Crockpot Lasagne

This is such a great recipe if you are in the mood for italian and dont want to feel miserable because you have inhaled 4,000 calories in 30 mins.
This takes about 3-4 hours in the crockpot so its perfect for sunday or sat lunch.  Sometimes I get it ready right before I go pick the kids up from school and by the time that hubby gets home from work it is ready to eat!

1 lb of ground turkey
1 tsp sage
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp salt
1 tsp oregano
sprinkle of fennel if you have it

I mix all this together and then brown in up in a skillet.

1 small tub of skim ricotta
2 cups skim Fresh grated Mozzarella
Fresh chopped Basil ( I overload on this because I love so therefor I grow it and its always available to me)
1 tsp Dried Oregano
2 tsp of minced garlic ( I buy the organic jar of it)
1 tsp Onion powder
1 tsp salt
1 egg

Mix all that up!

Lasagna Noodles ( I buy the organic ones that are made out of artichoke flour) 

I boil my noodles a little so they get soft but you can always just buy the oven ready ones.  I'm just really picky about my family's flour and where it comes from.  We don't eat flour that comes from wheat that is genetically modified.

2 jars of Pasta Sauce ( I love the Muir Glen Organic brand and always stock up when they go on sale)

So here's what you do.

Layer of Noodles
Layer of Meat
Layer of sauce
Layer of Cheese

Then repeat until you either have no more room or no more product.  Delicious!

Baked Chicken Taquitos

These are heavenly and not too complicated to make!

8 Chicken Thighs
1 Bottle of beer(I used guiness because thats what I have to use in my cakes for st.pattys day)
2 Cups Water

Put your thighs(fat removed) in a big mama skillet and cover them with the beer and water.  Bring the liquid to a boil then turn it down to medium heat and cover.  Let cook for about 12 minutes.  You want the meat to be done and tender.

While your meat is cooking get your spices all mixed up together.

2 Tablespoons of Cumin
2 Tablespoons of Chili Powder
2 Tablespoons of minced garlic
1 Tablespoon of Paprika ( I use Hungarian hot paprika)
1 Teaspoon of Salt

In a good size mixing bowl mix together

1/2 can of drained Black Beans
1/2 can of diced Tomatoes

Add the spices to that mixture

When the chicken is done take it out of the broth and add it to the bowl of spices, beans and tomatoes.
Leave a little broth in the pan and add
4 or 5 big handfuls of fresh spinach and let it get all wilty in that juice then throw it in the bowl.  Just chunk the juice down the drain.  Such a waste, I know.

Get out your hand mixer and start to tear into the chicken or you could just shred it by hand.  I don't ever have enough time for that so I just let my mixer do it really fast for me.

You need about 20 medium size Whole wheat Tortillas.  I buy the organic ones that you keep in the freezer until you need them.  I think the brand is Annies or something.  Cut them in half.

You want to add a thin line of the chicken mixture on the straight end of the tortilla and roll it up tight.  Place it on a cookie sheet and go on to the next.  This will make two giant cookie sheets of taquitos.  Brush Olive Oil on the tops and put them in the oven on 450 for about 15 minutes.  Voila!

My family of 6 only eats one pan so the other pan of them goes all packaged neatly in the freezer for snacks or a meal on down the road!  If you have less children than me you could probably stretch this into 4 or 5 meals.

School Lunch Option 1

I really try to think about the whole day of food rather than meal by meal for my kids.  I want to make sure they get in adequate protein, choline and other nutrients to help them grow and to help them focus at school.

 Every morning Jerry and I try to eggs into their breakfast.  Yesterday we had Scrambled eggs and Cantaloupe, today we had French Toast and Cantaloupe (Cantaloupe was on sale this week so we will be eating a ton of it).  Eggs play a big part in how my kids are able to concentrate and get top test scores at school.  Eggs have from 112 to 125g of Choline in them!  Unless you are going to eat Beef liver for breakfast or take a stupid supplement you wont find that much choline anywhere most likely(Don't quote me on that hee hee).  Choline makes you smart. Seriously. Here, you can read about it.  http://www.brainpower.org/research/choline.html  I ate so many eggs with my first born and she is brilliant.  Topped the OCCT scores this year with almost 100% correct in every area.  We do have many brainy people in our family so I know a little of it comes from her genes but I am her mama and I'm not the smartest cookie in the world so I attribute most of her brillantness to EGGS.

