Fun Food Find Friday!!

Today our Fun Food Find is another wonderful bulk food item, Honey Taffy. In our home we love these taffy's. They have a few flavors. My favorite is the peppermint. When the kids got taffy from the parades over the 4th of July we were able to trade them with these taffy's. Just to see what the difference was in flavor I tried a peppermint taffy from the parade, I didn't swallow it just tasted it and spit it out. Then I tried a honey taffy. I was so amazed and the difference in taste! The honey taffy had ten times more flavor than the parade taffy. I love it when I find a healthier alternative that tastes so much better than the stuff that isn't good for you. Go try some for yourself and see.

You can find these at the health food stores.

Spaghetti Squash with Tomato Sauce

My oldest son loves spaghetti squash. He is the reason I'm growing it for the first time in our garden this year. He asks for it all the time. So I decided to try something new with it. I love this tomato mixture from the Chicken Parmigiana recipe I posted a while ago. So I decided to make just the sauce and put it on top of spaghetti squash. It was to die for! So extremely tasty! And yes ever since I made it this way he has asked for it even more. :] I hope you like it as much as we and He did.

Spaghetti Squash with Tomato Sauce

Ingredients

1 medium size spaghetti squash

1/2 medium onion, copped

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons butter (ICBINB spray)

2 cans garlic and onion diced tomatoes, undrained

2 teaspoons evaporated cane juice

1/8 teaspoon salt

3 to 4 tablespoons dried basil leaves

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions

Preheat oven to 400*F. Cut spaghetti squash in half length wise and remove seeds. Place round side up on a parchment lined cookie sheet and bake for 30 minutes or until a fork can go easily into squash.

While squash is cooking, make sauce. In a medium sauce pan cook onion and garlic in butter until onion is tender. Carefully stir in the undrained tomatoes, evaporated cane juice, salt, and pepper. Bring to boil, then reduce heat, and add dried basil. Simmer, uncovered for 10 minutes or until desired consistency, stirring occasionally. Then add Parmesan cheese and cook until cheese is well incorporated into sauce.

When squash is finished cooking remove from oven. While using a oven mitt, take a fork and scrap out the inside of the squash. Put some on plate, top sauce, top sauce with cheddar cheese and enjoy!

Wisdom Wednesday!!

I wanted to talk about different types of Lettuce today, or in other words, leafy greens. I found this article that I thought did a really good job. I really liked how she broke down some of the leafy greens individually. Go check it out!

Scone Nubbins

Growing up when ever we had Navajo Tacos, posted yesterday, my mom always made what she called Scone Nubbins from the left over dough. As kids we loved taking the small scones and dipping them in honey butter. It's always fun when you get to eat with your hands! We would eat them for dessert. My mom would also make extra and save them for breakfast the next morning. We would then eat them with some fruit. I do the same for my children. They love it just as much as I did! You make the dough the same way as the scones for Navajo Tacos.

Scone Nubbins

How to roll them out

Take a larger amount of dough than you would for a normal scone. Still roll it out about 1/4" thick. Then take a pizza cutter and cut dough into small bite size squares. Be extra careful while placing these into the oil. Turn over when edges start to turn brown. Because these are much smaller sometimes you will get a nubbin that puffs up like a ball. To get them to turn over I use a slotted spoon to help them turn. I also use the slotted spoon to get them out so the excess oil can drain. Let cool slightly on a napkin covered plate. Dip or over with honey butter and enjoy!

Scones/Navajo Tacos

My Aunt Donna married a Navajo. I loved going to their home every summer growing up and eating her fry bread. Oh it was so yummy! Unfortunately I do not know how to make fry bread, but I still love Navajo Tacos. So this is how I make them. Actually is it also the way my mom makes them. They are still very yummy. I used to use only have a batch of the dough for the scones but I've experiment and found out that the scones freeze really well. So make tons of scones and put the extras in the freezer for a quick meal another day when we need it.

