Ratatouille: Long Overdue

I cannot believe I've had this blog up for two years and I haven't posted about ratatouille yet. It's seriously my favorite vegetarian dish.

Have you seen the Disney movie? You know the part where the rat makes ratatouille for the food critic guy, and as he takes a bite he stops and is transported back to a childhood memory of a warm kitchen that obviously smells amazing and a huge bowl of stew to warm him up on a cold fall day? That is SERIOUSLY what ratatouille tastes like.

It's also super easy to make, and will use up some of the veggies your garden is typically overrun with. I had to go buy eggplant and yellow squash, because we didn't feel like trying to make those work this year, and an onion, but the zucchini and tomatoes are all from the back yard.

The recipe is super easy. It's three steps that you repeat for each food item: Dice, Sautee, Stew.

So here's the recipe with pictures cuz I like pictures.

Ratatouille
1 medium eggplant
1 medium yellow squash
1 medium zucchini (medium is a relative term here)
2-3 cups cherry or roma tomatoes (or a mixture)
1 onion

The idea here is to have the same amount of everything. I threw in the cherry tomatoes I had, but there weren't enough to equal the yellow squash, so I diced some romas as well. Also you can see that my enormous zucchini had to be cut in half for this recipe, as well as the eggplant, because apparently stores right now only have ridiculously huge eggplants and teeny tiny yellow squash. Just try to get about the same amount of each veggie.



Instructions:
Dice and sautee each veggie separately, then mix together and cook over med-low heat about 15 minutes.

That's seriously it.

So while it is slightly time-consuming, it's super simple. If you have more than one good-sized frying pan it will go faster, as you can sautee more than one veggie at a time. But I find it easy enough to dice the next while the first is sauteeing.

If I'm using cherry tomatoes (which, let's face it, I probably am. Dang stores only selling cherry tomato plants in flats of 6 when I only wanted 2...) I don't dice them at all. I just toss them in my stew pot and let the heat burst them.  ---->

Today I diced the romas, because they're just huge and ridiculous if you don't, and that way I had some stew juice to start out with. So I got the tomatoes stewing while I sauteed the onions, then as each veggie finishes sauteeing you can just add it to the stew pot with the tomatoes and whatever else is in there at the time.
Once everything is together in the pot, you can add some salt and spices if you want, but be sure to let everything stew together for about 10-15 mins.

Variations

I've seen some versions that mimic the Disney movie, where each veggie is sliced and laid out all pretty and it's cooked in the oven. Try it if you want, but I sure like my recipe :)
I've also seen recipes that call for bell peppers, but mine are so amazingly sweet this year that I think I want to eat them raw on their own instead of stewing them up with my squash :)
The first time I made it, the recipe called for sliced onions instead of dicing them. I found that to be too overpowering, so I dice mine.
If this isn't hearty enough for you, I think sausage or bacon would be really tasty added in.

Zucchini Bites

I love these SO MUCH. They're pretty quick to pull together, and they're tastier and more filling than hash browns, which I've been craving lately.

Zucchini is a super versatile and yummy vegetable. Nothing compares to the warm squeaky taste of cooked zucchini chunks. Ah! I just love zucchini. Grilled, baked, fried, shredded, whatever. It's a low-calorie vegetable, and a good source of folate, potassium, and vitamin A. It's basically a pumpkin. (Hint: orange veggies are usually rich in potassium and vitamin A)

So here's how you make these yummies:
 

Zucchini Bites

1 c grated zucchini (be sure to squeeze out excess water)
1 egg
1/4 onion, diced
1/4 c cheese
1/4 c bread crumbs
salt and pepper

Preheat frying pan or griddle to med-high heat with cooking spray.
Combine all ingredients and mix well (I use my hands).
Form small patties, 1-2 inches across, and place on cooking surface.
Cook 2-5 mins per side, until crispy light brown.

And here's what they look like:

 I see a lot of different versions of these floating around on Pinterest and various other websites, but this is the best method I've found to avoid sogginess and get the best flavor and fully-cooked-ness that I'm always looking for.

