Overnight Blueberry French Toast Bake

We like french toast...  But we LOVE this french toast bake.  It's french toast taken to a whole new level of amazingness, and it's super easy.

Ingredients

• Leftover waffles (like these Healthy Banana Waffles) or pieces of bread (I use 3 waffles or 6-8 pieces of bread)
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1 1/12 cup almond milk
• 2 TB sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 6 eggs
• 3oz cream cheese, diced
• cinnamon
• blueberries

Directions

Takes the leftover waffles (or bread), tear into pieces and place into lightly greased 8x8 pan.  I made our new favorite, Healthy Banana Waffles and made a double batch, just so I could make this stuff the next day

Mix flour, milk, sugar, vanilla and eggs.  Add your egg mixture to pan and make sure all waffle pieces are covered.  Sprinkle with cinnamon, blueberries and cream cheese.  Place in refrigerator overnight (for up to 24 hours).  

The next morning, bake in 400 degree oven for 25-35 minutes.

And you're done!

Apple Mango Chicken and Salsa

I always ask my husband to rate my dinners on a scale of 1-5.  I've gotten several "6"s and a "10" once.  Tonight's dinner, got a "20".

Here is my Instagram shot

Chicken Marinade:

• Juice from 2 Apples
• 1/3 cup Fresh Orange Juice
• 1 - 2 tsp Olive Oil
• Garlic to taste (1-2 Cloves)
• Fresh Ginger Root

*Tip: Poke fork holes in the chicken breast and let marinade for a couple hours at least :)

Salsa:

• 1 Mango
• 1 Apple (Granny Smith is best)
• 1/3 - 1/2 Red Bell Pepper
• 1/4 cup Red Onion
• Fresh Cilantro
• 1/3 - 1/2 cup Fresh Orange Juice

*Obviously I added a couple Cucumber slices, not just for looks, they added to the salad.  

We grilled the chicken, but you could also bake it.  It was amazingly juicy off the grill.

Salad is my Go To for lunch

There's nothing quite like a fresh salad for lunch.  It's something you can make ahead of time and take to work with you or out to the park for a picnic lunch.  I love salads (even though my husband says they look like I shook a tree on them).  It's a great way to get your greens, eat only Whole Foods and they are so good.  You can pretty  much put anything on a salad.

Yesterday I had Red Leaf Lettuce, Black Beans, Fresh Corn, Tomatoes, Green Onion, Red Onion, Cilantro and Balsamic Vinegar.  (Please stay away from salad dressing.  If you make your salad right, you don't need it)

Today I made my salad with Red Leaf Lettuce, Chicken, Red and Green Onions, Cilantro and Lime Juice.

You can tell what I have in the kitchen based off what is on my salad.  And salads are packed full of good stuff for you but have a low calorie count.  You just can't go wrong.  And because they are so versatile, it doesn't get to have a salad every day!

Homemade Tacos... Whole Foods Style

I'm running a little behind in my blog posts, but here is last night's dinner.

I wanted to make Tacos, it just sounded so good.  But how do you make Tacos without processed taco shells?  After Swag Searching forever, I came across a post.  Someone was looking for a substitute for a hamburger bun.  One person commented and said they bake some egg whites and use that.  Bingo!  Let's try this out...

I used 2 Egg Whites per "tortilla", whipped em up a while and poured them into the bottom of a small greased pie pan.  Baked in 350* for 18 minutes.  The result was. Amazing.

I make my own "taco seasoning" so I can control how much salt, etc goes into it and instead of Sour Cream we just a dollop of Greek Yogurt with Lime juice.  

Oh So Amazing Ginger Chicken Burgers with Grilled Eggplant

I was feeling a little uncreative this afternoon.  After coming up with so many different meals yesterday and today, I was drawing a blank for dinner tonight.  Then it came to me.  I was not sure how it was going to turn out.  After all, I have never cooked eggplant before.  I only had one because it came with my CSA share the other day.  I didn't want it to go to waste.

