Beef Enchiladas with Homemade Sauce

Posted on: May 30, 2014 by: Tara Canlett Comments: 2 Comments

I think I’m an expert at rolling up tortillas because of my training at Taco Bell when I was younger. Yes, I worked at Taco Bell not once, but twice. And in 2 different states! We had to roll up the biggest burritos without any leaks. Did you see Food Babe’s recent post on Taco Bell? I admit, we were still going there once in a while and would just get like a bean burrito or cheese quesadilla, thinking it couldn’t be that bad. Well I was wrong. Just check out her post and you will see what I mean. I think Chipotle Mexican Grill will be the only ‘Fast Food Mexican Food’ we will be getting now…

The great thing about rolling up these enchiladas is you don’t have to be an expert. Just roll it up the best you can and if they leak, it’s perfectly okay. They are going to be messy anyway but oh so good, and you just eat it with a fork. We sure love Mexican food in this house and it’s fun making different combinations at home that we know are filled with much better ingredients. This recipe even includes homemade enchilada sauce! It’s pretty easy to make and you can make it ahead of time so it’s ready when you need it. Everyone loves these, even my daughter. And that was very surprising. I hope you enjoy them too!

Enchilada Sauce:

1 tsp minced onion
½ tsp oregano
2 ½ tsp chili powder
½ tsp basil
1/8 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp sea salt
¼ tsp cumin
1 tsp parsley
1 TB olive oil
2 cloves minced garlic
¼ cup salsa
1 15 oz. can/jar tomato sauce
½ cup water

Mix up all the seasonings except the garlic in a small bowl and set aside. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and saute for 1-2 min. Add the seasonings, salsa, tomato sauce, and water. Stir everything together and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 15-20 min, stirring occasionally.

Enchiladas:

1 lb ground beef (organic grass-fed preferred)
1 small onion, chopped
chopped green chilies (or green onion, corn)
Enchilada sauce (recipe above)
Six 10” tortillas (I get ours at our local food co-op, all natural and GMO free)
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 small can sliced black olives
Sour cream (for topping)

In a skillet over medium-high heat cook the ground beef until browned. Add the onion and green chilies (or green onion/corn) about half way through. (If you want/need to drain the grease then add the onion & green chilies after draining. I usually don’t need to drain the grease at all.) Start preheating the oven to 350 degrees. Spoon some of the sauce into the bottom of a 9 x 13″ baking dish, making a small layer (like pictured below). On each flour tortilla, put an equal amount of the beef mixture, some of the cheddar cheese (reserving at least ½ cup of cheese), and a little sauce. Then tightly roll the tortillas and place them in the baking dish, seam side down. Pour the remaining sauce on top of the tortillas and sprinkle on the leftover cheese, and the olives. Bake for about 20 min. Sauce should be bubbly and cheese melted. Let cool for about 5 minutes and then you can top with sour cream.

Cooking the beef, onion and green chilies:

Spreading the enchilada sauce:

Enchiladas rolled up and ready to put in the oven:

You could make your own corn tortillas using a tortilla press (shown below). Here’s a recipe from 100 Days of Real Food that includes a video: http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2011/04/26/recipe-easy-whole-grain-corn-tortillas/.

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Chocolate Avocado Pudding

Posted on: May 24, 2014 by: Tara Canlett

Chocolate pudding was one of those things we used to eat a lot but after switching to organic foods, I just figured it would be something we wouldn’t have anymore. This is a ‘healthier’ version that I feel good about giving my kids periodically. And there’s no sugar! Just raw honey*, which is a natural sweetener. But you want to make sure it’s raw honey and not processed. The part that took the longest was scooping out the avocados, but if you just cut around the avocado lengthwise, they peel apart easily. Then you can scoop out the seed and scoop everything out. And I found it easier to scoop if they are at room temperature (they should be kept at room temperature anyway unless they are ripe and you don’t want them to ripen more). *Honey is not recommended for children under one.

Avocados are so good for you. They have the good-for-you-fat that we need! (It’s unsaturated but I want to make it clear that there are good saturated fats that we need as well.) They are a good source of fiber, and have about 20 vitamins and minerals! Including Vitamins A, B, C, D, & K, Calcium, Magnesium, Iron, Potassium, and many others. So my son liked the pudding but my daughter made a funny face. She was sick at the time, so I don’t know if it just tasted funny because of that. I didn’t tell my kids what was in it. I just said it’s chocolate pudding. Was that wrong of me? 😉 Anyway, I love it and hope you will too.

