Time for Tex Mex Burgers

Well BBQ time is upon us in full force! With the thermometer rising, it’s a perfect time for me to share my take on a ‘healthified’ Tex Mex Burger.

Here’s what I do. Take some lean ground beef, add in some Tex Mex  seasoning, Worcestershire sauce and form patties, cut some colourful peppers into strips now you are ready for the grill.

Now get your BBQ Chef (Brent) to grill the burgers and peppers while you prepare the sides- homemade oven fries and a fresh vegetable salad and there you have it! A wonderfully yummy, colourful and nutritious meal. We added salsa to our burgers to go with our Mexican theme and they were delicious!  You could add some guacamole and jalapeno- which the BBQ Chef did!

Spaghetti Squash- Asian Style

It's soooooo cold outside- forecast for the weekend is -30 with the windchill, so what better way to warm up than with a steamy bowl of Asian inspired, nutritious and tasty Spaghetti Squash Stir Fry.

As you know, I have been trying to add more vegetables to our dinner table, and let me tell you... I think I finally found a way to enjoy this stringy squash!

You start off by cutting your squash in half, removing the seeds and baking it at 400F for about 45 minutes.

Now, this is the most fun... flip them over and using a fork, scrape the inside and see the magic happen! It all comes out like stringy spaghetti- hence the name!

Look at this amazing pile of golden nutrition! Now put aside and gather your other ingredients and ask Siri about the nutritional content of this delicious squash.

Seriously, that's what I did!

And look at the proof, Siri knows!

• 1 cup of spaghetti 491 calories

• 1 cup of Spaghetti Summer Squash, as she calls it, is 14 calories. unbelievable!!!! 

Now don't even start comparing the vitamin C content (15 times more)!

Now off to the Stir Fry pan. 

I assembled my choice ingredients. The original recipe this was inspired from had mushrooms (yuk for me), so I substituted with some sweet peppers and added some chicken breast for added protein. 

So here's how I did it.

Asian Inspired Spaghetti Squash 

(inspired by http://www.pickledplum.com/yakisoba-spaghetti-squash-recipe)

Ingredients:

• 1 small spaghetti squash 

• 1 sweet pepper chopped in strips
• 2 cooked chicken breasts, sliced

• 2 scallions, finely chopped

• 2 cup coleslaw mix of carrots and cabbage
• 1 cup bean sprouts

• 1 tbsp vegetable oil

• 1 tsp dried red chili, chopped (optional)

• 1 tbsp chopped peanuts
• 1 tbsp cilantro

• For the sauce:

• 2 tbsp soy sauce

• 2 tbsp hoisin sauce

• ½ tbsp hot thai chili garlic sauce

• Salt and white pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Cut spaghetti squash in half, scrape off the seeds with a spoon, place open side down and bake in the oven at 400Fº for 40-50 minutes.
2. Use a fork and scrape the flesh into strings.
3. In a large pan over high heat, add vegetable oil and cook the peppers, add coleslaw mix and red chile and cook for two minutes.
4. Add chicken and cook for another two minutes.
5. Add spaghetti squash, bean sprouts, scallions and sauce, and mix well until the sauce has evenly coated all the vegetables. Cook for two minutes and turn the heat off.
6. Transfer to a bowl, top with cilantro, peanuts and serve.

The Makings of an Incredibly Delicious Detox Salad Meal - Tools of the 'Veggie' Trade

Let me share with you a meal I recently made for my family, filled with healthy veggies, fruits and tons of nutrients. Turkey, ham and pineapple burger with Detox salad and homemade oven roasted fries- prepared with some great little kitchen tools.

Looks gorgeous right? You eat with your eyes, so here is a great way to make your meals exciting, ADD COLOUR and TEXTURE. In this meal, we have all the colours of the rainbow, crunchy, zingy, crispy, soft and juicy. And the flavours.... bright, tangy salad, crispy outside, tender inside oven roasted fries and smokey turkey burger with slightly salty ham and crunchy, sweet, roasted pineapple. Let me tell you, it was a huge hit with my family!

Here's how I did it.  Started with the washed veggies...

Brussel Sprouts and Potatoes.

Now here is a sweet little tool of the veggie trade that we just love. It's a little 'french fry' maker.

See what it does. You just need to apply a bit, no- a lot-  of pressure. Use those big muscles- and voila! Some gorgeous French Fries ready to be created.

This is how I prep them... Put oven to 430 degrees, spray a sheet pan with Pam, put your cut potatoes (yukon golds are good) on the pan, drizzle some olive oil, salt, pepper and paprika on them and then toss them with your hands until they are all coated. Make sure there is space between them, if the pan is too crowded, they will not crisp up.  Bake for about 20 minutes, then flip them and bake for another 10-15 minutes.

