Quinoa(Veggie, Chicken, or Beef)"Fried Rice"

Well, I don't know about you, but May is a C-R-A-Z-Y month for us! Hence my first post this month being in the middle of the month. I have a ton of stuff waiting to be blogged about, but alas, I can only do one at a time. So I picked a really yummy dinner for this post. 

Ok, so this isn't rice, and it's definitely not fried. But it is delicious!

This dinner is an all-in-one meal that is fairly easy to make and you can make it according to whatever you have on hand. Well, at least that's what I did.

I found the original recipe on the internet and I followed it as best as I could the first time I made it. But since then I have adapted the theory behind my Vegetable Dump Soup: Use what you got. Unless it's celery. I really don't recommend celery for this dish...we found that out the hard way.

This recipe does take up all of your stove. You'll have one pan for eggs, one for your quinoa and then one for the veggies/meat. But it's all pretty easy stuff so you can have it going all at once and set it aside until you are ready for it. It might look like this:

Quinoa is even easier to make than pasta. You don't have to boil the water first, you just throw it all in the pot, bring to a boil, and simmer for about 15 minutes. Easy Peasy!

The original recipe was just a veggie recipe, which is how we made it. But you can easily add meat to this if you want to. Cut up some chicken breast or do beef strips and just brown them in the large pot with the onions. Or leave it out for a cheaper veggie version! With the eggs and quinoa, you don't have to worry about protein with this meal so the meat would be added just for taste. 

I'm going to shock you with this one.....step one is to cook onion and green pepper in your pot with some olive oil. Never done that one before! I actually added the green pepper to the recipe this time because,well, I felt like it. I've come to find that it is super convenient to have pre-chopped onion and green pepper in my fridge for such a time as this. It makes the prep so much easier! I just grab a handful and throw it in the pot.

Next I added mushrooms. You can do fresh or canned; in my opinion fresh was better, but this time all I had was canned so I went with it. 

Now here is where I really improvised. The original recipe called for fresh zucchini, mushrooms, carrots, and broccoli and then frozen corn and peas. I, however, had a bag of frozen mixed vegetables...so I went for it. I did have some carrots, so I grated some but then realized it wasn't really necessary when using mixed veggies because there are carrots already in there. Oh well, good thing we love carrots!

So once you get your veggies cooking and warming up then you want to mix in your quinoa. Stir it really well and keep the heat on medium for a couple minutes.

Next you want to throw in some fresh, grated ginger and low-sodium soy sauce. I DO recommend the fresh ginger. I tried using ground ginger one time, and it just didn't produce the flavor of the fresh stuff. I had never bought ginger root before, so it was fun to try something new. We all really loved the fresh flavor it added! But if you don't have the ginger or you don't want to bother with it, then don't let that stop you. Either skip it or use the ground version, but add a little extra.

Add in your eggs and green onions (I didn't have the green onions in this picture, but I do usually put them in.) and you are finished!! Serve in a bowl with some chopsticks and dig in!

Now, I'm not posting this because I'm saying the original wasn't good. It was VERY good! But, as most moms know, you don't always have all the ingredients on hand when you want to make something. Or you may have a tight budget and can't buy as many of the fresh items. That is why I'm posting this. This is a great dish that is super good for you and can be made in more than one way. Make it work for YOU. I did! The fun part of cooking is trial and error. I put in celery last time I made this just because it was in the fridge, and by doing that we learned that celery is actually pretty gross in this dish! You'll never know unless you try! 

I hope you enjoy this one, it's a staple here at our house now. Remember to make it work for you! Please feel free to leave any comments below if you tried a version of this and found something that either works great or maybe should NEVER be added again! And remember to have FUN!

Quinoa(Veggie, Chicken, or Beef)"Fried Rice"

• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cloves of minced garlic
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1/2 green pepper, chopped
• fresh mushrooms or 1 small can
• 1 bag frozen mixed vegetables
• 2 chicken breasts cubed or 1 sirloin sliced into strips (if desired)
• 3 cups COOKED quinoa
• 1 Tbps fresh grated ginger
• 5 Tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
• 2 green onions, sliced

(The first thing is to start your quinoa. Cook it according to the directions on the box, but for most that I've seen, you measure out your water and quinoa, put them in a pot, bring it to a boil and then let it simmer for about 15 minutes. Let this simmer while you are starting to cook the rest of the dish and it should work out pretty nicely.)

First cook eggs in a small skillet. Scramble them and then set aside. 

