Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Quick Ideas

I thought this would be a fun way to share out some of my recipe ideas.  Be forewarned, I don't measure, so this is a bit of this and a bit of that, but it comes together nicely.

First, fresh fruits and vegetables are great, but if you can't get to the grocer all of the time, I find that the frozen variety are awesome as well.  Make sure that you check the ingredients and if it is frozen blueberries, all the ingredients say is "blueberries".  Etc....

So, I like to take a couple of handfuls of frozen berries, a package of chopped frozen spinach and some almond milk and toss it all in the blender.  I have one of those Ninja bar blenders and it works great.  Using the frozen stuff eliminates the need for ice and gives you a very rich, full bodied shake.  You can use protein powder rather than the almond milk, but then you will also want some water in there.  That nasty fiber junk in the cleansing kit gets lost in there as well!  It's awesome.

Another thing I like to do is use my crock pot. I hear Ben and I have this in common.  I love a good bolonaise sauce even though I can't spell it.  Here there is nothing frozen and nothing canned.  Fresh fresh fresh is the key.  Brown up some ground venison (or other grass fed fresh meat).  Take a bunch of tomatoes and cut the ends off of them.  Chop up some onions, green peppers and whatever else you like to put in sauce.  Then for herbs I use fresh oregano and sage.  I cut the tomatoes in half and wring them out (just squeeze them so that all of that pulp and water comes out, I save that to toss in when I need to thin out the morning smoothy).  Throw the wrung out tomatoes in the blender with the oregano and sage and whirr it.  Then dump everything into the crock pot for six hours on low.  It's awesome over a tiny bit of angel hair pasta, alone or stir fried with macaroni as American Chop Suey.  It's also great over a bit of rice if you prefer.

Last one for today.  Need a cracker fix?  Take a cookie sheet and spray it with cooking spray (Pam or something like that).  Then take some shredded (not powdered) fresh romano or parm cheese and spread it all over the cookie sheet about 1/8" thick at most.  Then put the sheet in the oven at 425 and cook until slightly brown.  Take out, let cool then break apart and enjoy.  They taste like cheese nips, have no carbs, and are salty without the salt.  Great snack or salad topper.  Watch that oven because they cook fast.

Cheers for your eating enjoyment!

Hillary