Small Changes make for some big changes in your life…a collection of some of my favorite “healthy” recipes

In my world there is an unwritten rule that you come when your friends need. So after I picked myself up off the floor and quick laughing after a great friend texted that bread “It’s the friend that likes to get you in trouble and lead you astray!” which kinda sounds a lot like me. Well only when my friends are under a strict no buying rule and I drag them to warehouse sales and other random junk type sales. So she mentioned that she needed to get healthy and I thought oh let me make a list of my favorite things I would like to text her; it's a lot to text so now she gets an entire post! I am not the authority on healthy eating because I am far from skinny, but I do make a concerted effort on most days to keep the preservatives and junk food out of both my own and my family’s diet. I have found that small changes in our food has allowed my son to get from and entire shelf of medication to just a single medication each day. I am far from perfect and will take the easy route if there isn't a fall back plan when life gets rough which means processed food and a backsliding effect or cereal; just because I can eat yellow box cheerios and bananas everyday doesn't mean this is a healthy choice or something my family could stand. So long story short these are some of my favorite go to recipes that keep me from backsliding too often. I apologize in advance for some not so great photos that I took with my iphone, but I wanted to share a lot of recipes at once and already had these photos for my own use, well maybe a lot are from Instagram.

 

My favorite quick breakfast food:

No Cook Oatmeal

½ cup quick oats

1 tablespoon chia seeds

1 tablespoon brown sugar


¾ cup milk

 

Put everything into a glass jar or microwave safe container (if you want it hot) and shake until well mixed and put in refrigerator overnight. In the morning microwave for 30-60 seconds for children and 90 seconds for adults. My secret is I make up a bunch of jars with the oats, chia seeds, and brown sugar in advance then add the milk and any add ins at night.

 

You can make this Cinnamon Apple Oatmeal by adding 1 teaspoon cinnamon, ½ teaspoon nutmeg, ½ medium apple cut into chunks.

We also like to add a handful of blueberries or a few fresh strawberries before putting it in the refrigerator.

You can see on the right that there are 5 whole strawberries in the larger jar and none in the smaller. This image is from early on in our kitchen overhaul and you can see how much processed foods I had in my fridge at the time this photo was taken. Remember small changes!

 

My favorite Smoothie:

Adapted from this green smoothie recipe.

Tropical Green Smoothie



1 cup coconut milk
1/2 to 1 cup of yogurt vanilla or plain (I like to use homemade greek yogurt as its thicker and less sugar but any vanilla variety greek or regular is still really good)
3/4 cup pineapple (this works out to 1/2 can of cubed pineapple so I eyball it)
1-2 fresh or frozen bananas (I buy the ones that are reduced then peel them and freeze them)
2 cups spinach
2 tbsp sweetened coconut
2 cups ice
1 tbsp chia seeds (only if fiber has been an issue)

 

 

After several trials with coconut milk we have come to rest on our favorite brand is So Delicious (certified organic); some of the others we have tried are super sweet which the kids love but I just don’t like the sticky sweet smell. Word to the wise put the ingredients in this order in a traditional blender and opposite order in a magic bullet type blender or its difficult to get it blended well!

 

What I do is pour ½ into a glass, then split the other half into glasses for my kids when we are pairing this with a protein source, typically nut butter on some type of whole wheat bread (not the kind you buy in the store but the kind where you see real nuts and grain pieces in it). If I am using this as a meal, I don’t share but drink it all myself.

 

You do get bonus points for drinking this out of a jar using a fun straw which just makes the day oh so much better. No this wasn't Easter time, but I love the bunny straw so much. Don't judge my massive collection of books in the background this is where the magic happens!


 

Our favorite indulgent snack mix:

You know I prefer to make my own cereal, but there are a few varieties that I buy just because they are yummy and I like them…..yellow box cheerios and bananas are calling my name....YUM!

Tyler’s favorite...Sweet & Salty Trail Mix

2 cups rice chex
2 cups peanut butter cheerios
1 cup banana chips

1 cup dried pineapple (I cut these into small pieces before measuring)
1 bag pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup sunflower kernels (optional we don’t always add these and it’s just as yummy)

Mix everything together in a large bowl. I then bag this into 1/4 cup snack size baggies as its super easy to over eat this!