Heat olive oil in large pot on medium high heat and then add in garlic, onion and green pepper. Cook for about 4-5 minutes stirring often.

Add mushrooms and cook for another 3-4 minutes (less if using canned mushrooms). Then add in the frozen mixed vegetables and continue to stir. 

Add in quinoa, cook and stir for 1-2 more minutes. 

Add in ginger and soy sauce and toss carefully. Cook for 2 more minutes to heat through.

Once heated through, add in your eggs and green onions.

Serve and enjoy!

Clean Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins

Yep. You read that right! Clean PEANUT BUTTER and CHOCOLATE CHIP MUFFINS. You are permitted to smile now. 

Can't you just taste the peanut buttery goodness? And melty chocolate-ness? 

I found this recipe on Pinterest...really, isn't that where all recipes come from these days? The picture looked so yummy and it just sounded sooooo good, so I hoped on over to the blog that it was pinned from: Kaitlin in the Kitchen. 

White flour, brown sugar, butter....hmmm, those are all delicious tasting things, but when you are trying to clean up your food for digestion purposes, it's not going to work. As much as my kids would LOVE the originial recipe...they need to poop! So that's when I decided to play around and clean this recipe up. 

This was the first time that I took a baking recipe and changed it. I've done it once with a dinner recipe that I had, Mandarin Orange Chicken, but that was pretty easy. So now I wanted to try my hand at baking. 

I did some research to find out what could substitute for brown sugar. I knew honey was used a lot for white sugar, but I didn't know about brown. I found out that if you mix honey and molasses it replicates the brown sugar taste. You want to use mostly honey with just a little molasses, though, because you don't want it to be overpowering. Typically when you convert a dry ingredient to a wet ingredient you go by weight. But seeing as how I did not have a kitchen scale at the time...I winged it. Luckily it turned out pretty good.  (Side note: I did end up buying one for future use.) Now that I have a scale, when I make these again, I'm going to use it and see if it changes. If it does I will post it on here.

Switching the flour was easy. First I tried White Whole Wheat Flour and then I tried Whole Wheat Pastry Flour. They both worked, so you can use either one, but I preferred the pastry flour. The muffins were less heavy with the pastry flour. I already had pastry flour because I use it for my pizza dough, so it was easy to substitute, but if you just have wheat flour then go ahead and use that!

Next up was the butter. Applesauce is used a lot in place of vegetable oil, so I knew it would work for the butter as well. I thought about doing half butter and half applesauce, but I wanted to get the recipe as clean as possible. So the first time I made these I used all applesauce and it worked great. Just make sure you get the originial, no sugar added kind of applesauce. 

The last change I made wasn't a necessary one, but I thought it would be good. I changed the milk to unsweetened almond milk. Some people don't drink milk, but we still do. However, we have just lessened our milk intake. I use Almond Milk for my coffee, for any baking that needs milk, on granola, in smoothies...it's good for almost anything! So I switched that in here, too. BUT if you don't have almond milk, don't let that stop you from making these. Just use your regular milk. 

I also made one addition. I added Flax Seed, shocker, I know. As I've stated before, I've learned to add Flax Seed and/or Wheat Germ to everything. I thought I'd take it one at a time, so I just added Flax Seed this time. Next time I'll try wheat germ and I'll let you know how it turns out!

Ok, so on to the good stuff!

This recipe is insanely easy to make. First you mix all of your dry ingredients.

In another bowl, whisk together your wet ingredients (including the peanut butter).

It should look like this. The peanut butter will be lumpy and won't mix as well, but just keep whisking. It's ok if the PB is not completely mixed in.

Next, mix the dry and wet ingredients together. I started by just stirring with a spoon, but then I got out my hand mixer and that worked much better. I like my batter smooth. 

Once the batter is mixed, then you want to add your chocolate chips. Just mix them in with your spoon.

Line your muffin tin with paper, foil, or silicone cups. I would highly recommend using cups instead of just spraying your pan. 

Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Drooling yet?

You know how I just said to use muffin cups instead of spraying the pan? Here's why:

 Kind of looks like a mushroom/muffin...huh?

Hey, it does still taste the same, so it's your call!

I tested these out on Chad and the kids....and I got a resounding, mouths-full-of-muffin "YES!". So I think they passed the test. In fact, it worked out nicely that I wanted to make them again to tweak a couple of things, since they were gone in about two days!

I would say for my first baking recipe conversion - SUCCESS! 

