Organic English Muffin Egg Sandwich

Most Important Yummy of the Day!

I saw this recipe and thought that I haven't made anything like that in a while and it was time to do it again. I was very happy that Ezekiel 4:9 makes English Muffins because I love their bread, and now I love their muffins too. Also, my favorite salsa is by Muir Glen. It has the best flavor of any salsa ever, in my opinion.

This is a great way to start the day off right, with plenty of protein and good stuff. It is also complimented nicely by my wheat grass mocha. 

Ingredients:

Organic English Muffins

2 Organic Cage Free Eggs

Organic Non Hormone Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

Organic Avocado

Organic Salsa

Directions:

1. Cook eggs however you like them
2. Slice muffin and toast the two halves
3. Put egg on muffin half
4. Top with cheese
5. Top with avocado
6. Top with salsa

Organic English Muffin Pizza

Healthy, Quick & Yummy!

My daughter likes these little "pizzas" with just the sauce and cheese. I like to add avocado to the top. Very tasty, very healthy, very quick.

You can click on each ingredient for a link to each specific brand that I used. I really like the Muir Glen Cabernet Marinara sauce. I also use it for my eggplant recipe which I will post later this week. 

Ingredients:

Organic English Muffins

Organic Spaghetti or Pizza Sauce 

Organic Non Hormone Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

Optional Toppings

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 325 F
2. Slice muffins and spread the sauce on each half
3. Sprinkle shredded cheese on top
4. Add toppings of your choice that need to be heated
5. Bake on a cookie sheet for about 5 minutes or until the cheese melts
6. Remove from oven and add cold toppings such as avocado

Organic Cranberry Banana Swirl Ice Cream

Yummy!

I got a Ninja Blender and food processor set for an early Christmas present from my sweet husband. It rocks! Of course the first thing that we had to make was "banana swirl" because my daughter had seen them make on Daniel Tiger. Then, naturally, I had to add to it. ;)

Ingredients:

2 Organic Bananas

1/2 Cup Organic Whole Fresh Cranberries

1 Tbsp Vanilla Almond Milk 

Getting Ready:

Unpeel bananas, wrap them together in foil, and freeze overnight. 

Directions:

1. Cut frozen bananas into chunks (about 1 inch) so that they blend easily
2. Blend 
3. Add cranberries and almond milk
4. Blend

The more you blend the creamier it becomes. Depending on the size of your bananas and cranberries, you may need to adjust the amount of all three ingredients. It's easy to fix it to your liking. 

You can freeze the left overs and it will get fairly hard, but it thaws out well and tastes just as good as right after it's made. 

Organic Southwest Quinoa Lettuce Wraps

A yummy meal my whole family will eat.

I made this because I needed to use up some things in the pantry. I looked at a few recipes and bought a few things to add to what I had and voila! a new recipe. It was so good, even my five year old ate all of it. And it has tons of protein and iron. 

This is a very versatile recipe that you can substitute or add to as you see fit, but it was pretty tasty like this and this will hopefully give you something to use as inspiration. 

Ingredients:

1 Cup Dry Organic Quinoa

1 Cup Dry Organic Brown Short Rice

1 lb. Beef - All Natural (no hormones) or Grass Fed

1 Can of Organic Black Beans

1 Bag of Organic Sweet Corn

Large Lettuce Leaves

Organic Salsa

Getting Ready:

1. Boil rice according to directions in a separate pot - mine takes 50 minutes, so I start it first and then work on the other while it's cooking.
2. Spread Quinoa out on a paper towel to check for any irregular looking hard pieces (it's not cool to get a mouthful of those), then rinse (although, honestly, I haven't figured out how to rinse such tiny things without losing half of it, so I just put it in the pan). Put in a medium sized sauce pan ( the quinoa expands greatly) and pour in the two cups of water. Bring to a slight boil and then simmer for 15-20 minutes. While simmering, follow directions 1 & 2 below.

