{warm} Roasted Chipotle Black Bean & Corn Salad

This recipe has an awesome smoky taste thanks to the Chipolte chili pepper powder and roasted corn. It makes a nice side dish to any Mexican meal. You could also use this for vegetarian tacos, nachos, or quesadillas.

{warm} Roasted Chipotle Black Bean & Corn Salad

Ingredients:

• 1 can {organic} no salt added black beans, rinsed
• 1 1/2 cups frozen roasted corn (I get mine at Trader Joe's)
• 2 shallots, chopped (you could use a small sweet onion)
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1/2 tsp cumin powder
• 1/4 tsp Chipolte chili powder
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1 Tbps olive oil

Directions:
1) Heat oil in pan to medium heat. Add garlic, onions, and red pepper. Saute until tender.

2) Add cumin, chipolte, salt, corn, and black beans and stir until well blended.

3) Continue to heat until frozen corn is thawed completely.

4) Serve.

NOTE: If you can't find roasted corn at your grocery store you can just use sweet corn instead. If you still want a fire roasted flavor you could opt for jarred fire roasted red peppers(instead of fresh) and omit the olive oil since the peppers will have enough oil on them.

{Slow Cooked} Shredded Mexican Chicken

I am not sure why it has taken me so long to post a recipe for this chicken. I LOVE Mexican food. My only guess is that we always are in a hurry to eat it that I never have time to take a picture.

I love to have a few meals that I can throw  gently toss ingredients into a slow cooker and not worry about it until mealtime.  This recipe is great because there are so many things you can do with the chicken once it's cooked. Quesadillas, Tacos, Nachos, Salads, Soups...ok, you get the point. 

This recipe is designed for little effort. I chose to use an {all natural} fresh salsa to avoid chopping of cilantro, jalapenos, tomatos, etc.

{Slow Cooked} Shredded Mexican Chicken

Ingredients:

• 1lb +- {organic} chicken breast
• 1 medium sweet onion, sliced
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 Tbsp chili powder
• 1 1/2 tsp cumin 
• 1/2 tsp coriander 
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1 cup of {all natural} fresh salsa

Directions:

1)  Add all ingredients to a crockpot. Stir to coat.

2)  Cook on high for 4 hours or low for 6-8. Or until meat separates easily.

3)  Using forks, shred chicken.

NOTE: This recipe is easy to double. If you feel like getting a healthy meal ready at dinner time is difficult, try making double and freezing half for next week. Also, make sure your salsa doesn't have any preservatives and additives.

Star Fruit

I'm always looking for new fruits to try with the kids. The fact this fruit is super cute made me want to try it even more. This one didn't taste as good as it looked (in my opinion). It is hard to describe the flavor. It tastes almost like a green apple. That's probably why I didn't care for it. I don't like sour fruits. Plus, it's much cheaper to buy organic apples than it is to buy star fruit.

Star Fruit

For more info on Star Fruits check out this link: www.fruitsandveggiesmatter.gov

NOTE: After posting this a follower pointed out that if it tastes like an apple then it's not ripe. I will for sure try again and update my findings.

Not Yo' Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup {soup}

There is something about Campbell's chicken noodle soup that my daughter loves. There are many things I hate about it. It was my mission to make a chicken noodle soup that was packed with nutrition and met her criteria. She doesn't like chunks of celery, carrots, onion, etc in her soup. She wants chicken, broth(very little) and noodles.

The sodium in prepackaged foods is appalling.  It's not easy to actually figure how many servings are in a can since there is 10.75 ounces in each can and a serving size is 1/2 cup. I managed to do the math and the original Campbell's chicken noodle soup has 2,290mg a can (and that is what we do, eat the whole can)!!!  It's recommended that a HEALTHY individual gets LESS than 2,300mg of sodium DAILY (the less the better). 1,500mg a day or less if you are over 51, black, have high blood pressure, diabetes, or chronic kidney disease.

And, I know what you may be thinking, there is a lower sodium option. Not to my surprise it comes in at 1,485mg of sodium. Just shy of the TOTAL daily intake for those of you over 51. 