These end up more like eggy hash browns than anything else, and I just love the flavor. They're a great source of protein too, so they fill up my prego belly for at least a little while :)

Jill's Healthy Weight Loss Tips

I'm not a nutritionist or a personal trainer or anything, but I have gained and then lost 50+ lbs twice in the last 5 years, and I'm on round three right now. So while I'm not an expert, I do know how to get the job done. Here are some tips I've found extremely helpful for me, divided into two obvious sections: Diet and Exercise.

The secret to weight loss is diet and exercise, but mostly diet. And I'm not talking about GOING on A diet, I'm talking about the regular diet you eat every day, today and for the rest of your life. If the way you eat now is not healthy, you need to change it so it is. Here are some steps that should help.

1. Stop making excuses. There will always be a reason not to do something. You need to start challenging yourself, and the first step is the challenge of making plans instead of excuses. Whenever you hear a tip on how to be healthier, if your first thought is a reason you can't do it, stop yourself right there and think instead "How can I make this work for me?" The biggest excuse I hear is the lack of time. I get it, I'm busy too. I think of it this way: You can take 2 minutes to microwave a processed crap pile that will not only NOT improve your health, but actually make it worse, or you can take 15 minutes to make something healthy that will make you feel great and potentially ADD YEARS TO YOUR LIFE. You decide. But that 15 minutes is in your day somewhere - find it, and put it to better use.

2. STOP eating sugar. Just do it. No more candy, no more soda, no more cookies or cake, no more ice cream, and cut back on things like jam, yogurt, and unnecessary condiments. You should also be on the lookout for processed food items that contain a lot of sugar. You'd be surprised how many of them do. Just remember - sugar is a preservative, so if it's processed in order to last longer, it probably has sugar in it. Ketchup, shake and bake, granola bars...just check labels and if there's more sugar than you want, try to find a replacement. 

3. Eat more veggies! You'll get more vitamins and nutrients from vegetables than anywhere else. Not to mention the fiber benefits you'll be getting. Plus, I think of veggies as calories that don't even count, so eat as many as you want. Here's a nifty illustration of what I mean:

In other words, you COULD eat 4x as much chicken as vegetables in one sitting to fill your stomach, but you'd be eating 4x as many calories as well.

You're obviously not going to be able to get full off of eating veggies in one sitting, which is why they make great snacks. If you're someone who likes to snack, the good news is you can snack on veggies all you want and never feel bad about it.

This piece of advice is especially nifty for people like me who work a desk job.  I sit at my computer for 4-8 hrs per day, and I have that entire time to munch. I could munch on chips and candy, or I could munch on carrots, brussels sprouts, dates and apples. I choose to munch on what makes me feel good, so I choose the latter options.

For starters, just try to make sure you eat a full serving of veggies every day. You'll be surprised to discover how many days you don't eat ANY vegetables. And eat good veggies - try to eat at least one of the following each day: spinach, kale, carrots, brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes, broccoli. Basically, if it's dark green or orange, you're good to go. These veggies provide an amazing amount of vitamins that can help your body fight disease, including cancer, along with improving brain function and overall health.

4. Replace less-healthy treats with healthier options. This has been the MOST helpful for me in my weight loss journey(s). After having my first baby, I went on a no-sugar diet for about 6 months, allowing myself one sweet thing per month. I had to get really creative to satisfy those cravings, and by the time I got to the end of the month and went to enjoy my root beer float, it didn't even taste good. To this day 4 years later I'm still not the biggest fan of super sweet treats and only have them once a week, if that. I always end up craving my healthier choices instead.

So here are some ideas that really worked for me.

Instead of ice cream, try graham crackers dipped in milk or yogurt, or even just yogurt. I'm also really fond of fruit bars, lately Outshine has been my favorite brand. Make sure you DON'T get the ones that advertise "No Sugar Added", because they may not add sugar but they add Splenda, which is worse. I'd much rather have a little real sugar than a little fake sugar, but I'll save that soap box for another day.

