Black Bean and Avocado Salsa

This was a simple yummy salsa.  I basically just took the ingredients that I had and combined them, and it sure turned out great!

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 avocado, chopped
1 cup chopped white onion
1 cup chopped tomato
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro (I just used cilantro paste)
1 tablespoon lime juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon celery seed
1/8 teaspoon pepper

And enjoy!
We had it both as a topper for our baked potato (super healthy replacement for butter and sour cream here) and also with chips.

My first ever From Scratch LEMON MERENGUE PIE

This pie was so much easier to make than I thought it would be! Thanks to this fabulous recipe and great instructions that I found here! I was always afraid to make one because I had heard how difficult it was and how many things can go wrong...but not anymore! 

Peanut Butter - Raisin Cookies - Easy & Fast

My favorite kind of recipe is easy and fast!  This one takes the cake, I mean the cookies!
Actually, I am not a huge fan of peanut butter cookies, but these are fabulous and I just can not stop eating them!

1 Pkg. Moist Classic Yellow Cake Mix
1/2 Cup Creamy Peanut Butter
1/2 Cup (1 Stick) Butter or Margarine, Softened
2 Eggs
1 Cup Raisins

Heat oven to 350.
Grease baking sheets.
Mix all ingredients, except raisins, in large bowl until well blended.
Stir in the raisins.
Drop rounded tablespoons onto prepared cookie sheets.
Bake 9 - 12 minutes, until lightly browned.
Cool two minutes on sheets and completely on racks.
Cookies stay moist when in tightly sealed container.
Enjoy!!

HINT:  Cookies are also great for freezing and taking out for surprise guests.  Make extras and freeze with a layer of freezer paper between the cookies, then you can just pull one layer out as needed.

Fresh from the garden stir-fry

I just love stir-fry using whatever we have available. Knowing that you are using fresh foods and knowing that you are using your own resources make it all the better!
We like to use many combinations of ingredients.
Here are some of our favorites:
Meat of any kind, sliced thin.
Tomatoes, Zucchini, Potatoes, Green Peppers, Red Peppers, Banana Peppers, Corn, Garlic, Beans, Carrots, Pea Pods, and Various Fresh Herbs.
Delicious and it's a meal on it's own or use as a side dish.
It's quick too (especially if you use a food processor for slicing), that's my favorite kind of meal!

Summer Parfaits and Homemade Jam

Summer Parfait

This fun summer parfait is super fast to make!  Have you noticed yet that it is really important to me to be able to make some really cool things, but super fast!!

Blueberry Summer Parfait

Make a yellow cake mix as directed.

Cut into small square pieces.

Dip your glass into caramel sauce then into crushed graham crackers to coat the rim.

Layer the inside of the glass with multiple layers of the following:

The cake pieces

Blueberries

Prepared vanilla pudding

Whip topping spray
Sprinkle a little more of the crushed graham crackers on the top layer and add one more blueberry!

EAT!!

Canned Jam

Jams and jellies are so easy to make!  I don't know why I don't do it more often.  Here's a fun easy and yes, quick jam.  This recipe came from my stepsister's mother, Judy.  She's a very nice woman, and yes, it's a complicated family that I am a part of, but I love it and wouldn't have it any other way!  How many children of divorce say that?

Rhubarb Cherry Jam

6 cups rhubarb (cut up)

3-1/2 cups sugar

1 - 21 oz. can Cherry Pie Filling (chopped)

1 - 6 oz. Pkg. Cherry Jello

Mix rhubarb and sugar.  Let stand for 15 minutes.  

Boil 8 minutes.  Add cherry pie filling and boil 2 more minutes.

Turn off heat and add cherry jello and stir until disolved.

Put in jars and let it cool.

Seal with wax or can as normal.  (She sealed hers with wax and I canned mine).

ENJOY!

Veggies!!! From a 1/2 share from a farm!!

