Quinoa Smoothie

This quinoa smoothie was delicious! It is perfect as a snack or small breakfast. This smoothie was blueberry flavored, but there are other varieties that I have not tried yet. It is dairy, soy, and gluten free. It has no refined sugars and is non-gmo. I highly recommend it!

Broccoli Bites and Tomato Soup

These delicious little low-carb broccoli bites are great to dip in soup! Especially tomato soup. I revised both recipes.

Ingredients

Chopped broccoli (About 3 cups)

3 Eggs

1 cup crushed French’s Fried Onions (I used about a cup and a 1/2)

1 1/2 cups 2% Sharp Cheddar Cheese (I used dairy-free and soy-free Daiya cheddar) 

Salt & Pepper

Olive oil spray

Directions

1. Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees

2. Mix all ingredients well, adding salt and pepper

3.  Line Cookie sheet with parchment paper or tin foil and spray with olive oil spray

 4. Using your hands form the mixture into balls and bake for 20-30 minutes until crispy

Ingredients

2 Tbsp of olive oil 
½ medium onion
3 cloves of garlic 
2 cans crushed tomatoes (I used Italian style)
1 Tbsp chicken stock
3 cups water 

1/2 cup of almond milk (you can use any milk)
½ Tbps of brown sugar 
pepper

Directions

1. Dice the onion and chop the garlic then cook in a pot over medium heat with olive oil for about 2 minutes
2. Add the cans of tomatoes, the chicken stock, water, and almond milk. Stir to combine well

3. Add some black pepper and the brown sugar 
4. Allow the soup to simmer over medium heat for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally

5. At this point, you can either serve the soup as is (very chunky) or puree it in a regular blender, but be careful. (I blended it so it would only be slightly chunky.)

Polenta

I love love love polenta. It is delicious! It is great as a meal or a side dish.

Ingredients


2 cups half-and-half (I used almond milk)
2 cups water
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 cups coarse cornmeal
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese (Can be omitted) 
Frozen chopped spinach
Frozen shredded carrots
Black pepper

Directions

1. In a pan, bring the half-and-half and the water to a boil
2. Add the salt and then gradually add the polenta while stirring
3. Reduce the heat, stirring constantly. The polenta should be smooth and large bubbles will pop on the surface
4. Add thawed spinach and carrots and continue to stir
5. Cook until very thick but not stiff, about 10 minutes
6. Remove from heat and add butter, cheese and pepper, mix and serve

Quinoa "Meal"

So this is the closet thing to oatmeal I can have without having an allergic reaction. So glad it tasted good! 

Ingredients

1/3 cups of quinoa flakes
1/2 cup of water
Almond milk
Berries
Chia seeds

Directions

1. Place the quinoa flakes, chia seeds, and water in a bowl and heat for a little less than a minute then mix 
2. Add almond milk and berries and heat for about another minute

Zucchini Bites

So I decided to combine zucchini, an egg, crushed pineapple, and whole wheat breadcrumbs and bake the mixture in a muffin pan. I had all these ingredients in my fridge and since I was stuck inside because of the snow, I figured....let's combine them and see what happens. Well, this concoction turned out good! I feel that parmesan cheese should have also been added but because of my dairy allergy, I left it out. However, next time I'll include it and just deal with the itchiness. Haha.

Ingredients

1 cup of grated zucchini 1 egg1/4 cup of parmesan cheese 1/4 cup of whole wheat bread crumbs (You may have to add more breadcrumbs)Crushed pineappleSalt and Pepper

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Spray a muffin tin with olive ol spray
2. Grate the zucchini and then place in a dish towel to squeeze out the excess water. Make sure all of the water has been squeezed out
3. In a bowl combine, the egg, cheese, bread crumbs, zucchini, pineapple, salt and pepper4. Using a spoon, fill the muffin cups to the top
5. Bake for 20 minutes, make sure the top is nice and brown

Another great drink

This is probably one of my favorite flavors from Sambazon! It is absolutely delicious. It is dairy free, vegan, and gluten free. It is filling as well. Great for a light breakfast or mid afternoon snack.

