Plain ole' spaghetti

Just plain ole' spaghetti made healthier.

Ingredients:
Whole wheat spaghetti noodles
Ground turkey
Jar of sauce (or can of crushed tomatoes or plain tomato sauce and then add your own seasoning. I do this to avoid the massive amounts of sugar the "sauce" in glass jars have)
Garlic
Sea salt
Pepper
Basil

Cook spaghetti as directed. Brown ground turkey with spices. Add cooked meat to sauce and serve over spaghetti with a side salad.

* For salad I use fat free salad dressings and usually throw a handful of trail mix on top. I don't use the trail mix with M&M's but I think that would be awesome!

**I have found lately that if I double whatever I would normally do in spices the results are great. It seems everyone is suddenly making a much bigger deal about dinner. I also will throw a little onion and garlic in a frying pan while I get everything else ready. The smell is enough to make everyone come running. I swear if I did that while making oatmeal they would think it was the best dinner ever. There is just something about that smell!

Sweet and Sour Chicken

I thought this was decent but Izz went bananas over it. Charlotte gobbled it up too.

Ingredients:
Rice (I used white only because I was out of brown but should have used brown)
chicken (cut in cubes)
Pineapple
Water chestnuts
cornstarch
sea salt
pepper
Sweet and sour sauce (healthy version below)

Cook rice as directed. Shake chicken in a ziplock or paper bag with the cornstarch, salt and pepper. Melt 1Tbs coconut oil in a frying pan. When hot, throw in chicken and cook thoroughly. Mix sauce in with chicken and serve over rice.

* I think it would have been yummy to add some spicy pepper to the cornstarch mix as well. I don't think the kids would have liked it but I would have.

Sweet and sour sauce:
Mix 1/3 cup honey, 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar 2 Tbs soy sauce (low sodium). Add in 1 clove garlic (or garlic powder), 1 tsp ginger and 1 tsp olive oil. Cook together in a saucepan over medium heat until syrupy.

Nummy!

I was tired and too busy for dinner to happen right. Instead of grabbing Little Ceaser's (which is always easiest) I stopped at Chipotle. They have a pretty basic menu that includes either a bowl, salad or burrito with a choice of "stuff". Grilled chicken, black beans, rice, salsa, corn....all things I would consider to be pretty decent. Now, who knows what it is soaked in before I get it or how much lard is in that spectacular giant tortilla but it still beats Taco Bell or pizza. It's hard to not choose the sour cream and cheese but it's worth it anyway!

Turkey Burgers

Tonight I made turkey burgers. I spiced up the turkey a little aggressively (actually I spilled garlic salt in the meat). I had some tomatoes (the little ones that come on a vine) and a salad mix that was going bad and some wheat buns. Otherwise, we are pretty low on groceries. I picked the spinach out of the salad mix and threw it in a frying pan with coconut oil, salt, pepper and slices of the tomato. I piled it on top of the patties. It was amazing! The girls went on and on and on. Isabelle has a habit of complaining when I say "turkey....anything". She was the biggest cheerleader. I would for sure make it again and wish I could...now. It was that good!

Ingredients:

1 lb ground turkey
tomatoes (I would guess any kind would be good)
spinach
garlic
sea salt/pepper
whole wheat buns

Mix spices into turkey. Cook on a grill or in a frying pan. Cook other ingredients together and serve.

**We had a bag of frozen veggies too that were frankly gross. Not one word about it! They liked the burgers so much not a word was spoken about them.

Starfruit Dessert

I think this little fruit is just adorable! I seriously had never seen one until I got my basket this time. It's tropical and can be eaten alone or in this fun recipe. This seemed to make sense because I had some mango's, a coconut and oranges in the basket as well.

Ingredients:
1 Starfruit
1 cup orange juice, or 2 oranges juiced
1 fresh ripe mango
1/4 cup brown sugar (I used sucanat but I could have also chosen agave nectar in leiu of normal sugar)
1 cup (up to) coconut milk

Optional: a handful of fresh pomegranate seeds or cherries or better yet, whipped cream or vanilla ice cream (as a topping).

Place the star fruit in slices in a pot on the stove. Add the orange juice. Stir well and turn heat to high until juice begins to boil. Then turn down to medium. Simmer for 10 minutes, or until fruit has softened enough to cut into with a spoon. Remove any brown seeds that may loosen and surface.While fruit is cooking, place mango in a food processor or blender. Process until smooth. Set aside.When star fruit is soft, add the sugar/sweetener and stir to dissolve. Remove pot from heat. Add the mango puree, stirring well. Divide out slices and cover with sauce to surround the fruit (it should still be warm from the pot). Top each bowl with a sprinkling of pomegranate seeds or cherry pieces. Then drizzle with coconut milk and serve! Topped with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream would be awesome (yet I chose to stop there and keep it healthier)

**SUCANAT
Wholesome Sweeteners Fair Trade Organic Sucanat® (which stands for Sugar Cane Natural), is a whole cane sugar. It's made by simply crushing freshly cut sugar cane, extracting the juice and heating it in a large vat. Once the juice is reduced to a rich, dark syrup, it is hand-paddled. Hand paddling cools and dries the syrup, creating the dry porous granules we call Sucanat. Nothing is added and nothing is taken out!