Instead of candy, please discover dates. They are amazing, and super sweet. If you're near a Winco, also try their raisin medley in the bulk barrels. Some of the sweetest and yummiest raisins you'll ever come across. My whole family eats them like candy. Also remember, any time you want something sweet, any kind of fruit is better than sugary treats. The sugar in fruit, paired with the fiber from the fruit, can be processed naturally by your body. Sugary treats made with refined sugar don't fare so well in your liver.

Instead of French fries, try sweet potato fries. They will blow you away. You can have them sweet or salty, but I prefer salty. 

Instead of snack foods like crackers, chips, and microwave popcorn, try popping popcorn in a pan on the stove. You control the level of oil and salt, and a little goes a long way. Microwave popcorn is nasty stuff filled with toxins and processed yuckiness. Another option here is hummus with veggies, or light crackers. Hummus is filled with protein, so it will fill you up, and it tastes oh so good. If you haven't tried it, or had bad luck at the store, try making your own. It's so easy. Here's my favorite recipe:

1 1/2 - 2 c cooked sweet potato, or shredded carrot
1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1/4 c lemon juice
1/4 c tahini (I find mine at Smith's in the salad dressing aisle)
1 clove garlic
2 tbsp olive oil
1 - 2 tbsp ground cumin
salt and pepper to taste
Mix everything in a food processor or blender. I love to dip celery into this recipe, which is one of only two ways I like celery.

Instead of soda or juice (both are equally bad as far as sugar content goes), try a fruit and veggie smoothie. This is also a great way to sneak some more veggies into your day. Here are some really yummy ones that I love and drink all the time:

Green Smoothie
1 1/2 c water
1 - 2 handfuls spinach
1 apple
1 orange
1 banana
1 c vanilla yogurt
2 c grapes or frozen blueberries

Carrot Mango Smoothie
1 c water
1 c orange juice
2 full-size carrots
2 c frozen mangoes (or a blend of mangoes and other tropical fruits)
1/4 c fresh mint

Sweet Potato Smoothie
2 c water
1 c cooked sweet potato
6 pitted dates
dash cinnamon

 
Here are some other ideas for healthy alternatives to whatever your unhealthy cravings are:
Canned peaches with cottage cheese.
Peaches or pears blended into a slushie with ice.
Add berries instead of sugar to breakfast foods like oatmeal or pancakes.
Top pancakes with applesauce or peanut butter instead of syrup.
Make chips out of zucchini, sweet potato, or apples by slicing them thinly and baking them.
Make pasta with red sauce instead of white.
Snack on a simple trail mix made from almonds, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, and raisins or dried cranberries.
Try some new veggies! You might be surprised at how much you like them. My philosophy on veggies is this: No matter how you season them, you won't take away their goodness. So if you need to drown your Brussels sprouts with butter and salt to enjoy them, do it. I know I do :)
When you want a snack, just eat some raw fruits or veggies. Carrots, apples, grapes, oranges, bananas, cherry tomatoes, and celery are all quick and easy.

5. Don't bring temptations into your house. If it's there, you'll eat it. If you don't buy it, you won't have to struggle against your will-power to avoid it. Also - don't shop hungry. 

6. If you're really going to be serious about this, track your calories. There are tons of cool apps and websites that will help you out with this, but my recommendation is myfitnespal.com. They also have an app for your phone. You will be blown away by how many calories you actually consume in a day. And then the next day, when you employ suggestions 3 and 4 on my list, you'll be happy you did. A healthy caloric intake for people trying to lose weight is between 1200-1500 for women and 1400-1800 for men. Don't try to eat fewer calories than that - starving yourself will backfire and can actually cause you to gain weight from shocking your body. You need to eat enough to fuel yourself. So eat when you need to, just eat better things. If you're getting ready for a workout, eat foods that will give you energy, like breads, pasta, potatoes, or other carbs. If you're ending a workout, eat some good protein to help strengthen your muscles after ripping them apart.