Now here's another neat tool (by the way, thanks to my Mom for these two lovely gadgets). It's a shredder, but it stands up, and the bottom has a little receptacle basket that holds the food you just shredded.

It comes with different blade attachments that you snap into place.

I used it to shred these baby brussel sprouts and shred some carrots too.

Here's the awesome detox salad created using my nifty kitchen gadgets. It's incredibly refreshing, bright and real good for you. I absolutely love the lemon juice!!!

Detox Salad (adapted from http://www.tastebook.com/recipes/3540122-Fall-Detox-Salad)

Ingredients:

• 18-20  brussels sprouts, washed and stems removed
• 2 large carrots carrots, peeled
• 1 apple, diced (I used Honeycrisp)
• 1 large celery stalk, diced
• 1/2 cup sunflower seeds
• 4-6 tbsp raisins
• 2-4 tbsp fresh lemon juice, to taste
• 1/4 tsp fine grain sea salt
• 1 tsp fresh parsley
• Pure liquid honey, to taste

Directions

1. Add the grate/shred blade to food processor. Turn machine on and drop in the brussels sprouts to shred. Now drop in the carrots to shred. Alternatively, you can finely chop brussels and shred carrots with a hand-held grater. Transfer to a large mixing bowl.

2. Stir in the diced apple, celery, sunflower seeds, and raisins into the carrot and brussels sprout mixture.

3. Add lemon juice, salt, pepper, and parsley to taste. Add a small amount of honey (about 1 Tbsp) to take the edge off the lemon juice. Sprinkle with cinnamon if desired. 

Let's Eat More Veggies!

That's right!!!! We all need to eat more veggies. According to healthy living experts, half of our plates should be made up of veggies- and the darker the better!  So that is my mission right now. Fill my family up with veggies. Funny enough (but not really, as everything happens for a reason), last night I watched a new show I PVR'd by one of my favourite 'healthy eating' Chefs- Jamie Oliver. His new show is called 'Jamie's Super Food' and he was saying just that! We need to eat more veggies, in fact, he was touring the world to explore the diets of the healthiest, longest-living individuals in the world (Costa Rica and Greece, if I recall) and their diets were filled with vegetables, whole grains, legumes, fish etc.... You know where I am going with this....

Well, before I even saw this show, I prepared my own version of  'half your plate should be veggies dinner' this week.

So here it is.

Taco Sweet Potato

                                    

Very simple really, all you need is to prepare your 'Taco meat'- it could be beef, chicken, turkey.... In the meantime, place sweet potatoes that you have pricked with a fork many times in the microwave for about 10-15 minutes (careful, very hot!!!!!)

Cut the sweet potato in half, place a couple of Tbsp of 'taco meat', add shredded cheddar cheese, place in microwave for another 30 secs to melt the cheese, then add your favourite toppings- salsa, low fat sour cream - CILANTRO ( my fave!).

To complete the dinner, I added some fresh cut veggies on the plate- and there you go....half - if not 3/4 of a plate filled with veggies. Enjoy making your own version!

Hello 2016, I'm back and ready for battle with my bottles

That's right, after a long pause in my healthy living journey, I am back and ready for battle.  I have updated the look of my blog, some pictures and captions 'Healthy Living Warrior' to reflect the way I feel right now!

It is a Journey, it is a daily Battle, and you have to be a committed 'Warrior' to succeed day after day. So I have committed to myself that 2016 is the year where I return to traveling along my healthy living journey. Key to success is planning and dedication, so I started with some fantastic ideas I took from Pinterest for Meal Prep Sunday.

Here's the final result....

So quite a bit of planning went into this undertaking. I purchased 12x1 Litre Mason Jars from my local Canadian Tire and I made a list of some of ideas I had for my Salad Jars.

Jar Salad Pointers:

Start with dressing, then hard vegetables that can soak in dressing for a few days, then softer veggies, then protein, nuts, then lettuce on top.

Jar Salad Ideas:

Asian salad dressing, edemame, peppers, chicken, shredded carrots, peanuts, romaine lettuce

Greek salad dressing, little tomatoes, peppers, quinoa, olives, cucumbers, feta, chicken, romaine lettuce

Italian dressing, broccoli, carrots, peppers, diced ham, romaine lettuce, hard boiled eggs

Raspberry vinaigrette, grapes, chicken, cranberries, apples, pecans, spinach 

Balsamic dressing, apple, celery, radish, walnut, lettuce

Fig balsamic dressing, blackberries, strawberries or blueberries, celery, cucumber, feta, almonds, spinach

Italian dressing, grape tomatoes, basil, baby bocconcini, romaine lettuce

Here was step one, getting all the ingredients needed. Nutrition, protein, colour and taste.