Navajo Tacos and Scones

Ingredients

2 cups warm water

1/3 cup honey

1/3 cup oil

2 tablespoon yeast

2 teaspoons salt

5 cups whole wheat flour

Directions

Take 1/2 cup of the warm water and pour into a bowl, add yeast and let double in size. Put the remaining 1 1/2 cups warm water into the bowl of your mixer. Add honey and stir completely until honey is dissolved. Then and oil and salt and mix. When the yeast has doubled and when you tilt the bowl slightly and no yeast sticks to the bottom, add to the mixing bowl with one cup of flour and mix well. Then add 2 more cups of flour and slowly mix it in. Add remaining 2 cups of flour and then kneed for 10 minutes. While dough is kneading heat oil in deep pan on stove. I usually set my stove to medium to medium low and let the oil take it's time to heat up. That way the oil will not get too hot too quick and burn your scones.

When dough is finished kneading let rest for 5 minutes. With greased hands and surface, roll dough out about 1/4" thick. Gently place dough into oil. When edges start to turn brown turn over. When cooked on both sides let slightly cool on a plate covered with napkins to catch extra oil dripping off.

Top with favorite Chile, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, sour cream, etc.

For dessert top with honey butter.

Fun Food Find Friday!

I just found these Nut-Thins, so they are our Fun food find for today. They are gluten free and I was surprised at how much flavor they have. They are a very good gluten free cracker. The only ones my kids couldn't handle were the BBQ ones. They have a tons of flavor and were a little too strong for them. I thought they were good. :]

I've seen these at the health food stores and at WinnCo. I haven't looked for them in other grocery stores yet.

Cumin Turkey Burgers

I've realized that I'm not the best at taking pictures of the food that I make. I'm sorry about that, and I'll work on it. To me this turkey burger really doesn't look that good, but they are so extremely yummy!! It took me a couple of tries to get these just right. Now I've made them so many times this summer. I love that they are very quick to make, so if some friends what to get together for a BBQ I can say sure I'll come and not have to worry about not being able to eat any of the food. I wanted to make it look like a normal burger in the picture but really I use lettuce as a bun instead of the bread.

Cumin Turkey Burgers

Ingredients

1 egg

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons bragg's liquid aminos

2 tablespoons worcestershire sauce

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon mustard powder

1/4 teaspoon chili powder

3/4 cup smashed/crushed GF crackers, I always use these

1 pound ground turkey

Directions

In a bowl combine egg, garlic, bragg's, worcestershire sauce, cumin, mustard, chili powder, and crackers. Then add ground turkey and combine well. It will be sticky. Form turkey into patties, you may need to put a little water on your hands to keep the turkey from sticking to it. Put patties on a glass plate and put into fridge to cool until ready to cook (if you use a paper plate the patties will stick to it).

Cook on grill until no longer pink in the center, about 4 minutes on both sides. An instant-read thermometer should read 165*F when put into center of patties. Serve on whole wheat buns with your favorite toppings and enjoy!

Wisdom Wednesday!!

How to make:

Organic Powdered Sugar

When I tell people that I make my own powdered sugar they don't think it is really that easy. But it really is. So today for our Wisdom Wednesday I'm going to show you step by step how I make it at home using only a few things that most kitchens have.

To start off with, this is what you will need:

A basic blender, really this is all I use, Evaporated Cane Juice, Corn starch, one cup measuring cup, and one tablespoon.

First, take one tablespoon of corn starch,
and put it into the blender.

Next, take one cup of evaporated cane juice,

and put it into the blender.

Then place lid on blender and turn it on to the highest setting it has.

It will then start to work it's magic. Sometimes to speed up time I will tilt the base of the blender while holding the top on so the blades will continue to blend.

See it start to turn a little white.

After about 3-4 minutes, or less depending on if you tilted or not, it will look like this.

And there you have it, organic homemade powdered sugar.

I keep mine in jar on the counter for quick access. I usually make 2 or 3 batches at a time unless I need it for frosting, then I'll make more. I've never tried to double a batch. I've only done one cup at a time. I don't think my blender could do it and do a good job. Maybe a vita mix could do a double batch?

That's it, really that is all it takes. Only a few minutes and you have a healthier and much cheaper alternative! Happy Healthier eating!

