What are we teaching our kids?

Believe it or not everything we say or do has an impact on those around us. I still remember when I was babysitting once and the 9year old girl commented that she was fat. I said oh no you are not. But I am. It made me stop and think. How can I impose good body image when I don't have it myself. I am working hard to love my self more and treat myself the way I would treat others. This link I thought was very powerful. Reminds me what I really want to teach my daughter. 

http://www.rolereboot.org/life/details/2013-06-when-your-mother-says-shes-fat?fb_action_ids=10201620693225594&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=other_multiline&action_object_map=%5B460281804067371%5D&action_type_map=%5B%22og.likes%22%5D&action_ref_map=%5B%5D

Zonya's breakfast casserole

Here is my favorite breakfast casserole recipe.  It is from Zonya Foco's cookbook.

Preheat oven to 375
spray 9x13 pan with cooking spray
Makes 8 servings
1 bag (24oz) frozen ore ida potatoes o'brien (hash browns with onions and peppers)
1 c reduced-fat shredded cheddar cheese
4 oz lean ham or canadian bacon or lowfat smoked sausage
4 whole eggs
8 egg whites
1/4 c skim milk
1/4 c dijon mustard
1/2 tsp thyme
40 grinds fresh ground pepper

Place the frozen potatoes in the bottom of the baking dish.  Break up large chunks.  Cut the meat into small chunks.  Sprinkle the meat and cheese over the potatoes.  In a small bowl, whip eggs, egg whites, milk, mustard and thyme with a fork.  Pour evenly over the potato mixture.  Top casserole with pepper.   Place in oven uncovered and set timer for 45 minutes.
Serve with toasted english muffins and fresh fruit.

1 cup casserole has 165 calories, 4.5 grms fat and 2 grms fiber.

I like to make some and eat the leftovers the rest of the week, at that calorie amount I can have two servings with no remorse.   It is fantastic with just a little bit of ketchup.

Spinach and egg sandwich

Cashew Chicken

A favorite chicken recipe of ours.  So easy!  It is from Leanne Ely's book Saving Dinner.  A great book if you want recipes, side dishes, menus and shopping lists all in one!  She also has a website.  check it out!  I found her through the Flylady website, if you are anything like me, uh, not so organized!!  You will like the flylady! 

I hope you enjoy this recipe.

3/4 cup orange juice
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 T cornstarch
1 t ground ginger
1 t garlic powder
1/2 t pepper
2 T vegetable oil, divided
2 large carrots, chopped
1 celery stalk, chopped
4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves, cut into 1-inch strips
1 cup cashews

Combine juice, honey, soysauce, cornstarch and seasonings. 
In a large skilet, heat 1 T oil until it begins to smoke.  Stir-fry vegtables for several minutes until the vegetables become bright.  Set aside and keep warm.

In the same skillet, heat another tablespoon of oil until smoking and stir-fry chicken strips until browned and tender.
Add cooked vegetables, cashews and sauce mixture.  Continue cooking until sauce bubbles and thickens.

You can add 4 green onions, chopped--I left it out due to my hubby's extreme dislike 

Serve with brown rice and spinach salad

Serves 6

265 calories
15 g fat
5 g Protein
31 g carb
3 g fiber

Veggie sketti

I got inspired today and decided to create something for lunch. Yum! All veggies and so hearty I couldn't finish it! Let me know what you think.

1 onion chopped
Put into skillet with 1 T olive oil. Sauté until almost soft. Add
2 large tomatoes chopped
2 portobello mushrooms cleaned and chopped
2 large handfuls of spinach roughly chopped
1 tsp Italian seasoning
Salt and pepper to taste.

Sauté all ingredients until soft pour over bed of spaghetti squash. Top with Parmesan cheese if desired.

Stir fry

 

I grew up eating this yummy stir fry and have not made it in about a decade. I pulled up the recipe and decided to go for it. Wow it was so good!  My daughter even liked it. The boys not so much, but I guess that's why I made rice too. My daughters comment was "wow I have had so much yummy food today". I asked her what else she had today and she said it was all my cooking. Now that is positive reinforcement!!  News flash!!!  Hubby just came home and ate, he said this is a do again!  Hooray for good recipes!

