Bean Dip

This is a pretty basic bean dip. Just layer what you like in the pan and scoop it up with chips. I served it cold. If you wanted to warm it up, just pop it in the oven for about 20 minutes. Dont bake the tomatoes though, put them on last if you heat it up.

Bean Dip

Pinto beans - I cooked my own pinto beans and once they were tender, I smashed them up and added some homemade taco seasoning and Tabasco sauce to them. You could use canned re fried beans too.
sour cream
salsa
smashed up avocado
cheese
tomatoes
olives
I had some cooked quinoa in the fridge, so I put a layer of that in there too! No one detected my sneaky addition

Layer everything in a pan and serve with corn chips

Homemade Cliff Bar (NO SUGAR!)

I ran across these a few days ago. We like Cliff Bars, and eat quite a bit of them actually. I tried making these and they did not dissapoint! They are yummy!

1 and 1/4 cups crisp rice cereal
1 cup uncooked quick-cooking oats
2 tablespoons ground flax
1/4 cup finely chopped dried fruit (e.g., raisins, dried cranberries, dried cherries, etc.)
1/4 cup finely chopped nuts or seeds
1/3 cup brown rice syrup
1/2 cup nut butter (preferably natural, well-stirred, but creamy is fine, too)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Optional: 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Combine the rice cereal, oats, flax seed meal, dried fruit, and nuts in a large bowl.

Combine the syrup and nut butter in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring until melted and well-blended. Stir in vanilla until blended.

Pour nut butter mixture over cereal mixture, stirring until coated
Press mixture firmly into an 8-inch square pan (sprayed with nonstick cooking spray)
I ate a little corner of this before I remembered to get a picture. They are delicious!

Quinoa Meatballs with Tomato Sauce

This recipe is a modified version of a recipe I found on Dr Ozs website. I like it because it reduces the amount of meat used by adding quinoa, my favorite grain. And the tomato sauce was yummy, nothing like the stuff from a can or jar!

Sauce

1 large onion, diced
3 celery stalks, sliced into small pieces
1 large carrot, sliced into small pieces
1 can tomatoes, chopped with juice
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbs. balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper
I also added corn and chopped spinach

Heat the oil in a pan and add onion, celery, and carrot. Cook until tender. Add the tomatoes, garlic, vinegar. Simmer about 20 minutes. Add spinach and corn during the last few minutes of cooking.

Meatballs

1 small onion
1/2 lb lean ground beef (or turkey)
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1 egg
1 cup cooked quinoa
salt pepper

Preheat oven to 425. Heat the oil in a small skillet and cook the onion until soft. In a large bowl combine beef, quinoa, cheese, egg, salt, pepper, and cooked onions. Still until very smooth. Roll into meat balls and bake 20 minutes.

Serve over angel hair pasta or linguine.

Butter Pecan Cookies

I found the recipe for these here. They are soft and yummy and were fun to make with my kids. My boys dumped the ingredients in the mixing bowl and then smashed the pecans on top of the cookies, I hardly had to do any work. These are a definite repeat!

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 2/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups pecan halves

Directions

1. In a large bowl, cream butter, brown sugar and egg. Mix until well blended.
2. Slowly add flour and salt and mix well. Cover and refrigerate for at least one hour.
3. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
4. Roll one inch pieces of dough into balls and place 2 inches apart on cookie sheets. Flatten balls with the bottom of a glass dipped in flour. Press a pecan into top of dough.
5. Bake 10 to 12 minutes until lightly colored.

Southwestern Tostada Salad

When I tell people that we rarely eat meat, the response is typically the same: "what do you eat then? Salad?"

I get emails asking me to share meatless recipes. So, I am going to start putting a few more on here.

While this is a salad, it is not all we eat. We still have Chinese food, pizza, tacos, spaghetti etc. I usually cut out some or all of the meat called for in a recipe and replace it with beans or grains. I will talk more about that in a later post, though.

For now, here is a really filing and yummy salad, thanks for the recipe Shari. I did cook up ONE chicken breast for this meal. I split it between 4 large salads and had enough left over for 2 more salads. Even my kids devoured this meal. They love all the fresh veggies (especially the sprouts) but the big leafy greens are often hard for them to handle. They cant stick them with their forks and they are too big to put in their mouths sometimes. I dont mind much, as long as they eat the other veggies in their bowls.

Southwestern Tostada Salad

Dressing:
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
3 T honey
1 1/2 t. cumin
1/4 t salt
dash of pepper
combine all ingredients and set aside for about an hour.

Salad:
you can mix and match any of this to your liking. If you like tomatoes, use a lot. If you dont care for onions, omit them. If you want to go totally meatless, omit the chicken.
1 T olive oil
1 - 2 chicken breast, cut into chunks
1/2 t. garlic salt
frozen sweet corn
tomatoes
green onions, thinly sliced
avocados, peeled and chopped
lettuce, or any green blend
red pepper
Monterrey Jack Cheese
3 cups crushed tortilla chips
black beans (1 15 oz can or 2 cups if you cook them yourself)
olives

Heat oil in a skillet and saute chicken until no longer pink. Transfer to a bowl and sprinkle with garlic salt. Stir in corn and put in refrigerator for about an hour. Cut up other veggies while chicken is cooling.
Toss all ingredients together and top with dressing. You can also top this with sour cream or salsa.

Naan

This naan is delicious! I think I ate 5 pieces of it throughout the day. At dinner, Andy scarfed his down and said "you should make more of this, I could eat it as a snack. Its good" And it is. So soft and tasty. Perfect for scooping up a good hot curry (if I could only find that)

1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
1/4 cup white sugar
3 tablespoons milk
1 egg, beaten
2 teaspoons salt
4 cups bread flour

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand about 10 minutes. Combine yeast mixture, sugar, milk, egg, salt, and enough flour to make a soft dough. Knead for 6 to 8 minutes or until smooth. Place dough in a well oiled bowl, cover with a damp cloth, and set aside to rise. Let it rise about 1 hour, until doubled

Punch down dough and knead a few times. Pinch off handfuls of dough and roll into balls a little bigger than golf balls and place on a tray to rise. Cover again with a towel.

Pre heat griddle. Roll balls of dough out flat and cook a few minutes on each side. Mine rolled out to be about 8 inches in diameter and I left them a little thick cuz thats how I like them. You could do them thinner if you wanted.

Green Curry Chicken

I was trying to focus the camera on my beautiful bowl of curry when Holden cheezed and said "take a picture of my food mom" So here is his bowl, naan, and green beans. Doesnt really do the dish any justice but its all I got.There are about a million and one recipes out there for curry. I started with this one because it seemed simple, and it was. It came together quickly and had a "3 out of 5 stars" flavor. I was hoping for something more spicy.

14 oz can coconut milk
1 Tbs. green curry paste
2 chicken breasts diced
4 medium red potatoes, diced
1/2 cup frozen peas
1/3 cup chicken stock

combine coconut milk and curry paste in sauce pan and simmer. Add chicken breasts and potatoes. Simmer about 10 minutes, or until chicken is no longer pink. Add in chicken stock and peas. Warm thru and serve over Jasmine rice.

This dish was not at all spicy. It had a decent flavor, but was not my favorite. I am going to try another recipe in the future because I want something a little more spicy. If you want something with a mild flavor, this is it!

Serve it with naan, the recipe is here.