Low Gluten Pancakes and Pancake Mix

I've been experimenting with my low gluten flours trying to come up with a low gluten pancake mix, well here it finally is! They are nice and fluffy, just like a pancake should be. And very yummy too!

Low Gluten Pancake Mix

Ingredients

6 cups LG flour mix

7 tablespoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon xanthan gum

Directions

Put all ingredients into a large bowl. Combine extremely well. Place into a #10 can until ready to make pancakes.

Low Gluten Pancakes from Mix

Ingredients

1 cup LG pancake mix

1 cup rice milk

1 tablespoon oil

1 egg

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)

Directions

Pre heat griddle to 375*F. Mix all ingredients well in a bowl. Pour medium round circles of batter onto griddle. Turn over when bubbles begin to pop and edges begin to dry. Serve warm with syrup and enjoy!

Fun Food Find Friday!!

Today's Fun Food Find I introduced yesterday. I know I probably should have waiting, but I was so excited about the ice cream sandwiches I really couldn't help it! Rice Dream and Almond Dream Frozen Desserts. So far there isn't a flavor that haven't liked, and so far I've only seen gulten free flavors. When I saw the Praline Crunch a few weeks ago I had to buy it. Growing up my most favorite flavor of ice cream was Pralines and Cream. I had it in ice cream cake every year for my birthday. When I tried Praline Crunch, I was extremely surprise at how similar it was to the real thing! I was completely satisfied. So now for my birthday this year I'm going to experiment and try to make my self a ice cream cake!
I've only seen these at the health food stores.

Ice Cream Sandwiches

Was the wait too much for you? :] These ice cream sandwiches are so incredibly delicious! The cookies, from Tuesday, are so soft and chewy similar to store bought ice cream sandwiches. But remember these are practically fat free! Even after 6 weeks of being in the freezer the cookies are immediately soft while the ice cream stays frozen. They didn't taste like freezer burn either!!

I used Rice Dream and Almond Dream 'ice cream', though it is really dairy free. There are many different varieties. The ones I like the best so far in the ice cream sandwiches are; Mint Carob Chip, Carob Almond, Strawberry (my children really liked this one), and vanilla. I haven't tried praline crunch yet, it's just my favorite one and I wanted you to see one of each brand. :]

Ice Cream Sandwiches

Ingredients

Chocolate Chocolate cookie, found here

Your choice of ice cream

Plastic rap

Directions

Take two cookies that are similar in size (make sure they are completely cooled down). Flip them over. Take a scoop of slightly melted ice cream and place it in the middle of the bottom side of one of the cookies. Take the second cookie and place the bottom of it on the opposite side of the scoop of ice cream. Slightly smash cookies together until the ice cream comes to the edges of the cookies. Wrap in plastic rap, place on a cookie sheet, and put in freezer. Do not stack them until the ice cream is frozen again. Once the ice cream is refrozen you can take the ice cream sandwiches off the cookies sheet. Enjoy this extremely low fat, low gluten, guilt free treat!

Wisdom Wednesday!!

For today's Wisdom Wednesday I wanted to share will you a web site that I use. It is nutritiondata.self.com. I love this site! Well to be honest I haven't really used most of the site. I mostly use the nutritional info it gives on food. It truly is amazing! You type in what the foods name and it will give you a list of what comes closest to what you are looking for. For example if you type in Kale, it will give you a list of... Kale, Frozen or Kale, Raw. Once you find what you are looking for you click on it. Then it gives in detail what is in the food, minerals, vitamins, glycemic index, and so on. It is fun to see what is or isn't in the food you eating. This is and would be a good site for someone who is just becoming a vegan or has to cut all dairy out of their diet. They would be able to search on here the foods they are mostly eating and see what essential vitamins and minerals they are lacking or missing completely out of their new diet. Having said that there is one thing to remember when you look at the values of the food, This sites information is based on if the food has been grown in good soil and does have all of what it is suppose to. It is based on how the food should be but maybe not how it really is depending on how or where the food was grown. Anyhow, I like this site and I hope you find it as helpful as I have. Happy Healthier Eating!

