Green Drink!

Green Drink!

This last week I started a regimen of oil that are supposed to help detox your system and flush out fat (will post more about that later...) and in conjunction with the oils cleanse I've been drinking this Green Drink suggested by my doctor!

It's so very easy to prepare! I've had one nearly every morning on my way to work this week.

Here is the recipe:

1 1/2 frozen bananas
1 cup of grapes (or other fleshy fruit)
2 fistfuls of spinach (or kale, I use both)
1 tsp of milk thistle
1/4 cup of flax seed (I use approx. 1/8 cup of flax seed meal)
1-2 cups of water depending on consistency preference

This Green Drink is surprisingly delicious and fills me up without having to eat breakfast too! Note, adding blueberries to it is delicious but it turns the drink a brownish purple color! Lol :) 

Kale, bacon & onion

I've been working lately on eating healthier, especially homegrown food and when I heard a friend still had kale growing in her garden I asked for some! 

Kale is a leafy green that is packed with flavonoids which have antioxidant and anti-inflamatory benefits. It's called a "super food" that can help lower cholesterol, detox your body, and lower your chances of certain cancers!!

She said she loves to sautée the kale with a little bit of bacon and some onion. So this week I tested it out!

It was delicious! Thank you Gaytha for the fresh kale from your garden! 

Tips on cooking kale: cut the stem out from the middle of the leaf, it can be very tough and difficult to eat. Please let me know if you have other recipes that include kale!

Country Stuffed Pork Loin

Ingredients:

Cooking spray

1/2 cup diced onion

1/2 cup diced carrots

1/4 cup diced celery

1/2 cup diced apple

1 teaspoon ground pepper

1 teaspoon salt

1 pkg seasoned croutons

2 large eggs

1/4 cup water

3 tablespoons olive oil

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Beat eggs in a bowl and then pour package of croutons into the same bowl. Add 1/4 cup of water and mix, then set aside.

Meanwhile, heat a nonstick skilled with 2 tablespoons of oil over medium heat. Add onion, carrots, celery, apple, pepper and salt; cook 10 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally. Add diced apple; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add this apple mixture to the bowl with the croutons and mix it all together; set aside.

Okay, I'm not going to try to explain how to cut the pork loin...you should watch this video on youtube! (Stuffed Pork Loin Recipe: How to Prep Meat for Stuffed Pork Loin) I watched all the videos on the stuffed pork loin that I could find from the company that posted this video to learn now to to this recipe! You may do the same! (I've changed up the recipe just a little, but it does help to see it done rather than just read it!)

Sprinkle salt on the cut pork loin. Spread stuffing over pork, leaving a 1/2-inch margin around edges. Roll up pork, jelly-roll fashion, starting with a long side. Secure at 2-inch intervals with twine. You can also watch how to tie the twine near the end of the video linked above. If you don't have twine, you can use skewers to poke through the meat and hold it in place.

Place stuffed pork loin into a pan coated with cooking spray, opening side down. Bake at 450 degrees for 20 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees and bake additional 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a thermometer registers 155 degrees.

Remove and let pork stand about 10 minutes. Slice pork into 1/2-inch-thick slices and serve. Makes anywhere from 8-10 servings.

Calories 249; Fat 8.3g (sat 2.9g); Sodium 567mg

Salad & Shepherd's Pie (minus the lamb)

This simple salad and extremely easy rendition of Shepherd's Pie can be a quick fix for busy evenings!

Salad Ingredients:
Romaine Lettuce
Cherry Tomatoes
Red Onion
Carrots

Preparation:
Chop and combine all ingredients in a bowl and serve! :)


Shepherd's Pie Ingredients:
1 lb 93% lean ground beef
1 1/2 cups frozen baby vegetable mix (such as Birds Eye)
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes with basil, garlic, and oregano, undrained
1 (8-ounce) can no-salt-added tomato sauce
2 cups country-style refrigerated mashed potatoes
Cooking spray
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper


Preparation:
Preheat broiler. Cook beef in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until browned, stirring to crumble. Add vegetable mix, tomatoes, and tomato sauce. Cook 5 minutes or until mixture is slightly thick and thoroughly heated, stirring occasionally. While beef mixture cooks, place potatoes in a microwave-safe bowl. Cover with plastic wrap; vent. Microwave at HIGH 2 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Spoon mixture evenly into each of 4 (8-ounce) broiler-safe ramekins coated with cooking spray. Top evenly with potatoes; sprinkle with pepper. Place ramekins on a baking sheet. Broil 2-3 minutes or until potatoes are golden. Yield 4 servings (serving size: 1 pie.)

