Banana's What a Great Snack!

Many Banana snack ideas to hold off cravings and add health to your diet. They help boost metabolism add the fact that they help give your body the "full" feeling they add up to one great snack!

Banana "Ice Cream"
Peel, slice, and freeze 1 small banana. Place frozen banana pieces in a blender with 3 tablespoons 1% low-fat milk; blend until thick. Top with 1 tablespoon chopped walnuts.

Banana Salsa
Make a quick salsa with 2 diced peeled bananas, 2 tablespoons minced red onion, 1 tablespoon minced cilantro, 1 teaspoon minced serrano or jalepeno pepper, juice of 1 lime, and brown sugar and salt to taste. Use it to top fish or pork tacos, jerk chicken, or jerk pork.

Broiled Bananas
Slice 1 peeled banana in half lengthwise. Put banana pieces, cut sides up, on a rimmed baking sheet. Sprinkle the banana pieces with 1 teaspoon brown sugar, and broil on high until the sugar bubbles and the bananas brown (about 2–3 minutes). After broiling, sprinkle with cinnamon—or drizzle with 1 teaspoon rum for an extra-special treat.

Coffee and Banana Smoothie
Place 1 sliced peeled banana, 1 cup 1% low-fat milk, 1/2 cup cold black coffee, 2 teaspoons sugar, and 1/2 cup ice in a blender. Blend until smooth—and enjoy.

Tropical Fruit Salad
Make a fruit salad with 1 sliced peeled banana, 1 sliced peeled kiwi, and 1/2 diced peeled ripe mango. Squirt juice of 1/4 lime over the salad, and serve. 

Chinese App, Dinner & Dessert

Spicy Sausage Wonton Stars Recipe

Ingredients

* 1 pound bulk spicy pork sausage
* 2 medium carrots, finely shredded
* 1 medium onion, finely chopped
* 1/2 cup finely chopped sweet red pepper
* 1/2 cup finely chopped green pepper
* 1 cup (4 ounces) finely shredded pepper Jack cheese
* 1 cup (4 ounces) finely shredded cheddar cheese
* 1/2 cup sour cream
* 2 garlic cloves, minced
* 1 teaspoon lemon-pepper seasoning
* 36 wonton wrappers
* 1 tablespoon butter, melted
* 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
* Sliced cherry tomatoes, optional

Directions

* In a large skillet, cook sausage over medium heat until no longer pink; drain. In a large bowl, combine the sausage, carrots, onion, peppers, cheeses, sour cream, garlic and lemon-pepper.
* Press wonton wrappers into miniature muffin cups coated with cooking spray. In a small bowl, combine butter and garlic powder; brush over edges. Bake at 350° for 8-9 minutes or until lightly browned.
* Spoon sausage mixture into cups. Bake 5-7 minutes longer or until heated through. Garnish with tomatoes if desired. Yield: 3 dozen.

Special Sesame Chicken Salad Recipe
Ingredients

* 1 package (16 ounces) bow tie pasta
* 1 cup canola oil
* 2/3 cup white wine vinegar
* 2/3 cup teriyaki sauce
* 1/3 cup sugar
* 1/2 teaspoon pepper
* 3 cans (11 ounces each) mandarin oranges, drained
* 2 cans (8 ounces each) sliced water chestnuts, drained
* 2 cups cubed cooked chicken
* 1-1/3 cups honey-roasted peanuts
* 1 package (9 ounces) fresh spinach, torn
* 1 package (6 ounces) dried cranberries
* 6 green onions, chopped
* 1/2 cup minced fresh parsley
* 1/4 cup sesame seeds, toasted

Directions

* Cook pasta according to package directions; drain and place in a very large bowl.
* In a small bowl, combine the oil, vinegar, teriyaki sauce, sugar and pepper. Pour over pasta and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours.
* Just before serving, add the remaining ingredients; gently toss to coat. Yield: 22 servings (1 cup each).

Wonton Kisses Recipe
Ingredients

* 24 milk chocolate kisses
* 24 wonton wrappers
* Oil for frying
* Confectioners' sugar

Directions

* Place a chocolate kiss in the center of a wonton wrapper. (Keep remaining wrappers covered with a damp paper towel until ready to use.) Moisten edges with water; fold opposite corners together over candy kiss and press to seal. Repeat.
* In an electric skillet, heat 1 in. of oil to 375°. Fry wontons for 2-1/2 minutes or until golden brown, turning once. Drain on paper towels. Dust with confectioners' sugar. Yield: 2 dozen.

The Super Secret Meaty Spaghetti Sauce Recipe!

For the first time I used ground turkey and browned it up to wonderful amazing perfection!

my sauce before stirring the seasons in.

Meat added into sauce and then cooked on low for 5-6 hours in a crock pot.

Special note: if making the following recipe in a crock pot either lower the amount of water or add in more tomato paste. As this was my first time making it in the crock pot so the first serving was a little more watery than desired.

Meat Sauce

2- 12 oz cans Tomato Paste

2 Quarts water 

(if cooking in a crock pot either add one more 12 oz can or 2 cups less water)

2 bay leaves

1 Tbls oregano

1 Tbls Basil

1 Tbls parsley

1 Tbls Italian seasoning

1/2 tsp rosemary

1/8 tsp Special Ingredient

 sliced olives

 mushrooms if desired (I hate fungus but for those that like it)

Grated Parmesan Cheese as a topping right before serving.