But wait, there's more...There is a Campbell's HEALTHY CHOICE option too. Brace yourself for this people, it contains High Fructose Corn Syrup. I think I missed the memo on HFCS becoming healthy. Also, it has 925 mg of sodium.

This is the one my daughter likes. It comes in at 1,080mg a can.

Ok, now that that is out of the way. I will get to MY recipe. 

Not Yo' Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup {soup}

This soup comes in at 1,240mg of sodium for the WHOLE BATCH! That comes out to roughly 200mg a serving. The best part of it all is: my daughter LOVES it! Finally, success. This soup has carrots, celery, onions, and garlic in it too! No lie. Thanks to my new high speed blender I whipped all of those into a nice broth.  I no longer try to sneak food into my daughter's foods (she's 7), instead I educate her on creative ways to eat foods. With that being said, she was there to push the ON button to the new blender to see all the veggies "disappear". It was cool! (I still try to fool the 3 year old, that boy is picky) He managed to eat a few bites of the soup before eating yogurt. Seriously!

Ingredients:

(Makes approx. 6 large servings)

• 3 {organic} chicken breast,cooked
• 1 Tbps Olive oil
• 1 medium onion, roughly chopped
• 3 celery stalks, roughly chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
• 2 medium carrots, peeled & roughly chopped
• 1 tsp dried parlsey (fresh herbs would be even better)
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 32 oz {low sodium} chicken broth
• 12 oz No Yolks noodles

Directions:

1)  Add olive oil to a hot soup pan. Then add garlic, celery, carrots, and onion.

2) Saute over med/high heat for approx. 5 minutes. Stirring often.

3) Add vegetables to a high speed blender.

4) Add all herbs, salt, and pepper to blender.

5) Add chicken brother to blender.

6) Blend until all ingredients turn into a broth. Set aside.

7) In the same hot soup pan cook No Yolks noodles until done in boiling water. Drain and return to pan.

8)Add prepared broth to the noodles.

9)Pulse the cooked chicken in the blender until desired size is reached. Add to soup.

10) Stir and serve.

NOTE: If you enjoy chunks of vegetables in your soup(like I do), take the time to mince or chop them. Then saute them until fork tender in the pan before adding the broth.

Also, I just cooked my chicken breast in a pan (with a little water) in the oven on 400 until done. Easy Peasy.

Childhood Obesity {It's an epidemic}

Is your child overweight? Were you thin as a child, but now overweight? Sadly, chances are that history will repeat itself through your children. It might take decades, but it will probably happen unless you make changes at home now. You can stop the cycle and get educated on food and get more active. It's really that simple.

Healthy kids are more likely to be healthy adults.

Approximately 17% (or 12.5 million) of children and adolescents aged 2-19 are obese.

Childhood obesity has more than tripled in the past 30 years.

The percentage of children aged 6–11 years in the United States who were obese increased from 7% in 1980 to nearly 20% in 2008. Similarly, the percentage of adolescents aged 12–19 years who were obese increased from 5% to 18% over the same period.

What causes childhood obesity?

Childhood obesity is the result of eating too many calories and not getting enjoy physical activity.

Being a parent holds a huge responsibility. Educating your child about food should not be forgotten or left to the school system to teach. You might be surprised at how little many adults know about what is going into their bodies, let alone children. Does that mean that it wasn't taught to them as a child? Maybe.

Teaching your children at a young age about food, and it's purpose, is key to overall health for decades to come.  The world is full of temptations on every street corner. If they are educated early, they will form healthy habits. Healthy habits that hopefully last a lifetime.

Get your kids involved at mealtime preparing the food. Teach them about where the food comes from. Try new things. Teach them what foods are natural and good for you. What foods are processed. What does processed really mean? Teach them about serving sizes and how to read a label. If they can read, they are old enough to read labels.

Making eating clean fun! 

Plan a pizza making party.

You can try this recipe for dough: Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

This is a great article on the issue: Children's Longevity

To read more about childhood obesity and ways to get involved visit: www.cdc.gov

Mango Tango

I won't even keep boring you with all the reasons you should stop drinking regular or diet soda.  You can just visit my old post Diet Coke {rehab} and read it again. And again. Until you have decided it's time. 

