4 tsp. salt


7. 1-2 tbsp. water if needed


8. raspberry or strawberry jam

Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla;beat well. Sift salt and flour together; add to cream mixture a third at a time, mixing well after each addition. If dough is to stiff, add 1-2 tbsp. water. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill in refrigerator for about 1 hour.

-preheat oven to 375. Cut the chilled dough into 4 pieces. Roll each piece into a rope the size of your cookie sheet. Put the ropes on the cookie sheet side by side. With your finger, make an indentation all the way down the length of each rope. Bake for 10 min. Remove from the oven and fill the indentation with jam. Put back into the oven for another 10-12 min. Place cookie sheet on rack to cook cookies when done. Cut on the diagonal.

Ancho-Chili rubbed pork tenderloin

I know I say this a lot, but this is one of our all time fav. recipes. We love food, so lots of recipes are our favorites. Your husband will love you so much if you make this for him:) It's simple to make and seriously tastes delicious. This recipe is from one of my fav. websites, simplysugarandglutenfree.com. Check it out!!!

Ingredients

1. 1 tbsp. finely ground espresso powder


2. 1 tbsp. light ancho chili powder


3. 1/2 tsp. dry mustard


4. 1/2 tsp. ground coriander


5. 1/2 tsp. garlic powder


6. 1/2 tsp. kosher salt


7. 1/2 tsp. freshly ground pepper


8. 1 pork tenderloin, about 1 pound


9. 1-2 tbsp. agave


10. 2 tbsp. olive oil

Preheat oven to 375

Combine espresso powder, ancho chili powder, dry mustard, coriander, garlic powder, salt and pepper in a bowl. Mix well making sure to break up any small clumps. Dump spice mix onto a plate large enough to accommodate the length of your tenderloin. Rinse tenderloin and pat dry with a paper towel. Rub the tenderloin with the agave, roll the tenderloin in the spice mixture, coating all sides. Coat a cast iron with olive oil and bring to medium high heat. Let the pork rest in spices while cast iron is heating up. Sear tenderloin, about 4 min on each side, until the entire tenderloin has a nice crust on the outside. Once entire tenderloin is seared, place in the oven and let it cook for 20-25 min, or until the thickest part of the tenderloin reads 140 degrees. Remove from the oven, and tent with foil, and let it rest for 10 min. before slicing. Enjoy. Serve these with sweet potato fries and it's a perfect meal:)

Avacado Stack

Seriously this is Amazing. There are so many flavors and textures put together, it really is divine. And sorry for another quinoa post, I just love this stuff. We made this for a new years eve treat and seriously it was so great!!! I hope you enjoy it. Oh and sorry for the extra quinoa photo on the bottom of this post, don't know what happened:)

Quinoa

1. cook 1 cup quinoa in 2 cups of low sodium chicken broth


2. mince 1/2 jalapeno


3. mince 1 tbsp. cilantro


4. 1 tbsp. evoo(olive oil)


5. juice of one lime


6. 
   
   salt and pepper to taste

Once you have cooked the quinoa, add all the above ingredients to it

Sweet Potatoes

1. 
   
   1 sweet potato peeled and cut into 1/2 inch dice


2. 
   
   2 tsp. evoo


3. 
   
   salt and freshly ground pepper

combine on a baking sheet and bake at 350 for 15-20 min.

For the Dressing

1. 
   
   2 tomatillos in olive oil, skins removed


2. 
   
   3 tbsp. plus 1 tsp olive oil


3. 
   
   1 tbsp. rice vinegar


4. 
   
   1/4 cup chopped cilantro


5. 
   
   1 tsp light agave nectar


6. 
   
   salt and freshly ground pepper

combine in a blender or food processor and blend until well combined

Tortilla strips

1. 
   
   canola oil


2. 
   
   2 corn tortillas cut into 1/4 inch strips


3. 
   