Curry Chicken Tenders

The original recipe is gluten-free, however, I changed things up a bit. I used panko breadcrumbs instead of the organic buckwheat & hemp cereal it suggested. I cannot really eat buckwheat groats because they are so closely related to oats--which I have recently been diagnosed with an allergy too. Below is my version of the recipe. It was delicious!

Ingredients

Boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into tenders
salt
pepper
1 can of canned coconut milk
curry powder 
garlic powder
seasoned panko breadcrumbs

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375ºF. Place tin foil on a baking sheet and spray it with cooking spray 
2. Combine the salt, pepper, coconut milk, curry powder, and garlic powder in a large bowl and whisk
3. Place the seasoned chicken tenders in the coconut milk mixture and coat evenly
4. Put the panko breadcrumbs in a dish and one by one roll the coated chicken tenders in the breadcrumbs. Make sure they are evenly coated
5. Place them on your greased baking sheet and bake for 15 to 20 minutes. Make sure the tenders are baked through and lightly crispy on the outside

Another New Juice

So today I tried this new juice. It was much better than the last. I could still really taste the celery, but it was not as strong as the previous one I had tried.

Healthy Juice

I eat vegetables and fruit everyday. Spinach and kale are my favorite. Even though I eat these foods, I wanted to try various vegetable juices in order to figure out which ones I enjoy. I have decided to do this in case I am not able to eat the actual vegetable on that day. This is the first juice I have tried. I have to say it was hard to get down because all I could taste was the celery. It tasted like pure celery to me. I'm not the biggest fan of celery unless it's chopped really small and in my chicken salad. However, I would recommend this juice if you are not a fan of eating your vegetables. Fortunately, I love eating them.

Pineapple Chicken

Another addicting dish! A few ingredients and very simple to make.

Ingredients

1 tbsp of brown sugar
1/2 cup of pineapple juice
Boneless chicken (I used the chicken breast tenderloins)
1/2 tsp of garlic powder
Olive oil
Pineapple Chunks

Directions

1. Cut chicken into cubes
2. In a small mixing bowl---mix together pineapple juice, chicken, garlic powder and brown sugar
3. Turn a skillet to medium high and add olive oil to the pan
4. Cook chicken (make sure to include all of the juice from the bowl)--make sure to stir frequently
5. While the chicken is cooking, cut the pineapple into small chunks and set on a separate deep plate or bowl
6. Once the chicken is done, mix the chicken with the pineapple (make sure to include all of the juice from the pan)

Crab Beignets

I made these for my Superbowl party and everyone seemed to love them! I know I did.

Ingredients

½ cup of flour (I used whole wheat flour)
¼ teaspoon of salt
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 extra large egg
2/3 cup of milk 
½ teaspoon of granulated garlic (I used minced garlic)
Pinch cayenne pepper
1/3 cup of green onions, finely chopped
1/3 cup of yellow or red bell pepper, finely chopped (I omitted the peppers)
1 to 1 ½ cup of crab meat (I used 2 full cans of crab meat)

Canola oil

Directions

1. Mix together the flour, salt, baking powder, egg, milk, garlic and cayenne in a mixing bowl. The batter should be thick and sticky
2. Stir in the onions, peppers and crab meat. Do not over-mix
3. Heat Canola oil in a deep fry pan until very hot
4. When the oil is hot, gather a portion of the finished batter with a spoon (I scooped it out with a spoon and then formed small balls--about the size of a golf ball) and drop it into the oil
5. Cook until the beignets are golden to medium brown. (Make sure to turn them in order for them to brown evenly.)
6. When the beignets are fully cooked, remove them from the oil with a spoon and place them on a plate or tray lined with paper towels. (The paper towels will absorb the excess oil.)