Calories: 305; Fat 10.7g (sat 5.6g), Protein 20.6g, Sodium 490mg


This recipe was taken from my favorite cookbook at the moment: Cooking Light: fresh food superfast.

Just a side note: this recipe was the first time I've ever used the broiler setting on my oven! Please be sure that the dishes you use in the oven are safe to broil! :)

A new take on "Grilled" Cheese

This FUN & easy grilled cheese isn't any special or low cal recipe, but I wanted to share it because I think anyone would enjoy it, especially someone with kids!

Ingredients:
Cheese (American or cheddar or other)
Wheat bread
Butter flavored cooking spray
Optional ingredients: Picante sauce, ham, turkey, pineapple

Preparation:
This sandwich is made like any normal grilled cheese, but instead of cooking it in a pan on the stove top you'll heat up your waffle iron.

Preheat the waffle iron. Place cheese (and any of your optional ingredients) on the bread. Coat waffle iron with cooking spray and place sandwich on waffle iron. If cooking multiple sandwiches, you can cook them in batches. Cook 4-6 minutes or until cheese melts and bread is toasted. Serve with picante sauce or enjoy as is!

Honey-Laced Blueberry Parfait

Ingredients:

1 (6-ounce) carton French vanilla low-fat yogurt (such as Yoplait Light Thick and Creamy)

1 (6-ounce) carton blueberry low-fat yogurt (such as Yoplait Light Thick and Creamy)

1 1/2 cups frozen fat-free whipped topping, thawed

3 cups (1-inch) cubed angel food cake

2 cups blueberries

1 tablespoon honey

1/ cup honey-almond flax cereal (such as Kashi GoLean Crunch!), coarsely crushed

Preparation:

Combine yogurts in a bowl; gently fold in whipped topping. (or just whip it up, like I do!)

Layer about 1/3 cup angel food cake, 1/4 cup blueberries and 1/3 cup yogurt mixture in each of 4 dessert glasses. Repeat procedure once. Drizzle honey evenly over parfaits. Top evenly with cereal. Serve immediately. Yield 4 servings. (Serving size: 1 parfait)

Calories: 359; Fat 2.6g (sat 1.1g); Protein 9.7g, Sodium 379mg

These are sooooooo delicious!! They're not the lowest calorie dessert, but it is a better alternative to other options that are out there.

Chili-Cheese Sweet Potato Fries

This fun food can be served as an appetizer or as a meal, and it's pretty tasty!

Ingredients:
1 (20-ounce) package frozen julienne-cut sweet potato fries
Butter-flavored cooking spray
1 (15-ounce) can vegetarian chili with beans (such as Hormel)
1 cup (4 ounces) reduced-fat shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/4 cup sliced green onions




Preparation:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Arrange fries on a large rimmed baking sheet. Coat fries with cooking spray. Bake at 450 degrees for 18 to 22 minutes or until crisp. (As you can see...I almost burnt ours!)
While fries bake, cook chili in a small saucepan over medium heat 3 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Transfer fries to a serving platter, or individual dish, spoon chili over fries; sprinkle with cheese and green onions. Serve hot. Yield: 6 servings.

Calories: 282, Fat: 11.5g (sat 3.5g), Protein: 10.5g, Sodium: 381mg.

Tomato-Cucumber Salad

Ingredients:

2 cups chopped cucumber

2 cups quartered cherry tomatoes

1/4 cup red onion

1 lemon

2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil

Salt

Ground black pepper

Tomato-Cucumber Salad:

Combine 2 cups coarsely chopped English cucumber, 2 cups quartered cherry tomatoes, 1/4 cup thinly sliced red onion, 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil, 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, and 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper. Yield: 4 servings.

Calories 45; Fat 2.5g (sat 0.3g); Sodium 126mg

This small but simple salad is oh-so-delicious!! Please try it out and let me know what you think!!

