Sauteed Mixed Greens Recipe

I start off with good intentions! I see a bag of mixed greens on the shelf and I grab it and throw it in the cart as my mind races with all the wonderful warm dishes I can make with it. I must confess...I do not like raw mixed greens, but add a little garlic and heat them up on the stove! Oh my goodness...love 'em! However, as the days pass, so do my good intentions, and the bag ends up in the trash, wilted and wasted. Then I feel so guilty. It was about to happen again, today. Luckily, around lunch time, I started craving warm greens, so I whipped up a few things in the skillet and it did not disappoint. In fact, I ended up eating the entire bag! YAY! No wasted greens....EVER again!;-)

They say, the darker the better, when it comes to greens (don't know if that's actually a true statement)! One thing I do know is that leafy greens contain lots of vitamins and minerals, loads of fiber, and phytochemicals, which, by the way, I'm sure you know helps prevent several forms of cancer. Phytochemicals can also reduce inflammation and eliminate carcinogens. This little 5 ounce bag really is a nutritional powerhouse! So, go get a bag of greens and feed your body what your cells crave! It'll love you for it!

Sauteed Mixed Greens
1 5 oz. bag of mixed greens (Baby kale, chard, and spinach)
1 1/4  Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup onion
1 clove garlic (minced)
Salt and pepper to taste
Slivered almonds (optional)

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add oil, and onion and cook until softened (about 3-4 minutes). Add garlic, and heat for about 1 minute. Add bag of greens and heat, stirring occasionally, for about 3-5 minutes. I ended up throwing some slivered almonds at the last minute, which added a nice crunch.:)

ENJOY!

BROWNIE CAKE with chocolate fudge frosting (shhhh...don't tell them it's made with chickpeas)

So, I've been wanting to share this recipe for Chocolate Brownie Cake. This recipe was adapted from another source. There is also a funny story that goes along with this (my only regret is that I didn't take a picture to post along with it)! Oh well, there's always "next time," and I'm certain there will be many more opportunities to post my "flops!" 

I subscribe to Dr. David Brownstein's emails and I have a few of his publications/books, such as 'The Guide to HEALTHY EATING.' I whole-heartedly recommend him if you are ever in need of resources in the area of holistic medicine. In my opinion, he has a lot of helpful information. Recipe is as follows (taken directly from the book above):

Chocolate Brownie Cake

1 1/2 cups garbanzo beans
3/4 cup organic chocolate chips 
3 free range, organic eggs
3/4 cup coconut palm sugar or sucanat 
1/4 cup organic butter 
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Method
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Drain and rinse garbanzo beans (chickpeas) and process in a food processor into small pieces. Add remaining ingredients and process again until smooth. Pour into a buttered (I used coconut spray) 8 X 8 inch Pyrex dish. Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes (or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean). Cool cake and frost, if desired.

Chocolate-Fudgy Frosting
2 Tablespoons organic heavy cream, yogurt, or almond milk (I used almond milk)
1/4 cup coconut palm sugar or sucanat
1/4 cup organic chocolate chips
1/4 cup raw almond butter or cashew butter (I used almond butter)

Combine the cream, sugar, chocolate, and butter in a saucepan. Stir over medium heat until melted and mixture comes almost to a boil. Add the nut butter and mix well. Let cool for 5 minutes before spreading on cake (has a fudge-like consistency).

Before heating the ingredients for the frosting

After I added the almond butter

The end product!

YUM!!!

Now for the "flop" story. I had been looking forward to these ALL day! I had made them the night before, came home from the gym the next day and thought...ok, I definitely deserve a few of these (I shouldn't tell you it had been almost 2 weeks since I had worked out...that's a whole other story)! Anyway...as I started to cut them to place on the plate to take photos, I came across something really tough to cut through. I thought to myself...hmmmmm...."That must be a few really hard chickpeas that didn't get ground up."  I still thought it very odd, because how hard can chickpeas really be? When I went to place the brownie on the plate, along with it came the little silica gel packets that you would find in shoe boxes, electronics...ummmm...bags of cacao powder (that I had used instead of the chocolate chips)!!! YES, you guessed it! I had scooped up the gel packet from my bag of cacao powder and baked it in the cake. So, I am thinking it was pretty toxic after baking with that in it! After the pictures, I had to throw the whole thing away!:( 

My boys came home from camp and were looking so forward to the brownies. They were just as disappointed as I was. Oh well...and so it goes! On to the next recipe...