Ingredients:

2 large avocados, or 3 small
1 cup milk (I use organic whole but you could use coconut milk, almond milk, etc.)
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (or cacao powder, which is better for you)
3 TB raw honey*
dash of cinnamon (optional)

Directions:
Scoop out all the avocado and discard the seed (see my tips on doing this quickly at the top of this post). Blend all the ingredients in a blender or NutriBullet (that’s what I used, see picture below). Refrigerate for about 30 minutes and serve. *Honey is not recommended for children under one.

Here’s everything added and ready to blend up in the NutriBullet:
(I had to add more milk after this picture because I was still in the testing phase)

Here’s a NutriBullet through Amazon:

And here’s my son eating the chocolate avocado pudding frozen in a Smoothie-Pop-Mold:

Gardening – The Beginning

Posted on: May 9, 2014 by: Tara Canlett Comments: 7 Comments

We are very new to the gardening world. I grew up with my dad always growing something, and my grandma always had a garden, but I wasn’t very involved. I don’t know why…. I honestly wish I would have been more involved. I was definitely involved in eating it! 😉 My husband was around gardening too but this is the first time we have tried to grow anything on our own. My mother-in-law helped us grow a few things last year in pots on our deck and the side of the house along the fence. Now we are completely doing it on our own and have built a long garden bed (pictured below). And we are still growing along the side of the house and in pots. Basically wherever we can grow! 🙂

We bought some seeds, which consist of:

Beans (navy, kidney-regular and dark)
Zucchini
Cucumber
Tomatoes (regular and cherry)
Radishes
Carrots (I got these free from my aunt)
Pumpkin
Cauliflower (a couple different kinds)
Rainbow beans (different colored string beans)
Watermelon

I’m not sure why we decided to grow so much this year but we are just going to see what happens! This was $40 altogether, because they are organic. We already had kale and spinach from last year that came back up. We also grew mixed lettuces, peas, and cherry tomatoes. They did pretty well. We also bought some starters, which are mixed greens, peas, rosemary, and chard. I paid about $3 for each one.

Here is what we have learned and all beginners should be aware of:
Monsanto genetically modifies their seeds. I don’t know if you can regrow their seeds but if you do, they can sue you. They want you to purchase their seeds year after year. Organic seeds are different. You can usually regrow from seed. So I figured it was worth it to spend a lot up front and then try to regrow from the seeds. We bought our seeds from Annie’s heirloom seeds. Also, you can grow some things from kitchen scraps! Here’s the post I found helpful on this, containing 25 different foods you can regrow from kitchen scraps. You also want good soil. You would think dirt is just dirt, but unfortunately no. It could contain pesticides, and other chemicals that non-organic companies put in to help you grow faster and bigger, because that’s what people usually want. And when they see those results, they go back to buying that same product, which is what those companies want. If you spend the extra money in the beginning to make sure everything is all natural (no pesticides, no GMOs, organic), you can try to regrow from there and enjoy organic vegetables/fruits each year. And FREE, that you grew in your yard. Here’s a link on companion planting (what not to plant together). And here’s a great post from 100 Days of Real Food on lessons learned when growing food.

A great tip: I heard that Home Depot (and maybe Lowe’s too) does a recycle program where people can bring in their pots so if you ever need pots go get them for free in the nursery! We didn’t know this until we had already bought some but we will need more so we will be going to get the free ones. 🙂

If I can do this, anyone can. It’s a great learning experience for the kids too and to see where our food comes from is awesome! And how convenient is it to just walk outside, pick something, and eat it, or use it in what you are making?!? For us, it has been all about using what we have. We didn’t buy anything fancy. And we did receive some materials from a friend. We also received free dirt from a friend! And it’s the real stinky stuff, so you know it’s good. 😉 If you are considering gardening but think you don’t have anywhere to grow, you might want to think it over again because you can grow just about anywhere! There is vertical gardening where you grow up. And you can grow in pots/planters. There are so many ideas out there for growing in small spaces.