Directions:

1. Brown meat until fully cooked. I use some Worcestershire Sauce and add a little Mrs. Dash Garlic and Herb
2. Add the black beans 
3. If you got the steam in the bag corn, microwave it and then add to meat and beans
4. Stir in desired amount of salsa
5. Add in quinoa and rice
6. Spoon into lettuce leaves

I used Butter Lettuce, but any large leaf will work. 

Please leave me a comment and let me know any variations that you try!

Organic Chocolate Oatmeal No Bake Cookies

So Easy!

I loved when my mom would make these kind of cookies when I was growing up, but somehow I never got the recipe when I started baking on my own and I never made them. Then, when I started this quest to eat healthier and use organic and Non GMO ingredients, I thought that I would have to give up all of my favorite treats. Needless to say, I am so happy to find recipes that I can make that are quite similar to my familiar favorites and still be able to use my newly favored ingredients.

This recipe uses fresh ground peanut butter. I discussed the awesomeness of that in the post for peanut butter cookies.

Ingredients:

1/2 Cup Hormone Free Butter (1 stick)
1 Cup Organic Sugar
4 Tbsp Organic Non GMO Cocoa
1/2 Cup Almond Milk
3 Cups Organic Oats (not quick)
1 Cup Fresh Ground Peanut Butter
1 Tsp Organic Vanilla Extract

Getting Ready:

1. Line 3 cookie sheets with parchment paper, or just put out 3 of the papers about the size of cookie sheet onto the counter 
2. Spoon peanut butter into one cup with spatula and set aside
3. Put butter into large pot and cook at medium heat to melt
4. Get out all other ingredients so that you are ready to put them in 

Directions:

1. Add into melted butter, sugar, almond milk, and cocoa
2. Stir constantly until it boils and then boil for about 1 minute
3. Remove pot from heat and mix in 1 cup of oats at a time 
4. Add vanilla and peanut butter and stir until well mixed
5. Drop spoonfuls onto the wax paper
6. Allow to cool for about 30 minutes to harden into cookies

Makes about 38 cookies depending on size

I was so excited, they taste just about like my mom's! (Nothing ever really tastes just like hers unless she is here to make it. I haven't quite figured that out.)

Organic Peanut Butter Cookies

My Favorite Peanut Butter Cookies

These are by far the best peanut butter cookies I have ever had. I was so happy to find this recipe as it introduced me to fresh ground peanut butter (you should be able to find it in your health food stores or even some grocery stores). My brother and I used to get excited about opening the new jar of creamy peanut butter, the smooth, untouched goodness and the awesome aroma. That does not even begin to compare to the absolute perfection of freshly ground peanut butter. It is a sublime ratio of tiny crunchy pieces of peanuts mixed with a thick creamy peanut butter. And that fresh taste in these cookies is splendiferous (ok, I had to break out the thesaurus to describe how wonderful these are!) And they are so fast and easy to make!

As with some other recipes on this blog, you may want to double the recipe as it does not make a whole lot. 

Ingredients:

1 Cup Freshly Ground Peanut Butter
1/2 Cup Organic Sugar
1/4 Tsp Sea Salt
1/4 Tsp Baking Soda
1 Tsp Organic Vanilla Extract
1 Organic Cage Free Egg

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F
2. Beat peanut butter in large bowl (it flies out) with a mixer on high
3. Add sugar, salt, baking soda, vanilla, and beat 30 more seconds
4. Add egg and beat until just mixed
5. Form balls with the dough and place on cookie sheet about 1 inch apart
6. Press a fork into the balls to make a criss-cross 
7. Bake 14 - 16 minutes

Makes 12 - 15 cookies depending on how big you make them

Enjoy!