Ingredients:
Chicken Burgers - Mix ingredients and grill

• 2 Chicken Breasts, ground (buy a meat grinder here.  I've had mine 2 years and LOVE it)
• Garlic
• Fresh Ground Ginger Root
• Green Onion

Eggplant "Buns" - Drizzle with oil, vinegar, sprinkle with salt & pepper and grill

• Sliced Eggplant
• Red Wine Vinegar
• Olive Oil
• Salt & Pepper

Lime Mayo - Mix ingredients, put on "buns"

• Mayo 
• Lime Juice
• Lime Zest

 OMG this was probably the best dinner I have had.  My husband, who hates eggplant and thought he was going to have to pass on dinner, gave it 6 stars (out of 5).  THAT'S how good it was.  I may make this again, and again, and again.  If you don't like eggplant, do not let that stop you from trying this.  182 Calories, 8g Carbs, 8g Fat, 25g Protein.  So amazing, I cannot tell you enough.  You'll just have to try it yourself.

Cheap Pineapples and more Bananas

Ok, we stopped at Fred Meyer today to pick up some of their pineapple for $1 each!  Couldn't pass that up.  And my husband loves his green bananas, so we grabbed some of those for back to work tomorrow.  Spent $7.37.

Spruce up your water: Homemade Citrus Electrolyte Drink

Around here, we like Powerade.  But after reading the back and seeing how much sodium and sugar is in one of those things, I decided to start making my own.  This recipe you can use as a drink itself, or make into ice cubes and add a couple to your water to spruce it up a bit.  I know sometimes drinking enough water can be difficult, it does get boring after awhile.  This will help!  

Ingredients:

• Orange Juice (Fresh is best!) about 1/2 cup
• Lemon Juice (The fresher the better) about 1/4 cup
• 1/2 - 1 TB Honey (to your taste)
• Dash of salt
• Enough water to make 3 cups total liquid (about 2 1/4)

Directions:

• Blend ingredients
• Pour into Ice Cube trays

• Freeze
• Put in water, enjoy!

Honey Cinnamon Roasted Chickpeas

Chickpeas (Garbanzo Beans) are so good for you and they definitely do not get enough attention.  While they may be higher in calories, they have so many other great nutrients in them, they are a must for anyone trying to lose weight and/or eat healthier.

When you’re eating fewer calories to lose weight, those calories must be packed with nutrition. This is where chickpeas shine as a weight-loss food. One-half cup of cooked chickpeas has barely a trace of fat, yet provides 7 grams of protein and 22 grams of energy-providing complex carbohydrates. Chickpeas are a rich source of iron, giving men 25 percent of their recommended daily intake, while women get 11 percent. You’ll also gain bone-building calcium and phosphorus and the potassium you need to keep nerves and muscles functioning. Chickpeas have 3 to 8 percent of the recommended daily intake of the B vitamins essential for energy. The same serving also has 35 percent of the recommended daily intake of folate, which is essential for the synthesis of genetic material and the creation of normal red blood cells.  (source: HealthyEating)

 So today I wanted to make a delicious snack from Chickpeas.  At Winco the other day I picked up just over a pound for $1.59.

Directions:

• Rinse, rinse and rinse Chickpeas throwing away any gray or funny looking ones.
• Soak overnight
• Drain, rinse and add fresh water (at least 3 inches on top of beans)
• Bring to a boil
• Cook for 30-60 minutes (Just keep checking them, you want them cooked but not mushy)
• Preheat oven to 375
• Drain
• Put 2 cups of Chickpeas onto lined baking sheet
• Cook for 45 minutes

So the pound of dried beans gave me about 10 cups of soaked beans.  I only used 2 in this recipe, the rest I put in small zip locks and put in the freezer for later use.  2 cups cost $0.32.