 

 

My favorite Chicken Salad:

 

I literally threw this together in my kitchen while looking for an alternative to salad dressing because my daughter loves to drown her leafy greens in ranch dressing.
1 16 oz can chicken breast (I also like to use shredded chicken that I have made, it’s about 1 ½ cups chicken)

2 ribs celery, chopped

1 small fuji apple, chopped
3 stalks of dill, chopped
¼ cup greek yogurt, start with vanilla while you get use to it then switch to plain

Mix everything together and put on top of a large bowl of greens and you will think you are having dessert first when the apples and yogurt flavors co-mingle. You can also use this in a wrap for a great lunchbox treat.

 

This is super easy to vary if you are out of something or have something that is getting to the end of its usability. Remember that it's better to use it than throw it away.

 

I actually made this for dinner tonight using Chobani vanilla yogurt and even my veggie resistant daughter ate it without any griping and even packed some up for her lunch tomorrow. I call that a win!

 

My favorite Salad:

This is a tossup between a couple so I will give you both, neither of which have a catchy name but are high in the flavor department. 

The first I am not sure is actually a salad and is an adaptation from one of my main source for juicing inspiration when I began. The original can be found here.

 

Black Bean Salad





1-2 cups mixed greens (I like this at the office and will use the bagged salad variety that is typically kicking around the office fridge)

1 serving of refried black beans (check your can and be sure you stop at 1 serving)
1 serving of canned or frozen sweet corn (check to make sure you limit yourself to 1 serving and there is no added sugar. Yes I did say no added sugar, trust me it’s there more often than its not)
1 tablespoon shredded cheese (optional but I almost always opt YES)
2 tablespoons salsa


In this the only thing that I have to heat up is the refried beans, the rest I like cold. The mix of warm and cold makes this seem like it’s not a salad.

Strawberry Salad

1-2 cups mixed greens (I like this at the office and will use the bagged salad variety that is typically kicking around the office fridge, see the theme here)

4 ripe strawberries sliced
1 tablespoon shredded cheese (optional but I almost always opt YES)
2 tablespoons poppy seed dressing

I layer the salad, cheese, strawberries, then drizzle the dressing on top in this order everytime…it is an obsession.

 

 

Remember small changes!



For printable recipes click on the name below:

No Cook Oatmeal
Tropical Green Smoothie
Sweet & Salty Trail Mix
Healthy Chicken Salad
Black Bean Salad
Strawberry Salad

Tax time is downright miserable….unless it’s also snack time

Well I am usually one of the first people in the country to file, as in the day I receive my W-2 I will get everything together and file. This year I was not nearly as organized and may have procrastinated beyond belief. This is partially due to my complete obsession with comparing itemizing with the standard deduction and my desk may have eaten my W-2 form…well I will say it was my desk. If you follow me on Instagram you saw my not so organized mess of a desk after it threw up all over the place.

Just in case you were wondering I did go the itemized route, but that is probably because after a nasty jaw bone infection, root canal, numerous trips to the doctor for said infection my daughter pushed the itemization up over the top!

Now to get onto the creation of one of my all time favorite healthy as long as you don’t eat the entire jar snack. Yes I have been known to eat straight from the jar and possibly the entire jar while mindlessly munching away at my desk. This also stores really well canned…you knew I would say it, as I hate making small batches of anything just to have to remake it a few weeks later. The suspense is killing you I know…my favorite healthy snack food is granola. I urge you to not overeat this like I frequently do. Seriously I add it to yogurt, sprinkle it on top of fresh fruit especially sliced strawberries, and even throw a little into my oatmeal for some extra crunch, because who doesn’t like a little crunch to break up their oatmeal monotomy.

This is not my original idea, because I am from the era that only beef stew is made in a crock, and only veggies were canned. Then I began the journey of making and canning all sorts of things to extend the time I can store them. I may need a pintervention as I am addicted to it, but here is the pin that started the granola making journey. While your there feel free to follow me, I will keep the pins coming because one of my favorite insomnia induced addictions is pinning food and watching workout videos from the fitness boards. You would think I would be motivated to actually exercise but nah I would much rather lay in bed and watch the workout videos on my phone. This does count as working out!

