Peach Smoothie

Crushed ice, 1 organic peach (sliced), 1 scoop vanilla whey protein, 1 cup vanilla almond milk. Blend until smooth.

Going Veggie Once Per Week!

Ok, so I may not be a vegetarian. I grew up in a household of carnivores. My dad hunts and fishes and wears camo (hunting attire), so 90% of the food I ate as a child was meat or fish. Why do I love veggie burgers? Well, they are good for you. And I’m not talking about the store bought ones. They are usually loaded with sodium and may not be the healthiest (or cheapest things out there). I have learned to love veggie burgers because of the way they make me feel after I eat them: energized, light, and healthy. I try to do vegetarian at least once a week for the health benefits.

I don’t have some really good “after” pictures because I was pretty much starving after attending the New York Food Festival and ate them immediately.

Difficult to make? No. Time consuming…. yeah kinda.

Ingredients?

• Whatever veggies you like (rice, black beans, sweet potatoes, corn, green peppers, yellow onion, roasted red peppers, mushrooms, spinach). Make sure to drain them completely. You don’t want your patties to be a mush fest.
• 1 or 2 eggs (When you cook them they will solidify)
• spices (fresh garlic, chilli powder, hot sauce, crushed basil, thyme)
• bread crumbs or flour to hold your dough together better. I used a mix of bread crumbs and corn meal.
• Chill your dough in a covered bowl in the fridge so it hardens, then form into patties… similar to hamburgers.
• Fry them in olive oil or another healthy oil on medium until browned on each side and cooked all the way through.

Helpful Tip: Try to drain as much water as you can prior to chilling the dough because otherwise they are too mushy and hard to form into patties to cook. Example/ I shredded my peppers, onions, and garlic in the food processor then drained all the excess water into the sink.

How to serve? However you want….

If it’s black bean and rice, you could serve it over lettuce with salsa and sour cream.

If you want more of a “burger” feel to it, you could eat it on a roll like a normal burger!

Also, they are great leftover or to take in your lunch.

Above:  chopping up the raw ingredients. I later added drained black beans, corn sliced from the cobb, and seasoned multigrain rice.

I then took all my random ingredients and cooked it for about 15 minutes on low and mushed it up into a nice batter.

This was basically a HUGE experiment, but it worked out nicely!

I took the batter and chilled it all day. Came home, took it out of the bowl and formed it into patties. I fried them up and served!

Eat Your Brussels Sprouts

I’m sure 98% of you aren’t brussels sprouts enthusiasts. I can honestly say yeah, there are many other things I’d rather eat…  but I have found a way to cook/season them where they aren’t bad at all.

In addition, here are a few reasons you may want to eat them.

• They contain anti-cancer properties. Multiple studies have shown that they contain a chemical known for destroying pre-cancerous cells.
• Excellent source of vitamin C
• Helps protect your eyes and limit damage to the retina
• Excellent source of vitamin K which is great for bone health preventing osteoporosis.
• Having enough vitaman K in your diet can also prevent, or at least delay, Alzheimer’s disease.

I hope you are now considering adding brussels sprouts to your weekly grocery list. There are really so many benefits to eating them. They lower cholesterol, blood pressure, and prevent cancer. They are one of the healthiest foods you can eat.

http://www.nutrition-and-you.com/brussel-sprouts.html

Here is how I cooked my brussels sprouts.

First I prepped them by cutting off the bottom of each sprout (the white stem part) and took off the outer leaves. I rinsed them in cool water.

I put them in a bowl and tossed with olive oil, lemon juice, garlic salt, and pepper.

I used a grill pan and turned the grill on medium.

I cooked them for about 15 minutes then flipped to the other side for another 15 minutes.  You want them to look “grilled” all around so depending on their size (some are smaller than others) the time cooking them is going to vary.

Finally, I took the super sprouts off the grill and tossed them in the same bowl with parm/romano cheese and sweet grain mustard.

How to serve: 

With hamburgers, grilled salmon, steak, or chicken.

Easy Flatbread Pizza

Start out by purchasing flatbreads. They can be found in the deli section usually in the grocery store. I got these at Costco because they are cheaper than in most grocery stores. They are low in calories, low in fat, and have no trans fat. They make the perfect thin pizza crust because they crisp in about 10 minutes or less in the oven on 400. Just add your toppings. You can also put them outside on the grill. Just make sure to watch them because they cook really fast like a cracker.

Here in the finished product. It took less than 10 minutes to prepare. I cut up some mozz cheese, fresh basil, tomatoes, sprinkled some real bacon bits (I love bacon!) and added a sprinkling of feta cheese and cilantro lime shrimp (premade from Costco). I popped it in the oven or toaster oven on 400 for 8-10 minutes depending on how crispy I want it.

I make these literally a few times per week because they are easy to prepare, quick, and there’s so many possibilities. I can use leftovers or whatever I have in the fridge. Not to mention, the crust is low carb, low cal and non-greasy and fatty. I am literally addicted to pizza so this helps me not to fill out like a sumo wrestler. After I eat it, I am satisfied and have fulfilled my pizza craving for the day. :o)

Clean Eating

Here is a dish I made after reading a lot of various articles on clean eating. Clean eating seems to be the up and coming food trend for a healthy lifestyle. With obesity so high in our country, people are finally discovering that all the processed garbage we’ve been putting into our bodies is causing heath problems. I could have predicted that one, but it’s really deceptive when you look at labels that say things like, “Low Fat” or “Fat free” or “Low carb.” Basically, people need to go back to the good ole’ days when grandma made food, like REAL food. No cutesy diet foods, prepackaged meals, hamburger, powder cheese insta-meals. Just eat real food!

frozen mahi mahi (Costco)
I let it thaw in the bag for 15 minutes in warm water in a bowl.
Sauteed the fish over medium-high heat using lemon pepper, fresh garlic chopped, and in olive oil.

brussell sprouts (fresh)
chopped off the ends and took off the outer leaves. rolled in olive oil and garlic salt. Sauteed in pan covered over medium-high heat, flipping periodically.

lime shrimp (premade from Costco in the salad section)

pineapple salsa over mahi mahi
I chopped fresh pineapple, green pepper, and hot red peppers. I heated it up in the pan after cooking the mahi. I added some premade salsa to the mix that I had in the fridge.

I like a lot of different flavors, so I sprinkled some feta cheese and Blaze (also from Costco) balsamic glaze over the dish at the end!