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

If you are in the mood for some Chocolaty (well really carob), deliciously chewy on the inside, slightly crunchy on the outside, melt in your mouth, should make you feel guilty but are practically fat free cookies, well then you've come to the right place! I love these cookies!! They don't last very long, and I never tell people what is in them until after they have eaten them. You would never guess that they are very healthy for you. When I first saw the original recipe here I just knew I could 'fix' it. Oh and after you make them, keep some hidden. On Thursday I'll tell you why you should, oh I can't to show you why!! You'll LOVE it!!

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

3/4 cup LG Flour mix

1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon guar gum or xantham gum

1 cup carob chips

3 tablespoons black bean puree

1/2 cup evaporated cane juice

3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 egg

1/4 cup organic powdered sugar

Directions

Combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. Melt 1/2 cup of carob chips over low heat. Cream beans and evaporated cane juice in a mixer. Add melted carob chips and vanilla; beat in egg. Then add flour mixture and remaining carob chips and mix. Cover bowl with plastic rap and place in freezer until firm, about 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350*F. Put organic powdered sugar into zip lock bag. Take bowl out of freezer. Using a spoon, spoon out small balls of dough, about 1 inch. Put balls into organic powdered sugar, one at a time, close the bag, and shake until ball is covered. Place onto slightly greased cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

*I like to put the dough back into the freezer inbetween baking. That way the dough stays nice and cold before baking to prevent too much spreading.

Whole Wheat Version

Ingredients
3/4 cup whole wheat flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 cup carob chips

3 tablespoon black bean puree

1/2 cup evaporated cane juice

3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 egg

1/4 cup organic powder sugar

Directions
Follow the same directions as the Low Gluten Version

Whole Wheat Bread

Five years ago when I decided to take the first step in eating healthier, meaning I cut out refined sugar and white flour, I needed a good recipe for homemade whole wheat bread. So of course I called my mom. She was on her way somewhere in the car. I remember that because after I asked her if she knew of a good recipe she said something like this, "Um, I don't know, just try this..." and then proceeded to give me this recipe. I tried it, it was good, and then I remembered she just gave it to me off the top of her head! She is amazing!! So is this bread, so very yummy! When I make it, it's hard to make it last. My children and husband can't keep their hands off it. Which is really okay by me, that just means it's good.

There are a few little tricks for making homemade whole wheat bread. First, the wheat it self. To really achieve the best flavor you need to mix equally hard red wheat and hard white wheat. I usually do this as I'm grinding it at home. If you buy your flours already ground, then just mix them when you add the flour to the recipe. Trust me, your bread will be so much better you'll never go back! Second, after you let your dough rest for a few minutes after kneading, it really helps if you roll out your dough flat, like you would if you were making cinnamon rolls. Then fold the dough over and over it's self, making sure not to add any extra air, then placing the dough in the loaf pans. I know this sounds weird. A woman in my neighborhood who makes about 6 loafs a week told me to do this. I was amazed and how well it works. By doing this you roll out most of the air pockets so when your dough rises in the loaf pans you won't get huge pockets that make it hard for your honey to stay on your bread. Third, you really need to use vital wheat gluten and dough enhancer. It makes a huge difference. I forgot to add it the last time I baked some bread, see the picture above, and the top of the bread fell a little bit. Not the prettiest bead that's for sure. It will still taste good, and if you don't have it you can still use this recipe. It just helps the structure of the bread making it hold better for sandwiches and things like that.

So there you have it. Now you can impress your family and neighbors with the best homemade whole wheat bread they've ever had, Enjoy!

Whole Wheat Bread

Ingredients

2 cups warm water

1/3 cup honey

1/3 cup oil

2 teaspoons salt

2 tablespoons yeast

5 cups whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon vital wheat gluten

1 teaspoon dough enhancer

Directions

If you have instant yeast then add it after you add your first cup of flour. Otherwise pour 1/2 cup of your warm water into a bowl and add yeast. Then pour the remaining warm water into your mixer and add the honey to it. Stir honey until completely dissolved. Then add oil, salt, and mix. When the yeast has risen and when you slightly tip the bowl and the yeast is no longer stuck on the bottom of the bowl it is ready to add. After the yeast is added, add 2 cups of the flour and mix slowly. Once incorporated add the vital wheat gluten and dough enhancer and add another 2 cups of flour and mix well. Add the final cup of flour and let your mixer kneed for 10 to 13 minutes on high. Preheat oven to 400*F.