I do love the recipe from the pin as well as the blog that it came from that you can visit here. Please don’t get too hung up on making this recipe perfect if you choose to tackle it because when I first started making granola I sure did feel like the world might stop turning if it wasn’t perfect, but blah-o was what I had because every bite I thought man I wish there were more….until I found a combination that I loved and I perfected a way to store it really well. I tweaked but didn’t change the recipe much as the original is pretty great in my family’s book.

So I am going to begin with some things that I learned along the way that will make your life easier when making granola in the crock. First begin with the largest crock you have, I use a 7 quart oval one; you can use the round 4 quart as well. I choose the larger because I am messy and will have stuff everywhere; the puppies love this but I also have trouble stirring in the round one and end up burning the edges. There is nothing worse than burnt coconut, the smell the taste, even the look will make you want to hurl. Leaving the lid cracked means allowing all the moisture to escape. In the oval crock I give the lid a quarter turn, in the round one I will prop up the lid with my wooden spoon. When cooking granola if it doesn’t smell really great, add more moisture and spices right away or else you will have ho hum granola. Lastly do not use the nut chips made for cookies like I did when making this for this very write up (pretend the pics have real nuts pieces for me); this sounds like it would be a great idea but when you eat it you will think did the kids pick out all the nuts. This will also make the granola really dense in the jar which is causing me settlement issues, which means large chunks of granola. Not fun at all! I am thinking I will scrap the lot by using it as a base for granola bars, but haven’t decided what binder will go well with this taste.

 

Now that we have run down my list of screw ups let’s dig into making granola in the crock! Gather your crock, big ole spoon, and ingredients.

In case you have been living under a rock here is my crock. I don't promote any certain brand, but do promote getting one that will last as spending less today and then having to replace it in a short time is not my idea of being responsible with the money that I have worked hard to earn.  You can see that I also am double crockin; the baby in the back is so cute but doesn't hold much if you have a family.

 

 

Homemade Cinnamon Pecan Granola

 

5 cups of oats (old fashioned ones, not quick or steel cut)

1 ½ cups pecans (rough chopped)

1 ½ cups coconut sometimes 2 cups if I am in the mood to walk on the wild side

2 tablespoons cinnamon

1 tablespoon vanilla

¾ cup coconut oil

¾ cup honey

 

 

Measure and dump the oatmeal, pecans, and coconut in the largest crock that you have or the one you have chosen to use. Be sure to mix everything up really well before adding the coconut oil and honey.

 

 

Because I am all about easy, measure the coconut oil out in a 2 cup glass measuring cup and then put the honey right on top until you get 1 ½ cups combined. Then just pop this into the microwave for 10 second intervals until the coconut oil melted and the honey is thinned. Pour this over the granola and add the cinnamon and vanilla and mix really well.

 

 

Turn the crock on medium to low. If your crock is like mine you have 4, 6, 8 and 10 hour options. I like to use the 10 hour setting and be certain to stir every 30 minutes; I am prone to burning everything. This setting only requires 3 hours 30 minutes in my crock to cook. Be sure to leave the lid ajar to allow the steam to escape. You will know it’s done when there is no more moisture and the coconut is crispy. The crispy coconut is my favorite part of this granola.

 



 

If you plan on making several batches for storage, I find

 that writing the date made on the lid in black marker

works really well.

I leave the granola in the crock to cool 30 minutes and stir every 10 minutes to ensure it all cools evenly and thoroughly. I then jar this up into 3 sterilized quart sized jars and seal them. At this point I have to resist the urge to push the center of the lid to seal it….ok I may have just run over and pushed one but just one. As long as the jar is sealed this granola will last several months in the pantry as long as you keep it hidden from your family.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

I know everyone has a preference on how to eat granola, but my favorite has to be on either yogurt or fresh strawberries.

 

 

 

 

 

For printable recipe click here.