We also have rain water barrels to collect rain water and use to water our garden. And I plan on starting a compost, hopefully soon! I also want to try canning after we see what all we can grow. If I get an abundance of cucumber, I want to make pickles! If we get a ton of tomatoes, it would be great to make tomato sauce and salsa. Or just diced tomatoes to add to dishes. I made this spaghetti sauce last year (pictured to the right) from some leftover tomatoes that were frozen from my grandma’s garden. It was so good! I think we are going to try to build a greenhouse eventually too. Here’s How to Build a Greenhouse for $50. And 13 Cheap & Easy DIY Greenhouses.

Here’s some of what we grew last year, and everything did pretty good.
(We also grew cherry tomatoes, but I don’t have a picture.)
Mixed lettuces, spinach, peas:

Kale

My grandma has always had a big garden. Every summer we would go pick stuff from her garden and eat it, or they would give us stuff to take home. Here are some pictures of the kids in her garden last year. She has too many things to list them all but we have always loved her raspberries! You can see part of them in the picture with Tyler. With my uncle there managing the garden, I know it is all organic. He is big on natural/organic/non-GMO. When I first got into all this, I went to him with a lot of questions.

My Kale came to life again from last year!
(VERY exciting moment for a new gardener.)

Here’s what we’ve got going this year. Mixed lettuces, spinach, chard, rosemary, peas,
and some of our seeds growing inside.

Here is the long raised garden bed we built. We aren’t sure how much sun this is going to get in our backyard but we are giving it a try. Last year we had some trees cut down, so there will definitely be more light than before. It’s still pretty shady though. And we have a huge hill, so not much space to grow. I know we could grow on the hill too. The biggest concern is sunlight.

And here’s Tyler helping us build the garden bed. 🙂

And now for the answer to the big question, how much did it cost us altogether to get a garden going??? Well, the dirt was free, boards were free, we did buy some nails and spent gas to get around. Seeds were $40 altogether and the starters were $3 each. I would say it was probably a total of $70 (including cost of gas). SO worth it considering what we could possibly get back. There is an endless list of benefits to gardening. Especially organic gardening! Thank you to the friends that provided the dirt and boards!!! This is an exciting adventure for us. Stay tuned for more of the gardening fun! 😉

Chicken & Herb Noodles

Posted on: May 2, 2014 by: Tara Canlett Comments: 1 Comment

This is a simple dish that is great for a Spring/Summer day (or anytime). We have had some really warm weather here the last couple days and this is a nice light meal for when you are just hot and worn out. I threw this dish together when I had no idea what to make but had some chicken to cook. And my daughter sure loves noodles! They are always a winner with her. The packages of chicken that I buy have way more chicken than we would eat now, so I either separate it after I buy it or just cook it all and freeze half. It’s nice to be able to pull out some chicken from the freezer and it’s already cooked. Saves a step! You can serve this warm or cold. You could even make it ahead of time and have it chilling until dinner. Then you can play in the sun with the kids until you want to eat and just pull it out of the fridge and eat outside together. 🙂 You can also make this without the chicken as a side dish to one of your meals.

Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts
2 cups noodles (any kind you like)
2 TB butter
1/4 to 1/2 cup milk (depending on how creamy you want it)
shredded parmessan cheese (about 2 TB to 1/4 cup)
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp rosemary
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
salt & pepper
bell peppers (1/2 – 1 cup)

Directions:
Cook the chicken until there’s no pink (I use coconut oil in the pan). You can add any seasonings you like, or just salt & pepper. Cook the noodles by bringing water to a boil (medium pan filled about 3/4 with water), add noodles, cook at a slow boil for about 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Cut up the bell peppers and chicken. Drain the noodles. Add the butter, milk, and parmessan cheese. You may want a little heat to get this to mix up well. Add herbs & seasonings (I just sprinkle in the herbs but it is probably about 1/2 tsp of each). Then add the bell peppers and chicken. Serve immediately or chill for later. It’s good warm or cold.

Split Pea Soup

Posted on: April 23, 2014 by: Tara Canlett Comments: 2 Comments

I had only tried split pea soup out of a can when I was growing up and thought it was gross and looked gross. When my mother-in-law introduced it to me again, as homemade, I was in heaven. It is now one of my favorite soups! It still doesn’t look all that appealing but it definitely looks better than the soup out of a can. And, it doesn’t even taste like peas. Believe me, my husband wouldn’t eat it if it did. 😉 I get my split peas at our local food co-op in the bulk bins but I’m sure they have them at most stores. I love to make this with leftover ham from a holiday dinner but you can make it with a whole ham (bone-in), or you can cook it with bacon! We like to have bread and butter with it. I think the Rosemary adds a special touch and guess what? It’s great for improving your memory! Those of us with Fibromyalgia really need that.
(For a vegetarian option, don’t add any meat and use vegetable broth instead of chicken broth.)

