Kale, White Bean & Sausage Soup

We aren't huge soup fans in our house, especially broth based soups. But for some reason this is one that we adore. Add a bit of parmesan cheese and it's even better.
We enjoy adding mung beans to it for a bit of extra protein as well.

Kale, White Bean & Sausage Soup
keilbasa
1 onion, dicced
4-6 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup carrots
3 cups chicken broth
1 cup water
1.5 Tbs parsley
1 tsp oregano
6-10 kale leaves, washed, de-stemmed and chopped
2 cans of cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
Optional: 1/4 cup steamed mung beans or peas
Optional: 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

Heat stock pot to medium/medium high heat. Add in onions and garlic; sautee until onions are translucent, about 5 minutes. While cooking, chop keilbasa into rounds and roughly chop kale. Add in the keilbasa rounds and cook until browned, 7-10 minutes. Add in remaining ingredients (chicken broth, water, parsley, oregano, kale, cannellini beans), mix well, and simmer for 20-30 minutes. Top with some Parmesan cheese.

Lemon Basil Pork Chops

I grew basil in my garden last summer and couldn't get enough! I made so many things with it, and this is one of my favorites! Oh, there is nothing quite like the aroma of fresh basil...

Lemon Basil Pork Chop Marinade
3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1.5 cup fresh basil (washed and chopped)
2 Tbs lemon juice
2 Tbs olive oil
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Mix together all ingredients. Place in ziplock bag with pork chops. Allow to marinate at least 30 minutes, but no more than 3 hours.

For best flavor, grill pork chops immediately after removing from the marinade.

Pairs well with fresh green beans (check out my favorite here), wild rice, or a spinach salad,

The Best Green Beans ever!

I'm a huge fan of munching on fresh, crisp green beans, straight off the vine! We always have so many during the summer, both from our garden and from our weekly farm box. This recipe was a weekly staple in our home, and neither of us got tired of it!

Simple, quick, and delicious.

The Best Green Beans Ever
fresh green beans, washed and de-stemmed
1 Tbs butter
2-4 cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 cup of Dales's Steak Seasoning Sauce (low-sodium)

Partially steam your green beans. (I like to place in a baking dish with a few tablespoons of water and microwave for 2-4 minutes, depending on how many beans I have).
Melt butter in your skillet. Add in the garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes. Add in the steamed green beans and toss to coat. Pour in the Dale's and stir. Allow to simmer for 10-15 minutes.

Freezer Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

My husband and I try not to eat a lot of processed sugar. In particular that means desserts and candy. So, I'm learning how to create more healthy, homemade goodies to satisfy my cravings!

Our favorite chocolate treat is the alternative version of Reece Peanut butter cups! They are so tasty and never last long in our home! Did I mention that they are the quickest dessert to whip up for when company comes over for dinner? We have friends who prefer dark chocolate, so I modify the recipe by adding a bit more cocoa powder and a bit less nut butter. But when I make them for myself I do the opposite-more peanut butter and less cocoa powder. Oh, it's lovely when you can personalize a recipe so easily!

Recipe
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2-3/4 cup nut butter (I chose peanut)
1/4 honey
1/2 tsp vanilla

mini cupcake paper liners

Melt the coconut oil in the microwave for 30-60 seconds, until fully melted. Add in the cocoa powder, nut butter, honey, and vanilla. Whisk together until smooth and fully combined. 

Line a cookie sheet with mini cupcake paper liner. Fill each liner 3/4 of the way full with the mixture. Place cookie sheet in freezer for at least 3 hours, or overnight (try to make sure it's level or them will come out crooked!).  Allow to sit 1 minute at room temperature before eating. Store in a sealed container/ziplock in the freezer.

Trust me...you won't be able to eat just one of these! 

Blueberry Basil Lemonade

Blueberry picking is so much fun! And, although it sounds silly, I love to wash them and dry them and freeze them, knowing they will be so delicious come winter when they're out of season and I am craving some blueberries.
But, while it's still summertime, nothing beats a fresh lemonade.

Blueberry Basil Lemonade
lemonade of your choice (homemade, store bought, etc).
1/4 cup of fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup blueberries

Place 1 cup of lemonade and 1/2 cup of blueberries in the blender. Blend until blueberries are roughly pureed. Pour together with lemonade into a pitcher. Roughly chop the basil leaves and add to pitcher. Allow to refrigerate at least 2 hours, or overnight, for flavors to blend together.

My Vitamix came in the mail!

Lately my husband and I have enjoyed so many delicious superfoods in our smoothies, like spinach, kale, spirulina, hemp, ground flax, chia seeds and keifer. But we noticed that our smoothies became kinda chewy in our Ninja.

Don't get me wrong, we love our ninja, but decided to do some research on better blenders since we have smoothies almost daily. The results were pretty remarkable: Vitamix is the way to go!

But, those blenders are hundreds of dollars. Those videos that compared ninja vs vitamix in green smoothies, berry smoothies, frozen drinks, homemade nut butters and soups blew us away. There seemed to be no comparison to a Vitamix.
We're not really impulsive buyers but this product sold itself! For consumers like us who use their blender on average more than once per day, we wanted quality.

Lucky us, we find the Vitamix 5200: Getting Started on sale for $150 dollars off, plus free shipping from Target. Wow! We would have paid the full price, but that's am amazing deal!

So, 2 days later we have a new blender and we are living happily ever after :)

In reality, we're trying out new recipes and using the heck out of it!

Here's what I tried this morning for breakfast:
1 cup strawberries
1/4 cup blueberries
1/4 cup pineapple
1 carrot
1 cup spinach
1/4 yogurt
Optional: 1 Tbs ground flax seed
Optional: 1 Tbs hemp hearts
Optional: 1/2 tsp spirulina
Add orange juice until desired consistency.

Dump it all in the Vitamix, gradually blend up to variable speed 10 for 30-60 seconds. And ta-da, a Green Good Morning Smoothie!

Enjoy!

Homemade Crunchy Chocolate Bar

So my husband and I have been setting more healthy eating goals, and this week we're cutting out processed sugar. The only goodies we're eating are homemade. Thankfully, I'm not a big baker so there isn't too much temptation!

But, as excited as I am about this, I'm not sure I can give up on chocolate! Just a piece or 2 at a time, every few days, ya know what I mean?! (Come on ladies, you know what I mean!)

Anyway, I had to find a healthy alternative. And ta-da, I hit a home-run! I'm pretty sure I can totally give up store-bought chocolate for this awesome recipe! Here it is, simple, easy, tasty-enjoy!

Ingredients:
-1/4 cup cocoa powder
-1/4 cup coconut oil
-3 Tablespoons of agave nectar
-1-2 Tablespoons of quinoa

Directions:
Heat up a skillet over medium-high heat.  Add quinoa and toast for 4-5 minutes, stirring frequently (will start to swell and brown slightly).
Melt the coconut oil.
Add the agave and mix with the coconut oil.
Add the cocoa powder and mix, mix, mix.
Place in chocolate mold, or on wax paper, or in a ziplock, whatever works best for you! (I took a rectangle plastic lid, lined it with wax paper, and used that as a mold.)
Sprinkle with the toasted quinoa.
Place in freezer to harden. Store in freezer.

Happy, healthy eating!

*Note, this was slightly bitter to me. Since I prefer milk chocolate to dark chocolate, I will try to add a teaspoon of cane sugar to my next batch.