 

Cranberry Walnut Cereal

As a Mom with a full time job a quick breakfast in the morning is a must, this has been refrigerator oatmeal for months and the kids (well me too) are tired of oatmeal. So cereal has become our best friend for right now, but finding cereal that has a low sugar content to keep my sugar sensitive hyperactive son on his best behavior throughout the day is very difficult and if you do find some that doesn't taste like you are eating cardboard the price may kill you anyway. If you have seen my son on a sugar high you would understand this is to preserve my sanity and keep his teachers from giving up on teaching. I have also made a real effort to reduce the number of preservatives in the food that we eat on a daily basis as I believe preservatives are not helping the hyperactivity. I stumbled on this link for a Healthy Cereal from a juicing website that has some great tips for a healthy lifestyle, my disclaimer so to speak is they do not know who I am or even that I was inspired by their recipe to make my own cereal. Yes, we do incorporate juicing and smoothies into our everyday diet especially when its 100+ degrees during the summer months; the flip side is I work closely with both my own and my kids doctors who believe in a healthy balanced diet as a lifestyle not something you do for a few months then go back to the fast food. I encourage everyone to talk to their doctor, if you don't feel comfortable talking to your doctor find a nutritionist to work prior to making any lifestyle or diet changes.

Just a little teaser to get you in the mood for breakfast. Trust
me this is really amazing and will keep you from snacking all
morning long, or is that just me that snacks all morning long.

I was rummaging around my kitchen looking for ways to change up the recipe and to ensure my kids will not only eat the cereal, but love it. So I ran across some dried cranberries that were left over from making chocolate cranberry oatmeal. I measured out the 1 cup of nuts in my inspiration recipe and looked at it and thought this will not last very long at all and I need it last more than 1 day, so the recipe below was born. The serving size here is only a 1/2 cup. What how is that suppose to fill me up you say, trust me this is extremely filling and has no extra fillers that we have become accustomed to allowing us to fill the cereal bowl to the top. I came up with the serving size basically by going through a lot of this trying to gauge how much is a reasonable without being too much. For me this is a little closer to 1/4 cup, but ultimately I went with the 1/2 cup size that is also a single serving of oatmeal. When I first began making this and filled the bowl up then added milk it didn't take long before I thought what have I done there is no way I can finish this. Well I didn't finish it and the dogs got an extra treat in their bowls. I know they shouldn't eat people food so shhh don't tell anyone.

I use my fingers to spread the coconut oil, the bonus here is
that coconut oil is a super moisturizer for dry skin.

Since this is something that is very new to so many people, I am going to provide a lot of photos to ensure that you are successful your first time around. Plus when this is burnt it will stink terribly and I don't wish that on anyone.

Use a glass oven safe pan and rub coconut oil on the bottom to prevent the cereal from sticking during cooking. This doesn't need to be a lot at all. I put just enough on the pan to cover the bottom.
I do this first because I tend to forget and then have to scrub and scrape, which I hate!

Please note that I do not endorse any particular brands, this is
just what is readily available in my area and therefore on hand
in my pantry. The jar is honey from a local apiary, support
your local farms and farmers when you can.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Coconut Oil
1/2 cup Honey (I encourage you to try local honey)
2 cups Walnuts
2 cups Oatmeal (old fashioned not quick oats)
2 cups coconut (I encourage you to go unsweetened if you can find it, I cannot find it so I use sweetened)
1 cup dried cranberries
2 tbsp cinnamon

I always buy the walnut halves and pieces as they are a little less expensive that the already chopped ones. I also like to control the size of the pieces so I choose to give them a rough chop with my favorite santoku knife.

I am sure if you are skilled using a single serve blender you can chop the nuts in one of those. I prefer not to use that method as the nuts get a little too pulverized for my likes, and I may be a control freak.




I also like to vary the size of the nuts between pieces size and larger almost half size. I like the variation and the texture that it gives the final cereal, but this is only my preference and can be changed to your preference. After the nuts are rough chopped I measure out 2 cups, this can be close enough if you chop a few too many nuts. After the nuts are chopped and measure out I dump them in the glass pan as that is where I everything up.