It's been well over a year since I have quit Diet Coke (ok, 17 months to be exact).  My husband still continued to drink the dreaded chemical cocktail this whole time. I truly believe you can't make a person want to change. They have to want it at their own time. You can give information and support, but not willpower.

I stopped buying Diet Coke months into the detox for him. If he wanted it, he would have to go buy it himself and make that decision. I wasn't supporting that habit any longer. Weeks turned into months, and he kept justifying his DC habit by saying things like "I don't do meth or other drugs, this is my 'thing' " (which I still get a good laugh at) and "I drink plenty of water to make up for the DC I drink, it's fine." We all make excuses.

I could tell he has been thinking about it lately. It was like he knowingly  wanted to say goodbye to an old friend but wasn't sure what day that friend would leave. (yes, I am still talking about Diet Coke here)  Well, he decided on December 31st that he was going to say goodbye to that old friend. He is not far into his detox but I am going to share his journey with you all. And support him along the way. He has made many comments about how he doesn't have sugar cravings like he used too. It's amazing.

It's VERY hard to get off of aspartame and the habit of drinking soda daily. He's lucky in the fact that we don't have any other aspartame in the house at this point. It's in many products including flavored waters, coffee creamers, and many sugar-free foods.

It's smart to have an action plan. Plan other things that are {clean} to drink before you decide to stop.  And if you are used to the caffeine you will need to plan to get your caffeine in other forms or you will CRASH. My husband missed the carbonation day one. So we set out on a journey to get educated on the {clean} options for him to drink. I have many to blog about and will get to that soon. I promise.

Here's an option that tastes great and gives him the fizz he misses. Plus, this is something my kids LOVE and think it's cool to make their own fizzy cocktail. Keep in mind it still contains around 15g of sugar per 12 ounces, but that is 1/3 less than a 12 ounce can of regular soda. This exact one contains 65 calories.

Mango Tango

Ingredients:

• 8 ounces of Sparkling Orange Water {all natural} (we used Poland Spring )
• 4 ounces of Orange Mango {100% juice} (we used 365 brand at Whole Foods)
• Ice

Stir ingredients together. I recommend, if you have the time, to let the juice and the water chill in the refrigerator before making one so it doesn't get watered down with melted ice.  You can always add more juice and less water but this keeps the sugar amount down.

Overall Cost for this method:

Juice: $2.69

Water: $1..00

Total: $3.69

It will make 5 -12 ounce drinks. Cost is approx .80 a serving. However, I know I can find larger containers of 100% for the same price. This would bring my overall cost down.

NOTE:  I am not recommending you drink more than one of these a day. Dumping one bad habit and picking up another is not the {clean eating} way.  However, this is a great "treat" beverage without the caffeine, aspartame, or huge amounts of sugar in sodas. 

{cleaned up} Beer Battered Tilapia

From time to time I crave Fish and Chips. My recipe is a {cleaned up} version of the deep fried classic. It has added protein with the wheat flour and almond meal in the batter. And most importantly, it satisfies my craving.

{cleaned up} Beer Battered Tilapia

Ingredients:

• 1 cup whole wheat flour (plus extra for coating)
• 1 cup almond meal
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 (12 oz) bottle of beer
• 6 tilapia fillets (or fish of your choosing)
• olive oil

Directions:

1) In a large shallow bowl add a small amount flour and toss tilapia fillets in flour to coat and set aside.

2) Add flour, almond meal, sea salt, pepper, garlic powder, and beer to bowl and whisk until combined. (it should be the consistency of pancake batter)

3) Add approx 3 Tbps of olive oil to skillet and heat to Med-High heat.

4) Dredge fillets in batter (coating it evenly) and add 2-3 fillets to hot skillet. You don't want to over crowd the skillet.

5) Cook on each side approx 2-3 minutes.

6) Remove from skillet and repeat the steps until all fillets are cooked.

Serve it along side these Garlic Herb Fries and you have a {cleaned up} version of Fish and Chips. Now, don't forget to serve some veggies too! YUM!

NOTE: Feel free to spice up the batter by adding chili powder or paprika.