Wholesome Sweeteners Fair Trade Organic Sucanat is made from 100% certified organic sugar cane grown in Costa Rica. Because Sucanat still contains all of the cane's natural molasses, it has a deep brown color and a distinct, natural molasses flavor that enhances many foods. It can be substituted for brown sugar in any recipe and it is especially good in chocolate-based recipes, for baking and for BBQ sauces and marinades. It is an excellent source of iron, calcium, vitamin B6, potassium and chromium, which helps balance blood sugar.

The Fair Trade Certified logo is Wholesome's guarantee that our farmers' cooperatives are paid directly for the cane grown and milled. This means that the farmers can compete with factory farms, cultivate the quality of their crops, send their kids to school and build thriving communities.

French Onion Soup

Yum!!! I only recently discovered we loved this soup in the last few years. I started gardening and quickly learned onions are really easy and fool proof to grow. When you have piles of them you start running out of uses. I tried this soup and it's always good! Luckily with a few modifications it can be a very healthy soup as well.

Ingredients:
low sodium beef stock
Low sodium chicken stock (I think veggie would be just fine too)
Onion (s )(I have used white, yellow, many small or one large. They are all good)
Sea salt (if not a heart patient)
pepper
celery salt (I dehydrate celery and save it because we never actually seem to eat the actual celery)

Slice and brown onions in a skillet. Pour everything into a stockpot or crockpot and simmer. Server alone or with croutons and cheese! My favorite is a slice of provolone or swiss cheese on top and they tucked under the broiler for a few minutes! The Keeping Daddy Alive version doesn't include cheese and is still great!

Chili Relleno Casserole

In my basket I got a pile of Anehiem Chili's. We had a random spring snowstorm and we were all stuck in the house. I couldn't use our grill so I roasted them in our oven. I find out kids will tolerate a small amount of "hot". I deveined and seeded them and broiled them on a cookie sheet. I learned if you place them in a ziplock right away they will steam their own skins right off. The next day I made this casserole. Everyone wished I had made a double batch. Even the baby! It was terrific.

Ingredients:
Green chili's (canned or fresh)
Low fat cheese
3 egg whites
2 Tbs whole wheat flour (WW pastry flour is lighter)
1/3 cup skim milk
1 can enchalada sauce (had I planned better I could have made my own but we really love Macayo's in a can)


Grease an 8x8 pan. Place a layer of chili's in the bottom, top with cheese and another layer of chili's. Beat egg whites. When fluffy add milk and flour. Pour over chili's and bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Pull out and pour enchalada sauce over the top and sprinkle remaining cheese. Bake for another 15 minutes or until sauce is bubbly.

We had black beans and whole wheat tortilla chips with it. Normally we wouldn't do any chips and seriously limit the cheese (even if low fat) and salt in sauce. However, we had a random 10 inches of spring snow outside, several of us had been sick all weekend so we bent the rules some

. It certainly is still a leap ahead of traditional mexican dinners!

Cheap healthy!

If you were to buy this amount of produce at the typical grocery store it would easily cost $50.00. Through a local co-op I get a basket full of fruits and veggies for $15.00. It's not local or anything special. It's the same stuff off the trucks that stock the grocery stores. The difference is no profit mark-up. The ONLY drawback in our area is that you can only participate every other week. I wish so badly it was every week! You don't know what you are going to get, it's a surprise. However, in two years I haven't once gotten anything we weren't willing to eat. I love it! I pick up my basket and then create a menu around it. It's so different from creating a menu and then buying a choice few to go with or in it. Having a quantity of fruits and things I wouldn't have traditionally chosen allows me to be inventive and fresh. For example, I got a clump of lettuce with giant leaves which provides the perfect opportunity to make PJ Chang's lettuce wraps! Yum! They generally offer a bonus each time as well. This time it was a tropical pack that included mango, pineapple, raw vanilla beans and a starfruit. I have only seen a starfruit in Farmville so it was a fun surprise to find out it's real, and adorable. Sometimes they offer an italian pack that includes piles of fresh herbs, onions, garlic, eggplant or mexican pack with peppers, tortilla's... Each week they offer different packs of fresh bread along with random things like large jars of honey, granola or cases of seasonal fruit. The basic basket is $15.00, organic option is $25.00. The extras very but they are always optional. This week my extra pack was $10.00 which was a steal considering it had a bag of vanilla beans in it. If you are looking for a way to get more "real" food into your week give it a shot. My goal is to be open to what we get (like I said before it's not weird stuff) and use it all! My kids love it and love to help me figure out things to make from it. It appears to be in many states and areas but if this one isn't available maybe there is another. Bountiful Baskets www.bountifulbaskets.org

Taco Chili

Ingredients:

1 can black beans
1 can corn
1 can tomatoes with green chili's
1 can kidney beans
1 lb ground turkey
1 pkg taco seasoning
Fat free Greek plain yogurt (substitute for sour cream)

Cook meat, add to other ingredients. Heat in a large pot. Top with low fat cheese and greek yogurt.