Can you believe all these wonderful veggies!!
This all came from one week (and the leftovers from last week) from a 1/2 share that I purchased.  I've never done this before, but so far I think it's fabulous!  I still don't know what some of the stuff is that I have received... especially the herbs...and it's rather fun (and healthy) to be sort-of  forced to make sure all this stuff gets used.

Moist Rhubarb Strawberry Cake

Moist Rhubarb Strawberry Cake

1-1/2 Cups Sugar

1 Egg

2 Cups Rhubarb, cut up (see notes below)

1/4 Cup Strawberries, sliced and partially mashed with juice

1 tsp. Vanilla

1/2 Cup Butter, melted

1 tsp. Baking Soda

2 Cups Flour

1 Cup Buttermilk/Sour Milk (see notes below for tips on how to make this)

Grease and flour 9x12 pan.  Mix ingredients together.  Pour into cake pan.

Mix these additional ingredients together:

1/2 Cup Sugar

1 Tbs. Cocoa Powder

1/4 tsp. Ginger

1 tsp. Cinnamon

Sprinkle this mixture over the batter.  Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 35 minutes (check with a toothpick to see if it is done).  

A couple of things...

You may want more rhubarb, if so just add another 1/4 cup or so.

Rhubarb should be cut into 1/4 - 1/2 inch slices.

To make buttermilk, you can add 1 tsp. to 1 Tbs. vinegar to regular milk and let sit for 10 minutes.

Enjoy!!

Be Healthy AND Save Money!

How often do you grab something from the snack machine or convenience store because you didn't plan ahead and , dang it, your hungry?!  A little planning is all it takes!  Keep a little storage of snacks available.  It will keep you from buying something unhealthy and it will keep you from spending the excess amounts on convenience.

I keep granola bars and a bottle of water in my handbag most of the time.  I have a little stash in my desk drawer at work.  If you don't have a desk drawer, maybe you have a cubby or a tool box drawer, or keep it in your car or tote bag...   be creative with your solution!  At work, I keep nuts, granola, pretzels, crackers, packets of tea and lemonade, and even oatmeal packets!  If you have a fridge available, you can keep cheese, yogert, and veggies.  The oatmeal has really been handy when I forget my lunch. 

Bringing your lunch every day saves money and helps you eat healthy too!  Don't forget the fresh fruit and veggies!  Just plan ahead when you go grocery shopping.  Another tip: mark it on your calendar - prepare your week of lunches and snacks on the weekend when you have more time.

All of this works for eating healthy on-the-run too.  Just a little planning can really add up to being more healthy, losing weight, and saving lots of money....

If you save even just 4.00 per day by bringing your lunch and/or not buying snacks....  and you take 2 weeks of vacation...  then  5 weekdays x 50 weeks x 4.00 = a savings of OVER $1000. PER YEAR!

Healthy Nachos & Healthy Substitutions!

It’s all about the choices! Simple substitutions for ingredients that you normally use can make a huge impact on your calorie intact. If you are trying to eat healthier, try some of these simple substitutions taken from Nachos that my honey and I made.


Tip #1: Use baked instead of regular tortilla chips, 8.5% less calories and 68% less fat! A minor change would be white corn instead of yellow corn, but this change alone is 14% less fat.

Tip #2: Add lots of veggies! We added corn and zucchini; it was delicious and more nutritious for us.

Tip #3: Lima beans have no fat! They are by far the best choice for beans. Even if you don’t go with the lima beans, you can still save calories and fat grams. Choose Kidney Beans, Black Beans, Pinto Beans, or Red Kidney Beans over Navy Beans and Chili Beans. This simple choice will save you 30% in calories and ½ the fat! And, the Lima bean would save you 36% in calories and all the fat grams would be gone!

