Grilled Cheese Goodness and Leftovers

I am savoring these nice cool Fall days and maybe hoping for a little Indian Summer. How about you? The cooler weather also puts me in the mood for things like chili, roasted vegetables and homemade soup which I really LOVE to make! I'll post about that and share some secrets for the best pot you've ever made another day. So today I thought I would share my grilled cheese makeover with you. Maybe you can whip one up for lunch and see if you can get the family to notice anything different. We personally think our new version is way better than the old.

See, healthy food doesn't look so bad does it??

I have said before that we don't eat a lot of bread around here. We do like bread for sure and I have some homemade breads I really love to make. I will say it is hard to find a really good healthy bread. I mean one that is 100% whole wheat, no enriched or bleached anything, and one with no high fructose corn syrup, and not too many calories per slice. Then  if you find that, to find one that will hold up for a grilled cheese sandwich and not get soggy is a whole new battle. So we have switched to sprouted grain breads.

Ezekiel bread is found in the frozen section of health food stores. I can find this bread in Willmar at both grocery stores if you want to try it. This is the bread that most health food experts like Bob and Jillian from the Biggest Loser eat and recommend.

We also like this one from Trader Joe's and it is much less expensive if you are fortunate enough to live close to one. We are going today and I will be stalking up!

The next thing to switch is the butter you usually slather on that bread! I really have never had a love affair with butter unless it was cinnamon or honey butter. We don't have much we even use butter on now. I do allow myself some butter occasionally but because it has all that saturated fat in it I try to avoid it. Especially since there are some fairly good alternatives out there these days. The best one to buy is called Earth Balance but it is expensive. So I buy Brummel and Brown Spread because it is made with yogurt.

I have a friend who is a very picky eater and she even like the taste of this one. This lasts a long time at our house because like I said we just don't have a need for much "butter" these days.

Now the insides of that yummy sandwich. I have switched our family to reduced fat cheeses. This is one of the easiest changes for your taste buds to make. You will never notice the difference so go ahead and trust me on this one. You could always start with something like mozzarella anyway since it is lower in fat to begin with. The cheese I happened to use this time was something marvelous we picked up at Whole Foods. I am going back there again today too!

This was an English Aged Cheddar of some sort and even though it was crumbling it worked very well!

Now is the time to be a grown up and get adventurous with your grilled cheese! This time I spread a little garlic pesto mayo on the inside of the bread (use mayo with olive oil), then topped that with all natural black forest ham, spinach, sliced tomato, and red onion. I don't even know what to say to tell you how good this sandwich was. There are no words!

Gooey but crunchy goodness with lots of flavor!

Another good way to try it is with some Dijon mustard spread on the inside, all natural turkey, spinach, and sliced pears, and cheese of your choice. Sometimes I don't even put the cheese on that one! This is a great thing to experiment in the kitchen with. I think I might go Mexican with it next time! So get out the griddle and start cooking and let me know how it turns out!

So last night Miles and Evan went to the football game. Normally I love to go too. It is one of my favorite things about living in a small town. However it was quite cold last night and Faith and I both have allergy issues so I didn't want either one of us outside with the wind blowing all that allergy stuff around. So I needed some dinner for myself. Remember I made Tex Mex stuffed yellow squash earlier in the week? I had some leftover filling I was going to put in a tortilla for lunch one day. Well that never happened but this did......

Oh my goodness I love it when accidents like this happen!!! Again no words for how yummy this was!

I heated up a whole wheat pita, spread it with guacamole, topped it with my heated leftover filling, and added some Parmesan cheese. I then heated it again for a little bit to melt the cheese some and sliced it up! Delicious, fantastic, superb, yummy, wonderful, new creation! There are some words for you I guess! So now I guess you will have to make the Tex Mex squash won't you???????