Organic Buttermilk Pumpkin Banana Pancakes

Pumpkin Goodness in a Pancake

This is another one of my half invented recipes because I couldn't find exactly what I was looking for. I got a recipe for Pumpkin Banana Pancakes from the Natural Grocers, but upon closer inspection, it called for 6 eggs which seemed excessive, and no flour. I decided I was not that adventurous yet, but I liked the idea of Pumpkin Banana Pancakes, so I started looking at different recipes and kind of put a few together and then added my own substitutions. My family was brave enough to try my creation, and to my delight, they liked them. My husband said not to change anything. You can go to the recipes that I looked at here and here, and let me know your ideas. 

Ingredients:
1 1/2 Cups Organic Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
2 Tsp Baking Powder
1/2 Tsp Cinnamon
1/8 Tsp Nutmeg
1 Tsp Vanilla
1 1/2 Cups Buttermilk
1/2 Cup Pumpkin Puree
2 Eggs
2 Tbsp Coconut Oil
1/3 Cup Honey
1 Banana

Getting Ready 

1. Put 2 tablespoons of the coconut oil in a small saucepan and simmer over a low heat. As soon as it is melted, turn off and let sit until you are ready to use. 
2. Set out the eggs and pour the buttermilk into a measuring cup and let sit so they are not quite so cold. (The coconut oil will harden again if mixed with really cold ingredients.)
3. Mash banana. I put it in a ziploc bag, sealed it, and mashed it up with my hands. Then, it's easy to pour out of the bag with no mess. 

Directions: 

1. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
2. In another bowl, mix together the vanilla, buttermilk, pumpkin, eggs, coconut oil, honey and banana. 
3. Combine all together in the first large bowl and stir well. It will be lumpy because of the banana. 
4. Set your griddle to 350 F, or you can cook them in a skillet on the stove. 
5. Optional - I like to put a little butter (organic, non hormone) on the griddle before I pour on the pancake batter. 
6. Cook the first side until little bubbles form and the edges look cooked, then flip and brown the other side. 
7. Enjoy with the topping of your choice. 

My sweet five year old likes to cut shapes in hers and put powdered sugar on them. She ate the first one so fast, I didn't get a picture of it (and not just because of the powdered sugar, I made a different recipe once with almond meal and she didn't like them even with the sugar).

Wheat Grass Mocha

Luscious Flavor for Wheat Grass- Who Knew?!

So I have friends who drink Wheat Grass and have been reading articles about its awesomeness, and I finally had to try it for myself. Thanks to the very nice man in my local HEB, I found a way to try it without going full out straight wheat grass flavor. He showed me the Amazing Grass Green Superfood Chocolate flavor and said that he put it in his coffee. 

This is what I came up with, and I really like it. It took me a few tries to get it just right, and as everyone tastes are a little different, you might have to play around with this recipe some too. But I wanted to share because I wasn't sure where to start on my journey to discovering wheat grass and I thought maybe this would be helpful for those of you who are also contemplating it. 

I store my Superfood in the freezer to keep it fresh, so with that being cold and pouring in half a cup of cold almond milk in it, I don't have to wait for it to cool down. I can drink it immediately. If you like your drinks really hot, you might want to microwave it once you have it all mixed together. 

Ok, so I am probably the last person on earth to own a 4 cup Mr. Coffee. Do they even sell those anymore? You can use whatever coffee, and coffee maker, you like. ;)

Ingredients:
1 Scoop Chocolate Green Superfood
1/2 Cup (of Whatever Size Coffee Cup You Use) Coffee (I make about 2 cups in my 4 cup maker)
1 Spoonful Organic Sugar
1/2 Cup (of Whatever Size Coffee Cup You Use) Vanilla Almond Milk

Directions:

1. Brew coffee
2. Put scoop of Green Superfood in cup
3. Put spoonful of sugar in cup and mix up with Superfood (it helps to stir it up so that the wheat grass dissolves)
4. Pour coffee over mixture of sugar and Superfood til it's about half full
5. Pour almond milk into coffee mixture til the cup is about full
6. Stir
7. Enjoy!

