Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Golden Chickpea and Artichoke Salad

I got this recipe in a free magazine from Smith's Marketplace. Katey I hear you love chickpea's? I really like this salad and plan to make it again.

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 15oz can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
5-7 artichoke hearts, drained and sliced (I got mine in a big jar from Costco, you could also buy it in a can or fresh)
1/4 to 1/3 cup sliced almonds (if desired, toasted)
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp fresh chopped parsley

1. Heat oil in skillet. Add chickpeas and cook over medium-high for 10 minutes, stirring only to prevent burning, until chickpeas are golden brown all over. When done, transfer chickpeas to large mixing bowl and set aside.

2.Add more oil if needed to pan and saute sliced artichoke hearts until browned. Add artichokes to chickpeas.

3-Add almonds, lemon juice, salt and parsley to chickpea mixture. Eat!!!

Salad, Grains, Beans, Fruit!!!

My advice to us Veggie lovin' friends as we are eating the same diet is, do not skip out on your salads or grains. If you eat your BIG salad at lunch and dinner time comes and you feel like there is no way in the world you can eat another HUGE salad with your soup, bean burger, whole grain waffles or whatever your dinner is that night; suck it up! Just eat your salad. Even if your salad is not as large as your lunch salad just eat it. You will be able to tell the difference in weight loss and general health. I have a testimony of salad.

Don't skip your grains. You must eat those. To me, the grains are what gets me excited. What kind of grain will I have tonight? I love it!

Eat all the fruit in the world. Look at my post on "Just like cheese cake". The sauce that is for that "cake" is so yummy to dip fruit in. All it is is frozen berries and dates put in a food processor.

Eat your beans! I am sure you do but they will fill you up. During my first six weeks I thought, "There is no way I will get on that scale tomorrow and see a loss in weight", but I would loose weight. The more you eat the better the results.

Good Luck! I hope you are all having fun eating this way! It is fun for me to know my veggie lovin' friends are on the same page as me.

Dressing and Salad idea

I figure I have eaten 208 salads since January 4 2010. Therefore, I have become creative with them. Here is a salad idea that is good when you are having a sweet tooth.

I like using spinach but use whatever type of lettuce you want.

Pile your plate with Spinach and...
Cut up strawberries, apple, mandarin oranges and grapes (whatever size you want them)
Serving size of cashews

Dressing

Agave
Apple Cider Vinegar
Cinnamon

Heat the dressing in microwave to make it warm. You can even heat up some of the apple chunks with the dressing.

Pour over salad.

Monday, April 12, 2010

Emily's Spinach Salad

ETL is BIG on salads but how many times can you eat the same salad over and over? Here are a few ways to mix things up.

Spinach Salad

5 Big mushrooms
1 Yellow onion
1 Head of garlic

cut mushrooms and onion to desirable size.
Peel garlic and cut each clove into four pieces.
Put small amount of Olive oil in hot pan (I use olive oil but you can use water), throw veggies in until tender.

Put desired amount of mushroom mixture on fresh spinach, handful of craisins and 1/4 cup of chopped up Almonds. Use a raspberry vinaigrette dressing, olive oil and vinegar or plain.


Have fun with the dressings. It will save you!

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Asian Spaghetti Squash Stir Fry

I got this from Kate's Garden Cafe. She calls it 'Spectacular Spaghetti Squash'. We have a link on the side to her bloggy blog which I love. I wish she posted more... her stuff is great.

Asian Spaghetti Squash Stir Fry

1 Spaghetti Squash
1-2 Tablespoons Olive Oil, Sesame Seed Oil, or both
2 Carrots, peeled and julienned
1 Bell Pepper, julienned
4 Mushrooms, sliced (I used WAY more)
Large Handful of Pea Pods
2 Cloves Garlic, Pressed (I used minced. I'm lazy)
1 Green Onion, sliced
1 Tomato, diced
Sesame Seeds (ours was fine without)
1-2 Tablespoons Rice Wine Vinegar (I used seasoned- left over from RC wraps that Kate posted)

Cook Spaghetti Squash how you like to. Reserve strands. Meanwhile, heat oil and add all other ingredients. Stir Fry until veggies are bright and beautiful but still crunchy. Pile the veggies onto your spaghetti squash and BAM. Your done. Delish!

Just Like Cheese Cake

Every person that I have given this to loves it. I hope you will too!This really does not take that long to make and it it really easy. Good luck!

Ingredients

Crust
2 Cups raw macadamia nuts (I use a mixture of nuts with macadamia nuts because macadamia nuts are expensive)
1/2 cups dates (pitted)
1/4 cup dried coconut

For the cheese
3 cups raw cashews
3/4 cup lemon juice
3/4 cup coconut oil (I use coconut milk)
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt

For sauce
1 bag or two cups of frozen berries
1/2 cup dates

Directions

Mix crust ingredients in food processor until well blended. Put in cheese cake spring board pan and press down.