CONVENIENCE

Convenience. That word is important to a most of us. Aren't we always looking for a way to make things more convenient, better, faster, etc. It is my nature and my personality to be doing that all the time. In fact I even wrote a paper about this very subject in college one time. But convenience food is something that I have had to remove from my life. No more boxed dinners, or rice, or pasta salad kits, or frozen entrees that make dinner really fast! I have a million reasons why but we won't go into that. Changing the way you entirely think about food is hard though and I have learned that I still need some convenience in my life when it comes to dinner or this lifestyle might never last. So enter the Schwan's man! That is correct. You heard me right. The Schwan's man. This afternoon when I was dragging a little bit because my allergies have gotten worse I was dreading making dinner until I remembered this was in my freezer.

I really don't like fish. Miles said he couldn't believe that I was cooking fish for dinner! I have been trying to be a big girl lately and have actually fixed fish 3 or 4 times this summer. I know it is very good for you, very lean and has those omega-3's we all need, and I am practicing what I preach about getting kids to like something. Just keep feeding it too them! So Tilapia loins it was. I have to say they were pretty good. I didn't even need tarter sauce!

We cooked ours according to the directions, on the grill in a foil packet. This even comes with a seasoning packet and you mix it up they way you choose. We picked the first one with olive oil, lemon juice, and melted butter and then topped it with some fresh lemon slices.

If I buy these again I think I will try it with the stewed tomatoes.

It has taken a little time for me to get used to the idea that there won't be any frozen pizzas in my freezer for those busy nights but I have learned there are still ways to have a quick and healthy dinner or lunch for that matter. Just an FYI the Schwan's man also has the best Turkey and Spinach meatballs! My kids devour them. He also has lots of veggies and frozen fruit that I love to have on hand as well as no-sugar added fudgesicles and several other things I purchase on a regular basis. Just look for the Live Smart logo. He also has lots to NOT buy so don't be tempted by his dollar off this or that sale!

I served our dinner tonight with some edamame I had in the freezer, cut up strawberries, and this butter bean salad/side dish I found here at Kalyn's kitchen. I love her website and all the new things she continually comes up with. The salad was delicious and easy to make but finding canned butter beans not so easy in Willmar. I did finally find some frozen ones at Cub. I might try this recipe with some chickpeas or Great Northern beans next time just because I prefer those.

It was a pretty salad and my kids did eat it. It has sun-dried tomato, Greek olives, fresh basil, and feta with a basil vinaigrette dressing.

It has taken a little time for me to adjust to the lack of certain conveniences but I have also learned to look at food differently. What could be more convenient then a banana or an apple that you don't even have to peel. A sliced up cucumber or baby carrots are pretty fast at lunch. It is pretty easy to spread some Laughing Cow cheese on a whole wheat tortilla and throw some spinach and turkey in there. Store bought hummus is another quick fix for me. I prefer my homemade hummus but Sabra brand is my favorite from the store. It is great on veggies or spread on a wrap. I also keep leftover homemade soup frozen in the freezer for those busy days and just throw together a side salad to go with it. I also LOVE Morningstar products! They have the best veggie burgers. If you are skeptical try their Grillers one or the Spicy Black Bean Burger to start with. I just top it with avocado and salsa for a delicious very quick meal. I also LOVE frozen blueberries for a quick snack or in addition to a meal at lunch time. So if you see me walking around with blue fingers or blue teeth you will now know why. Hmmm..... sounds pretty good right now. I think I'll go have some for dessert tonight with a cup of decaf tea to help my sinus issues!

If you have quick, healthy, convenient, meal ideas I would love for you to share!

Applesauce Blueberry Muffins

I used to bake a lot! I used to really find a lot of my identity in baking delicious treats that people really loved. Especially at Christmas time. It was a bit sad when I changed our diet and I realized that baked goods truly are one of the worst things for us to eat. White flour, white sugar, brown sugar, oil, salt, did I say sugar already? So knowing that I couldn't give them up for a life time I have learned to "fix" recipes! Now I can have my cake and eat it too, he he!! It has presented a new challenge for me when it comes to baking and it is kind of fun, plus my kids are starving after school! Evan eats lunch at 10:45 so we need some acceptable healthy snacks around here by 3pm! So here is what I made last night.......

Whole wheat, applesauce, blueberry muffins!

Mini, because everything tastes better in mini form!

I am serious about the mini thing! I have made things before that my family and friends are just okay with but I will make the exact same thing another time in mini form and they will be devoured before you can say yummy! Weird, I know and somewhat frustrating!

