Banana Berry Bliss (sounds Jamba-ish, yeah?)

Recipe Status: Mmmmmm!!!!!! It's a keeper!
Song: Good Pain - Live

3/4 cup orange juice
1/3 cup pineapple juice
1 cup frozen blueberries
4-5 whole frozen strawberries
1 banana
1/2 cup yogurt (plain or vanilla, both are good.)

Blend. Drink. Enjoy.

To make it more Jamba-ish, add a cup of ice cubes too.
I made it with raspberries instead of strawberries, and it's not as good. Next time I'll try peaches. :)

Brazilian Lemonade-ish drink.

Recipe Status: Much better than Tucano's Brazilian Lemonade, which is actually made with limes, and much less expensive too! It's like a Pina-colada, but with lime instead. Yummy!!!

Song: They - Jem

Limeade

Cream of coconut

Ice

In a blender, pack 3/4 full with ice. Pour in enough limeade to fill to the top of the ice. Add about a third of the can of the cream of coconut. Blend. That's it! 

General Tso's Chicken

Recipe status: Very time consuming, a bit messy, but worth every bit of it.

Song: Jewel - Cranes

Sauce: 

1/2 cup cornstarch

1/4 cup water

1 1/2 tsp minced fresh garlic

1 1/2 tsp minced fresh ginger

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup vinegar

1/4 cup cooking wine

1 can chicken broth

Place all ingredients into a quart jar with a lid, shake it up and put it in the fridge. Just shake it up again when you are ready to use it.

Meat:

3 pounds chicken breasts cut into 1 inch-ish chunks. 

1/4 cup soy sauce

1 egg, beaten

1 cup cornstarch

2 cups sliced green onions

8 small dried hot peppers, seeds removed. 

*Do NOT touch your face, especially your eye after touching these peppers... Trust me!

Wash your hands reeeeeally good after touching the peppers.

Mix chicken, soy sauce & peppers. Stir in egg. Add cornstarch, and mix until chicken pieces are coated. (It will look awful at this point.) Deep fry chicken pieces a few at a time until they are crispy. Drain on paper towels.  Repeat until all chunks are fried. Reserve the peppers for the next step.

Place a small amount of oil in a wok. Add onions & peppers, and stir fry for about 30 seconds. Shake up sauce mixture and add to wok. Cook until thick, you'll want a sweet & sour sauce like consistency. Add water if it gets too thick. Add chicken to sauce in wok and cook until heated through, and is bubbly. 

Serve over steamed rice. This does not reheat well, so eat it all up! :)

Mmmm, Thai carrots go really good as a side dish.

Thai Carrots

Recipe Status: Amazing! Good flavor, but not spicy.

Song: Out of my Mind - Duran Duran

2 T butter

1 1/2 tsp minced fresh ginger

1 garlic clove minced

1 tsp curry powder

1/4 cup chicken broth

1 T mango chutney

1 pound baby carrots

Salt & Pepper

3 T chopped fresh cilantro (As a garnish, optional.)

Melt butter in a pot/skillet over medium heat. Add ginger & garlic, saute for 30 seconds. Stir in curry powder, chicken broth & mango chutney. Add carrots and stir to combine. Cover and simmer until carrots are tender and coated in sauce. Season with salt & pepper if desired.

*Not all stores have Mango Chutney, it is usually carried in the Asian section if they do have it.

Authentic Mexican Flan

Recipe status: This is a recipe that my mom was taught over 50 years ago while serving a Spanish Speaking Mission. It is easier to make than I thought.

Song: Southern Lands - Cetu Javu

1 1/2 cups sugar, divided

8 eggs (3 whole, 5 yolks. Save the 5 egg whites for omelets?)

2 cans evaporated milk (has to be Carnation brand)

1/2 tsp vanilla

Dish towel, or cheesecloth

In a 9 inch round cake pan, caramelize 1/2 cup sugar over medium heat. Once completely melted, turn the pan around and around to coat the bottom and sides with the sugar. Set aside to cool. 

In a medium bowl, combine 3 eggs, 5 egg yolks, vanilla & both cans of evaporated milk. While beating, slowly add 1 cup sugar until completely blended. Once blended, pour into cake pan through the cheesecloth to make it completely smooth. Place the cake pan in a larger casserole dish and fill with an inch of water. Bake @ 350 for about an hour. Flan is done when knife comes out clean. Texture will be soft, custardy. Place a larger plate with raised edges over the cake pan and flip to release the flan onto the plate. Let cool, although it is good warm.

Strawberry Field Marshall Smoothie

*Taken from "The Abs Diet for Women" book*

Add to blender:
All natural low-fat vanilla yogurt
Low-fat/no-fat skim milk
2 spoonfuls all natural peanut butter
Frozen Strawberries
Whey protein powder
Crushed ice cubes

Blend and enjoy!
Really yummy and very filling.