• Mix 1 TB honey, 1/2 TB olive oil, 1 tsp Cinnamon, 1/2 tsp nutmeg and a dash of salt together.
• While beans are still hot, dump into honey mixture.  
• You can either eat them now, or put back in the over for another 5-10 minutes to caramelize a bit.

Honey Cinnamon Roasted Chickpeas

They shrink up a bit after cooking, I got 4 1/3 cup servings from this.  Each serving was about 165 calories with 27g good carbs and 7g of Protein!  They were Amazing.  I ate this as Meal 2 along with 3 Strawberries and 15 grapes for a total of 234 calories.  

Tex Mex Scrambled Eggs

I finished off Day 1 yesterday with 275 calories to spare!  I was under "goal" on carbs, fat and sodium.  Over on protein (yay!) and sugar (But it was all GOOD sugars).  It's amazing how filling and delicious just 1025 calories can be when you actually eat healthy.  No, seriously.  I encourage you to start using MyFitnessPal.com.  Track what you eat (don't lie, you're only hurting yourself) and see where you really are on your calorie intake.  I'm not saying you have to live by the Count Your Calories diet but it's so helpful and eye opening when you actually get to see what's in the foods you're eating.  Not just calories, but are you getting enough Protein?  Enough GOOD carbs and sugars?  Are you getting too much fat and sodium?  All important things to keep track of when you are wanting to be healthy.  Just be conscious of what you're really ingesting and eating healthier will come naturally and easily.

On to today's Meal 1.  Tex Mex Scrambled Eggs (2 servings)

Ingredients:

• 4 Eggs, scrambled.
• 1/4 cup Black Beans
• 1 Tomato
• 1-2 Green Onions
• Cilantro
• Chili Powder

This simple, delicious breakfast was only 208 Calories, 17g Protein, only 9g Fat and 9g Carbs (And these are good Fats and Carbs!)  Yum :)

Whole Delicious Chicken Salad

Eating healthy does NOT have to be boring or tasteless.  This chicken salad I made today was fabulous!  I had some leftover chicken sitting in the fridge I had cooked up in the slow cooker the other night.  Along with fresh organic grapes, organic raisins and sunflower seeds, this salad was exactly what I was hungry for.  This has 20g protein, 2g Fat and just 153 Calories.

You could add some Greek Yogurt to this and make it creamier but I thought it was just fine without.

Ingredients:

• 3oz Cooked Chicken (shredded is better)
• 8-10 Grapes
• Small Handful Raisins
• TB Sunflower Seeds (raw, unsalted)

YUM!

Green Berrylicious Smoothie

My Green Smoothie today, for Meal 3.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Spinach
• 1/2 cup Strawberries
• 1/4 cup Blackberries
• 1/4 cup Blueberries
• 1/2 Banana
• 1 TB Goji Berries

A full glass, just 131 calories.

Berry Fruitful Smoothie

Today I was craving something sweet and instead of my first impulse to make cookies, I decided to make myself a good ol' berry smoothie.  I decided not to put any greens in it but I did add some superfood Goji Berries.

Ingredients:

• Strawberries
• Blackberries
• 1/2 Banana
• Goji Berries
• Water

Chocolate Peanut Butter Green Smoothie

This smoothie today was delicious!  Thank you Unconventional Kitchen for the idea!  I adjusted it a little bit, as I always like to do.

Ingredients:

• Spinach
• 1 Banana
• 1/2 cup Strawberries
• 1 TB Cocoa Powder
• 1 TB PB2 Powdered Peanut Butter (Seriously, this stuff has 85% less calories than Peanut Butter.  It's the way to go!)
• A few Goji Berries
• Water

Directions:

• Blend and enjoy sweet, chocolately, peanut butterly deliciousness!