So now how to fix a recipe! I will say that this one didn't start out too bad to begin with but I still tweaked it a little. Here is the original recipe:

1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour

1 1/4 cups oats

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

2 tbsp canola oil

1 large egg, lightly beaten

3/4 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen)

So like I said not the worst recipe I've ever seen since it did start out with whole wheat flour. That is usually my fist switch, the flour. Try mixing it half and half to begin with if you think your family won't eat it. In addition to whole wheat flour, I also sometimes use whole wheat pastry flour or white whole wheat flour that comes from a naturally occurring albino wheat. Each flour is good for different things and it takes a little experimenting to get it right. This recipe had oats in it too which is great. Use old fashioned oats though not quick cooking. The next switch I usually make is replacing all the oil with unsweetened applesauce. Since this recipe already did that except for 2 Tbsp. I figured I'd better keep those 2 Tbsp. Using almond or pecan oil would improve it even more than vegetable oil. The salt is usually the next thing I fix. I will either omit it all together, halve it, or use sea salt. I usually never miss the salt! You might think that I would next replace the buttermilk with something but buttermilk is surprisingly just fine. It's name is deceiving. It is low in fat so go ahead and use it. I did however use Vanilla Soy milk last night because I didn't have any buttermilk. Yummy! Next the recipe lists brown sugar. I am the sugar police around here. Sugar does bad things to our bodies. I almost always replace the sugar! I like to use Stevia instead of Splenda since Stevia is a natural product not man made. So that is what I did to this recipe. I did add a little agave nectar as well. Sometimes I also use Sucanat which is dehydrated cane juice. Splenda does make a brown sugar that you can use. It doesn't measure cup for cup the way regular Splenda or Stevia do but it does work fine. Again though, I try to use it sparingly since it is not a natural product. The eggs are a 50/50 thing for me. Sometimes I replace them with egg beaters and sometimes I don't. If I need just the white then I use the liquid eggs rather than wasting egg yolks. If I have already messed with too much in a recipe then I usually leave the eggs. It just saves some calories if you use the egg beaters.

So here is how my fixed recipe looks. I challenge you to get out one of your favorite baked goods recipes and "fix" it as well. Maybe start with one or two fixes the first time like the flour and sugar or the sugar and oil and wean yourself down!

My kids couldn't wait until today. They ate some last night. Their new question to me is always, "Is it healthy?" and their response when I answer yes is, "Yesssss!" with arm gesture that goes along with such an excited yes. I like this. It feels like they are excited about healthy food.

They like it because it means they can have more then just one.

1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour

1 1/4 cups oats

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk or vanilla soy milk

1/2 cup Stevia and 1/4 cup Agave Nectar

2 tbsp oil (almond, pecan, or canola)

1 large egg, lightly beaten or egg beater equivalent

3/4 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen) (I used only 1/2 cup blueberries since I was doing mini muffins

I also think chopped up apples would be delicious.)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Line a 12 cup muffin tin with paper cases or spray with nonstick cooking spray. (I used 24 mini muffin pan)

In a large bowl combine flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. In a medium bowl combine applesauce, buttermilk, Stevia, oil and egg. Make a well in dry ingredients and add applesauce mixture. Stir until just moist. Fold in blueberries. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full.

Bake for 16-18 minutes for large muffins and 13-15 for mini muffins.

P.S. Please share your fixed recipes and or invite me over to sample your masterpieces! I have more free time now you know!

INSPIRATION

I went to the gym this morning. I know it isn't a big deal but I really debated about running outside because the weather is P-E-R-F-E-C-T for running outside but my allergies have been starting to bother me and I am trying to keep them under control so I opted for the gym.

I am in love with these shoes! Which keeps me motivated because they are so awesome to wear!

I am glad I did because I was inspired there today by the shall we call them "older" crowd plugging away at walking, running, and lifting weights. I thought to myself I really want that to be me when I get there. I want to be able to run around that track at 70 or hop on the treadmill or elliptical like the lady next to me and go to town, or better yet spend time with Miles in our old age exercising together like so many of them are doing. Yes, it was inspiring today! Just another reason, I thought to myself ,to work hard at taking care of our bodies so that will be me one day! It was my portion of goodness for the day for sure! But now I am hoping to inspire you a little too! Not to run, although that would be great, but to add some more green to your life in the form of salad! I know you didn't see that coming did you? But if your salads looked like this would you be willing to read on?