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins

• 2 1/4 cup Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
• 2 tsp Baking Powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 Tbsp ground Flax Seed
• 1/2 cup honey, with a touch of molasses
• 6 Tbsp natural applesauce
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup (unsweetened almond) milk
• 1/2 chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin pan with paper/foil/silicone cups.

Mix dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt, flax seed) in a medium bowl and set aside. Whisk together wet ingredients (honey w/ molasses, applesauce, PB, eggs, milk) in a large bowl. When fully combined, mix in the dry ingredients and blend with electric hand mixer until smooth. Now stir in chocolate chips.

Spoon batter into muffin cups, filling about 3/4 of the way. 

Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Allow to cool and then devour!

Or you can store them in a container on the top shelf and hide them from the rest of the family.....what? I would never do that....just saying....

A couple more things about the "clean" nature of this recipe. As with all things clean, you can make them as clean as you want or not. With things like the Peanut Butter, I use the natural peanut butter from Jif. It's not perfect, but it has less sugar than normal peanut butter. For the chocolate chips, you can use regular ones, or you can find the ones in the health food section that are more "clean" worthy. Realistically, this isn't a recipe you are going eat all the time if you are trying to drop some lbs, BUT it's a great alternative for people wanting to clean up their eating. I've been happy to learn that, while clean eating is definitely more time consuming, it doesn't mean that we don't get to eat the food that we've always loved. 

Let me know what you think of the recipe! Or if you have any other ideas on things to substitute or add in, please share!

Now, if you'll excuse me...I have a date with my breakfast plate. 

One of THOSE days...

It's one of those days. 

You know the kind. You can barely get out of bed because the exhaustion won't let go. You make your to-do list for the day and it's filled with more things than you can humanly accomplish in 24 hours, and you try to prioritize but you can't because they ALL have to get done. You loose track of time and now you are having tortilla chips and coffee for breakfast. The dog won't stop barking at every little thing outside, which makes your head throb just a little bit more. You sit down to pay the bills and wonder where all the money went, and then fight the urge to go hide under the covers for the rest of the day, which wouldn't work anyway since you would have cold little bodies climbing in with you and kicking you in the back and poking you in the face.

And it's only 8:30am.

Where's the giant chocolate-fudge-chocolate-molten-chocolate cake with chocolate icing?

Those are the days when hope is hard to hold on to. You feel like the day is out of control and it hasn't even started yet. Maybe there are health problems weighing on your mind. Maybe the dog needs to get to vet because you think he has fleas. Maybe the paycheck you got on Friday is gone, but there are bills that still need to be paid. Or maybe your usually adorable three-year-old has colored on the wall for the last time. No matter what the issues are, YOU ARE NOT ALONE.

When I went to the Hearts-at-home conference last month, I took a class called Grace(and a plan) for THOSE Days. Now the focus of this class was more along the lines of finding grace in the midst of chaos created by your children. But what about when life is just chaos in general? 

I was having a day much like the one described above. In the midst of my not-so-great morning, I had a mini break down and the tears just started flowing. After an hour long conversation with my dad, I calmed down and was able to think straight again. 

Once I got my head on straight and blew my nose 100 times, I looked at my to-do list and started over. Pay bills, check. Throw a load of laundry in and move on to the next thing. One thing at a time, Evie. Then I remembered the class I took at H-A-H and I dug out my notebook from the conference.

First note I wrote down: YOU ARE NOT ALONE.

Ahhhh, that's right. I'm not alone! There is some other mom out there right now having a meltdown with me. And if not right now, then every mom I know has had a moment like this at some point in her life. (And if you say that you haven't, then you, miss, are a liar.) Remembering that other moms have been through hard times can help. Some women put on the air of perfection, acting as if all is well in the world and nothing can bring them down. But I guarantee that at one time or another, they too felt the walls closing in. They are just really good at hiding it. And you know what? Props to them! I wish I was that good at hiding my problems! Heck, I'm sitting here unloading my dirty laundry on the internet for crying out loud. Obviously, I can't keep my big mouth shut. Look at me! I have LOTS of problems!! Ok, sorry, I had to lighten the mood a little. 

So what happens when your bad day turns into a bad week? Or maybe a bad month? Or for some people a bad year? It can get really hard to hold on to hope through times like this. I have friends that have been through things such as cancer scares, house foreclosures,  bankruptcies, loss of a child...the list goes on. How do these people manage to still get up every morning and keep on going? I have a bad morning with some piddly issues at home and I want to jump into a gallon of ice cream.