Sweet and Sour Chicken Stir Fry

1 20 oz can pineapple chunks in own juice
1/4 c brown sugar
1/3 c vinegar
3 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp. catsup
2-3 Tbsp cornstarch
1 tsp grated fresh ginger root
4 chicken breasts, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
2 bags of frozen stir fry veggies

Drain pineapple and set pineapple aside.  To pineapple juice, add brown sugar, vinegar, soy sauce, catsup, cornstarch, and ginger root.  (You can keep fresh ginger in the freezer and grate off the amount you want, put it back in.  Lasts forever that way!)  Mix and set aside.

In large skillet, add a little olive oil, Brown chicken.  Remove chicken and set aside.  Add veggies to hot skillet and stir fry at medium high heat.  Add a little water if needed to prevent sticking.  When crisp tender add sauce, pineapple and chicken.  Cook until bubbly and thickened.  Serve with rice and chow mein noodles.

Healthy brownies

 

Healthy Brownies.  How could brownies be heathy you ask??  Good question.  Well these are chock full of protein, fiber, gluten free and vitamin rich.  On top of that my kids love them!  Impossible!  Well it's possible!!  The secret ingredient is a sweet potato.  These are very moist and heavy.  So the very discerning of taste and texture may not appreciate them.  However I like it as a guilt free snack!! 

Enough Teasing!  Here's the recipe

1 medium sweet potato, cooked and peel removed

3 eggs

1/4 cup coconut oil

1/4 cup honey

1/2 T vanilla

1 1/2 T coconut flour

4 T cocoa

1/4 T baking soda

pinch of salt

Add all ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth.  Add 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips and blend slightly, or add as a topping after placing in an 8x8 greased baking dish.  

Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes.

Enjoy! 

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 23 g

Amount Per Serving

Calories 62 Calories from Fat 42

% Daily Value*

Total Fat 4.7g  7%

Saturated Fat 3.5g 17%

Cholesterol 31mg  10%

Sodium 86mg  4%

Total Carbohydrates 4.0g  1%

Dietary Fiber 1.7g  7%

Sugars 0.6g

Protein 1.8g

Vitamin A 28% • Vitamin C 2% Calcium 1% • Iron 2%

Nutrition Grade C-

* Based on a 2000 calorie diet

Mini Healthy Pumpkin Donuts

My son really wanted donuts today so I pulled out my trusty donut maker and started looking for the recipe.  Unfortunately I couldn't find it so ended up amending a basic one I found on the internet.  The kids loved these and gobbled them right up!!

Mini Healthy Pumpkin Donuts

1 cup Whole Wheat flour
1/3 cup honey
1 tbsp baking powder
1 egg
1/2 cup milk (almond milk adds a little flavor and is less calories)
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup pumpkin

1/2-1 tsp cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice

Mix all together well. Use a small cookie scoop to dish into your mini donut maker. Cook as directed by appliance.

Dust with powdered sugar or other topping if desired.

Nutrition Facts   for 24 servings

Serving Size 23 g

Amount Per Serving

Calories 39       Calories from Fat  3

Total Fat   0.3g

Cholesterol  7mg

Sodium  7mg

Total Carbohydrates   8.6g

Sugars    4.1g

Protein    0.9g

Vitamin A 16% • Vitamin C 0% Calcium 4% • Iron 2%

Nutrition Grade A-

* Based on a 2000 calorie diet

Whole Grain Personal Pizza

Whole Grain Personal Pizzas. 
I came across a recipe for pizza pretzels on pinterest.  I couldn't get the pretzels to work, and tried them as a calzone and that didn't work.  Finally I made it a pizza crust adding whole wheat flour and flax seed.  Voila!!  Perfection!  Here is my tried and true recipe!  So much fun, and so easy!! 