   1 tsp. cajun seasoning

To serve

Cut 2 avacados into chunks. Once you have everything above ready, all you have to do is assemble. If you don't have a mold, you can just layer it together on a plate, it will still be amazing:) The layers are, quinoa on the bottom, sweet potatoes, avacados, dressing drizzled over it, and tortilla strips. Let me know what you think:)

Okay so I am one lazy mamma tonight so instead of retyping this great recipe, I thought hey I will copy and paste it on the side. So click on the healthy pasta recipe on the side of my blog for tonights recipe. It looks delish and I can't wait to try it. My super healthy sister in law found this website for me and I think it's pretty amazing. Lots of great recipes on that site for you healthy eaters:) Have a great night and sleep a couple extra hours for me, I seem to have some children that don't want to sleep so well these days:)

Orange Quinoa Sweet Potato Salad

Sorry I missed a few posts:) Although I am sure everyone was a- okay without the recipes i am posting:) I saw this recipe on tone it up and thought it looked amazing!!!! I have not tried it yet so if it is nastola don't blame me:) But it is super healthy so I hope it tastes scrumptious. By the way quinoa is the mother of proteins, it is one of the best proteins you can have and I actually love the flavor of it as well:) If you can incorporate quinoa into your diet every day you will notice a huge difference in how you feel, and the best part, you can buy quinoa in bulk at winco:)

1. 
   
   Cook 1 cup of quinoa in 1.5 cups of water and .5 cup of fresh squeezed orange juice. In the meantime peel and steam 2 small potatoes. Once steamed cut them into chunks. Once both items are done put them together in a bowl and let cool. Then add a drizzle of olive oil, juice of one fresh lemon, 2 small oranges cut into chunks, 1 red and yellow pepper cut into chunks. 1/2 a cucumber cut into chunks. Then combine everything together.

I hope you enjoy it, I am going to be trying this one out tomorrow:) have a great night

Double Chocolate Pudding Pie

Alright all you chocolate lovers, get ready to dance for joy because this recipe is amazing!! This pudding pie is another one of our family favorites, and is so easy to make:) I am leaving out of town for the weekend so I won't be posting any new recipes until Sunday, but I promise Sundays recipe will be amazing:) Have a great weekend. Ingredients

1. 14 graham cracker squares( 7 full sheets)


2. 2 tbsp. butter melted


3. 1 tbsp. water


4. 1 tbsp. unflavored gelatin


5. 1/3 cup boiling water


6. 2/3 cup sugar, plus 1/2 tsp


7. 1/3 cup cocoa


8. 1/4 cup cornstarch


9. 1/ 8 tsp. salt


10. 3 cups 1% low-fat milk


11. 2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped


12. 2 tsp. vanilla


13. 1/4 cup heavy cream

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Spray a 9 inch pie plate with cooking spray. In a food processor, process the graham crackers until finely ground. Add butter and water and process until the crumbs clump together. Press the crumb mixture into the bottom of a pie plate and about 1 inch up the sides. Bake for 10 min, then let cool. In the meantime, make the pudding. Put the gelatin in a small bowl, add the boiling water and stir until dissolved. Set aside. In a medium saucepan mix the 2/3 cup of sugar, cocoa, cornstarch and salt. Gradually add half of the milk, whisking until smooth. Whisk in the rest of the milk. Turn the heat on to medium and cook, whisking constantly, until the mixture thickens and comes to a boil, about 10 min. Remove from the heat. Add the chocolate and stir until melted. Stir in the vanilla and reserved gelatin. Pour the mixture into the pie crust and let set for 3 hours in the refrigerator. Whip the cream and remaining 1/2 tsp. of sugar. Before serving, garnish the pie with the whipped cream.

Grilled Flank Steak, Portobello and Green Bean Salad and Parmesan Steak Fries

Grilled Flank Steak, Portobello and Green Bean Salad This is one of our all time faves at my house, and lets face it, who doesn't like fries?:) This recipe is so easy and tastes divine!!! I hope you enjoy it:) Tomorrow I am posting a delish chocolate pudding pie for all you chocolate lovers out there, try not to get to excited:) Both of these recipes are from Ellie Krieger, love her!! Ingredients