Here are some verses that might help when you are struggling in the midst of a bad...life.

Romans 12:12 - "Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer."

Honestly, I could stop with this one. It says it perfectly. I think the hard part is rejoicing in hope, which is hard to do when you are having a hard time. But if we can remember to be patient in the hard times and to constantly pray, not pray a couple times, but pray continually, it will help us find that hope to rejoice in. This is an area where I struggle. I don't pray as often as I should, I'll send up a prayer here and there when I'm in the moment and really struggling, but I don't pray constantly about what ever is concerning me.

Hebrews 11:1 - "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

2 Corinthians 5:7 - "We walk by faith, not by sight."

These two kind of go hand in hand. Faith is a huge part of hope. There is no hope if you don't have faith in the one you have hope in. A friend reminded me of the 2 Corinthians verse yesterday. It's her "mantra" so to speak, and for what their family has been through, it's perfect. If we went strictly by what we see and what we experience, we would all be so hopeless. We would have nothing to hold on to, we would have no hope that the bills would get paid, that we'll be able to get healthy even when we fall off the wagon, that we'd make it through a rough patch with our spouse, that we'd ever see that lost child again. We need to hold onto the hope that God provides us through our faith. 

Job 11:18 - "You will be secure because there is hope, you will look about you and take rest in your safety."

Security. That's a nice feeling isn't it? I doubt Job had much reason to feel secure. If you have never read Job, then I highly recommend it. If you think your life is bad...this guy lost EVERYTHING. And yet, he kept his faith in God and had hope for the future. And God stayed true to him. 

When I first started writing this blog post, I was having a bad day. And unfortunately, my bad day turned into a bad week. Now it's Sunday, the beginning of a new week, and I'm wary of the days ahead. But as I type, my 3-year-old is sitting at the lunch table singing "I want a pickle, hey, hey, hey" from the movie Little Rascals and it makes me smile.

Hope. 

I can hope that tomorrow will be better than today. That next week will be better than this week. That I will be able to accomplish my tasks and spend time with my children. I can hope that I will stop eating brownies for breakfast and start pay attention to my eating again. (Don't judge, you've done it, too.) I can pray constantly for God to give me patience, endurance, and strength to make it through the bad days. And I can have faith that He will get me through them. 

And the biggest thing of all for me? I have to remember that it could always be worse. I am blessed to have a roof over my head, clothes in my closet, a steady income, two of the most wonderful daughters I could ask for, and a husband that loves me. I am also blessed to have a God that forgives me and loves me unconditionally, even when I have pity parties for myself and I feel overwhelmed and hopeless. 

Maybe it's not such a bad day after all. 

Black Bean Enchiladas

Another Mexican dish....what can I say? They are just THAT good! I can't help but share!

I found this via Pinterest (per usual), but it comes from a post on Self.com. Here is the Link. The only thing that I did to clean up the recipe was use a homemade enchilada sauce and sprouted grain tortillas. Otherwise this is perfect!

This one is particularly special because it is meatless, so it's easy on the budget, but tastes good enough that no one in your family will care. With the black beans you still get your dose of protein, and if you pair it with some brown rice you'll get even more. If you really love black beans, then you could make the Brown Rice and Beans side dish I posted a while ago. Either way, you don't have to worry about protein!

One nice thing about this dish is that it uses enchilada sauce, which I have a clean recipe for. The recipe makes more than enough for this dish, so you can freeze the leftover sauce and you'll have it for next time. It makes it even easier to throw this together for dinner. 

For once, you don't need green peppers, just onions. Cook some chopped onions in olive oil and sprinkle in Cumin. 

Once the onions are cooked, add the black beans, corn, tomatoes, and cheese. Then you roll the filling up in taco shells and place in a greased baking dish. 

Pour any remaining bean mixture over the top of the tacos. Then pour enchilada sauce on top.

Bake in oven for 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees. Top with cheese, and put back in oven until cheese is melted, about 5 minutes.

And there you have it! A meatless-mexican meal everyone will love.

Black Bean Enchiladas

• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 cup onion, chopped
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 cup frozen fire-roasted whole kernel corn, thawed
• 3/4 cup chunky medium salsa
• 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1/4 cup shredded cheese
• tortillas
• Enchilada sauce

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray large baking dish with cooking spray (I use a sunflower oil). 

In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onion and cumin; cook and stir 4-5 minutes or until onion is tender. Stir in corn, salsa, beans, and half of the cheese. Remove from heat.

