Super Bowl Sweeties - Flourless Chocolate Brownie Cupcakes, hold the frosting

Hmmm...so, this year "our team" didn't make it to the Super Bowl. It was close and I know some people are still sore about it, but it happened. And it's just football. Yep, I said it. It's. Just. Football.

Anyway, while we're not crazy football fans in our house, but any excuse to get together and have a little fun as a family is fine with us :) Since we try to make healthy choices and eat clean, we had a mix of foods and games and fun going on! Sure we had snacks like a clean, fresh spinach dip, but life is about balance, and we enjoyed hot spinach and artichoke dip, chex mix, cheese and sausage. And naturally a mix of goodies, too, like molasses cake, chocolate brownies and rhubarb bars. 

I wasn't sure if these flourless brownie cupcakes qualify as a sweet treat or an appetizer...I mean, hummus is made with chickpeas, right? Let's face it, you can't exactly dunk a carrot stick in a brownie. Either way, these cupcakes are moist, chocolatey and super easy to make. Oh, and they're delicious, too!

What You Need

1 (15 oz.) can chickpeas/garbanzo beans, drained & rinsed
3 large eggs, farm fresh if you have them
½ cup pure maple syrup, Mmmm!
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking soda
3 Tbsp. organic extra virgin coconut oil (no need to melt)
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
Optional: handful of milk or dark chocolate chips

Put It Together

Toss all ingredients except chocolate chips into a 4 cup measuring cup OR your blender or food processor. If using a measuring cup, blend until pretty smooth with a hand/stick blender (if using a blender or processor, do the same).

Pour into lined cupcake pan, sprayed with organic olive oil if you have it. Garnish with 3-5 chips per cupcake, bake in preheated 400 degree oven 12-15 min or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Beachbody Blog:

http://www.beachbody.com/beachbodyblog/nutrition/flourless-brownie-muffins

Break-The-Fast: Slow Cooker Banana Pecan Oatmeal

In an attempt to make my husband's early mornings with our kiddos a little easier (God Bless him, he let's me sleep in if the baby is sleeping, and he fixes breakfast for the others), I've been dreaming of slow cooker oatmeal. 

Crazy thing is, I've only tried it once, and it wasn't my favorite. But I'm not giving up! I did what any self respecting, recipe searching Mom does - I looked on Pinterest :)

Truth is, I'm drawn to clean recipes with pretty pictures. And I needed groceries, the only fresh fruit we had in the house was 2 bananas. This recipe fit the bill. And the photos are beautiful! Ha!

(Photo: Thelemonbowl.com - see, pretty, right?)

So, adapted from thelemonbowl.com (we were out of whole milk, too!), I give you Slow Cooker Banana Pecan Oatmeal:

What You Need

1 c organic steel cut oats

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp salt

2 tbsp organic ground flaxseed/flaxseed meal

2 ripe organic bananas

1/4 - 1/2 c pecan halves or pieces

2 c water

2 c organic whole milk or organic non-dairy milk (I used organic rice/quinoa because it was in the pantry for such a time as this!)

Put It Together

Mash 1 banana, combine all other ingredients in slow cooker, stir well. Set slow cooker to low for 8 hours (if it's a little longer, that's ok too). After 8 hours, fluff with fork, make sure it was well combined. Serve hot with sliced banana and a few more pecans, if desired. Also, this is not a super sweet breakfast - we like it with just natural banana sweetness. You could add a drizzle of real maple syrup or honey if that's how you like it. Enjoy!

Crustless Skillet Quiche Surprise! A clean, easy weeknight dinner!

Whats not to love about quiche, or it's close cousins frittata and egg bake? They are tasty, fluffy and totally versatile. 

In my experience, egg bake takes a little more time, since it is better to let sit overnight if possible. And many times they are layered with cubed bread or hash browns. I have nothing against either one, necessarily, but I get a little picky (bread without HFCS and preservatives, made with whole grains and preferably organic but at the very least clean, 5-6 ingredients max--good luck finding frozen hash browns with no preservatives...bummer!). What's a girl to do? Make crustless quiche! How to make it better? Make it entirely in your cast iron skillet (one pan to clean up? Yes please!).

What is so great about crustless quiche? Well no crust=easier, no wheat/gluten, fewer carbs and therefore a great choice for a weeknight dinner!

What makes it so dynamic? You can put anything in it! Really, just toss any leftovers, veggies, cheeses and eggs together and voila! This recipe is a guide, really, I've also made it with some leftover taco meat, broccoli or peppers or spinach (fresh or frozen), cheddar cheese, Swiss cheese, no cheese - gasp! I know! - it all works just fine.