Dinner #2

Dinner #2 for the family...Spaghetti & meatballs, garlic bread and salad.





The finished product!! :)

Breakfast Creation

This week I have been trying to eat a good well rounded breakfast. Eggs, toast, bacon and some cheese! I decided to take this idea from my boyfriend's father, Joe Emerson. (Thank you Joe!!) One morning, while at their house, Joe made me some breakfast. When the plate was set down in front of me I was slightly confused. I saw two pieces of toast...but I didn't immediately notice the eggs. Nestled in the middle of the white bread there was a circle of a different texture. The egg was in the center of the bread!! Joe said that he invented this method of frying eggs when he was trying to figure out how to keep the egg from spreading all over the pan. Enjoy!

Here is my own rendition...



I used his basic idea and then I modified it some.
I like wheat bread a little more...so that was my bread of choice!
What you do is take a piece of bread and "cut" a hole out of the middle with the opening of a glass. Put butter in the pan and place the bread in! NEXT you'll crack the egg and pour it into the circular opening in the toast...watch it like you would a normal fried egg and flip it when you feel necessary. After cooking the egg, I put a slice of American Cheese on top of it...I then topped that with some turkey bacon...as you can see in the photo I also toasted the "circle" from the toast with some cheese just to make it pretty!

I enjoyed my breakfast creation and let me know if ya'll do too!!

My life...over the last two weeks

Okay guys…so I’m new at this blog stuff…bear with me please :)

I’ve been on break from school for the last two weeks and I have had a blast at home! I slept in late, read a whole book – Angels and Demons, began another book – Come Thirsty, went wedding dress shopping for my sister, chilled by the Carter pool on Memorial Day with my best-ies Sarah & Lauren, had dinner with the family on the North Street porch, went on a long walk with my parents, made dinner for the family one night AND stayed the night with my sister and niece a couple of nights!!

The first weekend all the girls went shopping for Elizabeth’s wedding dress. The “girls” included Elizabeth, my Mom, Krystina, her daughter Marin, Amanda Redman, Kellie Kielman (mother-of-the-groom), Susan (mother of the mother-of-the-groom), Kayla (groom’s sister & a bridesmaid) and myself! Lots of girls = LOTS of fun!!
Here are a few pictures from my sister’s blog @ krystinaevans.blogspot.com






THEN…later in my break, I decided that I would cook dinner for the family! This is a pretty amazing feat for me because I have never been the “best cook,” and it frightens me some that I will totally screw up my endeavor. But I took on the task because I really wanted to prove that I could do it!

My dish of choice: Mexican Pot Pie (a recipe given to me by Elizabeth, who received it from a friend at work…who I have no idea where she got the recipe from! Hehehe…)

Ingredients: (mine was a double recipe – so that’s how I’ll give the directions…)
2 cans of Crescent Recipe Creations baking sheet
1 can of refried beans
1 package of Uncle Ben’s Ready Rice (Spanish Style microwavable)
1 package of shredded cheese
AND your choice of meat, you may use any type of fajita meats, or chicken, in my case I used ground beef.

Now – take one can of the crescent rolls and lay it in the bottom of a cake baking pan, be sure that it touches the edges.
See photo:


Smooth out a layer of refried beans, and then add a layer of rice (after you have micro-waved it of course!  It only takes 90 seconds to do so…)
See photo:


Now add a layer of your meat and then a layer of cheese…
See photo:


Top it off with the second Crescent Roll baking sheet and put in the oven at a temp of 375 degrees & bake for just about 15 to 20 minutes!
I served dinner with a mixture of avocado mixed with picante sauce, extra rice, corn, chips & a bean dip mixture with cheese and picante sauce. For drinks we had tea with lemon slices…
Dinner is served!!!



This last weekend I spent a lot of time with Krystina & Marin, I have loved every minute of it. From moments where Marin would be squealing with delight as aunt “Kay-kay” played with her, to chatting with Krystina about her amazing creative ideas and even taking pictures of Krystina’s wonderful new creations for Marin’s 2nd b-day party.


Sooo....there's a little recap for ya'll!!
and I just want to say thank you family for a fun couple of weeks, I have really enjoyed the break…