On a microwavable plate, stack tortillas and cover with a damp paper towel; microwave on high for one minute to soften. Place 1/4 cup (or more if you choose) bean mixture along center of each tortilla. Roll up tightly and place seam side down in baking dish. Spoon remaining mixture on top. Pour Sauce over enchiladas, spreading to coat all of them evenly. 

Bake 25 minutes or until sauce is bubbly. Top with remaining cheese and bake for another 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.

So here are my amendments to this recipe. 

• Fire-roasted corn - I couldn't find this at the store, but I did find Green Giant's Honey Roasted Sweet Corn in the Steamer bag and I thought it tasted fine. This corn isn't "clean" so if you really want to be clean you could just use canned corn. But the frozen kind has some peppers mixed in, which tasted pretty good. I found this at Kroger, but it's Green Giant so it's probably anywhere. 
• Salsa - you can use any salsa, but I used an organic salsa that I also got at Kroger.
• Tortillas - Again, if you want to be "clean" then you can make your own tortillas or I buy Ezekiel Sprouted Grain Tortillas found in the freezer section.
• Enchilada Sauce - you can buy this canned if you want, the original recipe calls for one can. I make my own and then freeze the leftover for next time. That way you can use as little or as much as you want.

Here is the recipe for the enchilada sauce: (Link to original recipe)

Homemade Enchilada Sauce

• 4 Tbsp Chili Powder
• 1 tsp Cumin
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 2 Tbsp flour (I used White Whole Wheat flour - you can use GF flour, too)
• 1 14oz can tomato sauce (no salt added)
• 1 1/2 cups water

Mix all of the dry ingredients together in a small bowl. In a medium saucepan combine tomato sauce, water, and spice mix and stir until combined. Heat until the sauce is warmed through or as thick as you want it. To thin it out add more water. Use what you need for your recipe and then freeze any leftovers.

I hope your family like this recipe as much as mine does! Usually when I tell the girls we are having bean enchiladas I get the typical "I don't like those!", but then once it hits their plates...they eat it up.

 So try this out on your next Mexican night....Just remember to take it easy on the margaritas!

PB&J Smoothie

I've heard of snow days...maybe even in some parts of the world there are heat days...but a RAIN day? That's a new one. But for those of us lucky enough to live in the Midwest, the land of a hormonal Mother Nature, we now know what a Rain Day is. 

The kids are home, plans have to be cancelled, maybe there are calls in to work, and in between pumping water out of your basement and keeping the kids entertained...you still have to feed the family. 

Never fear! I have found a lunch smoothie to come to the rescue! I found this on a website called 100 Days of Real Food. Lisa has TONS of great recipes for people looking to avoid processed foods and she has been on the Dr. Oz show. I found this smoothie recipe one day and I thought there is no way it really tastes like PB&J. She claims that your kids will slurp it until the last drop. So I decided to give it a try. 

She was right. My kids slurped this down so fast, I barely had the blender rinsed out. Then for 5 minutes Olivia went on and on about how good it was and she could eat it all day everyday and it's the best smoothie she's ever had and can I make it tomorrow, too and....you get the picture. 

So, on this rainy day, I thought that this yummy smoothie would be the perfect lunch. Easy and quick to make, easy clean up, and satisfied youngsters. Win!

5 ingredients is all you need! Milk, Apple Juice, Peanut Butter, Bananas, and frozen berries (we like using blueberries).

 Throw it all in the blender and blend until smooth.

Mmmmmmmm, looks yummy. I add some ice to make it colder and more smoothie-ish. 

Do you hear that? It's silence.....ahhhhh....Careful, though...it won't last long. Before you know it, you'll hear SLLLUUUUURRRRRP SLLLLUUUUUURRRRRRP.

Ok, here's what you're looking for, the recipe:

PB&J Smoothie

• 1/3 cup milk
• 1/3 cup apple juice
• 1/3 cup peanut butter
• 2 bananas (or you can use one, but it IS better with two)
• 1 cup frozen or fresh berries
• Ice if you want

Blend all ingredients together until smooth. Pour in cup, add straw, and prepare for slurping.

One time I made this, but I didn't have apple juice. So here is an alternate recipe if you don't have the juice. It tasted pretty much the same.

• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 1/3 peanut butter
• 1-2 bananas
• 1 cup frozen berries
• ice

I hope your kids like this as much as mine do! The next time you have an unexpected "Rain Day" you can whip this up and the kiddos will love you even more (as if that's possible). Happy Rain Day everyone!