Cooking and spicing the meat 

Ground beef or Ground Turkey (1-2 pds)

Garlic powder

onion powder

celery salt

black pepper

Special secret ingredient

crushed red pepper

season all

Cook meat with spices until browned, draining all extra fluids then add meat into sauce.

Cover tightly simmer 2 hours stirring occasionally. Remove cover (if cooking on stove top - if crock potting change fluid ratio and keep lid on.)

cook on low another 2-4 hours stirring occasionally. Remove bay leaves. Cook spaghetti, serve together with cheese.

Makes 3-4 quarts enough for 4 pds of spaghetti. We normally bag up the extra and freeze. 

Freezing tip is to lay out the freezer baggies on a cookie sheet, freeze on cookie sheet in freezer that way it will lay flat and take up less room.

Pork Dinner and Couscous with Broccoli

Saturday's pre-Valentine Dinner was Pork Tenderloin with raspberry sauce served with a side of Lemon couscous with broccoli.
I will be doing another dinner for valentines day but this was wonderful and healthier too!

Lemon Couscous with broccoli

4 C fresh broccoli florets
1 Tbs9. olive oil
1 C uncooked whole wheat couscous
2 garlic cloves minced
1 1/4 C reduced sodium broth
1 tsp grated lemon peel
1 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/4 tsp coarsely ground pepper
1 Tbsp slivered almonds or pecans which I used

In a large skillet saute broccoli in oil until crisp-tender. Add couscous and garlic; saute 1-2 minutes longer. Stir in broth, lemon peel, lemon juice, salt, basil and pepper. Bring to a boil remove from heat, cover and let stand for 5-10 min. Fluff with fork sprinkle with nuts and serve.

Pork Tenderloin with Raspberry Dijon Sauce

1 pork tenderloin (1lb) cut into 1/2 slices
1 tsp garlic pepper blend
2 tsp canola oil
1/2 cup seedless raspberry jam
2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
2 tsp Dijon mustard

Flatten pork slices to 1/4 (I beat mine a little but left them thicker) sprinkle with pepper blend. In a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium heat, cook pork in oil in batches (or a really large pan) for 2-3 minutes on each side. If thicker like mine where the time is longer or until juices run clean.
Remove pork from pan and keep warm. In the same skillet add jam, vinegar, and mustard stirring to loosen browned bits. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 1 minute or until thickened. Serve over pork.

The end result is the first picture (of course) Yum! This was amazing and I will be using the raspberry sauce for other meats as well!
This was a very tasty and wonderfully healthy meal. In fact my husband couldn't stop telling me how wonderful it was, if your stuck in a rut cooking the same things over and over again the tastiness of this meal breaks it up wonderfully!

More on Pizza - Gluten-Free Pizza Crust

So a while ago I posted my pizza recipe minus the crust. Here is a very good quick and healthy recipe that makes a nice crunchy crust.

Gluten-Free Pizza Crust 

Makes 2-4 servings

• 2 cups whole milk organic mozzarella cheese, shredded
• 2 large organic eggs
• 2 tablespoons flax meal
• 2 tablespoons coconut flour
• ½ teaspoon baking powder

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cut 2 pieces of parchment paper out for baking sheet.
Mix cheese, eggs, flax, coconut flour, and baking powder together until a sticky wet dough is formed. Spread with a spatula to ¼ inch thickness on a baking sheet lined with one piece of parchment paper.
Bake for 30 minutes in preheated oven. Halfway through the baking process, flip crust over by sliding it off the baking sheet with the parchment paper, placing the second piece on the sheet, and turning the crust over unto the new sheet and peeling the old paper off. Return to oven until done baking.
Remove from oven, slide off of parchment paper, and flip over again for cooling. Once crust is cooled, top with sauce, pre-cooked veggies or meats, and cheese. Set crust with toppings under the broiler on high for a minute or two until cheese is melted and bubbly. Slice and serve.

What is food?

 

http://summertomato.com/how-to-find-real-food-at-the-supermarket-flowchart/

Now while we all laugh and find this chart funny the simple truth behind is that its real.

We eat to much food in America that is NOT food.

On TV I saw a health speaker that showed the audience a plate of donuts, then she mentioned that they were over three months old and not even the bugs would touch them.

Seriously if bugs won't eat it why are we?

Stick with fewer and fresher ingredients making you and your food more compatible.

Home Made Pizza

 

Pizza!

An American past time. The problem is most people like take away versions better than homemade. So I am giving my followers some tips and tricks to making and eating great pizza. A less greasy, great tasting pizza.

First off crust, I prefer wheat and there are several easy to mix bread machine varieties. If you are pressed for time your local markets offer several types. Choose one that goes with your likes and preferences, thin and crispy, deep dish ect.

Next and most important is the cheese. This is the one thing on my pizza that never changes Smoked Provolone cooked at 350 degrees or lower so it won't burn makes an amazing pizza. (10-20 minuets depending on size and toppings)

Sauce - every person has their own likes some use tomato paste, others mix tomato paste with spaghetti sauce. I use tomato sauce mixed with Pizza spices. (My favorite sauces that are non tomato are Ranch or BBQ sauce.)

Toppings - for the pizza pictured above I used Italian sausage, chicken, bacon, and olives. I also made a smaller pineapple and  olive pizza for my daughter.