When my husband and started eating clean and healthy, (cutting out processed foods that were packed with preservatives, chemicals and YUKKY stuff), it became a game for me to find recipes that were healthy AND tasty.  I live a fast paced life where I am constantly on the run so I like to have healthy things prepared ahead of time that I can grab and go!

When I came across this recipe on:

 

I just HAD to make them!

 

This recipe is so easy to make with only 5 simple ingredients. They are a healthy snack that you can store in your refrigerator or freezer; you’re gonna LOVE these bars I promise!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups quick cooking oats
• 1 cup almond butter
• 1/2 cup sliced almonds
• 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup honey
• Optional: salt and cinnamon, to taste

Directions:

• Combine the oats, almond butter, almonds, chocolate chips and honey in a medium size bowl. Stir until well combined. Add more honey if needed and salt and cinnamon, to taste.
• Line a 8×8 pan with parchment paper, allowing the paper to fall over the edges. Press the oat mixture into the pan.
• Place in the freezer for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until firm. Remove paper from pan and then cut the large square in half. Then cut each half into 6 rectangles. Wrap bars individually with parchment paper or plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator or freezer.

Check out I Heart Nap Time at:

http://www.iheartnaptime.net/granola-bars/

I am always looking for healthy recipes that are tasty, quick and easy!

So when my daughter’s boyfriend Chris walked through the door with a plate of homemade 3 ingredient peanut butter cookies I was intrigued!

Then I tasted one, it was AMAZING! 

Now I’m not saying that he’s calculating BUT…peanut butter cookies are my husband’s favorite and the fact that they’re made without sugar and flour, well needless to say he gained some major boyfriend points with his girlfriend’s mom and dad!

Here is the recipe that is sure to become a favorite of yours too 🙂

Ingredients:

1 cup organic peanut butter

1/3 cup organic honey

1 organic, cage-free egg

Directions:

Mix all the ingredients together. Scoop about a tablespoon of batter for each cookie onto a greased cookie sheet (I use coconut oil cooking spray). Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 8 minutes, or until cookies start to brown along the edges.

Let cookies cool for about 5 minutes before removing from cookie sheet.

Makes about 18-24 delicious peanut butter cookies!

Who doesn’t LOVE watermelon, not to mention that the health benefits are amazing!

I introduced you to my dear friend, Health Coach, Author and Speaker Wendi Michelle in past blogs and now she’s done it again with this super tasty summertime treat!

On her Facebook page, The Kitchen Approach you will find this fun recipe along with many others that I know you will want to try.

Wendi says, “Did you know that 1 cup of watermelon has more lycopene than 1 cup of raw tomatoes?  Lycopene has been found to activate cancer-preventative liver enzymes and promotes heart health!”

Here is the simple recipe:

• 1 cup cubed Watermelon
• 3 fresh basil leaves
• 1 tbsp. fresh ginger
• 1/4 cup crushed ice

Directions:  In a blender blend watermelon.  Add in ice, ginger and basil leaves.  Blend until slushy and enjoy!

Do you have a fun, easy and healthful summertime refreshment that you’d like to share?  I’d love to try it!

Visit The Kitchen Approach at:

http://www.facebook.com/thekitchenapproach/

http://www.thekitchenapproach.com/

I LOVE Pot Pies, I think they are one of the greatest food inventions ever!  Think about it, an entire meal under a yummy, fluffy crust 🙂

In my quest for recipes/meals that are tasty, healthy, and require minimal time slaving away in my kitchen, I came across a website called Eat Yourself Skinny (see link below).  Their pot pie recipe simply MUST be shared!

This pot pie will leave you feeling happy, satisfied and guilt free!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup fat-free half and half
• 1 cup fat-free chicken broth
• 3 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. poultry seasoning
• 1 tsp. thyme
• 2 cups roasted skinless chicken breast, cubed
• 1 (10 oz) package frozen mixed veggies, thawed
• 4 green onions, chopped
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. pepper
• 1 can (7.5 oz) refrigerated reduced-fat biscuits

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

In a medium saucepan, whisk together half and half, chicken broth, flour, poultry seasoning and thyme.

Bring to a boil then reduce heat to a simmer, continuing to whisk for about 4 minutes. Once mixture has thickened, remove from heat and stir in chicken, mixed veggies, green onions, salt and pepper.

Cover to keep warm and set aside.

Coat 5 (6 oz) ramekins (bowl) with nonstick cooking spray.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out 2 biscuits per ramekin into a 4-inch round. Evenly fill ramekins with chicken mixture and top each with a rolled out biscuit, make sure dough covers the entire chicken mixture.

Pierce 4 holes in the top of the biscuits to vent and place in oven.

Bake pies for about 12 minutes, until filling is bubbly and biscuits are golden. Enjoy!