7. Stop snacking. I know you get hungry at 10 am, 3 pm, and 9 pm, but trust me - the only reason that happens is that you've trained your body to expect food at those times, so it reacts when it doesn't get them. Go one day without those snacks, and you'll stop getting those hunger pangs. 

Ok let's move on to the exercise portion of this little essay.

I said before that diet plays a bigger role in your weight loss than exercise does, but they work together in an amazing way. Eating the right foods will help your body turn that food into energy, and expelling that energy through exercise keeps it from turning into fat. Muscle helps your body use that energy better than fat does, so weight training is always a good idea. Muscle also takes up less room on your body, so it's an amazing way to lose inches. If you only diet, you will lose some weight at first, but that weight will be muscle, not fat. Once your muscle mass is depleted, you might start losing fat. But the best way to prevent losing muscle is to keep growing it, and it in turn will help your body use energy to burn fat rather than store it. Alternately, if you continue to eat unhealthy foods but try to exercise it away, let me just tell you about the battle you're going to lose before you even begin it. There are 3500 calories in a pound of fat. That means in order to lose one pound, you need to burn 3500 calories. Running a 5k will help you lose between 250-350 calories. So realistically, if you watch what you eat and exercise 3-6 times per week, you can lose 2-3 pounds per week. But if you're not watching what you eat, that 3500 calories you're trying to burn just increases. The recommended caloric intake per day is 2000 calories. Most dieters try to eat between 1200-1800 calories per day, depending on how big they are and how much fuel they need to keep them going. As a reference point, when I'm at my healthiest and eating to run I eat around 1350 per day. 

So let's move on to the exercise tips.

1. Find what works for you. I've spent the past few years trying to convince all my friends to become runners, because I love it so much. But it just doesn't work for some people. Then again, you won't know until you try :) If you want to pick up running, I recommend getting the c25k app for your phone, or going to http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml and following their weekly running plans. If running isn't for you, try out some different things until you find what you enjoy doing enough to continue with it for the rest of your life. Swimming, biking, cross fit, yoga, zumba, football, basketball, soccer...find what you love, and do it. You need an aerobic workout 3 times per week to help you lose weight and keep your heart and lungs healthy.

2. Cross train! Doing one type of exercise can put strain and wear and tear on the specific muscles and joints used for that activity, so you need to find something to do on your off days to strengthen those and other areas of your body. This will not only improve your performance in those sports, but keep your body able to do what you love longer. Take running for instance. You need a strong core to be a good runner, so working ALL of your abs, plus your glutes, quads, hip flexors, and back will do amazing things for your posture and running form. I injured myself pretty badly before learning this, and now spend most of my cross training days working on my hips and back. 

Cross training can be as simple as using body-weight strength techniques that can be done in your living room while you watch your favorite TV show or movie. Here are some of the things I incorporate into my strength-training sessions:
Squats
One-legged squats
Lunges
Directional lunges
Wall sits
Tricep dips (you can use a chair or bench for these)
Push ups
Sit ups (don't do crunches. Just don't.)
Bicycle kicks
Bridge
Metronome swing
Superman
Planks
Hip raises
Bicep curls
Pull ups

If you don't know what any of these are, look them up on youtube and you should be able to find video demonstrations. If not, let me know and I'll find or make some :)

3. I'm adding a specific section for abs because I know most people want to shrink their tummies and love handles. So the first thing they do is say "I'll go do some crunches!" People. Don't do crunches. In order to trim down your tummy and sides you need to build the inner ab muscles, and please excuse me for not being an anatomical genius - I don't know the names of all the muscle groups. Anyway, crunches will work your surface ab muscles AFTER you have those deeper muscles in place. If you haven't built that base, crunches will do absolutely nothing for you. 