Yum! I just might make that pistachio chicken salad with avocado dressing soon for dinner. So I know most people aren't into eating salad everyday and believe me I didn't used to be either but it has become my healthy convenience food. It is one of the best ways to get lots of veggies into your diet and because the dressings, toppings, and different kinds of lettuce are endless, it is always different! Some days it is a Mexican salad, or an Italian pizza kind of salad, and lots of days it's Greek because that is my favorite. Sometimes I eat it with meat and other days I don't. It is my go to food, kind of the way a sandwich is for most Americans. I eat a big salad probably 4 or 5 days a week for lunch. I load it with veggies so that I know I will not only get enough servings for the day but also because it keeps me surprisingly full until dinner! All that fiber is helpful in filling your stomach with nutritious bulk not to mention that it keeps you pretty regular. Even my husband, a hungry exercising, man loves to have salad for lunch! In fact on the days that I work he is usually the one making salads for both of us. He has come a long way from his chicken nugget story! It is also a great way to get enough green food into your diet which is really lacking for most of us. So here are some rules and ideas about salad.

Rule #1 - You must wash it! There are nasty bugs living in there. Here is the proof! It helps to spin it as well in a salad spinner.

Okay so they show up better on my computer but gross!

I got this salad spinner at Target several years ago. It has really helped me resist the urge to save time and not wash my lettuce. I cut the lettuce up, fill this with water and swish the lettuce around then drain and spin the lettuce several times and bag it so it is all ready when I need it.

Rule #2 - If you aren't going to wash it you must buy it tripled washed in the boxes NOT THE BAGS! Stop buying that bagged lettuce. It is never good and  it is usually wilting already in the bag which can cause an upset tummy. Waste of money! Plus there is way more in these boxes and it doesn't cost a whole lot more than a bag.

I love this one from Wal-Mart. Plus it is organic which is important when it comes to lettuce. They use lots of pesticide on lettuce. Since I eat so much of it I like to buy organic whenever I can.

Rule #3 - You must get GOOD dressings that are low-calorie and low-fat to help you keep up this good salad habit. These are a couple of my favorites.

This is the best Caser! I would choose this light version even if I wasn't that careful about my diet!

I also LOVE these two! You can find them in the health food section at CashWise for you locals but the rest of you might have a little trouble finding them. My sister did when she went home to Spokane. Check health food sections since it is organic.

                                                

I also love Newman's Own Sun-Dried Tomato and Balsamic Vinaigrette and our very favorite dressings are two that I make right here in my little old kitchen. I will give you those recipes too. One is for a mustard vinaigrette and the other is a Greek dressing which I posted before.

Greek Dressing

½ cup olive oil

¼ cup red wine vinegar

1 tsp. onion powder

1 tsp. oregano

1 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. basil

2 tsp. Dijon mustard

Salt and pepper to taste

Mix  or whisk all ingredients together. Pour over salad. Keeps in fridge for several days.

Mustard Vinaigrette

Ingredients

1/2 cup white vinegar

1 tablespoon honey

1 tablespoon prepared Dijon-style mustard

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons minced garlic

1 cup olive oil

(I don't think I really use a cup of olive oil. I am too cheap to use a whole cup)

Rule #4 - You must be CREATIVE so you do not get tired of eating your delicious greens!

This is my favorite salad. Lettuce, tomato, cucumber, red onion, chicken sausage, and lots of feta!

But....some of our other favorites you could try are a Mexican salad with some leftover steak cut in strips, tomato, roasted red pepper, a little grilled corn, and reduced fat pepper jack with a little chili powder and cumin or some cayenne added to light ranch.Or go Italian with a little bit of turkey pepperoni, pepperoncini's, mozzarella, tomato, and sun-dried tomato dressing. Or have a wonderful garden fresh salad with radishes, carrots, pea pods, cucumber, tomato and any dressing you like.You can always go for a good old fashioned Caesar salad too! Of course Greek would be another great choice with some kalamata olives, feta, tomato, and cucumber. ENDLESS possibilities so change it up often!