1. 1/4 cup olive oil


2. 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar


3. 2 tbsp. orange juice


4. 1 tbsp. minced garlic


5. 1/2 tsp. chili flakes


6. 1/2 tsp. salt


7. 1/2 tsp. fresh ground black pepper


8. 1 1/4 pound flank steak, trimmed of all visible fat


9. 4 large portobello mushroom caps wiped clean with a paper towel


10. 1 tbsp. water


11. 2 tsp. dijon mustard


12. 3/4 pound green beans trimmed


13. 1 (5 ounce) bag baby spinach


14. 4 vine-ripened tomatoes each sliced into 8 wedges


15. 1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced

Make marinade

Combine 2 tbsp. olive oil, 3 tbsp. balsamic vinegar, orange juice, 2 tsp. minced garlic, chili flakes, and 1/4 tsp. each salt and pepper in a bowl and whisk. Place steak and mushrooms in a glass baking dish or sealable plastic bag and pour marinade on top. Marinate in the refrigerator for at least 1 or up to 4 hours.

Make dressing

combine remaining 2 tbsp. olive oil, 3 tbsp. vinegar, 1 tsp. minced garlic, mustard, and remaining 1/4 tsp each salt and pepper. whisk until incorporated.

Steam green beans until tender-crisp, about three min. Allow to cool in the refrigerator, or to cool quickly, drain and plunge in a bowl of ice water for 2 min. Drain and reserve. Spray a grill or grill pan with nonstick cooking spray and heat over medium-high heat. Remove steak and mushrooms from marinade, and discard marinade. Grill steak and mushrooms until cooked through, but still juicy, about 4 to 5 min. per side for both steak and mushrooms. Remove to a cutting board and let rest about 10 min. cut steak across the grain into 1/4 inch slices; cut mushrooms into 1/4 inch slices. To assemble salad, toss steak, mushroom slices, spinach leaves, tomatoes, green beans and onions with dressing.

Parmesan Steak Fries

1. cooking spray


2. 2 large russet potatoes, or sweet potatoes


3. 1 tbsp. canola oil


4. 1/4 cup grated parmesan


5. salt

Cut each of the potatoes in half lengthwise. Rest each half on its flat side and cut each half lengthwise, straight down into 4 even slices. You will have 16 slices altogether. Cut the rounded edge off of the outermost slices so each slice cal lay completely flat on either side. Put the potatoes into a medium bowl and toss with the oil. Place the potatoes on a baking tray and bake for 20 min. sprinkle the potatoes with the cheese on their up-facing side and continue to bake for another 15-20 min, until they are crisp and golden brown. there is no need to turn them. Season with salt and pepper and serve immediately.

Turkey Meatloaf

I love meatloaf!! It's one of those meals that brings back memories of my childhood. My mom made a mean meatloaf and I loved loved loved it, infact that was what I always asked to have for my birthday dinners. So for you my friends I have a meatloaf recipe that not only is healthy, but delish as well!! Enjoy.

1. 3/4 cup quick cooking oats


2. 1/2 cup skim milk


3. 1 md. onion peeled


4. 2 pounds ground turkey breast


5. 1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper


6. 2 eggs beaten


7. 2 tsp. worchestershire sauce


8. 1/4 cup ketchup


9. 1/2 tsp. salt


10. fresh ground black pepper


11. 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a small bowl, stir together the oats and milk. Thinly slice 1/4 of the onion and set aside. Finely chop the remaining onion. In a large bowl combine the turkey, oat mixture, chopped onion, bell pepper, eggs, worchestershire sauce, ketchup, salt and a few grinds of pepper. Mix just until well combined.

Transfer the mixture to a 9x13 inch baking dish and shape into a loaf about 5 inches wide and 2 1/2 inches high. Pour the tomato sauce over the meatloaf and sprinkle with the sliced onions. Bake for about 1 hour. Remove from the oven and let rest for 10-15 min. before slicing.

Serve this with some fresh broccoli and a sweet potato, and you are set.

Healthy Oatmeal Cookie Snacks

I love these healthy cookies and my kids gobble them up as soon as I pull them out of the oven. You can even use this as a healthy snack for your munchkins:) Ingredients

1. 2 cups whole wheat flour


2. 1/2 cup ground flax seed


3. 1 tsp. baking soda


4. 1 tsp. salt


5. 1 tsp. cinnamon


6. 1/2 tsp. nutmeg


7. 1/2 tsp. cardamom


8. 1/2 cup butter at room temp.