Organic Pumpkin Spice Muffins

Healthy Holiday Yumminess!

I got this recipe from Natural Grocers and I was so happy to have a healthy alternative to all of the not so healthy holiday pumpkin flavored goodies. I have only made them once and already have some variations that I want to try with them. 

This recipe calls for egg whites, which I haven't done in quite a while and am always slightly hesitant about, but they really weren't hard at all. So, if you're a little uncertain of the egg whites, know that you're not alone. And if you have an egg separator, it's really a breeze. Then, I scrambled the yolks and cooked them for my little girl so they weren't wasted.

                              

Ingredients:

1 3/4 Cups Whole Wheat Organic Pastry Flour
1 Tsp Aluminum Free Baking Powder
1/2 Tsp Sea Salt
1 Tsp Organic Ground Cinnamon
3/4 Cup Organic Pumpkin Puree
2/3 Cup Organic Buttermilk
2 Tbsp Organic Coconut Oil Melted
1/2 Cup Honey
2 Egg Whites

Getting Ready

1. Put 2 tablespoons of the coconut oil in a small saucepan and simmer over a low heat. As soon as it is melted, turn off and let sit until you are ready to use. 
2. Preheat oven to 400 F. 
3. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper baking cups (or grease with coconut oil).
4. Separate egg whites and beat lightly.

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.
2. In another bowl, stir together the pumpkin, buttermilk, coconut oil, honey, and egg whites. 
3. Combine all together in the large bowl.
4. Divide batter equally among the 12 baking cups. 
5. Bake for 20 minutes.  

Optional Glaze:

1 Cup Organic Powdered Sugar

2 Tbsp Orange Juice

1 Tsp Organic Pumpkin Puree 

1/2 Tsp Organic Cinnamon

Mix glaze ingredients together and smear onto tops of muffins with a spatula. 

Variations: 

I really think they could use 1 full cup of pumpkin and 3/4 cup honey, but I haven't made them like that yet and wanted to post it as is until I try it out. I also want to put in some dried cranberries and/or pecans or walnuts. And I wasn't sure til I made them if they could handle adding shredded zucchini to them, but I think they would be perfect with about 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup zucchini. 

Update: I made them with a whole zucchini (about 1 cup), one full cup of pumpkin, and 3/4 cup honey and everyone liked them. I also made the glaze to top them with. It's yummy. It is best to allow the muffins to cool before putting the glaze on them. 

Hydrating Lemon Cucumber Mint Detox Water

Such a Yummy Way to Stay Healthy

So this is almost self explanatory by the name and picture, but I wanted to share this simple and tasty way to hydrate and naturally detoxify your system. I for one do not drink enough water, and this water concoction makes me want to drink more and has a few more added benefits than plain water. The cucumber is known for its hydrating qualities (although to add a disclaimer, I am not a doctor) and lemon is naturally cleansing. I also add mint leaves when I have them, which is a natural tummy soother and aids in digestion. 

Directions:

1. Slice Organic Lemon & Cucumber 
2. Place in Container of Choice (along with Mint)
3. Pour Bottled/Filtered Water Over Slices
4. Refrigerate Overnight

I only use half of a cucumber if it is good sized, and one lemon with the ends cut off. If I drink all of it the next day, I will pour water over the same lemons and cucumber slices one more time and refrigerate again. They tend to get bitter after the second batch and look like they need to be thrown out. Then I use the other half of the cucumber and another lemon and do it all again. So, you should be able to get about 4 days worth out of 1 large cucumber and 2 lemons. 

It also makes a great drink for when you have company. I even squeezed some lemon into ice cube trays and put little mint leaves in them to freeze in the ice, which was a huge hit. My brother had some the last time he came over and nearly drank the whole thing. Then, today when he came over, he said "So, you got any of that cucumber water??"