After kneading let rest for about 5 minutes. Then divide dough in half. Take first half and roll out on a slightly greased surface with a rolling pin to about to 1/2 inch thick. Pick dough up off of the surface and let dough relax. Then fold dough length wise, making sure not to add any air between the folds. Next fold cross wise putting the folds under on the bottom. This way you won't see any of the creases from the folds. Place dough into a greased loaf pan. Repeat with second half of dough. Let raise until double in size. Bake for 20 minutes. Let cool and enjoy!!

Fun Food Find Friday!!

This week our fun food find is another bulk item, Jelly Beans. A few years ago at Easter time I was looking for some healthier candy for my children. I didn't want them missing out on the fun traditions, and I didn't want to have all of the refined sugar either. These jelly beans were perfect! They are made with evaporated cane juice and are very good. Again these are not as colorful as regualr jelly beans because they do not have all of the food coloring. But they are just as good. We also use these to put in the middle of our home made suckers.

You can find these in the bulk sections of Health Food stores.

Barbeque Chicken Loaf

My kids love meat loaf. I've been wanting to try other types of meat in loafs. When I saw this recipe I thought it sounded good and I've never used ground chicken before. I changed the original recipe so much that I have also changed the name. I really enjoyed this. To me it was a different take on BBQ chicken. My kids loved it! In fact my oldest, who is 6, has asked me to make it several times. I don't use loaf pans when I make my meat loafs. I like it a little better flat, cut into squares, but that is just me. Enjoy something different!

Barbeque Chicken Loaf

Ingredients

1 pound ground chicken

2 eggs

1 small onion, minced

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 teaspoons ketchup

4 teaspoons honey barbeque sauce
1 1/2 cups Gluten free multi grain crackers, crushed

Directions

Preheat oven to 350*F. In a large bowl combine the chicken, crackers, egg, onion, and garlic. Mix together, then add ketchup and barbeque sauce. Mix well and pour into a bread loaf pan or casserole dish. Bake in preheated oven for 50 minutes. Remove and spread extra honey barbeque sauce on top, just enough to cover. Put back in oven and turn oven off. Let sit in hot oven for an additional 15 minutes.

Wisdom Wednesday!!!

Snacking

I like to keep a food journal. Every night I write down what I've eaten for the day, everything, even my water consumption. Doing this helps me to see what foods make me feel good or bad, what foods my body can handle, etc. Over this past weekend, a holiday weekend, my food journal was interesting. I wasn't eating really bad things for me like refined sugars or anything, but I didn't feel very good. It was only yesterday that I realized that I was eating too much, even of the good things like fruit. I was snacking too much through out the day. Then a few days ago I saw a segment on Studio5, a local television show, by Melanie Douglas. It was all about snacking. She had some extremely interesting findings.

Melaine said that if you eat 100 extra calories a day (which is like a candy bar) it can lead to a 10 pound weight gain per year. If you eat an extra 250 calories per day (which is like a Zbar) it can lead to a 2 pound weight gain per month. And if you eat an extra 500 calories a day it can lead to a 1 pound weight gain per week. That is so crazy to me! I had never thought of it that way before. The one thing that really hit home for me was when she was talking about how even snacking on healthy snacks can lead to these extra calories. She gave an example of someone eating 8 grapes, 1/4 of a banana, crust of a peanut butter and jam sandwich, 3 bites of mac-n-cheese, 1 handful black licorice, 4 crackers, 2 hard candies, and 3 dark chocolate squares. All of these added up to 502 extra calories! Of course there are some things in that example that I don't eat and would not eat like the hard candies and the mac-n-cheese. But Melanie makes a good point when she said that little bites here and there add up and even though fruit and veggies are good for you and a better choice than the other snacks foods, just be aware of what you are eating and how much. It really does make a difference. And if you know what you are eating and how much through out the day you can add more exercising into your schedule to help balance it out. To see more of Melaine's segment or more examples you can go here. And remember happy healthier eating, even with snacking!