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups dried split peas
1 QT chicken broth (4 cups)
1 1/2 lb. ham or 1-2 cups leftover ham (chopped into squares)
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 large carrots, chopped
1 tsp rosemary
1-2 cloves minced garlic
2 bay leaves
salt & pepper (sprinkled in as desired)

Directions:
Soak your split peas overnight in a large bowl of water, covered by about 3 inches. This will save in cooking time but if you need to do it in the same day, simmer in water for about 5 minutes, then soak for an hour and drain. Add the split peas to a large pot with the chicken broth. Add the ham, onion, carrots, and all the seasonings. (If you have a whole ham, cook with the bone.) Bring to a boil, then cover and cook on medium for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove the cover and cook another 10 – 15 minutes to thicken. Basically cook until the carrots are soft and peas are mushy, not crunchy. (It will look like the picture above.) Remove bay leaves and the ham bone before serving (if it’s a whole ham you will need to cut it up before serving).

Split peas after they were soaked overnight:

Soup cooking with the bay leaves:

Apple Cinnamon Pancakes

Posted on: April 18, 2014 by: Tara Canlett Comments: 6 Comments

In the Fall, I experimented with different kinds of pancakes. I made pumpkin pancakes, zucchini pancakes, gingerbread pancakes, and even just plain pancakes. Then I wanted to make apple cinnamon pancakes but I wasn’t happy with any of the recipes I found. So basically I took the pumpkin pancake recipe and substituted the pumpkin for apple sauce, with a few other minor adjustments. Everyone loved them! Even my daughter’s friend who said she only likes plain pancakes. 😉 These are good anytime of the year. We like to have bacon or sausage with it, and some fruit.

Cinnamon and nutmeg are so good for us. Here’s some information about their healing properties: http://www.fitday.com/fitness-articles/fitness/cinnamon-and-nutmeg-do-they-really-have-healing-properties.html#b.

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt (I use sea salt)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 cup milk (I use organic whole)
1/2 cup apple sauce (or 1 of those apple sauce cups)
1 egg
2 TB coconut oil or melted butter

Directions:
In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Set aside. In another bowl (or make a well in the middle of the large bowl) whisk the milk, applesauce, egg, and oil (or butter) together. Combine wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. The batter may be slightly lumpy and that’s okay. Grease your skillet and set to medium. I use coconut oil to grease it. Once it is heated, add a big spoonful of batter to each area on the skillet, depending on how big your skillet is and how big you want your pancakes. When bubbles form in the batter, you can flip them. Cook a couple more minutes, remove from the pan and repeat until all the batter is used up. Best served with real butter and 100% pure maple syrup, or raw honey.

Ideas for an Organic Easter

Posted on: April 11, 2014 by: Tara Canlett

With Easter coming up, it’s time to make a plan. And that plan should include healthier natural options. Last year was our first Easter after switching to organic foods. I didn’t have a blog then so I didn’t write down everything we did but I do have some pictures from the occasion. I remember doing something wrong with the natural egg dyes. I don’t remember if it was that I didn’t include the vinegar or if I followed something else incorrectly. We also tried to do all the dyes the day of, so that was a bad idea to begin with. My poor husband was such a trooper through all my crazy ideas. He tried to help me with all of that but we just didn’t have enough time and really should have done some experimenting prior. Our bunny cookies turned out great though! But some of the frosting did get a little runny, as you can see in the picture towards the bottom of this post.

My kids loved everything we did, even if it didn’t work out. It was a fun experience and they didn’t miss all the junk they had in previous years, or the big stuffed bunny that only gets played with for a couple days. It’s all about family, fun, and making memories. As long as we are together doing something, they are happy. Holidays have really got out of control. They can be whatever we make them. So let’s make them great! Our kids will only be young for a short amount of time and then they won’t be into any of this anymore anyway.

The Easter Baskets:
We reuse the baskets and the ‘filling’ (grass, shredded paper, whatever you want to call it). And I put things like color books & crayons, bubbles, sidewalk chalk, any small toys, stickers, Annie’s bunny fruit snacks, one of our chocolate bunny cookies (recipe below), and there are natural candy options out there. I have even got them a cool new shirt, rolled it up and stuck it in their basket.