2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 to 1/2 cup ground flax seed  (I put a bunch in my coffee grinder and it ends up being app 1/3 cup when ground)
4 1/2 teaspoons yeast
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 to 1-1/3 cups Hot water
4 teaspoons Olive oil

Combine flour, yeast, salt and sugar in the bowl of a mixer with dough hook.  Combine the hot water and oil in a measuring cup.  With the mixer running, gradually pour in the hot liquid until the mixture forms a sticky ball.  The dough should be quite soft.  If it feels too dry, add 1-2 Tablespoons of warm water.  Is sticky add a little flour.  Continue mixing until the dough forms a ball and then process for 1 minute to knead.  Sometimes I pull it out and knead by hand a little longer just to get out some aggression!  :)

Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl.  Allow to rest for 10-20 min. 

Break the dough in to 8 equal sections.  Lightly dust your countertop with flour.  Take one ball of dough and roll it out to the desired thickness.  1/8-1/2 inch thick works great!  Place dough onto cooking sheet.  Spread some spaghetti sauce on top.  Dust with Parmesan Cheese, and mozzerella cheese.  Add any additional toppings desired.  Pepperoni, Chicken, Olives, Peppers, Onions, etc.  Dose liberally with Penzey's Pizza Seasoning.  Bake at 400 degrees for 10-15 min or until cheese is bubbly.  Enjoy!!

Taco soup and homemade chips

I love taco soup! It is so easy and definitely one of my favorite soup recipes especially on a cold day.  It warms the belly and is so flavorful!  The absolute secret to this soup is the Penzeys Taco Seasoning.  Once you try this seasoning you will never go back to the packets again!!  This was tonight's dinner and the kids absolutely raved about the chips. In fact I had to create a second batch to keep them all happy.














Taco Soup:

1 lb ground beef, browned
1 can 15 oz diced tomatoes
2 cans black, white or kidney beans
1-2 cans corn
1 small can of tomato sauce
one package of taco seasoning or 4 Tbsp of Penzey's Taco Seasoning

Add all ingredients into a large pot, including liquids.  If you want to decrease sodium rinse the beans and add in water to get to your desired consistency.  Bring to a boil and allow to simmer for about 30 minutes.  You can also do this in the crockpot...allow to cook on low for 4-6 hours.  Add cheese and a dollup of sour cream if desired.  (I also love pepper on it!)

Corn Chips
8 corn tortillas
Olive Oil
Salt to taste

Quarter the corn tortillas.  If you have an oil spritzer spray all of the tortilla pieces until the look moist.  If not pour a tablespoon on the cookie sheet and pull each piece of tortilla through moistening each side of the tortilla, spreading the oil over the cookie sheet.  Sprinkle salt over moistened tortillas and bake at 375 for 12-15 min.  Or until browned.

Enjoy!!

85 Snack Ideas for Kids (and Adults)! - 100 Days of Real Food

Check out this page I found for healthy snack foods. I think I'll have to check out the rest of the blog too! ;)

http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2012/07/31/85-snacks-for-kids-and-adults/

Pumpkin protein pancakes

Pumpkin Protein Pancakes

I got this recipe from a wonderful gal I'm doing bootcamp with.  Stephanie with No Excuses Workouts. I thought they were fantastic, my daughter even loved them. Thanks Stephanie!!
These are so fantastic you could probably just have them plain.  I had yogurt on top.  Mmmm!  Enjoy!

2/3 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup canned pumpkin
1/4 cup cottage cheese
1 egg
1 egg white
1 T honey
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Blend all ingredients in a blender.  You may need to add water to get to the right consistency.  Continue blending until smooth.

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 90 g

Amount Per Serving

Calories                                        141

Total Fat                                      3.1g

Saturated Fat                               0.9g

Trans Fat                                    0.0g

Cholesterol                                56mg

Sodium                                    118mg

Total Carbohydrates                  20.9g

Dietary Fiber                               2.6g

Sugars                                         6.9g

Protein                                        8.3g

Vitamin A 65% • Vitamin C 2% Calcium 4% • Iron 8%

Nutrition Grade A-

* Based on a 2000 calorie diet