I also like to rough chop the cranberries as the size of these vary greatly out of the bag. I try to cut most of them at least in half. These are pretty sticky so they will stick to your knife. These also tend to get chewy during cooking which doesn't bother me but I am sure it would if they were left whole. If you cut a few too many, go ahead and throw them in the mix; this will not make a difference you will just have more fruit, which isn't a bad thing at all.




After I have the cranberries measured out, I just add them to the walnuts in the pan. I love the color of the cranberries against the walnuts, so had to share that here. As you can see my pan sits directly on the right side of my cutting board so this process goes very quickly.

Because I use a ton of oatmeal, I guess I really love oatmeal, I don't even bother to remove it from the cardboard package although I know I should. If you have ever tried to pour from those containers, you know that it makes a huge mess as it will not pour evenly. I know the inner seal has a pour spout but I almost immediately rip that off as soon as I get it home. So after months of pouring getting oatmeal all over my kitchen, I finally broke down and bought a funnel.




Yes, I who thinks funnels are for sissies and just a way to get us to part with more of our hard earned dollars bought a funnel. Let me tell you that was the best 2 bucks I spent. Just remember I won't tell anyone if you choose to buy a sissy funnel too, just wear dark sunglasses and a hat when you buy it and no one will ever know.








So after getting the 2 cups of oatmeal measured out I just dump it into the glass pan with the walnuts and cranberries. As you can see I am pretty methodical about dumping the ingredients into the pan. I just love the mix of colors as the ingredients are layered into the pan.

The coconut, I typically am not extra generous with, but I do try to get it to be close to 2 cups. This gives an overall sweetness to the cereal and I want the sugar to be kept pretty low. If you have been lucky enough to find unsweetened coconut, I will be jealous, but feel free to walk on the wild side and add an extra handful or two.










If you only read this caption, you must resist the urge to stop
here and eat it all. I had to take a picture for you before I
started munching away!

I literally then dump the coconut into the pan with the walnuts, cranberries, and oatmeal. This looks so amazing to me, I also am very tempted to just grab a handful and start munching away. Must resist the urge!











This is the fun part, carefully mix the Walnuts, Cranberries, Oatmeal and Coconut until it is all well mixed. I like to use a wooden spoon here, but I am sure metal or plastic will work just as well. At this point I also look for pieces of Cranberry or Coconut that have stuck together, if you have any just break them apart or consider it your bonus for working so hard.

This is the fun part, carefully mix the Walnuts, Cranberries, Oatmeal and Coconut until it is all well mixed. I like to use a wooden spoon here, but I am sure metal or plastic will work just as well. At this point I also look for pieces of Cranberry or Coconut that have stuck together, if you have any just break them apart or consider it your bonus for working so hard.

 

Once this is all mixed up get ready for the sticky part.I always use a 2 cup glass measuring cup as coconut oil is somewhat messy. Do the best that you can and scoop out 1/2 cup coconut oil and press it into the bottom of your measuring cup. Don't worry if it isn't perfect, you can see mine is far from perfect but is pretty close to 1/2 cup.

Note: If you like crunchier cereal you can double the coconut oil and honey and cook 60 minutes. When you remove the cereal from the oven be sure to lay it out on paper towel lined cookie sheets to allow any excess oils to be absorbed by the paper towels before transferring it to the jars.

Next I just add 1/2 cup of honey right on top of the coconut oil in the glass measuring cup. This was I can microwave it right in the measuring cup and have one less bowl to clean up.

Because I don't want to have to clean up my microwave after any type of sticky explosion, I accidentally put marshmallows in the microwave for a minute and they grew out of the measuring cup and basically filled the entire microwave with sticky white fluff. That being said the clean up was a nightmare. So now my rule is use extreme caution and only microwave in 10 second intervals when there the potential for sticky things to explode.

In my microwave after 20 seconds this is how the coconut oil and honey look. At this point instead of risking my afternoon to clean up a huge mess, I just stir the coconut oil and honey until the remaining pieces are fully melted. This won't take long at all, if the pieces are being resistant or just taking too long to melt I will smash them on the side of the measuring cup and then they melt pretty quickly.