Lemon Blueberry Banana Creamsicles

So far we're made Homemade Orange Creamsicles and Pina Colada Creamsicles.  Today I wanted to try something new.  I asked my SD who is with us for the weekend what kind she would like.  "Blueberry!"  Ah ha, blueberry!  Good choice!  So here it is, Lemon Blueberry Banana Creamsicles.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Almond Milk
• 1 cup Blueberries
• 1/2 Banana
• 1/3 cup lemon juice

 Directions:

• Blend all ingredients, pour into molds, freeze and enjoy!

 

Smoothies smoothies and more smoothies!

I LOVE Smoothies.  Fruit smoothies.  Green smoothies.  Superfood smoothies.  You name it.  

Here are some FREE Amazon books with Smoothie recipes.  Now get blending!




Here are some for just 99 cents :)  (Prime members can borrow for free!)

Breakfast Fruit Smoothie

This morning I wanted a smoothie.  And honestly, I spaced putting in any spinach but it was still delicious!

• Strawberries
• Apple
• 1/2 Banana
• 2 TB Chia gel
• Water

Baked Coconut Carrot Fries

So I found this wonderful recipe for Baked Coconut Carrot Fries and had to give it a try.  WOW!  They taste like Sweet Potato fries!  So delicious.  I added some extra seasoning, because that's just how I roll.

Ok, I'll be honest...  The first batch I forgot to set the timer and I burnt the fries.  So, the fries in the first picture are not the same as the second picture.  Hey, it happens. :)

Ingredients:

• Carrots
• Coconut Oil
• Salt, Pepper, Chili Powder to taste

Directions:

• Cut carrots into French Fry size pieces
• Mix all ingredients
• Bake at 400*F for 30-45 minutes (check for doneness, bake time varies on how thick the fries are)

And there you go!  Deliciousness!

Pina Colada Creamsicles

Ever since I made Homemade Orange Creamsicles the other day, my husband has wanted to try some other flavors.  His first request, Pina Colada.  Keeping it simple, and healthier, you only need 4 ingredients.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 Banana
• 1/2 can Pineapple
• 1 cup Coconut Milk
• 1 tsp Honey

Directions:

• Blend, pour, freeze, enjoy!

The great thing about making your own popsicles, is that you can adjust the ingredients per your family's taste.  I actually put the whole banana in, but I thought it had too strong of a banana flavor, however my husband liked it that way.  But I would recommend starting with 1/2 a banana first.

Eating Better: Juice for Breakfast "Apple Mango Carrot Banana Juice"

I had some leftover fruits I  needed to use up this morning.  Half a mango and half a banana, leftover from some green smoothies, and 3/4 of an apple.

Chopped up the apple, mango and some carrots, juiced those.  As you may or may not know, bananas are not a fruit to be juiced.  So, I threw the half banana in the blender, added my juice and a little bit of Coconut oil, hit blend and done.  Only made about 8oz but it was delicious!

Next time I have a full mango, I know what I am going to make :)

Healthier Oatmeal Banana Cookies

I had some bananas sitting around that desperately needed to get used.  I had enough to make our favorite Heavenly Vegan Banana bread (I will post about this later) but I still had a few bananas left over.  What should I make?  Ah yes.  Cookies!  So here is my next Kid Approved (and Dad too): Healthier Cookies recipe.

Healthier Oatmeal Banana Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1.5 cups flour (I used whole wheat, rice and all purpose but you can use any one of these)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 TB Greek Yogurt
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 cup mashed bananas (I used 2.5 bananas, it was a little over 1 cup)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 2 cups oats (I used quick cooking but old fashioned is fine)
• 1/2 cup your favorite ingredient! (I used butterscotch chips, but feel free to use chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, raisins, cranberries, walnuts, etc)

Directions:

• Mix Yogurt, honey and brown sugar.  Stir in egg, banana and vanilla.  In separate bowl mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.  Add to batter, mix.  Add oats and favorite ingredient.  
• Drop tablespoonfulls onto cookie sheet.
• Bake at 350*F for 10-12 minutes
• Enjoy!

My recipe was adapted from these Lowfat Oatmeal Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies.