I love it when I stumble upon a recipe that sounds so easy and delicious and nutritious that I can't resist cooking it up that very same day! I'm having a pretty good day. I hope you are too;)
Anyway, I found this recipe that wasn't even in recipe form. Spaghetti squash bake. Cut the spaghetti squash in half, scoop out the innards, drizzle cut sides (I sprayed with Pam) with EVOO, cut side down on a lined baking sheet at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until tender...I was hungry so mine was less than tender, but not hard and still turned out delicious. So, while you're bakin' up that squash, if you WISH to add meat to your spaghetti sauce, cook it up now. However you'd normally make your spaghetti sauce (just not too watery), then once the squash is done baking, use a fork to rake out one half into your sprayed lasagna baking dish, layer on top the spaghetti sauce, sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and mozzarella. Repeat with other half of your deliciously roasted squash, sauce, cheese...I baked mine at 350 for about 25 minutes.
Like I said before, I was HUNGRY...so I suggest baking it a little longer or until the stuff is bubbling and cheese looks tasty and brown on top. The way I rushed it, it was still SUPER. By the way, I made it tonight with ground beef. Organic 93/7. I didn't fuss with breaking the meat up into super small pieces so the sauce was a little more rustic and chunky. It was good. The actual spaghetti sauce was a Sunflower Farmer's Market store brand organic Spicy Diablo or something. Very satisfying. This was our first attempt at a Pasta-less pasta bake and we are all very full and very pleased. Even my sweet hubby who DESPISES anything "Italian" said he would definitely eat it again. Yeah, he's a real PEACH when I've just GOT to have some sketti. So I believe we've found a GEM of a recipe that will keep the peace on Lasagna Night.
Monday, November 21, 2011
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Bison Quinoa Dish
I have been using Bison a lot lately and I LOVE it. It's the ground version, easy to work with, takes on any spice well. It's not gamey or weird or wacky. Promise. And it's leaner than ground beef, so it's cleaner. Try this recipe if you like taco salads, burritos, tacos, green chili anything...it's Mexican style and this is REALLY basic, so throw in some corn, black beans, whatever you want!
1 medium yellow onion, chopped fine
2-3 cloves fresh garlic, minced
1Tbl EVOO
1 lb Ground Bison
1 can of El Pato, the yellow can
1 small (or medium) can of chopped green chilies
Sea Salt
Black pepper
1 tsp ground cumin
1- 12oz box of pre-rinsed quinoa (I use Ancient Harvest)
Approx 4 Cups of water or Chicken broth
Cook the onion in the EVOO until it's soft, then add the Bison and garlic and brown but don't let the garlic burn. Season your meat to taste with the sea salt and black pepper (mindfully with the salt). Add in the ground cumin and let it heat up and become fragrant. Pour in your quinoa and stir it around with the bison. Add the El Pato and the cooking liquid (water or chicken broth). Stir up and bring to a boil. Turn down to a simmer, with the lid on and leave it alone for about 20 minutes. Then eat.
*If you don't have the pre-rinsed quinoa, use about 2 cups and rinse very well using a fine mesh strainer!!
Quinoa cooks up like rice, using the same ratio of water to quinoa. 2:1. I go a little shy of double the liquid to quinoa to make it more fluffy...just like cooking rice! If you're scared...use a rice cooker. Just cook up your bison separately with the onions and garlic until it's nice and brown. Then add it into the rice cooker with all the other ingredients, turn on your cooker and let it do it's thing. Watch your amount of salt, being careful to add it to taste, but be mindful!! Add the black pepper to taste as well. The El Pato can be a little spicy, so if you'd prefer to leave it out, just season your meat accordingly. Use whatever you think will taste nice with the green chilies. Maybe a little chili powder? It's your call!
1 medium yellow onion, chopped fine
2-3 cloves fresh garlic, minced
1Tbl EVOO
1 lb Ground Bison
1 can of El Pato, the yellow can
1 small (or medium) can of chopped green chilies
Sea Salt
Black pepper
1 tsp ground cumin
1- 12oz box of pre-rinsed quinoa (I use Ancient Harvest)
Approx 4 Cups of water or Chicken broth
Cook the onion in the EVOO until it's soft, then add the Bison and garlic and brown but don't let the garlic burn. Season your meat to taste with the sea salt and black pepper (mindfully with the salt). Add in the ground cumin and let it heat up and become fragrant. Pour in your quinoa and stir it around with the bison. Add the El Pato and the cooking liquid (water or chicken broth). Stir up and bring to a boil. Turn down to a simmer, with the lid on and leave it alone for about 20 minutes. Then eat.
*If you don't have the pre-rinsed quinoa, use about 2 cups and rinse very well using a fine mesh strainer!!
Quinoa cooks up like rice, using the same ratio of water to quinoa. 2:1. I go a little shy of double the liquid to quinoa to make it more fluffy...just like cooking rice! If you're scared...use a rice cooker. Just cook up your bison separately with the onions and garlic until it's nice and brown. Then add it into the rice cooker with all the other ingredients, turn on your cooker and let it do it's thing. Watch your amount of salt, being careful to add it to taste, but be mindful!! Add the black pepper to taste as well. The El Pato can be a little spicy, so if you'd prefer to leave it out, just season your meat accordingly. Use whatever you think will taste nice with the green chilies. Maybe a little chili powder? It's your call!
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Shake it Off!
One of my favorite things to say over these last few months is, "life happens." I have to hold tightly to that attitude so I don't LOSE it completely. I can hardly BELIEVE it has been nearly 5 months since I have written anything on this blog! I must say that just because I haven't shared anything lately doesn't mean I've been totally OFF clean eating, though I've been rather relaxed. TOO relaxed. Honestly, I've seen zero weight gain, possibly even loss, but this is not a report worth celebrating! No, unfortunately my lack of good, purposeful exercise has led to a serious and quite noticeable loss in muscle tone:( So much so that I feel sore and winded from a brisk walk or a few minutes of play with my kids. How could this be? How could I go so quickly from active woman to couch potato? Well, let me just say it...life happens.
