Monday, October 21, 2013

Zesty Quinoa Avocado Boats :]

These wonderful boats of joy feel so healthy and delicious going down! I will definitely be making many versions of them. It is so easy to substitute, add or remove any ingredient and it will always be delicious :D


-Ingredients-
-1/2 cup of cooked quinoa (cooled. I like to have a cup of cooked quinoa in the fridge most days)
-1/2 cup of corn (drained)
-1/2 can of black beans (rinsed)
-1/4 cup minced cilantro
-1/2 cup chopped red onion
-1/2 cup chopped green or red bell pepper
-1/2 cup cheese of your choice
-1.5 Tbsp taco seasoning 
-1 tsp garlic powder
-2 avocados

-Directions-
-To cook quinoa, for every cup of dry quinoa add two cups of water. Make sure you rinse quinoa in cold water before you cook it. Bring the quinoa and the water to a boil and then set to simmer for 15 minutes so it absorbs the water completely. For this recipe you'll want to stick it in the fridge until it cools down before mixing with the other ingredients. 
-Prep all vegetables and throw together into a bowl. Then add the cheese.
-Mix them with the taco seasoning and the garlic powder. 
-Add cooled quinoa to the mixture. (You may want to add more of the spices after)

-Cut avocados in half and hollow out a little bit to make room for the filling. Peel the skin off and then stuff overflowing with the quinoa mixture. 
-I like to serve the boats with salsa and lime chips :]

Sunday, October 20, 2013

New juice, and a helpful hint :]

We tried juicing cranberries today!! Mixed with apples, they are delicious :)


-Ingredients-
-3 medium apples
-an inch of lemon with rind
-a quarter sized piece of beat
-a small notch of ginger
-1 medium sized carrot
-1.5 cups of cranberries
(Optional: blend with banana)

Remember to thoroughly wash all fruits & veggies! :)

Helpful hint: use a melon baller to remove pits from apples! It's a great alternative to aan apple corer because you take away less of the the good parts of the apple :]



Monday, October 14, 2013

Homemade Caramel Sauce!

**Note: This recipe is far from healthy. It is crazy good, but definitely not meant to be an all the time thing.**

This is to die for. I make it specially for my coffee. I take it to work and turn it into an iced caramel Americano with soy for creamer. It makes coffee out of this world good. It also goes great as an ice cream topping, muffin and pie drizzle...and honestly just straight. :p






-Ingredients-

-1 cup of brown sugar, packed. I use light brown. 
-1/2 cup heavy cream. (Next, I am going to try hazelnut creamer and see what it is like)
-4 tbsp butter.
-pinch of salt. I like a generous pinch. 
-1 tbsp vanilla. (Yes, a full tablespoon!)

-Directions-
-In a medium saucepan on low-medium heat, add the butter, heavy cream, brown sugar and salt and let it cook about 5-7 minutes while stirring with a whisk. 



-Once it has thickened a bit, add the vanilla and cook another minute or so. 
-Turn off the stove and pour caramel sauce into a jar and place in the fridge to cool down. 
-Enjoy!


**Update! I tried using hazelnut creamer in addition to heavy cream. It is fantastic! Now I am going to try many variations to keep my caramel sauce ever-changing. I did 1 part hazelnut creamer to 2 parts heavy cream=1/2 cup total.