Nutritional Information:

Serving Size: 1 ramekin • Calories: Approx. 286 • Fat: 4 g • Carbs: 36 g • Fiber: 2 g • Protein: 24 g • WW Points+: 7 pts

 

 

Eat Yourself Skinny – Click here

One of the things I love for dinner is breakfast!  It’s a meal I can eat morning, noon or night and it doesn’t care.  It’s agreeable, flexible and just happy to be chosen!

Last night I made Banana Waffles for dinner; in fact I made 20 waffles total!  (Not to be eaten all at once of course!)  I had 7 really ripe bananas that were begging to be used so I made a septuple batch of these babies!  (They freeze really well too!)

Do you have a favorite food that feels like dessert but isn’t?

That’s what these banana waffles are for me, a healthy food with a dessert like taste 🙂 Now who wouldn’t enjoy a food like that?

Last week I introduced you to Health Coach, Author and Speaker Wendi Michelle.  You can find this recipe, along with many others by going to her website The Kitchen Approach  as well as her Facebook page of the same name, (See links below).

I love recipes that are healthy, easy and use ingredients that are basically staples in your pantry and/or refrigerator; this is one of those.

Here is the recipe for Banana Waffles with Strawberry and Pichuberry Compote. 

Ingredients:

3/4 cup flour (I use the gluten free blend)

1 super ripe mashed banana

1 egg

1/4 cup almond milk

1 tbl coconut butter

1 tsp vanilla1 packet of stevia

Directions: Mix all the above ingredients, in order as listed. Pour onto preheated waffle maker. Cook until golden. (about 3-4 min) This blend makes one very big, very filling waffle. Easily could serve 4 as a light breakfast or 2 for larger appetites.

 Berry Compote 2 large organic strawberries 4 pichuberries (if you do not have access to pichuberries, blueberries are just as good!) 1/2 tbl raw honey Dice berries. Place in small mixing bowl. Pour honey over berries and stir. Serve over warm waffle.

On my waffles I use whatever fruit I have on hand so tonight I topped mine off with sliced strawberries and raspberries and a little honey!  YUMMY 🙂

Visit The Kitchen Approach at:

http://thekitchenapproach.com

http://www.facebook.com/thekitchenapproach/

Just over a year ago my brother Greg told me, “Your taste buds are not your buds, they’ll kill ya!”

It was a powerful little sentence that got me to thinking.  Am I making food choices based on health benefit, or based on what my taste buds demand?

I don’t know about you but my taste buds are like rock stars, they enjoy high energy, go big or go home kinds of foods!  Problem is I often made choices that were unhealthy and packed with sugar, sugar, sugar and processed, processed, processed!  Those bad choices wore me out and left me dragging and exhausted.

I decided to start thinking about what I was going to eat.  It became a challenge to come up with healthy choices when my taste buds were cheering me on to eat junk food! For example, my afternoon snack went from grabbing a fun size candy bar to cutting up an apple and dipping it in a little natural peanut butter.  Breakfast became things like oatmeal with honey and cinnamon and dinner became things like salmon with steamed veggies, and so on.

I made it my mission to cook, bake, create food that was fun, yummy and healthy, it became kind of a game…a game that I’ve continued to play for over a year now and I feel GREAT!

The Bible says to honor your body as a temple of the Holy Spirit.  “Don’t you know that your body is a temple that belongs to the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit, whom you received from God, lives in you. You don’t belong to yourselves.” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20 GW Translation).

Making healthy food choices is one of the ways we can honor God.

Throughout this journey I have driven a very dear friend of mine crazy with phone calls, text messages, pictures of all kinds of foods that I have made and she’s been such a great support for me.  Her name is Wendi Michelle.

Wendi is a Health Coach/Author/Speaker.  I highly recommend her cookbook, Effortless Real Food – Taking the Kitchen Approach to Health.  Wendi says, “The Kitchen Approach is a food based approach to health and wellness, it’s as simple as that.  Every day foods for every day health.”  I LOVE that!

I will be sharing foodstuff on my site and I thought this rice cake recipe would be an easy one to start with.  They are packed with flavor and darned satisfying.  I eat them for breakfast or snack, they’re delicious and nutritious.

Wendi says, “It may not look like much but let me tell you, this is one of my all time favs. Quick, cheap and a smidge over 100 calories for 2!  Satisfies my nutrient quota for the morning and is SO YUMMY!!  2 organic rice cakes, sunflower butter, raw honey and cinnamon. BONUS… Cinnamon in the am = balanced blood sugar right outta the gate!”

Btw…adding a few banana slices boosts your intake of vitamin A, C, E and B6, what a fabulous way to start your day!

You can visit Wendi at: http://www.thekitchenapproach.com/