So what can you do to build the deeper muscles? PLANKS! Do planks. Do them every day. Planks will work ALL your abs, including those in your lower back. I started doing 60 minutes of planks every month about a year ago, and I have not had back pain since. I used to be unable to play my violin for more than 20 minutes without the pain coming, and sitting in a chair has always been a problem for me. I also had trouble sleeping at night because of lower back pain, and let's not even get into the issues I had the last time I was pregnant. But now? Gone. Because I plank. I try to do at least 3 minutes every day, broken up into 2 or 3 sets. Do as many as you want for as long as you can, and you'll notice a difference. I've had people tell me they were even able to get rid of their belly pooch left by pregnancy. I can tell you this will do the most in getting rid of love handles for sure. Some other good deep ab workouts are things like hip raises and bridges. Do what you can until you feel the burn. 

4. Keep pushing yourself. Sometimes you'll get stuck in a rut. You'll start running and get to where you can go 2 miles and feel really good about that, or get to where you can plank for 60 seconds straight and feel really good about that, but after a while it's not doing anything for you anymore. You have to keep challenging yourself. When I run, I try to go farther or faster each time. It might only be 2 seconds faster per mile, but I pushed myself. When I plank, I try to go at least 10 seconds longer each time. I've had a goal of 3 minutes straight for a few months, and now that I'm back in the game I'm hoping to get there before my belly gets too big :)

5. Make it a priority. The only way you'll exercise every day is if you put it at the top of your to-do list. Before you go to bed, plan out when you're going to exercise the next day. Trust me, saying "oh I'll see how the day goes and when I can fit it in" will NEVER get you there. Something will always come up. But if you say "I'm going running at 9 am no matter what", and then you go DO it, well that my friends is called building a habit. 

6. Get a buddy. This gets rid of a lot of excuses people have about being lonely or being unmotivated. Plus it's fun to chat with someone while you work your body. Or complain to them about how bad it hurts :)

7. Reward yourself. Maybe not with cake or ice cream, but give yourself a pat on the back after you finish a crazy workout. I make a yummy peanut butter milk banana smoothie after my runs, and honestly there have been days where the only reason I've gone running is so I could have that smoothie. Or another idea - my husband told me if I got to a size 4 after my first child he'd give me $200 to buy new clothes. Let me tell you ladies, I did it :) Find something that works for you - maybe a movie night, a new CD (do people still buy CDs?), new clothes, whatever. Motivate yourself to work.

You know, I think I'm gonna call it good at this point. If you have any questions about anything I've outlined here, or if you have any additional suggestions, PLEASE let me know. I'd love to make this helpful to as many people as possible. And remember - I'm not an expert. This is just what's worked for me. Twice :)

Quinoa Zucchini and Carrot Muffins

Pinterest failed me last week. BIG time.

As I was making this recipe I kept thinking, this is SO MUCH butter, and it look SO WET that there's no way it will turn into muffins. I should have listened to myself.
Burned on the outside, sunken in the middle, and what's with all those air pockets? Terrible recipe. The comments on the blog all said it worked for them, so maybe I'm just broken, but it made no sense.

So I looked up muffin ratios and found that recipe to be WAY off in terms of baking powder, and there were way too many eggs and too much butter and way too much sugar.

Now this was the only such recipe I could find, and I was (and still am) determined to use up that 20 lb bag of carrots I bought at Costco, so I decided to come up with my own. And it turned out pretty good :) I'd like to try one more time and see if I can't perfect it, but here's what I have right now. They're a little heavy, so I'm thinking the zucchini wasn't quite wet enough and a little milk would help. Any muffin experts out there are welcome to chime in.

Jill's Quinoa Zucchini and Carrot Muffins
2 c flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/2 c butter
3/4 c brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 c grated zucchini
1 c grated carrots
1 c cooked quinoa

Mix all dry ingredients together in a bowl.
Cream butter and sugar, then add egg and vanilla. Stir in veggies.
Add dry ingredients to wet until mixed, then add cooked quinoa.
Divide into muffin cups.
Bake for 15-20 mins at 350 F.

Makes about 2 dozen.