I was on the phone with my friend Sarah today talking about food and I was reminded that my tastes have really adjusted and changed over time and I forget that for a lot of you getting started they haven't. My taste buds are fixed and no longer addicted to bad foods. My body actually craves salad as strange as that may sound! So maybe you won't eat it as much as I do but if I could get you to replace lunch a couple days a week with salad I would be happy and so would your body! You might be surprised at how full you can be just eating a big salad and we rarely have bread with it! So make me proud and get creative and green!

P.S. I didn't eat salad for lunch today. I had leftover tex-mex squash. I am eating salad tonight though with hummus and the best pita Miles just brought home from St. Cloud! I am looking forward to it. It will be a fast and I won't really have to cook!

Summer Veggies

I have this sense lately. The feeling that I have to hurry up. Time is ticking. I said to Miles the other day that I am almost in a panic that we won't be able to run outside for very much longer. Last year I saw snow in Minnesota 8 of 12 months. I am not even kidding. I have the same sense about summer's bounty of veggies and fruit. I have to hurry up and enjoy it all while it is still in season. So when I stumbled across this recipe for stuffed tex-mex yellow squash I knew I wanted to cook it for sure!

So grab some yellow squash from the garden or your neighbor's garden or run to the store quickly while you still can and try this recipe! It was so delicious, not too spicy for the kids, and according to Faith, "The best dinner ever. Better than ham!"

Begin by washing and halving each squash lengthwise; slice a sliver from the rounded bottom if it won't sit flat. I used 4 1/2 squash because that is what fit in my dish. Leaving a 1/4 inch border, scoop out halves and reserve in a bowl. Place the squash halves skin side down in a shallow baking dish. Season with sea salt and pepper.

I have learned a little trick about scooping squash or zucchini. Your melon baller will do the best job! If you don't have one never fear a small spoon will work but will take longer. I use the big end of my melon baller to get most of the flesh out and the small end to scrape it clean.

Next chop up your left over squash. How fine is up to you. I used my Pampered Chef meat chopper to do this and it worked great. 

Now dice up one red bell pepper, and 4 green onions (reserving some green parts) and add them to your squash. Add 1 minced garlic clove and salt and pepper and mix together. Heat olive oil in a large skillet and add mixture. Cook, stirring occasionally until bell pepper begins to soften, 3-4 minutues. Add 2 tablespoons tomato paste and 1 teaspoon mild chili powder; cook, stirring until fragrant, about 1 minute. (A word about tomato paste. Be a label reader. I usually would buy the one with the least amount of sugar. However that one has high fructose corn syrup and several other ingredients. So I like Muir Glen or Contadina brand because the only ingredient is tomatoes!)

I wish pictures had a smell button to click on because this was smelling so yummy!

Now add 1 pound ground turkey and cook until no longer pink, about 4 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in 1 cup frozen corn kernels, thawed and 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese. If you are really that opposed to ground turkey you can use beef or better yet stuff it with quinoa and go vegetarian! You can mix half turkey and half beef to help yourself start liking ground turkey. We were also fortunate to have grilled some sweet corn a couple weeks ago which I took off the cob and froze. I used that corn tonight which added a nice extra flavor.

This did make quite a bit of stuffing! I had about a cup leftover after stuffing my squash but no worries. I am going to put it inside a whole wheat tortilla with a little more cheese for lunch!

Now spoon the mixture into your prepared squash halves. Pat down and fill them up well. Sprinkle with more parmesan and cover with aluminum foil. Bake at 400 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes until squash is tender. You can then uncover and bake another 7-10 minutes if you like it a little crispy. Garnish with leftover green onion. I skipped the extra uncovered cooking time because they looked delicious with the cheese just starting to melt after 30 minutes!

Faith said, "Great dinner, Mom! It tastes like lasagna."

If you don't have kids and you like a little more spice add extra chili powder or cayenne during cooking or maybe a little Frank's sauce afterwards.

