High Protein Peanut Butter Chocolate Smoothie, No protein powder

This smoothie recipe has NO protein Powder.  Protein powders contain very high amounts of free glutamate (MSG) and they make a lot of people have headaches, sweats, fatigue and other symptoms.  Plus they are not a whole food and highly processed. Here is a recipe that contains 21 grams of protein and stays around 300 calories. It's not a decadent smoothie, but it is tasty and healthy for you if you need to watch calories, carbs and increase protein and fiber.

1/2 cup Milk, (cow milk has most protein)
1/2 banana
1 or 2 tablespoons cocoa
1 tablespoon natural peanut butter
2 cups frozen greens (kale, Spinach, Chard)
1 envelope unflavored gelatin or 1 tablespoon.
1 tablespoon chia seeds
4 packets stevia  (sweeten to taste)
1 cup water
1 cup ice cubes (optional if you like your smoothies frosty)

Put in a high powered blender and blend.

~300 Calories
13 g fat
8.9 g fiber
29 g carbs
21 g protein

Get your Fall on! Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

It's not enough to have a pumpkin flavored cookie. There must also be spice to engage in the fullness of fall. That's why there's a lot of "fall" in my cookie recipe. This is my tried and true recipe I have been using for many years.

Preheat oven 375 F

just throw it all in a mixer:
1 C pumpkin
3/4 C sugar
1/2 C oil ( coconut of course!)
1 egg, from your own chickens (ok, from the store the fine.)
2 C whole wheat flour, That you just ground yourself. (or white whatever you have)
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
and 1 tsp vanilla,
then add
1 tsp cinnamon
and
2 cloves, whole (~1/16th tsp ground)
2 allspice whole (1/16th Ground)
1 tsp ginger
1/16 nutmeg
OR
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice.
and 1 cup of chocolate chips. Semi sweet is best.
Drop on cookie sheet and bake 10-12 minutes per sheet

Home made Seasoning Salt

I was checking my Seasoning Salt Label for MSG, like I do all my prepackaged foods, when it occurred to me how easy it would be to make it myself.  The ingredients are basic, and simple, minus a few unnecessary ingredients like anti caking silicon and coloring.  I love using seasoning salt because it ads a little extra flavor to dishes without a lot of complication.  Most likely you would be adding the spices contained within it to your dish anyway.  You will need a mortar and pestle or a high powered blender like a Blend Tec, or a vita-mix or a coffee/spice grinder, or use finely ground salts and spices to start with. To prevent settling, it's best to have all of the ingredient particles roughly the same size.

1. Salt
I like to use Redmonds Real Salt, it is minimally processed sea salt.  It maintains many beneficial minerals, that is why it is pinkish in color.
2. Chili Powder
I love a good chili powder,  Get one that is a nice bright red and smells like fresh chili's for best flavor.
3.  Pepper
I used fresh ground black peppercorn blend,  If you do not have a grinder or blender I would recommend white pepper.  the hard shell has been removed and it is very finely ground. Go easy on it though! Use roughly half what you would regular pepper.
4.Celery Seed
Celery seed is so savory and fragrant! If you are not already using this to season dishes, you should!
5. Onion
Use dry onion powder, or flakes if you are using a blender or mortar
6. Paprika
Ads more of that classic red seasoned salt color, plus a gentle heat.
7. Garlic
Use dry garlic powder.
Without the coloring added to this mix, the color will be more pink in the bottle, than red like commercial seasoned salt, a small price to pay...  It tastes just like it and this recipe will make enough to fill your old 8 oz seasoned salt container!



1/2 Cup Salt
2 Tablespoons Chili Powder
1/2 Tablespoon White pepper
1 Tablespoon ground Celery seed
2 Tablespoons Onion powder
1/2 Tablespoon Garlic

Grind any whole spices or flakes, or put the whole shebang in your blender.  It's that simple!
Happy Cooking!
-Valerie

6 Minute Hard Boiled Egg

I love a good fried egg but they can be tricky to get them just right. I do not like any part of my whites brown or chewy, and I don't like it runny either, but I prefer my yolks slightly runny, but not watery and never hard. If you agree with me, then what you are looking for is not a fried egg, but a six minute boiled egg.  

 Start a pot of boiling water with about 1 teaspoon of salt. Once it begins to rapidly boil, carefully place the eggs in the pot.  Immediately set your timer for 6 minutes and walk away.  As soon as the timer goes off, place your pot under cold running water and allow it to overflow into the sink until the water is all cool.

 Then you can break and peel your eggs. If you did it just right it will peel easily and will not break the whites.

 When you cut into your egg it will be creamy and just right.

 Not too runny or too hard. All of the whites will be cooked firm but not rubbery.

 MM, delicious! Put it on top of toast, or a biscuit and enjoy!