Dying Eggs Naturally:
We tried dying the eggs naturally and I think it could work, but they have to sit in the dye for a longer period of time and we didn’t wait. This would be good especially if you will be eating the eggs after the kids hunt for them. And I hate to see them go to waste. Here’s a great recipe for the natural egg dye, by MommyPotamus: http://www.mommypotamus.com/how-to-dye-easter-eggs-naturally-with-everyday-ingredients/. I bought these bunny egg holders to dip the eggs in the dye (see the picture to the right with Tyler holding one – isn’t he just so cute???) 🙂 I really don’t remember where I got them. It could have been Walmart or Target. But I just recently saw a tip on using a whisk to hold the eggs while dipping them. That sounds like a great idea!

Filling Plastic Eggs for an Egg Hunt:
We reuse the plastic eggs every year and fill them with little toys, stickers, tattoos, erasers, money, etc. You could have a golden egg that has either a $2 bill in it or a larger amount of money. And if you still want to do candy there are organic candy options out there. I have found candies that look like M&Ms but they don’t have any artificial colors and jelly beans at Trader Joe’s that are made with fruit/vegetable extracts for the colors. Another idea is to do a scavenger hunt with the plastic eggs! I think I will do that this year since the egg dying didn’t work out last year and I may not be up to trying it again this time. But I might try it again the following year. 😉

Recipe for the Bunny Cookies

Cookies: I used this sugar cookie recipe and then used the bunny cookie cutter to the left: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/easy-sugar-cookies/detail.aspx (using organic ingredients, real butter, and cane sugar of course). Here’s a similar bunny cookie cutter on Amazon:

Frosting: I used these ideas for coloring the frosting and then just mixed powdered sugar with milk to make the frosting (keep mixing and adding until you have the right consistency): http://www.care2.com/greenliving/8-ways-to-make-organic-diy-food-coloring.html. Spinach is definitely great for green and you don’t taste it. Carrots works for orange, turmeric is that golden color you can see on one of the bunny cookies in the picture. Red cabbage for blue and purple, and beets make a great red/pink! You don’t taste the beets either. Then I melted carob chips or dark chocolate chips for the chocolate frosting.

Update: I made these cookies the following year. It’s the same cookie recipe using the cookie cutter to make the bunny shapes, and I made some circles that are like the eggs. Then I just melted some chocolate chips (add a little milk while melting on the stove if you want), and drizzled or spread it over the top. So easy!

Easter Breakfast:
For a fun Easter breakfast, you could use the cookie cutter shown above and make bunny-shaped pancakes. My Apple Cinnamon Pancake recipe would be perfect. You can dress them up however you like. Make a face using fruit, add a little whip cream, or just plain with real butter and real maple syrup. Or another breakfast idea is the quiche recipe shown below.

Easter Brunch:
Quiche would make a great Easter brunch! Here’s the recipe: http://organicfibromommies.com/2013/12/quiche-two-ways/. You could also make quiche cups. I haven’t tried making the quiche cups using my quiche recipe but there is a recipe in the 100 Days of Real Food cookbook.

Appetizers:
Here are my party appetizers for some ideas. We like to do deviled eggs, a fruit and veggie platter, and cheese & crackers usually. Party Appetizers: http://organicfibromommies.com/2013/12/party-appetizers/.

Easter Dinner:
For Easter Dinner we usually bake a ham, with some baked macaroni ‘n cheese on the side.

Here’s my Baked Mac ‘N Cheese recipe: http://organicfibromommies.com/2014/03/baked-mac-n-cheese/.

And last but not least, something funny. When the kids woke-up last year and saw their Easter baskets, they were just shocked that the Easter bunny knew they eat organic. You can see how shocked Tyler is. 😉

Chili & Sweet Cornbread

Posted on: April 4, 2014 by: Tara Canlett Comments: 2 Comments

Chili is one of those meals you can make so many different ways. This is how we like ours, but I have adjusted depending on what ingredients we have at the time. My mom first gave me the recipe and I have made changes here and there to make it my own. I remember when I was first married and learning how to cook, I went around to different family members to collect recipes. It was fun putting them all together and trying different things. I wish I would have stuck to it instead of buying all the cheap boxed meals full of preservatives and other bad stuff. 🙁 Oh well… I am back at it now! And more than I ever was before. I am very excited that my kids are a part of all this and can use what I teach them when they are off on their own someday. I never want to go back to the way we used to live. This is what it’s all about… growing our own, making our own, family projects, and trying new things. 🙂