Here is my dinner plate tonight. I served it with a mixed green salad, refrigerator pickles, and fresh fruit.

Oh summer goodness I wish you didn't have to end! I know my portions of winter goodness will still be good but I will miss these berries and melon when they actually taste good and the abundance of veggies that people have been sharing from their gardens. That helps my pocket book! So hurry up before time runs out on you too!

P.S. If you want to run outside with me before winter comes next week give me a call!

Here is a list of ingredients:

4-5 yellow squash

sea salt and pepper

2 Tbsp. olive oil

1 red bell pepper cut in 1/4 inch dice

3-4 green onions ( reserve green portion)

1 garlic clove minced

2 Tbsp. tomato paste

1 tsp. mild chili powder

1 pound ground turkey

1 cup frozen corn kernels, thawed

1/2 cup parmesan cheese



I LIKE TO SNACK!

Who doesn't like to snack a little? I was pondering this the other day trying to help a friend come up with some appropriate snacks and then I was pondering it again last night when I really had a desire for a little something good to snack on. Sometimes I get irritated with myself for not having anything sweet in the house because it means that I have to make something acceptable and that takes time! So this afternoon I decided to make the time so I wouldn't feel the need to send Miles to DQ for a splurge. I have been wanting to try making "energy balls" for a healthy alternative to a no-bake cookie and as a way to sneak nuts and seeds into my kids' diet. They don't like nuts. They say, "Have you been eating nuts? Eeww!" But I LOVE nuts. It is quite ironic too since my mother used to down a whole can I could never understand why as a child. They were disgusting to me too then. But did you know they can blast belly fat, especially pumpkin seeds? They are full of fiber and antioxidants and rich in omega-3's. They have heart health benefits, are free radical scavengers as well and are also rich in vitamin E. They are also SUGAR FREE! I am always trying to reduce sugar consumption around here. So this is what I did with the nuts today. These measurements are very approximate because I am a "dumper" so bare with me!

Add about 2 cups of your favorite nuts to a food processor and blend them up very finely. I used a  mix of walnuts, peanuts, and a pistachio lovers nut mix because that is what I had on hand.

Now you can get creative as to what you want to put in this mixture. I added about 1/2 cup old fashioned oats and some wheat germ at this point. You will need to also have some "glue" that will help them stay together and be shaped into balls.

My "glue" today was all natural almond butter and all natural chocolate peanut butter as well as some raisins and agave nectar. I wished I had some dates or figs to add. I will try that next time. I added heaping spoonfuls of everything but did have to add more of the chocolate peanut butter and more agave to get it to come together better.

It looked like this after mixing it all together. I had already rolled some of the balls when I remembered to get a picture. Grab a small amount and roll it into a ball.

Now you get to be creative again! After shaping the balls then roll them in something yummy of your choice. I then refrigerated them for about 45 minutes to let them firm up a bit. Here is what they looked like.

I got about 24 of these little energy balls. I rolled mine in wheat germ, cocoa powder, sesame seeds, and unsweetened coconut.

These were so delicious! Keep in mind though that nuts are high in calories so don't eat all 24 by yourself in one sitting! I really wanted to make these for a quick snack before or after I run, however I don't know if there will be any left in the morning because someone likes them an awful lot!

He picked the chocolate ones first of course.

But I guess I can forgive him because he gave me two thumbs up! I never told him there were nuts in those little yummy treats and I think I might keep it that way!

So here are some ideas for other things to mix in or to roll them in: granola, sunflower seeds, finely grated carrots, craisins, dried apricots, honey, any kind of nut butter or peanut butter, vanilla, powdered milk, soy milk, flax, ground up dark chocolate, dates, or figs. You could then roll them in sesame, coconut, wheat germ, or cocoa like I did, or more ground up nuts. If you have other creative ideas let me know!

If you make some you might also have to invite me over so I can have one of yours. I kid you not there are only 8 left on the tray. I guess we have some squirrels who like nuts and don't even know it!

In other snack news, have you tried Veggie Straws before or better yet have you tried the Apple Straws? Here is what the package looks like and I did get these at our local Cashwise store but do know that Walmart also has the Veggie Straws.

