Honey Lime Chicken skewers

I've been meaning to post this recipe for a long time.  I made these for the superbowl and they were so good.  Enough said, does not that picture say it all (I did not take that picture).

Ingredients:
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
1/4 cup soy sauce
3 Tablespoons honey
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
juice of one lime
2 teaspoons sriracha sauce (now I've got your attention)
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tablespoons cilantro, chopped
3-4 skewers

Directions
1. In a small bowl, compine soy sauce, honey, oil, lime juice, sriracha sauce, garlic and cilantro.  Stir to combine.  Add the diced chicken pieces to marinade.  Gently stir to coat in marinade.  Cover bowl tightly.  Place in fridge and let marinade at least one hour, up to three hours.

If using wooden skewers, make sure to soak them in water at least 15 minutes prior to threading the meat onto them.

2. Thread 8-9 pieces of chicken onto each skewer.

3.  Grill over medium heat, 7-8 minutes on each side, or until fully cooked in the center.

Eat em up!

healthy blueberry donuts

Yay for Blueberry season!  I can't get enough of these juicy little bombs of deliciousness.  The kids and I have gone out, every week (sometimes twice) since blueberries came on and I still can't get enough of them.  I feel like I need about twice as much as I've already gotten and then I will have enough.

Today I gave a regular donut recipe a tweak to make it healthy and if you are expecting them to taste not healthy, you will be a tad disapointed.  They are delicious, but it's fairly obvious they are not packed with sugar and butter.  I'm not posting a poorly staged photo today because my computer hates me.  Rest assured that I took a poorly staged photo, I just can't post it.

I used fresh blueberries and they are really best as they don't bleed and they hold their shape well.  You can also use frozen though.  I like to thaw them in the fridge overnight.

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup honey
2 large eggs
1/2 cup almond milk (regular milk will work fine too)
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup fresh blueberries

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.  Grease 2-6 well donut pans.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.  Set aside
3. In another bowl, whisk together eggs, honey, milk, oil, vanilla and almond extracts.  Add the flour mixture and mix with a rubber spatula until just combined.
4.  There's a couple ways you can do this next step.  You can then gently fold in the blueberries and spoon them into the donut wells, or you can do what I did.  I spooned the batter into a ziplock bag and snipped off the corner, then I piped a small amount into each well.  Pressed 5-10 blueberries (depending on how big they are) into each donut and piped some more batter on top.  The wells should be about 2/3 full when done.
5. Bake in preheated oven until donut springs back when lightly touched.  10-12 minutes
6.  Let donuts cool in pan for a few minutes before turning out onto cooling rack.

Happy baking!

Favorite CLEAN Foods

I have kind of fallen off the "clean eating" wagon. I am happy to say that I have retained some of the good habits that I got into last summer but things could still be better. I find myself going to "prepared" foods more often and eating out has become more of a norm than I would like. Granted my prepared foods now tend to be of the all-natural or organic variety but they are rather lacking in the "fresh" department. Eating out does not include fast food very often but, let's be honest, it is never the healthiest choice and my budget would sure appreciate a little less resaraunt patronage. So, I would like to get back to where I was last summer and hopefully make it stick this time. What is it about summer that is so motivating? In an effort to get back on the wagon I am going to make a list of my favorite clean foods and I would like all of you to do the same! Let's motivate each other, eh?!? homemade granola chia pudding steel cut oats with beriies and peaches dried apples quinoa spanish rice hummus popcorn Wow, that is kind of a sad little list. HELP!!!!

Soy sauce and brown sugar salmon

Here's my plauguerized picture of the day.  I feel like my spelling of that word gets more creative every time.

I'm not a huge fan of the flavor of salmon, and I really like it cooked this way, so if you are a huge fan of that salmon flavor, this recipe might ruin it for you.  That was my little disclaimer.

My whole family loves this recipe.  My 16 month old in particular can't get enough.  On top of all that, it's super duper easy to make.

Soy Sauce and Brown Sugar Marinade

Ingredients

• 1½ pounds salmon fillets
• lemon pepper to taste
• garlic powder to taste
• salt to taste
• ⅓ cup soy sauce
• ⅓ cup brown sugar
• ⅓ cup water
• ¼ cup oil of your choice (I used olive oil, but you could also use vegetable, or canola or whatever you prefer)

Instructions

1. Season salmon fillets with lemon pepper, garlic powder, and salt.
2. Combine soy sauce, brown sugar, water, and oil until sugar is dissolved. Place fish in a large resealable plastic bag, pour soy sauce mixture over fish, seal, and turn to coat.Marinate for at least 2 hours.  
3. Wrap it in foil and bake at 425° for approx. 15 minutes.