EASY HEALTHY VEGGIE QUESADILLAS

I don't know about you, but I get tired of eating the same old thing for lunch day after day. I am usually eating on the go, but when I am home, and I have time to put something together, I want something different. Today, I was craving a quesadilla. I LOVE quesadillas!! If I go out to a restaurant and they have quesadillas on the menu, that's usually what I order. I'm pretty boring. There's just something about chicken quesadillas (only shredded meat, though...no chunks for me) with an extra side of salsa that makes my mouth water (it's watering as I type this)! However, they come with a lot of extra calories, fat, and not-so-good-for-you ingredients. So, in order to know just what's going into my quesadillas, sometimes I like to make them at home. It's simple! You don't even need a quesadilla maker. You can do it right on your stove top.

 All you need is the following:

2 tortillas 

Cheese of choice (cheddar, monterey jack, etc)

Vegetables (I used avocado, tomato, onion, baby Bella mushrooms) 

Coconut oil spray

These veggie quesadillas were simple to make and took hardly any time at all. I just used what I had in my fridge, but use whatever you like, and make it your own. With regard to the tortillas, I try to stick to sprouted grains, and have eliminated most white flour and whole grain flour breads from my diet. Just in case you're wondering, Food for Life  has a great explanation of what sprouted grains actually are. I eat their Ezekial bread just about everyday (actually a couple of times a day)! 

So, back to the quesadillas...

If you are using mushrooms and onions, spray a small pan with coconut oil and sauté the onion and mushrooms for a few minutes on medium-high heat, or until the onions are transparent. 

Next, make sure the pan still has enough oil (I had to spray it again), and lay the first tortilla in and sprinkle with the cheese. I chose not to use much, but use as much as you want. 

Next, top with your veggies, and then top with the other tortilla. Once the cheese has melted and the bottom side has browned, carefully flip it over to brown the other side. 

Here, I used avocado, tomato, onions, baby bella mushrooms, and fresh basil.

And there you have it! A delicious simple, healthy and satisfying lunch!

Top with sour cream, guacamole, or salsa!

Let me know what some of your favorite fillers are. I'm always looking for some new ideas!

HOW TO CRACK OPEN A COCONUT

(for Clean Almond Joy Bites)

We have had a coconut sitting on the counter for about a week now, so today my kids talked me into helping them crack it open. This was one stubborn coconut!! 

I don't know if you've ever cracked one open, but this was a first for me. I eat lots of coconut, but I've never used the water and meat from a fresh one. We first used a drill (yes, a drill), to drill the holes on the end of the shell. We drilled into two of the holes and strained the water into a measuring cup. We ended up getting about half a cup...not bad!

After we drained the water, we used a hammer to crack it open. You want to pound it around the entire coconut. 

It took a while for it to budge, but you would've thought we won the lottery when we finally saw that crack!:)

 We then used the hammer to break it into smaller pieces, and pried off the meat from the shell.

One of my kids wanted to make Clean Almond Joy Bars from a recipe he came across on the internet. The recipe was a little hard to follow with an odd measurement, or two, but we went with it, and they turned out pretty amazing!

We first grated our fresh coconut (Of course, you can use sweetened or unsweetened packaged).

Process all ingredients in a food processor until a paste forms (ours didn't really form into a paste, but I think it was because we modified the ingredients a tad bit).

Roll into bars, or balls, top with an almond, and pop into the freezer for 20 minutes.

Take out and top with chocolate, pop them back in the freezer, and freeze for another 10-15 minutes.

ENJOY!!

 Here is the recipe copied straight from the website he found it on www.rippedrecipes.com

Ingredients

•  
• 0.16 tablespoon Coconut Oil
• 1 bar (2.2 oz) Sweet or Dark Chocolate
• 1 dash Salt
• 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 10 almond Almonds
• 1 tbsp Honey
• 4 serving (serving = 1/4 cup) Bob's Red Mill Unsweetened Flaked Coconut
• 1 serving (serving = 1 packet) Pure Via Stevia
• 
  
• Directions
• 
  
• Combine coconut, honey, stevia, coconut oil, vanilla and salt in food processor. Allow to run for 3-4 minutes until a paste consistency forms. You should be able to form the coconut into small “bar” shapes with your hands. If the coconut won’t stay together, you may need to add a bit more honey.

Form coconut mixture into your (10) candy bars.
Place a single almond on top of each bar.
Freeze for 20 minutes.
Melt 2.5oz of chocolate in the microwave, 30 seconds at a time, stirring until ready.
Using a small skewer or toothpick to hold the bar, dip and cover each candy bar with a light coating of chocolate. You will need to be delicate with the almond!
Freeze for 10-15 minutes until firm.