Now that everything was chopped, I did some assembly line work and packed the jars, but little labels on them so that my family could select the jars to bring to work and school this week. They should last about 4 days in the fridge... we shall see!

A special kind of Veggie

This is one of our new family favourites... always on the go, looking for a healthy alternative to chips, I present to you Garden Veggie Chips.

Brent found these during one of his trips to Costco. This box comes with 3 varieties that are fun and a 'cleaner' alternative to potato chips. Melanie loves the round, rippled ones, I like the straws myself.

Each bag contains 130 calories with a but of fibre, protein and fat. The ingredients are pretty clean as you can see and they are gluten free.

What I love though, is this Top 10 Reasons you will love sensible veggie snacks on the back of the box. Fantastic!

 

Coconut Water Mango Smoothie paired up with a delicious BBQ Burger and veggies, veggies, veggies

You know what I said in my last post, that half of my daily food intake should be made up of fruits and veggies. Well, let me show you a recent snapshot of my day. And yes, it did meet my fruit and veggie quota.

I made a delicious mango, banana and coconut water smoothie!

So thick and delicious, the rabbit straw just stuck right up in it!

 

And for dinner, a lovely BBQ burger, but check out the corn... yum, yum, yum, so good!!! We just grill it and get those delicious char marks, it really brings out the sweetness in the corn. And I made a delicious little Greek Salad with some peppers, cucumbers, carrots and a bit of feta cheese. Eating all your fruits and veggies sure brightens up your plate!

 

Roasting your Veg

Roasting your vegetables brings out their natural sugars and makes them taste absolutely delicious!

 Let me introduce you to the beautiful brussel sprout. WHAT???? I know, I used to hate them when I was younger. But now... it's all in the way you prepare them and they are delicious. Just look at the nutritional punch they pack!

"A 1-cup serving of cooked Brussels sprouts has only 56 calories and less than 1 gram of fat, but packs 1209 International Units of vitamin A, 97 milligrams of vitamin C, 219 micrograms of vitamin K, 94 micrograms of folate and 4 grams of dietary fiber. That's 24 percent of the daily value for vitamin A, 162 percent of the daily value for vitamin C, 274 percent of the daily value for vitamin K, 24 percent of the daily value for folate, and 16 percent of the daily value for dietary fiber." (source livestrong.com)

This is how I do it:
Cut them in half, rub them with canola oil, salt and pepper. Put them in a hot oven (425) and let them roast for about 15 minutes, flip them, and then for another 10 minutes, depends on the amount, size of pan etc.

Look how gorgeous they came out, I roasted a few carrots and green beans too. Yum, Yum.... yes, your family will eat their veggies too when you roast them like this, they're like candy!

Soupy Sunday- Roasted Butternut Squash Soup and Spicy Crunchy Chickpea Croutons

Happy Spring! On this first day of Spring, I thought I would give you one last taste of a warm and spicy Winter Soup.

Let's start with the fun part of this soup... have a look at these, the Spicy Crunchy Chickpea Croutons. Brent just loved them!

Here's the recipe:

Gold Rush Butternut Soup with Smoky Chickpea Croutons

(Adapted from http://www.mynewroots.org/site/2014/01/gold-rush-soup-chickpea-croutons

Ingredients:

1 large butternut squash

2 large yellow onions

8 cloves garlic

2 tsp. ghee or coconut oil, plus olive oil for garnish ( I used butter)

1 tsp. both sea salt and cracked black pepper (to taste)

3-4 cups vegetable broth

1 Tbsp. grated fresh turmeric or 2 tsp. ground turmeric powder

2 tsp. each fresh / 1 tsp dried rosemary and thyme (optional)

1 batch Smoky Chickpea Croutons (recipe below)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.

2. Peel and cube the butternut squash and place on a baking sheet. Peel and cut onions into quarters, add to baking sheet. Peel whole cloves of garlic and add to baking sheet. Drizzle with melted ghee or coconut oil and toss well to coat. Sprinkle with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Place in oven and roast for approximately 30 minutes until the squash is tender and the garlic is golden.

3. In a large blender pour 3 cups hot vegetable broth, turmeric (fresh or dried) and add the finely chopped rosemary and thyme. Carefully add the roasted vegetables and blend on high until completely smooth (let blender run for a minute or so). If the soup is too thick, add more broth to thin to desired consistency. Season to taste.

4. Pour soup into bowls and serve with a sprinkling of chickpea croutons and a drizzle of olive oil. If necessary, pour into a large pot to reheat if necessary. Keeps for 3 days in the fridge. Freezes well.