We have been cutting back on the amount of meat we use, so you will see a lot of recipes say 1/2 – 1 lb. of hamburger or 2 chicken breasts instead of 4. I use 1/2 a lb. of hamburger for recipes like this. I know the store packages it into 1 lb. increments so what I do is, cook all the hamburger and freeze half. It makes it easier when I go to pull it out for the next meal. Plus when I get home from the grocery store, I don’t really feel like separating out the hamburger. I just want to put it in the fridge or freezer and be done. I do this for the chicken too. Usually you will get 4 chicken breasts in a package so I cook them all and freeze half. It is really nice when I pull out the other half later in the week and it’s already been cooked! I can just thaw and chop up the chicken to add to one of our favorite dishes. I can’t believe how much meat we were eating before and a lot of that chicken went to waste. I hate waste. 🙁 When we make tacos/burritos now, we use 1/2 lb. of hamburger and add Amy’s organic refried beans. There’s still so much left we can take some for lunch the next day as a taco salad. I also use 1/2 lb. of hamburger for spaghetti. I like my sauce more saucy anyway. 😉 Or just make meatballs!

On the cornbread, you can substitute the sugar for more honey (just do 1/4 cup honey) but this is why I am okay with some raw cane sugar here and there: http://butternutrition.com/5-reasons-to-embrace-not-avoid-sugar/. (To make this dish vegetarian, just leave out the hamburger.)

Two Ways to Soak Beans – Overnight and the Quick Soak Method:
For the Overnight Method, add the beans to a large bowl, cover with water and let sit overnight. You will want extra water on top because the beans will soak up the water during the night. Drain and rinse well. For the Quick Soak Method, add the beans to a pot and cover with water by about 3 inches. Bring to a boil and simmer briskly for 5 minutes. Remove from heat, cover, and let stand for 1 hour. Then drain and rinse well.

CHILI RECIPE

Ingredients:

1/2 – 1 lb. hamburger (we use grass-fed organic)
chili seasoning (1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper, 1/2 tsp oregano, 1 1/2 tsp cumin, 2 TB chili powder, 1/2 – 1 tsp garlic powder – or minced garlic)
1 cup water (double this if using the dry beans)
1 can kidney beans or 1/2 cup of dry kidney beans (see soaking methods above if using dry beans)
1 can black beans/pinto beans or 1/2 cup of dry beans (optional)
1 can stewed tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce
1 can sliced olives (drained)
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 – 1 cup diced bell peppers
peppercorns (optional, in place of regular pepper or just use regular pepper)
shredded cheese for topping
sour cream (optional)

Directions:
Soak the beans if you are using dry beans (see soaking methods above). Brown the hamburger, drain if necessary. Stir in the chili seasoning and water, cook another 5 minutes (you can use the full amount of seasoning even if you only do 1/2 lb of hamburger, but I would add more water. Or just reduce the seasoning by half). Chop your peppers/onion. In a crock pot or a large pot on the stove, add kidney beans and/or black beans/pinto beans, stewed tomatoes, olives, onion, bell peppers, and peppercorns (or pepper). Add the seasoned hamburger when it’s done cooking. I set my crock pot to the 4 hour setting and stir occasionally. If you aren’t using a crock pot than bring the chili to a boil and then reduce heat, cover and cook until it’s done. Probably within an hour. I like to cook it long. (If you use dry beans and soak them, they will need to cook longer than beans from a can. So the chili would be done when the beans are done.) Add the shredded cheese/sour cream when serving.

CORNBREAD RECIPE

Ingredients:

1/2 cup cornmeal (I use Bob’s Red Mill organic cornmeal)
1 1/2 cups flour
2 TB raw cane sugar
1 TB baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup oil (I use coconut oil)
3 TB melted butter
3 TB honey
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/4 cups milk (I use organic whole)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Stir cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a mixing bowl. Pour in the oil, melted butter, honey, beaten eggs, and milk. Stir until moist, it will be lumpy and that’s okay. (You may have to melt your coconut oil. Usually mine is hard but when we have a good fire going or if it’s summer time, it’s liquified.) Grease an 8 x 11″ dish (I use coconut oil for this too) and pour the mixture into the dish. Then bake for 30 minutes. You can use a toothpick to check if it’s done in the middle. (A Loaf Pan works too.)