But God is good my friends, and He has seen me through this HUGE mess over the last several months. Lots of heartbreak and sleepless nights. Lots of confusion and stress. If you know my family, you understand our hearts and our circumstance. You know that the very breath was knocked out of us recently and that we're OK, on the mend, but there are still lots of unresolved little bundles of years and years of built up garbage left to sort out. But I'll say it again, God is good. He is faithful and sovereign and true. Everything works out for His glory in the end.
Alright, alright. Back to food. Real food. Real, nutritious, delicious food. Wait, just so you know...I gave a brief explanation of my life as of late ONLY to show that there is a definite correlation between EATING and EMOTIONS. At least there is for me. A big one. My purpose for sharing this info is to just explain that you CAN still have success even after being derailed a long while. It's not the end of the world and it's definitely not the end of your success story if you happen to find yourself 3 months since your last completely clean week of eating, with your spoon in the jar of Jif!!! However, the end of your "success" story may be right around the corner if you don't choose NOW to put down that spoon and not only walk away from the PB jar, but THROW IT AWAY!! WHO BOUGHT THIS DARNED SUGARY PEANUT BUTTER, ANYWAY??
We're gonna mess up. I'm not talking about your occassional cheats. I'm talking about serious road rash from falling off the wagon. Like me, right now...totally STARTING OVER with my lifestyle. I need to re-gain my focus and tenacity for nutritious foods. I have a passion for this stuff that had to take a back seat for several reasons, such as not having my own home, serious depression that included feelings of needing to "punish" myself for some crazy reason. (CRAZY) Emotional eating is scary and can take over if you let it! The most important thing to remember is that YOU ARE WORTH INVESTING YOUR BEST. You get ONE body while on this planet. Treat it with respect and it will return the favor with better quality of life and longevity! Believe me, I don't know a whole lot about anything, but I DO know that I never felt better than while eating CLEAN. And now that I've had a few weeks to re-establish my lifestyle I FEEL SO MUCH BETTER! Just a little focus and dedication is all it takes to arm yourself with the knowledge you need to clean up your diet.
STOP what you're doing.
THINK about what you're doing.
GO on about your business or choose a different direction.
Who was it that said something like "doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result is crazy...?" I used to hear my father-in-law say this all the time. I don't know where he got it, but when you think about it, it makes sense. Right?
So, it's up to you and me to use our own brains and figure this out. We all know when we've had enough of doing the same thing. Will you stop and think today?
Keep checking back here for new posts and I promise, for real, I'll keep up and even share some recipes once in a while. Feel free to comment or send me questions. While I don't have any letters behind my name, I do try to keep up with knowing what it means to eat clean, nutritious food. I'm passionate about real food and I love to help others spark their interest in it as well.
But God is good my friends, and He has seen me through this HUGE mess over the last several months. Lots of heartbreak and sleepless nights. Lots of confusion and stress. If you know my family, you understand our hearts and our circumstance. You know that the very breath was knocked out of us recently and that we're OK, on the mend, but there are still lots of unresolved little bundles of years and years of built up garbage left to sort out. But I'll say it again, God is good. He is faithful and sovereign and true. Everything works out for His glory in the end.
Alright, alright. Back to food. Real food. Real, nutritious, delicious food. Wait, just so you know...I gave a brief explanation of my life as of late ONLY to show that there is a definite correlation between EATING and EMOTIONS. At least there is for me. A big one. My purpose for sharing this info is to just explain that you CAN still have success even after being derailed a long while. It's not the end of the world and it's definitely not the end of your success story if you happen to find yourself 3 months since your last completely clean week of eating, with your spoon in the jar of Jif!!! However, the end of your "success" story may be right around the corner if you don't choose NOW to put down that spoon and not only walk away from the PB jar, but THROW IT AWAY!! WHO BOUGHT THIS DARNED SUGARY PEANUT BUTTER, ANYWAY??
We're gonna mess up. I'm not talking about your occassional cheats. I'm talking about serious road rash from falling off the wagon. Like me, right now...totally STARTING OVER with my lifestyle. I need to re-gain my focus and tenacity for nutritious foods. I have a passion for this stuff that had to take a back seat for several reasons, such as not having my own home, serious depression that included feelings of needing to "punish" myself for some crazy reason. (CRAZY) Emotional eating is scary and can take over if you let it! The most important thing to remember is that YOU ARE WORTH INVESTING YOUR BEST. You get ONE body while on this planet. Treat it with respect and it will return the favor with better quality of life and longevity! Believe me, I don't know a whole lot about anything, but I DO know that I never felt better than while eating CLEAN. And now that I've had a few weeks to re-establish my lifestyle I FEEL SO MUCH BETTER! Just a little focus and dedication is all it takes to arm yourself with the knowledge you need to clean up your diet.
STOP what you're doing.
THINK about what you're doing.
GO on about your business or choose a different direction.
Who was it that said something like "doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result is crazy...?" I used to hear my father-in-law say this all the time. I don't know where he got it, but when you think about it, it makes sense. Right?
So, it's up to you and me to use our own brains and figure this out. We all know when we've had enough of doing the same thing. Will you stop and think today?
Keep checking back here for new posts and I promise, for real, I'll keep up and even share some recipes once in a while. Feel free to comment or send me questions. While I don't have any letters behind my name, I do try to keep up with knowing what it means to eat clean, nutritious food. I'm passionate about real food and I love to help others spark their interest in it as well.
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