Smoky Chickpea Croutons

Ingredients:

3 cups or 2 cans cooked chickpeas – drained and well-rinsed

3 Tbsp. coconut oil

1 tsp. coarse sea salt

1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

2 tsp. ground cumin

2 tsp. smoked paprika or ground chipotle pepper

1 tsp. garlic powder

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F/200°C.

2. Spread chickpeas out on a clean tea towel and rub them dry, discarding any loose skins. Place the chickpeas in a medium bowl and toss with coconut oil, seasoning and spices until coated.

3. Spread the chickpeas on a large rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment paper and roast, stirring occasionally, until golden and crisp. This takes about 25-35 minutes. Please note that the chickpeas will crisp up outside of the oven quite a bit, so if they are still a little soft when you take them out of the oven, that is okay.

4. Remove from the oven. Let cool, and serve at room temperature. Store in an airtight glass container for up to one week.

Let's start at the beginning. First I roasted the veggies.

Then I rinsed and drained the chickpeas.

I didn't read the instructions properly, I thought it said to remove the skins on 'ALL' the chickpeas... that took a lot of time and I had to recruit my darling daughter to help.... but looking back at the recipe, it mentions to remove the 'lose' skins, oh, well, you live and learn!

There are the crunchy beauties, a real nice difference from the ordinary bread or cracker as the usual garnish!

 

Oh, and here is a closeup of the gorgeous golden soup. Nice, eh?

Amazing Chicken and Veggie Stirfry

When it's soooooo cold you just can't stand it anymore (like 18 days in a row of -30 C windshield factor), you need to turn to things in life that can give you warmth, like looking at old summer vacation photos, putting on your biggest sweater and socks and drinking lots of tea, sweating your head off doing a Zumba class.... or what I like to do- preparing a warm South Asian spicy Chicken and Veggie stirfry for you family!

So here's the colourful close-up. Don't you love the colours? Ya, you eat with your eyes!

I decided to combine some of the best flavours from other recipes that I have tried and loved. A mixture of chicken stock, soya sauce, hoisin sauce, sriracha, honey and a bit of sesame oil. Mostly chicken broth and then hits of all the others, to your taste. To make it a bit thicker, you can add a teaspoon of cornstarch to your mixture.

Because of the sesame oil, I thought I would amp up the taste and crunch factor by using some sesame seeds to top the dish. But you can't just put them on top, right out of the bag... oh no....

You need to lightly toast them in a pan. Turn it to medium-high and don't walk away.

Keep on stirring until they become this golden, nutty brown.

Next... put a bit of canola oil in your pan and cook your chicken then take it out of your pan to a plate.

Use tons and tons of veggies, stirfrying your thicker veggies first- my greens beans and carrots.

...then add your 'medium' hard veggies, like these colourful peppers.

...then your quick cooking softer veggies, cut up baby bokchoi. Then add the chicken and your prepared sauce and let the flavours all work together - about 3-5 minutes.

Ta-da! Here you have a warm and healthy stirfry (over basmati or whatever you like) sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds and ready to be devoured by your hungry family!

Soupy Sunday - Mulligatawnski Soup a fun twist on an old classic

Here's something your should try for your next Soupy Sunday, an alternative to a delicious spicy, fragrant soup. It's called the Mulligatawnski Soup, made by those 'cooky' sisters Janet & Greta Podleski. What I love the most here is the addition of Quinoa, my new favourite wonder food!

Mulligatawnski Soup

Adapted from Crazy Plates Cookbook by Janet & Greta Podleski

Ingredients:

1 tbsp butter or olive oil

1 cup each chopped celery, onions,and carrots

1 clove garlic, minced

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into 1 inch cubes

1 tbsp grated ginger root

2 tsp curry powder

1 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp ground gloves

4 cups chicken broth

1  19 oz can diced tomatoes drained

1/2 cup quinoa, dry

1/2 tsp pepper

1 apple, peeled, cored, and diced

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley or cilantro

3/4 cup light coconut milk

Directions:

Melt butter in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add celery, onions, carrots, and garlic. Cook and stir for 3 – 4 minutes until vegetables begin to soften and onions become translucent.

Add chicken and cook until chicken is no longer pink. Add ginger, curry powder, chili powder, cumin and cloves and stir for another 4-5 minutes.

Add broth, tomatoes, quinoa, and pepper. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to medium low. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes.

Add apple and simmer for another 5 minutes, stir in coconut milk and cilantro or parsley Heat for 1 more minute and serve hot.

Ok, big closeup! But I just really wanted to show you that it's so full of goodness, health and nutrition. I think anytime you can make a full, balanced meal in one dish, you have found a WINNER!