Micro Recipe: Brownie Pudding

There are a few reasons I came up with micro recipes.  For one, it's  great way to have portion control.  For another it can be cooked in the microwave, but the namesake really comes from how small the recipe is in terms of volume.  This recipe is an adapted version of my mom's 9x13 pan size.  This one can be done in the microwave in literally 1 minute!  It can also be cooked in the oven the good ole' fashioned way.  If you have ramekins you can make lots of little individual servings. I just cook mine in the microwave in a really big mug.  If you only have small mugs, I would recommend using 2 mugs or you run the risk of it boiling over the sides.  Put a plate under it, if you are unsure. 

4 TBL all purpose flour

3 TBL white sugar or splenda

1 tsp cocoa powder

1/2 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

Mix above dry ingredients

add to above

2 TBL milk, almond milk, soy milk or water

stir into a nice batter, and divide into 3 ramekins 2 regular mugs or 1 large mug

Then mix

 3 TBL brown sugar

1 TBL cocoa powder 

7 TBL hot water 

pour over the batter mix equally.  

For the microwave, microwave each mug 1 minute or until it bubbles to the top of the mug about to spill over.  Bake in a 350 degree oven for 15-20 minutes, until the batter rises to the top and has fully cooked.  Eat it warm and gooey.  It is easy and yummy, yummy delicious.  I have made this recipe a million times in the oven and you cannot tell the difference from the oven to the microwave in terms of taste and texture.  No, it's not healthy but sometimes it's mentally healthy to have a treat!   

-Val

     

Taco Soup

This taco soup is healthy and delicious.  It was a recipe i just threw together one day with what I had in the house, and now we eat it regularly.

First sautee a small or medium onion in 1 tbl of vegetable oil, and 2 large cloves of minced or pressed garlic.
Add 1 box of Pacific, free range Chicken Broth
1 can of black beans, rinsed
2 cans of water from the bean can
1 can of diced tomatoes, or 2 cups fresh chopped
1/2 cup of frozen corn
Optional 1-2 grilled and chopped chicken
Your favorite taco spices, I like
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp lime basil
bring all ingredients to a nice boil then reduce the heat and add
2 mashed avocados, I use a fork and rake it then scoop it out
lime juice, about 4-5 limes worth

Once all ingredients are added stir it up and serve. Do not cook the avocados or they will get mushy and brown. They simply need to be heated.  I like to serve it with fresh cilantro, crushed corn chips and plain yogurt or sour cream.  Enjoy!

Why this recipe is great

Beans: Beans are high in fiber and protein
Chicken Broth: Pacific chicken broth has no MSG, I highly recommend this brand for that reason
Avocados: High in healthy fats
Limes: Limes are alkalizing to the body and key to the great taste of this soup.

Asparagus Chicken with Mushrooms

"I am so glad that asparagus is in season again. My family loves asparagus, it is pretty much the only vegetable that my picky son would eat. In order to help him eat more vegetables, I created this healthy and tasty dish that he raves about how tasty vegetables can be..." Read more at Spicy Pursuits.

Stevia: The Sweet Herb

I could go on and on about all the things wrong with artificial sweeteners.  I mean volumes and volumes about how they cause cancer, they still make you fat and they give you diarrhea...  I'm not going to do that because you should know that a few calories is better than cancer.

Now, sugar addicts, don't despair.  You don't have to choose between eating your weight in calories from sugar or getting cancer and diarrhea!  You can try Stevia. Stevia has been around forever.  Why haven't you heard of it before then?  Well the FDA has claimed it wasn't a safe food additive. Why am I talking about it if the FDA didn't deem it safe?  Well the truth is the FDA did virtually no studies on it, therfore they did not deem it safe. It's not because they did study it and found it to be dangerous.  No, in fact many like myself believe that the reason they did no studies and even blocked it from being imported like it was some kind of crack is because it's an herb.  And you can't own the patents or copyrights on an herb.  Therefor there aren't many companies who would make massive profits on the hopes and dreams of overweight people, hoping to satisfy their addiction to sugar with a non calorie substitute.  If there are no companies making massive profits who's going to "give" you that vacation to Bermuda for 6 weeks?  (I am indeed an FDA conspiracy theorist)

So really stevia has been used forever as a sweetener, just not here (USA). If you google it online "stevia side effects", you may find some  references to a small study on lab rats where they had a slight decrease in testosterone.  I tend to believe that if you force feed anyone an excessive amount of anything it will have side effects.  But because Stevia is so sweet you only need the smallest amounts.

Now there are great Stevia products at the store.  My favorite and the most affordable is Sun Crystals. It has a small amount of sugar mixed in it.  They do this because the packets are equivalent to 2 tsp sugar in flavor and that much stevia is such a small amount it would be difficult to package.  Each serving is 5 calories.  It's really good in teas, coffee and makes really good lemonade. Just follow the recipe on the bottle of lemon juice and substitute Stevia.  You can even bake with it.  Unfortunately the flavor does not meld well with chocolate.  So I suppose we will all just have to continue using will power to keep ourselves from eating our weight in chocolate every month!

-Val

 
Sun Crystals All-Natural Sweetener, 50-Count Packets (Pack of 12)
Truvia Natural Sweetener 80 Pack