Here are some pictures of the chili-making-process:

Some of my batches are more colorful than others 😉

Another picture just for fun!

Here’s coconut oil through Amazon (I heard this is a good brand):

Here’s the crock pot I use and I love it! There are other options out there with different prices too.

Baked Mac ‘N Cheese

Posted on: March 26, 2014 by: Tara Canlett Comments: 1 Comment

We love macaroni and cheese in this house, especially baked with all kinds of yumminess! (Yes, I said yumminess. Isn’t that a word??) 🙂 This recipe is two recipes put together and changed around to make it my own. I have played with it a couple times to get it right but really, how can you go wrong with mac ‘n cheese??? I love to make casseroles where you just put some good foods together in a dish and bake it in the oven. Tastes so good and there are endless possibilities! So easy too. I don’t know why I haven’t been doing this all along. I really wish someone would have come into my house a long time ago and slapped reality into me. This is such an easy (and healthier) way to live! I will never go back to the boxed hamburger helper, and other boxed stuff. You still had to put those ingredients together to cook… how much more work is it to buy the ingredients separate and throw them together? It really isn’t. You just have to experiment and use different herbs and spices. Eventually you will get the hang of it and it will be so easy to figure out what spices and herbs go better with what dish. And it’s fun! I do an inventory every week before grocery shopping to figure out what we are low on and just keep my stock going so I can make just about anything.

This recipe serves a family of four, so if you want to make it for a larger crowd you can double the recipe. To make it spicier, add some cayenne pepper or red pepper flakes. For a vegetarian option, just don’t add any meat.

Ingredients:

1 cup of macaroni noodles
3 slices of bacon (or 3 slices of thinly sliced ham) – optional
1/2 cup of chopped onion
1-2 cloves minced garlic
3 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup milk (I use organic whole)
3 eggs
3/4 cup bread crumbs
salt & pepper
thyme

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Boil about 2 cups of water on the stove in a medium pan. Add macaroni noodles and cook for 8 minutes on medium, stirring occasionally. Chop your onion & garlic and cook with the bacon in a separate small frying pan. (If you use ham you can just skip this step and put the ham, onion and garlic in with the casserole to bake. I like to fry it up first for extra flavors.) Shred your cheese, whisk the milk and eggs together in a bowl, drain the noodles, cut-up your bacon/ham. In an 8 x 11 dish, add the noodles, milk/egg mixture, 2 cups of the shredded cheese, the bacon (or ham), onion and garlic, sprinkle in some salt & pepper and thyme. Then stir everything up. Add the last cup of cheese on top and the bread crumbs. (I learned to crumble the bread crumbs up smaller after the first time I made it. You can see they are larger in the picture above.) Bake 15-20 minutes. Let cool for about 5 minutes before serving.

Frying up the ham, garlic & onion:

Before adding cheese & bread crumbs on top:

Juicing vs. Smoothies

Posted on: March 21, 2014 by: Tara Canlett Comments: 6 Comments

Juicing
I think juicing is so important, especially for those with health issues. Juicing takes all the nutrients out of the fruits & vegetables and when you drink it, those nutrients go through your body a lot quicker than if you had eaten them, and in a larger quantity. We don’t usually eat that many fruits/vegetables at a time and you might juice something you wouldn’t normally eat. Like for me I wouldn’t normally eat a beet but I would juice it with other fruits & vegetables and eat it that way. Yes, juicing does leave a lot behind (the fiber). But that can be harder to digest and if you want to get a lot of nutrients into your body at once, like a detox, this is a great way. For those of us with autoimmune diseases or other health issues, we need this. I juice periodically. Usually once on the weekends, just because of time and money. It does cost a lot to juice because you have to buy a lot of fruit and vegetables in large quantity, and you want them to be of the highest quality (organic). Some people go through a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). Or you can buy large quantities of what is on sale.