Verdict: GREAT! Kids loved it!

*Organic ingredients with lower salt would be ideal. Mixing your own taco seasoning could limit the salt there too.

Chocolate Cake

We ate this so fast I didn't get a photo. It was not like a chocolate cake from a box but it was worth eating! I spread Nutella on the top which I am sure is way to much sugar but made it yummy!

Ingredients
Olive oil in an oil sprayer
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/3 cup agave
3 Tbsp. unsweetened applesauce
2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 egg whites
1/2 cup white whole wheat pastry flour
2 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Spray 4 remekins (I used big coffee cups). In a large mixing bowl, mix together all of your wet ingredients (agave, applesauce, olive oil, egg whites, and vanilla). Whisk in your cocoa, and finally your flour. Blend well. You don’t want lumps (or at least, very few of them). Pour your cake mix into your ramekin(s), and place on a cookie sheet. Slide into the oven and bake for about 15 minutes.

Amazing Enchaladas

I didn't put what was in them in the title because it doesn't sound good. But it is. It's better than good, it's great!!

Ingredients:
2 cups sweet potatoes
1 can black beans (rinsed and drained)
Corn tortillas (could use rice, wheat, flour...)
2 large cloves garlic
Lime Juice (equivalent to 3 limes)
1 small can green chili's
Green chili sauce
Low fat cheese
Avocado (optional) *I say optional because I forgot to put it inside and put it on top instead.
Sea salt
Pepper
Chili pepper

Steam or cook sweet potatoes (little pieces steam quickly). Mash together with a can of green chili's, salt/pepper, splash of green chili sauce.

Mix black beans with garlic and lime juice, set aside.

Pour 1/3 of the green chili sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 glass pan. Heat tortillas to soften (I do this with the yummy fatty cheesy enchaladas too, nuke them for 30 seconds and they will roll right up without falling apart). Place a slice of avocado, spoonful of black beans, spoonful of sweet potato mix into each tortilla. Roll them up and line them in the pan. Cover with remaining green chili sauce and top with a little low fat cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes until sauce is bubbly and cheese is melted.

**I made two pans. Our pan had just a little bit of low fat cheese and chipotle pepper powder mixed in with the sweet potatoes. The kids pan had quite a bit of cheese and no chili pepper in the mix.

Verdict: YUMMY!!! Will so make this again!!!

Shout out to Kris Downs for the ingredient run down and idea! Keep 'em coming.

Chocolate Almonds

Isn't the word CHOCOLATE enough? I mean...come on!!!!

I bought some chocolate and cinnamon almonds the other day at WalMart! YUM!!!!!!! They were soooo good! So good in fact they lasted literally hours. So, I decided to make some. I need some practice to formulate perfect but these will do for now.

Ingredients:
1 bag almonds
1 egg white
1 tsp vanilla

2 TBS cocoa
2 Tbs sugar ( in our case I used Stevia. Sugar would have been better but whatever)
1/2 tsp salt

Shake nuts with egg white. Add powdered ingredients and shake again. Spread onto a cookie sheet and bake at 250 for 25 minutes. Stir half way through.

Yum!!

Better yet, divide in half and do cinnamon/sugar for 1/2 and cocoa for the other half and then mix together. I so wish I had done this. It was the plan really. But, I was out of cinnamon. Well, next time! These are so yummy though!

Spaghetti!

Pas-getti! Yup! Well...sort of. It's enough like spaghetti everyone just keeps their mouth shut.

Spaghetti Squash!

Ingredients:

Large spaghetti squash (bigger the better)
Can of tomato sauce
basil
oregano
sea salt
pepper
garlic
onion

Cut spaghetti squash in half. Place in a crock pot with a few inches of water. Cover and cook for a few hours in a crock pot. Or, cut in half, place down in a inch of water, cover with foil and bake for a hour. Either way, whatever is easiest. Pull "strings" with a fork. The longer you cook it the more like spaghetti it is. The shorter, the more of a crunch it has. Cook tomato sauce with spices to taste. Top "noodles" with sauce and sprinkle with cheese. In a perfect world you would add cheese and a slice of garlic bread. In our house the kids got bread and salad and we got just salad. Okay...fine we stole bites of their bread. Hey! Daddy needs to feed his heart and I need to starve my arse!!!! It's all good in the end.