Simple Spinach Artichoke Pizza

Lately I've been making food based on the hope of squashing a bad craving. The other night for dinner I was feeling like a huge plate of nachos. Probably not the healthiest choice. I started wondering how bad it would be to add spinach to nachos...that's when I decided I should probably make something that isn't cheese based.

I always start with spinach. It's one of the best veggies you can eat, loaded with iron and folate. And I just can't get away from the combination of spinach and mozzarella. Cheese is terrible for you, but sooooo yummy! Just don't eat too much, I guess :) But like I've said before - whatever you have to do to a veggie to get yourself to eat it, DO IT!

This took 5 minutes to prep and 2 minutes to cook.
Here's what I did:
1. Spread a (whole wheat) tortilla THINLY with ranch dressing.

2. Chop up a handful of spinach and throw it on the tortilla.

3. Add 1 or 2 artichoke hearts. I bought a really simple, cheap, store-brand can of artichoke hearts without any extra flavoring. They're quite yummy. Tear them up as you go so you can spread the leaves around a bit.

4. Grate some mozzarella on top.

5. Broil until the cheese is melted (or, if you're me, until you've turned around and helped your kids for 5 minutes so that by the time you pull it out the edges are charred).

Voila. So easy, so yummy, and tons of veggies. You're gonna need to fold the pieces in half to eat them, and they'll be messy anyway :)

How to Build a Healthier Dinner

I saw a great film a few years ago called "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead". Now, I'm not recommending that everyone go on a juice fast. It's definitely not something that will benefit everyone. But I do see the benefit in retraining your body to desire more vegetables, and whatever method you find that helps you reach that goal is great. For me it was froze veggies, and then smoothies. Now I just love veggies (obviously).

But here's the part of that movie that had the biggest impact on me:

This image shows the national average of food intake per day. The 60% stands for processed foods, including white bleached carb type products. Now look at this image:

This is how every plate you eat should look. Isn't it a little insane how much processed CRAP we put into our bodies? It's no wonder people are always lacking energy and getting sick.

So with all that in mind, here's how you should build EVERY meal:
Decide on a veggie
Come up with a protein that goes well with the veggie
Decide if you need carbs or not and choose wisely
Top it off with a HUGE glass of water

My example meal for this formula is the amazing dish I came up with last night. As it is July and our garden is ridiculous...

...my veggie choices are limited to basically zucchini. This worked out well, because we made zucchini chips the other day and had leftover breading. I. Love. Zucchini. So here is the recipe we (kind of) made for zucchini chips. Ours had more breadcrumbs than called for, and I would have liked more parmesan. Next time.

Choosing meat for me is really easy: Tilapia. Always tilapia. It's the easiest and quickest meat for me to cook, and I'm typically STARVING when I get around to making dinner. Also it's ridiculously good. Here's how I cook tilapia:

1. From the freezer, pull it out of the little vacuum pouch they sell it in and stick it on a plate in the microwave for 1 minute. Even if you're cooking more than one filet, 1 min should be long enough to defrost it.
2. Heat oil/butter in a pan over medium-high heat. I prefer butter, so I have to watch to make sure it doesn't burn. When your pan starts sizzling, it's likely hot enough.
3. Place your fliet(s) in the pan. They will sizzle A LOT so watch out. Season the tops however you want. I typically use lemon pepper or just salt with rosemary. Let them sear for about 2-3 minutes, until you can see the edges turning white.
4. Flip your filets and turn the heat down just a tad. Cover your pan with a lid and let them cook for about 3 minutes.
5. Check the solidity of your filets by squishing them with the flat of a spatula. If they start flaking apart, they're totally done. If they still feel kind of squishy, go ahead and flip them again. Also if you can see any pink in the vein be sure to flip them again to get that cooked.
6. If you poke the filet with the tip of your spatula and it cuts itself in half, it's done. If you end up cutting it in half and the middle looks gooey instead of flakey, let it cook a little more.