Here is what they look like.

The funny thing is my kids don't care too much about the apple cinnamon straws, they prefer the veggie straws and they even prefer the green and orange ones to the plain ones! We have made strides I am telling you! I however have been downing the apple cinnamon ones. So I wouldn't say these are the healthiest snack you could ever choose but they are a great alternative to chips and a sneaky way to get some more veggies down the hatch. They are low in sugar as well. Even the apple cinnamon ones have only 2 grams a serving. And I love this about them!

So give them a shot and let me know what you think! As always I would love for you to share with me the healthy products you have come across too! 

My portions of goodness have been big today! A community worship service to remember 9-11 with almost 4000 people in attendance, yummy healthy snacks made, uploaded pictures from snapfish for the one cent sale (hooray), and my husband is giving our daughter a bath so I can finish this blog post. Good day!

COLOR

Have you ever thought about what life would be like without color? If all we saw was black and white wouldn't life be boring? Or have you ever been asked if you had to choose which of the 5 senses you could live without which one would it be? I can tell you for sure that I wouldn't choose to live without my sight! Color is kind of a magical thing. Right now I am anticipating the leaves on the trees starting to change and the beautiful color that brings! I do love fall and even though I hate winter a fresh blanket of white snow covering everything is a pretty thing. Even better is the long winter being over and those first signs of green grass that lead to colorful flowers blooming!

Did you know how important color is when it comes to our food as well? My kids hear this said almost everyday of their lives now, "Is there something green on your plate?" It is said that you can tell how healthy your food is by how much color there is on your plate. I say this often because I happily admit I am trying to brainwash them into choosing colorful things.  It's just the laws of repetition I am practicing. I mean pictures like this just make my heart happy!

Just in case you didn't get enough school this week here is a little lesson for you!

The Colorful Facts:

Red Foods: such things as tomatoes, raspberries, red peppers, grapes, beets, and pomegranates can help protect memory, reduce LDL cholesterol , scavenge free-radicals, fight cancer, and reduce tumor growth.

Orange/Yellow Foods: such things as cantaloupe, carrots, mangoes, sweet potatoes, and winter squash can enhance immune system and lower heart attack risk, reduce prostate cancer risk, promote collagen formation and healthy joints as well as work with calcium and magnesium to build healthy bones.

Green Foods: things such as spinach, green grapes, asparagus, artichokes, broccoli, and Brussels sprouts can play a role in maintaining eye health, normalizing digestion, boosting immune activity, lowering LDL, and fighting cancer.

Blue/Purple Foods: things such as blueberries, blackberries, raisins, eggplant, and plums can help prevent heart disease, control blood pressure, improve calcium absorption, act as anti carcinogens in the digestive tract, limit the activity of cancer cells and fight inflammation.

White Fruits and Veggies: things such as bananas, cauliflower, garlic, onions, ginger, kohlrabi, parsnips, jicama, and turnips can boost immune activity, balance hormone levels thus reducing the risk of hormone related cancer and also reduce the risk of colon cancer.

Wow! That was enough learning for a Saturday don't you think? Did you notice the one thing they all have in common is that they all work on fighting cancer! Given my family history that is really important to me and seems like a pretty easy thing I can do to protect myself.

When I am fixing a meal I am always thinking about color and put that meal on a white plate and the color becomes even more obvious and beautiful! So here are some examples of our colorful meals.

   

  

Greek Anti pasta Platter

Spaghetti Squash with Homemade Tomato Sauce

 Pork Tenderloin Medallions with Succotash

     

 Asian Lettuce Wraps 

               

  Chick Pea Salad with Baked Pita Chips  

 

      Grilled Cod With Avocado Salsa and Twice Baked Sweet Potato

So the next time you look down at your plate that has white rice, white bread, french fries, or white potatoes, white hamburger buns, chips, etc. say to yourself, "I REFUSE TO BE COLOR BLIND!" Then get up and add some color to your life and your plate! Your body will thank you!

(Just in case you are a smart-alic and you want to try tell me that candy is colorful too I thought I would let you know ahead of time that I don't want to hear it! Also if you would like any of the above recipes just let me know.)