Grilled Honey-Soy Chicken

I eat a lot of grilled chicken. So when I find different marinades for grilled chicken I get excited and want to try them. This one is very good and I only had to change it a little to make it more healthy. It is great as a sandwich, shown in picture above with Crusty Boule Rolls, or to eat it alone is wonderful too.

Grilled Honey-Soy Chicken

Ingredients

1/3 cup orange juice

2 tablespoons Braggs

2tablespoons honey

1 teaspoon lemon-pepper seasoning

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon garlic powder

4 medium boneless skinless chicken breasts, or 7 chicken tenders (I used the chicken tenders)

Directions

In a shallow glass dish combine orange juice, braggs, honey, lemon-pepper, ginger, and garlic powder, set aside. Place each chicken breast between 2 piece of plastic wrap. working from center to the edges, pound lightly with the flat side of a meat mallet to an even thickness. Remove plastic wrap. Place chicken pieces in marinade. Cover and chill for 4 to 6 hours or overnight. Remove chicken from marinade, reserving marinade. To grill, place chicken on an uncovered rill directly over medium heat. Grill about 12 minutes or until tender and no longer pink. Turning and brushing chicken with marinade only once. Discard any remaining marinade. Serve on buns or enjoy on it's own.

Crusty Boule Rolls

I was very happy when I saw on their (Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a day) web site that you can also make rolls out of the Gluten Free Crusty Boule dough (my changes found here). It's so easy you bake them the same way you would for the loafs. Very simple and a great addition for dinner!

Fun Food Find Friday!

The fun food find today is pretty much a staple at our house. Stretch Island Food Company's fruit leather. I do make my own fruit leather but it doesn't last long around my house and these are just fruit so just as healthy as my homemade ones. They are very good and extremely easy to carry around with you. I keep them in our pantry, my purse, the car, 72 hour kits, and church diaper bag. My niece knows that I keep treats like this in my purse so when ever she sees me with my purse she asks if she can have a treat. It's so cute!

You can find these at all of the health food stores and some conventional grocery stores. But the cheapest is once again at Costco. Happy healthy snacking!

Pineapple-Orange Crepes

Oh my goodness I loved these crepes!!! The syrup tasted almost like butterscotch, which I love, with hints of sweetness from the fruit. The next day I put the syrup on pancakes and it was delicious! I got the original recipe here. Something that I changed after taking this picture was cutting the fruit smaller. It was fine for me, but my children didn't like how big the chunks were.

Pineapple-Orange Crepes

Crepes

Ingredients

1/2 cup barley or whole wheat flour

1/3 cup rice milk

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon finely shredded orange peel

1/3 cup orange juice

2 teaspoons applesauce

Directions

In a small mixing bowl combine flour, rice milk, egg, orange peel, orange juice, and apple sauce. Beat with beater until well mixed. Heat a lightly greased 6-inch skillet over medium heat. Spoon 2 tablespoons of the batter into the skillet; lift and tilt the skillet to spread batter. Return to heat; brown on one side only. Invert pan over paper towels; remove crepe. Repeat with remaining batter, greasing skillet occasionally. Fold each crepe in half, browned side out. Fold in half again forming a triangle. Place in a single layer on a baking sheet. Keep crepes warm in a 300*F oven while making syrup.

Syrup

Ingredients

1/2 of a fresh pineapple, peeled, cored, and sliced small (about 3/4 cup)

4 tablespoons butter (ICBINB spray)

1/2 packed organic brown sugar

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1 cup orange juice

1 medium orange, peeled, sectioned, and cut small (about 1/2 cup)

2 tablespoons vanilla extract

Directions

In a medium sauce pan melt butter. Stir in organic brown sugar and cornstarch. Add orange juice, cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Cook and stir for 1 minute more. Add pineapple and orange sections. Cook over low heat, stirring gently, until heated through.

Arrange folded crepes on dessert plates. Spoon sauce over crepes.