Apple Pie Oatmeal cookies

Here is a lovely plaguerized picture for you.  Trust me, it more accurately depicts the deliciousness of the finished product.  You're welcome.

These were really good and healthy enough that I thought them an appropriate breakfast food. In fact, they turned out a little more cakey than chewy and I thought about altering them a little and making them into a muffin.  More on that if I ever get around to it.

I've realized that I hardly ever make the recipe as I find it and always alter it a little here and there, so instead of copying and pasting and then telling you I did this different and I did that different, I've decided to just take the time to write the recipe I followed.  As always, you can substitute flours and sugars and butter for whatever flour I have and oil and agave, but then you may not feel as good about eating it for breakfast.

Ingrediants:
1 cup rolled oats (or instant works too)
3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 large egg, room temp
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup agave
1 cup finely diced apple of your choice

1. Whilsk together the oats, flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a medium bowl.  In a seperate bowl, whisk together the olive oil, egg and vanilla.  Stir in the agave.  Add in the flour mixture, stirring just until incorporated.  Fold in the apple.  Chill for 30 minutes (don't skip that step, it's important).
2.  Preheat the oven to 325 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat (don't skip this one either, you will regret it).
3.  Drop the cookie dough into 15 rounded scoops onto the prepared sheet and flatten slightly.  bake at 325 for 13-15 minutes.  Cool on the pan for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack.

I hope you enjoy these as much as I did.

Baked cod and 3 grain vegetable feta salad

Here's another post to prove I'm the worst food photographer ever.  This was our dinner tonight and it was quite delicious.  Or so I thought, and Kristian liked it as well.  I've really got to get better at taking the pictures because everytime I look at one, it is so unappealing.  It really was good.  I also served it with pita bread left over from last night.  
I used 3 cod filets and it was enough for my family.  More than enough if you ask the children. 


For the baked cod:
3 cod fillets (or white fish of choice)
 6 Tablespoons olive oil

1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/2 a lemon, juiced, plus more for serving
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, finely chopped
 1 clove garlic, minced
sea salt and fresh black  pepper
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Line a large baking pan with parchment paper and place fish on it.
In a medium bowl whisk together the butter, lemon, mustard, parsley, dill and garlic. Season with salt and pepper.
Divide the sauce between fish. top evenly
Bake for 15-16 minutes depending on the size of the fish, Then broil for 1-2 minutes or until top turns golden, checking every 20 seconds. Serve immediately with additional lemon.

Beware of overcooking.  Cod is very easy to overcook.  Probably any fish, but you know... be aware.

FOr the 3 grain salad:
http://naturallyella.com/2014/07/01/three-grain-grilled-vegetable-and-feta-salad/

For the grain salad, beware of overcooking the grains.  They will get mushy and that's not nearly as appetizing. 

The theme in this post seems to be don't overcook.  I totally overcooked everything in case you hadn't guessed.  Also, I went to 4 different stores today to find sorghum (which I had never before heard of but suddenly had to have).  I tried Winco, Trader Joe's (where my pronunciation was corrected.  It's Sore-gum, not sour-gum), Natural Grocers and finally found it at LifeSource where I pronounced it like a pro.  It was delicious.  The cook time on it is longer than the other grains, but it held it's shape and texture well and I liked it.  I will try it again in other things.  I don't know what, so don't ask me. 

I should have posted this as two separate posts because it's two different recipes.  Well, really a recipe and a link.  Anyway, I didn't, so...

These recipes can also be found on my healthy habits pinterest board. 

quinoa stuffed squash

Today I was given these beautiful crookneck squash by my dear sister-in-law's grandmother.  They were the inspiration for dinner tonight (my children were not pleased).  Get ready people, you are in for a treat.  My first attempt to write my own recipe.

Things you will need (AKA stuff I had on hand):
1 cup quinoa
2 cups water
1 bullion cube (I used chicken, but veggie would be good too)
3 crookneck squash (other squash would probably work fine too, though you'd need more than 3)
1 large onion
1 cup halved cherry tomatoes
1/3 cup minced fresh basil (or other herbs of your choosing)
1 Tablespoon nutritional yeast (or Parmesan if you prefer)
1 Tablespoon white wine vinegar
2 Italian vegetarian sausage links (or regular sausage or no sausage at all!)
salt to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Bring 2 cups water and bullion to a boil, add quinoa, reduce heat, cover and simmer 20 minutes (or throw it all in the rice cooker, works like a charm).