Mix cheese sauce ingredients in food processor until well blended. Pour over crust. Let chill in freezer for one hour.

Put sauce ingredients in food processor. This will take 5-10 minutes. You might have to stop it and mix it up again, turn it back on a few times. You will know what I mean when you make it. You want the sauce to be just like a smoothie. No chunks!

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Raw chocolate chip cookies (cashew's)

My sister send this recipe via facebook. I love it so much. It takes no time at all and gives you one more way to eat nuts.


• Ingredients:
Cookie dough:
o 1 3/4 cups ground raw cashews
o 3/4 cup ground raw oats
o 1/4 cup Agave Nectar
o 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
o 1/4 cup coconut oil
Raw chocolate chips:
o 2 Tablespoon coconut oil
o 1/2 cup carob powder
o 1/2 cup cocoa powder
o 4 T agave nectar
o 2 teaspoon vanilla
Directions:
Dough: Grind up raw cashews and raw oats in a food processor or blender. Place all cookie dough ingredients into a large bowl and mix by hand or with a spoon. OR simply place all ingredients in the processor and blend (why didn’t I do this!? lol). Mix until a dough forms and you can make a large ball. Refrigerate dough while you make the chocolate chips.
Chips: Mix all chocolate chip ingredients together in a medium sized bowl. Roll the dough out onto parchment paper and place in the freezer for about 30 minutes. Optional: Half way through at 15 mins., flip the chocolate sheet over for even freezing.
When chocolate is frozen, cut into chips. This is the fun part! I used a pastry slicer and it was SO fun making the chips.
Mix chips into dough and have fun!
Place in fridge (if you have any left that is) to harden for about 30 mins. They get real hard! Make sure to refrigerate them on parchment paper or they will stick to the plate.
Notes: If you don’t have carob powder you can substitute it for cocoa powder just as easily. Alternatively, you may be able to sub the agave nectar for maple syrup or honey. If you try this and it turns out let me know!

Monday, April 5, 2010

A New Beginning and Ratatouille

Well folks we have joined the Eat to Live Bandwagon!

Last night Corey and I read together from the book, this morning we went shopping, and we are officially up and running! A few notes:

-I'm not having the kids do this too... Em did you? Katie are you going to? I am certainly involving them with pieces of it, and taking this new start for me and Corey as a chance to be extra diligent about their diet in general, but I didn't think they could get enough calories and fat content that their little bodies need doing the same thing as us... especially the first 6 weeks that are designed for weight loss. Any thoughts mommies? (Whit that totally includes you too!!! Yay!)

-Corey is done with soda. Yesterday he also said he'd like to have meat only 4 times a year: Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, and the 4th of July. WHAT?!? I was shocked. He is so on board with this it's awesome!

-I was SO shocked at how much food I was able to buy with the amount of money that I spent. WOW! Shocked really was the only word. I hope it's that way for you too Kate. I had the luxury of shopping at 3 different stores including a Sam's Club where I could buy cheap frozen berries.

-It feels like there is more but I guess that's it for now. I will leave you with what we had for our first Eat to Live dinner:

Ashlee Ratatouille (Whit I still would like your recipe too!)

1 small-med eggplant or 1/2 of a large one
1 med zucchini
1 large red bell pepper
1/3 of a large yellow onion
1 can no salt diced tomatoes
Mrs. Dash Italian Medley Seasoning (I have a feeling with this no-salt business Mrs. Dash is going to be a big friend!)

Chop eggplant, zucchini, pepper and onion to be bite sized (yes even the onion- I love me a big bite of onion! Corey gave all his to me). Toss them all in a very large skillet with a tablespoon of water. Stir and cook for a few minutes over med-high heat. Add tomatoes and generously season with Mrs. Dash (does it bother you that I used an italian seasoning for a french dish? Just let it go, it totally worked). Cook and stir until almost boiling and reduce heat. Continue cooking until veggies are the crispness you like. Don't make 'em mushy! Mushy eggplant is yucky!

We served ours with a small portion of plain brown rice and cooked butter beans. I had never tried butter beans before. They get 2 thumbs up from the Burtons! I am trying to make beans something that we eat with all types of meals, not just mexican, and I think this worked pretty well. My kids love Ratatouille and I was thrilled that they liked this version seeing as how the one I had been making used a packaged salad dressing and cheese.

I know that the next 6 weeks are going to be hard, and take a lot of work, but I am so excited!

PS- Everyone still wants to do this blog right? We've all been kind of absent lately. Just checking :)