So, without further delay, I give you clean, crustless skillet quiche:

What You Need

8 large eggs, fresh I you have chickens, organic or free range if you don't 

1c organic whole milk (you can sub non-dairy, I recommend plain, unsweetened)

1 and 1/2 tbsp organic butter or organic coconut oil

3-4 organic baby Bella mushrooms

1/4 to 1/2 organic onion, any variety you like

5oz container organic greens of your choice (kale, spinach, chard, mixture of those - even sub frozen! Just be sure to drain first)

4oz grated cheddar cheese, organic if you have it

3-4 tbsp grate Parmesan cheese

1/2 - 1c ham, bacon, sausage (nitrate free), or a combo, whatever you have on hand

Salt and pepper to taste

*optional: 4 tbsp cream cheese

What To Do

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Sautée onions & mushrooms in oil/butter until tender, about 3-5 min, on low heat (no damaged fats here!). While that's going on, chop your meats and mix your eggs, milk, salt, pepper and cheeses in a large measuring cup or mixing bowl. 

When veggies are tender, chop your greens and toss them in. Cook for a few minutes until wilted. Add meats and 1/2 tbsp butter/oil. Move around in skillet to coat butter on the pan (trust me, it helps keep things from sticking). 

Remove from heat, let cool for a minute or two, pour egg mixture over top and place hot skillet in preheated oven for 35-45 min, until puffy and golden brown. Allow to cool about 5 minutes. Cut like a pie, serve alone or with some cut up veggies (we like mini sweet peppers or sugar snap peas - yum!). Enjoy!

*what to do with the cream cheese? I "sliced" it into about 8 pieces and laid it like a pinwheel over the sautéed ingredients before pouring the egg mixture and baking. It is entirely optional, but very tasty should you go that route.

Fa-La-La-La-La...Stuffed Cucumber Bites with Bacon

Confession: the above photo I found on Pinterest. I didn't get a chance to snap a pic of my finished product before they were GONE, but I documented the process (below). However, this is how they looked, just on a pretty Christmas platter :)

Ok, moving on, so in one of the clean eating accountability groups our team is hosting for the Holidays, a fellow coach posted this recipe. I knew right away that I wanted to try them, but my Mom is allergic to cucumbers, so it had to be a party setting. Enter the annual Christmas party with friends where we find our Christmas trees! 

Let me just say, these are simple, easy, clean and SO tasty! Hubby and kid-approved! We will totally be sharing these at one of our Christmas get togethers with family.

Mmmmm...here it is:

What You Need

6-7 strips of uncured bacon (we use Simply Nature from Aldi's, comes in 12 oz package)

1-8oz block of cream cheese, room temp or softened

1-16oz container Stonyfield organic plain Greek yogurt

2 tbsp dill (dried; organic if you have it)

1 tbsp dried onion flakes OR organic onion powder (Wal Mart has Wild Oats organic spices locally)

Dash of fresh ground pepper

4-5 longer cucumbers (organic if you can find it)

Put It Together

Cook bacon by using your preferred method. I like to cook it in the oven, 400 degrees, about 40 minutes, on foil lined cookie sheet. Remove from oven when crispy, transfer to paper towel to cool.

Mix next 5 ingredients with a hand mixer, cover and refrigerate for at least an hour. When you're ready to assemble, put this mix in a plastic Baggie, snipping the corner to easily fill the "cups".

Wash cucumbers well and peel, alternating stripes. Cut off ends and slice approximately 3/4 to 1 inch thick. Scoop out seeds with a melon baller, leaving 1/8 to 1/4 on the bottom to form a "cup". Just get as close as you can. 

Fill the cups with your tasty, creamy mixture, there is enough filling to fill them nice and *slightly* heaping. Top with chopped bacon pieces and enjoy!

Thanksgiving Round Up - My Favorite Cranberry-Pear Sauce!

I love cranberries. And pears. No, really - together, separate, either way. But for lots of people, they either love or hate cranberry sauce that is typically found on the table at Thanksgiving celebrations across the US. No surprise, these tart little gems are often unrecognizable in many recipes - ranging from plain old canned cranberry sauce to jello varieties, perhaps in an effort to make them more palatable.