Guilt Free BLT Wrap

I LOVE BLT's. So when I saw this variation, I knew I had to try it.

1 Whole Grain or 100% Whole Wheat Tortilla
2-3 strips of Turkey Bacon (after cooking wrap up in paper towel to soak up the extra oil)
Romain Lettuce
Slicing Tomato
Fat free or Light Mayonnaise

Pretty self explanatory, just cook up the bacon and add all the ingredients in the wrap with just a skiff of mayo.


This was my lunch today. I ate a few of the veggies on the side so I could actually get to the wrap, but by the time I was done with it, I was so full I couldn't eat anything else.

A very satisfied Lori-ann...

Blueberry Oatmeal Smoothie

Smoothies are great! They make terrific breakfasts or anytime snacks. They are perfect if you're having a sweet craving because they're very satisfying and if you make them healthy, they won't expand your waistline. I'm going to be posting a lot of different smoothie recipes.

I don't measure out my ingredients. I just fill the blender about 3/4 of the way full, maybe a little bit lower. As it blends, it expands and will fill up to the top. After having a glass, I put the rest in a container and freeze for later. To reheat, microwave for a few minutes on a low power setting, stirring occasionally.

I tried this smoothie yesterday, and it was soooooo yummy.

Blueberry Oatmeal Smoothie:
Combine in blender:
Frozen blueberries
Fat free milk
1 or 2 plain instant oatmeal packets, nuked in water (I'm sure regular rolled oats would work too)
1 scoop why protein powder
crushed ice

Blend until desired consistency.

Healthy Sausage Egg McMuffins

These are very quick and easy and taste wonderful! It's better than going through the drive through, in my opinion, and is SO much healthier.

One egg, well beaten
1 turkey sausage patty or 1 slice of Canadian Bacon (precooked)
1 whole wheat English Muffin, toasted and plain.

Cook egg without stirring. Have it cook flat and then flip it, kind of like a tortilla. While the egg is cooking, toast the English Muffin but do not butter it. Once the egg is done, fold it up and place on the English Muffin. Heat up the sausage or Canadian Bacon for a couple of minutes in the same pan the eggs were cooked in. Place on top of the eggs, put the top on the English Muffin, and bite into it. Chew. Try it again. Chew. You know you like it!

With the Turkey Sausage:

With the Canadian Bacon:

Puff Pancake

1/2 Tbp real butter
6 eggs
1 cup milk
1 cup flour (I do 3/4 whole wheat, 1/4 all purpose)
1/2 tsp salt

Melt butter in microwave and pour into a 9x13 casserole dish. Put dish in oven while preheating to 375. Mix eggs and milk in a medium bowl. Sift flour and salt in small bowl. Combine flour mixture in with eggs and milk. Take casserole dish out of oven and make sure the melted butter is coating the bottom of the whole dish. Pour batter into pan and cook for 22-25 minutes, or until golden brown and "puffy." The more all-purpose flour you use, the higher it will puff up. It will deflate after it cools down.

Serve by itself, with maple syrup, or a little bit of powdered sugar. (The last two are for my kids.) It's portable and a quick fix for a rushed morning.

Broccoli Chicken Pitas

Hi, it's Lori-ann. I haven't contributed to this blog at all, but that's going to change. We're working on writing down all of our recipes and I figured as I make them, I might as well take a picture and post it on the blog! I normally cook very healthy and alter recipes to make them as such. So here we go!!!

Recipe: Broccoli Chicken Pitas



Combine:
Cubed, cut chicken breasts
Steamed broccoli
Fresh or 1 can mushrooms (I steamed the mushrooms with the broccoli, placing them on top so they didn't get too squishy)
Alfredo sauce from a packet or homemade white sauce (slightly coated)

Serve in a pita pocket. To make it even healthier, try it in a whole wheat pita. I couldn't find any for this meal, so the picture is not of a whole wheat pita.

Homemade white/Alfredo sauce:
2 Tbs real butter (normally I tend to not use this much butter)
2 Tbs. all-purpose flour
1\4 tsp salt
dash black pepper
1 1/2 cups milk (sometimes I do half of the milk skim milk and the other half 2%)
minced garlic
grated Parmesan and mozzarella cheese

Melt butter in pan with about 1 tsp or so of freshly minced garlic. Add flour,salt, and pepper making a roux so it mixes evenly. Stir in milk. Cook and stir over medium heat until it's thick and bubbly. Add a few pinches of both kinds of cheese.

You can also make the sauce without the garlic or cheese. That is just a plain white sauce.

If you use this sauce sparingly, then you will have leftovers for other meals. Freeze it or plan other meals that use the same sauce. It goes great on thin crust Chicken and Tomato pizza and Chicken Enchiladas.