My Healthy Recipes. Because I'm a Terrible Friend

You see, my best friend, Thobeka, has be asking me for WEEKS to post some of my favorite recipes and healthy desserts that I make. I've told her since February that I'd put it up for her. But because I didn't write that down on my To-Do list, it slipped my mind over and over as other daily things occupied my attention.

So Thobs, THIS ONE'S FOR YOU!!

These 3 recipes are my FAVORITES right now.
1) because I have a very sweet tooth so eating health AND getting my sugar fix is a definite plus and
2) I've been looking for ways to get my daily serving of vegetables in but I wanted to make something I'd actually enjoy eating and not think to myself "UGH, I'm eating this because I have to, not because I want to."

Healthy food CAN be SOOOOOOO Delicious! So here we go:

Recipe 1:

RAW CASHEW CREAM:

Just an FYI: I prefer my cream to be a lot thicker than this but this consistency (in the pic) would probably work as well

-4 cups raw organic cashews

-between 4-6 tbs organic agave (measurement may change according to how sweet you want your cream to be)

-1.5 tsp vanilla essence

-1.5-3 cups water (depending on how thick or thin you want your cream to be)

Toss all ingredients into a blender. Blend until you get a creamy substance. Eat with your favorite fruits. It's great for snacks and desserts and any company that may come by is sure to LOVE it!

some fruit recommendations to go with your cream are: strawberries, blueberries, mangoes and peaches.

RECIPE #2:

SWEET BUTTERNUT SQUASH DESSERT::

-1 Medium to large sized organic butternut squash

-1/2 cup of organic raisins

-about 6 tbsp Organic agave or honey (measurement will change according to how sweet you want your squash to be)

-1/2 cup of cut of organic walnuts (how big all small you want your walnut chunks is up to you)

-.1/2 tbsp of organic cinnamon

-1 tbsp organic coconut butter/oil

Cut your squash in half, take the seeds out and bake it on a flat sheet (face down) at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes to an hour.

Scrape the squash into a bowl (preferably glass. Plastic heated up can leech harmful chemicals into your food) and mix it until its mushy.

Add the rest of the ingredients in and mix. You are welcome to add more or less of the other ingredients to suit your preference. Tristin loves raisins so I typically add more raisins. Those measurements will also change according to how big your squash it.

Eat and enjoy as you get a large serving of a delicious vegetable for dessert!! Your kids will never know any different (unless you tell them it's a vegetable) :)

And Last but not least.....Recipe 3

MIXED VEGETABLE AND CHICKEN SOUP:

This is the picture I took of all the ingredients that go in my pot

-Organic Chicken Broth (64 oz). So two boxes of broth, like the one you see in the picture.
-1 and 1/2 cup rice noodles (or normal noodles, the rice has no gluten in but is YUMMMMMMMY!!)
-1 or 2 cans of beans (beans of your choice. I LOVE black beans. Great protein and great energy source)
-2 cans of diced organic tomatoes (like the one in the pic. Don't get the tomatoes that or preserved with sugar or have high fructose corn syrup -HFCS). HFCS is CRAP and makes you put on weight a lot quicker than other sugars.
-1 1/2 cups finely sliced celery
-1 1/2 cups of sliced carrots
2-3 cups of broccoli (I get the frozen organic broccoli from costco. YUM)
-1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
-2 cups mixed veggies (A frozen corn, carrot, green beans mix is what I get from costco. You can see the bag of veggies in my pic. Again, you don't have to have this exact combination. You could do just frozen corn or frozen corn and green beans.)
-about 2 thawed chicken breast diced to the size you want int
-1/8th Braggs liquid aminos or soy sauce or namashoyu


So here's the process. It may seem complicated but it's not. I promise. And I think the end product is worth it. Make sure to have a VERY LARGE pot. This makes a lot of soup. It will last Tristin and I 3-5 days.

Pour broth in pot. Put the heat just a little bit above medium. Add the chicken and pasta and let it cook. The broth will take a while to start boiling. let it boil for about 20-25 mins. Add the lid and start to prepare the veggies.

Start to slice the celery, mushrooms, chop the carrots, open the cans of beans and tomatoe, etc. Wash the beans but dont let the juice out from the tomatoes. You want to keep that.
Put the carrots and frozen broccoli in a blender. Add some of heated up broth to the blender. blend until you get a vibrant green, watery substance. Put that aside for later.

Once the noodles and chicken are cooked add the celery and sliced mushrooms and let cook for a few minutes. add the Braggs liquid amino (or soy sauce or namashoyu). Add the mixed frozen veggies (the corn, green beans and carrot mixture) and let it sit for a few minutes. Add the the tomatoes, beans and blended broccoli and carrot. Mix and let it sit and heat up to your desired temperature.

And now you're done! Serve, add some salt if you like or more sauce, add your favorite seasonings if you like. You can do what ever.

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I hope this help anyone looking for a few healthy food ideas. If you try any of these let me know what you think. Again, all these recipes I've never really measured, I just mix the ingredients to the consistency or sweetness I want it, so feel free to mix up the measurement.

Love to all, Especially to you Thobbies!

He's a Babe

FACT: I did NOT know my husband was legally blind until a few months ago. I knew his eye sight was bad, but not that bad.

FACT: I LOVE his glasses. I think he looks cute in them *ahem* I mean sexy. He looks sexy in them :)

I really do love the glasses though. I was always a sucker for smart, nerdy guys. And of course I think he's hot as well so the nerdy-cute look I'm really REALLY liking.

BUT I want our kids to inherit my eyes. I do have perfect vision and never had to wear braces. So I guess I want them to have my teeth as well...but his brains. Actually, scratch that, I'll love them no matter what (and will plan on having good health coverage).

FYI: Still not planning on the kiddos yet so I hope this post doesn't mislead anyone.

Drastic Food Changes

Once again, our diet has being modified...for the better of course. We've been eating this way for some time but we have slips ups now and then. But no more...

Tristin and I are now GLUTEN AND DAIRY FREE!! It's been a little hard but we feel a lot better when we cut these things out. also, I realize that there are a TON of really good foods out there that are really healthy for us and still really tasty.

In the past 6 months or so I've said good bye to my beloved sweets (goodbye Chocolate, my love. May you rest in peace), my beloved whole wheat home-made bread, my beloved cereals and now my beloved cheeses and milks. With our change in diet over the past months Tristin has lost almost 10 lbs and I've....well kind of stayed the same. I'm now trying to put some weight on (muscle of course) but this is proving to be harder than I thought. As soon as we get my thyroid to start working like it's suppose to then the weight gain will come too (cross fingers)

So bring out the greens and veggies and gluten free foods!

I'll have to post some recipes of some of the stuff I've made that's really healthy and still really tasty.

Anywho, this post isn't all that exciting but it's fun to keep everyone updated I guess.

PS:Aly, my mouth still always waters whenever I read your blog. I think I'm going to have to ban myself from reading it. those Rolo cookies look AMAZING!!!