9. 1/2 cup natural cane sugar


10. 2 eggs


11. 1/2 cup honey


12. 1 tsp. vanilla extract


13. 1 small apple peeled and chopped


14. 1/2 cup goji berries or raisins( you can find goji berries online, I love them)


15. 1 cup chopped walnuts or almonds(optional)


16. 1 1/2 cups coconut


17. 3 cups old fashioned oats


18. 1/4 cup applesauce

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat oven to 350. Stir together dry ingredients. In mixing bowl beat butter and sugars. Add in honey, eggs and vanilla. Slowly add in dry mixture and beat together. Stir in oats, applesauce, coconut, fruit and nuts. Drop spoonfuls onto baking sheet. Bake 12-14 min. at 350

Makes 2 dozen

Egg, Ham, and Spinach Pizza

The title may scare you a bit but I promise its delish:) I love Ellie Krieger, and all of her recipes. They are all healthy and every single one tastes amazing. This is one of her fun recipes that we love.:)

1) One store bought baked thin-crust pizza shell, preferably whole wheat, such as boboli. ( I usually make my own pizza crust, but for those busy mamas out there the store bought one will be just fine. I will post my pizza crust recipe that I use at the bottom of the page.) 2) 4 cups(about 4 ounces) baby spinach leaves, thinly sliced 3) 2 tsp. olive oil 4) 3 ounces prosciutto di Parma, thinly sliced 5) 1/2 cup grated parmesan 6) 3 cloves thinly sliced garlic 7) 4 eggs

DIRECTIONS -Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Place the pizza shell on a cookie sheet. Scatter spinach all over crust. Drizzle with oil. Evenly distribute prosciutto, Parmesan, and garlic on top of spinach. Crack eggs onto pizza, roughly positioning 1 yolk on each pizza quarter. Bake for 12-15 min., until spinach is wilted and egg whites are just fully cooked. Cut into 4 large slices. This is def. a daring little darling to try but we love it, I hope you guys will too. Whole Wheat Pizza Crust In a small bowl, combine about 1 Tbsp. of dry yeast and 1/8 tsp. of sugar with 1 1/2 cups of warm water. Let that sit for 10 min. In a separate large bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour and 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour. ( After you've tried this on your family several times, you can gradually increase in 1/2 cup lots the ratio of whole wheat to all purpose flour to 2 1/2 cups whole wheat, to 1/2 cup all purpose flour) Add 1 tsp. ground kosher salt to this. Mix well. then add the yeast mixture and mix by hand thoroughly. Add 1 tbsp. olive oil. Knead for about 2 min. until dough is smooth. Cover bowl and let rise in warm area until dough has doubled in size. Punch dough down with your fist and knead for 1-2 min. divide into 4 equal portions(extra portions can be stored in your refrigerator) Roll into balls and preheat oven to 450. Lightly coat a baking sheet with olive oil. roll one of dough balls onto baking sheet and flatten to 10-12 inch pizza crust. Poke with a fork 4 to 6 times. Bake for 5 min. remove from oven and then add your ingredients of whatever you choose.:)

Jalapeno-Red Bean-BBQ Burgers

1.1 tsp. olive oil 2.1/2 cup minced onion 3.1/2 cup of chopped and seeded plum tomatoes 4.1 tsp.minced jalapeno chiles 5.1 clove of garlic minced 6.1 tsp. chili powder 7.1 (15 ounce) can of kidney beans rinsed and drained well 8.1/4 cup of dry breadcrumbs 9. 2 tbsp. of bbq sauce 10.1 egg white beaten 11. 4 whole grain buns toasted Toppings cheddar cheese(just a little:)) lettuce, tomatoes, bbq sauce, avocados, and whatever else floats your boat:) -Heat oil in nonstick skillet over med. heat. Add onion, tomato, jalapeno, garlic and chili powder and saute for about 5 min. using fork coarsely mash beans with a fork. Combine with onion mixture, bread crumbs, 2 tbsp. of bbq sauce, and egg white. Shape mixture into four 1/2 inch thick patties. If grilling spray the grill with non stick spray, if pan frying heat a little olive oil over med. heat. Place patties on grill or skillet and cook until golden brown and heated through, about three min. per side. Place burger on toasted buns:) Top with your fav toppings!!