The breadcrumb overage from the zucchini actually worked out for the carb section of dinner. I said above that you should decide if carbs are necessary for you, and here's what I mean by that. Back when I decided to eat a lot healthier, I decided that the easiest way to cut down on calories is to come up with lunches that don't contain any carbs. I did it this way because I was cooking for my entire immediate family at the time, and with all the teenage boys I knew my healthy-style dinners wouldn't go over very well. Lunch was the meal I could control, so I did. I usually had a salad, or some kind of simple vegetable, or a green smoothie. Low carb lunches worked well for me because I NEED carbs in the morning to give me energy, and they're fine at dinner, but lunch is right before naptime, and the more veggies I ate, the longer I could stretch it out. I've never felt hungry in the afternoon eating this way, and allow snacks as long as they are fruits or vegetables. I was able to get rid of my bread dependency in this way, and that has really gone a long way in my weight loss/maintenance.

But let me say again: decide what works for you. If you can't survive without some carbs at lunch, try to cut down on the amount. I would recommend replacing carbs with a fruit or veggie that still has some but contains all that other good stuff to kind of cancel it out. A good choice is sweet potato or carrots. Also, try beans or quinoa as your carb - they double as protein!

At any rate, my typical formula for carbs in a day is kind of out the window right now. PREGO WOMAN NEED PASTA!!! So I made pasta. I got some of the colorful kind at Costco and whipped up some farfalla last night. Then I used this recipe for a light sauce. I LOVE this recipe. It's super light, but super tasty. And I got to use the leftover zucchini chip breading up in the pasta, so that was great. So let me clarify - I didn't follow this recipe exactly either. Instead of the whole breadcrumb-making section I just used what I had left from the zucchini. Also, I make breadcrumbs a lot more simply. I toast a piece of bread, then throw it in my Blendtec. Done.

So that is my lovely dinner. Pretty simple, and it only took about 30 mins to make.

Quick and Healthy and Oh So Yummy

I've had a few moments of inspiration this week so I thought I'd share. And let me remind you - my inspiration comes from looking in the fridge and seeing what needs to be eaten. It doesn't take much more than that to come up with something yummy.

First, a dish I'm going to call Cauliflower Creamed Spinach.

For starters, I have no idea what creamed spinach is. But I figure if you can sub cauliflower in for potatoes AND bread, why not cream?

I bought a head of cauliflower a week or so ago, planning to make some cauliflower sweet potato soup, which as been a hit in the past. But then I went to the farmers market store and found super cheap butternut, so I bought that, also for soup. When I got home I dug out the recipe book from the bag of sweet potatoes I bought in November (yes, they last that long, don't worry) and found a recipe for sweet potato butternut soup. Ok seriously? Needless to say the cauliflower got forgotten about. And that brings me to Monday, and trying to use up cauliflower for lunch.

I recently found a pin on Pinterest for cauliflower cheese sticks, which are basically bread sticks but with cauliflower instead of bread. Interesting. I decided to try it out, and it kind of failed. I was unable to keep the concoction from sticking to the pan, probably because of the copious amounts of spinach I decided needed to be in there. BUT it was super yummy! I decided to modify the recipe a little to my own tastes.

So here's what I did:
1. Rice (grate) some cauliflower. I did about 1/4 a head. Heat it in the microwave for about 5 minutes.
2. Chop some spinach. I used 3 big handfuls, whatever that equals in cups. Saute it in just a tiny bit of oil until it's all wilty and lovely.
3. Grate some cheese. I used about 1/2 c mozzarella. Love me some mozza!
4. Combine everything, and spread in a GENEROUSLY greased baking dish, about 9 x 5.
5. Broil for 5-10 minutes, until the cheese is bubbly and it starts to brown on top.

So easy! And so yummy :)

Sorry no pics! Next time I make it I'll add some.

My second dish I shall call Salsa Tacos

Again, I looked in the fridge. I had a pepper from the farmers market store that cost me a quarter and a bag of sliced onions from the roast Richard made on Sunday. Also the plethora of tortillas that I always have.

Light bulb.