I recommend watching the documentary ‘Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead’. I watched it through Netflix. It’s about a guy (Joe Cross) that is going through all these health issues and taking all these medications. He decides to do a juice detox and ends up clearing up all his health issues and weaning off all the meds he was on, in addition to losing a lot of weight. The documentary also shows another guy and his situation of health issues and going through the juice detox. I have never done a detox, but I try to juice when I can. Like I said, I would like to do more juicing but it really only happens once/week for me right now (and I have really been slacking since we bought the NutriBullet because it is more convenient to use and clean! More on that below. But I will get back to my once/week juicing regiment). I don’t think a detox is needed unless your health is so bad that your body needs it to try to get on track. Like the situations shown in the documentary. Back when I was first diagnosed with Fibromyalgia, I think a detox would have been good if I was more aware of it. Instead I had switched the type of food we were eating and later incorporated juicing into my diet. (Here’s my post on switching to organic foods and how I lost 30 pounds.)

Here’s the same brand of juicer we use-Breville (I couldn’t find the exact model):

This is what we typically juice, just because it’s what we always
have on hand (and I like to add ice to mine):

carrots
apple
orange
celery
spinach/kale
ginger*

*I don’t use a lot of ginger because it has a very strong flavor. You can use fresh ginger or sprinkle in ginger after you are done juicing and just stir it up.

Some things to know about juicing: Make sure to rinse everything thoroughly. Cut off the ends of the carrots but you don’t have to peel. You don’t have to peel an orange when juicing and it’s actually good for you to do it this way but it can taste very different. You don’t have to peel the apples, or the ginger. You can put the whole apple in, even stem and seeds. You will just probably have to cut it in half to fit it in the machine. Celery leaves should be included in juicing. I put the ingredients in the machine in order of speed. So, hard veggies first, then apples, citrus, soft fruits. Then I turn the machine up to full speed to kind-of clean it out before shutting it off. Stir and drink! The juice needs to be consumed right away, or you can put it in the refrigerator (covered) but it goes bad after about 24 hours. It is at it’s very best fresh.

Juicing is also handy when you want to make the juice to add color to frosting. Beets are good for red, spinach for green, and I found that raspberries make a pretty pink rose color that was great for my daughter’s birthday cake. Or let’s say you have a watermelon that is kind-of soft inside and no one wants to eat it but it’s still good (hasn’t gone bad). I just juice it and make popsicles with the juice or put the juice in my daughter’s lunch. She loves it! One time I had an abundance of cucumbers and we love cucumbers but I was worried about us not eating them fast enough, so I juiced several of them and we drank the juice. It was so good, and good for us. I bet my daughter would love a cucumber juice popsicle too! 🙂

Smoothies

I do think smoothies are a healthy way to go too. It’s how I get the majority of the fruit I consume, just because I’m so bad about eating fruit. I do like fruit, it just doesn’t sound appealing to me all the time. Smoothies are great as a healthy drink or even for dessert! Mix in some ice cream and whatever fruit you want. Yum! You can do yogurt instead of ice cream. We have been into the hemp milk lately for our healthy drinks.

Here are the reusable straws that we use and we invested in a NutriBullet recently. Here’s one through Amazon:

This is our basic recipe, but we just throw in whatever fruit we have
(no measuring necessary):

blueberries
mango/pineapple
banana
strawberries/raspberries
spinach/kale
hemp milk
chia seeds/flax seeds (ours are usually ground)

(then I sprinkle in ginger & turmeric in mine)

Comparison of juicer to NutriBullet and juicing vs. smoothies
I think we need to juice and make smoothies. Incorporate both into our diet. I juice on the weekend, so once/week, and try to make a smoothie every day. Juicing is not as convenient as my awesome NutriBullet. It is so easy to use and easy to clean. The juicer takes more time to use and is so bulky. There are so many parts. Yes, they are dishwasher safe but it takes up the whole top rack! I would love to drink a freshly made juice every morning, but this is costly and inconvenient. So instead, I choose to make a smoothie every day. The reason I think we should do both is because juicing takes all the nutrients from the fruit/veggies without the fiber that can be harder to digest, and when you drink it these nutrients go right through your bloodstream. And you can drink a juice a lot faster than sipping on a smoothie. We can consume the amount of fruit/veggies that are recommended in a day, which is a lot harder than trying to eat that many in a day. And I do like that there isn’t any waste with the smoothies. But we are going to start composting, so the ‘waste’ from juicing will be great for that. Which will be good for our garden!

Here’s Food Babe’s info on common juicing mistakes: http://foodbabe.com/2013/08/05/juicing-mistakes/. If you type ‘juicing’ into her search bar, you will find all kinds of great information and recipes about juicing. She is like the Juice Queen! 🙂