The truth is, cranberries are tart. They're supposed to be tart. If they were supposed to be sweet, they'd taste like apples or jelly beans or high fructose corn syrup :) Now, I'm not going to lie and say this has been my favorite recipe since I was a little tiny girl. Nope. I discovered it JUST LAST YEAR when my Dad made a similar version due to some of the changes we all were making in our diet. He did, however, still make his legendary - and my Mom's favorite - cranberry sauce with oranges and jello, etc. So, until last Thanksgiving, I had no idea what pure goodness I was missing. (That's not to say I didn't LOVE his jello sauce - it is also delicious - love you Dad!)

 

Soooo...fast forward to this year. The thought of HAVING TO MAKE IT BEFORE THANKSGIVING made my mouth water. Seriously. I thought "YES! I can make this and share it with my friends and family AND I get to enjoy it before Thanksgiving!" I love it that much. I really love how the pure tart cranberry flavor comes out in this easy, clean cranberry sauce. We're not enjoying it with turkey tonight (I tossed our last lamb roast in the crock pot to complement, however), but let me tell you, I will enjoy it tonight, on Thanksgiving, and maybe I'll pick up some extra cranberries to enjoy it throughout the winter, too!

My FAVORITE Cranberry-Pear Sauce
Makes about 3 cups

WHAT YOU NEED
12 oz fresh, organic cranberries (sometimes hard to find - I like to sub local berries, we know the grower)

1 ripe organic pear, peeled and diced into 1/4"-1/2" pieces

3/4c organic apple juice

1/2c organic or local honey

zest from 1/2 organic orange (optional)

PUT IT TOGETHER

Rinse cranberries. Combine all ingredients together in a small pot and bring to a boil. Stir then simmer until cranberries burst and the sauce thickens, about 15-20 min. Cool, refrigerate, and ENJOY! ...I sometimes "taste test" while it's still warm...YUM!

*my bags of cranberries are generally 12 oz, but if you have a 1# bag, you can use the same ingredients, just use 1c organic apple juice instead of 3/4c.

Take Out Fake Out - CLEAN Sweet & Sour Chicken

I have such fond memories of going to a local Chinese restaurant with my parents when I was a teenager. For a while, we went every Friday night, sometimes just us, other times with friends. Good food, great memories!

Knowing what I know now about food, I'm glad I enjoyed it then, because I have to admit, going out for Chinese just makes me feel guilty and can leave me feeling kinda cruddy. Since most Chinese restaurants include MSG in most of their dishes, buffets are nearly impossible if you're highly sensitive. Ordering off a menu can sometimes yield an MSG free entree, but even then your choices can be limited. And soy sauce - while it sounds simple - is far from it, being loaded with sodium and wheat (right? who knew?), what's a Clean Eating Mommy to do? Make it at home, make it quick - and make it TASTY! That's what we do now, so rest assured this recipe is kid-friendly (and husband-friendly, too!).

 Don't let the ingredient list or length of instructions scare you (I'm wordy) - this is almost a one pot meal (well, except the pot you cook the rice in) and goes from start to YUM in about 40 minutes. No Lie.




WHAT YOU NEED
1lb clean chicken*, more if you prefer, cut up into bite size chunks
2 Tbsp sesame oil or organic sesame oil blend
pepper, to taste
crushed red pepper, optional

16 oz bag frozen stir fry vegetables, or fresh chopped celery, carrots, mushrooms, peppers, broccoli, Organic (when possible)
1 20 oz can of pineapple, in its own juice
1/4 - 1/2 c white vinegar or rice vinegar (if you have it)
appx 3oz tomato paste or 3-4 Tbsp organic ketchup
1 - 2 Tbsp Braggs Liquid Aminos (this is a soy sauce alternative)
1 - 2 Tbsp Organic honey
1 - 2 Tbsp Arrowroot Starch - you can sub non-GMO cornstarch if you don't have arrowroot on hand
1c organic brown rice, quick cooking or long grain - your preference - cooked according to directions

PUT IT TOGETHER
Start cooking your rice according to package directions.

Heat oil in a large frying pan on medium heat, add chicken and pepper to taste. Cook the chicken until done all the way through, about 5-7 minutes. Add veggies and cook, stirring, until they are hot and cooked to your liking (I cook mine longer for the little ones). I'm also going to add that I usually toss in extra veggies - there are 5 in our household, and sure the bag says "5 servings" but you can't go wrong adding more vegetables, so if I have another 1/2 bag of frozen broccoli or some mini sweet peppers on hand, I toss them in, too. If you're adding crushed red pepper, for a little heat, you can add it now. We usually don't use it, but I've heard it can be tasty.