The last time I made avocado chicken enchiladas we ate them every day for a week and never tired of them. And one of the reasons was the delicious mixture of peppers and onions whose smell I can still remember if I close my eyes. So this invention started with that lovely aroma - diced and grilling red peppers and onion.

So here's what I did:
1. Dice and grill 1 red pepper with about half an onion in olive oil. Grill it as long as you want. It smells better and better as it goes.
2. Heat 1 can of DRAINED AND RINSED black beans in a pot.
3. Once the peppers are grilled and the beans are warm, mix them together and add some frozen corn. Heat until it's all nice and warm.
4. In a skillet, toast both sides of a tortilla.
5. Grate some cheese.
6. Construct your food. I left it open because I knew my kids would want burritos, I would want mini tacos, and who knows what Richard would want. He ended up rolling his tortillas and scooping the mixture onto the end for each bite. My mini tacos were constructed by tearing the tortilla into 4 triangles and scooping the salsa in and topping it with cheese. It was fabulous.

This is a super easy way to turn a meaty meal into a vegetarian one, btw. I ate WAY more than I should have for lunch today, as you can see...but all I had for dinner was a bowl of green beans, so it evened out :)

Ok for those of you wanting to try fish...This is my FAVORITE.

Tilapia is the best food on the planet. I found some on sale at Winco for $3/lb and couldn't help myself. So here's what I did. Are you ready for the intense simplicity?
1. Grill the tilapia.
2. Heat some frozen broccoli in the microwave.

It. Was. Heavenly. As you can see in the picture I topped it off with a nice cool glass of veggie juice. I love veggie juice.

So there you go, three easy ideas. Buy tilapia if it's less than $4/lb, and keep a variety of fresh veggies on hand, and you should be able to come up with easy, healthy meals at any time :)

And for desert...Homemade Larabars!

These are incredible. I eat at least 4 a day. I'm 2 weeks into my no-sugar diet, and it's going well, mostly due to these delectable morsels. It started out as an experiment for marathon snacks, and I fully intended to freeze them and save them for my long runs in the summer, but everyone here likes them too much for that. Hey, if it gets my kids eating fruit I'm down. Let me just emphasize the best part of these snack bars: there is NO sugar in them! Just dates, nuts, and some flavoring. I love dates as sweeteners. The problem with processed/artificial sweeteners is that the body doesn't treat it in an incredibly digestion-friendly way. Pure sugar is turned into carbs and then into fat by the body, and your liver is really bad at processing it correctly, so you're not only gaining weight but damaging your liver. But the sugar found in fruits, WHEN EATEN WITH THE FRUIT (i.e. making smoothies rather than juicing), are digested properly and turned into energy that your body can use, rather than fat that, let's face it, goes straight to your hips.

Easy Vegetarian Dinner

We all need to eat more vegetables. That's just all there is to it. One way I've tried to get my family to do this is to make at least one meal per week that has no meat. This is what we had for dinner last night, and it was super easy and super yummy!

Hungarian Mushroom Soup

This soup is AMAZING! Well, if you like mushrooms. To make it truly vegetarian you should probably use veggie broth instead of chicken broth, but I'm a fan of doing that most of the time anyway. The fact is, chicken stock was on sale at Costco so that's what I ended up using.

Soups are one of the easiest ways to make a vegetarian meal. What I usually end up doing is looking around at what veggies I have that need to be eaten, then I google a soup recipe for that veggie. I can tell you right now that I have made some delicious soups out of sweet potatoes, cauliflower, butternut squash, pumpkin and split peas.

We paired this soup with some Brussels sprouts, which is basically all my son ended up eating, lol. My favorite way to cook these powerful veggies is to saute them in lots of butter with some salt. I admit, it would be better to do without all the butter. But here's the thing: If butter gets you to eat a vegetable that you would otherwise not be eating, I say add the butter. You can eventually wean yourself from it if you want :)

So that's just a quick idea of how you can have a vegetarian meal pretty simply. The more ideas you gather, the more able you'll be to come up with your own as you get used to playing around.