While the quinoa is cooking, slice your squash in half and scrape out all the insides.  Give the seeds and stringy stuff to the chickens, or compost it, or whatever you like to do with that stuff.  Scrape out as much of the rest of the inside of the gourd as you can, reserving it to go back in the middle.  If it's excessively wet, set it on a paper towel to absorb some of that moisture. 

Set the shells of your beautiful squash plants face up on a baking sheet and drizzle them with oil and sprinkle them with a little sea salt, or kosher salt, or whatever kind of salt you have laying around. 

In a large saute pan, cook diced onion in a little olive oil over medium high heat for about  5 minutes or until it starts to brown.  While your onion is cooking dice up that scraped out squash into bite size pieces.  Take the casing off the sausage and chop it up as well. Add the squash and the tomatoes to the pan to cook with the onions.  Turn heat down to medium and cook five minutes more.  Please note that the sausage I used was vegetarian, if you are using regular sausage, make sure it is mostly cooked through. 

When your quinoa is done cooking add it to the saute pan with the nutritional yeast (or parmesan), fresh herbs and white wine vinegar.  Stir to combine.  Season to taste with salt (and anything else you might want to throw in there.  Heat through.  Scoop mixture into your hollowed out gourd shells.  Pile em high.  Mine looked like this.

I wish I had scraped those gourds a little more.  I ended up cutting out some of the squash after I cooked it to eat.  The outside was woody and not very chewable (which didn't stop me from trying to eat it), but the inside was delicious.  Also, I can't figure out how to rotate that picture. 

OK, cover those bad boys with foil and bake them for 30 minutes, then remove the foil and give em another 10 minutes in the oven. 

Here's my finish product.

Ooooh, yeeeah.  Scrumptious.
The hubs and all the kids except Solveig liked it.  The baby screamed through the whole meal, which I took to mean he really wanted some too.

honey whole wheat bread

I tried a new bread recipe yesterday.  I'm always on the lookout for good bread, but I haven't tried a new one in a while.  This one is a copycat of great Harvest's Honey Whole Wheat, which I love.  It turned out pretty good.  It was warm outside (and inside) yesterday and the dough rose too fast making my bread a little too crumbly, but still good.  I'm going to try it again today and use about half the yeast and let it rise longer if necessary.  I'll let you know how it goes. 

The recipe is on my healthy habits pinterest board, but here's a link.

http://www.eatcakefordinner.net/2012/02/great-harvest-honey-whole-wheat-bread.html

One of these days, time permitting I will write my own recipes.  I've got good stuff up here in my brain and I'm afraid it will all leak out before I can take the time to write it down. 

**UPDATE**
I made this one again yesterday.  I decreased the yeast from 1.5 Tablespoons to just one tablespoon.  It still rose a little too quickly leaving pockets larger than I would like in the middle of the loaf.  I think next time I try it, I will decrease it even more. 

Such good bread though.  My favorite thing is that I can knead it in the stand mixer.  I hate kneading bread by hand. 

Almond butter Protein Balls

I made these for the first time yesterday. I really liked them and so do the two younger girls. As I am not a huge meat eater I am always looking for good ways to get more protein into my diet. I would highly reccomend this recipe. http://www.pinterest.com/pin/85568461644685490/ I made a few changes, partially out of necessity and partially out of desire. Instead of doing all almond butter I substituted half with peanut butter. This was the necessity as I did not have ough almond butter The deired change came in the form of adding granola to the finished product. I really liked this because it added more texture. I think these will become a staple in our house.

You Are What You Eat

Overall I have been doing well following my clean diet. I have eliminated a lot of the sugar and nearly all the artificial colors, flavors and preservatives. I have been feeling pretty good, but did not actually take much notice of that until this past weekend. Zach and the girls went out of town Friday night so I treated myself to dinner at Panera. I had salad and soup-not bad. The next morning however, I decided to treat myself again, but this time I got hot chocolate and a croissant from Java Crew. I felt sick all morning. I have been used to things like steel cut oats, chia pudding, or in a rush a glass of milk for breakfast. Not sugar loaded drinks and baked treats! I did better the rest of the day. But then Sunday rolled around and I was not home. We visited friends and I gorged myself of pizza and birthday cake. When I got home, I was still hungry (I can't imagine why?!?) so I ate some m&m's. Yes, this was a day of one bad choice after another. When I woke up on Monday morning, I hurt all over. My lower back and legs were especially sore. My stomach hurt and I was cranky. My thoughts were completely disorganized, I had no patience and was just generally moody. I ate clean all day yesterday, hiked around silver falls and today feel about 100% better. It is sad that it took feeling awful to realize that I had been feeling good, but I was grateful for the eye opening experience.