When the veggies are done how you like them, add your can of pineapple - juice and all - as well as about 1/4c white vinegar. I usually start slow and add more according to taste. Add tomato paste and stir in, I had 1/2 of a 6oz can that I needed to use up, so that's what I used. You can also substitute Organic (or clean, no High Fructose Corn Syrup) ketchup, adding a couple tablespoons at a time. By using tomato paste your sauce will thicken a bit on its own, if you use ketchup you may need more arrowroot starch. Add your Braggs Liquid Aminow and 1 tbsp Organic honey, stirring in completely. I usually add by taste, if you like your sauce sweeter, add a little more and taste again. Lastly, sprinkle arrowroot powder across the top of your tasty chicken, stir in completely and bring sauce to a boil. If you prefer a thicker sauce, sprinkle more arrowroot and stir in completely again until your sauce is as thick as you prefer.

Serve over rice and enjoy immediately!


*I like to look for a variety of chicken that has been raised vegetarian, non-GMO and has low sodium - less than 100mg/serving is best; for us the cuts don't matter - breast, thigh, bone in, boneless - just so when you make it, you chunk it up boneless; if you have access to Organic, local chicken, that is preferred, but we usually make the best choice we can while staying in our budget :)

Soup is finest in the fall - "Copycat" Pasta e fagioli soup!

Its a beautiful, sunny fall day here and soup has been on our menu a lot lately. I love soup because its easy, tasty, hot and SO flexible. I have been to the Olive Garden ONCE, while my hubby and I were dating, and while I'm sure their soup is tasty, I don't know that I've ever had their "pasta e fagioli" soup. The recipe, however, boasts that it is a "copycat", so I won't dispute it.

Ok, I'm not sure if EVERYONE on pinterest has their favorite blogs for things like recipes, decorating, etc, but for me when I'm searching for a recipe, I have my fav "trusted" pins that I will click on first - above all others - because I know they make tasty food. One of them is Damn Delicious and another is Cooking Classy (which is where this recipe has been adapted from). I'm not much for curse words, but I've come to give this a little leeway - the recipes are just that good, and generally they are pretty "clean" as well.

Naturally, since I give all recipes the once-over, this oh-so-delicious soup is pretty simple and easy to make and my family (yes, kiddos too!) have found it to be a favorite. I like to think of it as kind of an Italian chili (we don't put noodles in our chili - I know there is much debate on this so I'll just leave it at that) and in our version of this soup we use organic brown rice noodles (whatever shape we might have on hand) to make it a gluten free dinner in our house. I also make sure to buy fresh ground sweet italian pork sausage that is not in casing and is nitrite/nitrate/MSG/preservative free (locally, it's found at the fresh meat section, you may have to look around). If I have fresh tomatoes, I toss em in. If not, I use organic canned tomatoes as the recipe calls for.

For the full recipe and great, detailed photos, please visit DamnDelicious (one of my favorite food blogs of all time, seriously) :)

WHAT YOU NEED
1c organic brown rice pasta
2tbsp organic coconut oil, more or less - you could use organic olive oil, careful not to heat it on high :)
1# "clean" sweet italian sausage (you could use hot, whatever your family prefers)
3 cloves garlic, minced, or a strong shake of garlic powder
1 onion, diced
3-4 carrots, diced (peel if you like, we wash and eat in our house)
1 head of celery (more or less, depending how much you like - I toss a bunch in!)
1-2 small zucchini or summer squash, diced (if not organic, I usually peel, otherwise I leave the peel on)
3c chicken broth (homemade is best!), or water and a spoonful of organic "better than bouillon"
1 16oz can organic tomato sauce
1 15oz can organic diced tomatoes
1tsp each dried basil and dried oregano
3/4tsp dried thyme
"Real" salt and fresh ground black pepper, to taste
1 can organic red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 can organic great northern beans (or canelli beans, or whatever organic white beans you have), drained and rinsed

PUT IT TOGETHER
Heat oil in large soup pot and brown italian sausage about 3-5 min, crumbling as you cook it. Then (I always just leave it in the same pot), add garlic, onion, carrots, zucchini and celery, cooking until tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in chicken broth, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, seasonings and 1 c water. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and add pasta. Simmer about 15-20 min, until vegetables are tender.

Stir in beans and simmer until everything is warm. Enjoy!

NOTE: I sometimes let this soup simmer longer, kind of like chili, I find that it doesn't hurt the flavor and things hold up just find. However, adding beans before the last 5-10 min or so will make them more mushy and they'll be more likely to fall apart in the soup.

Really, For the full recipe and great, detailed photos, please visit DamnDelicious

Question time: does your family like soup? what is your favorite soup for fall?