Well since we had a high protein breakfast I made sure they got lots of veggies for lunch.  Added some plain greek yogurt with ranch spices in it for dip, cantaloupe(again), strawberries and little tiny Wisconsin cheese curds.  Plenty of brain food and not much sugar so there won't be a crash after lunch when they need to be concentrating.  Dinner will be Turkey Swedish Meatballs over Long Grain Brown Rice and a Spinach and Tomato salad with Honey Balsamic dressing.



Clean Eating Fluffy Pancakes

My family loves pancakes and when we decided to make the switch to eating clean a couple of years ago I had to come up with something different. My old recipe included things like white processed flour, fluorescent colored eggs, vegetable oil, homogenized milk, not to mention the tons of syrup we would soak them in which contained untold amounts of high fructose corn syrup.  I have had to make many batches to come up with something that taste as good as the old crap we used to shovel down and I believe I finally have them perfected!

You will need:
3 Cups Organic Whole Wheat Pastry Flour(I buy mine in the bulk section so its almost as cheap as Gold Medal give you diseases flour)
2 1/2 Tablespoons of Baking Powder
1 1/2 Teaspoons of Salt
2 Tablespoons Coconut sugar
2 3/4 Cups Milk
2 Farm Fresh Eggs (I get mine from a lovely farmer who is good to his chickens and lets them eat bugs)
2 Teaspoons Vanilla
2 Tablespoons melted Coconut Oil

Here are the brands I buy....well I put my salt and soda in different jars but I just buy those at natural grocers.

Here are the directions. Easy Peasy.

1. Mix dry ingredients

  2. Add Wet ingredients

                                     3. Stir with a whisk until everything is mixed up

4. Scoop about 1/4 cup out and put on hot griddle.  I use an ice cream scoop and kinda swirl it out with the back of the scoop so that it makes a thinner pancake.

Kinda like this:

5. Each side takes about 1 minute.  Just watch for the air bubbles to pop and the holes to stay.  Thats how you know its ready to flip!

6.  I put a very SMALL amount of butter on them and a sprinkle of cinnamon and sugar( I keep this made up) and then do a drizzle of maple flavored Agave Nectar.

Let me just tell you one thing.  THESE ARE SOOO INCREDIBLE.  Just so you know, because these do contain a small amount of sugar I don't recommend eating these every day. These are perfect for those lazy hazy days when you just want a good pancake!

Southwest Quinoa Salad

Ok, here is a great protein and power packed lunch that can be prepared the day or days before hand! First you start out with 1 cup of Quinoa. Rinse it first. Quinoa is a complete protein and is filled with iron, magnesium and lots of fiber so it is really great for you! A super food, really. Take a saucepan and sprinkle a small amount of olive oil in the bottom, maybe a tsp, I dont know i just make a cute little flower or heart in the bottom of the pan with it. Turn the heat to med high and add your dry quinoa. Stir it around for about 1 min then add 2 cups of water. When it starts to boil, cover the pot and turn the heat way down to low. Let that cook for 15 minutes and take off heat. After it has cooled a little, fluff it up and its ready for the other ingredients.
Add 1 Can of drained black beans
Add 1 Can of corn (I actually cook up froz corn or use fresh roasted corn off the cob)
Cut up a ripe tomato and throw that in I always add a tsp of minced garlic because I love the stuff
Add 1/2 tsp of salt
Add a bunch of chopped cilantro(to taste. I love it so I put in a LOT)
Mix it all together and then chill in the fridge for a couple of hours before eating. I usually serve with sliced avocado  (so we can get some good fat in there) and on a bed of spinach. The kids like to eat it with organic corn chips.
This is so good cold out of the fridge.  Perfect to take for lunch or to just snack on!!