After the coconut oil and honey are melted, they will stay separate in the measuring cup so don't worry about that. I give them a quick stir and then pour it over the cereal the best that I can. I then mix everything together until the walnuts, cranberries, oatmeal, and coconut are all covered in the melted coconut oil and honey mixture. Bake this for 30-45 minutes stirring every 10 minutes until the liquid is all evaporated.

After it's all mixed up I like to add the cinnamon on top by sprinkling it all across the mixture. You could completely do this before mixing, but I just prefer to add it afterward. You will want to make sure that as many of the pieces are covered in cinnamon much like the picture.



I set the timer for 10 minute intervals so I don't forget about stirring the cereal. To stir I basically push everything to one end of the pan and then pull back to the other end making sure the top is rotated to the bottom, then I spread it back out. 

After the 20 minute mark, the smell is beginning to spread throughout the house and it takes a ton of willpower to not snack on a few pieces, trust me if you can hold out the cereal is completely worth it.



 

After 30 minutes,  there was still quite a bit of liquid on the bottom of the pan, so I set the timer for another 5 minutes. After the 30 minute mark I always set the timer for 5 minute intervals because burnt nuts and coconut does not smell all that great. I also snagged a little bite for me..shh...I ate it without taking a picture so I will deny it, and it's just as amazing as can be.  When all the liquid is crystallized and the cereal is golden brown, I remove it from the oven. I let the cereal cool enough to make sure when I transfer it to jars condensation doesn't collect. While the cereal is cooling I make certain to continue to stir every few minutes to keep from having a single huge chunk of cereal.

Because I was also baking pound cake I was having a terrible time getting the cereal to cool so I transferred it to a cookie sheet for about 5 minutes and that did the trick. You know when the cereal is cool enough to jar up when it's no longer hot to the touch (warm is perfect to jar up, but hot will condensate and cause you trouble) and the cereal has gone from soft to crunchy.

You can see my canning jars are ready as I am getting ready to jar this up as I intend to save the cereal while we finish up some Raisin Almond that was not as successful the first go round.

Even if you don't intend to store your cereal I encourage you to use jars, they are always easily washable, have no chemicals, and will not melt if they get put on the bottom rack of the dishwasher. You can also get the plastic screw on lids, I bought my plastic lids on amazon here and they are pretty inexpensive, but considered an add on item. How I got around that was grouping all my add on items together into a single order, which worked out great. I love to get a box of random stuff, especially when they are all my favorite items.

Definitely take a whirl at trying to get your jar to seal, as this will take some practice; I will admit I am terrible at canning and may not always do things that a true canner would do. I do encourage you to make sure that the jars and lids are appropriately sterilized, I use the high heat setting on my dishwasher which is almost always filled with jars. If your mother is like mine she has said you cannot reuse lids, but as long as there are no knicks or rust I will reuse them and know that it's a 50/50 chance of not sealing but I walk on the wild side and take the risk.

While the cereal is still warm in the jar, I place the lid and ring onto the jar. Much like canning the cooling process will seal the jar; the shelf life is really undetermined because what my kids don't eat within a few weeks my mother will sneak out of my house to put on top of her yogurt.Today one of the quart jars sealed almost immediately, the other didn't and I happened to be cooking in the crock and moved the unsealed jar over next to the crock to see if the heat would coax the jar into sealing. The crock did not put off enough heat to get the jar to seal; I am sure my mother would have tried to heat the jar and cereal and use a new lid and ring. This wasn't necessary as my sweet neighbor came over to see what was going on, I think she smelled all the goodness and wanted to snack, and I gave her the jar that didn't seal since she loved it so much and would eat it right away.

My favorite way to eat it is with milk in a small bowl on a saucer, but rarely that happens in my house!

My mother on the other hand prefers to eat the cereal on top of her favorite yogurt, which is laden with dyes and processed ingredients, but I will take every inch of success that I can with my family and be happy that they have given up almost all the commercial cereals!

 

 

 

 

For a printable recipe click here.