Update...I got this 2.15 Gallon container with a spout. Now, I don't have to fill it as often and the cucumber and lemon doesn't seem to sour as quickly. :)

Organic Cinnamon Quinoa Bake (Gluten Free)

Yummy Breakfast Protein

I was excited when I found this recipe, but wasn't so thrilled with how it turned out the first time. So, of course, I did some tweaking, and now I love it! It has just the right amount of sweetness, and is filling. And the cool part is, once it's made, I have left overs for breakfast for several days that microwaves in seconds and tastes just as good as the first day out of the oven. 

Ingredients:

1 Cup Dry Organic Quinoa

2 Cups of Water

4 Organic Cage Free Eggs 

1/3 Cup Vanilla Almond Milk

1/2 Cup Honey

1 Tsp Organic Vanilla Extract

1 Tbsp Organic Cinnamon

Getting Ready

Spread Quinoa out on a paper towel to check for any irregular looking hard pieces (it's not cool to get a mouthful of those), then rinse (although, honestly, I haven't figured out how to rinse such tiny things without losing half of it, so I just put it in the pan). Put in a medium sized sauce pan ( the quinoa expands greatly) and pour in the two cups of water. Bring to a slight boil and then simmer for 15-20 minutes. While simmering, follow directions 1 & 2 below.

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 F. Line an 8x8 inch baking dish with parchment paper. 
2. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, almond milk, vanilla, cinnamon, and honey. 
3. Stir in Quinoa. 
4. Pour into parchment lined dish. 
5. Bake 35 to 40 minutes until set and golden. 
6. Allow to cool and cut into squares or however you'd like. 

Makes 9 to 12 bars depending on how you cut 

Some variations ~

You can use Organic Maple Syrup instead of Honey. I added in some Organic Coconut Flakes and Toasted Chopped Almonds once and it provided some crunch. The original post had some suggestions for topping it with various nut butters, or adding oats. 

I like the above recipe so much now, I don't even want to add anything to it, but let me know of your ideas to spice it up in other ways.  

Almond, Coconut, Chocolate Chip Cookies

The Best Cookies Ever!

These are absolutely my favorite cookies. I didn't even know about the existence of Almond Meal until I saw this recipe and now I love it! I found the recipe on Pinterest, although, mine always look different than the pinner's picture, and I had to tweak it a little. 

This recipe is easy, but it only makes about 18 pretty small cookies (perfect for snacking). So, if you need a good amount of them, you'll definitely want to double the recipe, especially if you want to have enough to last a day or two. They tend to disappear quickly. 

Also, for best results, the cookie dough needs to be refrigerated for about 30 minutes (a detail I didn't see until I was already into it the first time and hadn't accounted for). But other than that, these cookies go from in the bowl to yummy in your tummy pretty quickly. 

Ingredients:

½ Cup Sliced Almonds 
1 ¼ Cups Almond Meal
¼  Cups Non GMO Chocolate Chips 
½  Cup Organic Coconut Flakes
½  Teaspoon Non Aluminum Baking Powder
½  Teaspoon Salt
1/3 Cup Organic or Raw Sugar 
1 Organic Cage Free Egg
3 Tablespoons Organic Coconut Oil, Melted
½ Teaspoon Organic Pure Vanilla Extract  

 Getting Ready

1. Preheat the oven to 325 F. Toast the sliced almonds until fragrant and golden brown, 3-5 minutes. Let cool, and then chop well. (Keep an eye on them, they burn quickly).
2. Put 3 tablespoons of the coconut oil in a small saucepan and simmer over a low heat. As soon as it is melted, turn off and let sit until you are ready to use. 

Directions:

1.  Turn oven up to 375 F. 

2.   In a large mixing bowl, stir together the almond meal, chocolate chips, almonds, coconut, baking powder, salt and sugar.