Tip #4: The Cheese. Yes, the cheese is a huge culprit no matter how you look at it. However, you can still make better choices, Use American, Mexican Blend – Reduced Fat, Cheez Wiz, Velveeta, or Mozzarella instead of Swiss, Monterey, Colby, or Cheddar. Now cheese is my biggest weakness, so I won’t, probably, follow my own advice. If I did, I could save 28% of the calories and 67% of the fat grams.

Tip #5: Ground Turkey vs. Ground Beef. This one’s simple. It hardly changes the taste and saves 15% of the calories and 20% of the fat grams.

Tip #6: Salsa is Fabulous! Load it on! No fat grams! One ounce has only 7 calories. Make up for smaller portions of meat and cheese with more salsa and more veggies!

Tip #7: Taco sauce is similar to salsa; very low in calories and no fat grams! The green is ½ the calories of the red however. One ounce of green is 7 calories and one ounce of red is 14 calories.

Tip #8: Most spices have very few calories and fat grams. You can use quite a bit to make your foods taste better. There are a few to watch out for though; check the powders. Chili powder and onion powder have more than you would think.

Tip #9: Use sites, such as nutritiondata.com, to compare ingredients and determine what is best for you and your health!

Imagine, you can have 1/3-1/2 the calories and fat by making simple choices! Take these notes with you the next time you go shopping, or check the labels!

Now, if you save ½ the calories, that doesn’t mean you can eat twice as much!

Portion Control is the key!

Daily Health Habits

 

We all need to be concerned with our health.  It makes the difference on how we feel, how functional we are in a day, and how long we live.  I feel that health is the most important thing we have.  If our body is not healthy, it is very difficult to enjoy anything else in this life!  With all of this in mind, I am trying to get into the habit of doing some healthy things EVERY DAY!  So, I've created my DAILY HEALTH HABITS list.  Let me know if you think I'm forgetting something important.

1. Drink Plenty of Water

2. Take Vitamins

3. Stretching & Exercize

4. Eat Healthy & In Moderation (count calories etc)

5. Moisturize & Sunscreen

6. Relax/Meditation/Spiritual

7. Mind Growth & Learning

8. Affirmations & Personal Growth

9. Brush your Teeth

10. Hug Someone!

Now that's not so bad is it?!

Valentine's Day Vase - Tutorial

 

This was a fun & simple project and the result is stunning!

You could fill this vase with candies, red and pink marbles, flowers or any number of cool valentine's ideas.

You will need:

A Vase - I used a simple, inexpensive rectangle vase from Target.

Candies - or marbles or whatever you are going to fill it with.

Ribbon -I used dark red with white dots. Or use plain red or one with words on - like "I love you"!     

Rub-on or vinyl stickers with your desired design - This could be a simple scripted "Love" - I used a couple of the rub-ons from the fancy-free collection by fancy pants design.

A Glue Dot.

Tie the ribbon tightly around the bottom of the vase and secure with a glue dot.  Position the rub-on in the desired position and hold in place while you rub the entire design to the vase.  Do not remove the top layer of the rub-on until it is completely secure.  Lift the top layer slowly, if any design stays on the top layer, carefully lay the top back down and continue rubbing until the entire design is in place.  I used two separate rub-ons for my design but just one simple vinyl sticker or rub-on would look elegant.  Now, fill it up and you are done!

Super Simple!

Simple & Classy!

The ribbon with words on it was my original idea with a more simple rub-on but I couldn't locate the rub-on that I had planned to use.  Someone make one like that and show me your creation!  Actually, show me any versions that you decide to make, I would love to see it!

Valentine's Day - Food Ideas

 

This gorgeous treat is made from candy canes!  

These could be a treat, a gift, or decor!

Fabulous idea from Jodi at Pleasant Home.   

Raspberry Frappe

Oh My!  Valentine Treat from Heaven courtesy of 

Better Homes and Gardens. 

These Gorgeous Valentine Hearts 

are made from crescent rolls.

This wonderful idea is featured by Pillsbury.  

I hope you enjoy all this valentine eye candy!

There is more on the way!