3.   In another bowl, beat the egg very well with an electric mixer until it’s a uniform color and doubles in volume.

4.   Whisk in the melted coconut oil and vanilla extract.

5.   Combine wet and dry ingredients into one bowl and stir.

6.   Refrigerate covered bowl for at least 30 minutes.

7.   Roll the chilled dough into 1″ balls. Place on baking sheet with 1” space between them.

8.   Bake until edges just begin to brown, about 12-15 minutes.

9.   Remove from the oven and allow to cool before serving.

Makes about 18 cookies

Organic Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Healthy cookies my 5 yr. old will eat. :)

This is the first recipe that I concocted somewhat on my own. I say somewhat because I looked at a lot of different recipes and couldn't find exactly what I wanted, so I used bits of different ones and then tweaked it until it resembled the right consistency. The true test was when my daughter tried one of the cookies and actually liked it. 

Ingredients:

2 ½ Cups Organic Rolled Oats

1 ½ Cups Organic Wheat Flour

¼ Tsp. Sea Salt

1 Tsp. Baking Powder

1 Tsp. Organic Cinnamon

1 Cup Non GMO Chocolate Chips

¾ Cup Organic Sugar

½ Cup Organic Honey

1 Tsp. Organic Vanilla Extract

½ Cup (1 Stick) Hormone Free Butter  

½ Cup Organic Coconut Oil (melted)

2 Organic Cage Free Eggs

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375.

1. Mix together dry ingredients.
2. In a separate bowl, use a mixer to blend butter, coconut oil, and sugar
3. Add eggs and vanilla until smooth. 
4. Blend in the honey.
5. Stir in dry ingredients. 
6. Drop a spoonful amount onto cookie sheet 
7. Bake for 9-12 minutes. 

Makes about 3 Dozen cookies

Some variations ~

You can substitute ½ Cup Organic Brown Sugar for the Honey. You can also use 2 sticks of butter (rather than one) instead of the Coconut Oil. Both of these substitutions will make for a much thicker consistency and you could probably leave out ½ cup of the Wheat Flour. 

I hope you enjoy them!

Organic Beef Stir Fry

This is a healthy recipe that is really easy to make.

You can essentially make as much or as little as you like, and the left overs are quick and easy because it's all one dish. 

Stir Fry is a versatile meal, in that, you can really add in the ingredients as you wish, such as more of one vegetable or different vegetables, etc. This is just the most common method that I use and it's pretty tasty.

The amount of time it will take depends on your rice selection and how long it takes to cook, and could vary between about 30-55 minutes. 

Ingredients:

1 lb.  Beef - All Natural (no hormones) or Grass Fed

2 Organic Zucchinis 

1 Organic Yellow Squash

Shredded or Diced Organic Carrots - as many as you choose

1 Cage Free Organic Egg

2 Cups Organic Short Grain Brown Rice

I also still use Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce - which is gluten free and preservative free, but you will have to make your own call on what sauce you want to use. (I have switched a lot of my former kitchen staples to healthier, organic, non gmo alternatives.)

Directions:

I cook this in a 16" Electric Skillet. You could also use a wok or your favorite large pan. 

1. Boil rice according to directions in a separate pot - mine takes 50 minutes, so I start it first and then work on the other while it's cooking.
2. Brown meat until fully cooked. I use some of the Worcestershire Sauce and add a little Mrs. Dash Lemon Pepper (again former staple that I still use, you can use whatever seasoning you like.)
3. While meat is browning, dice the vegetables to a size of your liking.
4. Once meat is done, drain, return to heat and then add the egg. I just crack it and put it straight into the pan and stir it up into the meat as the egg cooks. 
5. Add in the vegetables to the meat and egg. I usually add a little more of the Worcestershire and stir it all up. I like to have the vegetables cook until they have softened, but are still a little firm. 
6. Add in the rice and stir everything until well blended. 

Voila! 

The amount this serves will vary depending on size and quantity of vegetables, etc. used, but should feed 5-6 people sufficiently.